(city-data.com)These past few months, I have been talking about many different cities that have changed their attitude towards preservation and progress over on my other blog Evansville Moving Forward...
http://evansvillemovingforward.blogspot.com/2011/05/large-capital-improvement-projects-can.html
Indianapolis, Indiana is one city that has always stuck out to me other than Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
For better or worse, Evansville has long sought to be just like her sister Indianapolis.
- If Indianapolis merges their county and city governments, we must do the same...
http://www.14wfie.com/story/13016016/expert-weighs-in-on-city-county-merger?redirected=true
- If Indianapolis wastes $700 million on expanding their bypass, we must do the same with our interstate...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/may/29/interstate-69-the-issue-star-supports-roadblock/
- Indianapolis built the state's largest zoo, so we renovated our zoo and made it the biggest in the state...
http://wikimapia.org/13472/Indianapolis-Zoo
In fact, if you take a deep look at who our city does business with, you will notice that Indianapolis has quite an influence over our city more than any other city in the nation.
Although it is good to replicate Indianapolis in most areas as they have been quite a successful city in recent years, there is no doubt that Evansville has failed miserably in doing it. Why has Evansville failed at replicating Indianapolis?
1. We pick the wrong things to replicate: Although I support the zoo and the city-county merger, Evansville's problem is that instead of finding the good things that Indianapolis does, they find the bad things that Indianapolis has built and plays the "If they did it why can't we be allowed to do it," mentality.
This attitude has been on full display during the entire I-69 process. If Indianapolis is allowed to waste $700 million on extending their bypass, and if Indianapolis is allowed to build duplicate interstates to other cities, then why can't we waste several billion on an interstate that only saves 12-13 minutes drive time because a good chunk of the interstate is within 20-30 miles of US 41? We know what Indianapolis is doing is wasteful and wrong, but we think we should be allowed to do it as well.
2. We don't have the drive and ambition to go through with our projects: Back in the 1960's and 1970's, Indianapolis was known as "Naptown." This nickname was largely created due to the belief that Indianapolis was a boring, lifeless town. It then spurred other nicknames such as " Indiana-No-Place," "Home of the Indy 500 but 500 miles from nowhere," and " City of Siestas."
Finally, after much ridicule, Indianapolis decided to change their image. Amazingly enough, Evansville was on good footing at that time. They boldly built Roberts Stadium, downtown was thriving, and Evansville's population was growing rapidly. Indianapolis would have to improve drastically to catch back up with Evansville. So what did they do?
Since their Naptown image, Indianapolis has done the following...
Revamped their Central Canal...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Central_Canal
(photo credit: marriott.com)
Constructed Victory Field...
Constructed 2 Arenas...
(LostIndiana.net)
(roundballreview.com)
Constructed 2 Stadiums...
(photo credit: ballparks.com)
(photo credit: ballparks.com)
Built Circle Centre Mall With An Arts Garden...
(photo credit: danpjohnson.files.wordpress.com)
Constructed White River State Park...
(photo credit: mswoods.com)
All of these projects weren't enough for the city of Indianapolis. They have now brought the NCAA headquarters to town, began planning for high speed rail, and have just constructed this brand new hotel...
(photo credit: indianapolis-indiana.funcityfinder.com)
Even worse is the fact that Evansville had a plan that would replicate most of Indianapolis' success. Our 2001 master plan had a ballpark, a canal, a marina, an arena, a rejuvenated Main Street shopping district, a revamped riverfront, 2 downtown parks, new cultural amenities, and much, much more.
Yet, here in 2011 we only got 2 of those projects. We got a revamped riverfront (which was scaled down to a thimble) and we are just now going to get the new arena (which wasn't in either of the two locations on the master plan). The rest has been all but scrapped as the hyperlink to master plan on GAGE's website has vanished. You can only view a small piece of it here on page 8...
http://www.evansvillegage.com/downloads/design_guidelines.pdf
(Note: I have the 2001 downtown master plan printed off. If anyone wants to see it please let me know!)
These past few years, we've seen Evansville spend $149 million on an EVSC bond to build schools in the boondocks, complain that they haven't gotten their $5 billion + I-69 built yet, waste another $25 million on widening Green River Road, and then deciding to waste another $4 million just to make the downtown roads go the other way. Evansville has wasted all this money while lobbying to waste more state dollars yet they want us to believe that there was no money to build the 2001 master plan?
Now, it appears that Indianapolis has decided to put us even farther behind. As our ERC works on their 3rd time at trying to build a new downtown hotel, Indianapolis has decided to learn one lesson they did not learn from their building boom: You do not demolish old sports facilities.
Several years ago, Indianapolis made the terrible decision to demolish Market Square Arena. They believed that a massive redevelopment would be able to replace this legendary facility. They were wrong as the site still remains a gravel parking lot, and there are more questions than answers...
http://www.wthr.com/story/15050607/market-square-arena-site-still-in-question
Indianapolis has refused to let this problem happen again. In 1996, when the city decided to build Victory Field for the Indianapolis Indians, the franchise vacated historic Bush Stadium...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_Stadium
Since 1996, the city had tried project after project for the ballpark but had come up short every time. One thing they refused to do was demolish the historic facility. They faced a daunting challenge revamping this facility which had fallen into significant disrepair. I have visited Bush Stadium twice in the past year and I assure you that if you think Roberts Stadium is in a bad condition you need to visit Bush Stadium.
Nonetheless, after all these years, Indianapolis has finally found a solution to Bush Stadium. The city will now be converting the ballpark to apartments...
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28262739/detail.html
You can view the plan and the renderings here...
http://www.developindy.com/files/documents/16Tech_conceptuals2lil.pdf
http://www.developindy.com/redevelopment/16-tech.aspx
A few years ago, Ripken Design studied Bush Stadium and composed a plan to redevelop the stadium. Last year, I contacted Ripken Design myself, got a quote of $32,500 to study Roberts Stadium, and delivered it to the mayor's desk. That was as far as it got!
One of the main things that has helped Indianapolis finally solve the Bush Stadium problem is their belief that Bush Stadium should be a part of a much bigger development.
Redeveloping Bush Stadium is a part of Indy's "16 Tech" project which is designed to convert the district to a technology corridor....
http://www.degriding.com/2011/06/indianapolis-gets-it-right.html
Instead of Evansville demanding that we get a wasteful interstate simply because Indianapolis got one, why don't we demand that we get a renovated Roberts Stadium with a fully financed master plan for the area because Indianapolis got one for Bush Stadium and 16 Tech?
In a nutshell, that is the mindset we must overcome if we have any desire to move back ahead of Indianapolis. We have watched Indianapolis build project after project while we sit here and refuse to innovate. We've seen plan after plan for Evansville but no action ever follows them.
We know what we have to do. If we want to preserve our rich history at Roberts Stadium we have to be proactive. We have to listen to the people, we have to listen to those who have ideas and plans, and we have to investigate all leads to the fullest. Indianapolis did this and now they are going to be able to keep their historic Bush Stadium.
Since the beginning of time, Evansville has envied Indianapolis. Now is the time to be jealous of "Naptown." Let's work to SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!
(ballparkbiz.files.wordpress.com)
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