MY SOAPBOX MOMENT
March 10, 2008
Mine was the lead letter to the editor in Sunday’s Lexington (Kentucky) Herald- Leader. The issue is the possible razing of the Main-Upper-Vine-Limestone block, which has become a wonderful collection of small, local, independent entertainment venues such as The Dame (music club), Mia’s Restaurant & Bar, and Buster’s Bar, to make way for a 40-storey hotel complex which will also require displacing the farmers market and pilfering space from a well-used and loved park across the street for a garage.
One thing I forgot to mention (deride) in the letter is the name that the developers have proposed for this structure: CentrePointe. Isn’t that a perfectly typical example of developers’ nomenclature?
Here’s my letter (headline theirs):
SHAMEFUL DEVELOPMENT CAN BE STOPPED
The impressive edifice unveiled in in the March 5 Herald-Leader does little to answer a basic question: Why is Lexington messing with a good thing?
The block where CentrePointe would be placed already works as an original and local conglomeration of small businesses. Chambers of commerce rack their brains to create such a district of unique dining and entertainment venues within a historic context and usually fail where this one succeeds brilliantly.
Lexington’s past vertical ambitions destroyed the street life of whole sections of downtown and made for sketchy places to walk at night.
It remains uncertain what imperative is served by this dream. The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will come and go in a blink. What long-term need does a 40-story hotel complex satisfy?
Do not doubt that this will largely be funded by tax abatements that generations of schoolchildren will pay for.
Local leaders have expressed an eagerness to find alternate locations for the displaced businesses. That they think these small concerns can be uprooted and replanted and still thrive shows a profound lack of appreciation for the power of neighborhoods, context and smallness.
Here’s hoping the Courthouse Area Design Review Board hears from many Lexingtonians who are tired of trading small and unique for big and predictable. May the board feel empowered by the citizens it serves to halt this looming shame.
James Spragens
Lebanon
