A whimsical fairy tale convenience store in Kokomo, Indiana
One example is Kokomo, Indiana. It’s not the mythical tropical island paradise you may have heard about from the Beach Boys. Instead it’s a small industrial city of around 57,000 people about 45 miles north of Indianapolis. After I posted a piece from Eric McAfee about Kokomo’s intelligent rail trail design, someone from the city reached out and invited me to come for a visit. So that’s what I did this week.
What I discovered is that Kokomo has done a lot more than just build a trail. They’ve deconverted every one way street downtown back to two way, removed every stop light and parking meter in the core of downtown, are building a mixed use downtown parking garage with a new YMCA across the street, inaugurated transit service with a free bus circulator, have a pretty extensive program of pedestrian friendly street treatments like bumpouts, as well as landscaping and beautification, a new baseball stadium under construction, a few apartment developments in the works, and even a more urban feel to its public housing. Like Eric, however, I wasn’t just struck by the projects themselves, but they obvious attention to detail that went into their design. And especially by the fact that they’ve done it almost all by paying cash – no debt – in a city that went through an economic wringer during the recession.
A lot, though not all, of this has been pushed by Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight, who’s gone from factory worker to politician during his career. He also appears to be an urban planning geek, as the stack of books behind his desk shows.
Now let’s take a look at what’s going on. I mentioned the pedestrian bumpouts. Here’s an example of one:
Here’s another example on a street heading out of downtown.
Eric’s blog post was about the Industrial Heritage Trail. Here’s a shot of that through downtown:
As one nice touch, note the back side of the stop sign. It’s black to match the color of the other items, not just plain galvanized steel. This treatment is done throughout downtown and adds a bit of refinement.
Here’s another shot of a segment a bit south. Note the bespoke bike rack.
On the south side of downtown, the IHT crosses and east-west path called the “Walk of Excellence.” I love the name because reminding Hoosiers that a focus on excellence is an absolute must to survive the brutal global competition. Here’s a shot:
Here’s a street crossing:
Here’s another crossing example, showing the different crosswalk shading as well:
Eric mentioned the school district’s International Baccalaureate program. But I don’t believe he mentioned that they also run an exchange student program. IIRC, students from 15 countries attend high school in Kokomo, and a number of them are actually housed in dormitories in downtown Kokomo. This injects life into downtown and creates a more international flavor in the city. I didn’t take pictures, but the school district is also renovating a 1914 vintage auditorium back to its original design that will be very cool (and also paid for without recourse to debt).
Trails and bumpouts have a fairly limited cost, but the city is also doing some bigger ticket items including two recently-constructed fire stations, a million dollar renovation of city hall, a parking garage, and a baseball stadium. Pictures of those in a moment but it’s worth ask how the city was able to pay for them without debt.
The first is that there was no legacy debt. I’m not anti-debt in all cases, but if a mature city like Kokomo is saddled with heavy debt repayments, that’s not good. By not having any legacy debt, the city’s tax base isn’t encumbered by repayments. A good part of our federal deficit these days is simply interest on our gargantuan debt load. That’s a dynamic Kokomo avoided. (The city does have some utility debt, but it’s revenue bond type stuff).
Secondly, the mayor says that he was able to reduce the city’s workforce by close to 20%, going from 521 employees just before he took office to only 415 today. That’s a significant reduction, especially given the fact that during that time the city annexed seven square miles and added 11,000 new residents (though some of them were already receiving some city services). Some of this was achieved through efficiencies. For example, the city went to single side garbage pickup, where all garbage is collected on one side of the street, eliminating the need for trucks to traverse each street twice. The mayor, council members, and department heads have also had a pay freeze during that time, with at least some time in there in which all city employees had their pay frozen during the recession. Keep in mind, the city experienced a severe revenue crunch during the auto bankruptcies, and Chrysler, the town’s largest employer, failed to pay its tax bill. This created an urgent need for cuts.
It’s possible the cuts and freezes have gone too far. I don’t know the full history of what has happened to services. But I speculate that having something like this can potentially act like a forest fire. It allows for longer term, healthier growth, whereas continuous growth in employees and compensation over time leads to serious fiscal problems.
In any case, these reductions freed up cash flow as the city recovered, letting Kokomo allocate a decent chunk of its revenues to capital investment. This is running at about 5% of the overall budget, plus an additional sizable sum (for a city of that size) from an economic development tax. This is an example of the cut to invest strategy in action. Without the cuts and tight budget management, there would be no money to invest. Indeed, some other Indiana community have found themselves asking questions like “what fire station should we close?” as they feel the sting of decline and tax caps.
Here are a few more photos, then some additional observations. Here’s that parking garage I mentioned. (This was originally debt financed, but the city paid off the bonds early when it decided to borrow for the baseball stadium).
This supposedly has some all day free parking, designed to attract downtown employees. There’s also going to be apartments on the top floor. It looks like there’s no ground floor retail, however, which will create a bit of a dead zone.
Here’s the YMCA construction site across the street. You can see the old Y in the background:
A painted railroad viaduct on Sycamore St. heading into downtown:
An alley treatment:
The baseball stadium under construction:
Here’s a picture of an older style public housing building. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s done in a traditional duplex style reminiscent of early suburbia.
Here’s a new development in a more urban form next door:
I think the fenestration is poor which gives the design a public housing look. Nevertheless, I appreciate that the city is even thinking about the design of public housing downtown as part of its strategy. After all, why shouldn’t public housing residents get to take advantage of high quality urbanism downtown like everyone else?
Overall, I think they’ve done a number of good things, and I especially appreciate the attention to detail that went into them. You clearly get the feel of them walking downtown streets. I would say the commercial and residential development lags the infrastructure, however. That’s to be expected. They do have an Irish Pub, a coffee shop, a few restaurants, and other assorted downtown type of businesses. This will be an area to watch as some of these investments mature.
When I talked to the mayor about this he took the long view, saying that Columbus, Indiana has been at its architecture program for decades, that Indy’s sports strategy is 40 years old, etc. Substantive change takes time. For example, Mayor Goodnight says it isn’t realistic to think that older workers who commute in to Kokomo will uproot themselves out of their established lives in other communities and relocate. But he’s more hopeful that as workers retire and are replaced, he’ll capture the “next generation” labor force.
