Lexington, KY - Commerce Lexington's annual "leadership visit" to Greenville, S.C., this past summer provided 200 local business leaders the opportunity to see first-hand how Greenville has reinvented itself over the years. I was disappointed I couldn't make the trip, but the opportunity came to travel to Greenville last fall with my family for a wedding. Since then, I have thought a great deal about how Lexington can learn from Greenville's successes -- mature urban landscape, preservation and adaptive reuse of older structures, and a focus on advanced manufacturing.
Visitors to Greenville have an immediate sense that the community appreciates nature and its history. Main Street is lined with mature, well-cared for trees, providing a pleasant shaded canopy for pedestrians and shoppers, as if Lexington could overlay its own Main Street with the genteel elegance of Gratz Park. Falls Park on the Reedy River is located in the middle of downtown Greenville, something like having Natural Bridge and Red River Gorge right in the middle of downtown Lexington. Even I-385 in Greenville has trees, bushes and flowers in the interstate median leading all the way downtown. Greenville also has devoted substantial resources to preserving and renovating its older structures, several of which are now popular restaurants filled with people.
We must promote and develop Lexington's own urban landscape over the next several decades to increase the number, quality and care of trees, shrubs and landscaping throughout downtown Lexington and along our corridors. The Urban County Council should identify a sustained funding source and make a long-term commitment to bring to Lexington something like the incredible urban landscape they have created in Greenville. Lexington must also promote its own natural features, such as creating a city-wide system of bike and pedestrian trails through our greenways and along our many creeks and streams, as has been done with the Legacy Trail and the Beaumont trail system. We must also increase our commitment to preserving and enhancing our historical heritage that makes Lexington unique and special for residents and visitors.
Another lesson from Greenville is the key role that manufacturing has played in Greenville's economy, like its BMW plant and the American headquarters for Michelin Tires. Some take for granted what Toyota and Lexmark have done for Lexington, and this may be why we lack any substantial tract of developable industrial land in which a new manufacturing facility like BMW, Toyota or Lexmark could be built. It's hard to attract new high-tech manufacturing facilities if we don't have any place to put them.
Recently, the mayors of Louisville and Lexington formed the "Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement" (BEAM) to develop a plan to improve advanced manufacturing and increase exports from Lexington and Louisville. The BEAM board is made up of top Kentucky business and education leaders, and seeks to adopt an economic development plan by October 2012. Through a continued focus on higher education and quality of life, Lexington can become one of the most attractive communities in the nation for locating a new advanced manufacturing facility. But we must identify and set aside land for future industry in Lexington.
I was truly stunned by my visit to Greenville. The community's long-term focus on improving its urban landscape, attracting advanced manufacturing, and preserving its natural beauty and historic assets have created a highly attractive city and very competitive economy. For Lexington to take its rightful place as one of our nation's great cities, we must learn our own lessons from Greenville and plan for the future. To paraphrase Ghandi, the future depends on what we do today.