I should start by saying that I agree with the premise of Mary Beth Sekela’s article in the op-ed section of Sunday’s Herald-Leader about the need to attract young people to Lexington and the paradigm shift that must occur to make that happen. (Thanks to Jim Gray for the tweet that brought the article to my attention). A young and vibrant community of creative people and thinkers could propel Lexington towards the “world-class city” status that it hopes to become.
However, I think the question that begs asking is “Why aren’t we engaging the young people we already have to help take Lexington forward?” As I wondered through Friday night’s Gallery Hop, with no less than 7 friends (all young professionals, I might add), I couldn’t help but wonder where all these people were every other night of the year. The Downtown Arts Center was packed shoulder to shoulder with mostly 20somethings… lines formed to get up Gallerie Soleil’s narrow stairway, and my group discovered the beauty of Christ Church Cathedral. Downtown Lexington’s sidewalks were booming with young, artistically-minded people spending their Friday night not just visiting art galleries, but maybe more importantly in Downtown.
I’m sure most them also stayed Downtown to have dinner (Atomic Café was our pick) and maybe even stuck around after that for a drink or dancing (a table on the sidewalk at Mia’s is prime real estate for people watching and the music that flows from inside has even spurred me to attempt salsa dancing at the corner of Short and Limestone). But why isn’t the city engaging them/us when it comes to generating ideas and trying to develop our Downtown? We’re already here and we have disposable income! We just might not have enough cash to afford a condo Downtown, but more on that in a minute.
With UK, Transy, Georgetown, EKU and Centre all at Lexington’s doorstep, we already have young people. Lots of them. And most of us would love to see the potential of Downtown actualized. Our voices are just rarely heard when decisions are made on what path our city and our Downtown should take. And yes, it is certainly hard to scream over the UK basketball fans and to outspend the “horse money” that is in Lexington, but we’re here and we want the vibrant, diverse, and artistic Lexington that Sekala writes about.
I also agree with her that we need more investing in the arts and creating this “creative class” would be spectacular. However, we also have to keep in mind that “creative class” reaches across all kinds of economic classes. So far, a good chunk of the development of Downtown has priced our city’s young professionals out of the market. Wikipedia says that the average income of a household in Lexington is around $40,000/year and the median income for a family is just over $53,000. How would someone making that kind of money afford a condo in Downtown that can range from $200,000 up to well over half a million? Instead, we are left renting or buying well outside of Downtown, which keeps us out of the Downtown that the city wants to lure us towards.
On a recent trip to Philadelphia, I was delighted by a local chain of restaurants that specialized in really great food with an obvious slant to young people with a modern décor. It was priced no differently than an Applebee’s: Marathon Grill. Their restaurants were placed strategically throughout the city in the young “artsy” areas of town and appeared to be frequented by that crowd. When I look at Lexington’s downtown eateries, there are plenty of places I like. However, they are mostly “special occasion only” establishments that are hard to leave without dropping at least $100. I would venture to guess that something local but more affordable could, certainly, draw more people into spending their entire evenings and weekends Downtown… instead of a couple hours on a Saturday night or a few bucks for a drink in a bar.
Lexington certainly does need to change the way it thinks and do more things to lure young people into the city. However, we also shouldn’t overlook the people that we already have right here that are already making Lexington their hometown. And while most of us may not be looking to leave, we’d love to have a reason to stay.
