Indianapolis Cultural Trail

by Brian Payne, President, Central Indiana Community Foundation

The first questions most people ask me about the Cultural Trail are:
“Where did the idea come from? How did it start?”

In 2001, the Cultural Development Commission was formed and Mayor Peterson appointed me as one of nine commissioners. Our charge was to develop ways to position Indianapolis nationally and globally as a cultural destination city, as well as to make Indianapolis a city of choice for the world’s best talent when looking for a place to live and work.

Our first strategy established the six cultural districts: Mass Ave, Indiana Ave., the Canal and White River State Park, the Wholesale District, Fountain Square and Broad Ripple Village. The Cultural District program promotes walkable areas of town that feature several arts, cultural, heritage, sports and entertainment venues. These areas or districts offer both residents and visitors the opportunity to experience places and neighborhoods versus singular venues. While promoting this idea, I kept hearing from my colleagues, donors to the foundation and board members that the districts needed to be connected somehow to really work.

That spring, I joined thousands of walkers, joggers, roller-bladers, strollers and cyclists on one of the first beautiful days in April on the Monon Trail. As I strolled my young son along the trail, I thought: “Why couldn’t we build an urban version of the Monon downtown to connect the Cultural Districts?”

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. The more I talked to young people and families moving to Indianapolis, the more I heard that the Monon Trail was one of their most valued assets in Indianapolis. Over time, after literally hundreds of conversations and generous financial support, it has become a reality. I’ll admit: it is so much more than I ever initially envisioned. As the Cultural Trail vision has grown due to the involvement and creativity of hundreds of partners and supporters, so too have our ambitions.  We now know that the Cultural Trail will not only change the landscape of a city, but also the values of its people.

The real lesson from this story is that the idea of the Cultural Trail was inspired by something we already have and that already works well – the Monon Trail and our greenway trail system.

It begs the question: What else do we value so highly, already works well and could be leveraged into the next big idea for Indianapolis?  Send us your thoughts.

by Brian Payne, President, Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF)

In early November, I attended the CEOs for Cities national meeting in Chicago, Ill. CEOs for Cities is a national organization that works with a cross-sector network of urban leaders to create next generation cities that excel in talent, connections, innovation and distinctiveness and are therefore able to best address the challenges of the day.

The meeting discussed the findings of a new study, City Dividends by Joe Cortright, an economist from Portland, Oregon, which “calculates the monetary gains the top 51 metros could realize if they increase their college attainment by one percentage point (The Talent Dividend), reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by one mile per person per day (The Green Dividend) and reduce the number of people in poverty (The Opportunity Dividend) by one percentage point.” (from www.ceosforcities.org)

The study reports that our metro area could gain an additional $1.3 billion by realizing the Talent Dividend; $305 million through the Green Dividend; and $138 million in one year from the Opportunity Dividend.

The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick addresses the Talent Dividend by helping attract and retain more highly educated, creative talent to Indianapolis who want to live in a more walkable urban, vibrant and connected place. It also helps address the Green Dividend by providing a safe and beautiful pathway for walking or biking that connects you directly to every major arts, cultural, heritage, sports, and entertainment venues and within a few blocks of the largest employers in the downtown area. 

According to this study, one could deduce that the Cultural Trail will help Indianapolis realize and redirect an additional $1.6 Billion per year toward more positive economic development.

The Green Dividend requires walkable, sustainable cities. Yet, people need a reason to walk. They need to be conveniently connected to places and the journey needs to be interesting as well (i.e. other people need to be there, too). They also need to feel safe and comfortable walking (i.e. parallel parking can provide a comfortable buffer and provide a safer walking environment).  The Cultural Trail provides the connectivity, safety and inspiring environment that will draw more people, creating a vibrant urban experience.

Another speaker and a renowned leading environmentalist with Serrafix, Douglas Foy said “Cities are for people, not for cars.”  He offered five related key messages/strategies for cities:
1. Cities that are greener are inherently more efficient.
2. Cities that focus on pedestrians will have a competitive advantage.
3. Zoning of the past 100 years has been a huge mistake.
4. Cities must maintain transit systems and make them better.
5. Cities should use conjestion pricing tools and other incentives to get people out of cars, such as shared cars, shared bikes and shared parking.

Lastly, the meeting noted five characteristics of great cities:
1. Great neighborhoods
2. Urban density for effective transit
3. Not-for-profits leading and creating intellectual property
4. Water that is celebrated
5. Green energy

None of this is shocking or necessarily new information. However, it is helpful to show the monetary benefits associated with making incremental improvements, such as increasing our college educated population by ten percent or reducing our VMT by one mile per day. It’s also helpful to have outside sources giving us a very clear roadmap for success based on research, trends and examples.

Indianapolis is a great city that keeps getting better. We still have our work cut out for us to remain competitive for talented, highly educated employees and residents who can live anywhere in the world. This study is one more important source showing that the Cultural Trail offers very tangible and economic benefits that the City of Indianapolis will reap for decades to come.