News Roundup & Open Thread

N 15th st?

“Be aware to avoid these ten potentially dangerous bike-scenarios” says:
“Always assume drivers can’t see you.”

This is a sign that the “bike expert” is substituting their own biased fears for reason. This is like advising car drivers to always assume truck drivers can’t see them. If you assumed another class of vehicles couldn’t detect you, the only logical response would be to never leave the driveway. It’s absurd!

Folks, it’s not that hard: have a friend test your visibility. You’ll find during daylight, especially in sun-dappled shade, you’ll want light colors and probably a white front blinkie. At night you’ll want good lights. Don’t cower in feeeer! Get the facts. Test your visiblity!

The Huffington Post piece on Louisville being one of the 18 most underrated cities was disappointing. Cities like Kansas City that were also on the list are getting attention because of improvements in their built environment and progressiveness. Louisville gets “a growing foodie market”, a nod to the Slugger Museum, Belle of Louisville and Kentucky Derby. We also get “small-town charm.” I guess I don’t know what I was expecting them to say, but if I was thinking about moving to a new city and read this article, Louisville would not have stood out as a place I would consider if I had never been to it before. I am probably being too critical, it is great that we are recognized for our diverse and high quality food options as well as the farming initiatives, but when I moved here in 1997, that was the same thing I heard about (as far as great restaurants). We as a community need to be moving much faster towards the future, regardless of the state of the economy. Great ideas need to start shaping where we are going and at the moment, it doesn’t seem like there is a lot to get excited about.

Bank Street, looking southeast toward 16th.

@Patrick Piuma – Once or twice a year I come back to Louisville and wander around seeing what has changed. The continued development of E Main St. looks promising, especially adding more residential options to downtown. I would like to hear what Councilman Heiner and Mr. Fischer think about dusting off the T2 light rail plan. I appreciate the bike lanes that have been added over the past few years. Generally tho, Louisville seems to move at a slow Ohio River pace. Are there particular ideas you would like to see implemented?

Priority #1 has got be stopping or altering the economy crushing downtown ORBP. People need to stop rearranging the deck chairs on the Titantic and help right the ship before it is too late. If Louisville makes this epic mistake the only lists the city will appear on are those listing economic decline and urban planning mistakes. It would be helpful if those who work at our local university’s urban planning dept. would speak out about the grave economic and cultural consequences of Louisville making the biggest urban planning mistake of the 21st century. Every profesor I have spoken with at UofL’s urban planning dept. has denounced the design and funding plan for the downtown portion of the ORBP. Yet I have seen no printed critiques of this $4+ billion boondogle by those who spend their life studying what a makes a city successful. Is the dark shadow of fear cast by David Nicklies, Ed Glasscock, and Abramson’s administration so great that it spreads to the careers of profesors in our higher education institutions?

@Patrick Piuma

I wouldn’t dismiss the foodie market bit. It’s been my contention that Louisville’s brand could be directed towards the idea of hospitality. Not simply hospitality in the quaint way most think of it (i.e. southern hospitality) but as an industry like food, hotels, and entertainment. It’s something that makes Louisville truly unique, evidently since at least 1997, and it’s true. However, that doesn’t negate the fact that if Louisville wants to compete with other Midwest and Southern Atlantic towns, we certainly need to step up our game in terms of our built environment.

(You can see more fleshed out thoughts here: http://www.monoicono.com/bulletin/2010/3/2/we-built-this-city.html and here: http://www.monoicono.com/bulletin/2010/3/9/promises-promises.html)

Cheers!

Portland @ 15th and Lytle.
A giant seed in Louisvilles future if the johnnies do it right.

Quagmire is right on, in that ORBP is an (extended) watershed moment in Louisville’s history. Though the Yertles and their power seem dug in and unswayed, I hold hope that the Macks will soon have their day.
Build the bridge in the east
Incentives for green
Boulevard spaghetti
coffee with cream

@Creamer – I think there have been some great developments in the city, but it is the pace and pushing the envelope or thinking out of the box that appears to be lacking as compared to other peer cities. Look at what is going on in St. Louis with their ability to build a bridge, incorporate rail transit and talk of bringing down their riverfront roadway. Cincy has lightrail and I believe a proposed streetcar system. Similar progress in Nashville and Indy. We have the southern charm here and in my opinion the best bones of any city in the region, but we can only ride that wave for so long. I would definitely want to see light rail and even a streetcar system. After visiting Portland, I can see the need for both. I think a streetcar system could really work well downtown and would be a compliment to other rail. I want to see Louisville become a sustainability leader, but until we start looking past green tech and think about what people did before we needed a thermostat or relied on a car to get everywhere I don’t think we can get there from here. I am not originally from Louisville having grown up in Philly, but I have grown to love this city over the past 11 years and am here because I think this city is great and can be even greater. Articles like the Huffington Post listing Louisville among other underrated cities just points out to me that we could be doing a whole lot more.

Some things I would like to see happen:
– Light rail and streetcar system (dusting off the existing plans would be a great step)
– Real progress towards town center development out in the burbs with walkability being the focus
– A metro-wide green infrastructure plan
– Infill strategies that make it attractive to suburban developers (to look inside the belt)
– Focus on the development of modern, dense, true mixed use neighborhoods in the Shippingport and SoBro areas.
– Redevelopment of Broadway into a beautiful boulevard that ties east and west together. Lets change the Pegasus Parade route to go from south to north ending at the Great Lawn. (I have been told over and over that the main reason that Broadway does not have grass and treed medians is because of one parade once a year, this may not be correct, but if it is, I don’t think it is a good enough reason to neglect the potential of one of our widest roadways in the downtown area.)

There are many more thinks I would like to see but I would rather start exploring these in a setting where people have some markers and basemaps and start getting ideas on paper, outlandish ones as well as minimal changes. If anyone is interested in such an idea let me know and I’ll see if I can put something together at the studio.

St James happens once a year but there is lots of grass in Old Louisville. the city needs to stop the pouring of wide sidewalks without accomadations for trees and landscaping. Take the Lofts of NuLu at Main and Campbell. I was willing to overlook the boring cheap hotel colors but the 12 ft of concrete in front is a crime against the neighborhood and downtown.

N. 15th Street between Rowan and Lytle, looking north

@Patrick Piuma – I’m interested.

Here, here Patrick. It is my believe that Urban Planning is one of the few professions that should adopt the phrase “The old ways work best.” as its golden rule. I think that Louisville could benefit greatly from this line thinking, and finally be able to bust through the ceiling that poor planning and decision making has been building over the last few decades. This city has SO much potential, and I believe that by pushing the initiatives that you have listed this humble burg could become a bustling metropolis that could one day rival Nashville, Cincinnati, and even Portland (gasp!). All we have to do is get into the right frame of mind.