Category Archives: Ideas

Ideas, Participatory Culture, Politics

The Ways Cities Develop is also Important

In Brian Howey’s Increasingly urban Indiana article, he ends with an obtuse zinger:

A politician can’t be as blunt as I will be here: If you don’t want to be part of a city and pay for services you receive or the residual benefits, then don’t live near a city.

Prior in the article, Howey discusses the economy of cities, annexation, and the tension between residents and municipalities who remonstrate.  As an example, he talks about Elkhart, Indiana’s recent City Council meeting (I just called and made a public records request for the audio):

So it’s interesting to watch the latest annexation showdown in Elkhart, where Mayor Dick Moore has moved to incorporate three areas. The response has been three lawsuits. When the Elkhart City Council chambers were packed with remonstrators on Dec. 1, Elkhart Truth reporter Sarah Duis tweeted, “About 10 people have spoken against the request so far. Overarching theme: Don’t spend taxpayer money on something we don’t want.”

And now we have a full cycle of the argument; taxes.

Howey quoted Mayor Greg Goodnight of Kokomo regarding the most recent round of annexation in the City.

“I would call this one a proactive annexation,” Goodnight told the Tribune. “With the state finishing the new U.S. 31 at the end of next year, we need to make sure that city residents and city property owners have their interest protected by development along that new (U.S.) 31.”

In West Lafayette, a similar argument was given (among a few others, such as Second Class City status) for its most recent round of annexation, in our case, it was regarding the recently finished US 231 bypass.  In the Journal and Courier’s June 19th, 2014 article, West Lafayette annexation plans changed after strong neighborhood opposition, Mayor Dennis commented on his view of the corridor:

“This map is where we’re moving forward to,” Dennis said. “The gold mine, the logic for economic development, the reason for us even to consider annexing to the west is the (U.S.) 231 corridor. … Our purpose is growth. Our purpose is economic development. And our purpose is to make this a better community.”

Thankfully, Howey acknowledges that development post-annexation  does not always lead to inspired urban planning:

The old U.S. 31 “bypass” in Kokomo a half century ago resulted in dozens of traffic lights and an array of scattershot, unplanned strip development.

Look at the way US 52 was developed on both sides of the river.  The Crew’s Carwash Subdivision (formerly Mike’s) was a tremendously missed opportunity, settling for an obscenely large car wash, and a few strip center buildings. To create more pockets of enjoyable urbanity, some mixed used buildings could have served those same commercial tenants with a built-in customer base and in addition, serve the neighbors in Wabash Shores.

I am fearful that US 231 will succumb to the same fate unless a comprehensive plan, created with the Community, is made in the near future.

I do, however, enjoy the recently created IU Arnett Urgent Care in the same area.  A Franciscan Urgent Care also has surfaced to the West in the strip center that used to contain Good Will (now near ALDI).  Now there are plans for the Francisan Alliance to build a hospital along the new US 231.

State Street suffers from some post Chauncey development that makes it beautiful and horrendous simultaneously.  The State Street Master Plan mainly addresses transportation, leaving an overlay component of aesthetics, quality, and execution on the table.  In light of the recent conversations we had with public art in Lafayette, I hope we can bring the same rhetoric to our development conversations and debates.

Recent developments in the area have been constructed with uninspiring architecture and sometimes without commercial opportunity on the ground floor.  Thankfully, the Grantstreet Station rezoned from a PDRS to a PDMX in December, allowing for commercial opportunities in a densely residential area.

Now the struggle becomes with what types of businesses will inhabit this space.  Will they be more chain and franchise businesses, or will they become landmarks of note, drawing the often talked about tourism dollars that Indiana needs.

I am in favor of building more densely urban areas in our Cities, in favor of supporting mixed use zoning, and developing for non-automobile traffic.  As Margy Deverall said in her Want better biking, walking here? Speak up piece:

Simply put: If you plan for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic; if you plan for people and places, you get people and places.

To put it bluntly, let us not develop our Cities and County in such a way that they are only tenable with automobiles.  Let us, instead, develop them with the intentional purpose of creating places that people, inside and outside of our community, can enjoy by foot, bicycle, or mass transit.

Then maybe we can more easily convince people to become a part of the City.

Education, Ideas, Participatory Culture, Politics, Presentations, Theatre, Zines

TEDxLafayette – Everything We Do and Don’t Do is Political

Thank you to everyone involved with the inaugural TEDxLafayette event.  Another fine chapter for the annuals of Tippecanoe history.

“Don’t limit your political life to the ballot box.”

Last week, I was afforded the opportunity to speak at the inaugural TEDxLafayette event that took place on November 22nd in Civic Theater’s lovely Historic Monon Depot Theater.

I was asked to participate and give a talk that was tentatively titled, The disappearing voter: Does anyone care about democracy or democratic processes?  The title as arranged was in need of orchestration and quickly explored the concepts of the disappearing voter, caring for democracy and its processes, civic participation, voting, subtly of the constituency, mutual knowledge, and Sisyphus.  The title I settled upon after much internal debate was Everything We Do and Don’t Do is Political. Thanks Sartre.

