Citystate

The Patricks have once again busted out of hibernation with a new episode recorded in the new downtown Urban Design Studio. We're talking parking minimums in Kentucky cities, a neighbor-led effort to landmark a pedestrian court of shotgun houses, the new story from KyCIR on corporate landlords in Louisville, and the latest delay for implementing the NULU streetscape/bike lane project. 

The Patricks talk about the relative benefits of buffalo statues and roundabouts in urban neighborhoods before a discussion of native plant cultivation in front yards, and ending on a consideration of fare free bus systems.

Patrick Piuma talks with Danny Seim about the Windows into the Community project, celebrating the many hands it takes to build community through an ongoing portrait collection to activate vacant downtown storefronts, followed by some lively discussion between the Patricks on the ongoing value of the "X person's Louisville" / "Hometown Heroes" banners that have been on prominent tall buildings for around 20 years, and ending up the show with a bit of a wide ranging discussion on issues in revitalization and historic preservation in struggling downtowns. 

Citystate is back, out of hibernation, and ready to talk urbanism, whatever that means. We're joined this week by special guest planner, Rob Monsma, taking at a look at LEO's article on a changing Louisville, discussing ideas for urban trail systems, and thinking about possible support or lack thereof for red light speed cameras.

Journalist Mark Long joins the Patricks to talk about Louisville's Butchertown neighborhood past and present, but first we catch up with Patrick Henry patching in live from his family vacation in Seaside, Florida for a chat about New Urbanism. 

We kick off our 100th episode with an audio journey to the new Origin Park with its executive director, Scott Martin, before diving into a discussion on early community debates on how to use Louisville's American Rescue Plan funding for COVID-19 relief, followed by some chat on this next round of obstacles for the long delayed development of a vacant brownfield in the Paristown Pointe Neighborhood.

This week the Patricks talk about a recent Courier Journal oped from the CEO of Greater Louisville Inc discussing the impact of NIMBYism on attempts to develop affordable and dense housing in Louisville, followed by a dive into the new Louisville Downtown Revitalization Team's Action Plan for revitalizing downtown, including some ideas for empty offices. 

The Patricks talk about a couple recent articles on making better public spaces and places for teenage girls and women, and then get into Piuma's new piece on his recent trip Cincinnati. 

The Patricks follow up last week's episode on a new direction for downtown, followed by a discussion on how the profession of transportation engineering continues to fail cities, and also a look at the new trial road re-openings for cars in Olmsted's Cherokee and Iroquois parks. 

This week the Patricks talk about what's right and maybe what's wrong with downtown Louisville. 

The Patricks coming at you with another 52 solid minutes of chat. This week they are continuing the discussion on higher density forms of housing and why Louisville doesn't have more of it, a little discussion on what we would do the millions of dollars coming Louisville's way via the federal COVID-19 relief funds for cities, and a discussion on new investigative journalism looking at where all the guns saturating the Metro are coming from. 

The Triple P discuss the idea that Louisville has decided not to be a big city, some of the reasons for the skyrocketing cost of single family housing, the Metropolitan Housing Coalition's new report on evictions during COVID19, and new plans for improving River Road along the Ohio.

Talking with Britt Walford and Todd Brashear of Slint about Louisville in the early 90s

The Pat-bois talk about spring cold snaps, utility companies hacking up streets trees, why can't we bury power lines, Elon Musk's car tunnel fiasco, Electric Vehicles, and they attempt to get into a great article from Henry Grabar in Slate (April 12, 2021), " 'Good Design' Is Making Bad Cities, but it Doesn't Have To"

The Patricks discuss recent revelations on the KY Derby Festival's secret pop up fireworks displays, and consider how cities touting climate action leadership can justify hugely polluting fireworks shows. In the second bit, they talk about efforts to protect unsheltered people in cities and the very high cost of continually clearing camps vs providing services that can help people.

The Pattys talk about keeping Cherokee, Iroquois parks closed to vehicle traffic, recent issues with restaurants not being able to find staff, Biden's expansive new $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, and Amtrack's proposal to expand U.S. passenger rail over the next 15 years. 

Talking with Charles Cash, Heath Seymour, and Jessica McCarron with Vital Sites, a new voice in this era of asset-based development in Louisville. Vital Sites is a resource for financial assistance, technical expertise, and policy solutions to encourage investment in vacant, undervalued, and endangered properties in Metro Louisville.

Talking cities, food, travel and more with our friend and fellow Patrick, Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket. We also discuss some local issues around the potential unwinding of some of our pandemic-induced car-free park in Louisville Metro.

A couple weeks into a national pandemic shutdown, we talk with a group of urbanist friends from cities across the country to here how their communities are dealing with Coronavirus and their thoughts on the future. Our roundtable discussion includes Mike Lydon of Street Plans in Brooklyn, Nate Hommel of University City District in Philadelphia, Tommy Pacello of Memphis Medical District Collaborative in Memphis, and Robin Abad Ocubillo of the San Francisco Planning Department in San Francisco.