Livable Louisville Forum on March 30 at the Clifton Center

Please join me at the Livable Louisville Forum on Tuesday, March 30.  Broken Sidewalk has teamed up with LEO Weekly to present this exciting discussion about Louisville’s greatest opportunities and challenges.  A panel of experts in the fields of urban planning, architecture, development, transportation, and sustainability will share their insights on the interconnectedness of these issues.

The event runs from 6 until 7:30 PM at the Clifton Center at 2117 Payne Street on the corner of Clifton Avenue.  A reception precedes the forum at 5:00 PM and is generously sponsored by Heine Brothers Coffee and the Bluegrass Brewing Company.  There will also be a post-forum gathering at Cliftons Pizza around the corner to dig deeper into these issues.  (Don’t forget to ask for “L2″ drink specials!)

The event is free and open to the public, but we’re asking you to RSVP at livablelouisville.org.

The Livable Louisville Forum will be moderated by LEO Weekly Editor Sarah Kelley and will include the following esteemed panelists:

• Gill Holland, Entrepreneur, Developer, and Film Producer
• David Morse, Transportation Advocate
• Steven Sizemore, Urban Planner
• Bill Weyland, Real Estate Developer
• Steve Wiser, AIA, Architect and Historian

This is a great time to come out and meet Broken Sidewalk readers and participate in a discussion on the future of Louisville.  I hope to see you on March 30.  Check out livablelouisville.org for more information.

Demolition at Spalding University (Courtesy Tipster)

Thanks to a tipster for sending in an update to the continued demolition at the old gymnasium at Spalding University.  It’s half way gone and going fast.  More on the demolition here and here and here.

Demolition at Spalding University (Courtesy Tipster)

Demolition at Spalding University (Courtesy Tipster)

Photo by Diane Deaton-Street

Our last sidewalk photo proved quite a challenge as no one got the location at 32nd Street looking toward Virginia Avenue.  Here’s a new sidewalk photo ready for guesses in the comments.

Local News

• Could road side art help calm traffic in Butchertown? (Historic B-town)
• New flower shop coming soon to the Douglass Loop (Consuming Lou)
• Take a look inside the new Downtown Qdoba (Consuming Lou)
• The problem of affordable housing in Louisville (LEO)
• Analyzing why the Chick Inn went out of business (Mojo, C-J, Fox 41)
• Loan will help Habitat & Youthbuild expand headquarters (C-J)
• What will become of Louisville’s most polluted nabe: Rubbertown? (Fat Lip)
• Spray ground planned at Breslin Park, swimming pool to be filled in (C-J)
• The tale of the Phoenix Hill shotgun house that didn’t get torn down (C-J)
• The West End School gets grant for expansion (Fox 41)
• Havana Rumba opening another location in Middletown (C-J)
• And other local restaurant news and rumors (Mojo)
• Norton Commons could get a new public school (C-J)
• Changes could be in store for Louisville condo law (C-J)
• More on Tafel Motors’ plans for Shelbyville Road (C-J, V-T)

Events

• Fundraiser to help West Louisville churches go green on April 6 (Green Guide)
• Meeting to plan Petersburg Park scheduled for Monday, March 15 (Metro Parks)
• Neighborhood planning group plans meeting on ORBP on March 27 (C-J)

Transportation

• Louisville is on Google’s new bike route planning service (F Gas)
• Planned dedicated bus lanes in New York look pretty cool (StreetsBlog)
• Can Louisville get in on this streetcar manufacturing game? (CNN Money)
• Watterson exit at Westport Road won’t open until after Derby (Lou.com)
• A map of the human body if it were a subway system (Info Aesthetics)
• This device powers a bike light from the movement of the wheels (Inhabitat)
• Ten transportation blogs worth looking at (The Source via CART)
• A bus stop you could call Home, Sweet Home (Apt. Therapy)
• A horrific picture of trampled bikes (OMFG, Bikes)
• Let’s build one of these between the Ali Center and the Belvedere (Space Invading)
• Imagine a traffic jam of books – not cars – on your street (Mocoloco)
• The state of the union for cycling and walking (Urban Velo)
• Lexington plans a Tweed Ride before Louisville has one (F Gas)

