walkLEX – Page 12 – The Kaintuckeean

walkLEX: Spotlight Lexington

The World Equestrian Games are here!!! I’m getting ready to take off for the opening ceremonies, but wanted to first share with you Spotlight Lexington. A number of concerts, etc. will be held around downtown Lexington. Details are at LexingtonKY.gov. Today, I went to Farmer’s Market, CentrePasture and took in a lot of sites and sounds. I’ve posted a lot of pictures on flickr (check them out!) and took the following video of the UK Jazz Ensemble rehearsing before their public concert. Note the amazing temporary stage that has been erected in front of the Federal courthouse!

walkLEX: walkLEX

OK… so this may be cheating a little bit, but I just got the link to the great video montage below. Created by the Lexington Visitor’s Center, it is a video walking tour of downtown Lexington.

This is a must-do for those visiting Lexington, like all those who will soon be visiting from around the globe for the World Equestrian Games!

walkLEX: Picnic with the Pops

Picnic with the Pops, Lexington, Ky.

This past Saturday, I intended to enjoy two of Lexington’s great annual functions. Regrettably, I only made it to one (note: the Woodland Arts Fair is not the subject of the post. I made it last year… and it is an awesome event that I have already put on my 2011 calendar!). I did, however, make it to Picnic with the Pops (also regrettably, I neglected to take my camera!).

It was my second Picnic with the Pops. This year, the Lexington Philharmonic performed many great pieces while Cirque de la Symphonie performed acrobatic marvels to the music. It was beautiful (Keeneland hosted the event, their first as the Horse Park couldn’t host in anticipation of the WEG). For more, you should read Rich Copley’s great review.

As I mentioned, I forgot to take my camera and I ignored my iPhone. Fortunately, LFUCG Councilmember Doug Martin (@DougMartin10th) OK’d my using the picture above (from his iPhone and both our apologies for quality!). His vantage point showed off our table – the one with the colorful spray ‘candles’ on the right – which was decorated. And our costumes matched! I’m Glad to not have an incriminating flickr link!

Newtown Pike Extension – VOTE!

The Kaintuckeean is for a moment cancelling its pledge to not discuss politics as we encourage readers to vote on the new name for Lexington’s Newtown Pike Extension.

Yes, in its infinite wisdom the city of Lexington has elected to leave naming rights of roads up to the citizenry. Perhaps we can improve on silly names like the Pink Pigeon Parkway? I digress, there are currently five options: Equestrian Blvd (this name belongs at Hamburg, perhaps a new name for the aforementioned PPP?); Millennium Rd (a boring, nondescript selection hearkening Y2K all over again); Oliver Lewis Way (a historic nod to an African American jockey who won the first Kentucky Derby); Mary Todd Lincoln Blvd (another historic shoutout to the former first lady); and Bolivar Street (the final extension will connect current Bolivar Street to Main Street).

Yes, we like the historic connections. But more importantly, Lexington is riddled with changing street names that causes confusion to visitors and residents alike. Examples:

Leestown Rd > W. Main > W. Vine > E. Vine > E. Main > Richmond
St. Ann > Fontaine > Euclid > Ave of Champions > Winslow
Nicholasville Rd > Limestone > Old Paris Pike > Paris Pike
Paris Pike > North Broadway > South Broadway > Harrodsburg

There are many, many more examples. So, Lexington. How about voting for Bolivar Street?? Sure, it isn’t my first choice (I’d have preferred North Newtown Pike and South Newtown Pike divided by Main Street and a renamed Bolivar Street to be the final block of S. Newtown Pike, but this is not to be.).

Vote for Bolivar Street to save residents and visitors alike another bit of confusion at what it to be a “grand” entrance to Lexington. You have until August 27, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. to vote at lexingtonky.gov. And if you don’t live in Lexington, that’s OK – you should still vote for Bolivar St!! You can thank me next time you come to town!

walkLEX: Horsemania 2010

“Ashland Stud” Artist: Christy Buckner of Lexington, Ky.

Now through October 15, there are some extra horses around Lexington. Repeating the success of the first Horsemania in 2000, LexArts is bringing back the horses in Horsemania 2010! These fiberglass horses are painted or otherwise decorated by local artists and can be seen around downtown (and elsewhere!).

