Monthly Archives: July 2014

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Day 15

day 15Sometimes, interesting things pop up in unexpected places.  This walk started out about as expected,with a tour of underutilized shopping areas and overgrown parking lots.  It was tempting at this point to look at these empty parcels, thing about the inexorable increase in density and imagine some nice apartments.  But the parcels are awkward, surrounded by the back end of the Eastland shopping center, New Circle Road and the light industry nearby.  Obviously, cities need industry, and industry is often functional and little else, though sometimes the functional can be elegant and thus beautiful in a different sense.

Diaz Alley
Diaz Alley

Diaz Alley meets this criteria, I think.  It is just that—an alley, for the light industrial buildings on Commercial Dr and Industry Rd.

Good: thriving light industry
Bad: underutilized areas by New Circle Road will probably remain that way for some time

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Day 14

day 14Today’s walk was in Pickway, another surprisingly old neighborhood outside of Man O War, this time near Nicholasville.  Houses were overwhelmingly all brick, and very few had garages on the front.  I imagine most of these are from the 60’s or early 70’s.  (Side note: I see that Lexington provides historical information on the urban service boundaries, and I plan on playing with this data soon.  So perhaps surprises like this won’t be as frequent!)  It was a pleasant surprise, however, as the neighborhood seems to have aged fairly well.  My theory of neighborhoods is that they are fast-changing when they are young, often populated overwhelmingly with young families.  As they reach their 20’s, the kids whose families moved in when the neighborhood was young are staring to move out and the neighborhood mellows.  Eventually even the parents start to move on; by this time, the age mix of a formerly homogenous neighborhood starts to equalize and the neighborhood settles in, for better or worse.  This neighborhood feels like it’s settling in, consistent with it’s age, but it is good.  I thought the neighborhood felt comfortable (though this could be in part due the time I’ve spent recently in high-income areas).  It was also quiet compared to other areas I’ve seen recently.

Good: Feels quiet and safe
Bad: isolated pockets of neglect

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Day 13

day 13Today took me to the Ashland area, behind the Shriner’s Hospital on Richmond Road.  Again, I walk through a neighborhood where my impression has to be that the home are above the median price for Lexington.  The neighborhood is nice, but not ostentatious.  Even here, the ends of cul-de-sacs tend to look more worn then the rest of the neighborhood.  The street corners have very large radii, and sure enough, cars zip through the area.  There seem to be a relatively high number of homes for sale, perhaps the market is bullish, or perhaps it is just slow.  There were a number of places undergoing facelifts, internally or externally, and several more having their lawns maintained, so overall, this area was a cacophony of saws, hammering, weed trimmers and lawn mowers.  My favorite place in the area (which happens to be for sale) has a wrought-iron fence surrounding a dense backyard garden.  Much like the sidewalks in Andover, I felt this really created a sense of intrigue.  Oddly enough, a lipsticked cigarette butt appeared in a sidewalk crack just down the street to provide a film noir feel.

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Day 12

day 12Today I returned to the parking lots of Hamburg, perhaps with a little more than the warranted expectation of finding something interesting, based on my experience on Day 4.  Again, I spent a portion walking on streets where walking was outright discouraged (as on Pavilion and Vendor) or not likely to be particularly useful anytime soon (as on Man O’ War).  Certain things feel like missed opportunities (a flat, grassy area between Man O’ War and a detention pond; the lack of any potential footpaths on the two smaller streets, which are traversed by workers if not shoppers.).  It may be interesting to note that my earliest impressions of Lexington were based on this area, when I visited a nearby smaller town during a business trip in 2005.  The aesthetic of this area is contemporary and has remained relevant.  Despite the bland music piped through (why do places like this insist on speakers outside when the music they play is so offensively inoffensive?) I was given a few seconds of joy by the sounds of a would-be opera singer.

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Day 11

Today took me a closer to downtown, into the East End area north of Midland and east of Third Street.  This was a tale of two neighborhoods, with older houses along portions of Nelson and Withrow and a large infill development in the rest of the area.  There were some perhaps expected contrasts, though the area still felt cohesive; for example, the older houses felt more forward-facing, with fenced front yards and porches.  But the newer houses still exhibit a sense of outward facing-ness, for lack of a better term, for example by keeping their garages as a living space (something that in my experience is unique to this part of the country).

That this area contained a new neighborhood was a bit surprising to me, but it became clear when the 2008 map I used to navigate to the area didn’t show most of the streets. Infill it is, and walking through provides some insight into the successes of the 2009 East End Small Area Plan (and perhaps disappointments, as Third Street still has numerous empty buildings and is still hoping for a commercial renaissance).

On-street paint disposal plus traffic

My impression is that things are hopeful; the neighborhood feels open, and children seem to be comfortable farther from home than in other neighborhoods I’ve seen so far.