Everything Else

• Keep the next Yucca Mountain out of Kentucky (LEO)
• Considering branding strategies for cities (Urbanophile)
• Must see Rube Goldberg music video by OK Go (Boing Boing)
• Guerilla artist turns potholes into mini-gardens (Inhabitat)
• How to build a backyard chicken coop (Boing Boing)
• Urbanophile considers the downsides of consolidated government (Urb1, Urb2)
• The greenest building is the one that already exists (TreeHugger via tipster)
• American Enterprise Inst. talks about risks of ignoring beauty (AEI via Twitter)
• Cities need to promote & create ‘urban innovation hot spots’ (Biz Week)
• San Francisco’s Pavement to Parks initiative peels back the street (Inhabitat)
• More on the continuing General Growth saga (Biz First, WSJ1, WSJ2, WSJ3)
• And a few flickr photos of the day here and here and here.

Planned East Market Street Facility (Courtesy Creation Gardens)

Creation Gardens is ready to move forward with a planned facility on the corner of East Market and Shelby Streets in Nulu.  We first learned of the project last September, but Creation Gardens owner Ron Turnier now says the company will close on the East Market Street property next week and the new store could be open early next year.

Currently located on Main and Hancock Streets, Creation Gardens has struggled with a deteriorating facility but couldn’t put money into the building because it is slated for demolition for an expanded Spaghetti Junction.  Now, a settlement has been reached with the Ohio River Bridges Project that allows the new East Market warehouse to be built.

Turnier says the new Creation Gardens will be state-of-the-art and offer services to chefs and retail customers.  New products including meat, seafood, wines, and breads will be offered in addition to Creation Gardens’ traditional focus on local and regional food.

Plans still call for a 27,000 square foot facility that could attract 200 chefs a week and 10,000 square feet of that space will be dedicated to the retail market.  Design of the new facility was done by K. Norman Berry Architects of Louisville.

Other amenities planned for the East Market site include (from today’s announcement):

• Demo Kitchen that will allow you to promote your restaurant, educate customers and perform menu research.
• Library and Resource area for menu planning and research – complete with cook books, the latest trade publications, and internet access. Located in balcony section.
• Public Conference Room where you can host meetings or educational sessions.
• Chefs Special Entrance that gives you quick access to our purchasers, customer service reps and pick-up dock.
• We Will Host Regular Meetings to allow chefs from all of our regions to exchange ideas and become more successful restaurateurs.

Planned East Market Street Facility (Courtesy Creation Gardens)

What a mess.

It’s been a little while since we have talked about that slow moving disaster ready to stamp out so much progress being made in Louisville.  I am, of course, describing the Ohio River Bridges Project.  In an effort to bring Broken Sidewalk up to date with what’s been going on, here’s a rundown of a few major events.  Did I miss anything?

• We left off in September, 2009 after learning that River Fields had filed a lawsuit against the East End Bridge.  Check out that story and all our previous coverage of the bridges issue in our archives.
• September 2009:  Tunnel for the East End Bridge approach in jeopardy.  Removing the tunnel could open the Record of Decision (ROD)
• October 2009:  Governor Steve Beshear appoints 11 Kentuckians to the newly created Kentucky Public Transportation Infrastructure Authority.  The KPTIA is an entity that can enter into bi-state agreements for mega-projects like the ORBP and can create bi-state authorities to determine financing (read: tolls) for such projects.  The KPTIA votes to create a bi-state authority to oversee the ORBP.  Without any real progress on the project, Beshear calls the vote “historic.”  Eight days later, Beshear and Abramson appoint seven people to the Kentucky side of the authority.  No Metro Council members were appointed despite a request from the body.
• November 2009:  Bob Hill pens an incisive piece for Louisville Magazine:

“I began going to the public bridge meetings with Daniel Boone. Everyone was very nice; we were asked to vote on the designs we liked best, and then 14 bi-state officials and politicians locked themselves in a room and made the final decisions. In Indiana, developers were selling land and houses to people the developers knew would be in the path of the bridge. In Kentucky, one of the main arguments against the bridge became that it would help create jobs in Indiana — a fine example of upscale regional thinking. Meanwhile, some of the bridge-path land the environmentalists were supposed to be saving was being eaten up with new houses — many of them oversized, hey-look-at-me, energy-eating monstrosities.”

