Lexington, KY - It's no secret that the efforts of Kentucky policymakers often are crippled by complicated relations and traditional dysfunctions between the cultures of the state's rural and small-town areas and its cities.
On issues ranging from alcohol sales and water resources to taxation, politics and the distribution of revenues, urban and rural Kentuckians often just don't see eye to eye. "If you get out in the state at all, it doesn't take very long to recognize the fact that there's a lot of mistrust, a lack of understanding, between the urban areas and the rural areas," noted Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry during a roundtable interview that included Commerce Lexington President Bob Quick and Central Bank Chief Luther Deaton. "But I grew up in a city of about 250 people. Bob Quick has a rural background; Luther grew up in Jackson. Lexington is nothing if it's not a conglomeration of small-town people." Also present for the discussion was Commerce Lexington Board Chairman Woodford Webb.
In mid-October, several busloads representing that conglomeration will depart Lexington on a two-day fact-finding journey to a collection of seven eastern Kentucky communities, from Irvine and Pikeville to Jackson and Hazard. Instigated by Newberry and Webb, the trip is envisioned as an educational opportunity as well as a bridge-building gesture.
"We're really not trying to cram some urban agenda down their throats," Newberry explained.
"We have so much more in common than we do that divides us, Ö We just need to talk about some of those things we have in common and that are at stake. We're all interested in educating our kids. We're all interested in providing economic opportunity for ourselves and future generations. We're all interested in trying to improve our environment.
I think as we focus on the things that we have in common, some of the issues that divide us unnecessarily we can evaporate."
Heads may turn and brows may rise as the caravan of "city folk" rolls into Whitesburg or Paintsville. And it seems pretty likely that someone will ask, "What do the people from Lexington want from us?"
"There are too few occasions in this world where you don't go and ask for anything.
We're not asking for anything," said Webb.
"What do we expect out of it? We really don't expect a lot other than to show respect for the people of eastern Kentucky - to say thank you for all that they do. We have so many people that come and work in our economy here, come and shop, and so we just need to thank them."
"I would take it a step further," offered Newberry.
"It's not just a matter of expressing our appreciation for the existing relationship, it's an opportunity to learn more about their needs, their concerns and to set the stage for expanding those economic relationships that have been so meaningful to Lexington over the years." Newberry said those needs could include the powerful political clout of more cohesive regional cooperation and collaboration. "Certainly to the extent that we understand their needs in Frankfort or Washington and can help them achieve what they want and perhaps explain to them some of the things we're trying to accomplish in either Frankfort or Washington.
It makes us all stronger when we try to accomplish those objectives," he said.
"This gives an opportunity for both groups to move forward," said Jean Hale, president of Community Trust Bank, the trip's Pikeville-based name sponsor. "Today's economy is truly a world economy - not a state or local economy or regional economy. For the advancement of the people of Kentucky, the focus should be on cooperative efforts and capitalizing on the attributes of each region by appreciating and respecting our differences."
As the buses roll eastward on the morning of October 12, they'll pass evidence of the symbiotic relationship between city and rural residents: cars bearing eastern Kentucky license plates, heading in the opposite direction. Seven percent of the Fayette County workforce commutes from eastern Kentucky counties, according to 2006 census data. That's about 11,000 people, which equates to almost the entire populations of Hazard and Pikeville, piling into their cars every weekday to make the roundtrip to Lexington. When Fayette and its six surrounding counties are considered as a region, the proportion of the workforce commuting from eastern Kentucky counties grows to 9.5 percent.
Those statistics place in proportion the regular interaction between eastern and central Kentuckians. Newberry hopes better understanding can be achieved among the many who have little or no familiarity with one or the other culture and rely mostly on stereotypes. "I've viewed this tour as an opportunity for a lot of people in Lexington to learn some things they don't know about eastern Kentucky, while I hope our friends in eastern Kentucky may hear a thing or two about Lexington they didn't know."
The initiative is the first of an envisioned series of outreach missions to various regions of the commonwealth. Bob Quick said the trip is a direct outgrowth of marching orders he received soon after Commerce Lexington Inc. was formed in 2004 with the merger of the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce, Lexington United, and the Lexington Partnership for Workforce Development, when he was installed as president of the new business organization. "My chairman at the time was Luther Deaton, and he said to go out of the region and just listen.
And when we went out and we listened, we found that people felt for decades - and some will even say for generations - that Fayette County had ignored the needs, even just not interacting in a dignified way.
I heard that several times.
But as we built those relations by just listening, we found we had a lot more in common than we had separating us, and then the further out I went, I started hearing the same message. So this is a continuation of reaching out, going further."
Listening also reveals, however, that eastern Kentuckians, once dependent on Lexington for their shopping and entertainment, now do have options. The days of city taking country for granted are over.
"If you want to go to Bed Bath and Beyond, you don't have to go here in central Kentucky. You can go to West Virginia or Tennessee anymore just about as conveniently," Webb said.
"So our hope is that we encourage them to keep coming to the Bluegrass region for health care, for retail, for UK athletics and so forth."
Success will be riding on mutual perceptions and the impressions that linger as the buses head back to Lexington.
"They will reach out to us if we reach out to them. But we've got to be sincere about it," Deaton counseled. "We can't just go up there to do just a show. It's got to be that we're sincere, and then we've got to prove to them that we can help them."