SB: Vice Mayor, thank you for joining me here today. My first question has to do with downtown development, which has been the subject of an often contentious debate during your time as vice mayor. You've expressed strong opinions about what you believe should and should not be allowed. But as mayor, what specific actions would you take and what tools would you use to encourage developers to build what you think Lexington needs, and conversely, to prevent them from building what's wrong for the city?
JG: There are many examples across the country today which have elevated the role of the urban core, the downtowns, in cities. And why is that important? As urban economies go, so goes the city's economy. In today's market and today's world jobs are enormously important. Our urban core in Lexington deserves to be equal to our rural landscape. So elevating planning to a significant role where we can utilize imagination and talent to engage the opportunity we have is essential. So as mayor, the first thing that I would do is elevate the role of planning, examine other cities for more efficient models. I don't believe we need four authorities governing the downtown. I think we can look to Columbus as an example. I think we can look to Charleston as an example. In Charleston, for example, there's an office for planning, preservation and economic innovation. Why is that? Because there, Mayor Riley recognized some time back that these efforts need to be aligned - planning, economic development and preservation. And in a city where we have such a rich history - a 235-year history - the 65th largest city in America, we cannot afford to be mediocre in these essential dimensions of good planning and good management.
SB: As a follow up to that, would you be in support of developing some enforceable design guidelines or rules that would strengthen the city's commitment to the master plan?
JG: What I've learned in 36 years in business is that flexibility is real important and so are guidelines. ... They are there to guide us 75 percent of the time; 25 percent of the time, God gave us judgment (and) imagination. We've got to dial up the imagination within frameworks that allow us to make informed, good decisions. So my support of form-based guidelines goes back a long time, and even in this government, I've been advocating it for three years as co-chair of the Infield and Development Committee on the council. It's one of our major recommendations in our infield and redevelopment report in 2008. So this is not something new for me. I've been advocating and encouraging our planning department, our administration to take these initiatives for some time, so I am pleased that we are now looking at it carefully, deliberately and intentionally.
SB: So taking the idea you are discussing of the city's commitment to planning into a separate realm, would you be willing to champion the creation of a community-wide cultural master plan and the establishment of an arts commission?
JG: I think that's another good opportunity. Anything we can do structurally to elevate the importance of the arts in our community in every dimension: visual, performing, literary - even, to an extent, culinary, and why is that? Well, we are seeing vineyards develop in Fayette County and in the region. We're seeing the Bourbon Trail develop. So when you connect the dots strategically, we have extraordinary opportunities that will define the next 25, 50, 100 years for this region and really then allow us to declare without pretense that we are a world-class region. So taking the arts, if it's a structural adjustment, Ö and when I say structural, I mean organizational, Ö whenever people can get together and work on problem solving and imagination, imagining the future, Ö then there's generally a good result, in my view.
SB: Much of the focus of your campaign has been on downtown, but as mayor, obviously, you'll be responsible for representing the interests of the entire city. How would you balance downtown initiatives with the needs and interests and concerns of suburban residents and businesses?
JG: I actually think much of my record as vice mayor has been (focused) on a couple of important words: transparency and accountability. And these words and these models of behavior go far beyond the downtown. They translate into every neighborhood. My early advocacy, my early call for an audit at the airport, went far beyond the downtown. My early call for examining the cost of a new water treatment plant and pipeline went far beyond the downtown. It was all about representing taxpayers. It was all about representing our citizens. That's what my role as an elected official has been, that's the oath I took and that's what it will continue to be as mayor.
SB: But taking a specific issue that's influenced by that kind of downtown/suburban balance that we're talking about, affordability of commercial space in the downtown sector has garnered a lot of interest from many business owners, but how do we encourage the affordability that's going to build the vitality for a downtown core without being seen by suburban businesses as unfairly subsidizing their downtown competitors?
JG: Most folks that I know who live outside the downtown, outside New Circle or Man of War, they still have an attachment to the downtown. Downtown represents the heart and soul of the city. That's why it's important, but it's not so important that our other areas are unimportant. In fact, from Gleneagles to Masterson Station and from Meadowthorpe to Monticello, you see neighborhoods and people who are so caring and so giving and care about Lexington so much. In fact, I heard one woman describe Lexington - when I went door to door four years ago, my icebreaker was, "so how would you describe Lexington?" And she said, "Oh, I describe Lexington as an extry large Mayberry, and that's e-x-t-r-y." And when we encourage our downtown and when we also work in our neighborhoods to restore, for example, complete streets - to create complete streets, to create better and more attractive parks - this helps everyone. A big part of what's extraordinary about Lexington is our rural landscape. And we think of ourselves as a garden city in fact, which is why parks and neighborhoods are so important to us.
