The suggested overall vision for the Bon Air Core is New
Urbanism. This was suggested in the Bon Air Neighborhood Plan of 2012 that was
created by University of Louisville Urban Planning Students. This includes
- A mix of residential types (to include low income)
- A mix of businesses (professional services, financial services and retail)
- An Improved Aesthetic
The footprint for this already exists in the layout of the
Bon Air Core area and public housing units at the corner of Rio Rita Avenue and
Commander Drive. An example of New
Urbanism locally is “Norton Commons.”
The logic of how we get to the New Urbanism design is as
follows.
- Through arts development we will improve the aesthetic and draw attraction to the neighborhood.
- The economic demand created by the attraction will motivate infrastructure redevelopment.
- The economic demand is also expected to facilitate rezoning of areas of the Bon Air Core that will engender business development.
The reason we are going with the arts development strategy
is because we can. We tried to talk to the three, main real estate
holders/rentiers in 2017 to explore what kind of future we wanted to work
towards in the neighborhood, and determine whether there was a possible partnership. They ignored us.
We got tentative verbal/written agreement from two of them
to show up at a meeting with us and Louisville Forward in 2017 and they stood
us up and never returned any further messages.
The smaller of the three landlords, who built their apartments on the
former swim club property was impossible to get ahold of and never returned any
messages. The Louisville Forward rep
said that behavior was not uncommon of real estate holders to act in the way
that these acted.
So, I was thinking for some time about what we could do to
move development forward despite the apathy of the landlords. I also took to heart what one landlord told me on the phone in 2017 said-- apartment rents were flat--which
suggested that the area was not exactly worth further investment on his
part. I could see economic legitimacy in the one, polite landlord’s apathy beyond the fact that the behavior was
passive-aggressive.
At this point it became clear that if we were going to
develop the area, we would need to improve the public areas in ways that draw
economic activity to the area that would improve the value of the land but not
spoil it, and we could not count on the major landlords to be involved at the start.
Theoretically, a parcel or area of land has value because
people want to come there to live, work, use the land to produce goods and
services, buy goods and services, be educated there, or be entertained
there. Furthermore, for a parcel of land
to be economically productive, it must have economic linkage with the
surrounding parcels or areas. (see the
diagram)
We would need to develop more than just an object, we needed
to connect with something in the local economy that would help the local
economy grow as it would help us grow. In sociological terms we would need to create a "growth pole" that others could use to latch onto to create economic opportunities and maybe diversify the local economy.
J. Allen Whitt Ph.D.
In the pondering of options, I had some random memory of an academic journal article
written by one of my dissertation professors at the University of Louisville, J. Allen Whitt
Ph.D (now Professor Emeritus). (who also did work that was the basis of my own dissertation) that the
Kentucky Center was created for economic development. I had a Jeff Goldblum/Judd Hirsch/Independence
Day moment (Genius . . . I gave it a
virus—I gave it a cold—there is a clip of it on YouTube).
1
The Kentucky Center--Louisville, KY
My Goldblum moment was that we could have an art development
strategy just like they did downtown and downtown is just beautiful. My
brainstorm included things like
- A performance stage in the park,
- Magnificent and grand statuary with Louisville, Kentucky, and Derby themes,
- An Art Hall in the Bon Air Library.
We could attract some of the Derby traffic for people to come
and see the spectacular public art when they were not going to Oaks, “Thurby” or whatever
becomes of the Wednesdays of Derby week. This development strategy would also provide
opportunity for the creative sector in Louisville to grow where local artists
would have opportunity to display and sell and maybe even set up shop.
These would be the beginning of making the Bon Air Neighborhood a place where parents could bring their children for family-oriented entertainment, people could come and experience the fine arts, and maybe move here because it is such a great place that is close to so much.
I have had the opportunity to pitch this on behalf of the
organization to numerous parties with favorable results so far. The advice from the Center for Neighborhoods
was to get a conceptual picture, and we had Sabra Lynn (the artist of the magnificent
mural on Bardstown Road under the Watterson Expressway) do it. (I just have to show Sabra's drawing again)
We are now ready next to pitch for funding for the
planning and design of the stage. We are looking to get some realistic estimates to pitch in the grants we write. Even though we
would like the stage to look like the grand picture that Sabra drew, we will
see what reality brings. District 26 Metro Rep Brent Ackerson
has been very generous with “neighborhood development funds," but this needs to
be a public-private partnership. We
would love to have corporate sponsorship from one of the local corporations for
design and building the stage.
In this next phase of this journey, we need you to be part of the Bon Air Neighborhood
Association. Our membership costs only
$10.00 per year. Our next meeting will be February 11, 2019 at
6:30 pm.
Next week, I will discuss how the Bon Air Organization was
started in 2008 and our journey as an organization thus far.
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