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.

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.

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.

Downtown Jeopardy

I'll have “Random Dates in Lexington History” for $200, Alex.

And the answer is, September 10, 1950.

What was the day when we got most of our one-way streets?

Correct. That was the day when, at least, six of the downtown streets were converted to one-way and new parking limitations for autos and trucks set in place. Today, many of the parking rules and loading zones are vastly different, but all but a few of the changed one-way streets are still with us.

One-way streets are a hot topic these days and I doubt if it is due to the changes made back those 61 years ago. Downtown traffic has always been a sore point and especially since the introduction of the automobile. Even in the horse drawn buggy and wagons era there were traffic problems. The conversation today is about slowing down the traffic which moves through downtown rather than just getting to and from downtown.

Is it not odd that the morning rush hour traffic which flows well on the two-way radial spokes of Richmond, Winchester/Midland, Tates Creek or Leestown roads need the one-way uses of Main and Vine to get to where they are going? During off-peak times are all of the vehicles solely trying to get to the other side of town since many feel that downtown is not a destination?

The 40 year experiment with one-way traffic on Main & Vine, the pattern which many now believe that we cannot do without, may be a factor in the oft referred decline of downtown and its bland atmosphere of rapidly moving traffic and lack of pedestrians. The nice thing about experiments like this is that the can be reversed.

Take the example of East Short St from around the turn of the last century. The section from Limestone to Walnut (now Martin Luther King...) was made one-way. In the winter of 1926 a delegation of Short street property owners petitioned for a repeal of that change and it returned to a two-way street. Due to the narrowness of the roadway where it passed the county jail, parking was prohibited for its full length. Twenty-four years later, during the changes of 1950, Short St was made one-way from Georgetown St to Deweese.

What has surprised me most in doing research for this is the Limestone, then U.S. 27, was still two-way and the oddest change was for Mill and Upper Streets to assume part of that traffic as it passed through town. Upper St was a southbound one-way at that point but not a part of the national highway system and Mill St (or portions of it) was northbound one-way.

Under the 1950 change, Upper became northbound and Mill became southbound. U.S. 27 traffic was diverted from North Broadway at Third and apparently used Upper and Mill to connect with Bolivar, from which one used Upper St to proceed south to Limestone and Nicholasville Rd. This only last a few short years, since, as a pre-teen, I remember Limestone and Upper as the exist today.

From the map accompanying the newspaper article, the old version of Vine St was changed to one-way from Broadway to Kentucky Ave. though I have no recollection of that at all

The plan of 1950 shows the westbound changes to Second St for both of its East and West portions and Church street for its entire length, along with Corral from Deweese to Midland.

That leaves High and Maxwell Streets which became the one-way pair as we know them today. As I have always known them from my days attending Maxwell School. I don't think that I have ever heard anyone suggest that it be any different. I do believe that if it is reverted to two-way, then any parking on them anywhere would have to be eliminated.

What will this new, nearly half million dollar study determine for our downtown streets? Will two-way streets add the necessary vitality to the streetscape? Will this be another wasted attempt at “bringing downtown back” which so many suburbanites bemoan from the safety of their insulated subdivision communities.

Downtown will never “come back” and I thank God for that. We can make it better and not just from a traffic standpoint, and I thank a whole handful of folks for that. But making it better is not as simple as doing or undoing what may be “failed” experiments. It could be tweaking some things and wholesale makeovers on others, so we need to be thoughtful in how we proceed. Since they were looking at parking restrictions and loading zones/times as part of the traffic(auto and foot) problem, then maybe we should revisit them as well.

Will she stay or will she go now...

Transform Lexington is relating some interesting material tonight. Mayor Newberry is apparently asking to increase the salary of the Finance Commissioner to keep her from jumping ship to the State. Some would find this as a good thing for her to go, others just think that in these times of economic tumoil any raise is out of the question.

So the question is, will she stay or will she go?

Introduction

This is the first of what I hope will be a long list is posts about Lexington, Ky.and some of the things that I have gleaned from the decades of exploring the streets as a youngster, public servant and amateur photographer. I like to keep my ears tuned to the happenings of the streets and the possibilities for the future. I will be a streetsweeper, taking everything in, tossing the garbage, recycling what I can and picking out the jewels for display to all who care to listen.

If you have questions, just ask away. How did this happen? Who did this? When did that do that? They are all fair game and if I don't know I will endeavor to find out. I am willing to share all the gleaning of the streets with all who wish to learn. Maybe I will also learn something.