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.

A Hotel Could Lead To Transformation

I have been following the recent controversy about the proposed hotel near the corner of Southland Dr and Nicholasville Rd and have bee amused by the commentary.

It seems that the nearby residents wish to prevent what some call progress by claiming that they want to keep their backyards “private”. Folks all over town are building “privacy” fences in neighborhoods where two story homes look directly into the adjacent yard and, in some cases, those on adjacent blocks if the hillsides are steep enough. I have no idea what these people do in their backyards that they need to be so private, but it may be either risky (or risque).

The problem that I have is with the people in the neighborhood on the south side of Southland, well out of visual range and even earshot. Why is it that folks don't want to try to improve certain locations when just a little teamwork will do wonders.

My first memories of the intersection involve the building which houses the Denny's restaurant. It was an Independent Grocers Association (IGA) market when I was a small lad, the last vestige of town and the beginning of the narrow two lane road to Nicholasville. The family took trips the the locally owned “Bird & Animal Forest”, located about midway between the two communities, on summer Sundays. It was a crude attempt at a petting zoo but we enjoyed it.

My father's friend had a few acres and a roadside motel, some horses and ,I think, a pay lake. I searched for it some time back on some old aerial photos and actually found it. Today, that spot is occupied by the eastern half of the New Circle Road interchange. What a major change.

Southland Dr., as many know, was built as an alternate route to bypass the railroad crossing of Rosemont Gardens. The early drawing call it the “Southern U pass” since it incorporated a bridge to separate the auto traffic from the Southern Railroad trains. Waller Avenue had yet to be extended beyond the tracks toward Harrodsburg Rd. so the only access across the tracks was Virginia Ave., Rosemont and Stone Rd.(now Pasadena).

Commercial development exploded in this area during the '60s, thus the new residential subdivisions were required to provide sidewalks but the older “main drag”, where the shopping was designated, was exempt. Folks in those days hopped in the car just to go to the end of the block and who wants to look out for the pedestrians who should not be there. Southland Dr was not a neighborhood shopping center, it drew from all over the south end of Lexington. In many cases it still functions that way today.

Over the years this area has added some newer and larger uses and is no longer “out on the edge of town”. We should be looking to bring this intersection up to the sense of an urban retail corridor. One way to do that is to remove the types of uses which perpetuate the parking habits of the now aging “baby boomers”. Restaurants in Chevy Chase can succeed with their doors opening to the sidewalk and parking in the rear, so is Southland Dr area that much worse.

What I see, in this location, is an excellent opportunity to enhance this visual aspect of the intersection and allow the neighborhood to metamorphose into a vibrant entryway to the Southland experience. The proposed mid-rise hotel can begin to fill the space with active evening traffic but it still need desirable support uses like full-service sit-down restaurants and up-scale retail which can draw the neighborhood folks without making them get in their cars.

Gas stations are still a fact of life but some of the newer ones have found that being situated on an extremely congested corner with turn lanes presents unwanted access nightmares. At most times of the day one can only approach the existing Shell station from the southbound lanes and exit with a right turn only movement. No service work is done on site so the need for the massive paved area adds to the water runoff which the neighbors are so vocal about.

View Larger Map

Now, visualize if you can, imagine a structure built along the lines of the former Taylor Tire station at the corner of Old East Vine and Grand Blvd. It has been re-purposed as a retail complex, but it sits so close to the street that it has that cozy feel. A new building, placed similarly and perhaps with wing along both major streets, could accommodate fuel pumps streetside and in the back, address the street with a pleasing facade and allow for plantings or the like.

Continuing the streetscape on toward the donut shop and at an equal setback, the atmosphere becomes conducive to pedestrian traffic as well as auto. At present, Lextran does not use this section of Southland Dr but this streetscape will lend itself to adding a stop in the future. Replacing the existing Denny's with a more fitting facility would also do wonders for the area.

I honestly believe that even the hotel could be placed a little bit farther off the adjacent residential if the corner was redeveloped as a whole. Even the existing car wash could be accommodated in a pleasing manner.