Creating TEDxLafayette ZinesFor the event, I also created a small zine to distribute with the TEDxLafayette material.  There was a problem with the copy room where I make copies, and I needed to come back later in the week.  Running short on time Friday, I had to staple the remainder of the zines at Myrdene’s.

Media is a major component when engaging politically, and with modern technology, any individual can make informative, fun political expressions and gestures.  You can download, Everything is Political,  We are our choices as a PDF:

TEDxLafayette - Everything We Do and Don't Do is Political Zine ScreenshotThe overall experience was quite enjoyable.  From the organizing individuals, to the other speakers and performers, to the audience, Civic Theater staff, media creators, and sponsors.  Everyone lent an extremely valuable hand, making sure we had a successful TEDx to reference in the future.

The event received some press from the Journal and Courier under the headline, TEDx speakers challenge audience to think local, and featured a few pull quotes from speakers Kris Taylor and Beth Carroll.  I was also featured in the article:

In his talk, titled “Everything We Do or Don’t Do is Political,” Zachary Baiel, a civic-minded resident and director of customer relations at Spensa Technologies, challenged the audience to think beyond the ballot box.

He said elections are not the only way constituents can engage in the political process.

All aspects of community involvement, such as the “Mosey Down Main Street” festivals and local farmers markets, are forums for political engagement, he explained.

The Indy Star reprinted the same article, but included a picture of me speaking in the print version:

TEDxLafayette-IndyStar-2014-11-24WLFI also ran a story about the event titled ‘Spark.Inspire.Change’ the focus at TEDxLafayette, which also included some clips of Kris Taylor, Keith Watson, and myself speaking:

My presentation can be read (visually) online.  Although there isn’t much text to read, it is still an enjoyable walk-through.  Thank you again to all the media producers (Journal and Courier, WBAA, WLFI, Owen Gunn, Zach Meddler, Aaron Bumgarner, Aaron Molden,  Thomas Kesler) and everyone else who helped make this presentation possible.

If you would like for me to give this or a similar performance to you, a local civic group, or other people who are interested in learning more about becoming a political entrepreneur vs. a wait-for-it voter, please let me know.

I was told that the videos of the various performances would be available some time in December.  Once I get sent a link, I will include it on this post.

I want to thank everyone again for the enjoyable, educational, and historic time.  Lafayette needs local individuals to be involved, share ideas, and become their own media.

Once momentum for a particular passion spreads across to a few others in the community, action becomes easier, and opportunities to change the world at the street, neighborhood, or city level can be celebrated rather than abhorred.

TEDx-Poster

Art, Ideas, Participatory Culture, Politics

#smallspaces Downtown #greaterlala Art Project Critics Strike Again

I awoke this morning to read Dave Bangert’s wonderful piece (Bangert: Critical mass for graffiti project?) on the latest round of criticism and censorship for a work that is part of Zach Medler’s #smallspaces art project in Downtown Lafayette.

This time, it concerns a zombie piece, created by an MFA student at Purdue, Sagan Newham, on the side of a building near 5th and Ferry streets.

This painting by Sagan Newham on the side of Haywood Printing, Fifth and Ferry streets, brought some complaints about the “small spaces: Lafayette” public art project. According to the project curator, the piece will stay up until Halloween and then be replaced. (Photo: Dave Bangert/Journal & Courier)
Photo: Dave Bangert/Journal & Courier

I am curious. Since the City of Lafayette is reacting in such a way with public art, how does this affect other public space type projects?  How does the City respond to a building development proposal based on aesthetics?  What about other public art pieces?  Parks?  Landscape designs?

Tom Shafer had some good ideas discussing public space and its inclusion in our daily life:

“If the work was in a gallery, the public could decide whether or not to look it. Medler’s concept is that if the people see public works of art every day, then the art becomes a part of their life,” Shafer said.

“When the city bought into this without subject matter and expertise guidelines, they ran the risk of underdeveloped concepts and subject matter that the general public cannot appreciate. Is some of the work poorly done? Yes. Is some of the work exceptional? Yes.”

Again, how would Tom’s criticism look if we were discussing buildings, businesses, parks, etc?

One aspect of #smallspaces that softens these types of criticisms is that if nothing else, they will be re-evaluated in two years.  A building, park, landscape design is a bit more permanent.

This reminds me of a conversation we had during the State Street Master Planning process regarding public art:  How do we include a sunset clause for public art?  Not everything deserves a permanent home or can last for decades.  What seems appropriate and inspiring today, may be insulting or dull in a few years.  What processes exist to remove public art in our current City code?

For now, I ask us to consider the same concepts, and more, when we are evaluating other long term and highly impactful aspects in our urban life.

At least in Lafayette, one or two people can have a major influence over what stays up, gets censored, moved, etc.  Let’s hope the same magnitude of citizen power can be yielded in other public arenas that are just as significant.