Hogsett Calls For More Neighborhood Quality of Life Platforms

INDIANAPOLIS - Democratic candidate for Indianapolis mayor Joe Hogsett wants to help more neighborhoods write Quality of Life plans as a guide to redevelopment.

Too many neighborhoods lack a roadmap to improvement that a quality of life plan provides," Hogsett said Tuesday.

"If and once put in place, I think will be the foundation upon which neighborhoods can experience their own revitalization," he told WFYI.

Helping more neighborhood groups write those plans is a staple of the Democrat’s platform on neighborhood redevelopment. Acknowledging each neighborhood has different challenges and goals, Hogsett said much of the work has to come from residents, not city hall.

"For a neighborhood to really experience true transformation, the vast majority of that effort is going to have to be made on the ground, in the neighborhood, by the neighborhood itself," he said.

Hogsett says one of his most important appointments will be a deputy mayor for neighborhoods.

His neighborhood plan also includes an aggressive effort to knock down or clean up vacant homes. Hogsett said first his administration would conduct an inventory of vacant properties eligible for demolition.