A community group called Historic Midtown
Neighborhood Initiative, or HARMONI, is hoping to mix private and public money to fund major infrastructure improvements and
establish a collective identity of Midtown for four neighborhoods north of downtown Indianapolis. The group, which has adopted
“walkability, bikeability and creation of inspiring places� as its mission, is working on a five-year plan that would
transform portions of Meridian Street’s middle turn lanes into landscaped islands, add dozens of new raised crosswalks and
give Alice Carter Place Park between Meridian Street and Westfield Boulevard a whole new look. The group already has raised
$300,000 in private funds toward a goal of $2 million for the first phase, and plans to use the private money to fill gaps
between what the city plans to spend and what is needed. The full story is here. And check out the HARMONI's homepage. What
do you think?
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Welcome to Property Lines, Indy's source for neighborhood real estate news. Your host is Scott Olson, IBJ's real estate beat
reporter. Edited by Cory Schouten.
A community group called Historic Midtown
Neighborhood Initiative, or HARMONI, is hoping to mix private and public money to fund major infrastructure improvements and
establish a collective identity of Midtown for four neighborhoods north of downtown Indianapolis. The group, which has adopted
“walkability, bikeability and creation of inspiring places� as its mission, is working on a five-year plan that would
transform portions of Meridian Street’s middle turn lanes into landscaped islands, add dozens of new raised crosswalks and
give Alice Carter Place Park between Meridian Street and Westfield Boulevard a whole new look. The group already has raised
$300,000 in private funds toward a goal of $2 million for the first phase, and plans to use the private money to fill gaps
between what the city plans to spend and what is needed. The full story is here. And check out the HARMONI's homepage. What
do you think?
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If a television station wants to improve viewership, get rid of the local blackout. I was born by the brickyard, and have attended 15 or more races. I have children now, I won't attend unless circumstances are perfect. As those with growing families know, they never are. I'm always impressed that upwards of 250,000 people attend the 500. However, as a growing, or, more apt, sprawling city, Indianapolis and its immediate suburbs count almost 2.2 million. Show the race live, let the venue get a kick-back on revenues, and open-wheel racing might have a fighting chance to be relevant again. Just in time for those tax-payer lights to make sense.
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John Moore, I too have had the same issue recently. A property next to my house was on the Land Bank and I was interested in purchasing. When I tried to contact Reggie, I got back emails that had nothing to do with what I asked about. Actually my latest response from him was on this past Friday. I had asked about how to buy the property and if it was still available. His response to me was to contact the mayor's office to get the schedule of his appearances. (???) Hopefully the city is able to do something to fix what this guy has done, it would be nice if they would take the properties back and sell them properly so land owners like me and you mother would have a fair chance.
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I too work in the industry, with over 25 years of experience and your political spin has probably nothing to do with any rebranding. "Let's dress it up" would have nothing to do with the government "telling us how and what to eat." Give it a political rest. And being a producer for a radio show doesn't mean you've been involved in advertising and branding for 30 years.
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Ms. Morris did not understand the ways of the business world, otherwise, like the IMS, she could have petitioned the State Legislature for a handout of State Funds for her charity work. Ms. Morris should consider becoming a state lobbyist for Lemonade Stand Operators.
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David Copperfield!
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What are the neighborhoods described in the full story? What is their history and where can I find images of them?
I like this idea though. We drove back home once on Meridian and one side of the road seems very isolated from the other.
I like what they do with the old bridge and the calming of roads.
Wasn't their mention of restoring a rail-line nearby?
I hope Indianapolis has more projects like this!
Gotta love those nostalgic street lamps.
Hopefully the momentum on Meridian can carry southward between 38th & 16th Street.
However, as noted in Cory's story, one of HARMONI's first initiatives is to slow down traffic on Meridian to 30 mph. Like it or not, Meridian Street is the main north-south commuter artery between downtown and the northern suburbs. Putting such a restrictive clamp on that artery would at best force commuter traffic to streets like Capitol, Illinois, Central and College, none of which are configured to handle that volume of traffic.
At worst, restricting traffic on Meridian without a viable higher-speed alternative would have negative economic consequences for downtown Indianapolis, possibly causing even more businesses to relocate to Hamilton County because of travel concerns.
HARMONI is off to an impressive start in terms of fund-raising and support. I fear, though, much of it is from Meridian Street and nearby homeowners with a we're too rich to have to deal with traffic mentality.
One improvement that would be a lot more immediate and less costly is the enforcement of the current speed limits on both Meridian and Kessler Blvd. The 35 and 40 mph limits are a joke. I drive one or both of these streets every morning with cars zooming around me like I'm standing still....even in the areas close to school zones. For sure, seeing people pulled over for speeding - cosistently - would have a REAL calming effect.
