Second Sunday Approaches Again

Well, Park(ing) Day did appear to be a success despite the lack of local press. Several local groups participated as well as some businesses. I am still disappointed that they did not commandeer the parking spaces for the full day, as they do in most cities. I did see the Mayor out getting his “photo ops” along with several other candidates for office this fall.

Our next big community gathering looks to be the annual Second Sunday health initiative, where we close a portion of roadway to auto traffic and allow human powered activity. That is just 2 weeks away and I have heard very little about it.

The local Second Sunday group does have a new web page and a Facebook listing , but what struck me the hardest was that they are not closing a roadway to auto traffic this year. They will be using a presently dedicated pedestrian facility – The Legacy Trail. This does not call attention to the need to get out of your car nor to the restrictions of auto movements. This year's event fails to make whatever happens to be newsworthy.

Is it possible that what started four years ago, with such promise and fanfare that it spread statewide very quickly, has died a typical bureaucratic controlled death? Could that be why our friends over in Louisville are pushing for a non-government sanctioned event (cycLOUvia) to take place on one of their primary arterial streets – Bardstown Rd.?  I do wish them luck in raising the funds in the next tow weeks.

The great thing about Second Sunday this year is that it will be after a road football game ( I came close to calling it a loss) and two days after the Midnight Madness for the basketball fans. Why could Euclid Ave/Avenue of Champions not be closed and bookended by the commercial spots of South Lime and Chevy Chase for refreshments after the festivities?

I think that the citizenry of Lexington has again failed to build upon a reasonable foundation. The question is - why?

An Entertainment District Saturation Point?

For many years, we have followed the mantra of "build interesting retail and the folks will flock to it" in trying to rejuvenate our downtown.  It is not just here in Lexington but all across the country.  We did it when we built the Lexington Center and we are doing it today.  Build the retail and the people will come.

Back in the '60s, when we came to realize that our downtown was losing it luster, we tended to blame crime, outmoded buildings and the daily problems of traffic congestion (usually exacerbated by the railroad running through town).  Our solution was to partake of the new federal program of Urban Renewal and rid ourselves of the eyesores and trouble spots.  

First, the trains had to go.

Rail traffic was waning particularly passenger rail traffic.  1960 saw the fall of Union Station and eight years later the tracks were ripped up.  One of America's life giving arteries was bypassed with the Interstate and New Circle Rd. and the industries felt the need to be near the new artery.  Many special use buildings could not be re purposed and they fell into disrepair.  The activity and the vitality that they used to bring to the area simply ceased to be.

Then, getting into and out of town had to be made easier.

With the railroad gone, the former alignment became a prime location to east-bound part of a one-way couplet of streets to expedite traffic flow.  New Circle had been built to allow traffic to bypass downtown (especially for long haul trucks and cars) but now the new Main and Vine setup made it easier to get into and out of downtown proper.  It also made it easier to get through town and with little to stop for, that is what people did.

Downtown, the financial and legal center of Fayette County.

The area immediately around the (now old) Court House slowly evolved from businesses to banks and lawyer's offices.  The banks grew and grew, always moving into larger and larger buildings while the lawyers took space in whichever parts were not taken by others, as long as they were a short walk from the Courts.  Finding lunch which did not come from a lunch counter or a high end restaurant was a challenge. So much so, that I usually left downtown to get lunch and then get back.  Several building resorted to furnishing their own cafeterias for their staff, they were very much a wasted space for much of the day.

We'll build a focal point, a cultural focal point.

The early '70s found the University's Memorial Coliseum straining at the seams for every home basketball game.  Lexington needed a prime tenant for a new civic arena to which we could attract conventions and concerts.  On paper it made sense, so much sense that everyone else was doing it too.  We also had to allow plenty of space for the local retail to develop where they would take advantage of the increased foot traffic.  By eliminating the possibility of obnoxious or unsavory business in the area, folks would flock to this focal point in droves.  I think that we made our mistake when we removed the existing residential for parking and then refused to convert said parking to any retail use.  Take away your customer base and fail to build in services, what do you think will happen?  We ended up with a great place to play (and watch) basketball and little else.

National championships and sprucing up.

