The Color Of Another Horse

Many of you know that I follow the happenings of the dining and entertainment scene, especially when it appears to bring new life to our downtown neighborhoods. Sometimes I get in on the early stages while other just transition very quietly.  Such is the case this week.

After hearing very little about the Penguin Dueling Piano Bar, either good or bad, I went by a few weeks ago and found that the windows had been papered over from the inside.  Clearly there was a remodeling afoot.  Last weekend they opened as Paulie's Toasted Barrel, with a decor of antique wood which hopefully will aid in the sound attenuation problem for the rest of the condo owners.  This is still a little of of the beaten path for many, but lets see what we can do for them.

What I am waiting for is the opening of Lexington's latest craft brewery.  A development which is following the example of our other craft brewers and locating in a building setting right up on the sidewalk, inviting the neighborhood and enlivening the street scene.  I am talking about the Blue Stallion Brewing Company.

Blue Stallion is taking over the former location of the Ironhorse Forge at 610 West Third St, the intersection of the Corman Railroad and Newtown Pike next door, and an area ripe for further redevelopment.

I say that I am waiting on this not because I love craft beer, actually quite the opposite because I don't drink beer, but I do like to see something like this begin to catalyze an area.  Like the guys at West Sixth St, the Blue Stallion is just a block or so from the new BCTC campus, across from an industrial flavored Henry Street beginning to search for ways to mimic South Limestone or South Upper.  A short walk from the trolley stop on Jefferson St through historic housing in increasing states of renovation will be fun next summer. It also appears to on the uncompleted portion of the Legacy Trail.

I have been watching these guys since about August and just got a few tweets and a follow this past Monday, so I guess that things are now a real go.  I really like the logo of their "blue stallion" and I've been told that it is a rendition on Aristides, the first winner of the Kentucky Derby and grandson of Lexington (the other blue horse seen around town).

There is more than enough reason to support these guys and despite my distaste for beer, I hope that they are around for a long time.  The just happen to be the color of another horse.

Thoughts On Some Current Controversies

Several things have come to mind today that relate to some current events.

There has been a great controversy about the overhead wires either being shown(or not) in the pretty renderings of the Newtown Pike Extension. Several people have their shorts in a wad about the subject and compare a simple set of poles and wires along the new roadway to the gigantic transmission lines being placed on Euclid and Woodland. I personally have a greater disdain for the wide right of way and lack of urban businesses facing this new "urban" thoroughfare. The setbacks for any buildings along here are NOT what an urban roadway should be.

The mistakes being made on this road are the same that were made with the widening of Vine St forty years ago. Wide travel lanes, buildings set away from the street, facilities for pedestrians, but no reason for them to be there and the traffic lights timed to quickly get the autos past the things that they are not interested in. In other words, a raceway from the Interstate to UK (and I do believe that UK will begin expanding the campus to the west in the near future).

One mistake that they are making anew is the omission of the possibility of a fixed guideway transit mode, and I do mean a streetcar line. From UK to the BCTC campus, then over to Transy and on through downtown to UK again. In any case, with or without a streetcar facility, I don't feel that this project ends in a "complete street" in any sense of the concept.

The placement of the utility line overhead is said to ruin the aesthetics of the road and will ruin the streetscape. A fellow blogger, who is a transit consultant, is currently in Vienna and reports that to the Europeans the overhead wires are just part of the charm. I shall simply state that due to all the other errors in the design, the wires overhead is the least offensive.

On another note, that of growing our food locally and very close to home, I came across this bit of information from Seattle.

The Seattle City Council has relaxed its rules about requiring a permit to place anything in the parking strip. The parking strip is what we call a utility strip, that area of grass between the sidewalk and the curb. They now no longer prohibit growing food in the parking strip and many Seattlelites are jumping at the chance.

Lexington's usual utility strips are a bit narrow for something like this, most are only 5 1/2 feet wide, with the wider ones in the more affluent neighborhoods or along the newer boulevards. It also appears the Seattle does not have a street tree requirement and they are the more sunny area of the front yard. One of the photos in the linked article shows a few rows of corn growing in the strip and right at an intersection. I wonder how they keep that sight triangle clear. Low vegetables in raised beds are one thing but the more vertical or climbing stuff must be a problem.

Not only is Seattle using the streets, but portions of the city parks and creating local farmers markets in neighborhoods, thereby not only growing it locally but selling and eating it locally. I have seen, on two occasions, the kitchen staff of Natasha's walk out to the herbs that they had growing in the street tree planter bed, and cut some of the fresh stuff for the dishes being cooked. You can't get any fresher than that.

There is Still No Road

What a week this has been. There have been some beautiful days and plenty of time to get out and see all the new developments in Lexington.

There have also been more of the same questions about some of the old projects that appear to be stalled. Glaciers move faster than one of these projects that I have heard about for years. I first heard about this one from my father who, when he was a young lad of 17 ,moved to Lexington from Owen Co. He took a job in a local grocery which stood at the end of Euclid Ave where Center Court now lies. The owners of this grocery were very successful and made plans to expand by double, resulting with a building that was centered on the block face of Upper St.

The applied for a building permit ans were told that the City had plans for a continuation of Euclid that would run all the way to West Main St. This was in the mid to late '30s and there was no right of way, no blueprints and most of all no money for construction. As a compromise, they agreed to sign a contract to demolish the enlarged store, when and if, the road project became a top priority and then rebuild, with the new road as its frontage.

Those owners retired in 1959 and closed the store. They then leased the building to a series of merchants before finally selling to the University, which held it until recently. There is still no road.

In the '60s, the State created a new entry to downtown by bringing Newtown Pike, as a four lane road to W. Main St from its intersection with Fourth St. And they also widened Euclid from Rose to E High St, along with declaring them to be Secondary Federal Highways to be connected by this long planned(30 years) roadway previously spoken of. The Avenue of Champions presented itself as a problem, with two sports venues on either side, but the engineers could deal with that.

Plans were drawn, railroad tracks were abandoned and removed, protests were lodged and compromises were made, and money earmarked. Private investment and development has occurred along the path(this time without any agreements) and the plans revised. There is still no road.

After my father retired from the grocery business in the early '70s, he would tell me that I probably would never see the "Newtown Pike Extension" as they had renamed it. Dad pass away in '88 and still there is no road.

This story does have some characteristics that are similar with the current CentrePointe controversy.

The plans were hatched without involving the local people who would be affected.
The project, when first identified, had dubious benefits as reasons for existence.
The project area was a historical area that had fallen on hard times and continues to see "demolition by neglect" from absentee landlords.
There was, at least one significant, historic structure in the primary area.
Surveys and area plans were produced and recommendations made, but then ignored.
Financing was coming from an unknown source (and still supposed to be available from a dying entity, the Highway Trust Fund).
A great swath of land has had some demolition, earth moving and some site preparation work done and then left in a dusty (or muddy) state.
There is a perception that it has lingered too long and the project is dead, so lets move on to other projects.

CentrePointe has passed the 14 month mark since its announcement and is nearing the 11th month mark for the demolition initiation and there is no building, but the Newtown Pike Extension is around the 75 year mark and there is still no road.

There is some good news to pass along. I have heard that the first contract, for the section from Main St to Versailles Rd., will be let in the latter part of June (the 24th I think). These guys are definitely not on the fast track on this project.