We’re happy to announce the first ever BS Neighborhood Derby. Fresh off of the University of Louisville’s domination of the Big East Championship, we’re introducing a little March competition of our own. Beginning tomorrow afternoon, you, the Broken Sidewalk readers, will have a chance to vote for your favorite neighborhoods in an all-out battle for the BS Trophy.
So, no one actually wins anything here, but a whole lot of neighborhood pride is on the line. Spread the word and get your neighborhood to vote early on each contest. We’re expecting some of the competition to be fierce and even hope for a few upsets. You can vote for any neighborhood you prefer and can vote in every battle between two neighborhoods/neighborhood groups.
We semi-arbitrarily seeded the neighborhoods per the above bracket. There are far too many great neighborhoods in Louisville to cover them all, so we chose sixteen neighborhoods or geographically related neighborhood groups for the competition. The winner of each round will be determined by live poll and we expect to have two polls per day, each running two days to make sure everyone has a chance to vote.
Starting tomorrow, the two #1 seeds, the Highlands and Downtown, will battle the suburban town centers (Anchorage, J-Town, and Norton Commons) and SoBro/Limerick respectively. Spread the word: the BS Neighborhood Derby starts tomorrow (Tuesday).
goodness! j-town and anchorage on the same line?! a vote for one is practically a vote against the other. these three things are completely different:
*j-town = wasteful seemingly-unplanned sprawl surrounding and taking over a historic main street community,
*anchorage = historic olmsted-planned out-of-the-city retreat community more recently surrounded by disgusting sprawl,
*norton commons = a trojan horse attempt to disguise new sprawl in faux-historic garb to make its gobbling up of horse farms seem less bad.
The dissimilarities between the three are great, but what we are trying to get at with that grouping is the idea of a suburban town center with some semblance of urbanism. Middletown’s historic main street could fall into that group as well. Any one alone wouldn’t be enough for a listing, but that’s also why they made the lowest seed. At any rate, the voters will decide today.
My first round picks:
Highlands
Old Louisville
Germantown
Jeffersonville
Downtown
Butchertown
Irish Hill
Beechmont
Thoughts:
I’ve never lived in the Highlands, although my dad did when I a kid – in Camelot apartments back when they were really nice. I like it but eventually everyone there looks the same.
I was born in Old louisville at the old Norton’s Infirmary. But I don’t remember that. I did live in Old Louisville for two years and I’m a regular at Third Avenue Cafe. But, I do not always feel safe on some of the streets. That’s a problem.
I lived in and loved Germantown and hope to move back. It is a nice combination of residents: older, younger, straight, gay, churched (mostly Catholic), and non-churched. I miss Erica (RIP) and the Atomic Saucer.
I’m not too big on Jeffersonville, but Clarksville, especially the older part of Clarksville, is a neat little town, close to everything but miles from the big city. If you haven’t been to a small town lately, check out Old Clarksville.
I’ve worked downtown nearly all my life (I’m 48). I love it. The two times I worked somewhere else, once on Gardiner Lane and another on Hurstbourne Lane, I hated it. Downtown has changed a lot but I am always comfortable there. I’m glad to see it finally making a comeback.
I presently live in Butchertown, just since the 1st of the year. I’ve always liked it but I’m still figuring out if I love it. One thing I won’t do is put up a “I’m for a Swift Move” sign. They were here first. Buyer beware.
For the same reasons I like Germantown and Butchertown, I like Irish Hill. Housing stock is similar and it is very convenient to downtown. Irish Hill tends to be overlooked a lot as people tend to drive through it on their way into or out of downtown or the Highlands.
Beechmont (along with the area around U of L) was home to both my parents when they were teenagers. My dad has also lived in this area since I’ve been an adult. It is clean, treed, and convenient. I’m just not a South End boy.
END OF ROUND ONE
where is Shawnee & Chickasaw? seems kind of silly to have separate categories for cali, russ, and parkhill but not those two…..