The neighbors probably need to step back a bit, think about how they can get something a little closer to what they desire and work with the developer to give everybody a win-win scenario to shoot for. It can be for everybody's best interest.

Let me know what you feel.

Heat Wave And The Fourth Of July

I doubt that many of us remember how it was during the days before air conditioning when heat waves would come rolling through the countryside, but I can just imagine what the public warnings could have sounded like. Since there was no such thing as radio or TV in the 1800's, and the newspapers of the day were reporting the weather not predicting it, many folks simply relied on common sense and practical measures

For instance, residential housing was built in such a way as to take advantage of the natural breezes and air currents with strategic placement of windows and doors. It even extended so far as to include landscaping and trees. It was the city densities and commercial buildings which began to plague the occupants during the hot spells and made city life nearly unbearable.

Today, the public announcements call for those with ailments and allergies to stay inside and for others to keep a check on the elderly or disabled. Places which were recommended for relief (Woodland Park or country outings) are now to be avoided since they are equated more with physical activity than with passive recreation. Those who wished to find a swimming hole could locate a shaded body of water, whereas now there are just expanses of sun-baked concrete and rules.

Lexington, like most urban areas, is not the small, ecologically designed community that it once was. We, and they, have sprawled out and built fanciful imitations of homes which remind us of what was, but cannot function without mechanical, environmental aids. This we call progress.

While ruminating on these processes of the past, I am also brought to consider the upcoming 4^th of July activities and the events surrounding a fireworks display. The events of these days seem so different from those of my youth. Time may have moved much slower back them but, then again, it may be a matter of perspective.

I have read where this year's celebration will be capped off by a 17 minute aerial display (providing the fireworks are allowed at all due to weather) and it hardly seems worth it. I can remember when the 4^th just seemed to never get here. Also, there was not a downtown based, community event.

Lexington's involvement was limited to the individual parks preparing decorated floats (flatbed trailers generally provided by a local transfer company) for a parade through downtown to the football stadium at UK. Most floats were designed and decorated by the older park regulars and directed by a team of parks staffers. The inter-park competition caused some floats to become quite elaborate. Probably the best part was the total lack of overtly political interjection.

Drivers would haul their park's float to Woodland Park and line up on Kentucky Ave. Then, at around 7 or 7:30, the parade would begin. From the park to Main St. and right down through the middle of town. A turn on Broadway and up the hill to Maxwell and back to Rose St.   Out Rose to the Avenue of Champions and ending between McLean Stadium and Memorial Coliseum.

Many of the participating parks had had their cook-outs and neighborhood celebrations or parades earlier in the day, but the kids still had their sparklers and flags for the evening. There was enough light left in the evening to get to the seating and maybe get a drink. Climbing to the top of the stadium and looking over onto the street below was a thrill to many a kid as was watching the sun dip below the treetops in anticipation of the “real” show. (Sunset would have come about 9 p.m. since this was before the Uniform Time Act of 1966 and there was no Daylight Savings Time.)

The fireworks were set off from the field where the marching band now conducts practice and the western end zone seats held the constructs of the so called “ground displays”. At dark the stadium lights would go out and a “test” shot would go up, I believe, to determine the wind conditions. Then the show would start.

There was an intermission during which music was played and the parade float winners were announced. More drinks and hot dogs and then back to the seats for some more show. An interspersing of aerial and animated ground displays later and the grand finale of bombardments over, it was time to go home. The parks staff rounded up their charges, got back on the floats and went to their respective neighborhoods. Even though I lived close to the stadium, I got home around 11 p.m. and sent to bed, one tired puppy.

Daylight Savings Time, a much larger parks network and insurance/litigation issues have surely put an end to such happenings but simple memories of simpler times make it rough to not long for those days again. I am sure that many of you have your own memories and will be making more this coming week, so I hope that the weather is kind to you and that we all play it safe this year.

A Ways To Go On Food Trucks

I seem to have a lot of entries about dining and all of the new places going in downtown, but short of Centrepointe and 21c there is little else to speak of.  Any new offices lease their space and (sometimes) remodel, then just set up and go to town. No major announcements, no fanfare.  I guess the dining and entertainment news will have to suffice as development news.

