How Indy Could Invest In Itself
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Bicycling, Neighborhoods, New Development, Pedestrian, Transit on Oct 26th, 2015 | 24 comments
This the follow-up post from the one I wrote on October 22nd.
Indianapolis doesn’t have a lot of money to throw around at our various issues, and that money may be dwindling as I type. My number one money saving idea is simple: No more widened roads in the name of “improvement“. The phrase “If you’re in a hole, the first step is to stop digging” comes to mind here. But, consider that a widened city road:
Costs more to maintain than it did previously. One mile of 2 lane road costs $312,000 just to be resurfaced.
Places land into the public Right-of-Way which can no...
The Dwindling Green Fields of Marion County
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods, New Development, Pedestrian on Oct 22nd, 2015 | 8 comments
Marion County is approaching full development. Sure, there will be pockets of empty fields and wooded lots here and there, but the large swaths of this type of land are basically relegated to Warren, Decatur and Franklin townships. Here’s a look at the wooded lots and crop fields that have been mapped in 2015:
I combined these 2 layers into one layer here:
Then, I placed the parks layer on top of the newly combined layer and whited it out, as the parks will most likely stay as green spaces for the next decade at least. I also removed the data that was sitting outside of Marion County:
That...
Digital Archaeology through Google Street View
Posted by Eric McAfee in Historical Posts, Neighborhoods on Oct 21st, 2015 | 14 comments
“The apple that’s fresh is ripe to the core,
and I rot over time and I’m not anymore.” –Sloan & Pelling
I’m probably a day late and a dollar short on noticing the time-scroll feature available with Google Street View. Perhaps it’s been there for months—years even. I just figured it out its full potential few weeks ago. Most people might ponder what the point of it is: after all, if Google has provided a streetscape photo from 2015, why would we still need one from way back in 2011? But for those of us who use it on an almost daily basis, it represents a remarkable tool,...
IHPC Quick Hits, October 19th
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods, New Development, Pedestrian on Oct 19th, 2015 | 9 comments
The Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission staff reports usually make for interesting viewing for people interested in urban infill proposals coming through the city. The latest one features at least 3 projects of interest to Urban Indy.
Ransom Place:
A reprisal of the development that I reported on during our last IHPC quick hits post, the proposal at Martin Luther King and St. Clair has been downsized a bit, but the overall project quality looks improved:
St. Joseph:
A major victory here, as the new proposed 5 story building will have walk-up apartments and retail in place of interior...
Indy’s Pedestrian Master Plan
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods, Pedestrian on Oct 14th, 2015 | 7 comments
According to Health by Design’s Kim Irwin, Indianapolis is the largest city in the country without a formalized Pedestrian Plan. Recently, the group has announced a new initiative called Walkways, which officially launches next Wednesday. A summary of the event is shown below:
I hope to be able to attend the event next week to show my support for the process. It’s important to prioritize the most basic of human movements in our urban environment. As an example, last night I walked with my family from our house to Yat’s at 54th and College for dinner. It is great to have that option,...
