Author: Tom Eblen

City officials and their engineering consultants will meet with Mentelle neighborhood residents Wednesday, April 30, to go over proposed plans for stormwater sewer improvements in the neighborhood, answer questions and get feedback from residents.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the meeting room at the back of the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass, 162 N. Ashland Ave.

“There are two storm water systems that drain Mentelle Park, a North System and a South System,” said Craig Morgan, a senior municipal engineer with the city. “The consultant was tasked to develop two solutions for each system.  The consultant recommended Alternate 1, which runs along Cramer Avenue on the north and through the neighborhoods on the south side.  These two alignments are being carried further into the current detailed design phase”

Click here to view and download  two maps showing the proposed work, which is now under design using Alternative 1. You can read and download a copy of the full consultant’s report by clicking here.

Highlights include:

• Balloon art by local artist Twist & Shout
• A visit from the Lexington Fire Department – truck arrives at 4 p.m.
• Sidewalk chalk and bubbles,
• Cornhole, Jenga, pickleball and other yard games
• And More!

We hope you’ll join us!

From Ray and Jill DeBolt, Mentelle Median Committee co-chairs:

All the flower beds are mulched and sticks picked up on the 3rd and 4th median.  Thanks to Krista Giancarlo for picking up sticks and Barb Wagoner for weeding the Richmond Road bed.  Gil Dunn has volunteered to check the 3rd and 4th medians on Thursday to make sure they are ready to go for the Easter Egg hunt.

There is still some work to be done!  Large sticks need to be picked up on the 1st and 2nd median.  Also, the naturalized area on the 4th median needs to be cleared of some invasive plants.  If you have some spare time or your children need something to do outside, any help would be greatly appreciated.  Let us know any volunteer hours and feel free to contact us with any questions/concerns.

Happy Spring!

In celebration of Lexington’s 250th birthday, Lexington is hosting a community-wide Porch Festival on June 7-8 . City officials are asking neighborhoods and musicians across town to participate by hosting low-key, intimate musical performances on their front porches or lawns. Neighbors are encouraged to attend as many performances as they can that weekend. Click here for more details, and to sign up to participate by performing or hosting a performer.

The large west pillar at Mentelle Park’s Cramer Avenue end was repaired this morning following an accident last Thursday.  A member of the sewer line replacement crew that has been working in the neighborhood was moving a piece of heavy equipment when his trailer clipped the pillar, breaking its cement seal at the street and knocking it crooked on its base.

The crew returned this morning, straightened the pillar and cemented it back in place. It looks good as new.

The pillars, which were installed along with Mentelle Park’s street in 1905 before any home construction began, were designed for a traffic pattern of the horse-and-buggy era, and they have suffered their share of wear-and-tear over the years.  A few years ago, a delivery truck backed into the large east pillar at Cramer, knocking it into the street in many pieces.  Fortunately, a city engineer driving by soon afterward noticed it and called for a crew to gather up and safely store all the pieces until it could be rebuilt by an expert mason.  The city later hired the same mason to repair the large east pillar at Main Street when water and ice infiltration was causing it to split apart from the top.  We appreciate city government’s efforts to maintain our historic neighborhood!

From Mentelle median committee co-chairs Jill and Ray Debolt:

A Mentelle Park median work day will be Saturday, April 12, beginning  at 9 a.m. We’ll be picking up sticks and other debris; also, weeding and mulching the flower beds.  The good news is that some of the beds were mulched in the fall so there will be less work. Let’s get the median in good shape for the Easter egg hunt!

Lexington’s regulation of short-term rental properties, including limits on how many can operate in a neighborhood,  have survived for another year.  In its final session before adjournment Friday, the state Senate failed to accept House amendments to Senate Bill 61 that would have prevented cities from limiting the number of short-term rentals.

This legislation was pushed by Airbnb lobbyists. They and Republican legislators supporting them wanted to take away local control of this local issue by arguing that it  violated the property rights of people who want to turn a residence they own into a short-term rental. Opponents — including our own Democratic legislators, Rep. Anne Gay Donworth and Sen. Reggie Thomas — argued that the law would take away local governments’ ability to decide local issues and violate the property rights of people who want to live in stable neighborhoods. They also noted that it would push up home prices and long-term rental rates, and reduce the already short supply of permanent housing.

The Senate Bill 61 amendments were the third attempt to push through the ban on local control this session after earlier attempts in the Senate and House failed. Sen. Steve West, a Paris Republican, was the main force behind this legislation, and he had introduced a similar ban last year that never got a committee hearing. Expect him to try again when the General Assembly meets next in January 2026.

In the General Assembly’s late-night session Friday, the Senate failed to approve House amendments to a swimming pool bill that would prevent Lexington and other cities from regulating the density of short-term rental properties.

Lexington-area House members all voted against these amendments.

The Senate could approve those amendments when it returns March 27. But that means lawmakers will have missed the deadline to overturn any vote by Gov. Andy Beshear.

So, if the Senate does pass Senate Bill 61  as amended into law later this month, you have the opportunity to contact the governor here and ask him to veto it. A veto would preserve Lexington’s local control over short-term rentals that are becoming too numerous in our neighborhood and others.

House Speaker David Osborne was behind the push, which had been sought by Airbnb lobbyists who have spent the past two years convincing Republican legislators that short-term rental owners are being deprived of their “property rights.” Never mind the property rights of  homeowners who want to actually live in their homes or rent them at affordable rates to long-term tenants. Republicans used to believe in the concept of “local control,” but the super-majority has a pattern in recent years of taking away cities’ ability to govern themselves and imposing their own will on them.

The amended Senate Bill 61 passed the House 59-28, with most Democrats and legislators from urban areas affected by this ban voting against it. Our state representative, Ann Donworth,  a freshman Democrat, and others spoke eloquently against the bill during House debate and voted against it. You can watch the debate by clicking here. It begins at 31:30 into the video.

Senate Bill 61 now moves back to the Senate, which likely will approve the change since, like the House, it has a Republican super-majority. Gov. Andy Beshear could  veto this bill. But it is unclear if the Senate approved the amendments to the bill before it adjourned Friday night. That’s important, because if it did not and Beshear vetos it, the General Assembly will not be able to vote to overturn the veto.

If you want to continue to take action, you can contact legislators to express your opinions. Find their contact information here.  You can express your opinion to Gov. Beshear online by clicking here.

If this legislation becomes law, the Mentelle Neighborhood Association  will continue to work with Mayor Linda Gorton’s administration, our Council member Hannah LeGris and other council members to mitigate the damage  as best we can.