That’s obviously a more realistic ambition. But will an impatient public buy it? We’ll see. Clearly Goodnight has his critics. More than one of them has dubbed him the “King of Kokomo.” A newspaper article fretted about gentrification (level of realistic concern about that: zero). I didn’t do a deep dive into the other side, so keep that in mind reading this. But the baseball stadium would appear to be the most controversial item as near as I detect.
Regardless of any controversy, when you look at the downward trajectory of most small Indiana industrial cities, the status quo is not viable option. Kokomo deserves a lot credit for trying something different. And regardless of any development payoffs, things like trails and safer and more welcoming streets are already paying a quality of life dividend to the people who live there right now. It’s an improvement anyone can experience today just by walking around.
Is it really worth it to stop garbage pickups on one side of each street in order to build a “mixed use downtown parking garage”?
I’ve gotta’ echo Alon Levy’s skepticism about the parking garage. Also not a fan of removing parking meters. But in general, a lot of this seems like really good moves forward. Bikeways, small improvements to pedestrian infrastructure. Great!
Thanks for the tour! It is nice to see what other Indiana communities are doing and it sounds like Kokomo has made some nice choices that will make it stand out relative to many cities of comparable size in the state.
I see some nice old manufacturing buildings. Does zoning allow flexible uses?
I don’t think many of us think the parking garage is a wise investment.
I don’t want to say artists are the solution for every city, but Kokomo has several attributes that might make this a good strategy.
From the photos it looks like it may have a stock of classic 19th early 20th century factory buildings. I has some scale and seeming walkability, a central location & strong “maker”/ inventor/ craft tradition.
The region was once a center of glass production- and Kokomo is home to a 12 year old glass company. Nearby Elwood hosts a glass festival & Greentown Indiana has a glass museum.
http://www.in.gov/visitindiana/tripplanner/trip-idea.aspx?id=4904
This article really captures the spirit and energy happening in Kokomo right now. Greg Goodnight has been the driving force behind rescuing our city, and transforming us into a city that can be successful in these new times. Services haven’t dwindled at all, in fact, he is expanding services with curbside recycling set to roll out later this year.
To Alon’s comment: I still get my trash picked up every week on time, I just have to wheel my trash tote (provided by the city) across the alley in the morning. This might have taken a week or so to get used to, but now it is no problem. None of my neighbors complain about it either. No one lost trash pick up service, the truck just only makes one pass down each street and alley now instead of two. Harvard even recognized Goodnight for creating this efficiency by giving the city a “Bright Ideas” award. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/press-releases/ash-bright-ideas
I mean 125 year old glass company- Kokomo Opalescent Glass, that supplied Tiffany.
http://www.kog.com/tiffany-collection.html
“Kokomo Opalescent Glass, then known as The Opalescent Glass Works, specialized in this incredible new American style of glass — opalescent. Our long history of award winning glass began with the 1889 Paris, Exposition Universelle where we received our own gold medal. Even as Tiffany’s own glass factory in Corona, NY was open he purchased glass form Kokomo Opalescent Glass. Many stained glass innovations are attributed to Mr. Tiffany and can still be found in Kokomo Opalescent Glass today is our use of strong color, a huge variety of textures included ripple glass, mottled glass (glass with areas of opaque and translucent spots of color), and marbleized (two or more opaque colors swirled together). Tiffany also used a considerable amount of jewels in his productions and Kokomo Opalescent Glass continues to produce old favorites and develop new pieces.
Mr. Tiffany’s furnaces ceased operations in the early 1930’s and he passed away in 1933. The plethora of work from Tiffany Studio’s that still survives today means that restoration work on many pieces are always ongoing. Kokomo Opalescent Glass continues to be the main source of glass for much of this work. We still produce nearly all of the same colors that Mr. Tiffany utilized in his work and have developed new colors and textures that resembles glass produced in his furnaces during that time period. Over the years we have been called upon to create cast pieces to resemble those that Mr. Tiffany used.”
By the way, NYC still has no significant Tiffany Museum, although the Queens Museum has a very nice room. The factory in Corona, Queens is long gone.
@James,
I forgot to mention in there that the city actually inaugurated transit service as well. There’s now a bus circulator in the city – and it’s fareless. I’ll go back and add that.
Certainly one can critique a parking garage, but it’s not realistic to expect that in a place like Kokomo people will every be other than predominantly auto based in their lifestyle.
I believe the idea behind the garage is to hoover up the downtown workers to free up on street parking for business patrons. Even when metered, I’ve long been struck by the observation that even in fairly moribund downtown’s in smaller cities it can be hard to find a spot during the day. The meters brought in no revenue, and the 2 hours parking limit hasn’t been removed, it’s just no longer being enforced via meters.
I have to disagree with the criticism of the parking garage. Every Kokomo resident and downtown business owner has bemoaned the lack of quality parking in the downtown area. Kokomo does not have any parking garages. Zero. This project transformed a surface parking lot into a garage with 4 times the capacity and 100 times the curb appeal. You are correct that some retail on the bottom floor would have been nice, but the decision was between retail on the 1st floor or housing on the roof. Given the context of when this project was announced, housing was the greater need.
This garage will free up street parking and allow more parking for visitors of downtown, rather than just office workers in the downtown area. The YMCA can not be built without this garage, several other new investments all cited this garage in their press accounts as a reason they located downtown.
@Alon,
Again, one can critique any particular expenditure, but I’d say two things.
1. If you don’t have prudent financial management, there’s no money to spend on anything.
2. In most places in America, and certainly in Indiana, officials have to earn the right to invest by showing that they actually have a firm handle on the tiller of the budget and operations of the city. I strongly doubt that without the efficiencies and such that the public would be as willing to go for this.
