Three years ago this summer, the City-County Council passed a Complete Streets ordinance in a unanimous vote, joining hundreds of cities nationwide that chose to commit to accessibility for all modes and abilities in their transportation planning. Shortly afterwards, Smart Growth America’s National Complete Streets Coalition recognized Indianapolis’ ordinance as the top Complete Streets ordinance out of …
Graffiti can be a tricky subject for me. I love freedom of expression and art, but I don’t love defacing public or private property. Most graffiti in Indianapolis is simply thoughtless tagging, similar to how a dog marks his territory while on a walk. Of course, the paint stays much longer. Sometimes, however, graffiti can make …
A few weeks ago, I was able to contribute to the inaugural episode of The Indy Show Podcast, hosted by Justin Harter and also featuring Urban Indy contributor Joe Smoker. We cover a variety of topics relevant to the website. Link to the podcast can be seen here. Feel free to give some feedback and some …
Arriving to the campus of the Indianapolis Art Museum by bicycle from the Central Canal Towpath has long been one of my favorite experiences of living in the city. Unfortunately, in an initiative that started along with their new admission charge, they have disallowed bicycle access to the front door. The path labeled as “Stroller access to …
The Meridian Kessler neighborhood is currently updating its zoning guidelines for the first time since the late 1970s. This plan has been released for initial review, and can be viewed on this webpage. I’ve also uploaded a copy here. The main focus for this plan that is of interest to Urban Indy is to discuss the …
It has been lauded as one of the best examples of new bicycle infrastructure in the United States and since it’s right in my back yard, I thought I’d share some pictures as well as my thoughts on Indy’s Cultural Trail as it celebrates its second anniversary. Officially known as the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: Â A …
The large new roundabout at the intersection of 16th Street, Crawfordsville Road, and Main Street has been completed, and I was able to get a glimpse of it recently. It is so new that it isn’t complete on the most recent Google aerial photo: Aesthetically, the intersection’s redesign is a major improvement. Indy unfortunately has …
Yesterday, I attended the 2nd of 3 neighborhood meetings to discuss development plans for 38th and Illinois. I was able to share some ideas with the meeting organizers to make the project as successful as possible. I firmly believe that 38th and Illinois will not be a truly successful neighborhood node without reigning in the …
What happens when a city adds a lot of residents to its downtown that are really eager to be there? What happens when a city adds hundreds and thousands of new residents to an area that is 5 minutes walk from the center of the city, 5 minutes walk from the bustling trendy area with …
Blog reader Scott Allen sent me this post covering the Eagle Creek Greenway extension project. Thanks to Scott for the information and photos: Construction has begun on what DPW is calling the North Segment of the Eagle Creek Greenway extension project. For background, the greenway currently consists of two very separate pieces: one that winds …