• Property acquisition begins in downtown Jeffersonville and in Utica, Indiana and the Baer Fabrics building and several properties in the east end are secured for destruction as well.  A projected completion date of 2020 probably won’t be met.
• The Federal Highway Administration requests that a lawsuit brought by River Fields is moved from Washington DC to a Kentucky court.
• LEO publishes a major article on River Fields questioning the politics and obstructionism of the conservation group and River Fields allegedly pulls the issues from news stands before they can be read (video) and threaten LEO with a lawsuit.
• 8664 reminds us of how the Downtown Bridge component was added to the ORBP in 1994.
• December 2009:  Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels appoints members to the Indiana side of the bi-state authority for the ORBP.
• Beshear issues $100 million in bonds for the project and announces it’s time to “Start your engines.”  Bonds are to be used for property acquisition in Kentucky.
• The price for the $4.1 billion project hasn’t been updated in almost two years even though Federal rules specify a revised finance plan each fall.
• WFPL reports that Louisville will fail to meet the requirements of the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement calling for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2012.  It’s estimated that 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in Louisville are caused by transportation.
• A Federal judge approves the FHA request that the River Fields lawsuit be moved to a Kentucky court.
• Gov. Beshear admits that Kentucky is facing up to a $1.5 Billion budget shortfall for 2011-12.
• Federal funding is about to be cut to local transportation projects because no financing plan is in place for the ORBP.
• January 2010:  By mid-January, the ORBP bi-state authority still hasn’t met despite an anticipated first meeting in December.  The authority has until December 2010 to determine a financing plan.  Mayor Abramson is skeptical that Federal rules will be enforced cutting local transportation funding.
• February 2010:  The ORBP bi-state authority finally has its first meeting with no real progress (by-laws are approved, a staff is hired, and a schedule set) and was largely rushed to avoid public outcry over inaction.  As usual, a non-step is declared “historic” by Beshear & Abramson.
• The projected completion date is now 2024 but no one really knows for sure and politicians throw out random numbers.  Beshear: “We want this done as fast as possible.  I don’t know what that means, but to me , it means faster than ten years.”
• Jeffersonville wants to bail out Louisville for not having a funding mechanism and Councilman Ron Grooms admits that “The majority of Indiana residents don’t want to pay tolls.”
• The C-J’s misguided editorial board lashes out at political hopefuls who want to build an East End Bridge first (basically all of them) and requisite backlash ensues from Tyler Allen who delivers an address in front of the Courier-Journal’s Broadway headquarters.
• The N & T declares that 8664 is not dead.  The bi-state authority meets again and actually talks about financing but only in a superficial way without any solutions.
• KIPDA seeks exemption from Federal rules that would cut funding to local projects because a financing plan for the ORBP is still unknown.
• Congressman Yarmuth meets with US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood to ask about funding options.
• Several trucks overturn on local highways including one carrying onions on Spaghetti Junction reminding us that a new Junction will still face delays and shut-downs from bad drivers.
• Indiana authorizes the use of public-private partnerships to be used for the ORBP meaning a private company would build the highway and charge tolls to use it.
• March 2010:  Toll Road News finds the political claims that the ORBP will create jobs “discouraging:”

“Most discouraging is the nonsense spouted by some of the champions of these projects. Senator Ed Charbonneau (Repub) for example called the bill “the jobs bill of this session” claiming it will “create 30,000 jobs.”

“Such enthusiasm is touching, but road projects are not to “create jobs.” If they were we’d ban all machinery and have all the work done with picks and shovels.

“These projects are to serve motorists by saving them time and travel expense and they have to be judged by the financial viability – whether they can attract sufficient in toll payments by motorists to support the costs – which have to minimized with the optimum mix of labor and equipment, not with “job creation” in mind.”

• ORBP bi-state authority says it won’t consider tolls on the Second Street / Clark Memorial Bridge but says all other bridges are fair game meaning the oldest bridge carrying auto-traffic in the city will now be the most congested.  Some on the authority call for a study of tolling Spaghetti Junction.  Any toll would require a Federal exemption and per Fed rule, no current bridge can be tolled unless it is reconstructed.
• Bi-state authority plans to hire an “advisory team” with potentially an investment bank like Goldman Sachs represented to study financing options.  It could be a way to pass the buck for the unpopular notion of tolling the bridges.  Approval from the KY General Assembly is first required.  Officials from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase attended the ORBP bi-state authority meeting.
• Anti-toll groups emerging on the Internet (Facebook here and here)
• Traffic in Maryland is slow to recover meaning toll revenues are drastically down and rate hikes are imminent.  Could the same thing happen to Kentucky toll roads?

