Like Things Of The Past

In the past several years the leaders of our community have brought in, sometimes at great expense, recognized experts to assist in our downtown planning. Folks like Jeanne Gang, Omar Blaik and Gary Bates have contributed their talents to specific projects and usually, very limited parts of our collective home, Lexington Ky.

Each time great care was taken to collect detailed physical data and a distilled compilation of opinions from the “stakeholders” of the project de jour. The results of these “expert” visits are then revealed with much ballyhoo and flair, which is then followed by the common nit-picking and nay-saying of the newspaper commentators, the search for political will and the greater funding with which to pull it off. Our success rate in the last decade is less than spectacular and maybe even abysmal. Certainly the rate for the last several decades is shameful.

Maybe the downfall for these expert plans was the consistent, limited scope of the individual project or the often trendiness of the solution which, as all trends do, fell quickly out of favor. Some of the trendy plans were misapplied and failed, even before the fad could run its course.

One sure element which has been left out of nearly all of these “solutions” is the need for the “human scale” elements, that's us humans, to interact between the various loci without mechanical intervention. In other words can we walk safely, comfortably and quickly from place to place and without feeling like we were wandering the Sahara. Traversing a treeless stretch of sidewalk or parking lot, either in the summer or winter, is no fun with or without a bunch of kids in tow.

I am currently read the new book, Walkable City - How downtown can save America, one step at a time by Jeff Speck, and though I could try and blast through it, I am taking the time to really compare how Lexington stacks up to his suggestions. So far, our city is in dire need of his thoughtful suggestions.

Speck claims that we “know” how to build successful walkable cities. Or we used to, because there are very walkable, older areas in many cities which are the remains of how it used to be done. I seems that we just “forgot” the process some 70 years ago and for four decades we went about doing something different. Those four decades were enough to allow many folks to believe that “this is how we have always done it” and “it shouldn't be done any other way”.

Not being a math whiz, I can still figure out that 70 years or so ago was in the later half of the 1930s. Just about the time that we let the streetcar system in Lexington die and the automobile culture really take over. It was also about ten years after a noted “expert” was brought in to write and give direction to The 1930 Comprehensive Plan. The end of the Great Depression, assisted by the Second World War, brought many “progressive” ideas on modern life and we began to forget how to build walkable elements into our lives.

Some 25 or 30 years ago, some planners began to notice that the human element was being left out of the new buildings being designed for our downtowns and other civic areas, while others noticed it missing from our subdivisions and suburban shopping centers also. The problem was that they were going up against the previous 40 years of growing, conventional “wisdom.”

That 40 years of conventional “wisdom” is alive right here in Lexington as evidenced by the continued use of bloated parking requirements, great swaths of residential development on barely navigable cul-de-sacs and large retail developments which lack any type of walkability. Even though changes are becoming evident in public thoughts and actions (housing choices and driving patterns), the plan updates show no real changes in land use designations or transportation choices. In most cases, I feel that we are operating under the land use and development codes of the 1960s, albeit with some nuanced tweaks and adjustments along the way.

In some minds, we really do need to make our city walkable - but that just means doing some enhancements to the downtown area or making sure that sidewalks are included in all new subdivisions. Downtown is the major focus whereas the whole city should be the target and for those intoxicated by the kool-aid of conventional “wisdom” the downtown is a wasteland and more or better sidewalks are not the answer.

It is my belief that our local planers, though raised on the conventional wisdom model, do desire to institute real change. They have all heard and read about the re-awakening of urbanism as a development model but as long as the property owners and their developers are still meeting the calcified standards of old, then what we have will be what we continue to receive.

So the question now stands, how do we bring about the change necessary in Lexington? Will we get to a point that the conventional “wisdom” begins to cost us in terms of attraction and retention of the talent displayed by the “creative class” Millennials so desired by our city. Some already believe that the brain drain is in progress, but I have heard that for most of my adult life. Will the change come from our leaders or from the residents as they relocate to desirable areas – here or elsewhere? Also, how will the use of conventional “wisdom” impede the change so needed?

