True or False: Louisville KY is the next Portland OR (comparison, America)
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I think Louisville is above and beyond its peer cities i.e. Memphis, OKC, Birmingham, etc, but I don't think it should try to be the next Portland or Austin. It should focus on creating its own brand. Louisville has a large hipster population and if it marketed itself better it could be more on the radar for young graduating professionals looking for such a place.
I think other peer cities, i.e. my own current city of OKC, should look to Louisville as an example.
bchris, in the last year, Louisville just picked up on that. They just announced a new locally owned retail district on south fourth with six tenants to open soon, on the other side of fourth street live. On main street, there are already 2 urban bourbon distilleries that will open in 2013. In the next 5 years, expect Louisville to develop as a national bourbon/drinking destination as it is building this brand very well, along with of course some of the best restaurants in the southeast among other things. Also, the prohibition era cocktail lounge, which gained traction in Manhattan in the last decade, has a stronghold on the Louisiville area and tourists are just digging it
The funny thing is, while downtown Louisville and "Nulu" are getting the city national attention, it is its surrounding urban nabes that rock and they have at least since the 1990s when I first traveled there (I am thinking hoods like Highlands, Germantown, Clifton, Crescent Hill, Old Louisville, etc etc).
I also agree about OKC. It is doing great, but you won't find, for example, a cocktail lounge like Meat in OKC
bchris, in the last year, Louisville just picked up on that. They just announced a new locally owned retail district on south fourth with six tenants to open soon, on the other side of fourth street live. On main street, there are already 2 urban bourbon distilleries that will open in 2013. In the next 5 years, expect Louisville to develop as a national bourbon/drinking destination as it is building this brand very well, along with of course some of the best restaurants in the southeast among other things. Also, the prohibition era cocktail lounge, which gained traction in Manhattan in the last decade, has a stronghold on the Louisiville area and tourists are just digging it
The funny thing is, while downtown Louisville and "Nulu" are getting the city national attention, it is its surrounding urban nabes that rock and they have at least since the 1990s when I first traveled there (I am thinking hoods like Highlands, Germantown, Clifton, Crescent Hill, Old Louisville, etc etc).
I also agree about OKC. It is doing great, but you won't find, for example, a cocktail lounge like Meat in OKC
Agreed. I haven't been to Louisville but from the pictures I've seen it makes OKC look very bland. Louisville may be more on the level of Charlotte and Nashville despite its rankings on paper.
On paper, Louisville and OKC are very similar. Both similar population, GDP, per-capita and median income, and even similar rankings in Richard Florida's Creative cities list. Louisville though has done much more with what they have and is probably a decade ahead of OKC in terms of revitalization. MAPS in OKC was passed in the early 1990s but things didn't get off the ground until the early 2000s. Urban living in OKC is still a relatively new concept. Bricktown is great but if your tastes in nightlife is more eclectic/funky, your options are pretty spread out. Not so in Louisville. Louisville has done a much better job than OKC has at city beautification. Louisville also appears to have OKC beat in terms of shopping and dining as well. Louisville is inspiration for what OKC could possibly be and I hope one day is.
That shopping street with the Borders did not look like either San Francisco or Portland.
In Portland, they have plaques in the downtown that say "We planned it, it worked." They took out an expressway that blocked access to the river and made it park. They brought light rail, a local streetcar, and a bus mall into their downtown. They redeveloped one downtown industrial district for housing, while reserving the other one for industry. They controlled and managed their Skid Row district, without mass evictions. The planning for quality of life and the way various initiatives have worked together is what's distinctive about Portland. Back in the 70's, San Francisco firms developed some of the first plans, but obviously Portland has tons of local talent now.
So, how could Louisville plan for a humane, lively, human scale city?
That shopping street with the Borders did not look like either San Francisco or Portland.
In Portland, they have plaques in the downtown that say "We planned it, it worked." They took out an expressway that blocked access to the river and made it park. They brought light rail, a local streetcar, and a bus mall into their downtown. They redeveloped one downtown industrial district for housing, while reserving the other one for industry. They controlled and managed their Skid Row district, without mass evictions. The planning for quality of life and the way various initiatives have worked together is what's distinctive about Portland. Back in the 70's, San Francisco firms developed some of the first plans, but obviously Portland has tons of local talent now.
So, how could Louisville plan for a humane, lively, human scale city?
Louisville will never be another SF but I think it does extremely well for its size. As Louisville continues to attract more young, creative professionals I think we'll see it mentioned more and more on these boards.
"Could it be the next Portland is in....Kentucky? Louisville has asserted itself as a lively, offbeat cultural mecca on the Ohio River.
