bankstop
bus stop: piggy bank
It’s been a long time in the making, but Kate Savage, an active member of the Columbia Heights Neighborhood Association, has all of the pieces in place to begin raising money to fund the construction of a bus shelter along Euclid Avenue.
Partnering with Lextran, Art-in-Motion and representatives from Republic Bank, who have allowed for the shelter to be built on their branch’s property across from Kroger, Savage estimates the project will cost between $25,000 – $30,000. In June of last year, Savage was awarded an EcoART grant from the city for $5,000 which will go toward the construction cost, and she plans on raising the rest of the money through Kickstarter, an online crowd-sourcing platform, and “blatant solicitation.”
Similar to Art-in-Motion’s Art Stops, creatively conceived bus shelters that have appeared in a number of places in Lexington, though not an project under the auspices of that program , the structure Savage hopes to have constructed was designed specifically with a bank in mind – with a large piggy bank in the back and other aspects being to scale of a dollar bill.
Patrick Morgan, an architecture student at University of Pennsylvania and Lexington native, as well as a longtime family friend of Savage, orchestrated the whimsical design. “It was fun,” he said. “I’d be at school and everybody else would be working on their big studio project, and I’m sitting at my desk with a little piggy bank on my screen.”
Given the number of people who wait for buses at the two bus stops, exposed to the elements, near the corner of Euclid and Ashland avenues, the need for an appropriate shelter in the area has always been obvious, Savage said. She initially approached the property owners of Premiere Home Video, but when they weren’t receptive to the project, she pitched the idea to both banks across the street.
Representatives at Republic Bank were immediately open to the idea, and contracts and plans with Lextran to have the bus shelter built along the hedge between the sidewalk and the parking lot were put into place – welcome news for somebody who has been working for over a year trying to see this neighborhood amenity through to fruition.
“This has been like giving birth,” Savage laughed, “but it really has been harder, and longer.”