Transcript
Narrator 0:04
Lacking the inherent geographical attractions or established connections of other cities, Indianapolis, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; and Nashville, Tennessee, sought out alternative pathways for growth at a time when the surrounding environs were suffering from decay, an era that gave rise to the term Rust Belt. The three cities not only survived, but prospered and have continued to do so, while other places in the middle of the country have suffered. How are they able to do so? What challenges do they face as they seek to remain competitive in the 21st century? On April 2 2013, regional leaders gathered at the University of Indianapolis for a public discussion called Building Heartland Cities. During the event, Mayor Carl Dean of Nashville, Tennessee, Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus, Ohio, and former Indianapolis Mayor Bill Hudnut discussed different ways to transform heartland cities, allowing them to compete with their eastern and western counterparts.
Bill Hudnut 1:04
As I look back on it, I think that the groundwork for the emergence of the modern Indianapolis was laid by my predecessors, who, first of all formed Unigov and the merger of city county government a la Nashville and Davidson County. And secondly, the formation of the greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, which occurred under the mayorship of John Barton. We had that foundation laid. It was a foundation of partnership and a foundation of a larger community. And that that was, in my sense, the beginning. I think that in addition to the many small things that happened, one large thing that happened—which some people did not really approve of, but it happened anyway—was the emergence of Indianapolis as a major center for primarily amateur athletics. Yes, we have the Colts. Yes, we have the Pacers. We used to have the Racers. We have the Indians in baseball. But I’m talking about amateur athletics. We got together in 1977 my first year as mayor, and few of us started brainstorming, what can we do here? And we agreed we would build on our strengths. We agreed that we could work for 100 years and never be a great ship building town. It’s just not in the cards here like it might be in Norfolk. Secondly, we said, what are our strengths? They are central geographic location, a strong commitment to health and wholeness, represented by Eli Lilly and Company and the IU School of Medicine. Thirdly, in the presence of some great universities in our city. And fourthly, we felt that one of our great strengths was in the whole area of sports, given the fact that Northwest was Notre Dame, south of us was IU and down farther Evansville and so forth. So all of a sudden we decided that sports would be an economic leverage for us, using amenity infrastructure to leverage economic development opportunity, and that was really the start of why we built the Natatorium, the Velodrome, and all these other facilities. And as a result of that, ultimately, we got the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. And I think looking back, the revitalization of downtown and the attraction of tourists and the expenditure of tourist dollars here in Indianapolis is largely attributable to the fact that we expanded our convention center, not just for football, but for many other sporting events, plus convocations like religious conventions and all that added up to a boost in economic development for our city,
Narrator 3:56
While Mayor Hudnut looks to the city county merger and past economic development as keys to keeping Indianapolis competitive in the 21st century. Mayor Dean also acknowledges the power of consolidated government and sees education as vital to revitalizing the region.
Carl Dean 4:13
The reason Nashville has done well, I think, for the last 30-40 years, is a variety of things, and some of these things ebb and flow, but one of them is our consolidated government. 50 years ago yesterday, the first mayor of metropolitan government was sworn in in 1963. And what that has given us, as is given to you, has given us a rational, efficient form of government where there’s less duplication of services. We have one school district, we have one public works department, we have one police department, one water department. You don’t see as you see, particularly in the northeast, constant repetition of services when you travel 10 or 15 miles from one township or city to the next. It has also been a huge assistance to us, I think, in economic development, Mayor Brett and then Governor Bredesen, who was responsible for bringing the Oilers, the Titans, to Nashville, has said that he didn’t think it would be possible if we did not have a consolidated government and had to negotiate all that with different townships or cities. So it has worked very effectively for us. The other thing I’ve mentioned, as others have mentioned, it’s another similarity between our cities is the importance of universities. I mean, Vanderbilt, which is emerging as a major football power, if you haven’t been aware of that, is located in Nashville, which is an international, renowned research university, which is has grown and grown and done very well. But we have Belmont and Lipscomb and TSU and Fisk. There are 12 schools of higher learning in Middle Tennessee, and you can’t underestimate the importance of that. I too, am a transplant. I’m a third consecutive mayor who’s not a Nashville Native. And I think part of what makes cities attractive is they have to continue to be reborn. As Bob Dylan said, you know, if you’re not busy being born, you’re busy dying, And if you’re not bringing in new people, if you’re not attracting new ideas, you’re not being born. And these cities are all being born.
Narrator 6:10
Like Mayor Dean, Mayor Coleman believes that cities that want to compete in the global economy need to focus on educational opportunities.
Michael Coleman 6:18
But I can tell you, and I say this emphatically, that the next great civil rights movement in America is going to be education, and it needs to be, Because the truth of the matter is that the quality of one’s education should not depend upon the neighborhood in which you live, the color of your skin. or the wealth of your family. Unfortunately, that is the case in too many cities in America. That is the case in the city of Columbus, and we should be outraged to see that taking place all over our country. And so I’m saying it’s the next great civil rights movement to ensure that everyone in our cities have the opportunity for a quality education. We should not tolerate, we should not tolerate kids who are not getting the fact that they’re not getting quality education. We can’t tolerate that in America. We need to be outraged by it. Education is the challenge that we all have, and we’re not competing with other cities. We’re competing globally.
Ted Frantz 7:38
This podcast was produced by the Institute for Civic Leadership and Mayoral Archives and the Department of Communication at the University of Indianapolis. It is made possible by the support of the Richard M Fairbanks Foundation, Indiana Humanities, and the Lily Endowment. For more information, please see our website, uindy.edu/mayoral.