Oddly enough this sort of just happened by chance. What's going on in Louisville at the street-culture, neighborhood level is sort of home-grown and has been going on for quite a while. I dont think there was any concious effort to copy Portland...just people sort of doing their own thing.
"Could it be the next Portland is in....Kentucky? Louisville has asserted itself as a lively, offbeat cultural mecca on the Ohio River.
Oddly enough this sort of just happened by chance. What's going on in Louisville at the street-culture, neighborhood level is sort of home-grown and has been going on for quite a while. I dont think there was any concious effort to copy Portland...just people sort of doing their own thing.
Dayton Sux...I think you are right. Louisville's counter culture and liberal emergence has come on her own terms. They aren't trying to copy anyone. And that is why I love the place so much.
I have lived in Portland, San Francisco, Austin, Nashville, Cleveland, and several other major American metro areas (these are the significant locations I have been in for two years or more). I am a native of Louisville and have seen the city make tremendous strides towards becoming a very livable modern metropolis. I have to say I am pleased with what has happened here so far.
Louisville shares a lot with Portland, not the least of which is the fact - definitely disputable by the historians but seems true to me - the Lewis and Clark expedition started here, across the river from Louisville's Portland neighborhood, and ended essentially in Portland on the west coast. Neighborhoods, bikes, bridges, brews, blues, a great waterfront, nice parks, Victorian era homes, a good liberal vibe - no, not West Coast, more like Border State liberal. I think it fits. Is Louisville the Next? Portland? Of course not, it's the modern Louisville.
Portlanders and Oregonians in general seem likable and friendly. It is my favorite West Coast town and state. I could spend a lifetime living in Portland and be quite comfortable and happy with that city.
San Francisco is like no other place on earth and no place can really fully be like it. Cleveland seems a bit like a Midwest SFO in my experience, but CLE also includes a good bit of NYC and Chicago and Boston in the culture, education, services available .... quite a well kept secret it seems, one of the best places to live, and the weather in CLE is really no big deal - yes, winters are tough .... summers on Lake Erie are sublime.
I don't find a lot that compares between Austin and Louisville. Thankfully we do not have the growth issues found in Austin, I will say I love that Texas town and always love visiting but living there was quite hard - a very push and shove ambitious young person's city that did not feel very accepting and friendly IMO.
Louisville represents itself well in its own right and has nothing to be very unhappy about - we do not need AMTRAK or light rail here (home of two Ford plants, the people here happily drive big trucks all day long without complaints). If anything needs improving, we could all learn to get along together, there is a history here (think anti-busing riots here in '75) and elements of Tea Party vs Liberals still exist in some quarters, but then I think we all can learn to live together in peace no matter where we are.
I try to bring a bit of everything good that I learn in the cities I have visited and lived in back home with me, and I am pleased that when I tell people in Portland or Cleveland that I live in Louisville, they always respond back, "Good for you - VERY nice city.". I agree.
By Portland OR meaning an environmentally conscious metro area with a strict urban growth boundary (which limits sprawl), and where cycling and hiking are popular activities
For the "True": side...
- Areas immediately south and east of Downtown Louisville are very "San Francisco-esque" - tons of coffee houses, pubs, oddity shops along the city's Victorian era turnpikes
- Bicycles are extremely popular in Louisville. The city is currently constructing 150 miles of new bike trails, including a 110 miles loop around the city (40 miles of it are already complete)
- Louisville features one of the nation's best park systems with three 400+ acre parks connect by 40 miles of tree lined "parkways", most of which have bike/ jogging lanes. This original park system was designed by Frederick Olmstead, the creator of NYC's Central Park. L'ville also has the largest municipal forest in the nation, which has 50 miles of hiking trails
- Louisville is ending suburban sprawl within its boundaries by making all land not already developed part of a series of city parks and wildlife management areas. When complete nearly one FOURTH of Jefferson County will be parkland
What thinkest thou? Is Louisville the next Portland, even a mini San Francisco -- or -- is it just Birmingham AL with some new bike trails?
That pales in comparison to what is going on in the urban neighborhoods. Literally every week a multi million dollar hotel, condo, or apt bldg. (or mixed use) is announced. Louisville has I believe 4 buildings over 15-20 stories downtown alone under going luxury rental rehabs and that includes the new 450 foot Omni hotel and residences, which will be among the tallest residential towers in the SE outside Atlanta/Florida.
There are literally thousands of apartment units, and I think 6 hotels under construction or planned within 3 miles of downtown. Just this week alone, a 10 millin boutiquehotel was announced in the Highlands along with a 20 million factory apt loft conversion in Germantown, the second such warehouse conversion in that neighborhood alone. There are just too many projects to list, much like many other SE cities.
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Louisville, Portland, SFO, Austin, etc
