This week, a group of regional corporate, 今年，公民和民选领导人冒险深入德克萨斯州的中心地带，参加印地商会一年一度的领导人交流活动, we visited San Antonio.
圣安东尼奥市有8个县，比印第安纳波利斯市稍大一些(大约有50万居民), amid the Sunbelt population boom), but shares many common challenges and opportunities. We spent a productive three days talking regionalism, downtown redevelopment, capitalizing on competitive advantages in growth industries like the life sciences, and tackling tough issues like homelessness.
“Remember LEX 2019!” is a less catchy rallying cry than “Remember the Alamo!“但现在我们必须牢记本周的教训，并将其应用到我们的皇冠电子下载app中。, advocacy and community-building efforts back here in Indy.
(And we’re excited to announce that next year’s LEX destination is San Diego, our ‘sister city’ in the inaugural Brookings Institution Inclusive Growth Learning Lab.)
Far from home, plans to end homelessness:
Speaking of inclusive growth, 无家可归是经济孤立和社会保障网日益扩大的一个残酷后果. It’s become an increasingly pervasive problem in larger cities like San Antonio and Indianapolis. 我们的LEX议程包括与南阿拉莫地区无家可归者联盟(SARAH)进行的深入讨论。.
SARAH has developed and is now delivering on a comprehensive strategy to address homelessness, taking a systematic approach in collaboration with other public, private and philanthropic partners. We discussed the similarities and variances with our own Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention (CHIP) and the Indianapolis Community Plan to End Homelessness.
The Chamber supports the City and CHIP’s plans to expand services and launch new programs in pursuit of more comprehensive, 富有同情心和可执行性的无家可归解决方案——强调数据和衡量，以确保我们的努力产生持久的影响.
Big issues, big ideas, big data
The focus on collaboration and metrics were key takeaways from San Antonio. There was an impressive commitment to the ‘SA2020’ strategy, pulling together public, 私人和非营利性合作伙伴围绕市中心开发和社区重建等重点项目展开合作, public safety, transportation, 教育绩效和经济竞争力——并跟踪60多个绩效指标，以跟踪进展并建立问责制.
We’ve certainly made great strides in working cooperatively across the Indy Region, 跟踪成果，延续帮助塑造我们城市的公私伙伴关系的遗产. But we have to raise our game; our wrap-up discussion on these issues might be summed up with ‘three C’s:’
- 坦率——需要直面贫困和无家可归等棘手问题，并就基础设施投资(和地方收入差距)等地区挑战保持坦诚对话;
- Consensus – building regional support around priorities, solutions and how we measure success; and
- 互联互通——不仅仅是通过基础设施和交通工具实现的实体连接(尽管这些资产的规划和支付必须成为我们区域共识的一部分), but connecting more people to economic opportunities (and basic needs like housing).
…the ‘small’ details matter, too.
We came back from San Antonio inspired to think big. 但我们回到提醒我们,小的细节可以有很大的影响:一个小的误解国道资金公式(基于印第安纳·琼斯的“防火区”后一波合并在印第安纳波利斯消防部门和乡镇部门)印第安纳波利斯中已经欺骗了, city and state officials discovered recently.
州审计员特拉·克鲁兹和梅奥·霍格特的政府发现了这一差异，并宣布重新分配州资金, amounting to a net gain of about $12 million next year.
这是个好消息，但只解决了当地基础设施资金短缺的一小部分. 在资助模式中一个更大的问题是没有错误——根据公路里程而不是车道里程来分配援助不利于拥有更宽道路的大城市. And even though state funding for roads is important, 在为基础设施提供资金的地方税收收入的公平分配方面，还存在更广泛的挑战.
Roadways & riverfronts
Last week, the Chamber’s Local Government & 财政政策委员会得到了一些即将发布的研究报告的预览，报告显示马里恩县是印第安纳州财政最紧张的社区之一，面临着平均收入能力和提供基本公共服务成本之间的结构性赤字.
A growing region needs a healthy urban core, 印第安纳波利斯在基础设施和其他关键投资方面继续落后. We’ve talked about the importance of regionalism and a revenue structure aligned with our shared future, and we continue to work towards a solution that can earn buy-in locally and at the Statehouse.
To bring it back to LEX, 你们很多人都听说过圣安东尼奥成功地推动了市中心的重建，“河流步道”区引领了道路.
Here in Indianapolis, the transfer of the city’s water and stormwater systems to Citizens Energy yielded new revenue capacity to modernize water infrastructure and curb the environmental impact of combined sewer overflows (through the ‘DigIndy’ deep tunnel project) – creating a cleaner White River poised to be a truly regional asset and catalyst for new development on a similar scale.
Check out the White River Master Plan你会看到这些投资是如何跨越政治边界产生变革潜力的. 但我们无法找到新的和有创意的融资模式来保持印第安纳波利斯作为地铁中心的地位……我们需要一个收入体系和治理模式来支持地区的成功.
It’s one example of a transformative investment with impact across political boundaries. 但我们无法找到新的和有创意的融资模式来保持印第安纳波利斯作为地铁中心的地位……我们需要一个收入体系和治理模式来支持地区的成功.
On September 30th, 财政政策临时立法委员会将听取关于重组区域发展机构的证词——我们将在下次更新中报道有关讨论和更多内容.