I’ve not gotten to all the horses yet, but I have begun taking pictures and posting them to flickr. I’ll keep adding pictures there so check it out there? Have you seen the horses? Which is your favorite?

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www.flickr.com

Fourth of July Celebrations

On Friday evening, I enjoyed the sounds of the Lexington Singers and the Lexington Philharmonic at the Patriotic Concert held on the steps of Transylvania University’s Old Morrison with the crowd filling Gratz Park. Saturday, July 3, included the annual downtown festival, parade and fireworks. Lexington always puts its best foot forward on the Fourth of July and I always love being downtown on this day. On this day, all of Lexington comes together to celebrate – in one place. The politics, the people watching, the food – everything makes for a terrific day.

I’m not posting any histories today, but I am encouraging you to post comments here about how you celebrated the Fourth of July. Also, check out all the pictures I took over the weekend in my flickr Fourth of July Festivities set.

And Happy Independence Day!

www.flickr.com

walkLEX: Newtown Pike Extension

There is a lot of progress going on in the Newtown Pike Extension/Manchester Street area. After a conference at the Convention Center today, I attended a happy hour at Buster’s (the heart of what is becoming the Distillery District).

Unlike my peers, I walked. And I’m glad I did. The perspective from this angle (toward the northwest) revealed the under-construction Newtown Pike bridge and (behind me) the road path to Versailles Road. The Extension has been a proposal for Lexigton redevelopment and traffic-flow improvement for over forty years and the best news is that the construction is coming at a time when such emphasis is placed on roadways being visually and pedestrian/cyclist friendly.

walkLEX: Bluegrass Airport Runway 9-27

My lil Kaintuckeean headed down the runway, Lexington, Ky.

Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport hosted this month’s Second Sunday (a monthly event in Lexington; once a year in October around the state) which is designed to get people out exercising. The new Runway 9-27 is 4,000 feet long and was the perfect venue for the event. People had bicycles, roller blades, roller skates, skateboards and scooters. There were old WWII era planes on display and various emergency vehicles were also present. The biggest hit was probably the LFUCG ambulance since its patient area is air conditioned (a plus in 90-degree weather!)

Runway 9-27 replaces the old runway, 8-26, from which the ill-fated Comair Flight 191 took off. Runway 9-27 is expected to open for general aviation traffic in August – just in time for the World Equestrian Games. Here’s what the Herald-Leader had to say.

walkLEX: Centrepointe Proposal 2.0

Rendering of Proposed Centrepointe, Lexington, Ky.

Yesterday, Dudley Webb unveiled his modified proposal for the Centrepointe development (47 page PDF). The modification includes several major changes. Most notably, the “peak and spire” design is gone being replaced with a flat top roof and a 60-foot flag poll. The original proposal was to be about 500 feet tall (35 stories); the modified structure just under 290 feet (23 stories). BizLex has a good summary of the differences in the two proposals, but Herald-Leader columnist Tom Eblen points out the obvious: with the economy in its current state, he doesn’t “expect to see it rise out of the pasture anytime soon.”

The proposal emphasizes the incorporation of and reinterpretation of historical architectural styles. The proposed structure is immensely better than the original proposal, but I’m still not entirely certain how the structure will complement the rest of downtown or how it will be uniquely Lexington. Although the tower doesn’t rise adjacent to the sidewalk, it is close to the Main Street side questioning what shadows it might cast.

Plus, I’ve posted before on my growing fondness of the downtown horse fence. It truly would be a great area for a 1.7 acre downtown park (a real park, with trails, etc.). That said, the proposal does offer the site for use by Spotlight Lexington and other downtown festivities associated with the World Equestrian Games.

Rendering from Kentucky.com as modified from the Centrepointe Application.

walkLEX: Carnegie Center

Carnegie Center in Lexington

With 400 books, Lexington began the first library in Kentucky in 1795. It was also the first library west of the Alleghenies. By 1898, the state legislature deemed Lexington large enough to warrant the creation of a free public library. So with a $60,000 gift from steel-magnate Andrew Carnegie, the City of Lexington constructed the Carnegie Library – the first Lexington Public Library.

The total cost to build was about $75,000 and it was completed in 1906. The neoclassical rests at the south end of Gratz Park and served as the city’s main library branch until the late 1980s when a new, larger structure was built on Main Street. Today, the building serves as the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.