The latest edition of Business Lexington details the recent addition of two planning professionals who are looking for the change that Lexington needs to make. Dr. Derek Paulsen and Jeff Fugate may be just the people who can debunk some of that conventional “wisdom” but old habits run very deep. We may need to look to our past for some solutions.

In the past we have brought in “experts” and sometimes we listened, is it time for another?

With my ear to the ground, till next time.

Some More Notes on Creative Cities Summit

The "summit" is over and they have been to the mountaintop, they have seen their prophet-the voice crying out in the wilderness- Richard Florida and they are charged up to now go out and BE creative.

I said that there would be more Twitter conversations and I was right. There was a short back and forth about the morning speaker and whether or not the Cox St parking area of the Lexington Center needed to be redesigned. I believe that this was just a hypothetical.

Another picked up where they left off from the day before concerning the power poles on Euclid.

DougMartin10th @Lshevawn Everybody hates KU utility poles on Euclid. Will public pay higher utility costs 2 bury? I'm for it, but are citizens?

Quickly followed by

bself Did anyone ask us?

Is this meant to imply that all major utility upgrades or new development is to be by referendum? Nothing gets done until an election can be held?

EricPatrickMarr Lemme guess. Umm, no?

Eric is one to not let a chance of an uninformed comment go by

@PohlRosaPohl: Leadership means knowing what's needed and pursuing it, not submitting every idea to a public vote. That's followship.

Asking about cost of burying utilities misses the point: the cost of FAILING to bury is IMMEASURABLE. Failure, forever.

The point is: That there in no money for that size of a project in anyone's budget these days

@Lshevawn Why he's my HERO

Can't you just see her clasping her hands and batting her long eyelashes.

Lshevawn @DougMartin10th YES. I would pay for it bc I value beauty of place/space & believe we MUST invest in future of our city

I now doubt that if all 600 attendees agreed as such that they could pay if off in their lifetimes.

The two most telling tweets came from amartindesign which said:

...90% of the tweets from there have been nothing but name-dropping and ass kissing. Which is from an outside perspective it seems like self-help horse shit (and those are not my words for it)

There also is a bit of a superiority complex vibe coming off of a lot of the tweets.

And boy did feel that way too. I have a feeling that the majority of the attendees have little or no understanding of just who this "creative class" is. They seem to discount anyone not in the arts, or design, or music, or even the offbeat and weird looking realm of their world. That feeling is summed up by none other than our old friend Eric.

@EricPatrickMarr Siiiince WHEN are lawyers "creative"??? ;)

It looks like poor Eric does not even believe his creative guru Florida's own Martin Prosperity Institute. The ones attending this "summit" most likely make up about 5-19% of the whole "creative class". The lawyers are in the 49%.

Some Notes On The Creative Cities Summit

I have seen several things come out of the Creative Cities Summit in Lexington so far, but they make me have more questions than answers.

Richard Florida puts forth the statements of “60 percent of jobs in America are now in service industries” and “We now have a knowledge economy”.

What percent of these jobs are based on the knowledge of a particular subject and what percentage are just warm bodies performing a task?

Do the fast food industry and Walmart service type jobs qualify as being a part of the “knowledge economy”?

Florida would like to see our service jobs lifted like our manufacturing jobs were after the Great Depression. Most manufacturing jobs were elevated (lifted?) right out of the country shortly after the end of the ‘50s, is that what we should do with our service jobs? Some would say that a good portion of our service job are already overseas (India for example).

And here is a good one. “Creativity is the social leveler.” Some of the most creative people on Wall St., those who led us down the path of bundled derivatives and the like, would hardly believe himself as on the same level as an automotive designer. Both are creative, yet one would not be seen with the other in a social situation. On the other hand, there are some who will not tolerate those who are not be tolerant of alternative lifestyles of any sort.

Florida’s keys to success for cities in the future, Technology, Talent and Tolerance are possibly a little out of order. I would put Talent in the driver’s seat. Talent is what brings on the successes of the owner’s creativity while technology in the wrong creative hands can lead to anything from GIGO decisions to computer hacking viruses, all of which end in mayhem and disaster.

