Dateline: Georgia Street, downtown Indianapolis-- It started as a "party street" for the Superbowl, a "pedestrian-friendly connector" between the Convention Center and what was then known as Conseco Fieldhouse (now Banker's Life). The city spent nearly $13 million on the re-do. It even had a zipline! Afterwards, the zipline moved on, the fancy boardwalks turned ugly and the city quickly learned it was homeless-friendly, too -- but not especially business-friendly.
Ooops. So the bums were out (who're they, to want a place to sit down? Just because the city's got tables and chairs set out for the public!) and it has been floundering around ever since.
This season's flat, dead fish is called "City Sidewalks." It's a kind of holiday market, complete with an ice-skating rink. --Except it hasn't got any ice. "Leave your skates at home," the thing is made of some high-tech plastic and they'll provide skates. Yum, shoe-sharing! (We had high-tech no-ice ice-skating way back when I was a teenager: it was called "roller skating." But you weren't required to wear pre-sweated shoes if you owned your own). The city is hoping -- oh, how they hope! -- that it will draw more than flies and bums.
Good luck. One pub-owner along the street rates the post-Superbowl venue a "C+" and he's hardly a disinterested observer.
Your -- or at least my -- tax dollars at work! It makes me so proud.
I liked downtown just fine before the Cultural Trail, the Georgia Street boondoggle, and all the *#$&~! unused bike lanes on rush-hour thoroughfares.
ReplyDeleteHonestly don't know why our city fathers and mothers can't leave well enough alone. But they keep trying to cram 10# into a 5# bag. Sooner or later you won't be able to drive a car in the Mile Square.
I liked downtown just fine before the Cultural Trail, the Georgia Street boondoggle, and all the *#$&~! unused bike lanes on rush-hour thoroughfares.
ReplyDeleteHonestly don't know why our city fathers and mothers can't leave well enough alone. But they keep trying to cram 10# into a 5# bag. Sooner or later you won't be able to drive a car in the Mile Square.
You can say that again!
ReplyDeleteApparently I did :)
ReplyDeleteThis is how to do it right.
ReplyDeleteY'all are stuck with it, and you know they are going to keep screwing with it until ALL the businesses are gone...
ReplyDeleteAh, synthetic hipness in an attempt to revive a decaying city core.
ReplyDeleteJust because it's failed nearly everywhere else doesn't mean we can't make it work here!