Some Good News for a Change

Every day the news is so full of contentious, sad or divisive subjects. I realize that this is caused by the number of contentious, sad and divisive issues we face today. Still, there are a lot of good, hopeful and praiseworthy things going on as well. I’ve decided to make a concerted effort to write about some of those. Here’s the first.

After years of lawsuits, broken promises, citizen lobbying, heated Council debates, and outright bickering, it was recently announced that Lexington’s Lyric Theater will finally be restored and re-opened. In case you wonder what the Lyric is, where it is, and/or why it is important, let me tell you the little I know about it.

The Art Deco style of the Lyric Theater and it's marquee lit up the corner of E. 3rd Street and DeWeese Street in Lexington from 1948 to 1963. Take a look at this photo, and notice who was performing that night. The Lyric’s lifespan covered the most racially-charged in modern American history; and, the location was deep in the heart of a part of Lexington whose residents were excluded by law from enjoying so many facets of life in Lexington (especially shameful as many had just recently fought for our national freedom in WWII). It was a leading entertainment center in the community, and hosted first-run films, black films and entertainers like The Temptations, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, The Ink Spots, and Redd Foxx. This was truly a showplace for some of America’s greatest artistic talent. Resident Tassa Wigginton says, "This was really the community center. This and Dunbar High School were the pride of the black community."

I’ve driven through this neighborhood for years on my way to and from places. It doesn’t take 20-20 vision to discern that, like so many others, this is a neighborhood that can use a good dose of pride and prosperity. I imagine the conversations of older residents on their front porches talking regularly about how great the neighborhood used to be "back in the day." In a sad twist of irony, desegregation brought a close to the Lyric as blacks enjoyed their new freedom to visit other places of entertainment in Lexington. Despite that "freedom," poverty still looms plainly evident in this predominantly black section of town. It's the kind of area in which, probably as the result of some stereotyping on my part, I don't want to get a flat tire.

Houses stand in disrepair, commercial property is vacant or abandoned, young people stand around as if they have nothing to do; and, in all of that a passerby can easily sense an aspect of despair and grief. Perhaps not a week goes by without the local news reporting on a shooting or a stabbing in this neighborhood, either as the result of some gang violence or simply because the attacker needed some money. I’m sure that there are plenty of people in the neighborhood who are rightfully proud of themselves and their heritage; but, I can’t escape the sense that they have been left behind as progress and prosperity went elsewhere.

Mayor Jim Newberry says that the reopened Lyric will complement other work ongoing in the East End, including: plans for new recreational opportunities with the Legacy Trail, which will complement the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden; the opening last fall of the new William Wells Brown Elementary School and its community center; significant additions in affordable housing, including the ongoing redevelopment of Bluegrass Aspendale; and road improvements. I really hope so. We all know that successful and vibrant businesses attract more of the same, and that nearby neighborhoods share in the prosperity. Prosperity brings opportunity, opportunity brings hope, and hope leads to a vision of a better day ahead.

As a city, we have poured so much money and effort in recent years to “revitalize” the downtown area in hopes of regaining the commercial and entertainment activities which served as its hallmark before the advent of shopping malls. While that effort has helped somewhat, most Lexingtonians still have a choice whether to go downtown or head out to Hamburg or Fayette Mall. By contrast, I assume that many of the people who live near the Lyric don’t have as much of a choice. Beyond the prospect of another source of great entertainment in Lexington, I’m hopeful that a new Lyric Theater can provide new life to its community.

New and expanded businesses; people making the choice to visit it instead of Cinemark from time to time; an outlet for various artistic endeavors which would otherwise have no exposure; in essence, a reason for people to actually visit this neighborhood rather than just drive through it on their way from place to place.