I must admit, this morning I am eating crow - the thing I hate the most to do. Not because I was called out or corrected by a peer, but because I had a realization. I was fortunate enough to network over coffee with one of the city's bright, young, minds in the sphere of local economic development, and he motivated me beyond belief. After my last rant about the mental thrashing I felt I took with our Director of Innovation, it was extremely uplifting to commiserate with someone of like mind and beliefs about the potential of our town. But it made me realize that Mr. Smith is not wrong in his views about how to develop Louisville (although I disagree with some of his views), but just a contrasting point in the overarching argument that we both share.
Rebuilding Louisville into the great city she used to be a century ago is no easy process. Like any old home in a state of disrepair, there are many steps to the cleansing and beautification process that must take place before the finished product comes to fruition. Luckily we have workers tending to many phases of the revitalization.
To achieve true exponential growth there are three phases of achievement that must take place. In one sector new businesses must be brought in to add immediate job creation and revenue generation for the city. These additions bring excitement to the city because they are the most detailed and publicized developments we see. This is Mr. Smith's task of "growing the pot." The second phase of development is to parlay the current infrastructure for better use - transportation, public education, parks and city services. This was my point on enriching the soil. But the third area, and one that is greatly overlooked, is the cultivation and development of the start-up and entrepreneurial community. These would serve as our shots of nitrogen and fertilizer in the hypothetical pot analogy I made in the last entry.
You see start-ups bring energy and new blood to the community. They bring a more robust buy-in towards the community because people now have to come together and unite under the common goal of making this new idea into a reality and molding a successful company out of a dream. When you get many successful start-ups in one community at the same time you now have a group of thinkers and doers who can unify under the umbrella of not only turning ideas into reality, but also making their overall environment a place that is nurturing towards their whims. Once this energy combines with the renewed growth generated through the consolidation of other systems, and the expansion of the pot through outside investment, you now have an equation for success that creates exponential explosion throughout the entire system. This combination of factors can only take place when there's a total system buy-in from everyone involved, and the entire community is committed to making a Major League Louisville.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Job Growth in the Ville: Growing the Pot vs Enriching the Soil
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting and having a long discussion with one of our city's great assets, recently appointed Director of Economic Growth and Innovation for Metro Government - one of Mayor Fischer's right-hand men. In our meeting I nervously meandered through a list of ideas, problems, and solutions that I had tried to thoroughly construct over the week I had to prepare, and, despite my best intentions, there were no groundbreaking solutions, no job offers, and little gained from our talk other than a better understanding of what Metro Government aims to do as a leader in growing the city's economic base. Grow the Pot. A phrase I heard at least 50 times during our discussion. And while it is well-intentioned, and certainly is the ultimate aim of any economic developer, shouldn't we consider easier options within the confines of our great city first? For sake of context, some of my ideas were as follows:
- A program that allows young JCPS teachers to get tuition assistance for the pursuit of advanced degrees in exchange for agreeing to teach at some of the county's most under-performing schools for an extended period of time. (As it stands now young JCPS teachers can transfer out of the "doldrums" of poor schools as soon as they have tenure enough to do so within the confines of the union).
- A partnership with one of the national banking institutions present in the city that would bring young finance workers to the city where they could complete many of the analytical and back-office tasks that are currently performed directly on Wall Street at a much higher price to the company.
- Advanced entrepreneurial incubators where MBA students from surrounding universities could gather and bounce ideas off each other with ease. A situation that the city, UL, or a donor, could fund in hopes of some of these ideas taking flight and becoming major corporations in the city.
- A revised TARC route that would lend the transport service to actually being used. Could you imagine actually trusting that a certain bus would arrive at its pickup and drop-off locations on time? And that the routes would be easy and clear to understand?
All of these ideas were brought up amongst friends before I even began thinking of presenting them to Mr. Smith, all of them were met with strong approval, and they all were quickly rebuffed as the meeting progressed.
