How Do You Improve America's #1 Place to Live? | Sue Finkam, Carmel Mayor

On today's show I sat down with Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam about how Carmel grew from rapid early-2000s expansion into a 106,000-resident city voted the nation's best place to live, driven first by schools and later by walkability, arts, and distinct districts like the Art & Design District, Midtown, and City Center.

Mayor Finkam credits Mayor Jim Brainard's success to listening to residents and selling a long-term vision, including architecturally significant development, public art, and roundabout-centered design standards.

She addresses misconceptions that Carmel is snobby or uniformly wealthy, noting district diversity, 110 languages from 90 different countries spoken in schools, and local poverty concerns that led to a food access commission.

Mayor Finkam outlines her leadership priorities of keeping Carmel safe, clean, and beautiful, plus government modernization, cultural "one team" operations, and public safety innovations like drone first responders and advanced firefighter helmet technology.

If you like this episode and want to hear more Get IN. episodes where I interview Hoosiers making a difference, visit getindiana.com/podcast.

You are going to learn about:
- How Carmel Grew So Rapidly
- Misconceptions About Carmel
- Mayor Finkam's Priorities to Making a Better Carmel

Check out these great clips from the show:
00:00 Carmel Vision Teaser
00:29 Guest Introduction: Sue Finkam, Carmel Mayor
01:59 Moving to Carmel
03:16 Growth and Schools
05:19 Building Downtown Districts
07:37 Advice for City Leaders
09:44 Carmel Misconceptions
12:13 Food Access and Poverty
13:44 Mayor Week in Review
14:53 Modernizing City Hall
18:41 Safe Clean Beautiful Brand
22:05 Public Art and Identity
24:54 Roundabouts and Design
29:25 Homeplace and Annexation
31:59 Roads Construction Priorities
36:34 Roundabout Challenges
37:42 Community Safety Priorities
38:40 Drones And Real Time Response
40:36 Firefighter Helmet Tech
43:07 Listening And City Vision
45:17 Building A City Identity
49:00 Intentional Growth And Amenities
50:36 Becoming Carmel Mayor
53:10 Handling Online Criticism
58:20 Why Indiana Feels Like Home
58:56 Rapid Fire Carmel Picks
01:03:53 Hidden Gems And Hoosiers
01:07:16 Favorite Indiana Memory
01:10:17 Final Thanks And How To Connect

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