The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: Connecting our Community

As downtown dwellers, my wife Mary Beth and I spend a great deal of our time during the warmer months traveling to work, meals with friends, and Mass Ave. businesses along the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick.

While I was fortunate to provide consultation about the trail's physical elements, like many projects, the Cultural Trail is about more than curb cuts and eye-catching public art. In Indianapolis, the Cultural Trail is all about connections.

Consider this: Mary Beth regularly rides her bike from our home to our downtown office. She is able to safely navigate city streets - in the thick of rush hour traffic - because of the Cultural Trail. Riding her bike along the trail has added benefits. It's one less car on the streets, and it has a positive impact on her health.

We often leave our accessible van parked in our driveway, and use the trail to meet up with friends for dinner along Mass Ave. Or, I might roll along the trail on my way to one of Mass Ave.'s many accessible businesses. On a recent summer night, Mary Beth and I ran into friends and neighbors on our way to Yogulatte for some frozen yogurt. Mass Ave. is a thriving cultural district that embraces diversity, and the trail is a key amenity in linking everyone together.

The connections the Cultural Trail fosters - whether it's physical infrastructure of human relationships - are what make up a community. It's neighbors gathering at a coffee shop. It's suburban residents parking their cars and shopping at locally owned businesses. And it's employers, making investments in our neighborhoods. These types of connections happen every day along the Cultural Trail.

I encourage people with and without disabilities in Indianapolis to take some time to explore the Cultural Trail. It's a great way to connect with our community - and each other.

A view of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail looking

east on Massachusetts Avenue.

The Palladium: Sensitive to Guests with Disabilities

This morning, the Indianapolis Business Journal featured an article about a local woman who faced a challenge in purchasing a ticket for a wheelchair user at The Palladium. In the story, I discuss the many amenities of The Palladium, and how the staff will be participating in even more training to ensure people with disabilities are able to fully enjoy their experience.

People with disabilities present great opportunities to businesses and other organizations. When an individual purchases a ticket for an event, regardless of the price, they are exercising their purchasing power. That's why the work we do is so critical. We help ensure people with disabilities - and the aging population - can do more than purchase the ticket. We help ensure they can fully participate in the event or programming that is offered to them.

To everyone at The Palladium who is committed to accommodating people with disabilities and their guests, thank you for your work.