I understand his point, for Louisville to grow we need to get more dollars injected into the economy by direct investment from currently foreign entities. That's the easiest way for our city to grow its employment base the fastest - and that's true. But it's also the most complicated and the path of most resistance in a lot of cases. The truth of the matter is that Louisville, as an institution, have a lot of systems in place that are really good in purpose, but have been half-assed (sorry mom) in execution. For example, when we discussed the teacher education idea Mr. Smith launched into a deep diatribe about how the problems with the school system really root in the downfall of the busing system and how the private school system has cannibalized the cities best students - both valid points. But what if the cities best and brightest teachers chose to stay at the schools which needed them most? The students there would be exposed to professionals who participate in their craft at its most rudimentary of levels: to mold and shape young minds, and to make a positive impact. Believe me, it's the kids at these places who need it most. Restoring hope at the lowest levels of schools would span greater confidence in ALL of our cities public schools and bring many students back into the fold whose parents would have otherwise had them home-schooled or sent to one of the many private institutions locally (many of whom employ these very same young teachers anyway).
The TARC idea was another one I was passionate about, and something I was prepared to personally take on if given the chance. Unfortunately I was told that TARC was a private entity and that the city could not ask them to do anything - BS! The city has every right to ask TARC to evaluate its operations in order to improve efficiency and its reputation around the city. While I have no public records to back this up, I am certain that TARC receives SOME type of funding from City Hall. And even if they don't, I doubt it would take much more than the offer of a grant or future funding to help get the ball rolling. I surveyed countless young people who said that if they had reliable info on how the TARC routes operated, were confident in the promptness of their arrival, and felt like the service was affordable, that they would frequent TARC as much as possible for the purposes of transport for commutes and for leisure activities on the weekends. And what better advertisement to a national organization looking to move 5,000 jobs than by saying "We don't have a subway or any sort of light rail, but our bus system is among the most efficient and effective in the country"? Mr. Smith didn't seem to care.
The downfall of outsiders coming into Louisville and making big decisions, as Mr. Smith is, is that they often fail to see the usefulness that abounds in many of the city's most aged institutions. Like trimming a plant in the spring, often times things must be consolidated in order for new growth to begin, and while growing the pot might be the goal it's extremely shortsighted to say that the only way to do it is through the attraction of new businesses. Simply adding a new taxpayer to the community only creates one or two points of impact on the local economy, but expanding or improving a current asset to provide more growth provides exponential impact. It might take a little longer to get new growth by enriching the soil, but in the long run it will create a much more fruitful plant.
- A program that allows young JCPS teachers to get tuition assistance for the pursuit of advanced degrees in exchange for agreeing to teach at some of the county's most under-performing schools for an extended period of time. (As it stands now young JCPS teachers can transfer out of the "doldrums" of poor schools as soon as they have tenure enough to do so within the confines of the union).
- A partnership with one of the national banking institutions present in the city that would bring young finance workers to the city where they could complete many of the analytical and back-office tasks that are currently performed directly on Wall Street at a much higher price to the company.
- Advanced entrepreneurial incubators where MBA students from surrounding universities could gather and bounce ideas off each other with ease. A situation that the city, UL, or a donor, could fund in hopes of some of these ideas taking flight and becoming major corporations in the city.
- A revised TARC route that would lend the transport service to actually being used. Could you imagine actually trusting that a certain bus would arrive at its pickup and drop-off locations on time? And that the routes would be easy and clear to understand?
All of these ideas were brought up amongst friends before I even began thinking of presenting them to Mr. Smith, all of them were met with strong approval, and they all were quickly rebuffed as the meeting progressed.
I understand his point, for Louisville to grow we need to get more dollars injected into the economy by direct investment from currently foreign entities. That's the easiest way for our city to grow its employment base the fastest - and that's true. But it's also the most complicated and the path of most resistance in a lot of cases. The truth of the matter is that Louisville, as an institution, have a lot of systems in place that are really good in purpose, but have been half-assed (sorry mom) in execution. For example, when we discussed the teacher education idea Mr. Smith launched into a deep diatribe about how the problems with the school system really root in the downfall of the busing system and how the private school system has cannibalized the cities best students - both valid points. But what if the cities best and brightest teachers chose to stay at the schools which needed them most? The students there would be exposed to professionals who participate in their craft at its most rudimentary of levels: to mold and shape young minds, and to make a positive impact. Believe me, it's the kids at these places who need it most. Restoring hope at the lowest levels of schools would span greater confidence in ALL of our cities public schools and bring many students back into the fold whose parents would have otherwise had them home-schooled or sent to one of the many private institutions locally (many of whom employ these very same young teachers anyway).