One subject on the dining front is the movement toward food trucks and carts.  It does seem that we are again trailing the rest of the country in allowing food trucks, but we also appear to be looking at allowing them just in the downtown area.  Is this not a community wide service for which we have little or no rules?  Should not all of our ordinances apply across the whole of Fayette County?  Is downtown the only location that the food trucks wish to serve?

There are many websites which describe  the food truck situation in cities throughout America and a few of them have maps which display the locations of certain vendors, either on a semi-permanent or rotating basis.  The site for Austin, Texas is broken into several sections and shows only four food trucks in all of their downtown.  Far fewer that any other section mapped.  It also appears that their downtown covers much more territory, as one would expect for their population.

A larger population, a larger area, more density and greater diversity and only 4 food trucks to serve them.  Why are we trying to be so different?

I have heard some news reports that there is fear that food trucks could impinge upon parking spaces or loading zones for hours at a time.  I can see the concern, but I look at the timing and size of the local beer delivery vehicles as more of a problem.  Food deliveries do not seem to be a major factor for all of the restaurants and, I guess, they take place in the early morning. On my noontime walkabouts, it is the sheer number and size of the beer delivery trucks (and where they park) which I see as a deterrent to downtown traffic movement.  

One day I saw 4 or 5 extended length trailers on Short at Cheapside at one time, three were from the same distributing company.  Three truck, four or five men in one location blocking a full lane of traffic for an unknown time span.  Should we not be doing something about that?  I seriously think that the situation is worse by campus on most days.

Comments have also been made about the two announced hotels and their delivery docks or lack thereof, but our growing dining and entertainment district draws no such attention.  I believe that it should.

The proposed regulations have provisions for length of stay at any one location and the frequency with which any particular food truck may return to said locations and they all look to be centered on the downtown area.  Could that be because our suburban streets are not amenable to locating such street vendors on public property?  What should stop several of these vendors from setting up along side some of our larger parks this summer and appealing to the visitors of our evening sports or music events?  I can imagine the Big Band and Jazz series or afternoon/evening ball games with specialty foods for a quick dinner, can't you?

The discussion on food trucks looks to me to have a long way to go, but at least we have a start.

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?

 

Some Of Today's Gleanings

Just a few things that we picked up this week.

As we all know, the W. Short Street corridor has become the hotbed of activity and dining lately and is the de facto heart of Lexington's entertainment these days.  The Fifth Third Pavilion has been a catalyst as well as the demolition of the CentrePointe block, and things are not done yet.

A new sign went up on the building at the corner of Short and Broadway announcing the anticipated opening of Shakespeare & Co.  While I have heard about this for almost a year, this is a little firmer indication of another fine dining experience in downtown.  Visiting the website menu really makes me wish that it was just a little closer to being open.

Shakespeare & Co. began in the Dubai, United Emirates in 2000 and has grown to nine in Dubai, several in Abu Dhabi as well as Syria, Qatar, Bahrain and other international locations.  On Monday, June 06, 2011, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY. This trademark is owned by  Edward T. Saad, and a mailing address of Lexington, KY 40507 and remodeling work has been ongoing for longer than that.  This will be another welcome addition to Lexington.

On the other end of the corridor we have the former site of Mia's which has also been undergoing some construction work.  The roll-off dumpster is gone and the facade has been painted, so something is going on.  I recently heard that a former chef from Bakers 360-the casualty of being at the top of a building and alienated from the street- is planning to open sometime this fall.  I am continuing to gather information.

Mia's, of course, took their revised concept across from the Soundbar on South Limestone and are joining the college crowd just in time for school to start.  Ole Hooker's Bait n Tackle Bar n Grille apparently has been working the kinks out over the summer and is now ready to roll.

Speaking of exciting corridors for new dining and entertainment, I cannot leave out what is happening on Jefferson St.  Stella's, Nick Ryan's and Wine + Market are now joined by the Apiary catering company (who also want to add a sit down restaurant) and a burger joint where Cuppa: used to be.  The Green Tavern is still doing well with the Transy. crowd but I hear that even bigger thing may be in the works.

