TM: What do you consider the most significant challenges for a mayor of Lexington, Kentucky?
JN: There are numerous challenges. We have a great community in so many respects, but there is a never-ending challenge to try to be able to communicate with the community as a whole. I think that may be the most fundamental challenge.
In today's world of fragmented media, it's not like you go to the three TV stations and the newspaper and reach everybody anymore. So if you have an issue of public concern, there is a real challenge that a mayor meets to try to get the word out so everybody hears the same thing at more or less the same time. And that just permeates whatever the project may be that you are working on, whether it is a development project, whether it is a question of how we are going to try to address human needs in our community or whether we've got some cultural activity that you want to promote in some fashion or other. It's always a challenge to try and communicate effectively.
TM: You came into office with an understanding of the fiscal difficulties that were facing the city at the time, and you also arrived in office with a number of goals - the STEM scholarship, for example. Now, having been in office for a term, you have a fuller appreciation of the city's current fiscal challenges. Have those challenges altered your assessment of what is achievable?
JN: It hasn't altered my assessment of what's achievable, but it probably has altered my assessment of when those things are achievable. Cities, just like a business or a home, have got to deal with the cash flow, and certainly LFUCG has seen three very bad years in a row. And in fiscal year 2009 and in fiscal year 2010 - and we're projecting for fiscal year 2011- the receipts for those fiscal years were lower than the prior year's revenues. That creates a real constraint. If that happens to you at home, you run into problems, and certainly when you're dealing with a budget of $275 million in the general fund, it creates a lot of problems. And so how quickly you can do the things you want to do is definitely impacted by those budgetary constraints.
TM: Downtown development has been a subject of often contentious debate during your time as mayor. What specific actions would you take, and what tools would you use, to encourage developers to build what you think Lexington needs in its downtown and to prevent them perhaps from building what you think might be wrong for the city?
JN: There has been a lot of discussion about form-based design guidelines, and that debate goes on to this day. I think we're going to have a very difficult time coming to an agreement about a broad-based set of design guidelines that would apply from one end of downtown to the other. Furthermore, even if we did, urban-county government over the last 25 to 30 years hasn't demonstrated an ability, in my judgment, to deal with those kinds of guidelines very effectively. It may well be possible that in certain specific areas of downtown some design guidelines could be implemented for those particular areas. But until we have a lengthy discussion about the benefits of design guidelines, I think it's going to be very difficult to reach a consensus or even get to the point at which you can get eight votes on the council to approve any particular set of guidelines that would apply to the downtown area. In lieu of that, what we probably need to evaluate are ways that we can use our planning and zoning laws to more effectively encourage the kind of development we want in particular areas and specifically to do whatever we can to promote mixed-use development - Developments that would have retail, residential, perhaps office space integrated all into one facility. The more of that that we can do downtown, the better off I think we'll be.
TM: The affordability of commercial space in the downtown area has picked up a lot of interest by a number of business owners who have thought about locating there but seem reluctant because of what they perceive to be the high cost of commercial space. How do we encourage the affordability that will bring vitality to the downtown core without being seen as offering incentives that suburban businesses might view as unfair subsidies for downtown competitors?
JN: That's a very challenging question. Essentially it comes down to a matter of supply and demand. And the greater the supply, the more likely it is those prices or their affordability will be within reach of a broader segment of the market. So whatever we can do to make sure that we have an ample supply of the kinds of commercial spaces that are desired is highly important. There are some buildings that may be able to be retrofitted to accommodate that. There are a huge number of surface parking lots that are scattered about downtown where I'd love to see some development take place. But I think the best thing we can do to try to promote affordability is to increase supply of available spaces so as to minimize the pricing.
TM: That balance between urban and suburban - as mayor of an urban-county government you're responsible for the entire community. Has tension between those two segments of our community reached your desk in any way?
JN: Not extensively. I mean, occasionally you encounter people who want to have some particular piece of infrastructure attended to in a more suburban area of our community, but as a result of a lot of effort by a lot of people over an extended period of time, I think there has been an understanding that has been developed in our community that our downtown is vitally important to everybody in the community. And furthermore, you don't have to have a degree in design or architecture to drive through downtown and see there are some areas that have needed a lot of work. Our sidewalks have been a disaster for a long period of time - some would argue unsafe in many places. So what we're trying to do downtown, I think, reflects a culmination of a lot of work to try to build a consensus within our community that our downtown needs attention right now. Now, it's not to say we need to totally neglect everything in the suburbs, but you have to put some priorities in place, and for the last several years, I think downtown has been a major priority for the entire community. And we've got some more work to do and then we'll turn our attention to the suburbs.
TM: Would you support creating a community-wide cultural master plan and perhaps a fine arts commission or some sort of body to oversee its implementation?
