Decentralization of Metropolitan Government: Reform in Indianapolis

This note will deal first with the reasons for centralization of local governments and how certain cities, especially Indianapolis, have achieved that goal. The issue of involving smaller communities in the solution to urban problems will then be discussed, first in the context of certain objections to the Indianapolis consolidation, then in the context of the achievement record of community development corporations, and finally with relation to MINIGOV itself. Part IV will consider specific sections of the MINIGOV bill dealing with citizen participation in land use planning and development, and Part V will more broadly compare the Indianapolis scheme to other proposals for a “two-tiered” local government.