Why Downtown is Dying

Downtown Louisville is dying. Actually, it has been dying since the 1950's. The growth of suburbs after WWII drawing people out of the center core hurt. The city's decision to suburbanize its urban core by tearing down buildings to build surface parking lots didn't help either. Don't get me wrong. There have been some very successful efforts to try and save downtown. Slugger Field, Waterfront Park (which will be covered up by the Bridges Project), West Main street museum district, and 4th Street Live to name a few. On that list only 4th Street Live could be considered a question mark. These are great projects and there are some others on the way, but in the end they will fail to resurrect downtown.

If you want to "save" downtown Louisville then you have to reconnect downtown with its surrounding neighborhoods. What made downtown a special place before the 50's was that it was connected to its surrounding neighborhoods. The surrounding neighborhoods feed the central business district. The stores in downtown catered to the people in those neighborhoods. Even if some to most of those stores in the 50's didn't serve black folks you still had old Walnut St that was in downtown.

Before urban renewal downtown was connected to its surrounding neighborhoods. After urban renewal it is completely disconnected and it's now its own separate entity. On the west side of central business district you have the 9th street divide. On the east side there is I-65.

When you hear city officials talk about bringing retail back to downtown they say we need more people living downtown. There's not enough people to support downtown retail. There are tons of people to support downtown retail. They just happen to live in Portland, Russell, Smoketown, Butchertown, California, Phoenix Hill, and NULU.

I'm not saying that this is the only reason downtown is dying. There are a ton more reasons, but I think this is the biggest. If Old Walnut street and east Russell had not succumb to the wrecking ball would downtown be in as bad of a shape?  Over 3,000 single family homes and businesses were torn down and replaced by surface parking lots and subsidized housing. The destruction was so complete that there is not 1 single family home left from 5th Street to 16th street in Russell. Same thing happened to east Portland. How much potential economic activity was lost?

We need to stop thinking about downtown Louisville as just the central business district. It should be much more than that. We need to make reconnecting downtown to its surrounding neighborhoods a priority. We need to work on reconnecting and revitalizing those old business corridors (Market St, Broadway, Main St, and Preston) so they can once again funnel people downtown. We need to visually and physically reconnected these neighborhoods back to downtown.

Before the 1950's if you saw a map of downtown Louisville you would think it was just one giant neighborhood. Not now. We need to become that one giant neighborhood
 once again.

30 acres and a Mule

The city has recently announced that they have purchased 30 acres of land in west Louisville for the purpose of economic development. The city intends to market this land to potential developers for the purpose of light industry, manufacturing, and distribution. Several weeks after making the announcement city officials held a forum at Shawnee high school to discuss what they plan to do with the property. 

City officials re-affirmed their stance that they will market the property for light industrial, manufacturing, and distribution only. They will list the property in trade magazines and highlight the fact that the property is close to rail, the river and the expressway. They also said that they do not want to subdivide the land and that they want to sell it whole. Many of the people who attended the forum (most were from the Shawnee neighborhood) seem to have deep reservations about the city intentions. Many residents expressed fears of polluting industries moving into the neighborhood, increase noise and truck traffic, will the development keep with the dense urban design of the neighborhood, will it be possible to have retail as a part of the development, and will residents have a say as to what businesses move into their neighborhood. The city officials attempted to calm the fears of the residents by stating that their number one goal would be to find good sustainable jobs, that the city will look for low to non-polluting businesses if possible, and we wil make sure that the business will bring good jobs with good wages. 

Basically, trust us, we know what's best for you. 

The city officials made it clear that the neighborhoods will not have a say as to what business moves into their neighborhood. The reason being is that negotiations like these are usually done in private. They did say that when they have something signed they will advise the business to have meetings with its new neighbors. When asked about the design of the development and will it fit in with the dense urban character of the neighborhood they answer was the are doesn't have a design overlay, but they will see what they can do. Basically, no. 

The residents weren't against light industrial businesses, jobs, manufacturing, or distribution. They just wanted more for their/our neighborhoods. We can create jobs, but we wanted businesses that fit the character of the neighborhood, that would pleasant to look at and live with. After all, the 30 acres of land is in the middle of 3 residential neighborhoods. 

