Bottom feeder city - 7/13/2019
I've been to just about every big city and with the exception of St. Louis and Baltimore, Indianapolis is at the bottom of my list of America's urban places. It's a very immature city in the sense that it has supporters and if you say something negative about it they're all over you. The only other city I've ever seen that mindset in was Denver...also very immature. You don't see it in really great places. You can criticize Seattle or Portland and people will listen and engage without turning into emotional basket cases. Not in Indy. No way.

The city has a lot of problems and they get glossed over by the marketing people who are trying to present it as a hip, compact, walkable urban destination. They've built the Cultural Trail, for example. They think this makes them Amsterdam, but it's really nothing more than a glorified sidewalk with a nice brick inlay. Lots of those bricks are crumbling and they won't get fixed because maintaining what you build is not the Read More

Do your homework before moving here?? - 4/16/2019
Every comment on this feed is true about Indianapolis. I’m just adding my two cents..lol! This city has jobs yes. Decent housing yes. Public transportation is becoming more convenient. Pot holes galore, DEEP ONES! I mean the ones that literally pisses you off, and they will not reimburse,.if they do it takes MONTHS! The growth is coming from Michigan, and Illinois..BAD NEWS! Multiple murders daily. Shootings every day of the week, especially when we get the first brush of good weather. “Good places” like the Monon Trail, and the newer edition of the Canal downtown is made for people to jog,bike,enjoy nature..and suddenly you get robbed or attacked. Most people are rude, mean, and defensive. Don’t get me wrong there are nice people here, but to me personally it’s not worth it if you can’t really enjoy where you live. Read More

Terrible, Horrible, Sad excuse of a small city... - 4/13/2019
WORST PLACE EVER!!!!!!! If you are thinking about moving here don’t!! All the reviews about the city being boring, people are super rude and unfriendly, crime is so high. If you have liberal views or vote democratic people here will hate you. It’s sad because Indianapolis has some rich history and has the potential to be better but it will never happen. I hate that I let my husband talk me into moving back here. I want to move far far away from here the cost of living being low is not enough reason to stay. Besides the cost the living here is on the rise. I’m from northern Indiana and up there is so much better then here. I lived only an hour away from Chicago it was nice. Read More

Horrible town - 3/29/2019
I have lived here almost 7 years now and have hated every minute of it. So let's start with the weather. It starts to get cold by the end of October and will not warm up again until sometime in April. Being from Florida that just doesn't work for me. Then lets talk about tax. They love to tax here. You will pay City, County and state income tax on your paycheck and that would be great if Indiana didn't have the worst roads in America. I have never seen so many holes in roads in my life including the interstate. They are constantly out there with miles and miles of road construction signs up but you cant ever tell that they did anything. Let's move on to politics, if you are not conservative then this is definitely not the place for you. This is Republican territory for sure. Most definitely a waste of your time to vote if you aren't voting Republican here. Trust me I have voted every election here for 7 years now. Some will probably try to argue that there is diversity here in this Read More

Counting the Days... - 9/12/2018
I was transfered here from Arkansas last year. I only mention that because if you live in Little Rock and move somewhere else it doesn't really matter where you go. Everyplace is an upgrade. Everyplace except Baton Rouge...and Indianapolis.

In hindsight, I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't this. I think Indiana is the Arkansas of the north and Indianapolis is its Little Rock. It's just as unhealthy here as it is back home. Everybody drives everywhere, even across the street. The winters are gawdawful and the streets are all crumbling. I've never seen so much road rage in my life. I just get the feeling people are really frustrated here. I don't know why. They all go on about how great it is but it sure doesn't feel like that's real to me. Some other things that won't come as a surprise if you read the other comments. Crime is really bad. Folks are nice once you get to know them but before that they're downright mean and nasty. The blank Read More

boring city - 7/17/2018
The cost of living is starting to go up.A lot of people say they want to leave,many have.I left three times in seven and a half years.There are more than enough jobs.I've noticed an increase in population.I grew up in a big Read More

Just another Midwestern town - 7/1/2018
Indianapolis is basically confused on what it wants to be. It tries to be progressive and fast-paced like Chicago but its conservative and still stuck in 1988. It doesn't have the resources to another Chicago. I would compare it to Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha or Oklahoma City, but those cities aren't trying to be a alpha city they are midsize and they know their place. But, Indianapolis hasn't figured that it is not an alpha city. So, why try to be one? It's basically a Oklahoma City on steroids.

Infrastructure...
Bad roads, crater sized potholes, many streets in the out lying areas lack sidewalks but are assessible by public transportation. It has a bus only network that runs east/west and north/south, no transfer points but downtown. This causes long bus rides for a trip that should take only 20-30 minutes.

Culture....
The culture in Indy is very conservative. Socially and politically. It is a fiscally conservative state. So, the poor are Read More

Not My Kind of Town, Yeeesh - 7/1/2018
I've been thinking about getting out of Seattle lately. Too crowded. Too expensive. Too weird. So I have been reaching out to people I met in college. I attended this future government conference in Nashville and people from all over came. I'm pretty good with names so I've kept in touch.

One of the guys was from Indianapolis. Nice guy. Down home. I'll never forget his nickname at the conference....Gomer...that's what we called him. Really.

So anyway, as part of my effort to find a new home, I reached out to Gomer. He said I should come to Indy and so I scheduled a trip. Before I hung up, I asked him what he really liked about the place. Here's what he told me...

1. It's really cheap.
2. The people are nice.
3. There's this really cool district called Mass Ave.
4. Pacers and Colts and Elevens, oh my.
5. The freeways. I kid thee not. He really said this.

So anyway I thought it a little Read More

Not a fan...leaving again - 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 Read More

Weirdest city on the planet... - 5/31/2018
I met this guy from Indianapolis online and we kind of hit it off so he suggested I come for a visit. I currently live on the East Coast and travel a lot but I had never been to Indiana so sure, why not? I Googled it and came across a bunch of positive reviews of the city and this guy literally gushed about it.

No. Just no. I get off the plane and we're barely out of the airport when a pothole almost swallows the Uber guy's Prius. Then another, and another and another and so I ask him what the deal is. "Its our weather" he says to me like I'm from Mars. I'm actually from Providence, so I know a little about cold weather and freeze-thaw cycles. I also know that Indianapolis potholes are the worst on the planet. Ever hear of hot patch? You might want to try it, Indianapolis. Or not. Like I said...not my car.

The drive in from the airport was pretty interesting. Except for the lack of incoming rockets, I could have been in Aleppo or Damascus. Read More