I grew up just outside of Indy. It isa great city. My regret is that we lived 45 minutes from downtown, so I never really got to experience the true city. I'm surprised that you didn't cover Broad Ripple. They've got about 50 bars within 2 blocks and everyone under 35 lives within walking distance. The Broad Ripple area is awesome!
Broad Ripple is a nice area. Unfortunately, my time in Indy this go around was pretty limited, so I did not get out to many neighborhoods. However, the 2007 Indianapolis tour did include a little information on Broad Ripple.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-jan-roadtrip-indianapolisWhat strikes me is the stark difference in Downtown activity. How can their Downtown be so vibrant? and ours so dead? I know I am going to get the usual it's FBC's fault, but I think its more than that. Also, I do not believe Indy has any sort of major rail transit...i.e streetcar, LRT or commuter rail. I could be wrong, i am sure I will be corrected if I am. It would be good to do an in depth case study to compare Downtown Indy with Downtown Jax and try to figure out why our Downtown is so far behind. I would like to see someone at MetroJax take this and run with it.
I'll take a stab at it. Three words: Connectivity, Compactivity and Clustering. Downtown Indianapolis has a ton of complementing uses that are directly adjacent to each other. Because of this, its easy for various uses to stimulate pedestrian traffic between each other, which in turn, creates opportunity for complementary accessory uses (restaurants, specialty retail, bars, etc.) to fill in the small gaps, assuming there are buildings for them to go into. From that point, its a snow ball effect, in regards to vibrancy.
For example, if you're in town for a convention or sporting event, within a two or three block radius, there are a number of hotels, restaurants, bars, museums and even a shopping mall. Come in to Jacksonville and that same distance from the convention center or sports complex consists of parking lots, a few isolated buildings and overgrown lots where buildings once stood.
The aerials say it all:
Downtown Indianapolis
Downtown Jacksonville
Going back to Jax, you mentioned FBC. If that area of downtown is to be successful, the city needs to work with FBC to make their buildings and interior uses more integrated with the outdoor environment around them. I'm not familar with the interior uses or their locations within each building, but better integration could include:
- Sidewalk window displays of the church's history or works along sidewalks with dead space.
- Letting the public use the proposed main street recreational park during times when it is not being used by FBC.
- Accomodating limited retail space in the corners of some of the garages. This could generate revenue for the church and put people on the sidewalks in that area.
- Improve the visual quality and appeal of existing retail oriented storefronts, like the Christian Bookstore.
- Relocate church's cafeteria to a location that can be seen from the street, that can also accomodate sidewalk dining.
- Banners or something to soften the hard edge the church's buildings have along Union Street.
- Consider opening the original church building up as a museum during hours when not in use by the church. Its an architectural landmark with a significant past that has helped shaped the downtown environment we have today.
There are a lot of other things that can be done, but the points mentioned above are just a few examples of ways to better integrate the church into the surrounding urban core. Short of relying on major projects, which the city can't afford, similar small projects can be done like this throughout the Northbank which will help stimulate synergy and pedestrian movement between existing uses.
