Today’s walk was in the neighborhood behind an office campus on Harrodsburg road. Its proximity to the campus was probably the most intriguing thing to me–these buildings, which house a couple of private colleges among other businesses, always intrigued me. The park area surrounding one of the buildings does appear to be mostly accessible from the neighborhood, though perhaps not entirely welcoming. That is, despite the decorative stone fence with a reasonable gap at the end of Poppy Lane, the park really feels like it belongs in a business park and not a neighborhood.
Tag Archives: 40504
Day 129-Scale
Today brings me back to 40504 for my first visit to the Beaumont area. This area seems to be an example of peak ranch style, being full of 1960’s era ranch houses on large lots (The pictured house is clearly older, but the lot size is similarly large). The aspect of this area that made the biggest impression was the size of the lots. It felt like walking past a single house was a bit of an endeavor. There are some great old trees here, probably part of the original build-out.
Despite the unusually wide open scale of the blocks and houses, I noticed that a church in this neighborhood features a relatively modest scale compared to many of the newer churches that have been built around town (and I don’t necessarily mean just the Southlands and similar churches; many smaller churches have large parcels that are generally filled with grass but little else). So, while the prevailing thoughts on neighborhood planning have tended to creating smaller lots (and taller houses) in this type of neighborhood, perhaps churches (among other types of development) may be moving in the other direction.
Day 125-Quiet Time
This route through the Skycrest neighborhood was my first in 40504 in some time. Since altering my focus to concentrate on areas inside New Circle, I’ve spent a lot of time walking through neighborhoods in 40502 and 40508 and these areas each have unique feel. 40504 does as well, and it was refreshing to come back to it after a long layoff. This route concentrated on three streets, Lynn, Della and Cheryl, right where they meet Harrodsburg. These are long streets, with modest Cape Cod style houses and plenty of mature trees. I was surprised by how quiet things were here given the proximity of Harrodsburg Road. There wasn’t much that was especially notable here, just a quiet neighborhood where people were starting to put up Christmas decorations.
Day 98-Sum of Products
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This route passes through a few distinct areas just west of downtown along Versailles Road, including industrial buildings along Trafton, stub neighborhoods along Halls and Devine, commercial space on Sparta and retail establishments along Versailles.
The key learning for me came from a short discussion I had with one of the denizens of the area while waiting for a light. I commented on the difficulty of riding along Versailles on a bicycle, as she was doing. She was very matter-of-fact about it. She shrugged and said “you get used to it.” And this is true. Really, this stretch of road isn’t much worse than some streets I walked along frequently not long ago. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t improvements that could and should be made here. It does point out that, terrifying though they may seem, the perception of danger may be amplified by thinking too much about it. It is at least possible to get around by walking along streets like Versailles.
Day 92-No Overnight Street Parking
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Today’s walk took me to the Saddle Club subdivision near Versailles Road and New Circle Road. This seems like a newer version of the Lakeside neighborhood from Day 39, complete with a large loop. Houses are clearly nice, with some architectural variety.The overwhelming thing about this area was probably its proximity to the New Circle Road/Versailles interchange. It was noisy, far noisier than yesterday’s walk in a residential neighborhood abutted by industrial uses and a rail line. To top this off, New Circle Road is in the midst of a significant expansion project and the noise and asphalt odors were hard to avoid.
I got a kick out of signs in the Saddle Club area stating “No Overnight Street Parking.” My experiences until relatively recently could not prepare me for this. In some places, parking blocks from home is the price of having a car. I’ve come to think of on-street parking as desirable and even chose my current neighborhood on the basis of the presence of on-street parked cars (though it turns in our case, it’s largely due to the presence of young drivers with their own cars–ah well). It’s nice to remember that not only do some people have different priorities, in some cases they have completely different preferences as well.