"Meet the Candidates: The race for mayor
From the preparation for the World Equestrian Games to the fiscal challenges of EPA-imposed sewer and storm water improvements, Lexington's decision in the mayoral election on November 7 will likely influence the city and its businesses far beyond the promised four-year term. In this issue of Business Lexington, Editor in Chief Tom Martin joins Chevy Chaser/ Southsider Editor Kristin Ingwell Goode and W Weekly Editor Robbie Clark in interviewing the city's two candidates for the job: incumbent Teresa Isaac and challenger Jim Newberry.
KIG: What is your favorite thing about Lexington?
TI: My favorite thing about Lexington is watching the sunrise in the morning, and I enjoy that when I'm taking my early morning walks, and I like to see it at a lot of different places. My actual favorite spot is drinking coffee on the back porch of the Hindu Temple on Cleveland and Winchester Roads, because you have an absolute beautiful picture of the American flag flying from a Baptist church, and I think, "Only in America can you have this."
KIG: What do you like to do in Lexington for fun?
TI: For fun I like to go to live music venues. I enjoy listening to a lot of the local bands, and they e-mail me when they're playing and I try to get out and hear them.
KIG: What prompted you to run for re-election?
TI: What prompted me to run for re-election was actually the success of my first four years. And I think when you see the progress you've made in taking the community in the right direction, you really feel like you can't sleep at night if you put it in the hands of someone who would throw it in reverse.
KIG: Well, what do you have on your wish list for Lexington? Things that maybe you hoped to accomplish in your first four years that you haven't, that you're looking forward to if re-elected?
TI: Well, we actually accomplished everything in the first 18 months that was on my wish list, so we were so proud that we were able to pull it all together so quickly. And I think that's a real tribute to all the commissioners, all the employees that work so closely with us. Of course we want to continue that the next four years and continue to protect our horse farms, continue to put public safety number one, continue to work on economic development, and continue to keep our best and brightest here. It's been a great first four years, and we look forward to a second four.
KIG: Have you created an updated wish list?
TI: Yes. Our updated wish list is actually to prepare for the 2010 World Equestrian Games, to continue to work on public safety, to continue to keep our best and brightest here, and we have such a wonderful team at the urban county government that makes those things happen. I can't say enough about my six commissioners, my CAO (chief administrative officer) is wonderful, and all the employees at the urban county government have really worked as one team.
KIG: What potential road blocks do you see to accomplishing your new goals?
TI: Well, there are always road blocks. You always have people in the community that try to slow you down when you're on the path to progress, but that's just part of it.
KIG: There have clearly been some problems in the recent past with the council/mayor relationship. Can you share with us some steps you plan to take to improve that if re-elected?
TI: Well, actually I don't think there have been any problems in the relationship. I was vice mayor for six years and worked very closely with many of these people, and I think that as long as you inform the council, let them take the lead on the legislative issues that are important to them - that's their role. Most of the direction of the community comes from the mayor, the CAO, and the commissioners.
KIG: Both prior to your election and since, can you talk about your experience working with neighborhoods and neighborhood associations?
TI: Yes. During the time that I was vice mayor, I worked very closely with all the council districts, all the neighborhood associations, and I've maintained that close relationship with them now. So when I appoint people to boards and commissions, I get input from the neighborhood associations to make sure I'm balancing the boards and commissions geographically, and I appreciate their input very much. We have very active neighborhood associations in Lexington, and I appreciate that.
TM: Mayor Isaac, on a scale of one to five - with five being the best, the highest - how would you rate the relationship between the city and its business community?
TI: I would rate it the highest possible, and I think we've been recognized around the world for this. I was actually selected by the U.S. State Department to go to Chile and Argentina and train their mayors on how to establish a good business relationship with the business community and how to establish that trust. I think when you look at the high ratings we get for starting and growing a business, it's because we have that good relationship with our business community.
TM: It is projected by some that our region will house 200,000 new people in the next 20 years, job growth has been projected to be strong during this time, yet it is not projected to be evenly distributed throughout the region here. This could lead to potential revenue imbalances between communities that grow those jobs and those that simply add new residents. This growth could also add a lot of cars; some 800,000 new car trips per day to our regions' already crowded roads. Are you in favor of such concepts as regional development planning, shared water infrastructures, and even tax revenue sharing?
TI: We actually have regional development planning now through the Bluegrass Area Development District, so I work very closely with the other mayors and the other county judge executives. We have entered into recycling agreements; we look at regional transportation planning. I am not in favor, however, of sharing any of our payroll checks; they have approached me about that and I am not in favor of that.
TM: The EPA is expected to act soon to mandate how Lexington will bring its storm water and sanitary sewers into compliance with the Clean Water Act after many years of being out of compliance. Settlements with other cities around us have indicated that Lexington could be facing remedial work on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars. If this is the outcome, how would you suggest the city raise the revenues that it will take to meet the cost?
TI: We have actually been working very closely with the state officials and the federal officials to come up with a structured settlement so that projects we have in the pipeline now can be paid for and count as part of that settlement agreement. So we expect that to happen in January.
TM: What is your assessment of the balance in our region between the competing interests of development and the equine industry?
TI: I think we have many developers who are also in the equine industry, and so that makes it much easier to work with them. I would cite Ball as one of the examples. He's a leader in the equine industry, and he's also a leader in the home building industry. So I think you have a lot of people who are moderates on this issue, and they understand that we have to protect farmland, we have to drive development inward and they work with us very closely on coming up with infill and redevelopment projects.
