David (Inspired by Michelangelo) by Serkan Ozkaya. (Courtesy 21c)

It looks like Louisville is set to out-Michelangelo Florence, or at least out-facsimile the Italian burgh. Those creative folks over at the 21c Museum Hotel already have a reputation as connoisseurs of larger-than-life works of art from penguins to snails to shovels, but now the museum has acquired a 30-foot-tall computer-duplicated statue by conceptual artist Serkan Ozkaya called David (inspired by Michelangelo). (You may remember Ozkaya from his hand-drawn front page of the Courier-Journal a few years ago.) To be more specific, it’s twice as tall as the marble original, painted gold, and heading for Downtown Louisville.

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The 128 houses slated for demolition. (Courtesy MSD)

These days, terms like “shrinking cities” feel a lot like the “slum clearance” and “urban renewal” of the last century that wiped out large swaths of our cities in dramatic fashion. Rarely do we encounter demolition on a large scale any more. But when it arises, no matter the cause, it should give any urbanist pause to hear that 128 houses in the already demolition-ravaged California neighborhood are planned to be removed and the land permanently kept from development in the heart of the city.

That’s the latest plan from the Metropolitan Sewer District, which was awarded $9.75 million in grant funding to acquire and clear 15 acres along Maple Street between 21st and 26th streets known for flooding in heavy rain events. But while the project has been widely reported in local news, some important details have been left out or are still missing.

Continue reading after the jump.

The planned East End Bridge. (Courtesy Bridges Authority)

[Editor's Note: Aaron Renn is the Urbanophile, an opinion-leading urban affairs analyst, entrepreneur, speaker, and writer on a mission to help America’s cities thrive in the 21st century. Renn is a native of a small town in Southern Indiana near Louisville.This is the fourth in a series of articles planned to address the current situation of the Ohio River Bridges Project. This article was originally published on January 12, 2012 and is reprinted with permission.]

In the first three parts of this series, I discussed how Indiana so badly botched its negotiation with Kentucky on the Louisville bridges project that its share of the project went up by $200 million at the same time the total project declined in cost by $1.5 billion, how this will result in $432 million being drained out of regular highway funds to cover a resulting tolling gap, how tolling likely results in Indiana paying even more, and the significant risks Indiana has taken on by agreeing to build a tunnel in Kentucky. Amazing as it sounds, Indiana’s biggest road project is now a $795 million, 1.4 mile highway in the state of Kentucky.

But just because I believe this deal is bad doesn’t mean I think the project itself is all bad. Indeed, I’m a strong supporter of the East End bridge, which is a generational investment for that part of the state. I also think the $1.5 billion in savings identified so far are great and a good start at getting costs under control on this project. But there’s still more we can do. So with that in mind, I’ll outline the changes I’d make to move the project forward.

Continue reading after the jump.

Eastern section of former tobacco warehouse to be demolished. (Courtesy Tipster)

This story is starting to get old, but another project under guise of community improving is tearing apart the future potential of West Louisville. The YMCA of Greater Louisville is set to build a new facility on Broadway between 17th and 18th streets in partnership with the University of Louisville, made possible by Philip Morris’ donation of its former 11.5-acre tobacco processing facility. One major detail of the story that was never clearly reported is that the group plans to demolish a large historic brick warehouse dating to the 1890s when half the site—what looks to be about 5 acres—sits as surface-level parking lots.

Continue reading after the jump.

The Kentucky East End Bridge approach. (Courtesy ORBP)

[Editor's Note: Aaron Renn is the Urbanophile, an opinion-leading urban affairs analyst, entrepreneur, speaker, and writer on a mission to help America’s cities thrive in the 21st century. Renn is a native of a small town in Southern Indiana near Louisville.This is the third in a series of articles planned to address the current situation of the Ohio River Bridges Project. This article was originally published on January 11, 2012 and is reprinted with permission.]

In previous installments in this series I highlighted how Indiana managed to increase its share of the Louisville bridges project by $200 million even as it bragged that the total price tag had gone down by $1.5 billion, how this led directly to Indiana having to allocate $432 million in regular highway funds to the project, and how tolling puts Indiana at significant risk of paying an even greater share of the project.

Today I’ll highlight how Indiana is stepping into a potential quagmire by agreeing to take responsibility for building a high-risk mini-Big Dig tunnel under a portion of Louisville’s most affluent community.

Continue reading after the jump.

