A Voice in the Downtown Wilderness

Yep, you’re right. Nobody asked me. I’ll also agree that it’s way too easy for anyone to just jump into the discourse, but oh well, here’s my swan dive.

I love Lexington, KY. I want to just get that out of the way. I really flippin’ love this place. Yes, there are bigger cities that are tempting. Atlanta struck a chord with me and let’s not even get into what my semester in London did for me. However, I’ve made a home and a little bit of a niche for myself here. It’s both close and far enough from family, plus nobody is gonna look at me funny if a little Harlan County accent slips out every now and then.

I also feel like we are on the verge of doing some really great things here. We just got some funding (though not without controversy) for the Distillery District. I couldn’t possibly be more excited about this project. It reminds me of other reclaimed areas like The Flats in Cleveland, Atlantic Station in Atlanta, or even the Riverwalk in San Antonio It’s exciting to see something unique and exciting on its way to the city I love.

However, here’s my concern. We are spending quite a lot of borrowed money without laying the groundwork to make this and other developments (like the Angliana project or whatever becomes of CentrePointe) successful.

First, we have to have a population that will patronize the restaurants and bars, live in the new housing and shop in the retail establishments that will be built. And let’s just be honest, downtown and its immediate surroundings haven’t been a hub of economic activity for a long time. Right now, the population that will patronize these places is fairly finite in Lexington. Yes, Buster’s is drawing a crowd, but how many of those are people who wouldn’t be downtown already? I’d venture to guess a precious few.

I’ll concede that the Distillery District and other projects could certainly be a draw to get people to come to Lexington, however I’d argue that we have to get our existing citizenry engaged in order to get these projects off the ground and successful before we can count on their bringing in enough money to sustain them. There are just too many Lexingtonians who don’t care about what’s going on downtown. They are perfectly content to live in their neighborhoods outside the Circle and venture into downtown as infrequently as possible. How many times have we all heard someone mention “the mess downtown”?

And how do you get your average Andoverian, Palomarian or Masterson Stationite to care about downtown? You make sure you include them in the process. You build things that are going to bring them out of their neighborhood and into downtown. You stop thinking only about people that can or will spend $200,000 or more on a 1000 square feet condo and start thinking more about those that maybe want a decent, affordable meal and good way to kill a Tuesday night.

Speaking of that condo, let’s also be sure that we are building residences that are actually affordable. I’ve seen precious little of that in our downtown development. Instead, we want to build second homes for UK basketball fans, luxury penthouses and student apartments. This will not revitalize downtown, nor will it attract anyone new to consider living there.

I called in to a local radio show once to ask a developer why downtown housing is touted as catering to my demographic (young, probably single, professional who wants to be near what’s happening in the city), but is priced such that we are kept out of the market. His answer: “Just like any advertising, you market to the young to make it look attractive”. We have to avoid this kind of thinking in order to be successful. We can’t say one thing, but want something else. If we truly want to revitalize downtown and use it as a magnet for the Creative Class, then we are going to have to give them/us a place to live that we can actually afford. And I’m not talking about what we could “afford” in 2004 with an adjustable rate mortgage and no down payment.

The average income of a household in Lexington is around $50000 a year. Now imagine that a 20 or 30 something wants to live downtown. There is a fairly good chance that they are making either right around or even less that that. How are they going to afford a condo at Main + Rose or in the 500s on Main? Yes, those buildings look really cool (I’d live there in a second!), but it isn’t in my budget. And I’d imagine it isn’t for most of us with a car payment and student loans. So let’s engage some of us as well. Let’s find a way to create housing that works on all income levels and that will let some of us pioneer the effort of a young, middle class, professional downtown resident.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like the direction we are headed. I really feel like Lexington is on its way to something great. I just worry that we aren’t paying attention to the details that are going to make all of these great ideas and projects successful. We can’t keep paying lip service to what we want to create, but then getting bogged down with the same old voices and ideas that have kept us in a rut. Maybe there are too many outlets for people to air their opinions and concerns, but at the end of the day, even if it’s not my voice, there are probably a few worth listening to.