Following the remarks about the youth of the early NASA engineers and designers who used to average 28 year in age but now are closer to 60, a tweet went out like this:

@kentuckyguy 20-somthings don't care about space exploration. (Or 30-somthings).

And just like that there was a confirmation from one who calls herself a Community organizer, Non-profit consultant, writer, lover of research, mother, foodie & tree hugger.

“True. It's a waste of $ if you ask me. I care about improving my planet & city 4 my son.” Shevawn Akers.

I wonder if she has ever stopped to realize that the communication advances and the orbiting satellites, that allow her to Twitter to her hearts content, came from this waste of money. That the medical advances from the experiments aboard the International Space Station, which can only be done in the 0g of space, are made possible by this waste of money. “

Listen up, old white guys! Get in the game! Your kids WILL NEVER behave like you or your grandparents! Join them or BE LEFT BEHIND! ’ Shevawn Akers

I think the she is just coasting on the waves generated by “the old white guys” that has pushed her as far as she has come already.

Then there is Caitlin Neal, a design person over at I,D and A, who tweets like it is all about looks and style

“Attn. #LFUCG re: new gov center:" Design and Locate Civic Bldgs Honorably." And, gov bldgs get the best locations!”

I’m guessing that she would NOT like it to be in place of the Lexington Mall

Tom Eblen posted:

“Once entrepreneurial companies get attention in local press, people start taking them seriously”

quoting a Cleveland business development expert. Maybe his favorite newspaper should run a weekly spotlight on the new and emerging entrepreneurs and then keep up with their progress. Then again it just may be too much work for them with all the staff cutbacks lately.

From the panel discussion by the four mayor, Steve Kay says “

Three mayors agree: quality of life is the new attractor, especially for young families.”

to which one Eric Patrick Marr quickly fired back

"Quality of life" is a good thing. #BORING is so not. -@ericpatrickmarr needing the microphone at #ccslex

Apparently, he thinks that he should be part of this presentation. But he continues on

"Quality of life" is such a subjective measurement. I hate when my native Lexington uses that weak justification for mediocrity.

and

“Quality of Life does NOT just mean "a short commute to work w/ soccer practice at 5:30." It means opportunities for The Human Heart.

and

"Quality of Life" means being able to run on Euclid and Woodland Avenues w/o "The Pandemic of Utility Wires & Poles."

and

"Quality of Life" means having safe, pedestrian-friendly downtown streets. Not Talladega Super Speedway.

Did he miss the part that said “especially for young families.” And, last but not least, this one

"Quality of Life" means YOUR brainpower is valued - and properly paid for - by YOUR city.

Sometimes I think that he just loves to hear himself talk, but all I hear is buzzword, buzzword, buzzword, cliche. No actual real ideas at all.

Scott Clark chimed in with

“Do politicians use "young families" to mean "people who don't care about after-5-fun?"

When else would young families have the time to do things together if not after 5 p.m.?

There are others, and I am sure, there will be more tomorrow, but when will these Twitterheads emerge from their cocoons of self centeredness and realize that they still make up just a small portion of the creative Lexington folks.

More On Our Connections

There have been some comments from other communities about the Knight Foundation study "The Soul of the Community" and on the overall results from 26 nationwide cities. There may be a new formula emerging from this research.

L + P = $

L come from loyalty. The loyalty that comes from living in a community that make you feel comfortable and welcome. But that feeling on comfort exists on a two way street. Just like that bar "where everybody knows your name", you have to extend yourself to become one that everyone wants to know. You can't be a wallflower and be accepted into the "family", nor can you be the one who contests, vocally, what the majority tend to agree with.

P come from passion. Passion for your community shows in many ways and can be very confusing. Some may show their passion by going along with everything that is proposed, no matter what the outcome. Others may show their passion by holding firmly to the old tried and true ways of past generations until they are simply outnumbered. Those with true passion for their community will take the best of their past and the most viable option for their future and forge new pathways boldly into breech.

