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The greatness of Indianapolis is being eclipsed by mediocrity.
Whether you fault erosions in public safety, lagging political leadership or other maladies, it is clear Indianapolis is suffering. Crime statistics, coupled with headlines of unaddressed sexual harassment scandals and questionable pay-to-play economic development deals reveal the rot whose stench has long wafted over the Circle.
Things are bad enough that a downtown casino has been offered as a solution to our ills. Whatever the diagnosis, all should agree the sugar-high of gambling expansion is no substitute for long-term quality-of-life improvements born of economic growth.
Rather than ponder non-solutions like a new casino, it’s time to elevate and celebrate civic leadership over political leadership to restore the luster to our state’s capital city. Civic leadership has a rich history here that we must reclaim to remove the eclipse.
Political leadership resides in the halls of elected office, where authority is conferred by ballots and bound by statutes. It commands through position, speaks in mandates, and measures success in public enactments and pronouncements.
Civic leadership, by contrast, is forged from the feedstock of relationship. It emerges not from a dais but from the dinner table, the neighborhood watch and the volunteer food pantry drive. Its currency is trust, earned in small, repeated acts of listening and showing up. Where the elected leader says, “Follow the law,” the civic leader asks, “How can we walk this path together?” One wields the gavel; the other extends a hand.
Political leadership governs the system. Civic leadership sustains the soul of the community. The first is indispensable for order, the second for belonging. A society thrives when both are honored—yet neither can fully substitute for the other.
But, right now, it is the soul of Indianapolis that is ailing. So it is time for our civic sector to step up.
We should begin by remembering our rich heritage. That lesson would do well to begin with Col. Eli Lilly, who founded his namesake company in 1876. In retirement, he spearheaded the building of Monument Circle, elevated railroads to improve urban life and championed the city’s first sewer system. This ethic led his grandchildren to found Lilly Endowment Inc., America’s largest private foundation, with assets approaching $100 billion. The endowment is our secret weapon in civic vitality and renewal.
That ethic informed the work of city hall as the civic and the political blended to transform “Naptown” into a vibrant, low-cost, high-quality-of-life international city. Urban innovators like Richard G. Lugar and Stephen Goldsmith built on these developments to advance our city’s well-being. City patrons like Madam C.J. Walker and, a generation later, Tom Moses, Jim Morris and William Mays fostered economic growth and a robust, responsive social sector.
The first step is to stabilize downtown by removing criminals from the streets. We do not need the National Guard, as one statewide official has declared, but the police surge organized by Gov. Mike Braun this summer was—and is—welcome.
The next step is to make clear on these pages and elsewhere that social entrepreneurs, the faith community and civic leaders at all levels are vital and will be resourced and celebrated. With child care slots for low-income workers capped, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly called food stamps) imperiled and new work requirements for multiple federal safety-net programs, we need a grassroots revolution in meeting the needs of our neighbors.
The real lifeline for a struggling capital city isn’t top-down government-funded programs and nonprofits. It’s neighbors lifting neighbors—one block, one family, one act of help at a time. When that happens, the new citywide civic leaders will emerge.•
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Smith is chairman of the Indiana Family Institute and author of “Deicide: Why Eliminating The Deity is Destroying America.” Send comments to [email protected].
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