Lexington (and Rupp Arena) was one of the last of the smaller communities and arenas to be chosen for the NCAA Men's Basketball championships and in the early '80s there was a flurry of activity to get downtown ready for 1985.  We needed another downtown hotel and while we were at it some more office space, so we got started on the World Trade Center block and eventually the Festival Market building. 

The idea of festival markets was in full bloom at that time and many major cities wanted to have one.  Most of them were built to augment a local popular or natural feature so as to make it a focal point.  Ours was built AS the focal point to go along with Rupp Arena which, though well used, was being by-passed by many of the conventions and major concerts.  Retail shops on the first two floors and a food court on the third and an indoor carousel forced one to walk through the shops to get to the food and get back to work.  Conversely, the Quincy Market (one of the first) in Boston was set up just the opposite way.  The retail was overpriced and of such a mix that many failed to make it through the early years and eventually the whole place went under.

A little farther away on E. Main St., the World Coal Tower( a 50 story dream of Wallace Wilkinson) also failed and the City quickly stepped in to create a temporary park on the property and had dreams of building an Arts district around the Main and Lime intersection.  They acquired (with State help) and demolished some older retail buildings and then waited for the patrons on art to donate toward some magnificent project.  We are still waiting.

The NCAA Tournaments went well but nothing of such prominence has been held in Rupp since.

Events and festivals.

In the past decade or so, the focus has been on drawing the folks from the suburbs downtown, and especially on days when there is little else going on.  A downtown Farmer's Market on Saturdays or Second Sunday bike activities where one can park close to the action and then escape quickly.  It still forced those attending to drive to and from any event.

One bright spot has been the evolution of the Thursday Night Live series and the Gallery Hop Fridays.  Both events begin before most people leave downtown yet last long enough that others may join the fun once they get home from work. It also helps that more downtown residential has been built for those who want to live downtown, but units for folks who have children or need more than two bedrooms are in very short supply.  With more residential will come the demand for more retail and not the other ay around.

So, what now?

We have a new pavilion in Cheapside and a growing list of restaurants and bars along Main and Short streets. From Victorian Square to the Esplanade, just about all new retail is some sort of entertainment establishment and that may not be a good thing.  What is the saturation point for the downtown entertainment district?  How will we know that we have too many restaurants and bars?  Can we build a downtown on just an entertainment district or do we need other shops and services?  If we can get folks to live downtown, will they still  have to go to the malls to get simple needs other than food and drink?

Just last week, I heard that the Skybar may go the way of Bakers's 360 and for the same reasons.  But their place will be filled with the Parlay Social (a Prohibition lounge) and the Henry Clay Pub to be opened at 112 N. Upper St. (next door to Lexpark offices). 

Is there a saturation point?

 

Lazy Summer Days

I don't find much I really want to talk about these days, other that commenting on other blogs and the online news.

I have walked the new South Limestone several time and we intend to attend the street party. Mrs Sweeper and I have enjoyed the Thursday Night Live evenings despite the heat and humidity. I even found time to go to the airport and ride on the new runway on Second Sunday.

South Limestone looks vastly different after a year of construction. All it needs now is a few towering street trees for daytime shade or the filtering on the streetlights, and we can all be transported back in time to the beginning of the last century. Mrs. Sweeper commented how the Tin Roof building now looks slightly out of place in the transition from restored residential toward the adapted commercial and the university. Maybe some design guidelines could help in a future redevelopment of the site. I also think that the hospital's parking lot begs for a street front use to hide the autos.

Thursday Night Live is something that we have talked about for a while and recently began attending in addition to our Tuesday jazz evenings. For this one we leave the guys at home and just have some "us" time. I have probably seen more old friends there than at Ecton Park and the food and drink are more varied. I just have to remember that the sling chairs are in MY car and get them out before I go to Cheapside. With so many people crowded into such a limited area it is still so strange to find that all the circulation paths can be fouled by one or two quick conversations in inconvenient locations.

Regular readers will know that I don't totally agree with the Second Sunday events held in Lexington, but this past Sunday was a really unique situation. The chance to ride on the new airport runway was just too much to pass up. Wide open space and basically very flat for 4000 feet. And then another 4000 feet back again. I saw my friends from Sprocket Jockeys(the pedicab folks) and just a ton of kids. The airport, for all their bad press, really did a super job and the DLC put on a good program. Maybe they are working the kinks out.

