Indianapolis Development News

[arenn]

Marion County is in a real development jam until this property tax situation gets sorted out and the dust settles. That's the real killer right now.

[UrbanIndy]

Climate Change pales in comparison to Peak Oil, at least in the near term. China and India are demanding more oil by the day. OPEC countries are using more of their own and exporting less. Mexico's largest field is declining fast. Alaska is declining and would only replace itself if we drilled ANWR. The "easy stuff" is getting replaced by the "hard stuff", as the major land-based oil finds are dwindling and we need to head further off-shore to drill (as well as the oil sands and rocks in Canada and the Rockies).

I think Climate Change could be real, but Peak Oil should be where our true focus lies. I hope that if we change our society to deal with Climate Change, that could also solve Peak Oil at the same time.

[UrbanIndy]

Also, just noticed that you now have to login to comment on the IndyStar's website. Woo! That took way too long.

[Unionstation13]

Regardless of whether global warming is true or not we should still find alternatives for oil, better mass transit, and dense living because in the big picture it does reduce pollution and create a healthier environment. Oil is a fossil fuel, it won't last much longer. I've heard that parts of the world are cooling and we shall go into a second ice age as well. This will be one of those things we won't know for sure until long after our era. Kind of like the cause of the plague.

[shane453]

Originally Posted by Unionstation13

there is a high demand for apartments downtown. The recession has stunted it but at the same time I think people are starting to look at gas prices, etc and wanting to live in areas where use of auto is not needed so much.

Absoultely right- I almost believe that no matter what happens with the housing market in general, the urban niche market is isolated from that in cities that are starting to grow an inventory of urban units.

[thundermutt]

Originally Posted by thehoss257

A random thought...

I've noticed an increasing number of news stories that are questioning the existence of global warming. As we often use global warming as one of the main reasons to encourage transit and urban development patterns, this make me worry a bit... I think we need to be carful not to put all our eggs in the environmental basket. Supporters of urbanism need to be ahead of the curve if it looks like the prevailing wisdom changes on this issue.

I'm not saying I don't believe in global warming... I just think we need to be careful. Besides, even if it turns out that global warming is not taking place it still makes sense to limit the amount of foreign matter we spew into the atmosphere.

Just a thought.

Hoss, I think $4-5 gasoline will drive density and transit far more than any effort based in environmentalism. Use of "green" design concepts and green building materials didn't take off until they made economic sense.

Now my grandmothers' linoleum floors are "in" again.

[cwilson758]

Concerning I-69...great that they are addressing the lanes issues before 2015...or 2020, but, as a person who drives I-69 to Anderson everyday, I can't help but think that 4 lanes down to 2 right after 116th Street will do nothing but move the bottleneck north from the I-465/I-69 merge to 6 miles north. InDOT needs to bite the bullet and do the whole project NOW all the way up to Exit 10 with 4 lanes and to Anderson/Exit 26 to 3 lanes.

[arenn]

I totally agree. The traffic volumes today already warrant six lanes to Exit 26, to say nothing of future growth. I just read yet another article about more development at the SR 13 interchange. The whole corridor is going to fill in at some point.

[hoosier]

Originally Posted by thehoss257

A random thought...

I've noticed an increasing number of news stories that are questioning the existence of global warming. As we often use global warming as one of the main reasons to encourage transit and urban development patterns, this make me worry a bit... I think we need to be carful not to put all our eggs in the environmental basket. Supporters of urbanism need to be ahead of the curve if it looks like the prevailing wisdom changes on this issue.

I'm not saying I don't believe in global warming... I just think we need to be careful. Besides, even if it turns out that global warming is not taking place it still makes sense to limit the amount of foreign matter we spew into the atmosphere.

Just a thought.

I don't know where you get your news from, but the scientific consensus concerning man-made global warming has only gotten stronger every year. The IPCC put out the latest issue of their report on Climate Change last year and their findings are even more startling and scary than in 2001.

The rate of Arctic melting has increased and the north polar ice cap has shrunk by almost 1/3 since 1979.

[hoosier]

Originally Posted by UrbanIndy

Climate Change pales in comparison to Peak Oil, at least in the near term. China and India are demanding more oil by the day. OPEC countries are using more of their own and exporting less. Mexico's largest field is declining fast. Alaska is declining and would only replace itself if we drilled ANWR. The "easy stuff" is getting replaced by the "hard stuff", as the major land-based oil finds are dwindling and we need to head further off-shore to drill (as well as the oil sands and rocks in Canada and the Rockies).

I think Climate Change could be real, but Peak Oil should be where our true focus lies. I hope that if we change our society to deal with Climate Change, that could also solve Peak Oil at the same time.