The mayor is clearly not anti-labor either. He was a factory worker himself and actually president of his union. His dad was president of the local Teamsters. The company that owned the factory he worked for went bankrupt, and I think that was formative in his appreciation of the importance of long term financial viability to worker security. Also the auto-bankruptcies and such made it clear to the community that the status quo wasn’t an options.
Obviously there are a lot of variables that go into whether these projects work, but one thing that appears to be critical is to have a mayor with the vision and daring to make it happen. Kokomo also can be a case study for other mid-size cities trying to make a revival like this work. It was one thing for my hometown of Carmel, which had the money and tax base to reform itself into something other than a water-and-grow suburb. But you’re rolling the dice a little more in Kokomo.
John, I don’t know anything about the zoning there.
“I have to disagree with the criticism of the parking garage. Every Kokomo resident and downtown business owner has bemoaned the lack of quality parking in the downtown.”
LOL, I think we have all heard that one before. How many towns think just one more parking garage will save their city? Why should actual residents and potential residents pay or this give away?
My guess is mandated parking, height limits and zoning laws work to limit residents near the downtown.
@Aaron
My guess is this is a very important issue. Kokomo was an old manuacturing center. If it has a lot of underused old factories, reuse is critical.
@Alon:
I wouldn’t quibble with the parking vs. garage debate. Yes, there are a lot of specifics here, but the overall theme is “cut to invest”, and this mayor and city are obviously on a roll in doing things right. (Nobody could have gotten all of this right except me!) It’s the attitude that is important, and the city will learn by doing and get better. At least they’re acting.
I wouldn’t call this a quible. This a very big investment and long term use of valuable land in a small city. Calling everything an “investment” doesn’t mean its a productive one.
If the town has a free bus circulator, the garage should have been dumped well off the main street.
People too lazy or anti urban to walk or take the bus might be more trouble that their worth.
Speaking about cutting to invest.
Turns out that Kokomo, Indiana has some major flooding issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9MK_TMY-ik
Has there been an investment in flood control? Whenever, I see an otherwise nice downtown district lacking in investment, I google to see if the area floods.
Flood control is probably the most basic sign that a city actually cares about itself.
John: Good point. Napa, California near me certainly agrees with you vis a vis the importance of flood control.
http://www.countyofnapa.org/FloodDistrict/
Not only is this project over the past decade reducing flooding potential (if it ever rains again in California 🙁 ) it has also resulted in some very nice public infrastructure and greenway improvements
Alas, the City cannot as easily relocate away from Ring of Fire faultlines!
We should all be following Kokomo with great interest. Given the city’s recent efforts, this really is an ideal case study to see if the pursuit of quality urban principles can stave off decay in rust belt cities. If this doesn’t work for Kokomo, what other plan of action is there for cities like Saginaw, Waterloo (Iowa), and Peoria? The Midwest has already tried tax cuts and busting unions.
If Kokomo can’t turn around its fortunes with its intense focus on quality of life, the only hope is for American industry to get rolling again. And we know how that’s likely to play out…
@John Morris
Kokomo is actively working on flood mitigation. The baseball stadium project is actually a joint flood mitigation/baseball stadium project. They are spending $2.5 million on mitigation in the downtown core.
http://wishtv.com/2014/05/12/kokomo-plans-stadium-in-flood-prone-area/
To place this in context, over 200 homes were seriously damaged b the 2013 flood. I doubt a modest investment like this fixes the problem.
The garage is probably needed because so man people chose not to lie in the flood zone.
@ John Morris: You have to strike a balance. It’s impossible for a city to be perfect. Does that mean cities should stop funding “unnecessary” amenities like parks, parking garages, monuments, and etc. until perfection is reached? I’d argue that any city that attempts that will be a grim place indeed.
The inference is that somehow all amenities of value come from the government.
In this case we have a city that has seriously underspent on a vital thing like flood control over a period of many years.
“In this case we have a city that has seriously underspent on a vital thing like flood control over a period of many years.”
I’d argue that issue is prevalent across the country. Kokomo is far from alone. As a nation, we’ve been underspending on critical infrastructure for decades. We thought we could get away with it, but now the high cost of being cheap is finally setting in.
I think it’s better to look at how sound Kokomo’s current plan is. Is the $2.5 million enough to resolve the problem? If it is, then what are you worried about?
It’s an $ 11.5 million total investment including 9 million for the stadium – which is allegedly part of the plan.
Obviously, I have serious doubts that flooding that has destroyed so much could be fixed that easily. More likely is just that people prefer to spend on other things.
You have doubts, but neither of us have proof.
I will say that I’m against taxpayers being forced to fund stadiums. I couldn’t believe when they tried to put taxpayers in Richmond, VA on the hook for tens of millions of dollars for a DOUBLE A baseball stadium. Ridiculous.
What’s scary is that someone up top has made sure this in the unofficial “How to Revive Your Downtown” guidebook for politicians across the country. That a city like Kokomo thinks it needs a downtown stadium is, honestly, silly.
Although I still think your anger about the parking garage is misdirected.
I’m always amazed how many cities ignore obvious flooding problems and expect people not to notice.
The 2013 flood must have been leading regional or even national news. Probably more attention than the town gets in ten years. The memory and impact of something like that lingers.
I lived in Reading, Pennsylvania which always had big plans to improve the south side, which rarely included basic flood control.
I believe what is being done in Kokomo is awesome. I am 60 years old and can remember the old downtown kokomo very well. I will always be great full for the memories I have of it. Fast forwarding to 2014. What is being done in our city is very special. It is bringing life and beauty to kokomo once again. In a modern but retro style with great taste for all of us. I’m very proud to be a resident of kokomo. We can’t move forward living in the past. It wasn’t that long ago this city was dieing a slow death. Now we are blessed with life very few had a vision for. Thanks to all of our amazing visionaries, Kokomo is very much alive.
The areas annexed in gave a very large tax base added to the city. Problem i see is while downtown is looking good, no street lights not sidewalks have been added to these annexed areas. People must walk in the streets or on uneven grass to get places. Shouldn’t these people deserve something for their added income to the city?
The city of Kokomo purchased all of the homes in the zone that flooded, demolished them, and the went to work putting a baseball stadium.