I heard the Mayor speak today about his efforts on historic preservation and came away with the impression that some things could be strengthened and that we will probably get some design guidelines, but that he will not try to impose any personal preferences on the outcome. Some of you will call that weak leadership but I am not so sure about that. I will have to wait until next month to see what Mr Gray has to add to the discussion.

Maybe something will break lose and strike my fancy in the next few weeks. We will see.

Thoughts On Lextran

A friend and I were talking the other day about some of the deficiencies of Lextran's service.

I have felt for a long time that there is not enough co-ordination between our downtown events and enabling our residents to attend via transit. He, on the other hand, was speaking about getting to some of our recreation areas(parks, etc...) and back by bus. This led us to consult a Lextran route map to test or confirm our thoughts and the most current one, we thought, would be online at their website.

I have been working with maps, particularly those of Lexington, for nearly 4 decades and I know my way around a map, but this one is a travesty. It would be bad enough if it gave no information to the reader but this one give out bad information-VERY BAD INFORMATION. I hope that they do something about it soon.

First, my friend asked about being able to take the bus to the park. This would obviously be a community park like Jacobson or Shillito, as the local parks are generally within walking distance of ones house, but the community parks are where Lexington has their larger get together's and widely advertised functions. Can someone ride the bus to the pool in the summer, without walking several blocks? Can we take the kids to Jacobson Park, to Kitefest, for the afternoon by bus? We can get to work, we can go shopping, but we can't go somewhere to relax-by bus.

Next, we looked at getting to school, by this I mean middle or high school. (I think that middle schooler's are able to use the public transportation to get home after school.) All of the high schools ARE on bus routes, but the middle schools are usually at least a block or two from a route.

And finally we talked about the city's continued efforts to have events downtown, sometimes in locations that severely disrupt Lextran's operations. Yet even if they did not pose any problem, there is no advertisement of park and ride to the event or shuttle trips from outlying lots for better attendance. From downtown to UK ballgames, yes, to the Art Fair, yes, from Beaumont or Hamburg for the Second Sunday, not a peep.

These are things that I think are reinforcing the public's impression that transit service is not a viable method of travel in Lexington. That "When they make it easier, then I will ride but right now, nobody is riding it" attitude is alive and well, and being fed by Lextran.

Our Growing Footprint

I have been a little pre-occupied this past week thinking about things other than this blog. Maybe, tonight I can get back to what is going on here.

I saw over on Steve Austin's Bluegrass reVISIONS that we have five years before our carbon emissions should peak or we have reached the tipping point of our slide into doom. Well maybe not that bad, but we need to adjust our lifestyles to make less of a carbon footprint than we do.

He states that Put simply, this means either that we must rapidly scale up renewables or we must reduce economic activity. I wonder if that could not say that we rapidly scale up AND modify our economic activity so as to achieve the same gain from alternative sources. I am not sure that it has to be an either/or situation.

Steve does ask what this means for Lexington, but he seems to be the only one asking out loud. Since the end of May 2008 the people of Lexington have thought about a lot of thing that they could be doing, but none of them concerned our carbon footprint. Football, basketball, horse racing, whether or not a new energy efficient building should be built downtown, downtown traffic patterns of one-way vs two-way, these all made the list, but not "can I live closer to my job?" or can I find an alternate mode to get to work?". These thoughts maybe made the fleeting moment list and were quickly dismissed as Lexington does not do this kind of thing.

Some thoughts that should have been making the rounds are:

• Do I need the fenced in yard that I hate to take care of every weekend of the summer and fall?
• Do I need to run the HVAC all year round just because the house/apartment is designed to prevent flow through air ventilation?
• If the bus(or other transit mode) came by my house would I take it on a regular basis?
• If the grocery was closer to my house would I need such a big refrigerator to store things , or such a big car to haul them or would I need to buy so much in one trip?
• Would my carbon footprint be smaller if I put more of my own on the ground?