TM: Following up on that, what is your position on the proposed expansion of the urban services boundary?
TI: I am in favor of expanding the urban services boundary.
TM: We have quite an event coming our way in a few years. What is on your to-do list to get Lexington ready to host the FEI Games in 2010?
TI: Well, we have actually been planning for about four years for this, because we were pretty sure we would be awarded the Games. And so we have an internal working committee that looks at all the infrastructure needs that we have; the roads, the security, getting more buses for Lextran for transportation. Then we have an external group that's working with us, and Sue Weant is the chairperson of that group, and of course she was very involved when we had the Rolex here for the very first time in 1978 and she brings a wealth of experience in planning equestrian events. And, of course, I served on the committee that was the host committee for the men's and women's NCAA Final Four that was hosted in Lexington in '85 and '86. So we have a lot of experience to draw on to get the transportation ready, the security ready, the infrastructure, the arts and cultural activities that will happen, so we've got a lot of good, talented people here whose experience we're drawing on.
TM: If proceeding as planned and on the current time table could result in something of an eye sore - a construction site during the FEI Games - should work on the Newtown Pike extension be delayed?
TI: Well, what we have done is let everyone know that has contracts out that there will be a time when we cease construction, so that there are no eye sores. So everyone knows we're going to have a cut-off date, and construction will proceed to a certain point and then it will be cleaned up, and nothing will be done so it interferes with the traffic flow while the Games are going on. And that's just not on road projects; that's on lots of projects.
TM: Okay, thank you very much.
RC: Concerning the FEI Games in four years, Lexington sure stands to make a lot of fans. Aside from infrastructure additions, what do you think needs to happen culturally in Lexington to convince FEI visitors to come back to town after their first impression?
TI: Well, we're working with the Lexington Arts and Cultural Council to plan activities that are similar to what Atlanta and Salt Lake City did for the Olympics. Then we've also had Becky Estep, who is my special events coordinator, actually in Aachen to look at what Aachen did, and she was very impressed with the way that they brought the winners of the events into the downtown area and honored them there too and not just at the arena. So she's brought back a list of ideas that Aachen did to implement here.
RC: What changes or additions would you like to see in our downtown entertainment options?
TI: Well, we're looking at the Manchester Street corridor for making some more live music venues, and when I was in law school there was a place there actually called Dance Land that a lot of law students went to. So we're looking at that same strip where Dance Land was, of putting in more live music venues, because obviously the college students and young professionals enjoy that.
RC: How would you strengthen the relationship between the universities and Lexington?
TI: I think we have very, very strong relationships right now. Transy has worked hand in hand with us; UK has worked hand in hand with us as we try to improve that Limestone corridor. I am a frequent speaker at UK for their senior management groups on leadership. I am a frequent speaker when they have their employee awards program for the hospital and other colleges, and we work very closely on technology transfer from what's at ASTeCC to the rest of the community. I think Lee Todd has been absolutely great to work with, Charles Shearer is absolutely great to work with, and I think it probably helps that I actually taught at UK, and so I have a lot of relationships with the faculty. And of course, I'm a graduate of Transy and a graduate of UK's law school. So I think we're doing much, much better than was the case with prior mayors and prior presidents.
RC: How would you go about increasing the number of graduates and young professionals that stay in Lexington?
TI: Well, I meet a lot with young people as they get to that point where they're making their decision, and the first thing they told me is they would like to see wi-fi downtown, so we did that for them. They said they would like to see bar hours extended, so we did that for them. They said they would like to have greater access to capital, and so we do meet with banks and lending institutions and try to get them to look at who they're loaning money to and make sure that it's fair by age group, by gender, by race, by neighborhood. And I think they feel more welcomed in Lexington. I go over the first day of school at UK when they come in and speak to the entering freshmen, and we have a project called Fusion where the students come and they volunteer and I'm out there with them, and we want them to feel like they're a part of the community from the moment they step foot on campus.
RC: Thank you very much.
KIG: You have a reputation for leaving events or saying you'll come to an event and possibly not showing up. I understand your schedule is tight, but how do you explain this to voters?
TI: Well, I think voters appreciate the fact that I am booked from 6 a.m. to midnight every day, and when they ask for a schedule, they are told I will be there for a window of time that's usually between 30 and 35 minutes, and I make every event, unless something comes up that's a conflict and we have to cancel.
KIG: OK.
TM: On a previous question, you rated as five your relationship with the business community, yet business leaders that we've spoken with in Lexington complain that they don't feel that way. They feel that they are not in communication with you and some even complain that you don't return their calls.
TI: Well, I return every call. I have a staff member that's assigned to work with business leaders - Julian Beard, my director of economic development. I sit on the board of directors of Commerce Lexington and I think that we have a wonderful relationship with the business community. I pay as much attention to small business as I do to large business, and I know that maybe bothers some people who are CEOs of large companies, that I pay as much attention to the small businesses, but small businesses are really the engine that drives our economy, and I feel that I should treat them equally.
RC: There's a rumored development downtown that could threaten some of the very venues where you like to see live music. Regardless if this is actualized or not, as mayor, how can you facilitate the dialogue between developers and the cultural needs of Lexington?
TI: Well, that's why we have actually been talking about the Manchester Street project to relocate some of the live music venues that could be displaced by a hotel project.
TM: Thank you very much, Mayor. We appreciate you taking time with us.
TI: You're welcome."