Residents Give Indianapolis High Marks Overall; Downtown Safety Gets Lower Results

INDIANAPOLIS - Indianapolis residents who participated in a survey conducted by the IUPUI Department of Tourism, Conventions and Event Management gave their health, lifestyle, and the city, overall, high marks.

Downtown Indianapolis, however, received lower ratings in certain areas, including how safe residents felt there after dark.

A total of 955 Indianapolis residents were surveyed during a three week period in October, 2006. The quality of life survey included questions about a wide range of topics, including age, income, race, health, well-being, lifestyle, leisure activities, community and neighborhood, litter, graffiti, air pollution, empty buildings, traffic problems, public transportation, sporting facilities, cultural venues, historic venues, and shopping.

People were asked to complete the survey in downtown Indianapolis. The downtown locations were selected for the survey, because people from across the city converge at those sites.

The research team compared results from a survey in 2005 to the results from this year's survey.

Most respondents felt safe in their own neighborhoods during the daytime and after dark.

Downtown Indianapolis during the day was viewed as safe by 80 percent of those surveyed. Those feelings change, however, when the sun goes down. Only 40 percent of respondents said downtown was a safe place to live, work, and socialize at night. In 2005, 44 percent of respondents said downtown Indianapolis was safe at night.

Nonetheless, most respondents said Indianapolis, as a whole, was a clean and tidy city that has friendly people, many attractions, cultural and historical venues, and quality hotels and restaurants.

Among the survey's findings:

• 74 percent of respondents said the quality of their overall health was good to extremely good.
• 77 percent of respondents said they felt happy a good bit of the time or always.
• More than 64 percent of respondents agreed that Indianapolis is becoming home for an increasing number of people with different lifestyles and cultures and it's a better place to live.
• Areas that received lower ratings compared to 2005 are air and noise pollution, public transportation and crime.
• More than 60 percent of respondents enjoyed the cultural attractions in the city and believed that Indianapolis has the potential to succeed as a cultural tourism destination.

The department has been conducting an annual survey to collect the opinions of Indianapolis residents about the impacts of cultural tourism on their quality of life. The city announced in 2001 that it would pursue a cultural tourism initiative. The goal of the initiative was to enhance the quality of life and attract visitors and businesses by bolstering the city's regional, national and international cultural profile.