Opinion Poll: Lexington,KY (Louisville: middle-class, apartment, condos)

[censusdata]

I don't hate Lexington, I just personally wouldn't want to live there again given my experiences in middle and high school.

All things considered, it is a good place to live. The cost of living is low, crime is very low most places, and the economy is more immune to downturns than most places given all the government jobs. For a metro area of 400,000 it has a downtown that feels bigger and nicer than much larger metros like Dayton or Toledo. Like most of KY's cities, it is very clean even in rougher areas.

I think the traffic and park system could be improved if city officials would first admit there is a problem. The traffic signals hold WAY to long, sometimes 2+ minutes even if there is no traffic

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by censusdata

The traffic signals hold WAY to long, sometimes 2+ minutes even if there is no traffic

No lie. Though since moving here I've gotten so laid back I don't much mind. But then I'm retired and in no hurry anyway.

[timelesschild]

Originally Posted by jcm1986

I like to visit; I live in one of its exurbs only 25-30 miles away. In fact, I was just there tonight hanging out with friends. But I wouldn't live there--unless my plans to move to TX or Chicago completely panned out, I was desperate for a job and had no choice but to stay in KY (yuck!) Anyhow, I'll give the perks and cons of the place.

Perks:

• Nice scenery
• Low crime rate
• Great architecture that is distinctive to central KY
• University of Kentucky (okay, so I'm a UofL grad, but I'll concede that UK is a great school)
• Transylvania University is the first private college founded west of the Allegheny Mountains.
• Clean city, you'd be hard pressed to even find litter or graffiti (although some graffiti does exist on the northside and near UK's campus)
• Some great private schools (i.e. Lex. Christian, Sayre, LexCath)
• One of America's highest-educated population bases (something like 38% of residents have a Bachelor's degree or higher)

Cons:

• Unjustifiable sense of snoot and entitlement among many of its people, especially the women age 18-35. Funny, since there are a lot of country-type transplants that try to flout their credit-accrued "wealth" (I'm not joking, either) but not nearly as many truly wealthy people.
• Whack-job road system that has been antiquated since 1989. For example, New Circle, the beltine, is only FOUR LANES!!! It should've been widened to 8-10 lanes, like, ten years ago.
• Weak job market. Don't let the Lexington "positivists" fool you, it's hard to find a good-paying job in this region, much less the entire state.
• Crappy public schools w/ exception maybe of Dunbar and Lafayette HS. (The only truly good public systems in KY can be found in pockets of western and northern KY and Louisville.)
• The only decent news broadcast is WKYT-TV News
• I-64 and I-75 bypass the city rather than proceed through like interstates do in normal cities
• Quite a few rednecks still live in the city and they're usually quite annoying and don't always have very good manners (I used to hang around rednecks, I found out.)

All very true and well-stated. In answer to another poster's question, the snooty people are usually found outside of Man O' War (and that is the weirdest reason to be snooty I ever heard in my life). If you don't notice it, that's great. If you do notice it, you can't stop noticing it. I've never had that problem with the Sayre or older-money crowd; they seem to me to tend to be very much more well-balanced.

I will also add that Lexington has a VERY good arts scene for a city of its size.

[InLondon]

Snooty people in Lexington?? I haven't noticed that. Hmmm

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by InLondon

Snooty people in Lexington?? I haven't noticed that. Hmmm

I would say that even the upper income suburbs in East Louisville have many middle class neighborhoods within. Moving to the Lyndon area from South Lexington I sensed strong blue collar undertones and how much smaller the houses were even though it is as educated & affluent an area as where I lived in Lex.

Snooty is in the eye of the beholder. Without using that word, I would say that the most affluent areas of Lexington (Firewood/ Dogwood Trace, Hartland/ Pinnacle, and Hamburg area) seem to lack any blue collar vibes that I get in Middletown, Jeffersontown, or even Prospect in L'ville.

Lexington also doesn't have any upper income areas that are mainly blue collar which are very common in industrial cities like L'ville or Cinci. Valley Station & Bullitt County are only 10% college eductated, yet has a median income of $50,000+.

