As big as a convention host as we are..it blows me away that light rail was not put in from downtown to the airport at least. We're twenty years behind other big cities!!
And yet the conventions still come. Fortunately (or unfortunately) traffic and parking is NOT a problem in downtown, no matter how much we complain about it. It is simply not bad enough to force the population as a whole to demand better options. Yes it would be nice to be proactive and have a vibrant public transportation system BEFORE the ultimate need arises. But let's face it, any Politician of ANY PARTY who comes to Indianapolis (or any other similar city) and spends hundreds of millions or billions of dollars on PUBLIC, I can't drive my car there, TRANSPORTATION, regardless of how noble his/her intentions, is NOT getting re-elected.
Best we can hope for is a repeal of the prohibition on light rail which could possibly someday lead to a startup downtown circulator streetcar type system, similar to Cincinnati. Cincinnati Streetcar is a dismal FAILURE as a transportation system. It's still very controversial and the democrat mayor still wants to ax it. It's mainly used by the downtown lunch crowd and by locals and tourists moving between entertainment districts. No one commutes on it. And it require a large operating subsidy. BUT it is a huge success as a economic development driver, concentrating new development along it's lines (development that arguably could have happened elsewhere in greater Cincinnati) and has turned what was once in the top 5 for most dangerous ZIP codes (per capita) in the US into a thriving and growing entertainment district. Is it perfect, hell no. But it's light years better than where it was a decade ago. And it is slowly bringing the density in commercial, entertainment, AND housing that requires better public transit and, more importantly, making the idea of hoping on public transit something that is more palatable to the suburbanites who's taxes pay for it.