Which design do you prefer for one of downtown Lexington's main entryways?
Lexington is experiencing another painful dispute over the design of a downtown building, this time the planned CVS drugstore at one of the two main entrances to our downtown core: the intersection of Main, Vine and Midland Streets. As Graham Pohl recently wrote in his article, Don’t Miss This Dance, we can either get a suburban-style single-storey building, or an alternative which provides the massing suitable to the site.
As Nathan Billings stated in the Herald-Leader, one major barrier is Lexington’s lack of a board or design guidelines that might have forced a potential developer to produce a design more-suited to this crucial location. One of the major action items emerging from ProgressLex’s “Now What Lexington?” unconference two weeks ago, was a push for the creation of such a system. Largely as a result, there seems to be strong support on the Council to implement some kind of design review process or form-based zoning.
But, there is another cause. I wonder if the stated philosophies of Mayor Newberry and his chief development officer, Harold Tate of the Downtown Development Authority, may have made it difficult for them to intervene as forcefully as one might wish in the CVS case. During a recent Mayoral Forum, Mayor Newberry was quoted by the Herald-Leader, saying: “it is irresponsible to oppose a lawful development just because we don’t like who’s doing it or what it looks like.” In an H-L op-ed about CVS (3/4/10), Mr.Tate reminded us that the DDA “is not an enforcement agency.”
This approach to development in our precious downtown could hardly contrast more starkly with the philosophy of Mayor Joe Riley of Charleston, S.C., whose enthusiastic involvement in every design decision down to the smallest detail has made him a legend among mayors. Not content to merely enforce existing laws, Riley, in a recent speech at our downtown library, gave example after example where he used the bully pulpit of the mayor’s office to get development that was good for Charleston, even calling then-President Clinton to discuss a proposed federal courthouse.
Riley did not always rely on the blunt instrument of the law. He most emphatically did not welcome just any development in a city he cares so deeply about. He used every tool at this disposal to lobby, negotiate, jawbone and otherwise persuade potential developers to do the right thing, even though most of the developments that he successfully challenged were perfectly within the law.
I don’t know whether Mayor Newberry or Mr. Tate has tried a Riley-style forceful intervention with CVS, either with its national headquarters, or with the Louisville developer of this particular store. If not, it may not be too late to ask for the fairly modest changes required.
In the end, this issue comes down to a matter of self-respect: are we so desperate that we will accept any development permitted by law, even if we know we will wince for the next 50 years when we see it, or do we love our city enough to go the extra mile to make our downtown a truly beautiful place that all of our citizens can enjoy, “where everyone’s heart can sing,” as Mayor Riley put it?
This is a no-brainer . . . or maybe a full-brainer. If we want to be proud of Downtown; if we want to pull more businesses, arts and precious foot traffic downtown, it needs to be ATTRACTIVE. We need to show we care about it for generations to come. Who do I call?
Call Mayor Newberry at 258-3100.
I’ve also created a Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/Tell-Mayor-Newberry-an-UGLY-CVS-drugstore-is-UGLY-FOR-LEXINGTON/114102655295170?ref=ts
Thanks to Kelly and Kevin for their action-oriented responses! I think at this point the Mayor is exactly the right person to call. I’m going to Kevin’s facebook page right now.
I think this is the most right-on commentary yet on the CVS issue. I don’t agree with Mr. Billings that design guidelines solve all our downtown design issues. Leadership is far more important than any legislative initiative, and it is sorely lacking.
Dan, You correctly point out that it is a lack of civic leadership but that is apparently what the majority of Lexington residents want.
Lexington has historically not asked their elected officials to have a vision of the future, this has been left to the “movers and shakers”, the one who get things done and the Chamber of Commerce (Lexington’s business voice). Even the Urban Renewal efforts of the “60s had no complete vision of what Lexington should look like nor the political control to make it happen.
