"What happens when 203 local leaders — people with strongly held views who are generally quite comfortable in their own skins — are confined for three days of intense networking and study of the environment, atmosphere and inner-workings of another city? And furthermore, what happens when you subject folks more accustomed to the traditional to a culture that wears loose clothing, both literally and metaphorically?
We don't yet know. Time will tell. But with the gracious help of eight attendees who agreed to keep journals of their observations and impressions, we have a pretty good initial sense of the outcome of Commerce Lexington's 68th annual Leadership Visit — this time to the bike, bohemian, brain friendly mountain city of Boulder, Colo.
Lexington and Boulder are similar in many ways, polar opposites in others. Lexington's relatively lush scenic beauty activates our innate "savanna syndrome" — that ancient human affinity for the allure of greenspace. Boulder's equivalent, the Flatiron Mountains, appeal to the human penchant for adventure and are so crucial to the city as its signature scenic backdrop that building heights are tightly regulated to avoid interference with the "viewscape." Lexington and Boulder maintain Purchase of Development Rights programs and Urban Services Boundaries in the interest
of protecting from sprawl these stunning and unique natural assets that distinguish each among American cities.
Each city is home to a major state university, and each both embraces and struggles in those relationships. Boulder, a city of just under 100,000 residents who rank among some of the nation's brainiest, has benefited enormously from the commercialization of research conducted at the University of Colorado. Lexington and the University of Kentucky aspire to a similar goal.
Contrasts abound as well. Boulder is a very dry place where one of our typical afternoon rain showers might be mistaken for the apocalypse. "Slim" magazine has named Boulder "the thinnest city in America," and indeed the evidence of active lifestyles — a 108-mile system of bike/hike trails, in particular — is everywhere. As one of our journal keepers noted of an overheard quote during a walking tour of downtown Boulder: "Even the fat ones are in shape!" Lexington is in the earliest stages of taking steps to break the connection between sedentary lifestyles and miserable health statistics. Pending Urban County Council approval of Mayor Jim Newberry's proposed budget, the city is beginning to invest in inviting systems of bike and hiking trails, such as Urban County Councilman Jay McChord's north-south Healthways project and the east-west Town Branch Trail concept spearheaded by architect Van Meter Petit.
Quickly discovered in Boulder, however, was a cautionary tale for Lexington as the city strives to revive and repopulate its urban core as a means of slowing sprawl as well as attracting the urban-inclined talents of a knowledge economy. Boulder, undeniably a cool city with loads of street vibe and attractive neighborhoods, is not settled on a concept of "affordable housing." The median price for a house in Boulder is $550,000, compared with approximately $149,000 in Lexington. Residential developers in Boulder are required to set aside a portion of their projects as "affordable," but they can buy their way around that by paying the city 10 percent of the overall cost of the project. As LexLinc's Wanda Bertram noted in her journal, "Let us heed the warning: with homes in Boulder going for $800 to $1,000 per square foot, a median income twice the national average and a poverty rate of 14 percent, Boulder apparently has no middle class." Bertram noted that limits on growth and development have resulted in a number of laudable community goals but also have created some alarming unintended consequences. "In our planning," she suggested, "we must make sure we do not make our city unaffordable and displace the very people needed to help us thrive."
Regionalism was a centerpiece of the program. Under the leadership of Mayor Newberry and with the support of research commissioned by Blue Grass Tomorrow, Lexington and its neighboring communities are just beginning a formal process of discussing how to better cooperate and collaborate. The county judge-executives and mayors of the 17-county Bluegrass area have been holding monthly meetings for the last 35 years under the leadership of the Bluegrass Area Development District. But until now, according to BADD Executive Director Lenny Stoltz, Lexington's mayor was a no-show. Newberry, he said, has not missed a meeting since taking office.
Boulder is part of a regional network established by the dynamic Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper who, from his first day in office, has actively reached out to the mayors of neighboring communities to establish relationships focused on water supply, emergency services and mass transit. You are urged to treat yourself to Hickenlooper's presentation to the Commerce Lexington trip attendees. A podcast of the speech is available for listening or download online at www.bizlex.com.
Another of our journal keepers, Alltech's Billy Frey, summarized the experience of the Boulder excursion this way: "Overall this was one of the most positive experiences of my life. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I quickly found that there's at least 200 people very committed to making Lexington a better place. But more than that, it's not just talk. We all have to activate these plans because if we leave them in Boulder, all is for naught. That's going to be a problem. From the power of youth to the wisdom of experience, there's a lot of power for change in Lexington. But that's not just limited to those who went to Boulder. Some folks had to keep the home fires burning, and in many ways they're more important than those who went. They're the critical mass that can help activate these plans. I'm very high on Lexington today, and I see some good things coming."
