Preparing For Guests

We are nearly 70 days away from the FEI games and all the buzz is that the world in coming to Lexington. All aspects of the city are being cleaned up and beautified so that we don't look bad for our guests. Everywhere from South Limestone to Main and Vine Streets, even the new Cheapside pavilion.



I have noticed that the topiary frame of the rearing horse which is supposed to covered with plant life is barely half full. The Spotlight Festival logo painted on the sidewalk in the Court House Plaza is dull and flaking. These and other little touches seem to be waiting until just the last minute to be taken care of.






It may be hard to see, but in the photo on the right there is a sign on the side of the Hyatt which reads "We are ready for the games. are you?" This pedestrian bridge connects the Central Bank Tower to the recently refurbished Hilton Hotel. (They were doing some finishing landscaping today.)

I was also happy to see that the HorseMania horses have hit the street so that they can begin to acquire their coating of grit and grime before our guests arrive.

Speaking of our guests, it was reported today that the ticket prices have been reduced for some event sessions as a way to sup lagging sales. Less than 50% of anticipated sales have occurred so far and, if I heard correctly, less than 40 thousand of those were sold overseas. If our overseas visitors are coming all this way they will surely attend more than four or five sessions during the Games. My math, being as poor as it is, leaves us with under 10,000 guests.

I will leave you with one last spruce-up that needs to be done - but won't - and it was brought to my attention during the discussions on downtown design guidelines and the CVS.


If we can't get our local corporate citizens to make downtown look better, then how are we going to force a regional or national developer to give us better design?

What transportation people don't know

I had a fairly animated discussion with a transportation planner today which was a natural extension of the post from yesterday. In my passion about the streetcar topic, I could not help but again ask why the Automated Guideway Transit, (AGT) as they call it, was to be an above ground system and not at street level with the pedestrians. The answer I got was just as passionate, he likes the idea of separating the pedestrians from the vehicular traffic, to eliminate conflicts.

Now, what I can't understand is where this mentality meshes with the recent and currently underway planning efforts in the Downtown Master Plan (Draft), the Lexington Streetscape Master Plan, the Complete Streets efforts of the bicycle/pedestrian plan. Each of these plans or planning efforts have urged the enhancement and expansion of the street level pedestrian experience.

This planning fellow tells me that he "loves" the skywalk system here in Lexington, such that it is, and uses it often to get to a restaurant for lunch, especially in inclement weather. He says that he sees many others using it along with him. I did point out that he has to walk about two blocks just to access the skywalk system, climb stairs and meander another two blocks through office buildings and hallways, desend stairs and enter the dining facility. To get back just reverse the process. He readily admitted that the system was incomplete, apparently expecting additions to it in the future. Nothing has been added in the last 10-15 years and the current bridges are starting to deteriorate. It also seemed to amaze him that other cities had started to dismantle their skywalk systems.

He did try to explain this AGT system in further detail, that this was a "test"phase, if you will, and that later phases would extend for the rest of the people. Now, I pointed out yesterday that they are looking at likely 3 phases currently and they all involved university students/faculty from campus to campus or downtown to campus. How can one measure if it is a success if it does not include everyone?

I was astounded to learn that some of our local transportation personnel are unaware of happenings in cities of the region. Items like the streetcar initiative in Cincinnati, and the aforementioned skywalk removals.

I guess that these ideas go hand in hand with the general public, like the thought that any railroad is ripe to be either removed or commandeered for the purposes of the local government, i.e. the local good. Railroads in this country are already in place and the ones in this area are steadily working to improve service. And the industry, as a whole, is not asking for a Federal bailout.