Bridge construction at the Parklands. (Courtesy Parklands)

One of the most important developments in the country broke ground in Louisville in May 2011. The sheer size of the park system planned along Floyds Fork and the implications on the built form of the cityThe the first phase of the massive new parks system called the Parklands of Floyds Fork includes the 616-acre Beckley Creek Park in eastern Jefferson County that is expected to open in 2013. Work has been progressing on the project, including bridges over Floyds Fork like the one above.

Continue reading after the jump.

(Photo by Chris Murphy / Flickr)

[Editor's Note: Aaron Renn is the Urbanophile, an opinion-leading urban affairs analyst, entrepreneur, speaker, and writer on a mission to help America’s cities thrive in the 21st century. Renn is a native of a small town in Southern Indiana near Louisville.This is the second in a series of articles planned to address the current situation of the Ohio River Bridges Project. This article was originally published on January 10, 2012 and is reprinted with permission.]

In part one of this series I examined how Indiana managed to give away $1.7 billion to the state of Kentucky in renegotiating the project cost split for the Ohio River Bridges Project at Louisville. Despite a series of scope changes that reduced total cost by $1.5 billion, Indiana’s share of the cost actually went up by nearly $200 million.

Some might object that the project cost split is essentially meaningless because the project will be funded via tolling in a public-private partnership like the Toll Road deal. Unfortunately, this is not correct.

In part one we dealt in the realm of concrete black and white numbers from the two states’ own documents. Because there are so many open questions about tolling (itself a major concern given the headlong rush to make things happen), it can be difficult to definitively draw conclusions here. But the implications are certainly troubling and definitely the questions need to be answered so the public can properly assess this project.

Continue reading after the jump.

Proposed East End Bridge. (Montage based on rendering courtesy ORBP)

[Editor's Note: Aaron Renn is the Urbanophile, an opinion-leading urban affairs analyst, entrepreneur, speaker, and writer on a mission to help America’s cities thrive in the 21st century. Renn is a native of a small town in Southern Indiana near Louisville.This is the first in a series of articles planned to address the current situation of the Ohio River Bridges Project. This article was originally published on January 9, 2012 and is reprinted with permission.]

- Indiana gives away $1.7 billion to Kentucky -
- Indiana’s costs up by $200 million while total project costs decline by $1.5 billion -
- $432 million diverted from other projects to close funding gap recreated by Indiana’s botched negotiators -
- Tolling likely to mean Indiana pays well over half the project –
- Indiana potentially exposed to major risk by agreeing to build a tunnel in Kentucky through Louisville’s most affluent suburb that the state has no expertise to construct -

I’ve noted before how the Indiana Toll Road lease was a stroke of genius (see “Foreign Investors Hurting, Hoosier Taxpayers Smiling“ and “Major Moves Is Majorly Great“). I attribute a lot of it to Gov. Mitch Daniels’ shrewd assessment of the competitive landscape (see “The Shrewdness of Mitch Daniels”). As Daniels is fond of saying, “It was the best deal since Manhattan was sold for beads – only this time the natives won.”

Unfortunately, in the case of Indiana’s recent agreement with Kentucky on a pair of new bridges across the Ohio River at Louisville, this time it’s Indiana taxpayers and motorists who are back in the role of the Indians. I’m a big fan of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, but this is a very bad deal for the state. In a four part series that starts today, I’ll document the reasons why, explaining how:

• ·  Indiana has trumpeted that the cost of the project has declined by $1.5 billion. But in fact Indiana’s share of the cost has actually gone up by nearly $200 million. Kentucky has pocketed more than 100% of the savings – a massive $1.7 billion giveaway by Indiana.
• ·  Indiana’s botched negotiating means $432 million in state highway funds will have to be diverted from other projects around the state in order to cover a funding gap in the project.
• ·  Tolling won’t pay for the bridges, and in any case tolling is likely just another word for “Hoosiers pay.”
• ·  Indiana is potentially exposed to huge financial and political risk because it is agreeing to take on a $261 million “mini-Big Dig” tunnel in Louisville’s most affluent community. From an Indiana perspective this is like having the state outsource a freeway through Zionsville to Ohio.
• ·  The are superior alternatives to the project as a whole that are cheaper too and promise major additional savings on top of the $1.5 billion Indiana and Kentucky have already found.

Today I’ll examine what’s clearly the most incredible piece of the puzzle – how Indiana gave so much money away to Kentucky.

Continue reading after the jump.