L + P = $ means that communities able to inspire loyalty and passion among residents are also likely to see a swell in their financial outlook. I think that we can see evidence of this in our own community, or at least in our sports community. Our University of Kentucky sports community, both local, statewide and nationwide, are some of the most passionate fans alive. The loyalty that the show for home games and away games has made sports fans and media very aware of the level of passion and loyalty and how it relates to the financial success of having those fans attend or watch the games. Simply put, UK athletics means $BIG BUCKS$.

So, how can we, as a community, inspire the loyalty and passion needed to bring a swelling of our financial future?

“There's more to folks coming and staying in communities than just jobs – especially for that highly mobile, talented population sought after by many communities,” said Katherine Loflin, lead consultant on the project. “If they feel like their community is on the rise ... they have more of a tendency to feeling more attached to where they are,” she said, adding that people who feel satisfied in their jobs also tend to have more feelings of attachment to the place they call home.

That high touted "creative class" is once again in the spotlight. Those who can do their jobs from just about anywhere and unfortunately, are loyal more to the money than to the job location. To a larger and larger proportion of them it is more about "Who will pay me more for what I do?" than "Who will benefit the most out of what I do?".

Across the board, the relatively young and highest educated respondents rated themselves the least attached to their current communities.

Those are often people who are able to create the conditions they want or need in any environment they find themselves

How do we instill loyalty and passion for Lexington in these people?

Our Lexington Connections

Today, both the Herald-Leader and Business Lexington, presented articles on a study funded by the John S. & James L.Knight Foundation(Wow, that sounds impressive).

Their report on year two of the three year study is characterized as showing that

Lexington residents rank "social offerings" (fun places to gather) as one of the most important factors in connecting them to their hometown.

the other important factors were Education and Aesthetics.

These factors are called by the articles(if not specifically by the report), the top reasons that Lexington residents remain connected with our city.

Out here in the blogosphere, I hear many of our young people bemoaning the lack of good, inexpensive "fun places to gather" and that Lexington should have a lot more "like Louisville or Cincinnati". These are our representatives of the "creative class", the ones that we are trying to retain and increase. So, where is the disconnect?

These "social offerings" are an important factor, yet a lacking commodity in the minds of a growing number of the principle group of our residents that we are most worried about. And then there is that troubling last word in the above quote, hometown. Hometown, to a large majority of people that I've spoken to, on-line and off, means somewhere other than Lexington. Mrs. Sweeper has lived in Lexington for 20 years or so and does not consider it to be her hometown. Of the folks that I work with, only a handful think of Lexington as a hometown. And most places that I go, people are amazed to find that I am a native, one of the few that they know of.

This is not the first time that "social offerings" have been listed as an important factor. Earlier studies and polls have

cited a need for more entertainment options — more cultural programs, live music and festivals — a more robust and welcoming downtown area, more affordable downtown housing and better sources of information about places to dine and enjoy music and the arts.

Alright, now it is out there. The creative class has recognized and documented a need. Now this young, very creative bunch of young professionals should be going about the process of making a solution to this need. Honestly, I don't think that this is something that the government should be doing anything about other that regulating the operations of all businesses. Government should not be in the business of defining or managing recreational social offerings. With well over
50% of this creative class being in the legal, accounting or education fields ther should be more than enough skill-sets to generate the desired level of these social offerings.

There is also in the Business Lexington another article pertaining to a residential development's assistance in connecting it's young professionals to the social scene of Lexington. This assistance comes in the form of cheerleading a group of residents to become involved in their community, a group who has chosen to live a certain lifestyle and a certain location of their choosing. This lifestyle community must now entice the residents to connect to the overall community through its management company's social director. A management company that is a blend of apartment complex/HOA managers, as they cover the apartments and the condos (these guys rank just higher than used car or insurance salesmen in my book).

If our young professionals need to be led to interact with the greater part of the local community and they have to have their social gathering places created for them, what exactly does that say about them?