Editorial: Business leaders must get invested to solve downtown’s safety problem

In 2015, Indiana business leaders jumped into action after the Legislature approved and then-Gov. Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a measure that executives worried would allow discrimination against the LGBT community.

The law put Indiana in the national spotlight. Some companies with Indiana operations threatened to cut planned investments. Major conventions, including Gen Con, threatened to leave Indianapolis. There were even some states, including New York, that banned their government employees from traveling here.

A group of business leaders—including then-Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles and then-Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Scott McCorkle—helped negotiate a so-called “fix” that quelled most of the critics.

Those leaders weren’t the first to raise objections. Groups that advocate for LGBT rights and civil rights had fought against the legislation before it passed. But it was the business community’s outrage that led to change.

It’s time to see that outrage again—this time focused on violence in Indianapolis.

By now, you know the details. In the early morning hours of July 5, two juveniles were killed and five other juveniles and young adults were injured during a shooting near the Indianapolis Artsgarden. It was the third downtown shooting in two weeks.

On June 23, three people were injured and a 16-year-old was arrested after a shooting on Monument Circle that sent bullets into several buildings, including IBJ’s newsroom. On June 21, three people were injured in a shooting along the Central Canal near Indiana Avenue.

“We should all be shaken by what occurred,” Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Chris Bailey said at a press conference after the July 5 shooting. “We cannot grow numb to the violence in our community—wherever it occurs. And we cannot accept this as normal.”

This is not just a downtown problem, of course. The Indianapolis Star reported that, in total, five people died and 25 more were injured over what it called a “staggeringly violent Fourth of July weekend in Indianapolis.”

But downtown matters a lot. It’s where the WNBA All-Star Weekend will take place July 18-19. It’s where visitors come for major conventions like Gen Con, which is scheduled for July 31-Aug. 3. It’s the seat of state government and a place that visiting political figures, CEOs and athletes typically stay when they’re in town.

Mayor Joe Hogsett and Bailey already have announced changes—earlier curfews, additional patrols, so-called stay-away orders meant to keep bad actors out of downtown. But we believe solving this problem and rebuilding downtown’s reputation will take significant involvement from the business community.

Downtown is home to powerhouse companies and organizations including Eli Lilly and Co., Elevance Health, Cummins Inc., Indiana University Health, Indiana University Indianapolis, and soon Elanco Animal Health, among others. It’s time for the smart and savvy people leading these organizations to join the effort to make downtown and the whole city safer for their employees, for our visitors and for all residents.

Maybe that starts with leadership from Indy Chamber or the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership or maybe with one CEO grabbing the reigns and organizing others to make change.

Now is the time for outrage and action.•

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