I
read recently where Council member Doug Martin was extolling the good times that he had on the latest CommerceLex
trip to San Antonio, Texas. Many good ideas are attributed to these
“investigative”trips. Some of which we have actually implemented
and some are still on the sidelines.
That
a number of those ideas remain just that, ideas, is somewhat
explained by a Business Lexington article which questioned our local taxing abilities and even our local
commitment to pursuing an idea imported from other cities.
Both of these
articles do well to help understand the confusion and frustration of
all our residents who complain that we don't have a good array of
urban amenities. I still read about those who ask “Where are the
free museums?” or “Where can we go to do something fun with a
family?” and “Why are the amusement parks so far away?” , but I
don't have an answer. The thing is, the ideas which come back from
these trips don't have the answer either.
I seem to be
looking at finding the answers to, what I consider, a much better set
of questions. Of all the ideas that our leadership has attempted to
implement, all the civic improvements which were started (and
“finished”), there is a mostly unperceived gap in our vision and
our sense of finality. We get things kicked off and basically hope
that folks will consider them complete.
My first case in
point is the Fifth Third Cheapside Pavilion. The following thoughts
come to mind:
1) I keep hearing that there is more to do in terms of
booth space along the old court house side of the space. Be it
temporary or permanent stall space, it should complete the current
space correctly.
2) I remember the old arrangement, which had shade
trees and plenty of well used public seating. Any seating now is
reserved and controlled by the adjacent retail establishments and
without any shade at all during noontime usage.
3) The tree wells,
ostensibly for the proper watering and feeding of the small trees,
have become packed earth and a materials storage site during Thursday
Night Live performances and smoking litter receptacles the rest of
the time. One would have thought that they would compliment the rain
garden planters of the new Main Street streetscape.
Speaking of the streetscape project, case in point number two. Since this was a
project which included Federal funds, there had to be a definite end
and we have seen it. But, to me, it looks like some unnecessary
short cuts were taken. All of the decorative street lamps were taken
down and reinstalled, some with extensive damage to the green enamel
paint job. Simply reinstalling these 'less than beautiful”
lampposts tends to detract from the finished look of the job.
There is also a
portion of the decorative stone wall separating the sidewalk from a
rain garden on West Vine which has been struck and damaged. Since it
is outside of a building full of attorneys and generally they tend to
care about appearances, should this not have been attended to before
now? The law does say that the adjacent property owner is
responsible for the sidewalk maintenance, even in the downtown area,
does it not?
The way-finding
signs, which I have complained of before, should have been installed
during the streetscape project but followed by a good deal and there
are places where it shows. There should have been a coordination of
the contractors on locations of the bases which hold these signs but
many time it just looks like the posts were jammed in helter-skelter.
Even some other post completion construction work looks to mar the
fine job done by the original contractors.
Case in point
number three, an ongoing commitment to the status quo when there are
massive changes in the surrounding area. For the most part, our
downtown situation has changed for the better and that change has
been well accepted. But some of the older, less noticed traditions
apparently need to be retained. One of those recent traditions is
that of delivery vehicles and where they may park.
Delivery vehicles
used to have designated curbside locations for certain times of the
day and, in general, many of the vehicles were small to moderate in
size. They delivered to a handful of places and a somewhat limited
quantity of products. There was a flow of vehicles moving down the
primary streets, from block to block and taking up just so much space
as necessary, then moving on.
Not so today.
They use much larger vehicles and at times they tend to take much
more room, whether there is available space or not. The vehicles are
allowed to block crosswalks and pedestrian curb cuts or even entire
lanes of the street during some peak travel times. Now that we have
so many more bars and restaurants in the downtown area than in recent
memory, can they be of greater number than during downtown's heyday?
In my opinion, delivery vehicles are service vehicles and in
performing their duties, should NOT be doing a dis-service to all
else. I cannot understand why we continue to allow it.