John, it is not exaggeration to say that Kokomo is an automotive city. A very early auto was developed there by Elwood Haynes.
Kokomo does not compare with Reading. It is a far newer city. (In the same way that Indy doesn’t compare with Eastern cities.)
Most of Kokomo is pretty sprawly, and there are no big old factories on the order of Jeep Toledo downtown. GM (now Delphi) and Chrysler built big sprawling operations out by what was then “the bypass” for US 31 (Indiana’s north-south main road now being upgraded to interstate standards from Indy north to Michigan). Chrysler then built another sprawling complex miles out of Kokomo near the town of Tipton.
In such a place, the city’s few parking garages are considered supremely urban compared with the acres of asphalt that are the local norm.
@
“The city of Kokomo purchased all of the homes in the zone that flooded.”
They purchased about 25 homes in an area that flooded regularly. But, the 2013 flood damaged around 200 homes.
Flooding problems near the downtown are serious and have probably influenced investment and housing.
http://fox59.com/2013/04/25/200-homes-damaged-dozens-condemned-after-kokomo-flood/
@Chris Barnett
Thanks for the general history, but Aaron has a shot of at least one large in town industrial building that looks empty.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.483976,-86.131164,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sv8HkrNSr6m1ePRPbatRfzg!2e0
If that building isn’t being used, it has artist written all over it.
The city was also a major maker of glass, so there are probably some old in town factories. It also seems that at least part of the old Haynes Auto factory complex still exists.
I used to travel through Kokomo all the time for work, and I can say this. The industrial aspect of Kokomo is very important and there is very little industrial waste lands in the city. The existing factories are modern, and well kept. The city for most parts is very clean and respectable looking. The downtown has a lot of potential and it would be nice to see 4-5 story apartments compliment the historic commerce district. I am happy places like Kokomo and Bloomington have a lot figured out. Kudos to the mayor for forward thinking.
Yes, apartments are probably critical. Older factories can make great conversions.
“Free parking” undermines that. Why buy the milk if the town is determined to give away the milk? At best it’s a stopgap but if the record holds people will demand that more garages are built.
I meant, why buy the cow?
Wow! This is not the Kokomo I grew up in. Very progressive and forward thing way to distinguish itself from other mid-size communities struggling to reboot in a post-automotive driven local economy. Gotta check it out.
We often blame industrial decline for other issues of sprawl, urban neglect and in this case flooding.
Since about 1930, the preferred factory type is a single floor, large footprint box. Even if there was a huge rebound of American industry, plants would employ far fewer people and locate outside of downtowns. Detroit lost almost all its in town auto plants by 1960.
First rule of a dealer is not to get hooked on your own product. Make cars, sell cars but don’t destroy your own city to adopt to them.
The parking garage is necessary because downtown will be losing two of its public parking lots to new developments.
Aaron, how would you contrast Kokomo’s innovation with the type of policies pushed by the state government? Is this local improvement a sign that conservatism might drift away from its anti-urban dogmas?
I will say it’s interesting to see the sorts of public-space investments from big cities like Portland and San Francisco filter down to smaller places like Kokomo or Columbus in the heartland, in one of the country’s most conservative states to boot.
I just have to chime in, here. It is almost comical for people to judge city development projects when it is apparent those people have not visited the city in question. As a resident, I can attest that the parking garage was urgently required. It is being built on a former city parking lot, not using up any additional real estate. It was an absolute requirement for the YMCA to stay downtown, that the lack of parking be ameliorated. And city and county employees needed additional parking as well as visitors to the courthouse and businesses.
The 2013 floods were bad, but relatively little of the downtown was damaged. The city has long used flood plains as parkland, immediately adjacent to the downtown. The one worst-hit neighborhood has been demolished and is being repurposed as a ball “stadium” that is actually quite small (not a typical urban monster stadium). In tandem with the ball field is a large flood abatement being done a few blocks downstream, along the next worst-flooded neighborhood. It is intended to hold a massive amount of water.
Kokomo has no empty industrial buildings in the near-downtown area. The one photographed may be underused, but it is not empty. As we see the downtown aesthetics improved, we might indeed see a demand for artists’ studios in some of our older buildings.
The article is a very nice tribute to the hard work done by the city. It will take a long time to reverse the old trends of sprawl and decay, but we are finally on our way.
A) Why does it have to be free?
B) Why isn’t something like that shoved off the main street?
The whole thing, combined with the meager interest in flood control sends the message that residents near the downtown really don’t matter. Same message Indy’s parking garage skyline sends.
BTW) There are new plans afoot for – a subsidized convention center- which no doubt will be loaded with “free parking”. .. And then an arena- (More parking).
What exactly is original about this strategy?
http://indianaeconomicdigest.com/Main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=121&ArticleID=73774
It also sounds like the flooding has not really been fixed.
“The old Northern Indiana Supply Company warehouse buildings are also apparently not being considered for inclusion in phase one of the project. Hunden said the age, the structural condition and the repeated flooding of the buildings are issues.”
That was the beautiful building I linked to.
@Lisa Kilmer
Serious damage to almost 200 homes isn’t serious flooding? Glad I don’t live in a town that sees things that way.
The parking garage is seen as “critical” because so few people live in and near the downtown. The long term “strategy” of loading up on “attractions” and free parking will likely keep it that way.
“Flooding problems near the downtown are serious and have probably influenced investment and housing.”
No.
It hasn’t.
There has been more building in the downtown since that flood than there has been combined in over a decade. The city has been putting money in as well as a massive amount of investment from a developer from outside the community.
The buildings most affected by the flooding, an area located in a fairly massive dip on both sides and butts up against a river, were the ones purchased. This alleviated the first part of the solution. Now that the city owns the land that is in this area it can address the flooding situation instead of putting a band aid on it while trying to work with land owners.
Seeing as I own the first business after that dip (Comics Cubed) and saw no water damage at all (I always have a very damp basement, but we could be having a drought and I’d have a very wet basement) during or after the flood, and I walk our downtown once a week and meet with the owners and managers on that walk I can say not a single business owner in downtown was directly touched by the flood.