They are just different places. Lexington is a college town that has 2 other public universities and 4 private universities w/i a 20 mile radious of downtown. Louisville is an industrial city with 2 public universities (counting IU SouthEast) and 2 private colleges despite having 3X more people in the Metro area.

[Jim280]

I lived around the Lexington area (never in town ) for several years before I moved to Florida, I always thought it was a good place to live. My son and daughter live there now. I have family scattered all around Ky, I don't know where they all live at anymore.

[Bostonredsock5]

I live in Hamburg and the people live here are some of the snootest I have ever met. Maybe because my wife and I are young but our neighbors act like we dont exist, or are just rude to us. When we first moved in we had a neighbor ask we not turn our house into a "dorm". Our cat got out and was in the neighbors backyard and he said next time he is just going to call the pound. You can have this area, the people have their noses so far up in the air is makes me sick. I can only wait til the Army gives me new orders. My wife who has lived in lexington for the past 6 years feels the same. Atleast in a military community you get respect. Andover Forest is only accepting of rich older people.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by teebird1012

Sayre families and the Sayre administration board. They're some of the rudest people I've ever met.

I'm not surprised. I know somebody who attended Sayre. A good guy and nice to me, but he sometimes gives off the vibe of knowing more and thinking he's better than everyone else. Nevertheless, he has some stories about the people at Sayre. Of course, I've witnessed that level of snobbery among Trinity, Mercy, Assumption, and Manual (all in Louisville) grads, too.

Originally Posted by sandman1

Lexington is a great town...when someone thinks of kentucky around the country they think horses, UK basketball, horsefarms, Makers Mark, Woodford Reserve....all of which come from lexington. The image of this state comes from this city...it's the heart of the state...just look at the interstate system...they all go through Lexington. The only thing I can think of that is exclusively louisville is Churchill downs and from visiting it the very next thing I think of when I think of chuchill downs is the ghetto....I can't believe the city let such a huge part of the city and state be encircled by a slummy area of town. That is a great picture for first time visitors of the state to see when they go to the kentucky derby....the slums of kentucky. I wish it looked like Keeneland.

Uh...okay. Lexington has Keeneland and UK, sure, but the horse farms are spread throughout a five-county area. It does not have a substantial economic engine beyind the university and farming entities. Louisville IS the economic engine of Kentucky with the HQs of four Fortune 500 companies, including Yum! Brands which owns KFC! The Kentucky Derby is held in Louisville. KFC and Derby are the two things that people think of most often when they think of Kentucky. Remember, money talks!

So, I disagree w/ you, Louisville wears the pants in this state. Lexington is just the stepchild...many of its people just think their city wears the pants b/c of their beloved "Cats."

I wish the area around the Downs was cleaner, I'll grant that, but it's still slowly improving.

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

Lexington is nice. Big enough to have some good bookstores, OK restaurants and other places to go but not so big as to be a hassle. Very easy to get around if you use a car. Nice, I think that sums the town up.

Perks of Lexington they all are of course...of course, the road system/traffic thing is relative, and I guess if you're from Chicago than only NYC and SanFran seem to have more congested routes.

Originally Posted by censusdata

I think the traffic and park system could be improved if city officials would first admit there is a problem. The traffic signals hold WAY to long, sometimes 2+ minutes even if there is no traffic

Shillito, Jacobson, Triangle, and Woodland all have nothing on Louisville's vast, lush expanses of interconnected Olmstead-designed greenery. Heck, even Frankfort has a freakin' better park system than Lexington!

Originally Posted by timelesschild

All very true and well-stated. In answer to another poster's question, the snooty people are usually found outside of Man O' War (and that is the weirdest reason to be snooty I ever heard in my life). If you don't notice it, that's great. If you do notice it, you can't stop noticing it. I've never had that problem with the Sayre or older-money crowd; they seem to me to tend to be very much more well-balanced.

I will also add that Lexington has a VERY good arts scene for a city of its size.

Spot on. Not all people from Sayre are snooty, I'm sure there are some down-to-earth, non-condescending folks that go there.

However, I actually find most of the snooty people to be between (a) New Circle and Man O' War and then also in (b) central Lexington from 7th St. (Transy area) down to about Rosemont Garden (just south of UK.)