The stuff in ANWR wouldn't affect oil prices one iota and at most could provide 6 months worth of supply to the US. Is that worth destroying the last pristine portion of the Alaskan North Slope?

Converting oils sands into oil is incredibly expensive and even more environmentally destrucitve than traditional drilling- that is not the direction we need to be moving in regarding our energy policy.

[arenn]

Hadn't known about this one

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...1291/OPINION08

Making a concrete move to raise quality of life
Posted: March 24, 2008

Our position: Requiring sidewalks would be a step forward for health, safety and just plain class.

They are common sights that shame a city -- bus riders standing in weedy ditches, pedestrians and bicyclists laboring unprotected within a few feet of traffic, empty roadsides that ought to be busy with walkers.
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Lack of sidewalks, like our antiquated sewer system, is an Indianapolis distinction that would be lovely to lose. As the long-overdue septic upgrade progresses, the City-County Council also has an opportunity to fill the sidewalk gap.

A series of amendments to existing ordinances would require sidewalks to be installed with new construction, additions and renovations of commercial, industrial, multi-family and "special" (churches, schools) buildings.

The builder would pay the cost, estimated by city planners at about $23 per foot of sidewalk, or just over $5,000 for a typical fast-foot restaurant.

A priceless added feature: If the city determined that a sidewalk was not needed in any particular instance, the builder would kick in to a general fund for sidewalks.

"I'm excited," says Councilwoman Angela Mansfield, the sponsor, who represents the Northwestside. "I've got areas like Michigan Road, Ditch Road, even Westlane, with a lot of apartments, people with limited incomes. Walking to commercial areas is dangerous. People get clipped. People get killed."

That would seem to lend a sense of urgency to the measure, which is scheduled for a public hearing before the council's Metropolitan Development Committee at 5:30 p.m. March 31. The city's Metropolitan Development Commission has given its approval.

While safety is reason enough to enact the amendments, the merits extend far beyond. Planning has been in the works many months between city experts and Health By Design, a coalition of urban living advocates whose members include the Marion County Health Department, INShape Indiana and the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors. The group points to studies showing that people walk more and drive less when sidewalks are available; that walking reduces obesity; and that one in four Hoosiers qualifies as obese.

"There are just a lot of benefits," says Kim Irwin, director of Health By Design. "Being active, being safe -- and there are economic and commercial benefits as well. Property values increase when you have sidewalks."

Understandably, misgivings are being expressed by those who would pay the bills. City staff have worked with them to keep costs in bounds. The council should remind them that fees for amenities are as common in America as missing sidewalks are in Indy. Even here, sidewalks already are required in single-family subdivisions. Extending the responsibility to other builders is logical.

[speedblue47]

Originally Posted by hoosier

The stuff in ANWR wouldn't affect oil prices one iota and at most could provide 6 months worth of supply to the US. Is that worth destroying the last pristine portion of the Alaskan North Slope?

Converting oils sands into oil is incredibly expensive and even more environmentally destrucitve than traditional drilling- that is not the direction we need to be moving in regarding our energy policy.

Please sir, research your topic before posting. ANWR(including the nearby surrounding lands and waters extending 3 miles from the coast) contains at $40/barrel, a mean estimate of economically recoverable oil of 8.9 Billion barrels. At that rate, it could supply 100% of US oil(@ 20,000,000 barrels a day) for 1 year and 80 days or 10% of US oil needs for over 12 years. And that is at $40/barrel. Since oil sells for roughly twice that, it may be economical to retrieve the technically recoverable reserves with a mean of 10.4 Billion barrels. That could supply 10% of US oil for about 14 years, or 5% for about 28 years. And all this data is based on a 1998 USGS Survey, based on that time period's technical capabilities for detection and capture. New techniques in horizontal drilling and the capture and use of shale oil figure to increase that amount at least 10-15%, if not more.

Also, Prudhoe Bay is on the decline, and produces a large proportion of North Slope production. That area accounts for a quarter of domestic oil production. So this is about more than adding production, it is about making sure that production can remain at the same rate that it has been, about 1.5 million barrels a day. In 1995, Dittman Research Corporation conducted a survey of 510 people native to the Alaskan north shore. 77% of the broad base supports opening the ANWR to development, with that precentage holding steady throughout all of the geographical regions. As is the case around the world, the people who live around natural resources would like to take advantage of them to benefit their communities and families, but are stopped by environmentalist activists who already live in developed areas with a high standard of living.