One more case of
“finish it and forget it” could be the Court House Plaza. Ten
years or so after completion and multiple festivals where we have
been tramping allover the grass, the smooth transition from grass to
pavement appears to be fraying. Good sized metal or concrete
junction boxes rise above the ground level and the irrigation heads
stand quite proud of the grass in some spots. Here too, the tree
wells are quite bare and are quick to accumulate trash and cigarette
butts. A regular morning cleaning currently does some good, but is
that the most efficient use of personnel?
Finally, the case
of overall pedestrian movement in a downtown that is given high marks
for walkability. Just having sidewalks, and especially new
sidewalks, should not equate into high mobility scores. There are
two other important factors to consider. One is to look at the ease
of movement past the sidewalk landscape and furniture as well as the
other pedestrians out there with you. The other is to look at the
ease of locating your destination if you are a relatively new
resident or a first time visitor.
Now that we have
all of these new sidewalk amenities, we should be able to use them
without impedance. There are three, possibly four, new segments of
sidewalk and two of them intersect. Four if you count the renewed
sidewalk of Triangle Park between Main and Vine. Any
other pedestrian connections to these new segments are definitely
showing their age with cracks and wrinkles.
I
fully understand about the CentrePointe block and can overlook that
since I expect something to change there soon, but all the other
streets tend to need some sort of work. I also have pointed out that
with the growth of Short St, that main and Vine are not the only, or
major, walking areas of town. The Cheapside Park and Court House
pavement seem to be the only well maintained walkways on the north
side of Main.
When
we add in the sidewalk dining spaces, which can become a sprawling
intrusion at times, and the attendant umbrellas dipping to just over
six feet high, making your way through the required 4 foot pathway
can become difficult for taller folks.
Not
all restaurants will place their tables either next to the building
or next to the street in order to leave this 4 foot space, some will
occupy the full center of the walkway. I would like to see a
consistent pattern here and some way of enforcing it. I believe that
we used to somewhere in our 200 year past, why not now?
Other
street furniture and its proximity to the tables is a consideration
to reduce certain “pinch points”. Perhaps some of the parking
kiosks could be rotated 90 degrees so as to have the customer
standing closer to the curb rather that blocking the walkway when
crouching to read instructions or complete his transaction. This is
further complicated when it takes a committee to make it work.
Finding
ones way as a pedestrian is sometimes a different matter. I think
that it is a good thing that downtown Lexington is as small as it is.
Most of the downtown attractions are not so far from each other as
to make it impossible to get there, therefore we have no posted maps
of the area and a “you are here” arrow. Still, there seems to be
a need for better signage at the pedestrian level, particularly some
signage which is not dependent on facing in the direction of the flow
of traffic.
It
is interesting, if not ironic, that two short years after the current
automobile oriented signage was decided and installed, that the
Legends ballpark took a new moniker and the Lexington Visitors &
Convention Bureau - a place tourists want to go - moved to the
opposite end of downtown. Each of these means that a change in
signage has to occur and while the ballpark change has been made, the
other has not. I'm betting that another change will occur next year
come spring. Will the Distillery District or some other growing
attraction make it to the importance of being included on more signs
and is there enough room?
So,
where is all of this going? Instead of looking for the next big idea
that we can import on a shoestring or without bringing all of the
supporting public interest and funding, why not find a way to enhance
the last few big ideas with proper finishing touches and real support
of the downtown property owners and tenants? Why is sidewalk
maintenance the sole purview of the city when, I believe, the law
says otherwise? When did the delivery of goods to our “service
industry”supersede the accommodation of those being served? When
did the appearance of our downtown start to take a backseat to
expediency and the dwindling fiscal year coffers?
Maybe
we can do it all. Lets find some new ideas – AND – build us a
good financial foundation with which to accomplish them – AND –
make sue that we follow through with the real finishing touches, gild
the lily, and live with some design excellence.
Update: As of earlier this week there looks to be improvements to the tree wells in Cheapside Park. Sometimes progress can take so long to occur.