Originally Posted by censusdata

I would say that even the upper income suburbs in East Louisville have many middle class neighborhoods within. Moving to the Lyndon area from South Lexington I sensed strong blue collar undertones and how much smaller the houses were even though it is as educated & affluent an area as where I lived in Lex.

Snooty is in the eye of the beholder. Without using that word, I would say that the most affluent areas of Lexington (Firewood/ Dogwood Trace, Hartland/ Pinnacle, and Hamburg area) seem to lack any blue collar vibes that I get in Middletown, Jeffersontown, or even Prospect in L'ville.

Lexington also doesn't have any upper income areas that are mainly blue collar which are very common in industrial cities like L'ville or Cinci. Valley Station & Bullitt County are only 10% college eductated, yet has a median income of $50,000+.

Well put. Not sure I'd label Prospect as "blue collar," but even areas around Crestwood, Pewee Valley, Brownsboro Rd., and Middletown are still blue-collar in terms of the demographics. I think both cities have diverse suburbs, socioeconomically speaking.

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by sandman1

So the people at Sayre are snooty....that encompasses maybe .0005 percent of lexington....people must constantly be running into them for this reputation to have taken root. I could care less about what people think about this city...I didn't grow up here, I just live here now and frankly have no horse in the race but I do think it is humerous when people make accusations without any examples. Lexington is a great town...when someone thinks of kentucky around the country they think horses, UK basketball, horsefarms, Makers Mark, Woodford Reserve....all of which come from lexington. The image of this state comes from this city...it's the heart of the state...just look at the interstate system...they all go through Lexington. The only thing I can think of that is exclusively louisville is Churchill downs and from visiting it the very next thing I think of when I think of chuchill downs is the ghetto....I can't believe the city let such a huge part of the city and state be encircled by a slummy area of town. That is a great picture for first time visitors of the state to see when they go to the kentucky derby....the slums of kentucky. I wish it looked like Keeneland.

Oh come on...that is such a silly argument. If you think the area around Churchill is slums, you have not seen slums.

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by jcm1986

I'm not surprised. I know somebody who attended Sayre. A good guy and nice to me, but he sometimes gives off the vibe of knowing more and thinking he's better than everyone else. Nevertheless, he has some stories about the people at Sayre. Of course, I've witnessed that level of snobbery among Trinity, Mercy, Assumption, and Manual (all in Louisville) grads, too.



Uh...okay. Lexington has Keeneland and UK, sure, but the horse farms are spread throughout a five-county area. It does not have a substantial economic engine beyind the university and farming entities. Louisville IS the economic engine of Kentucky with the HQs of four Fortune 500 companies, including Yum! Brands which owns KFC! The Kentucky Derby is held in Louisville. KFC and Derby are the two things that people think of most often when they think of Kentucky. Remember, money talks!

So, I disagree w/ you, Louisville wears the pants in this state. Lexington is just the stepchild...many of its people just think their city wears the pants b/c of their beloved "Cats."

I wish the area around the Downs was cleaner, I'll grant that, but it's still slowly improving.



Perks of Lexington they all are of course...of course, the road system/traffic thing is relative, and I guess if you're from Chicago than only NYC and SanFran seem to have more congested routes.



Shillito, Jacobson, Triangle, and Woodland all have nothing on Louisville's vast, lush expanses of interconnected Olmstead-designed greenery. Heck, even Frankfort has a freakin' better park system than Lexington!



Spot on. Not all people from Sayre are snooty, I'm sure there are some down-to-earth, non-condescending folks that go there.

However, I actually find most of the snooty people to be between (a) New Circle and Man O' War and then also in (b) central Lexington from 7th St. (Transy area) down to about Rosemont Garden (just south of UK.)



Well put. Not sure I'd label Prospect as "blue collar," but even areas around Crestwood, Pewee Valley, Brownsboro Rd., and Middletown are still blue-collar in terms of the demographics. I think both cities have diverse suburbs, socioeconomically speaking.

Nice post...jcm, we know you do not like KY, but you do make pretty insightful, accurate posts.