INDIANAPOLIS — Local activists, weary of local media’s misrepresentation of crime reporting, have started an online petition to be delivered to Indianapolis network affiliates and the daily newspaper asking them to be more careful of the boundaries recognized as “east side.”
Supporters of the petition point out that locations given on crimes in the city often misidentify areas, such as a crime happening at 38th and College Ave. as being on the “east side” instead of the north side. They believe that the negative effects of such reporting have mischaracterized the east side as a violent, dangerous area, when, in fact, they are not. This has had a ripple effect throughout the east side, hurting business creation, hampering investment in the community, and hurting home values in neighborhoods.
The petition states: “News media outlets should be more responsible with their reporting, and stop making general statements that are destructive socially and economically to the many thousands of hard-working citizens living east of the downtown and near downtown area. We would like to be recognized as distinct from the near east side, the near north side, and the north-east side, as well as any other areas of the city with high crime that are separate from the east side, but with whom we are consistently grouped with.”
There are many prosperous, family friendly neighborhoods east of Meridian, including Cottage Home, historic Woodruff Place and Irvington; the up-and-coming Holy Cross, Windsor Park, Arsenal Heights, and St. Clair Place neighborhoods are seeing a lot of rebuilding and renovations; and many other neighborhoods on the east side enjoy low crime rates and renewed interest in home ownership since the Great Recession. Neighbors are working hard in areas that have seen problems, developing positive relationships with police and the city-county government as well as with each other to make the area better.
To read and sign the petition, visit www.change.org/p/indianapolis-media-outlets-irresponsible-reporting-of-indy-s-east-side