Earlier this year I recorded two podcasts for the community radio program Design Minded in Indianapolis with Lee Alig and Steve Mannheimer, former architecture critic of the Indianapolis Star. We talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of architecture and design in the city. Here's the first episode. If the player doesn't display for you, click over to listen on Mixcloud. Here's the second episode. If the player doesn't display for you, click over to listen on Mixcloud. Cover image credit: Miyin2 CC BY-SA 4.0 … [Read more...]
Bi-State Showdown in Kansas City
The Kansas City metro area is surely one of America's most unusual. Among large metro areas spanning multiple states, it has the highest percentage of its population living in the state that does not contain its central city (apart from the perhaps even more anomalous case of Washington, DC). There are two municipalities called Kansas City, one in Missouri and one in Kansas, with the regional central city being the one in Missouri. And Kansas City is essentially the only large metro area in the country in which the "favored quarter" affluent … [Read more...]
Coronavirus Impact on Business, Work, and Life
If you joined yet, please check out and subscribe to Heartland Intelligence, my monthly research briefing on this critical region of the country that will determine the outcome of the next election. Last week I joined John Fenton from GoLocalProv in Providence for a livestream on the coronavirus. If the video doesn't display for you, click over to watch on You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RZII13itPs … [Read more...]
City of Indianapolis Backs $25 Million in Paycheck Protection Loans
I want to highlight a great development here in Indianapolis. The city of Indianapolis has approved allocating $25 million to fund federal paycheck protection program loans underwritten by the Indy Chamber. (Full disclosure: I am a consultant for the chamber). The SBA's forgivable Paycheck Protection Program was such a big hit that the loan funds were entirely allocated in short order. Congress just provided an additional allocation of funds, with $30 billion reserved for CDFI (community development financial institution) type … [Read more...]
Chamber Launches Rapid Response Hub for Small Business
The Indy Chamber has launched a new "Rapid Response Hub" site to provide assistance to small businesses dealing with challenges from the coronavirus. If you see or hear of other similar efforts by Chambers, cities, or others in other cities, let me know and I'll add them to this page as well. The Indy Rapid Response Hub right now has FAQs with information from the CDC, OSHA, legal info from local law firms, where to get help for their employees, etc. Businesses can also submit questions for the Chamber team or people from the IU Kelley … [Read more...]
The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side
Sign up for Heartland Intelligence, my monthly research briefing on the greater American Midwest. Chicago is known as one of America's great cities for architecture. But other than the Illinois Institute of Technology campus, designed by Mies van der Rohe, very little of the architecture of the South Side is included in the public's mind when thinking about it. Lee Bey, former architecture critic of the Chicago Sun-Times and a South Side residents, aims to change this with his book Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago's … [Read more...]
More on Columbus, Indiana
I want to share a few additional thoughts on Columbus, looking at the question of whether things really could have been different in the Rust Belt with different policies. I believe the answer is Yes, with caveats. First, it's undeniable, as I've written many times before, that macroeconomic change drove much of the Rust Belt collapse. Rust Belt challenges spanned many different states, red vs. blue political environments, etc. It's also true that the Columbus model may not have been applicable or worked in the same way elsewhere, … [Read more...]
“Is It Too Late for a Man of Honesty, High Purpose, and Intelligence to Be Elected President of the US in 1968?”
After putting up my post linking to my Atlantic piece on J. Irwin Miller and Columbus, Indiana, I discovered that the Esquire cover story I mentioned is actually online. It's great reading, and I highly recommend it. Keep in mind, Esquire was an important magazine back then. Here are some excerpts: "Wouldn't Irwin Miller be great?" exclaimed the Mayor [John Lindsay], a smile breaking across his face like a wave. "He's one of the great people of this world. He's got insight, humor, wisdom, saltiness. How could we get him to run?" Up to that … [Read more...]
The Rust Belt Didn’t Have to Happen
I knew a number of things about J. Irwin Miller, the former Cummins Engine CEO who financed Columbus, Indiana's world-renowned collection of modernist architectural masterpieces. But when I read Nancy's Kriplen's recent short biography of him, I learned a lot I'd never suspected. Clearly one of the most distinguished Hoosiers of all time, among other things, Esquire magazine put him on its cover in 1967 saying that he should be the next President of the United States. That was a pipe dream, of course. Even had Nixon not been the Republican … [Read more...]
If You Improve It, They Will Come
My latest piece is now online at City Journal. It's a recap of the Indianapolis BRT and Columbus free downtown transit success, as well as a look at Kansas City's contemplation of free transit citywide. Thanks to a commenter here who originally alerted me to KC's plans. Here's an excerpt: Kansas City is considering the complete elimination of transit fares. In major cities, fares commonly pay for a substantial amount of the overall cost of service operations, and trains and buses are often overcrowded. In Kansas City, though, fares cover only … [Read more...]
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