Inside Richmond: The City's Pulse

Episode 5 - Inside Richmond: The City's Pulse | 'Branding' vs. 'Comprehensive Planning': Richmond's Future Identity

• Kevin Shook • Episode 5

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Mayor Oler joins host Lindsay Darnell to dive into Richmond's ambitious dual initiatives aimed at reshaping the city's future—a comprehensive branding effort and a crucial refresh of the Richmond Rising comprehensive plan. For the first time in its history, Richmond is creating a unified brand that genuinely reflects its current identity, moving beyond outdated references like the "Rose City" or the "Gateway to Indiana."

"The city, as far as we can tell, has never had a comprehensive, holistic, or citywide brand that truly unites its identity," explains Mayor Oler. He draws a distinction between the logo that has adorned City Hall since 1969 and the need for a brand that communicates Richmond’s values and aspirations.

The comprehensive plan refresh serves as Richmond's strategic roadmap for the next five years, tackling everything from zoning and infrastructure to economic development and sustainability. What makes this update particularly significant is its response to post-COVID lifestyle shifts—such as remote work and increased home deliveries—that have fundamentally changed how people interact with the city.

Both initiatives are driven by community input, with surveys gathering citizen perspectives on priorities and perceptions. The branding effort is set to conclude in August, feeding directly into the comprehensive plan to create a cohesive vision for Richmond’s future. As projects like the redevelopment of the Elder Beerman site take shape and Mayor Oler prepares for his State of the City address on March 14th, there's a strong sense of momentum. As the Mayor puts it, "The city's having a rebirth."

Don't miss this insightful conversation about the strategic efforts shaping Richmond’s identity and future. Visit www.richmondindiana.gov for employment opportunities and to participate in upcoming surveys that will help define the next chapter of Richmond’s story.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to another episode of Inside Richmond, the City's Pulse. I'm Lindsay Darnell, your host Today. We have Mayor Oler joining us again and we are going to be talking about the differences between a branding initiative that the city is undergoing and the comprehensive plan, and then, towards the end, we're going to talk a little bit about the state of the city address that is going to be happening on Friday, march 14th, at 12 pm noon. You can join in on Facebook Live or watch it on WCTV's YouTube channel. Mayor, thank you for joining me.

Speaker 2:

Okay, glad to be here today. Thank you for inviting me back.

Speaker 1:

Yes. So the reason I invited you back is I think there's a lot of misconception on the branding and the comprehensive plan. So I just wanted to ask you some questions, get some clarification out there. Can you tell me a little bit about what a comprehensive plan is?

Speaker 2:

So comprehensive plan. That's Richmond's roadmap for growth. It goes over zoning infrastructure, economic development, public safety, sustainability over the next five years. Our current comprehensive plan is just past the five-year mark Richmond Rising so it's time to refresh that and look at what we did or did not do during COVID especially, and what we want to do going forward for the next five years.

Speaker 2:

So, some of the things that are in there, like infrastructure and housing. So the comprehensive plan talks about we want to establish new housing within the city limits because it's less expensive to add utilities to a housing development in the city limits and outside the city limits those kinds of things.

Speaker 1:

Well, you mentioned Richmond Rising Comprehensive Plan, and so I wanted to clarify on that part. Richmond Rising was the comprehensive plan for 2019. That was their logo. It wasn't actually a brand. It was used for the comprehensive plan, correct?

Speaker 2:

Correct. It's not a brand. So cities, if you want to talk about branding, as far as we can tell, the city's never had a comprehensive brand or a holistic brand or a citywide brand that identifies or unites the city's identity. If you drive by City Hall, you'll see that big logo on the end of the building and that came with the building in 1969, and we still have that on our letterhead today. We're not going to get rid of that logo for purposes of swearing-in ceremonies behind the flags stuff and on city hall. But it was never really a brand. Richmond rising, like you said, was the name of a comprehensive plan. Every comprehensive plan has a name. It wasn't really a brand, a complete unified to brand. We haven't been to rose city for a very long time. And the other thing if you're inside City Hall in Rotunda and you see the flags, the city flag reads yeah, gateway to Indiana. That's not a good brand either.

Speaker 2:

So the whole idea of branding is to what are our values, what are our aspirations, what makes our city unique? And this is having that brand allows us to effectively communicate it, not just to current residents but businesses current and businesses who are considering locating here, and visitors. So tourism will use it too. So this is the city of Richmond, these are our values, this is what we aspire to be, this is our brand. So with the new, revive I-70, there'll be a chance for signage along I-70. So none of the things we have now would really draw people into the city. Off the interstate you say Rose City, then they're going to come and look. We still have the Rose Garden, which is beautiful, don't get me wrong and we have that good history of the roses. But that's just not our current situation. We're more pet food, plastics when you think of manufacturing. But we're also an open, welcoming city. We have a long history of being open and welcoming to diverse populations.

