"There's More Than Corn in Indiana"

Not to go on a rant, but the last three times I have been in the local Kroger, there has been no corn on the cob available for purchase. I mean, they have shrimp, salmon, and California wine, but they can't keep corn on the cob, in Indiana, in June, in stock?

C'mon, man! Anyone wonder why people shop elsewhere?

Speedway Super Center: Horrible Design = Horrible Traffic

Anyone who lives in Speedway knows that the Speedway Super Center (home of Kroger et al) seems to be custom designed to simultaneously waste space and create traffic jams. As I've noted before, I live in the Meadowood Park area, and the access point to this shopping center (Parkwood Dr.) probably could not be designed worse even if you tried.

Of course, I (quite clearly) do not own this property, nor am I an elected official, so my input on what happens there is minimal (if it exists at all). Nonetheless I recognize that the Speedway Redevelopment Commission will sooner or later have to tackle this property and, as such, I have a few suggestions.

First, let's recognize that the Speedway Super Center will not ever look like Main Street. It was originally built in a different era, for different needs. Main Street was designed to be just that: a main street, where commercial activity could be centrally located for those who lived in the immediate vicinity. The Speedway Super Center, on the other hand, was designed to be a shopping center to which people would drive from many miles. If you ask me what the best-case scenario of the Speedway Super Center is, post-redevelopment, I would point to Clay Terrace in Carmel or Metropolis in Plainfield.

These endpoint goals are for another day, though, because I just want to discuss traffic. Here is an aerial view of the area I'm referencing:

Aerial view of Speedway Super Center. 25th Street, more or less, runs  across the top; Lynhurst is on the right, and you can't see H.S. Rd. on the left.

A few things about this design stick out to me:

1. The parking design is really terrible.

Here is what I'm talking about:

Notice that this is essentially the main artery going East/West through the north end of this shopping center. It is important for traffic to move freely through there, yet it is designed to require pedestrians to cross the artery.

Another view of the same general area:

This is a bit further down. Note that one can't get to the nearest grocery store without driving along this route; again, it's not thoughtfully designed.

It doesn't have to be this way. Some thoughtful redesign of this parking/traversing area would vastly improve the experience there.

Below is a picture of one random portion of Clay Terrace:

Note that there is parking along the building, and the degree to which that seems to change the character of both the walkways and the driving lanes.

The "traffic" through the mall is less obstructed, parking is easier, and the walkways are friendlier. In fact, we have already deployed this tactic in Speedway:

So, my point as to the parking and the layout of the Speedway Super Center is that the buildings themselves don't need to be rebuilt. I am agnostic as to their condition, but I believe that their location lends itself just fine to some redesign that would make the area considerably nicer.

2. The streets are poorly designed.

The thoroughfares of the area should cross at different points. Again, here is an aerial view of what I'm talking about.

You can see that I've superimposed on the area where the major intersections are. I think that the middle one, especially, needs work.

Imagine for a moment if the traffic flowed through the area like this:

You can see, in orange, where I've superimposed a roundabout within the existing area. The part of Parkwood Dr. that goes through the shopping center would be transformed by a roundabout, further south. This would enable more of the curbside parking discussed in point #1 above, and would render this thruway considerably more pedestrian friendly.

3. Green Space Helps

I note that nearly every place in the world worth being has something growing there; perhaps the plants and trees know something we don't. Anyway, given that the parking lots there are, quite literally, never full, wouldn't it be worth it to put some green space in there? Some place where the citizens of Speedway could enjoy a cup of coffee and a book, or perhaps simply read the newspaper or have lunch? Green space makes everywhere better,even the Speedway Super Center.

So there it is; three things that could be done on the "reasonably" cheap that would make a world of difference for the Speedway Super Center. I have heard that the property owner is a pretty good corporate citizen; I see that they've dumped a bunch of money into the eastern portion of this development.

Here's to hoping for the best!

Thoughts on Strip Malls

Both readers of this blog are likely aware of my thoughts regarding strip malls, particularly the monstrosity of a strip mall that is located on Crawfordsville Rd., roughly between Lynhurst and High School Rd.

Local attorney and law professor Paul Ogden had a recent blog post that nicely encapsulates the problem with malls in general. Rather than try to repeat the general point, here is a snippet:

The structure that is the mall, as well as the large parking lots surrounding the building, consume a considerable amount of real estate.  When those malls fail, they become extremely difficult to repurpose.  They often end up being a blight on the neighborhood for years. 