In anticipation of the BCTCS campus being occupied soon, I hear that Alltech (the WEG sponsor) is looking to do something with the old Rainbo bakery building at the intersection of Sixth and Jefferson.  Some sort of adaptive mixed use which would include a restaurant and some retail.  The Coolavin Apts. may change to student housing and with the park right there(so is the Hope Center) there is certainly a way to bridge the railroad tracks so that they could get to school safely.  Alltech would be clearly looking ahead.

Several blocks away at Sixth and Lime, of course, is Al's Bar and if all of this takes place, just think of the trolley loop that could be created for a decent "pub crawl".

So, there you have it.  Any thoughts?

Killing It Softly?

I read Steve Austin's post today and quickly fired off a comment, but that just got me thinking more about what I see as a problem downtown.

His statement "When we leave the dream world of the Cheapside market, our true urban reality bitch slaps us" made me realize that we in Lexington create good public open space, marvel in it(until the freshness wears off) and then move on to the next one. We do it all over town, but downtown especially.

Triangle Park was one of the first. A remnant piece across Vine St from the Lexington Center, it was bought by some wealthy friends as a gift to the city and landscaped with a fountain and many lush trees. Designed as a quiet space and a refuge from the bustle of the newly one-wayed Main and Vine Streets, it soon became a place to picnic in the grass and watch the children play in the fountain. They say that liability concerns put a halt to that.

Phoenix Park was hastily bought by the City as an area that needed to be cleaned up in time for the sports world to arrive in town for the NCAA finals. A failed business venture had left a gaping hole in the center of town-that sounds familiar-and the City quickly grassed over the rubble and voila, a park. After 1986, the Library and the State began plans to build on some of the property and the public demanded some public open space remain. Some redesign and a place to relocate some monuments and Lexington had another lunchtime refuge in the downtown.

Across Main St land was acquired for the proposed downtown Arts Center. Both visual and performing arts were to be housed in one place. Kind of like Singletary Center Central. They were grand plans but there was no big wealthy benefactor to complete the deal, so it sat. The State, having bought most of the land and paid for clearing it, then stepped in and designed, built and occupied our new Court House Plaza. Once again, here was a grand plan for open space and fountains, trees and refuge-maybe when the trees get bigger- and a lunchtime place of activity.

Each of these spaces has been allowed to function as a gathering place for memorials or protests, yet none have acted as a center of impromptu or spontaneous performance art. There have been few street food vendors without some coordinated activity also taking place.

Now we have the Cheapside Pavilion, more accurately named the 5/3 Pavilion, scene of a number of weekly activities. All planned and scheduled well in advance but stark and empty the rest of the time. Accompanying this space will be the beautifully done streetscape and rain gardens, will they be as stark and empty without some planned event? I can remember when we had sidewalk benches all along Main and Vine-and trees- until they were being used by the wrong type of citizens. Then they were removed.

There is a muted cry for the current grassy field, beautified for the world-wide company, to be another civic plaza. A place for gathering and enjoying the great outdoors. Some think that they should be allowed to use this space as another of their living rooms. I can't say as they truly use the ones that they have to their fullest extent now. Should this be commandeered and made public, it would remove more taxable property off the rolls(it is bad enough that a church wishes to remove several million dollars worth of commercial property just down the road) and create one more programmable public scape.

The upcoming Spotlight Festival, to held in conjunction with the WEG, is supposed to have a number of street performers at various locations(all approved and coordinated) and this is intended to give our visitors a "sense of Kentucky". As if it happens all the time. We can clearly see that it doesn't. We have been testing all the other venues, maybe we should test the downtown public spaces as we lead up to the games and festival. If the street performers go over well during the festival and the visitors do come back will they find these same performers-or others-anywhere in town?

Mr. Austin thinks that we need a paid coordinator for the 5/3 Pavilion. I think that we need for our creative types to just come up with something and "just do it". There are some events already with set times and they should be avoided, but if you get there first, go ahead and do your thing. Activity breeds activity.

Otherwise, we are killing our downtown softly.