The TARC idea was another one I was passionate about, and something I was prepared to personally take on if given the chance. Unfortunately I was told that TARC was a private entity and that the city could not ask them to do anything - BS! The city has every right to ask TARC to evaluate its operations in order to improve efficiency and its reputation around the city. While I have no public records to back this up, I am certain that TARC receives SOME type of funding from City Hall. And even if they don't, I doubt it would take much more than the offer of a grant or future funding to help get the ball rolling. I surveyed countless young people who said that if they had reliable info on how the TARC routes operated, were confident in the promptness of their arrival, and felt like the service was affordable, that they would frequent TARC as much as possible for the purposes of transport for commutes and for leisure activities on the weekends. And what better advertisement to a national organization looking to move 5,000 jobs than by saying "We don't have a subway or any sort of light rail, but our bus system is among the most efficient and effective in the country"? Mr. Smith didn't seem to care.
The downfall of outsiders coming into Louisville and making big decisions, as Mr. Smith is, is that they often fail to see the usefulness that abounds in many of the city's most aged institutions. Like trimming a plant in the spring, often times things must be consolidated in order for new growth to begin, and while growing the pot might be the goal it's extremely shortsighted to say that the only way to do it is through the attraction of new businesses. Simply adding a new taxpayer to the community only creates one or two points of impact on the local economy, but expanding or improving a current asset to provide more growth provides exponential impact. It might take a little longer to get new growth by enriching the soil, but in the long run it will create a much more fruitful plant.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Ninth Street (Louisville's 8-Mile), 8664, and the Bridges Project
For over 40 years the community has been in a heated debate over expanding the number of bridges that span the Ohio River to Indiana. Originally the thought was that only an East-End Bridge was needed in order to create a beltway around eastern Jefferson County, Jeffersonville, and New Albany using I-265, but this has been blocked through legislation, public vote, and now legal action manipulated by the mostly-defacto environmental "rights" group RiverFields. In order to get these issues resolved the city has expanded this debate to now include a downtown bridge and a total re-working of spaghetti junction, two projects that probably need to be addressed for the city to continue to grow over the next fifty years (especially considering the pace that business like this gets done around here - see Westport Road exit ramp from the Watterson). Proponents of the East End Bridge like the idea because it gets that bridge done quicker and should help end the debate. Those chiming mostly for the downtown portion argue that the Kennedy will soon need to be replaced as well, and that large, national employers such as UPS and Ford will cease doing business in the community if we don't fix our ever-growing traffic problem soon. And, as is the case in most of the city's debates, those who are against everything in general are part of the dwindling group of aristocratic elite who would prefer Louisville stay the same as it was in 1950, and never change from there.
One problem that has yet to be addressed through all of these debates, though, is the potential to further isolate the West End and other impoverished areas through a further re-doubling of concrete highways, causeways, and other man-made restrictions to society. Since 1932, with the implementation of The New Deal, residential racial segregation has taken place through the displacement of many inner-city families due to the construction of interstates and the renewal of large downtown centers. While the leaders of our time thought they were strengthening our country by creating a national highway system, what really took place was a natural dispersion of income by which those who could afford to transport themselves the long distances between home and work moved out into the suburbs and those who couldn't congregated as best they could in metro regions. The downfall of this displacement is that land was readily available in the suburbs and scare in the urban areas causing the cost of living to skyrocket for those forced to remain near the centers of commerce. Ultimately all of this led to poorer families having to congregate in housing projects and subsidized communities because it was the only way they could manage to continue to be near their places of work and education and still continue to make ends-meat. Through time this problem has perpetuated by the fact that the highway system allows people to quickly and easily move through these areas of poverty without having to pay any attention to there state of disrepair and ineptitude, only further expanding the problems and increasing the separation between the two main people groups - essentially the haves and the have-nots. So while an expanded Downtown Bridges Project may be good for the community in general, it could also create even more blight and income-differential within our fine city.
