Lexington, KY - With a joint statement from UK's president, athletics director and men's basketball coach, the rug was seemingly pulled out from under a task force's work of investigating the prospects for a new downtown district revolving around a new or renovated Rupp Arena. The statement said unequivocally that the University of Kentucky could not support the use of finite state funds to build something not core to the university's mission of educating Kentuckians.
And they were right.
In response, Mayor Jim Gray and the chair of the Rupp Arena, Arts and Entertainment Task Force released statements arguing that, if Lexington is to grow, the city needs to develop an economic engine fueled by the city's most popular attraction: Rupp Arena, which brings nearly 500,000 UK fans downtown each basketball season, often up to 23,000 in a single night.
And they were right.
The University of Kentucky knows the Kentucky General Assembly will view any revenue allocated to the downtown project as money committed to the university, despite the fact that UK would lease the space only about 20 nights a year for its men's basketball team. This comes at a time when the school is looking to launch an ambitious project to upgrade on-campus residences while still looking for funding for previously requested projects, such as a new law school building and a new home for the Gatton College of Business and Economics.
Supporting state funding for the arena district project would be a zero-sum game.
But as Mayor Gray said in a statement: "The Arena, Arts and Entertainment District is more than about Rupp." The mayor sees a corridor that finally connects UK's vibrant campus to our growing and prospering downtown. A reconfiguration of the layout of Rupp could incorporate the proposed Distillery District into the fabric of downtown, not only doubling the size of the traditional downtown area, but bringing to our downtown new facets of entertainment and culture anchored by the 46-acre space including and surrounding Rupp, which, as the mayor said, "is of course the centerpiece."
There's the rub. UK's "Board of Trustees, our faculty and staff, and our students have spoken with a clear and unequivocal voice: Our primary focus should - and must - be the construction and renovation of facilities and living and learning spaces so that we can revitalize the core of our campus and, in particular, further strengthen the undergraduate education we provide," said the statement released by UK President Eli Capilouto, Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart and coach John Calipari.
An area around Rupp that is made vibrant by capturing and exploiting the passionate energy on display as the Cats take on a foe, or the excitement of a crowd exiting Big Blue Madness into the downtown area, is as central to the mission of attracting and retaining the creatives and engineers that build a 21st Century economy as proper living and learning space is for creating them in the post-secondary environment.
Dr. Capilouto is making it clear that he cannot in good conscience sell the legislature on a project to continue the momentum of Lexington's downtown as the best thing for his school. But the mayor can say it is the best thing for Fayette County, and in order to prove it, we can all agree to take a bold step.
In 2006, Lexington business leaders saw firsthand what a limited term, voter-approved sales tax can do for a downtown area while visiting Oklahoma City, which had initiated a visionary capital improvement program - Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS) - after the city was rejected as a site location for a major employer.
A slate of "quality of life" projects began in Oklahoma City in December of 1993 when voters approved a one-cent MAPS sales tax to finance the project. Not only were the planned projects completed on schedule, but the city wound up with surplus millions earned in interest.
Maps 3
MAPS for Kids, a follow-up project to completely renovate the Oklahoma City public schools system based on a half-penny sales tax was overwhelmingly approved by voters. Its goals were achieved on schedule, and voters in Oklahoma City have since approved yet another penny sales tax initiative,
, which got underway last year with a term that expires in 2017. Projects include a 70 acre "Central Park;" a new rail-based streetcar system with a downtown transit hub to link streetcar, commuter rail and bus systems; a new downtown convention center; new sidewalks throughout the city; 57 miles of public bike and walking trails; improvements to the Oklahoma River, including a public whitewater kayaking facility and upgrades aimed at resulting in the finest rowing racecourse in the world; health and wellness aquatic centers designed for seniors and located throughout the city; and improvements to State Fair Park public buildings, meeting halls and exhibit spaces. All of these projects fall under a citizen oversight board.
There have since been attempts to persuade the Kentucky General Assembly to consider amending the state's constitution to allow for a local sales tax option, or in this case, to allow Lexingtonians to decide on our own what is best for our city. Those efforts have been quashed by a contradictory view that, on one hand, demands up-to-date public facilities - like Rupp - but on the other hand, refuses to pay for them with public dollars.
There is little denying that a new or renovated Rupp would enhance the recruitment of star players to UK, or that a better education and higher performing school will make attracting students easier. State-of-the-art facilities for research and instruction will make recruiting top-level faculty easier, just as a hopping district capturing the energy of Rupp Arena in the center of downtown will make the job of convincing a company to start, stay or locate in Lexington easier. It is also clear that more money being spent in our downtown will support the funding of the many services provided by the Urban County Government.
Instead of an ugly battle over a small pool of state funds that could create a rift between our new mayor and university president within months of the start of their tenures, the two should work together, along with the support of Lexington and even Louisville, to push for a restructuring of the commonwealth's antiquated tax structure to allow for a local sales tax option.
It's a Herculean task. First, this would require the state legislature to approve an amendment to the Kentucky constitution, followed by a statewide referendum in November of 2012, and finally a local vote in the following year.
But the Commonwealth's economic engines, its urban areas, desperately need the freedom to decide what works best for themselves without the interference of the rural interests who currently dominate legislative leadership.
Ask yourself as a citizen of Lexington and Fayette County: Isn't it worth a few extra pennies spent here and there throughout the day to build and maintain key urban infrastructure that serves us all in ways the private sector cannot, or will not, ever provide?