The following excerpts are taken from the Business Lexington journal entries of community leaders who agreed to record their own thoughts, experiences and impressions on the Boulder, Colo., trip to share with readers.
Journal keepers
Wanda Bertram, Executive Director, Lexington Local Investment Commission (LexLinc)
Billy Frey, Public Relations Manager — North America, Alltech
Dr. Lee Todd, President — University of Kentucky
Sheila Kenny, Director of Marketing — The Lexington Center Corporation
Jeff Koonce — CEO-Fayette County, Cumberland Valley National Bank
Andrea James — Urban County Council, District 1
Harold Tate — President, Executive Director - Lexington Downtown Development Authority
Knox Van Nagell — Executive Director — The Fayette Alliance
Mood upon arrival at Blue Grass Airport
It was early in the morning, about 6:30 a.m. (Wednesday, May 16), but everyone was excited like I had never seen before on a Commerce Lexington trip. Many new faces, especially on the Urban County Council side, that were on the trip, which added to the excitement. It was amazing to see both Dr. Todd and Mayor Newberry together, talking and getting prepared for the trip.
Everyone appeared to be ready to take Lexington to the next step. I have not seen this much excitement among a group of people in Lexington for a long time.
— Harold Tate
Value of the Leadership Visit
There is no other forum of which I'm aware, that gets this many community leaders together and promotes relationships that can get things done. It is clear that the Bluegrass region needs this annual event. It makes me feel good to see such a large group of leaders with such genuine concern for the future of the Bluegrass. This is a worthwhile trip that should be required of all of our elected officials.
We have a real jewel in the Bluegrass region and it's called Commerce Lexington. I would stack our Commerce Lexington staff up against any in the nation. They put on a first-class event with real purpose and content. I'll be back next year!
— Jeff Koonce
Regionalism
There is not a profit margin in making enemies. Adversarial political relationships among municipalities just create more and larger problems. We must build trust, pay respect to other elected leaders in our region and focus on our broader self-interest.
— wanda Bertram
Why can't we be friends? That was the topic of the morning and seems to be a recurring theme throughout the trip. One of the things that I didn't realize when starting this trip is how poorly Lexington and the surrounding community have worked together to promote the region.
We listened to the former mayor of Boulder and the current mayor of Denver to see how they've addressed the problem. Denver's mayor, John Hickenlooper was of particular interest. Denver was a very nice city, but Hickenlooper realized that it wouldn't reach its potential until it worked as a region. A very modest man, Mayor Hickenlooper doesn't care who gets the credit, he just wants to see results. Maybe it's his background as the founder of a chain of brewpub restaurants, or maybe it's just his personality. Whatever it is, it's refreshing, and it's no surprise that only two years into his first term as a public official he was named one of the top five "big city" mayors. I'm so glad that Mayor Newberry is getting involved with the surrounding city and county governments to break down the walls that have been built over the years.
— billy Frey
Education and the economy
Lots of good ideas about commercializing intellectual property and how Boulder is working with developing businesses to improve their community. I noticed Dr. Todd taking copious notes. On the plane ride out, Dr. Todd told me one of his goals is to make research "real." One way of making it real is showing people how research affects their daily lives. The way to do that is to commercialize this research, which will create jobs and increase funding to start us on a continuous cycle of improvement.
— billy Frey, on visiting the Boulder Innovation Center
Innovation and entrepreneurship are the key components of their economic development strategy. Creating, growing and selling companies is the norm. Their focus is on natural foods, high tech (especially software companies) and outdoor recreation. Their goal of one percent growth is an interesting economic tactic. If a company, especially a manufacturer, grows too large, they are encouraged to look for a new site outside the Boulder area. The Boulder Innovation Center prefers to only work with companies that they select, and focuses on natural products or software companies. It is certainly not the broad-based support center that we have created with Bluegrass Business Development Partnership.
— lee Todd
Bike/hiking trails
Boulder is a great example of how greenways and bike-ability don't just improve quality of life, but can also be a strong economic driver.
when I returned home from Boulder on Friday evening, from my dining room window at dusk, I watched groups of bikers race across their finish line; took a walk Saturday morning through a flowering Lexington cemetery before walking to the farmers market on a Vine Street made livelier by cool taxi-yellow bikes; and then capped off my weekend Sunday evening with a bike ride of my own through our incredible Bluegrass countryside. Biking and walking Boulder's downtown-university trail system was a fabulous and safe experience. Here in Lexington, we have the resources and capability to do no less if we commit ourselves.