Past mayors and councilmembers have never been asked what their ideas and visions are for downtown, or for the entire city for that matter. It is always how would you do things different from the ways that the incumbent, or opponent, has done. Lexington does not elect people to office based on what they WILL do but on how they will do the same things differently.
Our current council members have endorsed and adopted a downtown master plan that few, if any, had any input toward and feel that they have solved the problem. They have voiced an opinion that we need some sort of design review yet have given no direction as to what that should be and are expecting the laws to magically appear.
And our residents, who complain about the sprawl, the traffic and the blandness of the suburban shopping areas still buy the crap housing that the local builders market to them, in areas that are usually inconvenient to those desiring a really livable city, continue to elect those candidates which will offer lower taxes and more services instead of looking to the future and solving problems.
I believe that the proposed CVS is ugly for the location downtown. There should be NO suburban style development anywhere inside New Circle Road and that includes large expanses of parking, parking structures and wide roadways that discourage walkability. There is no urban county government candidate willing to have that sort of vision for downtown.
Streetsweeper– at last I can say that I wholly and enthusiastically concur with one of your posts in its entirety. Well done. BTW, what’s with the Planning Commission minutes you linked to on the last CVS blog piece?
Once again Brunswick, you epitomize the the aspect of the younger portion of the “creative class”. You have the whys of wanting things to change but ignore the time tested methods of how and where to initiate such changes. Many times the young crowd simply declares that they want something done and they want it done FOR them (rarely seeking out the how to get it done for themselves). It is kind of how they were raised, cry and they get fed, pout and they get their way, ask and they get catered to.
The minutes referenced, show the conditions under which the building permit may be issued and the only roadblocks, under the current rules, to ending up with an ugly building. The solution is not going to be cut and dried for this project alone, but must be able to be applied across the board and that will take work. The work that, so far, those with influence have chosen not to do. Having wrangled their way through a Downtown Master Plan concept, they then drop the ball on influencing the implementation of such a plan and thinking the job is done. Creating the drawings for building will not let you occupy the structure if they don’t build it.
Also Brunswick. STAY OFF STREETSWEEPER’S LAWN YOU DAMN WHIPPERSNAPPER! I think he needs to take a Werther’s Original and chill out. I’d say that name calling and insults are exactly what is not called for here. Rather than lording your sage advice on all things archaic and procedural over the novice, perhaps helping engage them in the mechanics of change would be more productive. I personally think it’s all a tempest in a tea pot. The shit we don’t see coming is going to knock our socks off and make this all a moot point.
Streetsweeper– I feel like we are finally singing from the same sheet of music! That is why my biggest issue/fondest wish is the development and approval of form based codes that give eforceable teeth to the Downtown Master Plan recommendations.
As for Mr. Lindauer, your rant is largely indecipherable to me. Could you break out the White & Strunk and clarify your points/issues so they may be considered and/or addressed. Or not….
To clarify. The Streetsweeper says that the “young creative class” with you as a member, is all want and talk. no action. ” You have the whys of wanting things to change but ignore the time tested methods of how and where to initiate such changes” I implied that he is a codger and that Streetsweeper would be better off helping people understand how to make changes than berating them for being ignorant. Hastily worded and perhaps unclear.I think that as a society we face much larger problems than these design considerations. I believe these problems (economy, peak oil, climate change) will make this all immaterial. On more careful consideration, it will make no difference if I rant or go shit in my hat. The change that will happen will be the change that has to happen.
Mr. Lindauer– I think I catch your drift. May I suggest we shit in Mayor Newberry’s hat, instead of one of our own, and elect a new mayor who wants to provide some real leadership on many of the issues that have been discussed on this website.
As for the Streetsweeper, he’d rather be cryptic than constructive, but I sense he is beginning to come around….
[…] one asked the Mayor for his personal opinion about the proposed CVS. As citizens, we do not expect our Mayor to design buildings. We DO, however, expect him to have […]