This is a splendid idea. When I'm out of town and try to explain to others where in Indy I live, I commonly use midtown to describe it.
The upside is it allows the adjoining neighborhoods to be connected instead of being seperated by a virtual 4 lane highway. That connectivity leads to biking, walking and a cohesiveness that will allow Midtown to prosper.
This blog and its readers often promotes New Urbanism. If we really want to support the core of our city and make sure these neighborhoods don't fall into disrepair and disfunction as they did in the 60's and 70's, we should do all we can to promote safe and welcoming environments.
Almost all of those streets were neighborhood streets or two-lane country roads first; Madison, Binford, and Keystone north of White River are the only real exceptions. They have now become primary or secondary arterials for Indianapolis, owned and maintained by the City and its taxpayers.
Those who want to have a say in how they're built or maintained are welcome to join those of us who live, work, vote and pay taxes in Marion County.
I don't mind rebuilding North Meridian to force folks from Hamilton County to be better neighbors while visiting Indianapolis. Those in need of speed always have the option of using 465 instead of Meridian when they hit the county line.
unless an alternative mode or route becomes available for the north/south trip from carmel and westfield, i can see how lowering the speed limit COULD have major reprocussions. with that said, surely someone can come up with a creative solution to revitalize meridian as the center of midtown rather that a divider of neighborhoods. maybe they could hire the urbanophile (finder's fee, please!) to deliver an aesthetic and practical solution.
It isn't as if they are turning it into a pedestrian only area.
They are just making it more pedestrian friendly.
Perhaps if they had more alternatives to driving like a train they wouldn't have such an issue with this?
At any rate, I don't think requiring traffic to slow to 35-40 (that's right. people aren't likely to drive 30, just because it's posted at 30) is going to lead to massive traffic jams. I don't see how that would reduce the street's capacity, and I think Thundermutt's point about these being City streets is a good one. I would suppose that the State could reacquire them as state routes if they were so inclined.
Does anyone know what led the State to relinquish all those routes to the City?
The smaller perecentage of folks who might be bothered by the change would scatter to a variety of other routes. Some would go around on I-465 and come in on I-70 to North, Ohio, or other streets. A few might take Pennsylvania, Central, or Capitol.
The probable result would be negligible. Do you remember the chaos predicted when I-70 was recently shut down for months. People were sure that the thousands of cars and huge trucks would tear up local roads and clog neighborhood streets. You'll recall that it just didn't happen. Police were stationed at the ready to direct the snarled traffic...and they had little to do. And I-70 carries much more traffic, and at higher speeds, than N. Meridian.
I am not saying that there would be no impact to the surrounding neighborhoods at all, but you need to take into consideration that until you get south of 38th street (outside the boundaries of Midtown per the article) you have to deal with stops signs every few intersections on those neigbhorhood streets, which would deter people from spilling over off of Meridian. The idea harmoni has come up with does have potential.
Not to say I'm against this, it's just that I don't like the argument: We live in Marion County, you don't. We want a neighborhood feel. Deal with it.
This will also require some compromise from the Neighborhoods. You can't have a long red while grandma is crossing with her walker during rush hour.
A 10mph reduction in average speed on a 2-mile stretch of Meridian (from Westfield to 40th) would add a whopping 1 minute to the commute. If you're so busy that it's an issue to take one extra minute to be neighborly to the folks whose neighborhood you're driving through, you probably need to consider your priorities a little more.
I say put 4 way stops at each corner and Bumps at every 10 feet. all over the whole neighborhood. That will slow them down.
realy who care what they think or want, up in hamilton county. they don't care what we think. All in all, I think this is a good plan.
On Meridan, if you ignore red lights under either scenario, a 30mph limit vs. 45mph for 3 miles extends the drive from 4 minutes to 6 minutes. I always speed, but for most people, if you know it's going to take 2 minutes longer, leave home a little earlier for God's sake!
I read the first phase of Kessler would connect the Monon Trail and Glendale. Anyone know if this plan is still in the works?
www.indympo.org/NR/rdonlyres/826CD79A-55A3-4152-8C45-BC1D8CF32AA4/0/1summary.pdf
What part of SLOW DOWN, THIS IS A REAL NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE PEOPLE LIVE is unclear? The people on those other streets certainly didn't bargain for raceways either.
So, from a narrow traffic engineering viewpoint, you're absolutely correct. Fortunately, the traffic engineering viewpoint isn't the one in charge. Engineers are very good at designing and building things but tend to forget social factors and livability.
http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/2008/07/naptown-gets-harmonic.html
It's too long to repost here.
TABzealot, I live in Warfleigh: How do you see Warfleigh being impacted? (And PS Sssshhh! Don't tell anyone about Warfleigh or the secret of how amazing it is will be out!)