INDIANAPOLIS — Historic Urban Neighborhoods of Indianapolis (HUNI) and Indiana Landmarks teamed up to hold a mayoral forum with incumbent Mayor Joe Hogsett and Republican candidate Jefferson Shreve.
Thursday night, the candidates were asked questions by audience members and also given five minutes to share their ideas and policies for improving the city’s neighborhoods.
“This could be one of the few times where they are together to answer questions, so I think it is really important for that to happen,” HUNI president Tom Abeel said.
"My business executive experience, coupled with my stint on the council, has prepared me to lead the city with a fresh set of eyes." Shreve said.
"The progress and the programs we have put in place over these preceding years are making meaningful change toward our shared goals of a safe and prosperous Indianapolis for all," Hogsett said.
People submitted questions to the candidates, asking them their plans for accomplishing their goals.
One asked how the candidates plan to address crime in Indy. Shreve said if he's elected, public safety will be front and center.
"If we play this out, we will be over 200 homicides again in 2023. That's no way for citizens to live," Shreve said.
Hogsett said the numbers don't lie.
"Even though it's only the end of September, we are well on our way to another year of double-digit homicide reduction for the city of Indianapolis, but it's not just homicides. It's all forms of violent crimes," Hogsett said.
Others had questions about roads and streets.
"We are in the process of passing in the budget for operating 2024, the beginning of a $1.2 billion infrastructure package that will be used over the next several years," Hogsett said.
"It's in the lower income areas, where potted roads can inflict the most damage to people that don't have the resources to replace a bent rim or tire. We have to be equitable in where we spend the money we do have," Shreve said.
Jeffrey Burgin was one of the attendees. He said he hopes voters pay close attention to this race.
"If we don't get engaged, or at least care what's happening on the local level, it does us a disservice," Burgin said.
13News also sat down with both candidates ahead of November’s election to discuss the biggest challenges facing Indianapolis.
When it comes to the future of downtown, Hogsett believes getting more people to live in the mile square is key.
“I really see that as a way of driving our resiliency and making our community even better than it was before the setback that occurred in 2020,” Hogsett said.
As for Shreve, he believes in building up the neighborhoods around downtown citing Bates-Hendricks, Fountain Square and Fletcher Place.
“I was really proud of the progress that we made in my time on council in neighborhoods like that, and we need to amplify that,” Shreve said. “We need to do that in more and more places in and around both the inner loop and into the townships.”
There was also talk about streets in our sessions.
“We got a lot of ground to make up, but I’m confrontable that we are dedicated to doing whatever is necessary to make our roads as pristine as we can make them,” Hogsett said.
“A lot of our neighborhood streets haven’t seen any funding or any attention in 40 to 50 years, so we got to move some of the resources to the maintenance of secondary and neighborhood streets,” Shreve said.
To learn more about HUNI’s forum, click here.