This is a flood that was so large that it stopped traffic going over one of the busiest highways in the state at the time (US31). This was far from business as usual for the town.
As for the parking garage being free. It was built on top of an already existing free parking lot. More and more businesses have been opening in downtown Kokomo bringing in more traffic (for both the owners and their customers), the high school one block away has just converted their classic gym into a modern facility that houses Indiana University Kokomo, and that is going to take up more parking, the number of events in the park (again, a block away from this garage) have been growing every year and those people will be using the garage, the new YMCA should see a lot more members joining, and they’ll use the garage, and of course the apartments on top of the garage will need parking.
Without the garage there simply would not be enough parking to handle any more than one of these activities at a time.
I would know as my business is also located directly across from the parking garage, and what use to be the free lot, and just the free lot being gone has made it a scramble to get a place to park in downtown.
Why should it be free?
Why not?
How does it possibly hurt to have this thing be free (for two hour parking, and after that it’s a ticket, and our attendant for that keeps up on giving out those tickets, after four PM you can stay as long as you want (at least that’s the way they control the streets))? My customers were already getting free parking before, why change it now? My hope is it encourages more people to visit our growing downtown, have a nice place to park safely, and then hit the stores.
I love living in Kokomo. I have lived here since 1997, when I moved here from an adjacent small town about 6 miles to the north. Even though I grew up outside of Kokomo in nearby Galveston, Kokomo was always a part of my daily life. Work, shopping, medical needs, etc, were always in Kokomo. I love living here, it’s home! I like many of the new updates that my city has recently implemented such as converting one-way streets back to two-way, removal of the stoplights, making the downtown more beautiful, remodeling of the old “Firestone” building, etc.
However, there are a few items that I am not pleased with that were not mentioned in the article. When Mayor Goodnight made cuts to the city workforce, he made cuts to the fire department that myself along with the majority of the residents are unhappy with. A decades-long fire department ambulance service was discontinued, and recently the south fire station rescue truck was taken out of service. With that rescue truck out of service, if there is a serious car crash on the city’s south side, it could take up to fifteen minutes during rush-hour for the downtown rescue truck to get to the far south-side of town. I ran into the mayor at a local grocery store recently and voice my concern over this, but he hurriedly defended his decision for this cut and cut me off and went on his way.
The controversy over the new baseball stadium is warranted. I do not believe the city will be able to completely avoid another flood in the area where the stadium is being built and with the flood-mitigation they are implementing, further downstream flooding will worsen, threatening other areas that also frequently flood. There is a very large area on the near west side of town that used to be home to a large steel mill that sits empty and barren that would have been a perfect location for a new stadium. There is a vast area that would provide ample space for parking and other amenities, not to mention the area is pretty much adjacent to the city’s largest park where the current city stadium is at. I like the idea to keep as much as we can downtown, but this stadium being built adjacent to the downtown area just will not work, in my opinion. I think the whole stadium issue needed much more research before the city jumped into the project.
As far as old manufacturing buildings, there are several that are approximately one mile south of downtown that could be converted into warehouse loft style apartments/condos. I have always thought that, just take Indianapolis for example, the “Warehouse District” has many five to six story warehouse loft apartments. It would be a great way to make use of old “eyesore” buildings.
All in all, Kokomo is a great place to live, we have good shopping facilities and department stores, good hospitals, many choices for places of worship, and so on. I love my city, and I am glad to see it growing!
In all these pictures of pretty pedestrian infrastructure, I don’t see a single actual pedestrian. Seems like the investment was a waste.
“My customers were already getting free parking before, why change it now?”
And how was all that “free parking” working out for ya? Not enough empty lots around the downtown? My point is clearly offering free parking was not working and doing more of the same in a different way was just as stupid/
I would go back to the mayor’s quote. (approximate quote)
Aaron:
You said, if you had a choice between a hundred jobs and a hundred people, you’d take the people every time. What did you mean by that?
Mayor Goodnight:
“People care about the community they live in more, so we miss out when people commute in- don’t volunteer on local boards, not in the PTO at their school, not as concerned about the social problems the community faces. And, you tend to spend your pay check where you live”
This was the best quote in the interview. Policies like beautification, the bike path, first Friday activities, murals, walking tours and new fire stations make a lot of sense, because they make the town attractive as a place to live in and care about. Most don’t cost a lot.
The parking garage turns back towards the standard drive in & drive out thinking that destroyed the town. I would be willing to let it go – if people saw it as at best a stop gap measure and didn’t plan more. However, I also popped across plans for a subsidized convention hotel and probably an arena.
This thinking is just the standard waste that places residential quality of life and taxpayers behind hand outs to temporary visitors.
@Jeff M:
Everyone of us has a deductible on our car insurance. Cities have to do the same on their services if they are going to come up with the money to pay for things that are of more immediately and likely benefit.
“if they are going to come up with the money to pay for things that are of more immediately and likely benefit.”
That’s about all one can say about the garage. It may provide some immediate benefits- because so few people live near the downtown. Many of the other improvements are of long term value.
The proper policy with the garage would have been to drop in a metal temporary parking system a few blocks outside the downtown on the connector route. (What is the point of the free bus connector if you load up on free parking?)
Parking systems like that are common in cities like NYC.
One could then set a clear time limit for removal- Every – number of years, we remove this amount of parking. This sends a clear signal to residential developers. If they want to provide parking at their own expense, it’s on them.
John, I think your puristic anti-car sentiments are way off base in this case. Kokomo isn’t Brooklyn or even Shadyside. It’s low density, auto-based city with a small downtown in which 99% of the people who come there have to visit by car. Would it be nice to reduce that ratio? Undoubtedly. But you can’t just wish it away and suggest you can eliminate the car and attract people or business there. Jane Jacobs talked about “attriting” car use. That is, slowly chipping away at it over time. Building quality alternative infrastructure is one part of that. But you’re not going to have a healthy downtown in these places by simply eliminating places or park or pricing it at a level for which there is no demand. And frankly, other than for downtown workers in these places, there’s extremely little demand today.
