Lexington, KY - Concerned about the unfunded pensions for Lexington's police and firefighters? Are the city's traffic flows bugging you? How about the often bewildering process of obtaining business licenses? Or, the persistent issue of growth verses green space in Lexington and Fayette County?
How these and other weighty issues of municipal administration will be addressed in the next four years will be determined when the voters of Fayette County head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 2. to choose between incumbent Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry or his challenger for the city's highest office, Vice Mayor Jim Gray.
The candidates seemed to enter their respective offices following the 2006 elections sharing wavelengths on many key issues. As voters would soon learn, that was not the case. Newberry and Gray have since co-existed in a contentious relationship that has seen them often at odds over issues ranging from administrative style to the government's role in downtown redevelopment. The tone of their campaigns have been relatively muted perhaps only by the presence of the World Equestrian Games and a mutual calculation that the electorate is in no mood to see this international event sullied by local political bickering.
To prepare you for your moment in the voting booth, The Lexington Forum will host a breakfast debate between Newberry and Gray at Keeneland on the morning of Thursday, Oct. 7. WVLK's Dave Krusenklaus will serve as moderator.
Guests are welcome at meetings of The Forum, a non-partisan membership organization devoted exclusively to the exploration and analysis of community and regional issues.
The group holds 11 monthly breakfast meetings at the Boone Faculty Center on the campus of the University of Kentucky, as well as an annual meeting, The Forum at Noon, which hosts the mayor's annual State of the Merged Government address. Meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month at 7:15 a.m. with coffee and networking, followed by an hour long breakfast presentation at 7:30 a.m. April and October meetings are held at Keeneland.
Membership in the Lexington Forum is open to all individuals in the Central Kentucky area with an interest in the issues of the community. Membership dues of $225 per fiscal year include breakfast at the monthly meetings.
Additional information about the Forum is available online at www.lexingtonforum.org or may be obtained by emailing: lexingtonforum@gmail.com.