— wanda Bertram
What an experience! Boulder has truly made biking an alternative means of transportation, so much so that 25 percent of the people either bike or walk to work. The paths run along the creek and throughout the city, but the best thing about it is you don't have to fight traffic. Special underpasses have been built so that we only had to cross a street when we wanted to go to a specific business.
— billy Frey
Transit
The mass transit system in Boulder has done a great job understanding its market, branding itself as fun and user friendly and painting a picture of the variety of ways customers can take advantage of the system.
Environmental sustainability is not just about renewable energy, but also about a transit system and culture that values mass transit, high-occupancy vehicles and biking and walking above a single-occupancy transit system. The culminating lesson: It's all about making the right connections. More than ever, we realize the need to connect physically in smarter ways, demonstrated by our fervor to create the Healthways trail system that will begin linking our parks, neighborhoods, businesses, schools and universities.
— wanda Bertram
Boulder has buses called "hop," "skip" and "jump," depending on the distance one needs to travel. What a great idea! The last time I rode the bus in Lexington, it took 31 minutes from work to home. By car, my ride is between six and eight minutes, depending on traffic. I was hoping Ms. Crews with LexTran could think of some way to replicate this service in Lexington.
— andrea James
Town/Gown relationship
I found it interesting that the University of Colorado town & gown relationship seemed to have greater tensions and issues than we experience. House parties, noise, trash and parking were common themes of discussions with community members. While the community overall is very clean, The Hill (the campus retail and entertainment district) was dirty and littered with cigarette butts.
— lee Todd
Downtown
One of my favorite parts of the trip was the Downtown Development Tour. Boulder has committed to downtown development, and it's created a wonderful city. From the Pearl Street Mall to the many other streets and shops, "mixed-use residential" has done great things for the city. I've always been an advocate of downtown development because downtown can and should be the community gathering spot. The best part is Lexington's right on the cusp.
— billy Frey
Downtown continued
In the 1990s, Boulder experienced a large immigration of people from California who were not interested in really connecting to the community. In Lexington, as we fill up the new downtown housing stock, who is moving in? Are they people who are interested in being part of our community conversation and fabric?
— Bertram
Even on a Wednesday night, with CU students dismissed for the summer, the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder is a vibrant hub of activity. The brick-paved pedestrian mall comprised of approximately four blocks of outdoor cafes, boutiques, music venues, street musicians, public art, outdoor seating and even a sculpture garden for children to play in (even the pebbled groundcover has rounded edges so the kids won't get hurt). When I asked one of the Mall's original designers (Richard Foy) if there was a general consensus or "buy in" from the original downtown merchants, he answered with an emphatic "No!" Apparently, one longtime merchant even threatened to kill Foy if the Pedestrian Mall project failed. That Foy was there to tell us about it spoke volumes about the outcome.
— sheila Kenny
Affordability
I heard more than once how we cannot let Lexington turn into a Boulder with regard to housing. People talked about how there must be affordable housing without elimination of middle-class folks. My observation: clearly affordable housing is not Boulder's claim to fame.
— andrea james
(Pearl Street Mall designer Richard Foy) painted a picture of Boulder as a city that had forced out the middle class, people of color, and was the only city that was surrounded by reality. It bothered him that the police chief and the entire Boulder Planning staff did not live in Boulder because they could not afford to. Someone asked Richard what Boulder would look like in 10 to 15 years. His response was "Aspen." He cautioned us to be careful on how we chose for Lexington to be.
— harold Tate
Boulder has made a concerted effort — well thought out and executed — that it wants to have a vibrant urban core with a "greenbelt" around its perimeter.
This vision has been, and is continually being, achieved, to the benefit of the local economy and its vitality, quality of life in building trail systems and alternate modes of transportation that promote a healthy lifestyle of Boulder citizens and environmental integrity.
One criticism of Boulder: affordable housing. In Lexington, we must establish public-private partnerships, responsibly streamline regulations, cut down up-front development costs and establish financing programs for those earning less than 60 percent of median income so we do not displace low income urban residents. Very important!
— Knox Van Nagell
Returning to Lexington
Friday was our last day in Boulder, and everyone was ready to go home. It was a good trip, but there is no place like home. The mayor had asked me to participate in a panel discussing what we had learned in Boulder. After the panel discussion, the mayor gave his comments on the trip and the future of Lexington. As I sat at the front of the room, I could not but look at the audience. During the entire time that the mayor was talking, everyone was quiet and everyone had their eyes on the mayor, absorbing everything he said, and you could tell they were thinking about it. At that point, I truly realized that everyone was ready for Lexington to move (to) the next step and it was going to be a positive step.
It really is an exciting time to be in Lexington and I am so glad I am here.
— harold Tate