And as for the all too common retort that we should hope that oil production decreases and therefore prices increase and people will look for alternatives, that is absurd. The world is currently a roughly $50 TRILLION dollar economic engine largely fueled by fossil fuels. The continued rise in living standards around the world depend on this. In the long term, alternatives should be researched since the resource is not renewable, but hoping for prices to rise will increase the cost of business all around the world and retard growth here and abroad. We should instead hope that the US is able to circumvent the apparatus of the thieving OPEC, who acquired there assets through nationalization of property developed and therefore made valuable by US oil companies in the 1950s, and that the US Government stops subsidizing the alternative energy research, allowing truly marketable technologies to win over technologies with the most political supporters.

Of course, there are more reasons than the at best lame excuse of climate change to support fossil fuel alternatives such as the local area pollution caused by their use. These are potentially real risks, having an affect on standard of living and having a questionable status in terms of property rights violations. That is why I support alternative energy research, and plan on entering this field when I finish my bachelor's. But let's all be adults and realize that our very lives currently depend on the black stuff and probably will in the West for at least another 40 years, and throughout the world for at least another 100, barring some super-revolutionary invention or discovery. Let's make the best of it and see some of that vast wealth we produce with it go to developing its replacement, and stop worrying about how the Caribou will manage to migrate around the pipeline(it's called nature, somehow they find a way, and sometimes thrive). And lastly, let's realize that our real "energy policy" is dictated by how we spend those green pieces of paper in our wallets, not by some omniscient panel of energy czars that genuinely care about the future and not their own political future. Reality is much different when one looks beyond the story you see on newsstands.

[Mr Peanut]

Originally Posted by arenn

Hadn't known about this one

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...1291/OPINION08

Making a concrete move to raise quality of life
Posted: March 24, 2008

Yeah, that's been slogging its way through the MDC for a while. I hope they stop the endless deliberation and finally pass the thing. Maybe this can be the start of considering thinking about making a plan to eventually develop updated zoning laws. Like ones that don't inhibit development by making the entire old city limits a nonconforming use. Ones that don't require 10 acres of parking for every acre of building. What a grand notion that would be!

[ablerock]

Originally Posted by arenn

Hadn't known about this one

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...1291/OPINION08

Making a concrete move to raise quality of life
Posted: March 24, 2008

Our position: Requiring sidewalks would be a step forward for health, safety and just plain class.

That's great news. I recently traveled from Downtown Indy to the far northside with my co-workers for a meeting. We took Meridian all the way up to West Clay. I sat in the back seat and took the opportunity to pay attention to the sidewalk's width and design. The sidewalks continue until about 54th street, then they just disappear. It's sad.

[ablerock]

Originally Posted by Mr Peanut

Yeah, that's been slogging its way through the MDC for a while. I hope they stop the endless deliberation and finally pass the thing. Maybe this can be the start of considering thinking about making a plan to eventually develop updated zoning laws. Like ones that don't inhibit development by making the entire old city limits a nonconforming use. Ones that don't require 10 acres of parking for every acre of building. What a grand notion that would be!

Go to the meeting, publicly support the amendment, then bring up the changes you'd also like to see. It can't hurt, and they may not be aware of them.

[SpiderMonkey]

Here are a couple shots of progress on the Maxwell. Sorry for the poor quality, but these were taken through a window from Mass Ave.







and one of 3 Mass

[thundermutt]

Originally Posted by ablerock

That's great news. I recently traveled from Downtown Indy to the far northside with my co-workers for a meeting. We took Meridian all the way up to West Clay. I sat in the back seat and took the opportunity to pay attention to the sidewalk's width and design. The sidewalks continue until about 54th street, then they just disappear. It's sad.

One side disappears but there is sidewalk on the east side of Meridian up to 61st St., which is just about the "old city" (pre-UNIGOV) limit. (Remember, Meridian from North St. to the county line was state highway until the 90's.) Sidewalks were not added when the road was reconstructed north of 86th in recent years (one wonders how Ruth Hayes missed that opportunity to be a thorn in the city's side).

Aerials do not reveal sidewalks or multi-use trails alongside US31 in Carmel or Westfield either, so it's not just an Indianapolis thing.

[Unionstation13]

I can't wait for the Maxwell to be finished. I love the design and the density. Am I the only one who has noticed that the North East, and Eastern downtown loop have been really getting dense?

[arenn]

The city is the worst offender in not installing sidewalks. The 38th St. project, despite its astronomical cost, did not include sidewalks on both sides. Neither did a recent widening on west 56th St.

[pattyco7]

Originally Posted by arenn

The city is the worst offender in not installing sidewalks. The 38th St. project, despite its astronomical cost, did not include sidewalks on both sides. Neither did a recent widening on west 56th St.

It's an embarrassment for our fair city to not have sidewalks in many of the neighborhoods within the old city limits!!!