Agreed. I just hope all the hella-hip and cool trend setters moving in from everywhere else never forget what drove them out of their former homes in the first place. Nearly every other city you describe has been run by big-government spending and regulatory types. The results speak for themselves. Need we even discuss the entire state of California and the planners who made it that way?

As good as things are in the Music City, I fear that in a few years the newcomers will be voting for the exact same kind of high taxes, bloated government programs, restrictive zoning and land use laws that will do nothing but turn Nashville into an expensive Memphis. Don't let it happen!

Think about it, the City of Nashville is not on an Ocean, isn’t particularly warmer than the Cities east of it on the coast, there isn’t much geographically unique about it. Sure, the rolling hills are pretty but every City/area tends to have SOMETHING that is appealing (except for the flatlands of IL).

No state income tax = entrepeneurial climate = attraction of wealthy individuals = attraction of corporations and jobs.

I guess the biggest difference between Nashville and Memphis is the lack of poverty in Nashville, the much lower crime (Nashville is a much newer City without a huge urban ghetto dragging it down) and its existence in the pro business state of Tennessee. The fact that its Music City or the Tennessee Titans call it home doesn’t hurt its image either.

Growth begets more growth.

That pretty much defeats the purpose of a HOV lane, especially in a traffic jam.

1. The Ville 106 up, 70 down

The Ville is a ghetto fabulous term for the city of Roseville, Michigan. It can also be used for pretty much any other city that has ville in it. However, this term is specifically meant for Roseville, for reasons that I will explain further down in my definition.

In regards to Roseville, anyone with an ounce of coolness can clearly see that the actual city name isn’t very hip. It doesn’t strike fear into those that hear it. People often associate Roseville with roses, or possibly some other device of cuteness, such as a fairy or a unicorn. These things aren’t very funky fresh or jive like.

In contrast, The Ville strikes fear into those that hear its name. In other words, it is the funkified version of Roseville. The Ville is often associated with poppin fresh coolness and other hella hip terms.

Yes, the housing stock is fantastic, and IMO contains some of the best architectural quality in the state, the commercial stock is so limited and niched that it might as well not be there. Where are the neighborhood commercial nodes? College Ave. and Kessler, 54th, 52nd, 49th, 46th. 49th and Pennsylvania. The north side of 38th St.

That’s all that exists in M-K. The Pharmacy at 49th and Penn. just went out, as did the Friendly Foods convenience store. The replacements? A hair salon and an expanded cafe patachou. There’s a dry cleaners, a gift shop, tcby, a bank, two realty co’s, a hardware store and a dog bakery. Of these, the bank and hardware store are the only ones that are all that useful for everyday needs. Yes, there is a gas station there too, but duh, who cares if you can walk to a gas station?

The nodes on College all contain the same smattering of eateries and random retail stores. One exception: 54th and College now has a real grocery again. Bout time. There’s a gardening store at 52nd and College.

The main issue with M-K and its “commercial nodes” are that there are too few of them, they tend to be located along the fringes of the neighborhood (hindering walkabillity for most of the neighborhood) and the vast majority of them do not contain useful items for day-to-day life. I really do not need a picture frame store within walking distance, but I’d kill for a grocery and pharmacy.

Luckily for me, the much more useful node in Butler-Tarkington at 56th and Illinois is only a few blocks from me. But it’s too far for the vast majority of the neighborhood, and there are no sidewalks along 56th St, or in a surprising amount of B-T either. Please enlighten me if I’ve forgotten another B-T commercial node, but I’m drawing a blank. The one at 42nd and Boulevard is pretty much abandoned, so I’m not counting that.

Where is the completeness of M-K and Butler-Tarkington? As a long-time esident, it isn’t there, and with the lack of sidewalks along some streets, there’s no way it can be compared to Broad Ripple.

This post is getting long, so I’ll respond to Fall Creek Place briefly: FCP lacks character as the new housing structures are row upon row of the same building with different color schemes, or maybe in a mirror image of its neighbor. The old homes that were left to rot and become demolished had far more character than any of the stuff they are building there now.

THAT SAID–I like the concept of FCP and think overall it is an improvement to the area. Is it a complete neighborhood, though? Hell no. The commercial nodes again do not satisfy daily needs. There are also very few of them.

The people who claim that there are no good neighborhoods obviously “drive-thru” Indy or spend their time downtown. Yes, Indy is downtown-focused, but you can’t be a suburb/exurb of nothing…you have to have a strong central city. I implore those who make the claim to actually do some research. You can’t be a City the size of Indy, with a huge portion of your initial growth centered around the railroad and not have good, strong neighborhoods. It’s not possible.