I spoke with several residents after the forum and they wanted to know why can't we subdivide the land. Some of it can be for what the city wants. The other parts could be used for much needed retail, perhaps a west Louisville haymarket, and mixed use mixed income housing. 

Maybe we can build something like they have Charlotte  NC where they converted several old warehouses into concert venues and outside concert venues/plazas. Granted the warehouse on this location has been demolished, but an open air concert venue and amphitheater ( like the one at Iroquois Park) would be great. Then you could also add an west Louisville Haymarket that would serve the 3 neighborhoods that border this particular piece of property (Russell, Portland, Shawnee) 

You could surround the property or at least build on the market street side Mixed used/Mixed income housing. There are several examples of great mixed income housing like what is at Park Duvalle or perhaps this low income project that is being built in DC..

or maybe this mixed income development from Portland..

I know the city is hellbent on only attracting manufacturing, light industrial businesses, and distribution which is cool. But why not focus on targeting green companies? The city has stated several times that they want the Portland neighborhood to lead Louisville's green revolution. There are $500,000 in loans for this purpose. If that's the case then why not start with this 30 acres? What could be better? You could couple these developments that I have mentioned above with a company that processes organic vegetables from local farmers. Maybe couple these projects with an urban farm project that grows vertically. Why not invite businesses that are the future? We all know that green jobs/manufacturing is the future. Vertical and urban farming methods are the future. Why not invest in those companies? Why is the city so determined to focus on industries whose time has come and gone? If you truly wanted to bring Louisville into the 21st century then invest in 22nd century businesses models.

This project could be a win/win for everybody. If the city had said we are looking for green companies, and we will put together packages to make that happen then I believe the neighborhoods would be behind them. If the city had said we want green companies plus any of the other possibilities that I mentioned above  the city would have gotten our support 110%. But it seems the city doesn't see it that way.  Its just business as usually.

Urban Renewal 2.0?

Last Night at the Louisville Metro Dems meeting Mayor Fischer said that the biggest obstacle to economic development in West Louisville was the accumulation of large parcels of land. The old American Tabacco factory site at 30th and Ali was held up as a great example of this. This also fits in with metro government's push to demolish as many vacant homes as possible. This isn't the first time that I've heard that rationale or that particular line of thinking before. I have spoken with many GLI officials over the years and they talked about how West Louisville would be perfect for warehouses and light industrial development. Not one time was it ever mentioned that West Louisville could be a great place for small scale retail or the type of businesses you see along Bardstown Road and East Market.  Metro government only sees West Louisville as great place for warehousing. Warehousing of goods and for warehousing the poor and undesirables.

Are we looking at Urban renewal 2.0? Hasn't West Louisville seen enough of the destructive power of the wrecking ball? West Louisville, especially black Louisville, has sacrificed enough to enrich the other parts of the city. The city destroyed our thriving business districts to build parking lots. Or to put it more bluntly to remove black folks from downtown. Urban Renewal was really just negro removal. Joshua Poe of the Leo wrote an article about how race was the prime motivating factor for urban renewal. 

The intentions of the 1957 plan stated the demolition of black neighborhoods would “insulate and protect the tremendous values in the central business district against the run-down and blighted neighborhoods around it.” Thus urban renewal was never motivated by the well being of residents, but the economic health of downtown based upon the exclusion of blacks.

Is this "new" push to tear down homes and warehouses just more of the same and a continuation of urban renewal? Yes. Its a plan to create wealth for the small few while disenfranchising the masses of West Louisville residents. Do you think these warehouses will pay a decent wage that you can raise a family on? No. Will they add to the economic vitality of the community. No. What's going to happen is that a small cadre of developers will make a ton of money on tearing down warehouse and houses and then building new warehouses. The businesses that move into the warehouses will have an endless supply of cheap labor around their warehouses because West Louisville is where we warehouse the poor. 