“But you’re not going to have a healthy downtown in these places by simply eliminating places or park or pricing it at a level for which there is no demand.”
I would take it further, Kokomo can’t have a remotely healthy downtown as long as 99% or even 70% drive to it. I is not a suburb and should stop trying to be one.
Comments about how dead the downtown was till very recently show that no amount of surface parking has helped.
The mayor’s own comment about residents confirms that.
To correct the record, Kokomo was founded around 1880 and had a population of 30,067 by 1920. This means it could never have been a totally auto oriented city.
It has also been bypassed by major highways leaving a much more in tact street grid than many regional cities. This should be seen as a huge asset.
Oops, Kokomo already existed in the 1850’s and had a population of over 4,000 in 1880.
I hope Aaron will try to research more and provide accurate context.
John Morris, your last comments are a bit silly and do not support your argument.
Most cities in the U.S. existed before automobiles became commonly used, including Los Angeles, Detroit, Indianapolis, etc. However, I do not think anyone would disagree that Los Angeles, Detroit or Indianapolis are auto-oriented cities (although this is slowly changing).
Obviously, Aaron is referring to the modern development of Kokomo. Yes, in 1850 or 1880, the city was not auto-oriented (nor was Los Angeles, Detroit, or Indianapolis), but the city eventually became auto-oriented, as have many cities in the U.S.
Posting snarky comments as you seem want to do, just makes you look immature and petty, and distracts from the substantive issues being discussed in these articles. In other words, grow up and try constructively contributing to the conversation.
“Obviously, Aaron is referring to the modern development of Kokomo. Yes, in 1850 or 1880, the city was not auto-oriented.”
The population in 1930 was 38,672
The peak population was reached in 1960 @ 47,197 with declines since until an annexation pushed the number up.
What is pretty clear is that auto oriented policies did not work very well for the city. Almost all comments talk of a long decline.
Aaron has not explained how continuing the same policies will result in improvement. He also misrepresented my views.
I am willing to acknowledge that at this point some garage is needed but it doesn’t have to be on the main street and it doesn’t have to be a permanent structure. Why is a mayor concerned about budgets investing in a fixed structure when there are cheaper steel options?
Are there any contributors with a knowledge of what Kokomo looked like pre 1930? What was there before the surface parking?
I also linked to plans to facilities that will require still more parking.
Here is 3 level steel automated parking structure from China priced at $2600.00
http://myparking.en.made-in-china.com/product/fXKmbSColtkN/China-3-Level-Robot-Parking-System.html
Even if a much larger one is needed the cost is probably a fraction of what they are spending.
If this really is meant as a quick fix, until more residential is built this is the best option.
Aaron never brought up the issue of zoning, height limits or parking minimums in his interview.
Each 3 space structure is sold by the piece. 300 cars = $260,000. 150 cars costs $130,000.
This likely a fraction of what they are spending.
But a structure like this says- temporary while many seem to see free parking as a right.
As a Kokomo resident who lives close to and works downtown let me say I think the transformation is fantastic. I findyself walking to work more and more. There is definitely an increase in pedestrian and bicycle traffic. As downtown projects in the works or being planned add to the population density I think commercial investment will quickly follow
As a long time resident I would say the biggest change here is the courage and vision to accept change. Gradually that has led to more confidence of the public and business community. Kokomo has progressive momentum and should be studied by other communities throughout the Midwest.
“As downtown projects in the works or being planned add to the population density I think commercial investment will quickly follow.”
I tend to agree- if pedestrian oriented projects are allowed and parking is not subsidized.
The city seems to have an above average street grid and no in town highways. Not at all what one would expect in an “auto oriented city”.
Most of the really effective projects like the First Friday events don’t actually cost much money. “Placemaking” is usually a very cheap strategy.
http://www.firstfridaykokomo.com/
Has Kokomo tried having a green market downtown? What about other festivals that occupy the many surface parking areas?
How does the college play into the downtown?
I do think that John M has a point in that Midwestern downtowns struggle immensely because Midwestern cities are overwhelmingly geared to suburban modes. It’s tough for downtown to achieve critical mass with all of the dead zones the car culture necessitates. You’re fighting a losing battle that constantly requires drastic, expensive measures to maintain a degree of equilibrium. You need big plaza events, stadiums, and other costly incentives and subsidies to fake urban vitality. The model fails otherwise and is subsumed into the economics of the suburbs.
I understand the logic behind the argument that we need to ween the Midwest off the car. But at some point, you have instances where you can’t have your cake (or car) and eat it too. We have to level with ourselves and admit that creating a true urban environment calls for drastic changes. Half measures are sometimes a waste of money and effort.
From what I’ve seen in the Midwest, only Chicago works as an urban city (though it has immense problems), and Minneapolis/St. Paul as a “lite urban” experience. The rest are frauds.
“You’re fighting a losing battle that constantly requires drastic, expensive measures to maintain a degree of equilibrium. You need big plaza events, stadiums, and other costly incentives and subsidies to fake urban vitality. The model fails otherwise and is subsumed into the economics of the suburbs.”
Exactly! Kokomo, should have learned this lesson from Indy, which is somehow always one project away from vitality.
To a large extent, the mayor’s comments about residents and focus on placemaking shows he gets it. But, somehow towns can’t avoid slipping back into this trap. My guess is he is playing to a large audience that still doesn’t get it.
One reason is that there is a massive industry of moochers that profit from the big project model.
Yep. The answer to what it would take to revive Midwestern cities is simple. You need people to want to live urban lifestyles. Getting them to want to visit downtown for entertainment is, in reality, only a small part of the puzzle. But, of course, most Midwestern cities act like having a whizz-bang downtown is the whole puzzle.
The truth is cities are largely powerless to convince people the urban living is worthwhile. That’s a decision you make on your own. How many people, honestly, sit back and think, “Well, I’d love to live in a big city, but there just aren’t enough parking garage, new stadiums, and ‘imaginariums’ downtown!” The stadiums and other vanity projects are last ditch efforts that are clearly poor investments, but are pushed because there is a lot of money to be made off the taxpayers.
