Week of February 7, 2022
By: Gillian Stawiszynski & Richard Young
Public Arts Master Plan/ Economic Development Partnership Update / Get Engaged / Updates from Last Week / This Week in City Government
🔎 - Big topic this week: Public Arts Master Plan
This week, we'll be watching a presentation from Heather Lyons, LFUCG's Director of Arts and Cultural Affairs, in the Council Work Session. Heather will present the new Public Art Master Plan proposed by the city's Public Arts Commission.
The Public Art Master Plan will set guidelines for how the city commissions and acquires new public art for placement on public property. It doesn't govern public art that is on private property in any way.
The city created the Commission alongside a Percent for Art resolution that requires the city to set aside the equivalent of 1% of all bonded projects for public art projects each year.
The Public Art Master Plan contains several key recommendations, including:
Creating a new formal Public Art Program in LFUCG, funded by the Percent for Art resolution. This program would commission/acquire public art for placement on public land, catalog it, and maintain it.
Merging the Urban County Arts Review Board into the Public Art Commission
Creating a new LFUCG Division of Arts and Culture to house the new public art program.
You can read the complete Public Art Master Plan here.
Full Disclosure - CivicLex's Executive Director, Richard Young, is a member of the Public Art Commission.
🏢 - This Week in City Hall: Economic Development Partnership Update
This week, we'll watch presentations from LFUCG's Economic Development Partners in the Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee. These partners are organizations paid by the city to plan and implement strategies to boost economic development— they utilize their resources and connections to launch projects that create jobs.
Watch the meeting on LexTV on February 8 at 1 pm.
Euphrates International Investment Company
Euphrates offers consulting services and an international network of investors for economic development. Euphrates focuses "on companies that offer good-paying jobs and have corporate goals that are aligned with the values of our community."
They'll present a business they recently recruited to Lexington, JDL Global Environmental protection, Inc., that supplies wastewater treatment consultations and services. They'll also present about GrowInLex, a business matchmaking platform that they created to help support small and minority businesses through training, webinars, and supplier events.
Commerce Lexington
Commerce Lexington is Lexington's Chamber of Commerce - it promotes business and job growth in Lexington and neighboring communities.
Commerce Lexington will present about its work to retain and expand businesses in the region - including BioTech, AgTech, Nonprofits, business services, technology, manufacturing, headquarters, distribution, and customer contact centers. They'll also present about their work with educational institutions, including Fayette County Public Schools and the University of Kentucky.
EHI Consultants and Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County
EHI Consultants is a community planning consulting firm based in Lexington. The Urban League of Lexington-Fayette Co. is the local association of the national Urban League, which empowers and advocates for underserved communities through housing, community development, technology, and senior employment.
EHI and the Urban League will present their joint work around Opportunity Zones, which are economic development tools to recruit investors for underserved areas. Together, they have created community profiles for Lexington's Opportunity Zones. These profiles go over key concepts like community assets, demographics, neighborhoods, and overall analysis to create a more informed opportunity for investors. In addition to creating profiles, they will present on opportunities for Community Benefit Agreements for Opportunity Zone investment in Lexington.
🏃 - Get Engaged
Voting 101 workshop
It's Primary season! The CivicLex team wants you to be an informed voter, so we're hosting a workshop on Wednesday, February 9 about how to vote in this May's elections. Join us to learn all the who's, what's, when's, and where's of Lexington's 2022 Primaries featuring special guest Don Blevins, the Fayette County Clerk.
Join us Wednesday, February 9 at 6pm on Zoom. You can RSVP here and join the Zoom meeting here.
City Committee Watch Party
Join CivicLex and UK's Office for Student Success to watch and talk about the week's LFUCG Committee meeting! These City Committee Watch Parties, which are open to students and community members alike, and include free snacks, will take place every Tuesday from 5-6pm. Feel free to drop in even if you can't stay the whole time!
Join us Tuesday, February 8 at 5pm in the Gatton Student Center at UK!
🗞 - Updates from Last Week
Rural Broadband
On February 1, Aldona Valicenti, Lexington's Chief Information Officer, presented Rural Broadband studies from 2017 and 2021 and the takeaways and changes that could improve broadband opportunities for rural communities in Fayette County.
The committee agreed that broadband is an essential utility, like water and electricity. However, installing the infrastructure to provide rural broadband to all rural parts of Fayette county has a few obstacles to overcome.
When Internet Service Providers install in the urban service area, they already have the city's infrastructure to rely on. Rural areas in Fayette County don't have this infrastructure, so the city would have to contract companies to build it from nothing to provide broadband services.
It would likely take 2.5-4 years to build this infrastructure, and it would cost tens of millions of dollars.
One Committee Member brought up Starlink, a satellite internet service that has recently been used to provide connectivity throughout western Kentucky after the tornado destruction, as an option for rural broadband. But, CIO Valicenti said this service could be too expensive for rural families in the long run.
CIO Valicenti recommended that the committee constantly press the importance of this issue to the council until the city invests in rural Fayette County's broadband infrastructure. She also recommended council members support any city grant applications that could help with installation costs through letters of support.
Composting
On February 1, Angela Poe presented the city's composting pilot program and plans to the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee.
Poe said that the pilot worked out well and that its continuation would allow Lexington to divert our city's waste from landfills.
The committee members had a few suggestions for extending the project into the future:
This workshop could grow past 100 people a year. If the city did this program with more Lexingtonians, it could avoid more landfill waste in Lexington.
It was challenging to organize payment for the involved residents' compost materials. One committee member suggested residents give their compost materials to local nurseries and gardens in return for a voucher.
🏢 - This Week in City Government
Monday, February 7th
Ad Hoc Committee
⏱ - 1:00 pm on February 7th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - LexTV
🗣 - No input option
———
Tuesday, February 8th
Budget, Finance & Economic Development Committee
⏱ - 1:00 pm on February 8th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - LexTV
🗣 - Public input option
Council Work Session
⏱ - 3:00 pm on February 8th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - LexTV
🗣 - Public input option
———
Wednesday, February 9th
Board of Adjustment Application Filing Deadline
⏱ - 8:00 am on February 9th
📍 - Phoenix Building, Planning Office - 7th floor, 101 E. Vine St.
📺 - No virtual option
🗣 - No input option
Congestion Management & Air Quality Committee (CMAQ)
⏱ - 10:00 am on February 9th
📍 - Phoenix Building - 7th floor conference room, 101 E. Vine St.
📺 - Zoom Link
🗣 - No input option
Tree Board
⏱ - 10:30 am on February 9th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Zoom Link
🗣 - No input option
Commission on Veterans Affairs
⏱ - 11:30 am on February 9th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - LexTV
🗣 - No input option
Transportation Technical Coordinating Committee (TTCC)
⏱ - 1:30 pm on February 9th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Zoom Link
🗣 - No input option
———
Thursday, February 10th
Budget Retreat
⏱ - 1:00 pm on February 10th
📍 - LexTran — 200 W. Loudon Ave.
📺 - No virtual option
🗣 - No input option
Planning Commission Meeting Subdivision Items
⏱ - 1:30 pm on February 10th
📍 - Council Chamber, 2nd Floor — 200 E. Main St.
📺 - No virtual option
🗣 - No input option
Council Meeting
⏱ - 6:00 pm on February 10th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - LexTV
🗣 - No input option
———
Friday, February 11th
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC)
⏱ - 12:00 pm on February 11th
📍 - Phoenix Building - 7th floor conference room, 101 E. Vine St.
📺 - Zoom
🗣 - No input option