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%.

Downtown Circulator, 10+ Months And Counting

One of my sources has revealed to me that the Lextran "Colt" service is just about ready to be set free on the streets of Lexington. If you remember, this is the faux "trolley" system that was formerly known as the downtown circulator.

There were to be two routes. One along Limestone and Upper streets and running between Transy and UK . The other along Main and Vine, although I still believe that a Main and Short loop is far more preferable. With South Limestone in the middle of extensive roadwork expected to be completed in July, I guess that this route will come some time from now.

A recent meeting of the committee directing the Colt service discussed the finalization of the Main/? route. Woodford Webb, a major player in this venture, was not in attendance but he did send someone in his place. I am told that representatives of UK and Transylvania also missed the meeting. Other key supporters, Phil Holoubek who holds key parcels on Short St. and Harold Tate the director of Lexington DDA pushed for the route along Main and Short, purely for reasons that I pointed out back in January.

I am told that Mr Holoubek informed this committee that "an older gentleman around town" had made this suggestion in a blog. Is he talking about me? Does Phil follow my blog? If so, how many other ideas have gone farther than this mere blip in cyberspace? (And I refuse to think of myself as an older gentleman, even at my age.)

I am sure that Mr. Tate and Mr Holoubek have the best interest of this city(and their own investments ) at heart, but I hear that this decision went the way of all "high level" decisions. This decision was made by using the golden rule-he that has the gold, makes the rules. Thats right, you've got it, the Webb Companies will be paying for a "trolley that runs around their development and serves everybody else on the periphery. It makes no difference that the route passes practically NOTHING else along Vine St that could be considered a destination, or that the previous "trolleys" had to be run along the Old Vine St. in order to justify their being on the east end of Main St. If this Main/Vine route makes sense, then the UK to Transy route using Upper and Mill(until S. Limestone is finished) would also make sense.

I am not in favor of this tourist attraction and you can go back and see that I have not been silent about my concerns, but if we are going to follow through with this, then it should be done as best as can be done. I, for one, cannot see leaving my office , catching the "trolley" to a restaurant in Victorian Square and arriving in less time than I could have walked there. I also don't want to see this set of baby steps get tripped up by any construction, either near-term streetscape or long-term major building work(Remember, they would like to get started tomorrow).

Parking Hurdles

I t has been widely reported that John Tresaloni, the owner of the Fishtank on Euclid, was opening another music venue, Cosmic Charlie's, across the street where Lynagh's used to be. It is to be a site for an older crowd than those who frequent his current location, those who want to be going home about the time the younger crowd comes out to play. Some the bands that play there are comprised of some of us "old fogeys" who themselves need to get up for work the next morning.

Well, I heard through a friend, that they went for a building permit(to rebuild and enlarge the stage area, I believe) and have been stymied by the parking requirements of the zone. Parking spaces are required for every so many square feet of building area or so many seats for restaurants/bars, and it seems that there may not be enough in the lot. I think that the calculation may have changed over the years but there were never enough back when the place was built and the Library Lounge opened in that space.

The Library was a very popular spot back in the early '70s and brought people from all over the city. It also left them with almost no place to park. The location, close to the UK campus, was also a good distance from where the young people wished to live, which was NOT on campus. There was an on-going dispute between the patrons and the neighborhood for several years, then the fad wore off and the clientele became tired of the ticketing and the towing and went off to other venues.

The bar went through a series of owners and at one point declined to the level of a strip club in the late '80s and has mostly languished except for time of John Lynagh's control. All of this is to say that as ill conceived as this strip shopping center was(a suburban model near the city center), it has never had a sufficient amount of parking for whatever has occupied the spaces.

Even nearby Chevy Chase has trouble cramming all the vehicular traffic into the surface lots around and in front of their businesses. These redevelopments of older areas need to maintain the look and feel of what was there before, a walkable neighborhood shopping design with the building up on the street so that you can step right in from the sidewalk.

There has been some talk about revising the parking requirements and such for the close in neighborhood shopping areas but we also need to get serious about our transit needs, our walkability needs and our auto dependence needs. This could take care of a lot of our problems.