From the little research I have done, it seems Kokomo has a leg up on livable urbanism. The density level and housing is mostly suburban, but the street grid lacks lots of superblocks, highways and cul-de-sacs. (No significant highways in town)
Kokomo could become the anti- Indianapolis, focusing on livable scale, creativity and affordability (low taxes).
John, I’m afraid I do not understand. Besides students and people living in real urban cores like NYC what large group works/plays/eats/and lives in the confines of the same downtown. Kokomo’s population is less than 60K. The walkable area of the town are modest, even tiny.
Even people who moved to an apartment in downtown Kokomo would have to commute to work, which might be anywhere in a 50 mile radius. Even if they are fortunate enough to work downtown, if they made a decent income would you really recommend that they do without a car? How would they travel to Indy or even the other half of their own town?
What you are suggesting seems to be to create an artificial college town without the college. Can you point out where this is successful? I guess if Kokomo became an artist colony (since Artist do not have to travel to work, and like to keep costs down) this can work. However at current Kokomo is no artist colony.
My sister who has been carless for most of 20 years living in East Coast Big Cities, finally broke down last week after living 7 months in LA and bought a car. If it is extremely difficult for an urbanite in LA, I don’t see how what you are proposing in practical for a town in the middle of Indiana.
Everything starts small. Kokomo does have a college, IU, Kokomo with over 3000 undergrads, some in town employment and jobs not too far away in the surrounding area. San Francisco is off course the model for reverse commuting. Add in retired people.
There is a very big difference between going completely carless and being car dependent.
Kokomo does not seem to have the massive barriers to expanded walkability. Some streets may not have sidewalks- but they tend to have normal lengths and a normal grid.
I’m starting to realize what some of the misunderstandings are about. Mr. Morrison seems to have an urban landscape in mind which is more like Chicago or NYC, cities in which there is dense residential, shopping and business property intermingled. Kokomo never was that kind of urban scape. The “downtown” is a roughly 8 block x 10 block business hub, with residential properties almost exclusively beyond that border. Some businesses have apartments above them, but as far as I can tell from old photos, residences have always been minimal in the “downtown.”
If you look at Google maps and zoom in, you will see that because of the downtown being a strictly business hub, parking is crucial. The courthouse, Dept. of Health, City Hall, Library, and YMCA are all businesses which attract drivers (and employees) from all over the county. The parking deck in question is set a block off-center, on Union Street behind the Irish pub. Its existence allows a second parking lot to be filled with a new YMCA (which seems to be one of Mr. Morrison’s wishes – a reduction in total parking lots).
There are a lot of festivals held in the 8-10 square block area, which many of the businesses decry. A Farmer’s Market has been in full swing on Saturdays for years. The college is far south of the downtown, but there is a Middle School a couple of blocks south of the Police Dept.
Incidentally, the flooded neighborhood which has been demolished is one block further south of the Middle School. It comprises 3 blocks and was maybe 3 dozen houses, not a very big “stadium” space. It’s really just a ballpark. That was the only “downtown” neighborhood which flooded. Don’t be fooled by news outlets which reported 200 homes damaged. They were not talking about “downtown” but about the whole city or even the whole county.
The city is very auto oriented because residential, business, and shopping districts have been developed apart from each other, which is more a suburban landscape than urban. There is indeed a highway running through the city, just a mile or so from “downtown.” Its construction decades ago, plus the expansion along that corridor of automotive factories into huge campuses, propelled the town into its current sprawl.
The article highlights the successful attempts of a small city to reverse the former blight of its business district. It is not a city attempting to turn a business district into a residential one.
“If you look at Google maps and zoom in, you will see that because of the downtown being a strictly business hub, parking is crucial.”
“It is not a city attempting to turn a business district into a residential one.”
Well, good luck because the record of reviving downtowns without adding a substantial number of residents in or near them is very poor (almost non existent)
The historic record also seems to show that model has not worked very well. That is the issue here.
Many, downtown business districts that never before had residents have them now- NYC, Philly, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, (Almost 15,000 residents now) Columbus, Cincinnati, Lowell Massachusetts.
No amount of “free parking” and government subsidized attractions can fill the place of residents.
Mayor Goodnight:
“People care about the community they live in more, so we miss out when people commute in- don’t volunteer on local boards, not in the PTO at their school, not as concerned about the social problems the community faces. And, you tend to spend your pay check where you live”
I think several downtown apartment projects are already in the works.
Correction:
IU Kokomo now has more than 4,200 students.
“Indiana University Kokomo hits the highest-ever student enrollment in its 68-year history, boasting a remarkable 12.3 percent increase over last year. Of the nearly 4,200 students registered, 74 percent of undergraduates are attending full time — another campus record.
…
“IU Kokomo has had five consecutive years of enrollment growth”
Most likely the town has a lot of latent apartment demand.
http://newsroom.iuk.edu/campus/17-campus-news/578-iu-kokomo-enrollment-hits-highest-numbers-in-68-year-history.html
@Lisa Kilmer’s description of the campus as far from downtown doesn’t ring true. The entire city is only 18.5 square miles. It is probably well within short bike, or shuttle bus range.
suggestion:Either look at the map or visit, before you pontificate about a town’s choices.
Very attractive, suggestions on where to stop in town rather than taking new bypass?
“Very attractive, suggestions on where to stop in town rather than taking new bypass?”
Right, Kokomo’s previous north/south “highway” is really a stroad with multiple lights and turnoffs for factories, shopping etc.
“Noun. Portmanteau of “street” and “road”: it describes a street, er, road, built for high speed, but with multiple access points. Excessive width is a common feature. A common feature in suburbia, especially along commercial strips. Unsafe at any speed, their extreme width and straightness paradoxically induces speeding. Somewhat more neutral than synonymous traffic sewer.”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Stroad
To the extent, the town had a highway, it has really been replaced by a bypass that goes completely around the town.
Oh God. Coliseum Blvd in Fort Wayne…perfect example of a Stroad. Now looking pretty darn ragged. Along with the newer, posher Jefferson Blvd (Hwy 24 to the south).