Throughout the discussion of what has become known as the Ohio River Bridges Project a small sect of individuals led a grass-roots campaign known as 8664, a charge to remove I-64's expanse across western downtown Louisville and revive River Road as the main route for those who need to navigate west through the city. The idea behind this is two-fold: first it aimed to reduce traffic downtown by completing only the eastern bridge and diverting all unnecessary traffic around the city through Indiana, thus decreasing the problematic congestion and overuse of the roadways. Second, it aimed to reclaim downtown by forcing those people who might need to get into West Louisville to drive through some of Louisville's poorest neighborhoods, increasing traffic through those areas, and hopefully increasing interest in ways to bring them back into a state of well-being. The overall sentiment the group had was that Louisville didn't really need to take the easy fix and simply build more interstates, but could much more holistically improve itself by removing the structural and cultural barriers that have weighed down the city for years.
In the end the chimes for 8664 were drown out by bureaucrats who couldn't stand to see their good ideas go by the wayside for some not-for-profit movement, and the city lost another chance to improve itself beyond expectation. It appears that, for the time being at least, the community will continue to be divided and segregated by its highway system, and that the problems will only be perpetuated in the future. As Walter Mondale said in a 1967 hearing on the Fair Housing Act of 1968, "[the] basic national policy has been... we might talk about helping you in your ghetto, but we are not going to help you get out of it."
With all the revenue problems the city has had over the last decade, expanding the financial base through the improvement of neighborhoods, tax-payers, and people already loyal to the city and to its well-being must seem like too easy of a plan to ever consider undertaking - at least in the 502.
One problem that has yet to be addressed through all of these debates, though, is the potential to further isolate the West End and other impoverished areas through a further re-doubling of concrete highways, causeways, and other man-made restrictions to society. Since 1932, with the implementation of The New Deal, residential racial segregation has taken place through the displacement of many inner-city families due to the construction of interstates and the renewal of large downtown centers. While the leaders of our time thought they were strengthening our country by creating a national highway system, what really took place was a natural dispersion of income by which those who could afford to transport themselves the long distances between home and work moved out into the suburbs and those who couldn't congregated as best they could in metro regions. The downfall of this displacement is that land was readily available in the suburbs and scare in the urban areas causing the cost of living to skyrocket for those forced to remain near the centers of commerce. Ultimately all of this led to poorer families having to congregate in housing projects and subsidized communities because it was the only way they could manage to continue to be near their places of work and education and still continue to make ends-meat. Through time this problem has perpetuated by the fact that the highway system allows people to quickly and easily move through these areas of poverty without having to pay any attention to there state of disrepair and ineptitude, only further expanding the problems and increasing the separation between the two main people groups - essentially the haves and the have-nots. So while an expanded Downtown Bridges Project may be good for the community in general, it could also create even more blight and income-differential within our fine city.
Throughout the discussion of what has become known as the Ohio River Bridges Project a small sect of individuals led a grass-roots campaign known as 8664, a charge to remove I-64's expanse across western downtown Louisville and revive River Road as the main route for those who need to navigate west through the city. The idea behind this is two-fold: first it aimed to reduce traffic downtown by completing only the eastern bridge and diverting all unnecessary traffic around the city through Indiana, thus decreasing the problematic congestion and overuse of the roadways. Second, it aimed to reclaim downtown by forcing those people who might need to get into West Louisville to drive through some of Louisville's poorest neighborhoods, increasing traffic through those areas, and hopefully increasing interest in ways to bring them back into a state of well-being. The overall sentiment the group had was that Louisville didn't really need to take the easy fix and simply build more interstates, but could much more holistically improve itself by removing the structural and cultural barriers that have weighed down the city for years.
In the end the chimes for 8664 were drown out by bureaucrats who couldn't stand to see their good ideas go by the wayside for some not-for-profit movement, and the city lost another chance to improve itself beyond expectation. It appears that, for the time being at least, the community will continue to be divided and segregated by its highway system, and that the problems will only be perpetuated in the future. As Walter Mondale said in a 1967 hearing on the Fair Housing Act of 1968, "[the] basic national policy has been... we might talk about helping you in your ghetto, but we are not going to help you get out of it."
With all the revenue problems the city has had over the last decade, expanding the financial base through the improvement of neighborhoods, tax-payers, and people already loyal to the city and to its well-being must seem like too easy of a plan to ever consider undertaking - at least in the 502.
A picture of 9th Street / Roy Wilkins Blvd, Louisville's divide between the central downtown area and west-end poverty.
A map of West Louisville, the city's most self-contained and most impoverished area.
