LEXINGTON, KY - In his fourth State of the Merged Government Address today, Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry said despite horrid economic times, Lexington has made it on solid footing to 2010.
After managing to avoid layoffs in cutting $12.5 million out of the LFUCG budget earlier this month, Newberry spent much of his nearly hour-long speech focusing on what good happened in Lexington in 2009, those Urban County Government did and didn't have a role in.
"The development of our local economy has been a major focus throughout my administration and that did not change in 2009," Newberry said, talking about a partnership between LFUCG, Commerce Lexington and the University of Kentucky. "Since January 2007, the Bluegrass Business Development Partnership has directly created 2,351 jobs. In other words, the partnership has created more than two jobs for every one of the 1,126 days of this administration, and the jobs were created during the worst economic times since the Great Depression," he said in his speech to a special meeting of the Lexington Forum before a lunchtime crowd of around 400 at the Hyatt's Patterson Ballroom.
In an interview following his remarks Newberry gave much of the credit to what success the city saw in 2009 to the city's busy schedule of events in 2010, and the expectations leading up to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, which get underway in September.
"We have been able to utilize the World Equestrian Games as something of a lever to make a lot of absolutely remarkable things happen in this community... because of the impact of the Games I think we've been able to get more done than I had in my wildest imagination thought we'd be able to get done, and we've got a lot more work to do," he said.
During the speech Newberry mentioned expansive road work being done around the community from the decades-long discussed Newtown Pike Extension to the work on South Limestone, bike trials, streetscape improvements and the current project to revamp Cheapside Park, all of which have may have their roots in the Games.
Beyond the public projects Newberry cited the changes in and around the center of the city in the realm of development. "We have seen a remarkable renaissance downtown thanks to both investments by your local and state government and by private citizens and businesses. Those investments include: $560 million at UK Medical Center, $134 million at the UK Pharmacy building, $78 million in the Showprop development on Angliana Avenue, $16 million at the first phase of The Lex, $16 million here at the Hyatt, $13 million across the street at the Hilton, $17 million on South Limestone and $6 million at the Lyric Theatre. I am sure there are others we could list, and if we started listing new nightspots, we would be here far too long, but clearly, these and other investments downtown have made it the hot development site in our city. Our downtown's vibrancy will enable us to be an attractive location for young professionals - a key element in our long-term economic growth," he said in the speech.
Business Lexington
"We certainly had our economic challenges as a community," Newberry told following the speech, "but compared to our peers, other cities in the region, and state we've done very, very well."
Looking ahead to 2010 and beyond, Newberry pointed out areas the city can find efficiencies, such as the garbage we generate. A recent study revealed that approximately three quarters of what Lexington residents place in their "Herbies" for garbage collection, is in fact recyclable.
"Armed with this information, my administration requested that the Council authorize us to purchase equipment for our recycling facility that will enable us to nearly triple our recycling capacity by June of this year. We project that within one year, we will be able to take 80,000 pounds of recyclable materials out of the landfill stream each day, saving Lexington taxpayers approximately $1.5 million annually in labor, transportation and landfill fees. In addition to those savings, we sold about $1.4 million in recyclables last year. If we triple that amount, we will have about $4 million in recyclable sales in a couple of years - an increase of roughly $2.6 million in new revenue," he said.
While the mayor is a few months from what looks to be a hotly contested primary pitting him against former Mayor Teresa Isaac and Vice Mayor Jim Gray, Newberry's 17 printed-page address didn't smack of a campaign speech as much as some thought it might.
Gray, who as top council official was on hand, released a statement following the speech. "While I believe he certainly means well, his vision for Lexington remains clouded by the bad decisions and misplaced priorities that have plagued his administration over the past three years," the statement read in part.
"Over the next 11 months, as we navigate through this economic crisis, I encourage the Mayor to listen more - to the Council, to community and business leaders, to his police and fire fighters, to city employees who know how Government works best. Listen to the people of Fayette County, who want the best for Lexington and who look for real leadership in City Hall," Gray's statement concluded.
A call to Isaac's campaign was not returned, and it was unclear if she was one of the 400 or so in attendance.