Mayor’s Commission Report
Update: The City released a public RFP/I for its Disparity & Availability Study to understand racial disparities in city contracting on 01/19/21. Download it here.
This week, we're focusing on the recently-released report by the Mayor's Commission on Racial Justice & Equality. Coming in at 68 pages, the Mayor's Report recommends dozens of policies and programs to combat the impacts of systemic racism on black and brown communities in Lexington.
Several meetings are also essential to pay attention to this week, including an update on the city's finances in Tuesday's Special Budget, Finance, & Economic Development Committee Meeting and presentations on the PDR and Safety Net programs in Tuesday's Work Session.
Ok - now back to the report.
Why is this important?
The Mayor's Commission Report is the city's first attempt to deal with systemic racism across Fayette County since this summer's protests around Police Accountability.
The impacts of systemic racism on communities of color are evidentiary and widespread in Lexington.
Since the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and too many other people of color by police officers this summer, countless national policy organizations have pushed city governments to address systemic racism at the local level.
The Mayor's Commission report includes several ambitious policy and program recommendations, and it communicates urgency around these goals. Each recommendation specifically mentions Mayor Linda Gorton's administration, indicating that these are not policies that should take years to begin - given that the next Mayoral election is in 2022.
In many ways (both stated and implied), the report is a callback to the Lexington Urban League's State of Black Lexington, released in 2010. There is a significant carryover between the two documents, showing how little political will there has been to substantively address these issues over the past decade.
How is the report structured?
The commission structured the report off of the commission's subcommittee structure - there are five subcategories of recommendations.
The five recommendation sections are Housing & Gentrification; Education; Economic Opportunity; Health Disparities; Law Enforcement, Justice, & Accountability; and Racial Equity.
The report also contains a history of systemic racism in Lexington as it has impacted the black community.
The following is a summary of key recommendations for each section. For the complete list of proposals and justification, please read the report in its entirety.
Education Recommendations
Education recommendations focus on early childhood education and building new support systems for ensuring the progression through academics of communities of color. Specific recommendations are:
Create a city-wide system for pre-school/early childhood education.
Allocate $1M for nonprofits working on multigenerational education.
Create a new staff person inside LFUCG to manage the city's progress on educational goals.
Eliminate the Praxis as a pre-qualifier for Colleges of Education locally.
Create opportunities for afterschool programming for youth, modeled after the now-closed Mayor's Training Center.
Economic Opportunity Recommendations:
Economic Opportunity recommendations focus on the disparities in the ownership of businesses the city invests in through its contracting processes and economic development leadership.
Break out the city's Minority Business Enterprise program's demographics to make it easier to track what sub-groups are receiving city contracts and subcontracts. Increase the goal requirement from 10% of city contracts/subs to 15%. Insist that Commerce Lexington and educational institutions also commit to this goal.
Commission a disparity study to understand the full scope of the racial ownership of firms receiving city contracts and subcontracts.
Commission a comprehensive guide to and listing of minority businesses in Fayette County.
Develop targets for the growth of minority-owned businesses in Fayette County, in partnership with the community, educators, and workforce development institutions.
Create a new funding pool for minority business expansion.
Housing & Gentrification Recommendations:
Housing & Gentrification recommendations focus on overhauling city programs and laws to reduce the negative impact on communities of color and investing in gentrifying communities.
Create a new Housing Advocate position within LFUCG to oversee housing issues city-wide.
Overhauling the Division of Code Enforcement into a Code Agency that prioritizes the health and well-being of residents over punitive fines.
Rewrite the city's Zoning Ordinance to allow for greater density, supply, and affordability of housing.
Reserve a portion of COVID relief funding for eviction prevention.
Match the city's investment in the Purchase of Development Rights program with a new program targeting gentrifying neighborhoods.
Create programs to invest in minority-owned businesses in gentrifying neighborhoods.
Formally commit the city to addressing gentrification and create programs to slow harmful changes in neighborhoods that are economically and racially transitioning.
Take action against "predatory investors" that target long-time homeowners with undue, excessive purchase solicitations.
Health Disparity Recommendations:
Health Disparity Recommendations focus on the relationship between the City of Lexington and external agencies that support community health through food access, transportation, and healthcare.
Create a Community Health Worker position to serve as a liaison between hospitals and city government.
Improve access to healthy food and reduce food insecurity through a series of twelve sub recommendations.
Expand access to Lextran Wheels program to residents with low economic status - beyond those only with physical disabilities
Require all LFUCG employees to undergo cultural competence training.
Influence local healthcare industries to hire diverse staff.
Develop a more formal structure and metrics for the impact of the Community Health Improvement Plan.
Law Enforcement & Justice Recommendations:
The Law Enforcement, Justice & Accountability Subcommittee Recommendations focus on significant policy overhauls of the Lexington Police Department to bring more resident oversight and more awareness of racial disparities.
Amend the Division of Police Disciplinary Review Board to include three non-law enforcement resident positions.
Create a civilian commission with law enforcement authority that serves as a mirror for the Lexington Police Department's (LPD) Public Integrity Unit - also designed to supersede any current collective bargaining agreements.
Publicize all complaints and dispositions against LPD officers.
Create a Citizen's Liaison to assist residents who want to submit a complaint against LPD officers and track/monitor complaints throughout the process.
Require all LPD officers to use body-worn cameras.
Hire a consultant to review the LPD/Fraternal Order of Police relationship and present recommendations for changes.
Create formal documentation and review of de-escalation techniques associated Use of Force.
Create a policy prohibiting LPD retaliation against residents who file complaints.
Expand officer disciplinary record from five years to their entire career.
Require documentation for any consensual or probable cause search of personal property.
Require all LPD officers to present residents with a business card upon any interaction - the business card will provide an opportunity for feedback of the officer interaction.
Require LPD present reports of trends and statistics regarding the racial impacts of policing to the Mayor and Council.
Require submitting all data necessary to the National Use of Force database.
Increase funding for the recruitment of new officers that follow the 21st Century Policing Recommendations.
Require LPD officers to undergo racial bias screening, a comprehensive review of race/policing history, and conflict resolution training.
Create a new position to review all police and justice activity to monitor racial disparities.
Create a pilot program to divert 911 calls for mental health, addiction, or homelessness issues to non-police health and safety professionals.
Create a sobering center for residents needing to recover from the effects of acute alcohol or drug intoxication.
Implement a program similar to the Vera Institute of Justice Prosecution and Racial Justice Program.
Require the Fayette County Attorney and the Fayette County Commonwealth's Attorney to undergo continuing education on racial disparity.
Establish cultural competence program for Prosecutors.
Require Fayette County Attorney's Office to make diversion available for all first-time offenders who qualify and any misdemeanor offender without charges over a five-year span.
Require Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney Office review Persistent Felony Offender policies.
Fund/conduct a study to examine disparities in plea deals.
Ensure that court personnel reflect the demographics of Lexington.
Ensure that jurors are educated on racial bias.
Ensure that judges are educated on and consider the impacts of lengthy probation periods.
Racial Equity Recommendations:
The Racial Equity Subcommittee recommendations focus on government-wide actions that can be taken to address racial equity and disparities.
Create Racial Equity Assessment criteria for the city government.
Create and roll out a public education campaign around racial equity and disparities.
Create a new Job Training Center focusing largely on public sector jobs.
Create a city-wide or neighborhood-based summer youth job program based out of the Job Training Center.