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Business, Culture, Media, Politics, Real-Estate May 16, 2011

Raising (not razing), a Toast to Whiskey Row

  United we stand. Divided we fall. Right? A week has gone by since the announcement of the rescue and rebirth of Whiskey Row. In a photo-op that featured city and business leaders speaking of history, beauty and honor against the backdrop of architecture ravaged by neglect, the elements and finance, we witnessed the team that stood between the wrecking ball and a chance to show the world what a grand entrance one can make into Louisville,   It was a day of saving face in more ways than one. Peeled from the release distributed by Brown-Wilson Ventures–– The deal…

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Business, Culture, I Was There, Rick May 16, 2011

Speed Plan features Trees and Green

Armed with a slide show and a movie, and some compelling facts, Dr. Charles Venable told a group of about 40 at the Breakfast of Champions meeting this morning that the Speed Museum has a goal of reducing asphalt and creating an Olmsted Park-like setting around the facility. Venable, the Speed’s director and CEO, showed a movie with images of a picturesque new look for the Museum, as imagined after a planned $79 million overhaul that will take at least a decade to complete.  Here it is: These things do take time, however. Venable said this plan was first proposed…

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Business, Crime, Food and Dining, Media, Rick May 16, 2011

Good Speed and Drunk Monkeys in Louisville

Just finishing up a great weekend, capped off by a fascinating talk by Charles Venable this morning at the Breakfast of Champions about the way the Speed Museum’s grounds are going to look in about a decade. I’ll write something about that shortly, but now, the news: Sports and the Future: I really wish I could go to this. Tonight in the Churchill Downs press box there’s a forum on the future of sports journalism with a high-powered panel — ESPN’s Pat Forde, the C-J’s Rick Bozich, Kent Taylor of WAVE and John Asher of Churchill Downs.  It starts at…

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Beauty and Fashion, Business, Culture, Education, Events, Food and Dining, Green, Health, LoUnique, Politics, Sport, Uncategorised May 15, 2011

Bike Week Reminder: Bicycles Rule Worldwide! Two to One!

Damn, those Danes are stylin’! Just take a look at Cycle Chic, a Website with a bold tagline: “Hold my bicycle while I kiss your girlfriend … The Original. Bringing Sexy Back Since 2006.”

In Freiburg, Germany, 70 percent of local trips are made by bike or public transit or on foot thanks to regular, annual investments in bicycling infrastructure dating back to 1976.

In Australia, the state of Victoria, which is home to Melbourne, the country’s second largest city, amended planning laws to require all new large buildings to provide bike parking and other facilities such as lockers and showers.

New York City and Chicago have proved that even northern-tier American cities can become walkable and bike-friendly when they make the investment. In Washington, D.C. you can ride your bike straight down the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue on a bike boulevard!

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Business, Media, Rick May 13, 2011

HelloMetro Says Google Changes Led to Switch in Strategy

For 18 months, Clark Scott has been feeding the beast with fresh, original copy. The beast being the world of content on the Internet. In theory, sites like the family of HelloMetro community sites, which publish fresh and original content, rise in the search result rankings in Google. When they do, internet traffic increases and the sites can charge more for advertising But Scott, the CEO of HelloMetro, says that Google has changed its algorithms (the way it ranks sites) recently in a way that penalizes sites like HelloLouisville.com and dozens of similar ones throughout the world. It’s been quite…

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Business, Media, Rick May 13, 2011

Matching Maker’s and TV

Maker’s Mark is making a big splash in the TV and advertising industries by airing its first-ever TV commercials this week on the Discovery Channel. I Googled Maker’s Mark TV ad and found an exec from Fortune Brands (the parent company of the Loretto, Ky.) distiller doing an interview on Fox Business News, saying they’re advertising exclusively on Discovery in shows like Man vs. Wild to hit the Male 25-49 age group. So you won’t be seeing the ad on a local station. But maybe bourbon advertising is becoming OK, as we saw Early Times sponsoring a show on the…

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Business, Education, Media, Non-Profits, Rick May 12, 2011

Media Musings and Getting Out of the Dog Biz

Here’s a big shout-out to Terry Meiners, who allowed me to visit his 84WHAS Radio show yesterday and blabber on about the Governor’s decision to snub the President, whether Richie is going to help or hurt David Williams and he let me plug LouisvilleKY.com. He even came up with a new theme song for the site, by Rick Bartlett, “Louisville  K Y”. Belski Blog: Weather guy John Belski is back on WAVE, but not on the air. He will be doing a blog on the WAVE3 site, but mostly about folksy stuff related to weather.  Kevin Harned was promoting it…

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Business, LoUnique, Uncategorised May 10, 2011

Louisville’s businesses are being over-charged

$2,124.80.That’s how much I’ve spent at Starbucks since I started tracking my expenditures two years ago. That works out to over $88 per month. Even that underestimates my consumption, because it excludes purchases at Heine Bros. and Red Hot Roasters. That’s a lot of coffee. And a lot of unnecessary spending. I know I spend a lot on coffee, but I never would have guessed it adds up to thousands of dollars. I consider myself a decent money manager. I max out my 401(k). I put aside a little each month for my kids’ college educations. I don’t have (too)…