What happens to the residents? It would seem that nobody really cares. On the flip side. If we treated West Louisville like we did the Highlands or East Market how much better of a city would we have? How much better for the bottom line would be if citizens of West Louisville had the same buying power as the folks in Clifton? If Old Walnut Street had never been razed and the black community had the ability to accumulate wealth in West Louisville how much richer would Louisville be? Would the city even be looking at a deficit? 

We can't keep going down the same path. It has to stop. We can't keep looking at vacant properties as problems but as opportunities.  We can't keep disenfranchising a whole section of the community to the  benefit a small few. We have to wake up. 

What to do about Vacant Properties in Russell?

Louisville has over 7000 vacant properties and something has to be done about them. The Russell neighborhood where I live has a ton of vacant properties. As we all know vacant properties bring down the value of the surrounding houses (as if it can get any lower), invite crime, and a whole host of negatives. The City as an answer for the vacant property problem. Tear them down. On the surface that sounds like a winner, except now you have another problem. What to do with the vacant lot? The city has sold several vacant lots in Russell to Oracle development and they have built smallish section 8 homes. The homes are brightly colored and look decent enough on the outside, but they are not to scale of the current houses in the neighborhood, and they are quite small for homes in this area. Most of the shotguns and camel back houses in Russell have more usable space. Then there is the issue of building more section 8 homes in a neighborhood or neighborhoods that are dominated by section 8 homes and half-way houses. What value does that bring to the neighborhood? Can a neighborhood really comeback if you turn vacant lots into section 8 homes (that will have a hard time being sold as single family homes because of their size and construction materials) and half-way houses? I would say no. Which leads me back to the question of what to do about vacant houses?

What we need to do is to think about vacant houses not as a problem, but as an opportunity. An opportunity to revitalized forgotten neighborhoods and breathe new life into them. An opportunity to provide affordable housing to those who can't afford it and to preserve the historic nature of our city. If we look around the country we can see all sort of examples of how other communities have turned vacant houses into a catalyst for neighborhood redevelopment. For the Russell neighborhood I have a suggestion.

The first thing we can do is to urge the metro council to fully fund the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund or LAHTF. The LAHTF would refurbish vacant and abandon homes and in-turn put those homes into the hands of people with people with fix incomes like seniors or those with disabilities, young families starting out who may not be able to afford a home, and for working people who wages are not enough for them to purchase or rent.

Fully funding the LAHTF is step one. Step 1.5 should be for Russell to become an Urban art district. Think Harlem, New York from 1920's. How do we accomplish this with vacant properties. Simple. We copy the Paducah model.  Paducah, KY has an artist relocation program, where they will give artist vacant or dilapidated houses for as little as $1 and up to $2500 for professional design fees. The Paducah Artist Relocation Program has completely transformed the LowerTown neighborhood. I really suggest you click the link above and read about the program. If Paducah can do it why can't we?

As a resident of the Russell neighborhood and a member of the Concerned Association of Russell Residents, C.A.R.R. I'm going to make it my goal to push for Russell to become an art district and to start an Artist Relocation Program. Something has to be done and there is no time like the present.

Right to Work. What Does It All Mean?

What's the big deal about Michigan's RIght to Work bill that passed yesterday?

For those of you that don't know Right to Work means that you can work in a union shop and not have to pay union dues or join the union. Granted, in most cases you get all of the benefits of union membership,  like higher wages, and better benefits all without having to pay a dime in union dues if you choose not too.

Why is this important? States that aren't Right to Work states tend to have higher wages and better benefits for workers in similar jobs. But that's not the only reason why it's important. The reason many states, most of which are republican controlled, have pushed Right to Work legislation is for political reasons. Most unions contribute heavily to Democratic candidates. Right to work legislation weakens the union thus weakens their support for Democratic candidates.

How do you? It could be for economic development reasons?  It could be, but then why are Police and firefighter unions exempt? Why? Because they tend to support Republican candidates. Thats why when the Wisconsin governor wanted to end collective bargaining it didn't cover police and firefighters unions. Which if you're trying to save money would be the first you would target since their benefits cost more than all other public unions combined.

