Hi! You might have noticed that this blog looks a lot different than it has in the past. That is because I upgraded WordPress, and the WordPress theme (called Basic) that we had been using apparently was not compatible with the newer version. There was a major error that developed that didn’t allow me access to the WordPress tools. I got chat-assisted help last night to eliminate the error. We had to install a default theme, which will be temporary. I hope everyone that reads this is doing well. I am doing fine. I do miss writing this website; however, I still plan on keeping all of the old ar ..read more

A hat-tip must go out to the folks at Urban Indy, which, though their (our) posts may be scant, still lives on as a conversation thread.  And it was through Urban Indy conversations that I learned about the article that prompted me to write here for the first time in many moons.  It’s hard to imagine, but it has been five years since the Indianapolis staple Marsh Supermarkets closed its remaining locations: all 44 of them.  Not a huge chain and never one of national scale, Marsh was nonetheless the most prevalent grocer in many parts of Indiana and eastern Ohio in the 1980s and ..read more

It’s not typical of me to dive right back into a subject just two months after having written about it previously, but I can’t help myself: ghost bikes are an increasingly visible feature of the urbanized landscape.  (I also guess the medium is a little different this time around, because I’m asking the question on Urban Indy, regarding an Indianapolis ghost bike.) And, as I depicted in my previous article at American Dirt, which featured featured a white-painted bike memorial in a completely uninhabited mega-park in Albuquerque, sometimes they’re in areas where one’s first reac ..read more

The City of Indianapolis deploys the word “monument” far more than most American cities, and not without good reason.  Most metrics indicate that it has the second highest concentration of memorials, landmarks, and civic plazas (behind only our nationâ€s capitol), and the landmark that gives the city its well-defined absolute center—the Soldiers†and Sailors†Monument—comprises a geometrically precise plaza called “Monument Circle”–hence the nickname “Circle City”.  Indyâ€s popular marathon takes the name “Monumental”, not only as a hat-tip to the cityâ€s nume ..read more

Hello everyone. This is an amazingly detailed guest post that was sent to me. Consider this to be leisure reading while hunkering down during the Coronavirus. Summary: The mission of Midtownâ€s New Nexus is to adapt the Indiana State Fairgrounds to its urban setting to maximize the utility of adjacent pedestrian trails and upcoming transit improvements. The current conditions of the two hundred fifty acre site diminish walkability and transit suitability while wasting the potential to substantially increase the tax base of Indianapolis. The creation of a new neighborhood, Midtownâ€s New Nexus ..read more

Due to current life obligations, I’m unable to continue posting on UrbanIndy.com. It has been a good run, but my time has come to an end. I hope that during the past 12+ years, I’ve been able to contribute to a new conversation in Indianapolis. I don’t want to go out with a whimper, though. On Saturday, April 11th at 2 pm, 13 years to the day from the founding of Urbanindy.com, I will host a final downtown walking tour. Usually the tour culminates in a restaurant or bar. Details on this event will be forthcoming, although not on this blog. If you are interested in joining on the tour, please s ..read more

Now that we’ve reached the end of 2019, I thought it would be a good time to revisit an older post on Mass Ave Parking Lots. The post has a parking lot visualization on it based on 2011 data. Recently I was able to find the file that I used for this blog post, and clipped out the parking lots as of 2019: Mass Ave parking lots: 2011 vs 2019 Here are some big changes, starting from NE to SW: Bottleworks is still under construction, and has eaten away at a good chunk of surface parking. 747 North has been constructed at Mass and College. Not a new development, but the parking lot at Barton Tow ..read more

Last week, news broke that the property containing Lafayette Square Mall was for sale. Most of the mall has been struggling or vacant for years. But I want to focus on the land. This is a huge chunk of land that is basically 100 percent hardscape. Image Credit: Map Indy How much land is this? I’ve overlaid the selected parcels onto the downtown imagery for perspective. Image Credit: MapIndy It stretches from the downtown Kroger at Michigan/Capitol all of the way to City Way at Virginia/Louisiana. This is a massive, massive property. So, what can be done with it? First of all, Lafayette Squ ..read more

Last week, I gave my prepaid parking pass back to my workplace. This is something I’ve been looking forward to doing for a long time, and fortunately, my place of work has agreed to provide for my bus passes. Weekday Red Line service has been pretty-good-to-very-good so far. I’ve basically turned the station closest to my house into my own personal park-and-ride. Yes, I’m still using a car. After work, I need to pick my kids up from their schools. I don’t have a cargo bike. I’m bad at this urbanism thing. Still, I won’t miss driving and parking downtown one bit. Few things stress me out and de ..read more

On September 14th, starting at 4 pm, Urban Indy will host a Red Line Meet-up. Here’s our tentative schedule: 4-5 Twenty Tap, at 54th and College Using the nice new IndyGo Ride Planner, we will plan to catch the Red Line downtown to the Transit Center at 5:06 pm. Image Credit: Indygo Dinner downtown at Pearl Street Pizza, which is about a block away. Ride the Red Line again to the end of the line, starting at 6:43 pm: Image Credit: Indygo This stop on the Red Line is conveniently right next to a Books and Brews location. Many of the establishments along the southern end of the Red Line will ..read more