If our desire is to increase the density of population in the inner city, and by that I mean a two mile radius of Main and Lime, then we need to rid ourselves of the notion of 2-3 cars per household and the only way that that will happen is to beef up the transit options along with the housing options. Housing within a short walk or bike/trolley ride will do wonders for environment and the waistline. Multiple transit options to school or employment would mean fewer auto trips. All of these would mean a better quality of life for the residents of Lexington.

And allow people like John Tresaloni to provide a solution to a need that he has identified without jumping through needless government hoops.

The Entertainment Loop Grows

Just about a year ago Lexington was told that its cultural heart was being torn out. The very essence of downtown nightlife was being snuffed out.

This, of course, was due to the fact that three fairly popular establishments were being forced to close and the block of decrepit building that they occupied demolished. Gone forever would be the nightspots where they whiled away the hours between 10 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.(the most active 4.5 hours of any city's downtown life. Vanished, the several thousand square feet from among the approximately 3 acres of the city center.

Downtown would never be the same.

In that year there have been a steady stream of announcements concerning the expenditure of private and public funds (mostly private funds) on renovation of the bars, restaurants and nightclubs from Victorian Square to the Esplanade and points east. The three previously mentioned establishments have all re-opened or announced a re-opening in bigger and better spaces. Public focus has shifted to a realization that there really is a night life in downtown Lexington. And it meshes well with its daytime alter ego.

Business after business has rented/bought space and renovated, expanded, opened and succeeded, so far, in the face of a down economy. They say that the new heart of the "entertainment district" is N. Mill St. and there is a movement to close it to vehicular traffic. I suggested such back in January 2008 on SkyscraperCity. I have also suggested to think outside the box and look at the north side of W. Short St., maybe even close it in the evenings during the summer, at least from Broadway to Upper. I have suggested here, running the downtown circulator, the Colt trolley, along Main and Short to help these businesses. These things are happening.

The latest of these amazing announcements came today. I say the latest because I don't think this will be the last. Dudley's, the 28 year veteran of restaurants is moving from the south side on downtown to the very epicenter of this burgeoning hub of night life, right beside the Pulse nightlife which opened not long ago. With the Metropol, Dudley's and the Pulse all on the north side of the street (and room for more) there are growing reasons to close Short St.

Some people may soon be looking at the block of Short between Upper and Lime as a way to connect this entertainment district with the Limestone corridor. In the neat year this will become "ground zero" for the WEG and all the doing of Spotlight Lexington. At that time I hope I can say that you heard it here first.

Stop Waiting For It , DO IT

I read Miss Sekela's op-ed piece in the Sunday Herald Leader and wondered how these young people can come up with the ideas that they do.

She started out with the idea that Lexington has a serious problem with retaining young professionals. Is it really a serious situation? Are we losing the young people between 20-29 or 30-39? In sheer numbers, we are increasing and by percentage of total population they still comprise the largest of all age groups, so is this a serious problem?

Ms. Sekela then points out the main complaint of the these young professionals, the supposed lack of wanted amenities. Lexington is not a full bore, 24 hour city with something to do every hour of the day. For them to attract more young professionals, she says that we need to change our image. We need to update our traditional image, not do away with the tradition, just update it.

She claims that today's young professional is not that impressed with horses or the Wildcats, yet the still show up in force for the football, basketball and Keeneland meets. These are the young people who crowd the in restaurants and bar after work and weekends. They also get up and go to work every morning.

She is correct in that Lexington does need to broaden the focus and support the arts, but so far the monetary support still come primarily from the wealthy older patrons and not the young edgy plays and gallery showing of our young artists. Funding for the arts has been declining for several years as the older generation passes away and new sources need to be located. Will these young professionals step up to the plate? That remains to be seen.

Many people have said that things like Amtrak, Lextran and regional rail need to be self-supporting, yet the arts and humanities along with highways still take massive government support payments. Are they more necessary than the arts? If they cannot be supported without government help, are they really needed?