What a mess.

Sherman-Minton Bridge (BS File Postcard)

Over the weekend I came across the new Popular Science online archives.  A quick search for Louisville turned up a snippet from May 1960 about the Sherman Minton Bridge, then under construction:

“This 1,600-foot steel bridge across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky., to New Albany, Ind., is scheduled to be opened to traffic next year.

“It’s a tandem, tied-arch, double-deck design that called for building techniques used before on only one other bridge – that over the Carquinez Strait in California.

“Each deck will carry a 42-foot, triple-lane road with walks on both sides.”

Anyone know what the reference to “walks on both sides” means?  Were they emergency walks for motorists whose cars break down on the bridge or was the bridge to have a pedestrian crossing?

The bridge was completed in 1962 and named for a Senator and Supreme Court Justice from Indiana.  According to Kentucky Roads, it was named the Most Beautiful Bridge in the Long Span category by the American Institute of Steel Construction in 1961.  The bridge apparently destroyed 160 homes and the Church of Our Lady in Portland was worried about the impact on its parish, and, reportedly, an engineer found a hoard of ancient Roman coins while excavating on the Indiana side dating to around 300 AD and two of them are in the collection of the Falls of th Ohio museum.

Construction at Sapporo on Fourth Street (Courtesy tipster)

A tipster sent in this photo today of construction progress at the new Sapporo on Fourth Street.  It looks like Fourth south of Cordish is about ready to stand on its own.  We already have the Theater Square Marketplace next door and Bycks Lofts open and City Properties Group’s plans for Clay Commons and the Caperton Block could really make an impact.  Sol Azteca’s has taken the place of the former Raw Sushi and I suppose we could count the planned Eddie Merlot’s and the return of the Colonnade Cafe in the area as well, not to mention all of the businesses already in the corridor.

What do you think, is Fourth Street below Muhammad Ali ready to be an attraction all its own?  What else does the area need?

The little man in the walk sign box decides to go for a dance and you’ll never cross the street in quite the same way again.  Video created by Jeremy Yuricek of Electrocinema.  If the video doesn’t load, click here.  Hat tip Beautiful Decay.

A plan for local access bridges (Courtesy Steve Wiser)

Steve Wiser, a local architect, historian, and occasional contributor to Broken Sidewalk, has been tweaking his proposal for a solution to the Ohio River Bridges Project that involves local access bridges as opposed to Interstate highway bridges (that we first published last April).  He will be presenting his ideas tomorrow (Saturday, March 6) at Destinations Booksellers – Dueling Grounds Cafe at 604 East Spring Street in New Albany.

Here’s some information about the event:

As the prospect of tolls on the Kentucky-Indiana Ohio River Bridges edges closer, one local design professional is proposing a more rational and less costly solution to the crossriver commute.

Architect Steve Wiser says new local access bridges at several points along the river in Clark, Floyd, and Jefferson counties would eliminate congestion and perhaps forestall the dislocations and expense of what’s being called the Ohio River Bridges Project. With a bi-state authority just beginning its deliberations, Wiser says now is the time to explore the alternatives.

A cursory examination of readily available data shows that Indiana residents would be paying a disproportionate share of tolls or user fees. More Hoosiers work in Kentucky than Kentuckians who work in Indiana.

The toll-free local access plan is roughly outlines in the diagram above and begins with the construction of the East End Bridge as planned.  Instead of the extremely expensive Downtown portion of the bridges project (including the $2 Billion junction overhaul), Wiser proposes two local access bridges – one from Jefferson to Floyd County, Indiana and one to Clark County.  A busway would tie everything together.

Here’s Steve Wiser’s synopsis of the plan titled Boiling a Frog: Time to ‘Jump’ to a Toll-Free Better Bridge Solution:

Have we lost all perspective on how this will negatively harm our community’s growth? This drastic situation did not occur overnight. It’s been a slow, steady 50 year process that has resulted in this worst case scenario.

Costs have skyrocketed almost 2,000 percent since the initial projection of $200 million was made for the east end bridge in 1990. The tunnel alone has soared 300% in just the last three years.

If today, without all this past history, a task force recommended a $4.1 billion dollar, two bridge, massive overhaul of spaghetti junction, toll-funded proposal, both governors would respond: ‘are you NUTS!?! You want to divide our two states with tolls? Go back and find a more realistic solution!’