I will concede this sort of a highway- and sort of not. Pretty much the exact definition of a stroad. It’s a big stroad However, it is pretty much at the edge of town & the new highway avoids the town completely.
For a so called “car oriented town” the job base seems amazingly compact. Most people seem to work at a few huge plants; in downtown, at hospitals, or the college.
It may be that people drive almost everywhere, but the degree of current car dependency could probably be shifted.
This doesn’t look like a very wealthy place where people have a lot off $ to waste on gas.
A compact, nice, mixed use downtown with a large dose of residents might be strongly embraced.
Aaron, thanks for the update regarding Kokomo. Removing the one-way pairs is especially interesting, as many Midwest downtowns struggle with addressing this problem. My understanding is that undoing them is expensive and involves a lot of political brain damage. So they remain a development annoyance in many communities. If any Urbanophiles have seen any studies regarding the value of their removable, I’d love to hear about it.
Carl:
It is my understanding that in Vancouver, WA, the city moved from one- to two-way streets without traffic studies or new equipment, and saw a significant and immediate increase in downtown sales. In many places, the change-over may not be nearly as difficult and expensive as supposed.
Carl, I think one of the issues with deconversion is stoplight replacement. You need two-direction stoplights, which can be an expense. But removing all the stoplights, that expense was avoided and it actually saved ongoing money too.
Please, has Indy not changed because of the expense of stoplight replacement? Not saying this can’t be a marginal factor, but the main issue is courage.
Nice piece about Kokomo and its efforts at revitalization. I have noticed a trend in smaller cities to use streetscape as a major reinvestment tool, probably because of available transportation dollars. This is also something where the city owns the right of way and can take a unilateral action. Figuring out what level of streetscape improvements gets the best return on investments is a topic worth investigating. Kokomo seems on the right track with the bicycle addiction but is still car dependent. Cities like Evansville IN created a hugely expensive downtown streetscape that appears to have added little benefit. Bump out at every corner don’t really do much, and they seem to be everywhere. Springfield IL took one major downtown street and removed all the parking with expensive “hardscape” that is particularly ineffective. Batavia IL recently created a European “complete street” with lots of expensive brick paving and a $ 100,000 welcome arch.
“Nice piece about Kokomo and its efforts at revitalization. I have noticed a trend in smaller cities to use streetscape as a major reinvestment tool.”
I don’t think any single improvement can “fix a city.” Kokomo has some aspects of an older street grid form going for it, but a wholistic city wide transformation has to happen.
Bike lanes, the free circulator, reverting to two way streets, & events are a big part of this. Zoning, reducing or eliminating parking minimums & height limits are also critical- and not just in the downtown.
Very interesting and informative article, with many insights. A comment in the article- “Regardless of any controversy, when you look at the downward trajectory of most small Indiana industrial cities, the status quo is not viable option” is very important, given the continuing economic turbulence and changing demographics.In addition, the Mayor’s leadership and the collaboration of the Town Council is another key ingredient as the town continues to move forward.
Aaron, Rod Stevens — thanks for the insights.
Mike Jackson hits on key points about why / how streetscape enhancement occur. From an image standpoint, I think they are essential. I can’t think of a single thriving Chicago or Chicago metro commercial district that has not had a significant streetscape enhancement. Curb appeal matters not only to home buyer but also to commercial district investors. The cost of these improvements range in a continuum from basic cleanup type stuff to “signature,” destination quality type of enhancements.
That said, streetscape enhancements alone do not guarantee success. There are many other factors that contribute to a commercial district’s vitality.
For example, property owner status and local economic redevelopment economics are issues that are often overlooked or poorly understood. If there is a critical mass of property owners with unreasonable expectations in a struggling business district, or if a community targets projects that are economically not feasible, redevelopment can be inhibited for years and even decades.
But back to the original issue. Municipalities — the public — own and are responsible for 25% — 40% of city’s physical space. If a city is not motivated to invest in the public space they own and control, why should they expect the private sector to be interested?
Apologies — didn’t insert my name into the previous post…
Streetscapes should be part of a larger strategy that tips private investment, focusing these public investments in a smaller area to ensure results. Those other measures might include facade grants, community policing, restoration of an anchor user (such as the historic theater in Fargo, ND), or eating areas for a food pod. Better guaranteed success than spreading the peanut butter too thin.
The design aesthetics are simply enchanting, very humanizing.
I live in Kokomo, work at a hospital, and my wife works at IUK. Having moved back here from bus-friendly Bloomington (IU’s much larger and different main campus), it is hard being a one-car family. We have a high school senior at home who just turned 18 and works too. So three adults who juggle one car, rides from coworkers and classmates, minivan taxi cabs, and a trolley bus that comes within ten blocks of our rental home once an hour (two blocks if we want to ride in the wrong direction). Crossing Markland on foot to catch the trolley westbound is not safe. The trails are a huge improvement from the decaying steel-mill town I remember as a kid, but the trails stop before reaching the hospitals or IUK. We have bridged those gaps on foot and on bicycle, but doing so requires walking a roadside with no sidewalk, and being next to traffic that blows down Lafountain with no respect to pedestrians.
Off the trails, anyone on bike or foot is presumed to be a DUI offender with a revoked driver’s license. Mopeds are called DUI scooters, and there is a stigma with bus transport that I don’t feel when I visit Bloomington and Chicago, where public transit is the norm.
IMO, IUK is not accessible from downtown on foot or bike. Ivy Tech is even worse situated, requiring one to cross the old 31 “sproad” (good desc, btw).
We don’t live downtown, and since I work nights, usually miss out on Farmers Markets and First Fridays. But I am glad they are there, along with a growing emphasis on festivals and concerts in Foster Park. To me, events are the draw. If nothing is going on downtown, I don’t usually visit. When I do get a day off, I sometimes visit Comics Cubed or Pepperwhistle Cafe, but that’s about it.
I’m sharing these concerns because it is a good article with an excellent discussion. Overall, I think Kokomo is in its best period of growth to date. There is a long way to go, but returning residents like us are definitely noticing before-and-after progress.