I cannot believe that "creative cities" like Dallas and Chapel hill have more government funding for the arts per capita than Lexington. Or that the governments of the cities have mandated the development of venues specifically for the young professionals there.

Lexington's downtown area must be developed to attract young adults, many of whom are interested in a thriving night life. Not only is there a deficit of live music venues in the Lexington area, but also an inadequate variety of entertainment options.

Here we see the meat of her argument. The downtown area. There is a very vocal contingent of young professionals who think that downtown is where its at. Many of these are newly married or couples without children and many are life partners(though they rarely stay that way for life), who like the downtown area for its traditional architecture and neighborhoods. These are the one who want the greater diversity downtown, and they are a small percentage of the whole. Those young professionals in the suburban neighborhoods(outside New Circle Rd) rarely get back downtown at night, if they even got there during the day. In reality, large numbers of working people never get downtown but once or twice a year. When they do it is for some special event.

Ms. Sekela cites a lack of venues for the diverse interests that she perceives to exist. This may be true, but these places operate on an economic principle of support thresholds. There have to be enough patrons to support the venues. If she and her peers believe that there is sufficient need for such places, then by all means , start one. The businesses that are currently thriving, both downtown and in the subdivisions, did not beat the people out there. The people followed the business.

So far the tone of Ms. Sekela's comments sound like the whine of children of entitlement, children who have been given most of what they have had in life. A phrase that I heard growing up, went something like this " the helping hand that you are looking for is at the end of your own arm".

If this is the real "creative class", then stop waiting for someone else to to something for you, get creative and build something for the rest of you. Stop waiting for it , DO IT.

Lunacy at Lunchtime

Earlier this week there was an e-mail circulated about the traffic situation for the rest of the week. In short, it encouraged those of us who park in the various garages around the downtown area to walk to lunch and only drive if you could part with your parking space. Oh, and also be courtious to our visitors for the boys Sweet Sixteen basketball tourney. Unfortunately, that did not get to some of our local delivery personnel.

Today, on my lunchtime ramble, I saw a beer delivery truck blocking a lane of traffic, directly in front of Cheapside, where the demolition and improvements have commenced. Right behind it were two other vehicles from the same distributor, apparently some sort of supervisory trucks. All were sitting with their flashing lights and doors open, just to deliver their product to places that were either busy with the lunch crowd or would not be open for some time. What was most ironic, was that they were blocking a Lextran stop(it was that or block the N. Mill St turn lane) when they could have parked on Short St. which has 1/10th the traffic and is the same distance from all customers for which they were delivering.

One of my pet peeves is the growing size of the delivery vehicles in the downtown area. The beverage deliveries now come in very extended trailers, some in excess of 110 feet in length. I understand that the reason for this is that one man may deliver to more places on a single route, thereby cutting costs and manpower. The three people-three vehicles-one delivery stop seems to discount this theory. The downtown area should have more compact delivery vehicles, preferably electric powered.

And the timing of the deliveries is another point of contention for me. Delivering during the noon dining time is bad enough, but when they arrive and idle on the street in close proximity to the sidewalk tables occupied with diners it is shear lunacy.

Downtown Lexington is compact, with a tightly packed area of dining and entertainment places that have few "back door" delivery options and where they do exist, they are little used. I have seen deliveries to the food court in the Lexington Center being done from the pull off on Vine St instead of the extensive loading dock area in back. We need to have a set time periods(which avoid the dining times) and set delivery spots(loading zones of the past, if you will) and enforce them. We have company coming in less than two years as the countdown clocks will tell you(they blocked a lane of Vine St to effect repairs on one just Tuesday noon, by the way) and we need to be on our best behavior when they get here. Mucking up our downtown traffic in their presence will not endear ourselves to them in the least.

And speaking of traffic and our guests, I hope that they will not be too put out at our not having an advanced transportation system as they might expect. One can zip around Europe by rail and connect to the streetcars to get around the cities and town, but you cannot get to Cincinnati or Louisville except by auto and the resulting traffic jams. Rail lines run to both of those places, but you can't hop a train to get from there to here. Even with all the grandiose road plans in the works, if we don't get started soon we will be too late.... real quickly.