So, its surprising no one in a leadership position says ‘whoa, let’s take a step back. Is this really the best way to create cross-river connections?’

No one wants any more delays or increased costs. In fact, folks want the bridges built faster, at a lower cost, with no tolls. The reason given for this lock-step approach to this bewildering scheme is that it’s the only solution both states can agree on. And, the ‘Record of Decision’ (ROD) by the federal highway department can’t be revised.

Well, a simple ‘Google’ search reveals that changes happen on RODs all the time, so that doesn’t seem to be a major roadblock. Certainly the costs and schedule for this project have constantly spiraled upward without any leader complaining that these ballooning excesses are harmful to the project’s implementation.

As to the only bi-state solution, well, Kentucky and Indiana work together routinely, without such drama, tolls, or complicated process, to build bridges across the Ohio River such as the recent Owensboro Natcher Bridge, and the upcoming Madison, Indiana Bridge.

So, in taking a cue from Gov. Daniels charge to the bridge authority to consider every option and approach this task in a business-like manner, and not government-like, I submit my proposal:

• Build the east end bridge without the tunnel
• Instead of the tunnel, relocate the Drumanard mansion, recreating the landscape, as the ‘Olmsted Interpretative Center’
• Build two new ‘local-access’ bridges adjacent to the Clark and K & I bridges
• Build new access connector for I-71 and I-64 for the east downtown-med center-arena-waterfront districts
• Build an elevated ‘busway’ along the waterfront connecting these two new local-access bridges

My guestimate for this proposal would cost $1.4 billion, saving $2.7 billion (based on ORBP figures). It would spur economic development in west Louisville, east downtown, and southern Indiana.

This is doable within a 5 year timeframe, and without tolls. It also lessens the environmental footprint, and thus avoids an ROD complication.

To continue on the current path will put at a great disadvantage our logisticsbased economy and overall quality of life.

Most are familiar with the tale of ‘how to boil a frog’: slowly turn up the heat so the frog does not jump out. Hopefully, there is still time to alter this growththreatening, extreme makeover and ‘jump out’ to a more reasonable, beneficial bridge solution which makes our metro community a much better place in which to live.

Check out Steve’s entire proposal at his web site Wiser Designs.

D & W Silks to open a retail store on Frankfort Ave. (via Google street view)

[ Editor's Note:  This post was updated to correct the address of the new D & W Silks shop incorrectly labeled in the METCO press release.  Thanks to our tipsters for spotting a "coming soon" sign in the new storefront window.  ]

The city announced a new round of METCO loans today.  No major announcements, but we do learn where D & W Silks retail shop will end up now that their former East Main Street building has been demolished for a proposed high-rise.  D & W received a $100,000 loan to open up a store at 2320 Frankfort Avenue in the Clifton neighborhood.  It’s on the corner of Frankfort and Keats Avenues in that building that’s been vacant seemingly forever.  They will be purchasing the structure and part-owner Chris Deeley says they hope to be open in six to eight weeks.

The other loans announced are as follows:

• $25,000 to Two Dazzle, a new retail store that will sell gifts, home accessories and seasonal decor. The shop, to open at 3819 Willis Avenue in St. Matthews, is owned by Ronda Simmons and Kimberly Marshall.
• $7,500 to Comfy Cow, an ice cream and desert store in Westport Village. The loan will help the shop, owned by Roy and Tim Koons-McGee purchase outdoor furniture that will double the store’s seating capacity.
• $60,000 to Gilman’s Point, a commercial property being renovated at 220 Ridgeway Ave. The money will allow owners Theodore Mitzlaff and Stephen Smith to rehab the property, including adding accessible restrooms and improve the building’s facade.
• $100,000 to Atteberry Smith, a start-up cabinet and window business that will operate at Gilman’s Point, 220 Ridgeway Ave. The company is owned by Theodore Mitzlaff and Stephen Smith.
• $100,000 loan to Hertz Starks Building LLC, which owns the hi-rise office tower at 4th and Muhammad Ali Boulevard. The loan will assist in improving the building façade.

Another $300,000 loan for the Starks Building was approved by a Metro Council committee this week as well for a planned high-end chain steakhouse called Eddie Merlot’s setting up shop in a vacant corner store.  Fox 41 has more details and notes the full Metro Council must now vote on the loan.