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm. So the branding can also be used as a marketing tool to attract new businesses, attract new residents. I know that's one of our goals is to increase the population. There's a lot of things that can happen. If the population increases, it brings in more revenue. We'll be able to get more projects done.

Speaker 2:

Provide more services, better maintain the parks. I was looking at my appell pen because when I go to meetings around the state I can wear the city logo pen. I can wear anything, but if I wear that big red R they know I'm from Richmond on the mayor of Richmond, even though that's Richmond community schools. So they, they recognize that brand. So that's the power of a brand, the power of brand. You see that big red R anywhere in the state, you know it's from Richmond, either from the schools or the city. So I'm not saying we're going to end up with a big red R, cause that's kind of already taken, but we're going to end up with something that's that clear, plain and precise and succinct. And there's still more time for the perception survey. The first part Is that through. When is that?

Speaker 1:

March 7th Friday. March 7th is when the perception survey closes, but then, following that, we'll have another survey that will come out.

Speaker 2:

Sure, I think we talked about the perception. We walked through it last time. I know what I value and citizens know what they value and businesses know what they value. So let's get all these things together and come up with an identity that aligns with our values and aspirations. What do we want the downtown to look like? What do we want the parks to look like? What do we want the whole city to look like? Who do we want to be known? As you know, dayton, ohio, the birthplace of aviation. You say that and boom.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, theight brothers live there, that kind of thing. Indianapolis, oh, there's a big race that happens there. You know, that race is like one day. It takes 30 day, 23 days to get to it, but and it's a huge event for indianapolis. But you see, indianapolis, I used to travel the world and I would say it's from richmond, indiana, and they say where is that? And I said about from our, from indianapolis, indy 500. And I'm like, yeah, it's one race on a Sunday in May and everybody around the world knows what it is.

Speaker 1:

And that's why it's really important that we get that identity for us as well, so people know who we are.

Speaker 2:

A concrete brand that everybody recognizes and appreciates and supports. Yes, so we need your support, Richmond. Thank you.

Speaker 1:

And then comprehensive plans. So I want to talk about why is the comprehensive plan important, Really dive deep into it. I know with the comprehensive plan it has to be updated every five years for a municipality in order to be eligible for some federal grants, correct? Yes?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So it guides your land use, your transportation, improvements, housing initiatives, economic development, infrastructure upgrade. It's like the city's master plan. This is where we are now and this is where we want to be in five years. So, going through the comprehensive plan refresh, we're going through a process where we're looking at what we had in Richmond Rising and what we accomplished and didn't accomplish, and some of the things we didn't accomplish were probably related to COVID and people's shopping habits and their whole behavior habits have changed. So going forward the next five years, knowing how everything's changed, our comprehensive plans should be tweaked and change a little bit.

Speaker 2:

You know some of the things about transportation there aren't as many cars on the streets as it used to be because you're getting so much stuff shipped to home. There's more box trucks on the streets than ever in neighborhoods, but fewer people. So many people are remote working. They don't even leave their homes and now, with food delivery, grocery delivery, lunch delivery, everything can be delivered to your home. I wonder sometimes how many people leave don't leave their homes, but maybe once a week even then. So I'm thinking of everything you can have delivered to your homes nowadays. You know, unless it might happen if you have a single family home, you might need a lawn service. Otherwise you got to go get your lawnmower service and get some gasoline right.

Speaker 1:

Everything else could be delivered and then also, like I was saying, is, for us to qualify for federal grants, we need to have a refresh or a new comprehensive plan. Now, this comprehensive plan, we're not fully going completely over, we're just refreshing the current one, correct, if you come out with a?

Speaker 2:

conservative, I want to spend the least amount of money as possible and get the best result possible, and we know that if you refresh your plan every five years, it costs a lot less than starting from scratch in 15 years from now, Because every five years enough changes you need to refresh it. But if you wait 15 years, the whole thing you got to throw it out and start over and that's crazy expensive.

Speaker 1:

And it takes twice as long. So I want to say, maybe about two months ago I came out with a shaping the future survey.

Speaker 1:

It was just ranking current projects or it was actually projects in the previous comprehensive plan. We wanted the community to rank them most important to them, and so we did get a lot of feedback from that. I was very happy with the responses and the feedback we did get, so that'll kind of help drive us towards. You know, is these projects something we still need to visit in the comprehensive plan refresh, or do we need to just scratch it all together Our comprehensive plan kickoff? I believe they are wanting to do that here in the next few weeks. So then, once we have that kickoff meeting and know a little bit more of the steps that they're going to take, we'll be coming out with another survey just for the comprehensive plan, not for the branding.

