By Abdul-Hakim Shabazz; Esq.


It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness.

If you listen to City Hall, downtown Indianapolis is back. The cranes are swinging, conventions are booked, and the Chamber crowd is toasting “momentum.” Mayor Joe Hogsett insists, “We’ll have a safe downtown, and people should be comfortable coming downtown and enjoying all that it has to offer.” (WTHR, May 2025)

But just a few blocks south of Washington Street, the slogans fade, the sirens rise, and the “momentum” starts to look like denial.

The “Best” Indy

On paper, there’s progress. Homicides are down from the pandemic peak. The Pacers’ new facility gleams. Restaurants north of Washington are full again. IMPD Chief Chris Bailey even declared, “Downtown remains the heart and soul of our city — and continues to be one of our safest neighborhoods.” (Axios, Oct 2025)

If you stick to Georgia Street and don’t cross south, you might almost believe him.

The “Worst” Indy

The other Indy begins where the press releases end — usually just below Washington Street.

July 5, 2025: Seven shot, two teenagers killed near W. Washington & S. Meridian.
June 15: Gunfire again at Meridian & Washington — two teens arrested.
Sept 21: Seven shot, two dead, mass shooting creeping toward downtown.
Nov 2: Three men wounded inside Hovito Lounge on S. Meridian; IMPD called it “preventable.” (WTHR, Nov 2025)

Four major shootings in five months — same streets, same time of night, same statement from the podium.

The Washington Street Divide

Washington Street has quietly become the city’s Mason-Dixon Line — a border between the marketed and the messy.
North of it: concerts, cocktails, and convention crowds.
South of it: crime scenes, crime tape, and camera crews.

Even Prosecutor Ryan Mears, under fire from state Republicans, admitted the system is strained, saying his office can only prosecute what IMPD charges. (WTHR, July 2025)
Translation: everyone’s pointing fingers while the gunfire keeps doing the punctuation.

The Fallout Nobody Wants to Admit

This isn’t just a public-safety story — it’s an economic one.

Downtown merchants are quietly hurting. Every time a shooting makes the news, foot traffic falls. Weekend diners head to Carmel instead of Circle Centre. Every crime scene becomes another suburban billboard: “Come to the Palladium — where the only thing that pops is the champagne.”

And every incident gives outstate lawmakers one more reason to argue that the Statehouse should “step in” and take over downtown public safety. There haven’t been calls yet for the National Guard, but given recent history, can those calls really be far behind?

That’s how cities lose not just residents, but control. Once the state starts talking “intervention,” home rule turns into a keepsake.

The Real Fix — and We’ve Seen It Before

When I ran for mayor in 2023, my public-safety plan took a smarter, constitutional approach to gun violence. It treated illegal possession and repeat offenders seriously without punishing responsible, law-abiding gun owners. We proposed coordinated policing, real-time data sharing, and targeted prosecution of known violent actors — all while reaffirming the Second Amendment rights of citizens who follow the law.

It wasn’t about slogans; it was about strategy. It’s still the right blueprint today.

IMPD’s new curfew drop-off site might make for a good press conference (WTHR, Aug 2025), but it won’t fix the culture of violence or the vacuum of accountability. Downtown doesn’t need another mural or marketing campaign — it needs a plan that actually works.

Indianapolis still has time to make the two Indys one again — a place where commerce, culture, and common sense actually coexist. But that won’t happen until our leaders admit that Washington Street isn’t just a thoroughfare — it’s a dividing line between political fantasy and public reality.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness.

Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is a licensed attorney in Illinois and Indiana, and the editor and publisher of IndyPolitics.Org.