A digital rendering of the expanded spaghetti junction, its added lanes and overpasses.
A digital rendering of Louisville's West End Waterfront if 8664 had come to fruition and I-64 was removed.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Indianapolis and the Story of the Super Bowl
In this mornings Courier-Journal an article ran by USAToday columnist Mike Lopresti describing the ascent of Indianapolis in the 1970's and 80's from a quiet mid-western town that was "evaporating," as a former mayor put it, into one of the region's leading hubs of commerce, and the host site for the 2012 Super Bowl. Essentially the story goes that the powers that be in Indy realized that their downtown landscape was going to shambles and they needed something to rejuvenate their scene. Enter the Indianapolis Colts, the RCA Dome, (eventually) Conseco Field House, and (now) Lucas Oil Stadium. What they did was basically drive interest through the use of sports. People began to flock back to downtown Indy like the Salmon of Capistrano (to use the parlance of our time) in order to attend these games, go to these events, and be integrated in the city's new sports scene. And you know what - IT WORKED.
This is a classic argument of what comes first, the chicken or the egg, but it's a great case study for Louisville. When the Yum! Center was completed last year at the corner of 2nd and Main Streets critics howled about the lack of interest in Downtown Louisville, and the thought that an arena on the waterfront would be unsustainable, and a waste of resources. And while there definitely questions still to be answered about the former, I think we can all agree that the latter is proving to be false. Without question the addition of the KFC Yum! Center to our downtown landscape has increased interest in our city's main business corridor to levels I have never seen in my lifetime. Previously the thought was that it was too expensive, too much of a hassle, and too big of a headache to do anything other than work downtown. Now the commentary is on how we get MORE things downtown. People are going to games, going to dinner, attending plays and shows, and experiencing all Louisville has to offer at a record pace. In a few short weeks Louisville will be host to a portion of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament's first two rounds, and has the potential to do even more with that event. Concerts are being headlined in the facility nearly every week, and residents are beginning to see what an asset the building is becoming to our city's landscape. It might only be one step, but it's a big one in the right direction to Louisville gaining national prominence once again. Just as Indianapolis discovered forty years ago and are reminded of today, if you build it they will come - it's time for Louisville to continue to capitalize on it's own Field (arena) of Dreams.
This is a classic argument of what comes first, the chicken or the egg, but it's a great case study for Louisville. When the Yum! Center was completed last year at the corner of 2nd and Main Streets critics howled about the lack of interest in Downtown Louisville, and the thought that an arena on the waterfront would be unsustainable, and a waste of resources. And while there definitely questions still to be answered about the former, I think we can all agree that the latter is proving to be false. Without question the addition of the KFC Yum! Center to our downtown landscape has increased interest in our city's main business corridor to levels I have never seen in my lifetime. Previously the thought was that it was too expensive, too much of a hassle, and too big of a headache to do anything other than work downtown. Now the commentary is on how we get MORE things downtown. People are going to games, going to dinner, attending plays and shows, and experiencing all Louisville has to offer at a record pace. In a few short weeks Louisville will be host to a portion of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament's first two rounds, and has the potential to do even more with that event. Concerts are being headlined in the facility nearly every week, and residents are beginning to see what an asset the building is becoming to our city's landscape. It might only be one step, but it's a big one in the right direction to Louisville gaining national prominence once again. Just as Indianapolis discovered forty years ago and are reminded of today, if you build it they will come - it's time for Louisville to continue to capitalize on it's own Field (arena) of Dreams.
The Start of Something Great
The idea for this blog has stemmed from years of living and observing Louisville - the city and its people. Louisvillians are a great lot that often dream big, but usually find little in the way of coherent support or leadership to tackle big tasks and really get things done. My goal for this small, intraweb space is to present ideas that are being floated throughout our city and explore them in both a macro and micro sense, and examine what is really needed to make our city spectacular. Since the 1960's Louisville has really been treading just to keep its head above water, while peers such as Indianapolis, Nashville, Cincinnati, and Atlanta have zoomed by. What is it that's kept us at bay? Why do we still have the same problems 50 years later? What can be done to really begin making waves in the region and once again establish ourselves as one of the premier locales in the Southeast? I hope we can uncover the answers to these questions and more as we strive to make Louisville a Major League City.
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