Speaker 2:

Right, and I don't want people to get tired of doing all these surveys, but these are hugely important. It's the best way for you to communicate to us and once these are in place, so next year, our comprehensive plan will be done, our branding will be done, we're going to come out with surveys again next year. My administration wants to survey citizens, businesses every year to get their, their input and their opinion on certain things, and we're going to, we're going to mark and see how things, see how things change over time and the perceptions change and opinions change, and we need to.

Speaker 2:

We need the pulse of the city once a year yes, and the surveys aren't going to be very long.

Speaker 1:

We'll, we'll keep them short, you know I? I do know the perception survey for the branding. It said that it could take 10 minutes. I don't think it took me five minutes to complete.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's not really fair, cause you helped write it.

Speaker 2:

No, I'm just for the audience out there. That was a little little bit, a little bit of my humor. Yes, If you're seeing it for the first time, it would take 10 minutes, but you and I saw it a couple iterations before it was released. So, yeah, it really wasn't much time-wise, but it was really important because the questions are hugely important and every survey for that is going to build on each other. So every time you complete it, we want you to do the next survey, the next survey. Keep it rolling. So we keep building on it.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

So, rather than asking you to come out for two days and sit in a workshop for two days, several surveys and one eventual workshop or communications event will cover it.

Speaker 1:

And then talking about the branding, a lot of people I know you had already said this. It's not just a logo. It will help the city of Richmond be more cohesive. Our logos will be similar. Our tagline will all be the same.

Speaker 2:

Between all the departments.

Speaker 1:

yes, Our letterhead will change and it'll all be cohesive. So everything's going to mesh together and we're going to look like we are all one big part. We're not just, we're this department, we're that department. It's going to bring us together and we're going to be unified one cohesive city. Yes, yep so, um, this is going to be let me think real quick. I think we'll be completing the or not comprehensive plan. The branding in August that's when we'll kind of have it wrapped up and we'll start implementing is in August of this year, correct.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and the great thing about having the branding complete halfway through the comprehensive plan. So this brand will be inside that comprehensive plan.

Speaker 1:

So that comprehensive plan went up with a new brand too and that'll help mesh and I'll be the city's bread it all everything's going to tie together.

Speaker 2:

There's a reason we're doing things in in a certain order, in a certain way, since everything's going to be cohesive and tied together. So by the end of the year, next year, and you know all the stuff we're doing revitalized downtown is really kicking off soon, you know. You look at the old elder berman site and it's, it's, it's bare dirt, ready for construction that's going to start in a few weeks.

Speaker 1:

So city's city's having a rebirth here this is great it is and we're we're really pushing forward towards our future. So next I want to talk about is our State of the City address that you are going to be giving on Friday, march 14th, at 12 pm noon.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, wctv is going to broadcast it live. I think you're going to put it on our Facebook Live too, so everybody can watch it live or watch it later at your convenience, and we'll still be recording. So watch it later at your convenience, and we still be recorded so you can watch your convenience. So if you've seen me speak at different groups around the city in the last six months, it's going to be a lot of that stuff, but more in just one cohesive, comprehensive speech. State of the city address, so similar to a state of the union address. But February, march is when you typically do these things, so it's time. I've been here a year, so it's time to give a state of the city. I did some stuff last year, but we didn't have a whole year under our belt, so to speak. So now that we do, we'll keep this rolling forward.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so we're going to you're going to talk about current projects, things that we've accomplished in 2024, things that we're going to be looking forward to in the future.

Speaker 2:

Exactly yes, Just like if you watched a state of the state address or a state of the union address. It's going to be a lot like that.

Speaker 1:

So make sure that you guys tune into Facebook Live or watch WCTV's YouTube channel live for the state of the city address. Is there any other information that you want to get out to clarify anything between the branding, the comprehensive plan or even the state of the city?

Speaker 2:

I will bring this up. The springtime is cutting, so the city is hiring temporary help. So check out wrenchmondindianagov and scroll over there job opportunities and see what jobs are being posted. We're posting jobs. It seems like every day now, but at least every week jobs are being posted because we're ramping up for construction season, park season, street season.

Speaker 1:

A lot of stuff's happening yes, yes, come and apply and join our team. Mayor, I want to thank you for joining me today. I want to thank every one of our listeners. This is inside richmond, the city's pulse. Until next time.