Super spending

In preparation for yesterday’s Super Bowl, the Indianapolis community invested over $100 million of public and private money to create a fan experience that will have out-of-towners thinking twice about the city’s “India-no-place” image.

Indy spent so much to showcase its best qualities because it is not often in the national spotlight as it has been in the past week.

Hoosiers should look at last week as a tryout for their capital city to join the likes of New Orleans and Miami as regular hosts of the Super Bowl.

The preparation expenditures were necessary to show the country all the city has to offer. Bringing the Super Bowl back to Indianapolis would have huge benefits for the city. Residents would surely welcome the increased tourism, greater sales tax receipts and morale boost that the Super Bowl brings.

Critics who believe the money could have been better spent elsewhere — education, for instance — recognize the city’s outlays should be proper investments in the community, not just window dressings for its guests.

Spending such huge amounts on a sporting event is sure to raise eyebrows, but criticism is unjust as long as the funds are used to enhance the city for the long term.

Luckily, the footprints left behind by Indy’s Super Bowl spending will continue to confer benefits to local residents long after the crowds leave.

The Super Bowl has ended, but it has left Indianapolis a cleaner, more walkable and safer city. The investments made in preparation for the big game revitalized the downtown district.

While we’re not sure the spending will lift Indianapolis from “flyover” country, it can have a positive effect on the community.

Perhaps the most visible benefit from the city’s investments is the $11 million Chase Near Eastside Legacy Center, a youth education and community center in a neighborhood usually known for crime and poverty.

The project was funded by several charity groups in conjunction with the Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee.

While Indianapolis residents should be proud of this worthwhile investment in the community, they should pause to examine why they waited for the Super Bowl to undertake the revitalization project.

If the project was worth doing in preparation for the Super Bowl, why wasn’t it worth doing years ago?

Indianapolis shouldn’t need the Super Bowl to improve itself as a city. Its residents deserve community leaders who continuously strive to make their city better every day, whether or not there are tourists in town.