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Entrepreneurial Mayors Share Thoughts as Public Conversationalists

News Categories: Centers | Civic Engagement | Lectures and Seminars

Bill HudnutBraddock (Pa.) Mayor John Fetterman The public is invited to eavesdrop on a spontaneous conversation between two entrepreneurial public servants - John Fetterman, the 39-year old mayor of Braddock, Pa., and Bill Hudnut, the venerated former four-term mayor of Indianapolis - as the two men discuss how society creates and re-creates inspiring places.

The 14th annual Public Conversation, featuring Fetterman and Hudnut in a dialogue moderated by Indiana author Scott Russell Sanders, will take place from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009, at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W. 86th St., Indianapolis.

The Public Conversation is the closing marquee event of the Spirit and Place Festival, a collaborative community project managed by The Polis Center, part of the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.

Spirit & Place Director Pamela Blevins Hinkle has compared the 10-day festival to a community potluck for which the festival administrators set the theme and invite community organizations and groups to prepare programs as "potluck dishes" to be shared with others.

The 2009 festival runs Nov. 6 through Nov. 15. The theme is "Inspiring Places." This year’s festival is expected to engage about 20,000 people in 40 events sponsored by more than 100 organizations throughout central Indiana. About 85 percent of the events, which celebrate the arts, humanities and religion, are free of charge.

With Hudnut and Fetterman at center stage, the Public Conversation will continue its traditional presentation of dynamic and thought-provoking dialogue.

During his 16 years as mayor (1976-1991), Hudnut helped transform Indianapolis as he labored to advance the "Unigov" concept, promote entrepreneurial public-private partnerships, and develop the city’s plan to become a "sports capital." In an Indianapolis Monthly Magazine opinion poll published in October 1996, 35 percent of the responders considered Hudnut as Indianapolis’s best mayor.

Fetterman won election as Braddock’s mayor in 2005 by one vote. In a November 2009 Atlantic Monthly article Fetterman is listed as one of 27 "Brave Thinkers" because of his efforts to "save (Braddock) by luring artists and small businesses with loft apartments, cheap rent, and other inducements . . . It’s an utterly idealistic experiment in extreme urban renewal with next to zero financial backing-one that could totally fail, or perhaps serve as a model for other devastated industrial towns."

No tickets are required for the Public Conversation which is free of charge.

An audience question-and-answer session will follow Fetterman’s and Hudnut’s discussion. The evening’s program will conclude with a "surround sound" performance featuring multiple choirs.

For a complete listing of scheduled Spirit and Place programs, go to: http://www.spiritandplace.org/ or call (317) 274-2455.

Published on: October 28, 2009