SB: In the past, you have often spoken of your admiration for Toyota's kaizen model and its efficiency when applied to business. I was wondering how would you apply those principles to LFUCG as mayor, and do you see any specific obstacles to be overcome in applying that kind of business-oriented model to a public sector environment?
JG: Of course, kaizen is the Japanese word for continuous improvement, and I say in our company that what that really represents is getting up every morning and believing that what we do today can be a little bit better than what we did yesterday. So I think that translates across business, government and not-for-profits. It's a commitment to improvement every day. We actually employed in the infill and redevelopment committee Toyota's problem-solving model to dig at and get at root causes before we came up with solutions. Then we went to the solutions, the recommendations. I also have encouraged the city, three years ago, to introduce benchmarking measurements in our departments, in our activities of government. This is good business. What I believe is that good business practices can be translated into government and should be. Ö I'm glad the mayor actually put it in the budget this year. The council put it in at my recommendation two years ago. We're now building up the data for these measurements, and at the end of the day, my belief is if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. The business of government can be run like a business, and it should be.
SB: In terms of the structure of our government here in Lexington, there are some who have criticized it as being inherently flawed, particularly in regard to the broad responsibilities of the mayoral role. Some believe that it prevents, or at least impedes, any mayor from being truly effective in that role. Do you think that there are organizational problems that should be addressed, and if so, what changes would you advocate to address those problems?
JG: What we have today by charter is a strong mayor form of government, and changing the charter would be more than a proverbial act of Congress; it would be a referendum by the city. So we have what we have, and we need to work within that framework. I would encourage and I would appoint a strong and effective and experienced chief operating officer in the role of chief administrative officer. And the reason I use "chief operating officer" is simply that's a business language for the day-to-day operational role. What I've learned in 38 years in business is that we play to our strengths. We work on our weaknesses, and we play to our strengths. And what I recognize from having been in a chief executive role is that this is a mission critical to operating efficiency, the chief operating officer role. So placing the right person in that role and the staff around that person is essential to effective governments.
SB: Your opponent, Mayor Newberry, has criticized you for a lack of accomplishment during your time as vice mayor. What do you see as your greatest solid and quantifiable accomplishments in government?
JG: Well, you know, I have to laugh about criticisms like that. You learn in politics to have a thick skin and to move on. Clearly I've worked shoulder to shoulder with the mayor on many of the accomplishments of this administration. Just a year ago, the mayor praised this council, which I have been the presiding officer for, as the best council in the history of Lexington. So I shared in that praise and I appreciated it, and I appreciate it even today. My accomplishments in many respects have included often going against the grain, challenging convention, challenging the status quo - that's tough to do. That's what leadership is about, whether it was CentrePointe, whether it was the airport or asking questions about the water plant, the new pipeline. So I'm very proud of my record and realize that part of any initiative is blocking and tackling, as well as executing on a strategy and offensive strategy.
SB: I'd like for you to describe for our readers and listeners what you see as the essential characteristics of the ideal mayor for Lexington today.
JG: Well, I guess I love that one, because, you know, people ask the question always: "Why in the world would you want to be mayor?" And I answer that it's a great job. This is a 235-year-old city; it's the 65th largest in America. To me the role of mayor is one that can use the platform and the bully pulpit, if you will, to encourage people of all ages and all persuasions to imagine, to dream, to accomplish what they can. If as mayor I can help create a climate where people feel better about themselves, feel better about their city when they get up in the morning, then that will be a good thing. I love what Joe Riley, the mayor of Charleston, said. He said the job of a mayor is to help create a city where every citizen's heart can sing. And what that really means is creating an accessible and approachable government, which is why I talk a lot about transparency in government and accountability, because that leads to creating confidence in our people. And when we have confidence in our people, we're more likely to have better results, a better likelihood for a good economy and a great place to live.
SB: Vice mayor, thank you for joining us and sharing your ideas with us today.
JG: Thank you, Susan.