JN: I would be in favor of putting together some sort of arts and cultural master plan. All the logic and reason that underlies the planning process in other areas of our community certainly would apply to the arts and cultural area. So I think that would be a great idea. Whether we ought to create a new commission or allow LexArts or perhaps some other entity in our community to oversee the plan, I'd have to reserve judgment on. But certainly we need to go through the planning process and then find out an implementation mechanism, whether it's a new commissioner or an existing organization, to make sure that what we plan to do actually happens over time.
TM: Some observers criticize the structure of our government, of LFUCG, as inherently flawed - structured in a way that impedes any mayor here from being truly effective in the role. Do you think there are organizational problems that should be addressed, and if so, what changes would you advocate to address those problems?
JN: There are some people who believe we need to have an all-powerful kind of mayor who can wave the magic wand and make things happen in our community. I don't subscribe to that. We have been able to get an incredible amount done, but the way we've done it isn't by the imposition of my will on the community; it's by building a consensus among the council and representatives of the community that certain things need to be done in our community. So I think it has worked reasonably well. Now having said that, there's probably some tweaking about what meetings I need to attend and what pieces of paper I need to sign. Those types of things could probably be cleaned up. You've got to keep in mind the Lexington of 2010 is a far different place than the Lexington of 1974, when urban-county government began. We've changed, and there's every reason in the world to think that there are some changes we could make to our governmental structure that would make it a more efficient process. I think the council's docket could be changed and managed differently so that council members wouldn't have to spend nearly as much time at the government center as they do. That's one change I'd like to see. But generally speaking, I don't think our governmental system is in need of fundamental overhaul. You've got to keep in mind that Americans have always had this major distrust of government, and so we designed these governmental mechanisms at the federal level, state level and even at the local level to where no one person or group has absolute power. It's a power-sharing arrangement at every level of American government, and I think that's appropriate.
TM: What more can the city do to establish a relationship with the University of Kentucky to advance commercialized research and create new jobs in the community?
JN: It's working so much better now than it has in the past. I'm elated with the progress that has been made. Len Heller's involvement in the commercialization process at UK has made an enormous difference in the university's ability to get its technology out of the lab and onto the street, and and we're all beginning to see the results of that effort. Ö The University of Kentucky ought to be an economic engine, not only for Lexington but for this entire region of the state and for Kentucky as a whole. So whatever we can do to help expedite that is in the long-term best interest of Lexington, the Bluegrass and the state of Kentucky, because it means jobs.
TM: Describe for our readers what you see as the essential characteristics of the mayor of Lexington in 2010 - 2011 and beyond.
JN: I think it's somebody that needs to have some sense of the possible, and within that perimeter of the possible, some pretty clear idea of where the community needs to go. You know, we can all dream dreams, but if those dreams aren't injected with a healthy dose of reality, you're just wasting everybody's time. So once you understand what the perimeters of the possible are, if you can articulate a sense of direction for our community, that's the essential ingredient for a mayor. That's why I thought doing our destination project 2040 was vitally important to our community for the long haul. We involved a lot of folks, about 3,000 Lexingtonians, in an effort to try to develop some sense of common direction for our community. We looked at the economy, we looked at our fiscal growth, we looked at our cultural needs and our human needs, and you have to have all four of those things working simultaneously in a coordinated fashion in order for the community to prosper.
So at the end of the day, I think the most critical characteristic of the mayor is an understanding of where the community can go within the realm of what's possible. Beyond that, you'd better have somebody that is willing to work, because this is a very demanding job. Someone once said it's not a full-time job, it's an all-the-time job, and that's very true. You never know what time of the day or night you're going to get a phone call that needs immediate attention. You have a lot of people to whom you are responsible and you have to work really, really hard, even under the best of circumstances, to make it work. And the third thing I would say, in addition to that sense of vision and work ethic, is you better have someone who can recruit great talent. If they can't bring great talent to the office with them, it doesn't make any difference how visionary they may be or how hard they may want to work - they can't get the job done. It's way too big for one person. So if you have some vision or sense of direction for the community, good work ethic and you recruit good people, you'll do real well. If you can't do those three things, you will fail.
TM: And you want to do this for another four years?
JN: I do. There are many things we have achieved during the first four years, but this has been a very difficult period, not only because of the recession Ö but also because of the obligations associated with the World Equestrian Games. That is a substantial overlay on everything else we have going on in our community, and as a consequence of that, for many of the things that I would like to see achieved, I just need more time. Beyond that, I think Lexington has become incredibly well positioned to take advantage of the upswing in the economy when it comes, and I want to be a part of that. I'm excited about Lexington's future, and there's no better place to impact that future or to enjoy watching the future unfold than from the mayor's office.
TM: Mayor Jim Newberry, thank you.
JN: You're welcome. I enjoyed it.