If this was the only problem with malls and strip malls, it would be a huge problem. However, problems abound:

It would appear that in searching for gimmicks to drive foot traffic to the retail stores, mall owners are fighting a losing battle.   With the exception of certain consumer items, consumers prefer the convenience of shopping from the convenience of their homes.  That is a niche that Amazon has cornered, although even that company faces growing competition when it comes to online retail.

But as one looks to the future of retail, one wonders if even the Amazon model might be outdated.  The Amazon approach right now is for wholesalers and manufacturers to ship goods to the company which it then stores in incredibly large "fulfillment centers."  Then when a customer orders the item from the Amazon website, it gets shipped once again, this time to the customer.  Amazon became popular because it enhanced customer convenience by eliminating the need to visit a brick and mortar store to shop.  But the Amazon retail approach, which requires considerable overhead, doesn't provide much in the way of cost savings to the consumer.  Eventually Amazon may be replaced with a web-based shopping approach that links customers with wholesalers and manufacturers so that items may be purchased directly, saving consumers a substantial amount of money while cutting out brick-and-mortar online retailers such as Amazon. 

While I don't have any unifying theories as to how to address the immediate problem of post-mall blight, suffice it to say that this is a problem that can't be indefinitely ignored. The sooner we start considering possible solutions, the better.

UPDATE:

While I generally try to avoid comment sections if I can, this caught my attention:

Anyone with a mind only functioning at half-speed understands the day of the big mall passed long ago. That the billionaire Simon family was allowed to walk away from its aging, dilapated, increasingly vacant Washington Square with the effective outcome of saddling the City and Her taxpayers with an ugly architectural and financially losing behemoth is a crime against the east side, the City of Indianapolis, and human decency in general. 

Anyone with a mind only functioning at half-speed also understands Castleton is the new Lafayette Square and I can only surmise from the lessons of history that Castleton Square Mall will one day in the not too distant future look exactly like the monstrosity beached near W. 38th Street and Lafayette Road.

Sometimes all you can do is tip your cap. Thank you, to the anonymous poster who made this comment.

Possible Parking Solution

For all of the talk about the Wilshaw and the possible parking problems it will create, it seems to me that the debate could be more constructive if we focus less on recriminations and more on offering solutions. Here is but one solution among many that occurs to me: Speedway public transit.

We could have a "free" streetcar/trolley that runs basically from McGilvery's to Big Woods in the evening and on the weekends. The trolley could go through the neighborhoods, perhaps once per half hour, between 6 and 10 p.m. during the week and 5 and midnight on the weekends. How much could that really cost? Inasmuch as people want to come to Main St. and dine, drink, etc., they could park essentially anywhere in Speedway and be transported to their destination of choice. Similarly, any resident of Speedway could simply hop on the trolley and be taken across town: no parking concerns, no drinking and driving concerns.

Taken a step further, I see no reason why the free market couldn't provide this service as well, though they would have to limit service and charge fares. A free market solution would likely just run from Kroger to Main St., as Kroger has an abundance of parking. That would be more directed at visitors only, whereas the public trolley would also benefit residents.

A flawed and not-fully-developed plan to be sure, but ideas have a way of refining themselves over time.

Some food for thought.

Speaking of Grocery Stores & How Terrible Kroger Is

My wife went to Fresh Thyme the other day in Avon. Frankly, had she told me beforehand, I probably would have discouraged this, as I have always kind of believed that Fresh Thyme was kind of like Whole Paycheck Foods, in that they cherrypicked their produce from their distributors and charged an exorbitant premium for that.

I was wrong.

She told me about the following things that distinguished Fresh Thyme from our beloved local dumpster fire Kroger.

1. There was an employee monitoring the parking lot and ensuring that it was kept clean. Please note the distinction between that conscientious practice and the practice of our local Kroger . . . letting trash build up ad nauseum and cleaning up approximately once per year.
2. Employees in every section looking for a reason to help. Again, I note the contrast with our local Kroger, who somehow manages to position employees in the middle of every aisle, stocking shelves, at the busiest times of the week. I mean, I'm no expert here, but it would seem to make sense to have your stocking operations done overnight, when the store has minimal customers. On the other hand, you could be like Kroger and do so at noon on Saturday and around 6 o'clock on week nights.
3. Employees who are actually trying to help. I don't know if it's a management issue with Kroger or difficulty finding quality employees at the wage they pay, but their employees seem to be surly (not always, but often). Fresh Thyme's employees actually made an effort to help customers. Quite a change.

This post could go on for days if I started enumerating all that is wrong with Kroger. Suffice it to say, something needs to change in that shopping center. When the people in the immediate vicinity don't want to shop at Kroger and instead will drive nearly a half hour to go shopping, there's a problem.