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Denver Mayor featured at next chamber breakfast
Easily on the short list of America's most intriguing mayors, Denver's John Hickenlooper was once described by Time Magazine as "a colorful guy who rides around on an Aprilia scooter and once suggested that employers earmark a percentage of their payroll to buy local artwork." Don't let that description fool you. After taking office in 2003 and inheriting a $70 million budget deficit — the worst in Denver history, Hickenlooper eliminated the red ink without major cuts in city services or laying off municipal employees, pushed to institute an incentive-based compensation system for public employees, and persuaded voters, along with about a dozen not always friendly mayors in seven regional counties, to support a sales tax hike to fund a $4.7 billion mass-transit plan.
Small wonder then that Mayor Jim Newberry, who has inherited a fiscal perfect storm ranging from a seriously under-funded public employee pension program to an anticipated budget-busting edict from the EPA to fix the city's long neglected storm and sanitary sewer systems, has invited Hickenlooper to share his ideas and experiences with the business communities of Central Kentucky. Newberry, who soon after taking office embraced Blue Grass Tomorrow's proposal to launch a series of regional summits of area leaders, will introduce Hickenlooper before Commerce Lexington's Good Morning Bluegrass breakfast on Oct. 18 at the Lexington Convention Center.
"Mayor Hickenlooper has a great story to tell about taking a regional approach to economic development, planning and an assortment of other issues confronting local government," Newberry said. "He has some real practical experience about how the large city in the region can interface effectively with smaller cities in the region. That's information that would be helpful for everybody in Lexington to hear. I hope we'll be able to get several of the leaders from surrounding communities to come and hear what he has to say, because he has some useful lessons for us all."
Hickenlooper's appearance before participants in Commerce Lexington's 2007 Leadership Visit to Boulder, Colo., so impressed Newberry and many other city leaders that the mayor began working on the invitation immediately. "I had a chance to visit with him again when we crossed paths at a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in California back in June. I told him that we would love to have him come. He mentioned that he was going to be in Cincinnati in mid-October."
Hickenlooper's remarks in Boulder are available as a BizCast online at http://www.bizlex.com/060107/bizcast03.mp3
At press time, the timing of Hickenlooper's appearance had not yet been confirmed. Good Morning Bluegrass breakfasts usually begin at 7:30 a.m. For more information, click on "events" at www.lexchamber.com or contact Commerce Lexington special events director Katie Hardwick at (859) 226-1608 or khardwick@CommerceLexington.com.
Urban Bourbon and the law of attraction
Which comes first in successful downtown redevelopment: residency or retail? Or does success depend on the occurrence of an almost magical combination of the two? It's a familiar chicken-and-egg debate. In reality, however, the key to sparking new life in an urban core may have a third critical component. Some developers are suggesting that the law of attraction — in the matter of downtown development, tourism — is the essential first step.
That in mind, the former James Pepper distillery on Manchester Street was the site of the most recent meeting of the Downtown Lexington Corporation board. Board members heard from developer Barry McNees that talks have been underway with various noted distilleries to consider establishing retail outlets and even boutique distilleries in the properties he is developing along the historic corridor, once home to the Pepper distillery, which billed itself as the world's largest. It's no small irony that in its present blighted state, the street leads directly into a byway voted one of the nation's best scenic drives: Old Frankfort Pike.
"Our vision for the corridor is as an arts and entertainment district," explained McNees. He noted that the area, recently rezoned for industrial mixed use, is relatively free of many of the regulatory issues and costs that have prevented creative entrepreneurial ideas from advancing elsewhere in downtown Lexington.
McNees projects spring of '08 for completion of renovations to the site of the Old Tarr distillery at the eastern end of Manchester, near where the Newtown Pike extension will pass. While the original intent for the site of the historic distillery had focused on retail, he is now reconsidering its potential as a space to host events. Both LexArts and the UK College of Design recently held their annual balls there, and several gatherings are planned in the near future. The 15-acre parcel eventually will include a residential component, as well.
Plans call for model lofts in the former warehouse of the Pepper Distillery by next spring with a full build-out by 2010. "We see this as an opportunity to do something that could really make a difference," said McNees.
Small Business Awards presented
A marketing communications and research firm, the largest and oldest minority-owned mortgage company in Kentucky and one of Lexington's leading professional photographers are recipients of Commerce Lexington's 22nd annual Small Business Celebration awards.
The awards were presented during a dinner presented by Idearc Media at the Griffin Gate Marriott Resort and Spa and attended by 400 Bluegrass business and community leaders.
Preston-Osborne Marketing Communications and Research received the 2007 Small Business of the Year Award. The firm, in business in Lexington for more than 30 years, was cited for its growth from campaign management and consulting to marketing ideas, concepts, services and products.
The Minority Business of the Year award went to Premier Mortgage Group, which, under the leadership of D. McGinnis Mitchell, provides a full range of home loan products. Since its beginning, Premier Mortgage Group has gone from Mitchell and co-owner John Shackelford to 16 full-time employees and a recent move to a 10,000-square-foot building within the Summit Square Office Park.
Selected for the Independent Professional of the Year award was photographer Bill Straus. Straus photographs have been published in six of seven continents and as far away as Japan. His pictures have graced 400 publication covers and received many local, state and national awards, including the Eclipse Award for Excellence in Thoroughbred Photography, the Fuji Masterpiece Award, and numerous ADDY Awards from the Lexington Advertising Club.
Small business gets help with regulatory compliance
A new Internet resource will make it easier and less expensive for small businesses to comply with the regulatory process.
The Commonwealth Office of Technology has launched RegWatch, a Web site created by legislation initiated and supported by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
RegWatch users can register without charge with state government agencies and receive notices about changes to existing administrative regulations or newly proposed administrative regulations. Users can register by agency, by topic, or a combination of both.
Under the legislation state government is required for the first time to detail the costs and benefits of new or revised regulations. It also provides each agency with an ombudsman to respond to inquiries from small businesses.
Visit RegWatch on the web at https://secure.kentucky.gov/Regwatch.
A.G. Edwards presents grant to Explorium
Explorium of Lexington was one of 17 museums nationwide to receive an A.G. Edwards grant award for 2007. The $25,000 grant check was presented during the Explorium's recent Museum Go Round by Lexington branch manager Sherry Holley.
A.G. Edwards maintains partnerships with children's museums nationwide to sponsor financial literacy programs as part of its Nest Egg Knowledge for Kids initiative.
Square D celebrates half-century in Lexington
Square D, a division of Schneider Electric, marked its 50th year in Lexington with a ceremony at its plant at 1601 Mercer Road. The event was attended by Square D executives, current and founding employees and government officials.
The celebration coincided with recognition as Assembly magazine's "Plant of the Year." This prestigious annual award goes to a manufacturing facility that has applied "world-class assembly processes to reduce production costs, increase productivity, shorten time to market and improve product quality."
When the Lexington facility was built by the Square D Company in 1957, 250 employees produced enclosures for residential circuit breakers in a 179,000-square-foot plant. Today, the Lexington operation — one of the largest Square D facilities — employs more than 500 administrative, engineering, manufacturing and marketing people in a 480,000-square-foot plant. Products manufactured include load centers, general and heavy-duty safety switches, and components shipped to other Square D facilities.
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