Corbett responds to Aaron Smith

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Dear Editor:

Aaron Smith, I’m sorry but I can’t resist the urge to respond any longer. The hypocrisy of your recent letter is too much to let go without a challenge.

You rhapsodize about the human touch of the courthouse square and criticize another community for out of scale development while our city makes the same mistakes here with the often-unanimous blessing of our city leaders, including you.

Consider:

• Just a few weeks ago you and all of your City Council colleagues voted to demolish a building right on the courthouse square that was a perfect example of the small-scale development you claim to support. It is now gone, leaving an empty lot.
• The city consistently subsidizes blockbuster buildings like the Levinson, Federal Hill and East Bank, that are completely out of scale with what you claim to be the appeal of our downtown. Many of their storefronts are empty because they are so impersonal.
• The city demolished an entire intersection of a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood and replaced it with a roundabout desert just a few blocks from the square as part of the poorly designed Pleasant Street bypass.

None of these projects foster human connection. So, forgive me for questioning your commitment to human-scale details and enhancing the fabric of our community. I agree those are laudable goals. The problem is the city, of which you are a part, isn’t putting its money where its mouth is. It talks a good game but doesn’t deliver. The prospect of our city leaders putting their mark on the courthouse square is absolutely frightening when you consider what they’ve done so far.

Several years ago, the mayor asked my opinion on the new streetscape plan for downtown. I suggested he leave the square alone and focus on the areas that need work, like Logan Street west of the bridge, and the riverfront. Obviously, he didn’t care for my suggestion as the city has done nothing on either front. And now the streetscape plan seems to be back on the agenda.

Aaron, if you truly embrace the human scale of our courthouse square, then start envisioning how you can preserve it and expand its footprint. Stop voting to tear down buildings that contribute to it. Stop voting to subsidize buildings that detract from it. Study what makes the square appealing and vote to make more spaces like that. Very few communities are doing that these days and Noblesville can distinguish itself if we start.

Mike Corbett
Noblesville