Five Lexington-based proposals have made the cut as finalists for the second annual Knight Cities Challenge, a competition that provides $5 million in funding to be shared among winning ideas for improving Knight Foundation communities.
The competition gathered more than 4,500 proposals from nonprofit and government organizations, as well as design experts, urban planning groups and individual citizens, in 26 cities where the Knight Foundation is invested. The Lexington competitors represent five of 158 total finalists named in this year’s challenge.
The challenge itself invites submissions that focus on one or more of the Knight Foundation’s three identified drivers of city success: attracting and retaining talent, expanding economic opportunities, and spurring civic engagement. This year’s Lexington-based finalists include ideas to develop family-focused playing and learning spaces, a local splash park, a place to field-test new ideas for downtown civic engagement and a festival to showcase local food, music and government.
Griffin VanMeter, one of this year’s finalists who also has a strong connection with a winner from last year’s competition, said he was pleased to see all of this year’s local fi nalists focused on opportunities for civic engagement. Last year the North Limestone Community Development Corporation, which VanMeter helped found and who retains a seat on the board of directors, landed the competition’s second largest grant of $550,000 to create a food hub and small-business incubator in the former Greyhound bus terminal on North Limestone. That project is still in development, with NoLi CDC working to secure funds to purchase the property from its current owner, LexTran.
VanMeter’s finalist entry this year, Super Play, would create a family-friendly gathering and play space within the community, in the hopes of encouraging more talented young adults to live, work and play in the city.
“I believe in the importance of kick-ass public spaces,” VanMeter said. “All of these projects off er the opportunity for robust community engagement that will provide better, more equitable spaces for all of Lexington to enjoy.”
The effective use of public space for community engagement was the subject of another of this year’s finalist projects: The Parking Lot Diaries by the Lexington Downtown Development Authority, submitted by LDDA president and COO Jeff Fugate. This project would use the parking lot across from the Transit Center to field-test and evaluate the usefulness of possible services for Lexington’s downtown community members — particularly those who depend on public transit, Fugate said.
With state funding already secured for the construction of a crosswalk on Vine Street near the Transit Center, Fugate said the project would allow the city to engage the public with new concepts before investing too heavily in those ideas. Such services could be as simple as additional seating or a small produce stand, he said.
“There are hundreds of people an hour getting on and off these buses [at the Transit Center], and basically they are stuck on an island,” Fugate said. “This is a way of doing our research before spending a lot of money to see what will succeed.”
Such field tests would be conducted in partnership with the city and in cooperation with the patrons who currently use the lot space for parking, Fugate added.
Including the LDDA Parking Lot Diaries idea, three of this year’s selected Lexington finalists involve spaces that tie into the Town Branch Commons project, the effort to create a series of parks and common spaces throughout downtown tied to the city’s historic Town Branch Creek. One of those ideas, submitted by Lisa Adkins, president and CEO of the Blue Grass Community Foundation, is to build Lexington’s first splashpark in the city’s underused Northeastern Park, at the corner of Eastern and Short streets.
“Clearly there’s a huge demand and an interest for being able to play in water,” said Adkins, who took note of the many children who use the water feature at nearby Thoroughbred Park in the summer for water play, even though it is not safely treated or intended for that purpose.
Adkins added that the proximity of Northeastern Park to multiple neighborhoods with different socioeconomic backgrounds could draw a diverse mix of people for downtown recreation.
“It really has the opportunity, if we build a world-class splash park facility, to bring diverse people from diverse neighborhoods together,” Adkins said. “It’s about inviting people into the city and providing beautiful and engaging green spaces that are dynamic and activated.”
An additional finalist idea for creating a more engaging downtown came from the Lexington Public Library. The idea, submitted by Anne Donworth, would transform Phoenix Park and Central Library into a place for children and families from diverse backgrounds to learn and play together and would involve complementary park and library programming and activities for families.
Lexington’s fifth finalist idea, submitted by Clay Thornton, calls for the creation of a “Fancy Lex” festival, which harkens to Kentucky’s annual Fancy Farm picnic celebration. Fancy Lex would showcase Kentucky Proud products along with local music and businesses, while connecting local government representatives with residents to share their role, work and vision.
Beyond the possibilities for project funding for any and all of Lexington’s project finalists, Fugate said he sees great value in Lexington’s active role in the conversation on civic engagement that has been created by the Knight Foundation through this challenge.
“It is validating to see national funders and national organizations taking an interest in Lexington,” Fugate said. “That is a sign to me that we are on the right path.”
Winners of this year’s Knight Cities Challenge will be announced in spring 2016.