My name is Greg Meckstroth and I am a mid-twenty something living in Center City, Philadelphia. I am originally from Ohio, lived in Indianapolis for two years and have recently moved to Philly for work. As a true blue urbanist, I am interested in seeing our urban cores revitalize in sustainable ways - socially, economically, and physically. I also love urban exploration, taking every chance I have to get out and explore urban ‘hoods throughout Philly or where ever I happen to be. I decided to start this site as a way to elaborate my urban point-of-view as well as discuss other issues that affect my daily life.
And yes, I really do love Cincinnati. I miss it everyday!
Contact information
Email: gmeckstroth@gmail.com
Twitter: @GMeckstroth
Thanks for starting this Greg. I look forward to more posts.
Where’s the love for Columbus. It misses you I bet!
Hi Greg! Shoot me an e-mail and let’s see what trouble we can cause together in the blogosphere!
You’ve got a great site going here and I’d love to work with you.
Always good to see another Midwestern urban-planning blog. Keep up the good work!
- Jim
Greg-
I just wanted to say hello and make sure you know about Health by Design. We are an initiative based here in Indianapolis that deals with urban planning issues and public health. Check it out, get involved…it’s free. Email me if you have any questions.
http://www.healthbydesignonline.org/getInvolved.php
-Jamison
Thanks Jamison, I’ll definitely check it out.
Also F.Y.I. myself and a some other guys are in the process of transforming a blog about everything bikes in Indianapolis into a full-fledged advocacy group if you wanna check it out or ever collaborate. http://www.theindycog.com/blog/
If you are ever around to grab coffee lemme know.
Hi Greg,
I see you are already in demand. but I would like you to ckeck out oppidanleague.com. I’m trying to gather together people who are interested in our cities and urban areas and start a network. From this modest start I hope will form a national organization with a goal of changing our cities and make them suitable places to live. There are a lot of possibilities and opportunities even though it doesn’t look like much now. I’m a web guy looking to build a community of urbanist thinkers. I hope you will join and submit your site.
Noel, I am definitely interested in becoming a part of your site. Send me an email at gmeckstroth@gmail.com and we can discuss further.
We’re trying to put a summer urban travel feature together at UrbanMilwaukee.com. Is there a good email address to talk about the idea at?
Wait, just saw your email posted in the comment above. Message sent.
Hi Greg,
I too, moved here for my job…..car free! Alot of the things you speak about in your blog are oh so familiar! I have learned to walk to the store, downtown, to restaurants, but I do use IndyGo to get to work. (I live just outside of downtown). My co-workers thought I was the crazy one, coming from Philadelphia where public transportation is the norm. I love the idea that I do not have to pay a car payment, or car insurance!
Thanks for speaking up for us, the rare commodity in Indianapolis!
Lisa
Thanks for the comment Lisa. It’s always nice to meet a fellow car free person. Keep it up. And yes, the lack of insurance, gas, etc. is nice on the wallet.
Gregory I feel that you (and Indy) deserve fair warning, it is time for you to come home. As our city moves forward with spectacular speed and momentum, we need our most talented minds here, not elsewhere. I’m sure Indy loves you, but you love us more.
The simple fact is the opportunities we have been waiting for since long before we were able to list every comma rule known to man are finally within sight. You write about them (excellently of course), but that is such a small piece of the puzzle. Cincinnati’s ten year lag is the best thing we could ask for, instead of reading about the city’s history, we get to be a part of it.
I find it impossible to believe that you will deny yourself the satisfaction of not only seeing this through, but being a driving force behind it. For lack of a more polite way to say it, we were sheep throughout our younger years. Luckily somewhere along the line, we were inspired to leave the flock. Who you “grew up” to be is by far the most impressive of any of us. You know it, I know it, and the rest of the city has a right to benefit from it.
To sum up my (somewhat) tactfully worded demand for you to drop your life in Indy to come back, you need to be here, leading the initiatives and projects that will shape the future of the city that shaped you.
I’ll see you soon.
Kate
Cool site. Glad to hear someone else misses Cincinnati too! At least I can make the drive from Indy to Cincy in a short 1.5 hours.. and I love living in a very walkable Meridian Kessler!
Greg,
I’ll be traveling to Indy from my urban paradise, Park Slope, Brooklyn, to make a visit to the Miller house in Columbus, IN. My trip would be complete if you were available for a chat over a drink. (July 27-28)
Regards, Roland