by Doug Stephenson
Governor’s Square, or Center Square, is the four-block area surrounding Monument Circle with Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Illinois as its boundaries. The square is not only the intersection of the Wholesale, Market, and Business districts, but is also the midway point(or DMZ at times) between Indianapolis city government and Statehouse foot traffic. In the months following the 2020 lockdown and May riots, downtown leaders held several small but lengthy meetings discussing what we needed to do to rehabilitate the area, and particularly the hard-hit square, back to its former vibrancy. While many factors were discussed, nearly all fell under the categories of “cleanliness” and “safety”. Four years out, it’s time to see how far we’ve come.
Cleanliness- After Downtown Indy Inc had a leadership change, its new President, Taylor Shafer, brought a relationship with the Mayor’s office and a pot of new money to clean up the downtown area. Thousands of square feet of graffiti and vandalism were eliminated, and the cleaning crews are generally on top of any recurrences. Daily power-washing has made a great improvement on sidewalk conditions on the Circle and spokes. While we have no public restrooms in the area, temporary restrooms were added to the successful Spark Park on the Circle. That said, the alleys and side streets still often smell of urine or worse. Even though Waste Management seems to have turned the corner on dumpster pickup and trash removal, it’s time for private businesses to step up in keeping their alleys and trash areas clean, secure( dumpster locks), and sanitary to prevent unnecessary litter from getting onto the streets.
Aesthetics isn’t exactly cleanliness, but I think I speak for all downtowners in voicing frustration with all the construction projects which seem to be needlessly drug out by contractors. The north side of the SS Monument has been torn up for a year and a half after a supposed six-month project completion by November ‘23. West Market St has been essentially destroyed for what seems like 5 years, and now Penn construction has pinched off commuter traffic for months. Vacant, or half-refurbished buildings make up a large part of the center square’s landscape. These projects look bad and inhibit both commuter and visitor traffic. The city (and state for the monument) need to light a fire under these contractors and property owners to maintain timelines with both incentives and penalties.
Safety- The most pressing and public problem for downtown is perceived safety. While City Hall and IMPD correctly say downtown is the statistically safest area of the city, the perception of downtown by visitors and suburbanites drives the narrative. The homeless situation seems to cause the most concern and anxiety for non-downtowners. Even though the homeless population seems to be falling back to pre-pandemic levels of mentally and addiction challenged individuals, there are still lingering groups of troublemakers and deadbeats who use the metro hub to migrate through Lugar Plaza, down Washington St and up through the sidewalks by the OTB and liquor store on Penn. With the increased foot-traffic generated in those areas by Caitlin Clark and the Indy Fever, as well as elderly Symphony-goers using the parking garage in that block, perception of downtown safety suffers with every catcall, drunken scream, and heated argument. Washington Street basically needs these individuals cleared out from Delaware on the east, down to Capital on the west side. Even though disruptive teens become a safety concern on early summer weekends, this has been an annual problem for decades that IMPD will quickly put a stop to. There simply aren’t roving bands of violent teens taking over downtown, as is often portrayed in various media.
In 2024, Downtown Indy is headed in the right direction, but still needs cooperation and vigilance from its leaders, stakeholders, and city officials to ensure we continue to attract convention business and residential interest. With investment by the state into the Economic Enhancement District and direct, pragmatic involvement in streetside issues by the private sector, downtown’s center square could quickly return to the beauty and vibrancy we saw less than 10 years ago.
Doug Stephenson is the owner of Downtown Comics, located just east of the Circle.
