Sobering Stuff from Forbes.com
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Historical Posts on Oct 30th, 2007 | 1 comment
Forbes.com has recently released 2 studies that take a harsh look at the environmental and health situation in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our state is listed as the 49th “greenest” state in the nation, beating out only West Virginia (good thing we don’t really have mountains or we’d probably top them in mountain-top removal). And our city is listed as 16th “most sedentary” in the nation. Sadly, I feel like that listing is low.
A cultural shift is needed in this state, a state where changing the clocks is a major dilemma. The reason for starting this blog was to...
Randomly Miscellaneous
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Historical Posts on Oct 26th, 2007 | 0 comments
Things are moving a bit slow in the development world, so here’s a few links for a Friday:
The IBJ has a nice editorial about mass transit. The false promises of building new roads and lanes are starting to come to light. More on that issue can be found on the Project for Public Spaces site
The technology of this hybrid bus was developed, engineered, and manufactured here in Indy. If nothing else, sitting behind a bus in traffic will be less obnoxious with this technology.
Pocket Parks, courtesy of Keeping Indianapolis Beautiful.
It’s been mentioned elsewhere, but The Goose Market at...
University Park: An Underutilized Public Space
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Historical Posts on Oct 23rd, 2007 | 12 comments
About once a year, I grab a sandwich at Stars and walk to University park to eat. Even on the nicest of days, this prime location draws only a smattering of people. I find this amazing, because it is such an attractive public space. I believe it would be a fine location for street vendors. If this square was in Europe, it would be packed with people selling food. I’m not talking about hot dogs, but higher quality snacks such as fresh bread or kabobs. There might also be diversions such as a life-sized chess board or street performers. When we think about ways to improve our city, it is...
Can Buses save us?
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Historical Posts on Oct 18th, 2007 | 3 comments
David Hoppe of Nuvo has written an interesting article about the rapid expansion of bus service in Bogota, Columbia, and how it related to a relief of congestion and pollution. I have had a bit of a change of heart recently with regards to buses, and his piece highlights one of the main reasons for my transformation: namely, cost. I love rail, but starting costs are steep and getting steeper by the day (of course if rail was subsidized at the same level as roads, this may not be a problem, but I digress). Hoppe is right on the money when he mentions the “cool factor.” Buses in...
Cultural Trail Featured in Streetsblog
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Historical Posts on Oct 15th, 2007 | 0 comments
New York City’s alternative transportation advocate, Streetsblog, has a nice write-up of the most exciting and innovative project in the city, the Cultural Trail. Streetsblog rarely gives much press to cities outside of NYC, Portland, Chicago, and San Francisco, so to see our town featured is definitely good publicity. The article was written by the head of the Project for Public Spaces, Ethan...
