Wind Indiana Conference

I have been alerted about the upcoming Wind Power conference at the Indiana Convention Center. I'm posting it here for anyone interested in attending.

Green Burials

This is a bit of an odd topic for this blog, but after driving past Washington Park North's grounds, and seeing a banner that said "ask us about green burials", I decided to do some more research, and found this article and this webpage. I have personally been hoping for something like this in Indianapolis, and I thought I would mention it here in case anyone else was interested.

Boulevard Place and Crown Hill

Last Friday, a few friends and I biked down Boulevard Place to Crown Hill Cemetery.  Boulevard Place has 2 nice corners, separated by only 2 blocks.

First, 42nd Street.  The former Boulevard Place Cafe, which has sadly closed its doors:

The southwest corner:

Next, 40th Street.  The Southeast corner:

Northwest Corner:

Southwest Corner:

Northeast corner.  Unlike many inner-city corners built on 2 relatively minor streets, this one is pretty well activated, and only has one empty building.  But it's a decent-looking one: 

One block east on 40th, there is a former Masonic Hall.  These places are all built to last forever:

Finally, Crown Hill:

Local Food Culture Continues Improvement

I promised Graeme in my last post that I would have something more upbeat. I was looking for answers, and it hit me as I ate my wonderful fresh salad at the downtown Farmer's Market: This is it. Our downtown market is now featuring prepared meals utilizing our local produce, which I had been clamoring for. Aside from the salads, you can get fantastic homemade tamales, local sausages, and a wider variety of pastries (those that know me know that my sweet tooth is unrivaled).

Outside of the farmers market, there are other positive new developments. The Earth House Cafe serves solid sandwiches, using local and organic sources. Nicole-Taylor's fresh made pasta now has a storefront on 54th and the Monon, and the store will also feature pastries and other quality items. Big City Farms has turned vacant city lots into a place for food production, and is now a producer to Goose The Market. Finally, the Indy Food Coop aims to bring good local food to a larger audience, and is hoping to open on East 10th Street later this year.

Of course, not everything is rosy on the food front. Unfortunately, we have also seen the closing of 2 of our better fine-dining restaurants in L'explorateur and Elements. There is no doubt, however, that we have more quality locally-sourced options than we did 5 years ago, and that we will see even more of them as the public becomes more aware of where their food originates.

On our city's recent history

I overheard this on this bus today:

"Indianapolis used to be a beautiful city. Then for the last 40 years, they tore down anything old and put up a parking garage or something."

It's a statement that hit home with me. I really wanted to quibble, but I could not. Recently at my work I have been reviewing Sanborn Fire Maps from 1956. The shear volume of good urban structures that have been lost in the past 50 years is staggering. Even worse, at least 9 out of 10 times they were replaced by something less attractive: a parking lot, a widened roadway, a gas station, a strip mall. Sure, we now have a semblance of a skyline, but outside of downtown, it's almost a challenge to think of a fine new urban structure. Here are a few places that come to mind:

The Libraries at 42nd and College, and Michigan and Belmont.
The live-work units at 25th and Delaware.
The Boner Center on East 10th Street.
Big Hat Books in Broad Ripple.
Beilouny on Mass Ave and 707 East North (I'll consider these outside of downtown for this discussion).

All of these have been constructed within the past 10 years. The good news is that there is some positive momentum out there. Is it possible that the College Avenue Library (circa 2000) is actually the most important structure for Indianapolis neighborhoods in this city? I believe that it deserves some credit for proving that something new doesn't have to be worse than what it replaced. I haven't been in Indy for long enough to remember the structure that was at this corner previously, but at least the library is much nicer than the one that was on Broadway and 42nd. With proposals like this and this, it seems that we are at least starting to "get it."

Ogilville, Freetown, and Clear Spring: the opposite of Urban

My wife has family near Clear Spring in Jackson County.  Here's a small sampling of the structures that can be found on the way.

First, Ogilville.  Nice old general store, and not much else to speak of.

Across the road, I declared this the world's shortest sidewalk:

The sky was perfect that day:

 
Freetown is next:

No Name Street.  For real:

Finally, Clear Spring.  Former school:

This general store was open last year.  I was sad to see it closed.  The sign reads "since 1898'.

UNWA update

Reader Aaron + Alaine has alerted me to a new development implementation plan for the UNWA neighborhood. I'm happy to see that there is a movement to revitalize this area.