On a city-wide level, has there been any discussion of what we can or should do to encourage people to modify their lifestyles to reduce their carbon footprint? In terms of meaningful discussions, I would have to say NO and in many instances the city leaders actions have done exactly the opposite. The government, on a regular basis, encourages those living in the outer reaches of the urban sprawl to boost the idea of downtown living by adding to the carbon footprint and coming downtown on the off traffic days. The Farmers Market, the weekend festivals throughout the year, the Second Sunday events to promote a cleaner healthier lifestyle, these all add to the overall carbon footprint, not take away from it.

Don't get me wrong, I think that all of these activities are worthwhile, but in places that make ecological sense more than economic sense. I can remember when some of the city's biggest events started out as neighborhood style happenings. The Shakespeare plays were held originally in the grassy field of Bell Court, until it grew too big and moved to Woodland Park. Now it NEEDS the setting of the Arboretum and the associated parking spaces to make a profit. What future does this bode for the new amphitheater in Beaumont Centre? Does this mean that there should be more of these play productions in more neighborhood settings?

I have already posted about the Second Sunday events and the city has responded with monthly escorted bike rides in various sectors of the city, but these all will originate downtown where the participants will have to drive with their bikes, to ride out to the suburbs and return to their cars to take their bikes home. Would it not make more sense to start where the people ARE and go to where some other people ARE and return, then next time start at the previous destination and go the where other people ARE, working your way around the suburban rings of Lexington? There is NO NEED to increase the pollution on an off traffic day all for the name of clean living and exercise.

Has the city encouraged the owners of our downtown buildings to install some type of passive solar collectors on their roofs, or cylindrical wind generators on the upper floors of our high rise structures in an effort to lessen their use of carbon generated electricity. I know that the upper floors of modern building are designed to handle the unseen air movements of the urban climate and that there are several natural wind tunnel like area in the downtown area. Has the city, with its power of granting zoning and development opportunities, sent a clear suggestion of its intent to combat our negative carbon footprint image with some of the proven methods of urban design? Quite the opposite, up until the bursting of the housing bubble, our Urban County Council has continued to send the signal that the current "status quo" will still work in Lexington.

That is about enough for tonight. Maybe we will have more to think about tomorrow.

Second Sunday Is Coming

This Sunday is the second attempt for Lexington to pull off a Second Sunday "event". I have spoken about this before and I won't bother you with it again, but suffice it to say that I don't like how Lexington is going to pull this off.

I was looking at the list of sponsoring agencies and realized that Lextran is not listed in any way. For an event that takes place in a central location and needs parking spaces for patrons so that they can attend, the absence of Lextran as a way to avoid the parking woes really mystifies me. So I asked a planner for the MPO, who deals with Lextran and their future efforts, if they were involved in the past years planning meetings.

I can say that, from the course of the conversation, Lextran is usually brought in as an after thought... if then. I did learn that earlier this the Director of Lextran was call to a hastily arranged meeting of city officials because of a claustrophobia of circumstances surrounding the number of events occurring downtown this weekend. That is about as last minute as you can get.

I have written before about how I believe that Lextran is reactive agency and does not move to get ahead of the need for their services. If Lexington is going to plan for TOD(Transit Oriented Development) then the transportation needs to be planned for before the development gets started, not after. If Lexington is going to be prepared for the "Great Reset" then Lextran has to be involved in the early planning, not to see if they will "go along" with the decisions that someone else has made.

I don't think that Lexington is really going to implement any kind of meaningful mass transit. Nor does their transportation planning extend beyond catering to us on the "lunatic fringe". The LA Times wrote the other day that a larger and larger number of Generation Y'ers are foregoing the auto and getting around town by other means. If they recognize the trend there, then it will not take that long to get here, the quote the things always happen 20 years late in Kentucky may have been true at one time, but I think that it takes less time now.

Lexington has made some big strides in the provision of bike trails and paths in the past few years. thanks to Kenzie Gleason and her BPAC group, but that is just a small piece of the pie. Even the expansion of Second Sunday to a monthly schedule, in the manner in which they intend, with escorted bike rides, once again from the city center, lacks the involvement of the neighborhoods from which the participants will venture forth. I still believe that with 12 council districts and 12 calendar months, a Second Sunday street closure could be held all around Lexington for the next year. Real success would be when it is held in all districts on a monthly basis.

So far Kentucky's Second Sunday history has required a massive PR push and from what I've read, the original in Bogota, Columbia just sort of... ... happened.