Not a fan...leaving again
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6/26/2018
I grew up in Indianapolis. Back then it was a sleepy city and kind of boring and so I moved away after college. A few years later, I had an opportunity to come back and since I knew the city and it's cheap to live here, I did. Big mistake. It has changed and not in a good way.
Like most cities, there's lots of new building going on downtown. People here think it's unique to Indy, but it isn't. This is happening pretty much everywhere, even in cities like Dayton and Toledo. One unintended consequence is that prices have gone up dramatically. You can still pick up real estate cheap in the south and east suburbs, but everywhere else has gotten kind of expensive. Downtown is ridiculously so. Yes, I know it's cheaper than Chicago but that's a ridiculous comparison. Indy is not and never will be Chicago.
Except when it comes to crime. Crime is horrible here. Violent crime like murder and rape. It's just off the charts. So is poverty. The city school system is failing. Infrastructure is crumbling. When you get out of downtown, there are large numbers of abandoned homes. This is especially true to the east and north, but even west side neighborhoods like Haughville and along 16th have a lot of abandoned properties. If you have to drive through these neighborhoods, lock the doors and bring a firearm with you. Seriously.
I think what bothers me most is that most of my peers have put the blinders on when it comes to this sort of thing. If you bring any of this up, their standard response is to deny it or brand you a hater, so I've stopped because who needs that? Of course, if you don't recognize your problems you have no chance of fixing them.
I don't hate Indy as much as I pity it. It's a very insular place that's very comfortable with what it is, warts and all. Hoosiers aren't big on change, so I expect it to continue to slide in terms of quality of life. I think the city is one recession away from a full blown economic disaster. If you want to move here, you really need to do your own research. Don't believe the stuff you here from the mindless cheerleaders and boosters. They don't have your best interest at heart.
Jennifer | Indianapolis, IN