I Apologize.

I've been mulling writing this post for a while. Like most of you I've seen the news reports about the murders. I have seen how our youth seem to have lost their way. This post is for them, our youth

I want to apologize to all of the youth in the current generation and the next one coming up. We have failed you. We have failed you miserably.

I want to apologize for not passing on our true history as African-Americans to you. We have taught you nothing about where you came from and who you are. Instead we let the public school system and the mass media teach you about who you are. It's no wonder that all you know of black history is that we were slaves who didn't fight back, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights Movement. We have failed to give you sense of self.

I want to apologize for not providing you with independent schools where you could be taught by people who looked like you and shared your experiences. Thus giving you the proper guidance you needed. When I was growing up we had those schools like Christ The King and others. We left you to fend for yourselves.

I want to apologize for leaving you a community in disrepair. We haven't been the best caretakers of West Louisville. We let our historic building be torn down. We have not created long lasting small to medium size businesses that can add riches and employment to the neighborhood. Instead we all got jobs with some of Louisville's largest companies and moved east. Those of us who couldn't move East moved to Shively. We let the city turn large parts of West Louisville into warehousing of the poor and halfway houses.

There are 1000 more things I could apologize for and for those things I am truly sorry. We have failed you. But I will fail you no more. That's my promise to you.

What Should Have Been, What Should Be, What Still Could Be

As some of you may know, I along with several other preservation groups, have been trying to save the old Phillip Morris warehouse on the corner of 18th and Broadway. Currently the YMCA of Greater Louisville wants to tear down the warehouse that stands 5 stories, is a block long, has more than 500,000+ square foot space, to build a 2.5 story Y that will include an aquatic center and UL healthcare and will have 70,000 sq. ft. of space and is a little over a block long.

I commend the Y for investing in west Louisville and bringing much needed services to a part of town that needs them. The Y deserves big kudos for that. But does the Y need to tear down such a large historic structure to build a much smaller Y?

Across 18th street there is a large vacant lot that will become a development known as NewBridge Crossing. According to InsiderLouisivlle.com there is a major big box retailer looking into moving into that site. If that happens I'm sure they will need most of the 19 acres that the site currently occupies. Why didn't Y choose to move across the street into the NewBridge Crossing development? According to various articles in the Courier-Journal. The original plans for NewBridge Crossing called for a lifestyle center (think an urban Summit) that included condos, UL pediatrics, and the YMCA. SO, if the YMCA was a part of the original plans for NewBridge Crossing what happened? I don't know, but I think that deserves some investigation.

What really got my attention were the plans for the old Phillip Morris warhouse in question. In those plans, TMG (developers of NewBridge Crossing) wanted to turn the warehouse into a Boutique Hotel, with condos and apartments. There is another newer warehouse on the site that faces 18th that was suppose to be a convention center. Call me crazy, but that is a much better use of the property than a YMCA.

The YMCA is a great project and much needed in west Louisville, just not at 18th and Broadway. This part of west Louisville already has a YMCA at 10th and Chestnut, and there is a great workout facility at St. Stephen's Baptist Church right off of 16th st.  A better place for the YMCA would be near Park Duvall, Shawnee, or the Chickasaw neighborhoods. Those areas are severally underserve. Not the Russell/California area.

The development plan presented by TMG is a much better fit for the area and is what this community truly needs. How many more jobs would the boutique hotel/convention provide rather than the Y? How many more spin off businesses would that kind of development spur as opposed to the Y? I know there are a lot of nay sayers that doubt a hotel can work in west Louisville. I understand your doubts. But you have to remember what is directly behind this warehouse. Brown-Forman. How many executives does Brown Forman fly in or host on a yearly basis? I'm sure they fly in hundreds of people. A hotel that is less than a block away from their corporate HQ would be a perfect fit.

This is they type of responsible urban development that Louisville needs. Which leads me to another question. What happened to this project? If TMG had plans for the property why did they fall through?

I don't think it's too late to save the warehouse nor do I think it's too late for a win/win outcome for all parties involved. This is something we need to make happen.