Urban Indy » Archive for November 2010
Sacred Heart Neighborhood
Sacred Heart Neighborhood on the near South Side has seen a renewed interest, due in large part to the promotions of a concert venue at the Vollrath Tavern. Can a bar revitalize a neighborhood? I’m not sure, but attracting people from around the city to a little-known street with a boatload of potential is a win in my book. The street in question is Palmer Street: The neighborhood is a photographer’s dream, ranging … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Neighborhoods
Lafayette Square livability
As part its annual A Monumental Affair program, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful hosted a charette on Nov. 5 with the goal of cooking up innovative ideas for improving the Lafayette Square area. Local architects, designers, engineers, planners and artists teamed up to create a variety of big ideas presented at the end of that day and as part of the A Monumental Affair awards ceremony on Nov. 11, at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. You can see the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Neighborhoods
The Privatization of Indianapolis
The people who run our cities … think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit, which makes their opinion worthless. The people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff. -Banksy, Wall and Piece, 2005 It is a common idea these days for politicians to speak of running a city like a company. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Neighborhoods
Envision Union Station
Last week, I was asked to speak at an Envision Broad Ripple (EBR) meeting. EBR, is a community effort being put forth to change the future of Broad Ripple’s built environment. They are looking at an entirely new zoning structure, and it will be based upon a vision now being developed by community leaders, as well as residents. I was asked to come in and speak about my recent trip to Portland and what I learned … Read entire article »
What Indiana spends on its roads
In light of my recent posts about Indyconnect gutting the light rail portion of the plan for Marion County, I thought it would be a good time to put some of this financial talk in context by displaying what some recent, and ongoing, roads projects in the Indianapolis area are costing us. This is a partial repost of an old article I did for my personal blog before joining Urban Indy ————- I want to take this opportunity … Read entire article »
Filed under: Neighborhoods, Transit
Pedestrianizing Downtown Indianapolis
It’s no secret that Ray LaHood and the current Department of Transportation believe that cities ought to be for people instead of cars. In late October, the Department’s $600 million Tiger II grants drove home this point, as 55% of the funds are going towards mass transit or pedestrian oriented transportation improvements across the country (16% went to ports and 29% went to road projects). Perhaps the most interesting project that received funding is Downtown … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Pedestrian
Washington Street BRT Under the Microscope
Last night I had the opportunity to finally attend one of the Indyconnect Round 2 meetings. It was a little different from the Round 1 meetings, in that it was more of a community meeting where one could sign up to stand and comment or ask questions. I was near the end of the roughly dozen people who stood up and commented or asked questions. There were many interesting questions, but the overwhelming theme was: … Read entire article »
McOuat Building
The scaffolding is off the McOuat Building on Washington Street, and the transformation is fantastic. This place has been vacant for as long as I’ve been working downtown, and it’s great to see the care taken to show off the building’s details. You can read more about this project on the IBJ. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Neighborhoods
The Power of Natural Places
Natural places have a role to play in our neighborhoods. The best urban sites share space with nature so well that you can not tell when the bricks stop and the trees begin. Whether it is a chestnut tree in a courtyard or an old street lined with elms, nature has to be present or our cityscape is unsatisfactory. The ability to incorporate natural spaces into our neighborhood is often limited by our choices in infrastructure. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Neighborhoods
Saraga Market
On Saturday, I attended the Made For Each Other event at Saraga Market. Made For Each Other is an organization devoted to providing an outlet for art and exhibitions in Indy’s under-served neighborhoods. This particular event featured cooking demonstrations and a chance to discuss food culture with the burgeoning international community in Lafayette Square. Saraga has become Indy’s melting pot, as it has transformed an abandoned K-mart into a shopping destination. It’s not … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Neighborhoods
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