Lexington, KY - In a recent interview with Rebecca Ryan on his KET show One to One, host Bill Goodman alluded to a Mark Twain quote - - something about wanting to be in Kentucky on judgement day, because it's always 20 years behind the times.
While the quote is said to actually refer to Cincinnati (and some question whether Twain said it at all), the perception came as no terrible surprise to Ryan, author of "Live First, Work Second: Getting Inside the Minds of the Next Generation" and founder of Next Generation Consulting. As a keynote speaker at November's Beyond Boundaries Summit, during which leaders and employers from 26 contiguous counties in Kentucky and southern Indiana convened to discuss strategies in regional competitiveness, Ryan heard a Kentuckian say "In the future, jobs will follow the talent."
"In the future?" she whispered. "This has been happening for 10 years."
Ryan's book and her research as a consultant on generational differences reaffirm a notion that has been a recent focus for downtown Lexington: that the up-and-coming generation of young talent first decides where they want to live, then they seek a job.
If these findings are as true as they are compelling, the pressure is on, Lexington. Between 2012-2014, up to 1,600 (out of a total of 7,000) employees at Georgetown's Toyota plant - one of the area's largest employers - will be qualified for or seriously considering retirement, said Toyota spokesperson Rick Hesterberg. And according to Ryan's research, along with findings presented at the November Urban-County Council work session by representatives of the area's largest employers (including Toyota and Lexmark - see Janet Holloway's article in this issue), the amenities our city can offer to encourage young people to move and stay here go beyond providing jobs for them.
In the past, Ryan said on KET, the economic strength of a community was thought to be about jobs, taxes and real estate - a line of thinking that does not resonate with the next generation. While the baby boomers "really hung their hat of identity on their work," she continued, the next generation is as concerned - if not more - with their life outside of work. In Live First, Work Second, she outlines seven indexes that make a city more viable for 20-to 35-year-olds, a list that includes cost of living, social capital and "after hours" options.
In the eyes of many Lexington city leaders, bar owners, and members of the very class that Lexmark, Toyota, and the University of Kentucky want to attract, there is some concern about Lexington's ability to compete on certain levels as a destination city (see Parting Thoughts, page 31, for a sampling of thoughts and comments on the subject). Particular attention has focused recently on downtown entertainment.
"It's not so much that we're sitting on a problem right today, but we're sitting on a ticking bomb," said Renee Jackson, president of the Downtown Lexington Corporation. "If we don't do something today, in 10 years, there's going to be a big problem."
Gene Williams, owner of Natasha's Bistro, Bar & Boutique, chalks up much of downtown Lexington's shortcomings to mismanaged development that stems back 20 or 30 years, when the business and infrastructure approach focused on building "a big banking/arena type of downtown" and "getting people in and out," rather than on community-driven elements of entertainment, diversity, and being retail-friendly. The effects of that structuring of downtown continue to resonate today.
"Lexington's small enough to be really hip," said Williams. "But we're in a critical time where I just don't know which way we're gonna go."
"Which way we're gonna go" is a question that has consistently plagued the minds of citizens and lovers of a city that, in the words of 2005 UK graduate Adam Libs, suffers from a "prolonged identity crisis." Most bar owners interviewed, including Nate Eldridge of Lower 48, T.J. Gordon of DaVassa, and Nick Sprouse of The Dame, say they feel the entertainment scene in Lexington is either growing or in a transition period - while it could be taken a number of ways, perhaps the most constructive reading of "transition period" is "poised for improvement." Or even improving. In 2008, Lexington charmed at least a couple of out-of-town club owners to expand their market here.
"It just seems like a great, vibrant place," said Jason Sheer, who owns three locations of the music club Tin Roof in Nashville and Atlanta. He had been considering growing his business when he and a couple of employees drove to Lexington to hang out for a day and a night.
"We just loved it," he said, adding that if he didn't have three kids in school and two businesses in Nashville, he would strongly consider moving here.
Sheer was attracted to the smallness of Lexington, the old architecture, the walking/biking accessibility; in fact, it reminded him, he said, of his college days in Boston. Tin Roof's Lexington location is slated to open in February.
In a similar fashion, after scouting several locations, including Louisville and Knoxville, for a second location for The Penguin Piano Bar, Lexington rose to the forefront for Craig Hays and his Colombia, Missouri partners.
"We liked the town, we liked the people we met, we really liked the college. It seemed like it had a lot of potential in it," said Hays.
While many of us are weary of hearing about other cities Lexington should strive to mirror, acknowledging our strengths and potential is an essential ingredient to the future of Lexington's socio-economic success. We are a small, intelligent, beautiful and creative community that needs to import and retain young talent in order to sustain, let alone grow. These are qualities that many cities, even the best ones, lack; qualities that can not only put Lexington in the game but give us a competitive advantage. At the same time, while Lexington may not want to be another Austin, another Madison, another Portland - places that Ryan said didn't become the way they are incrementally, but rather by making "leapfrog adjustments" - these cities have strengths and visions we can draw from. Council member Jay McChord imported from Austin the idea to kick off Thursday night Urban-County Council meetings with an hour of live music - a plan that will be implemented starting at the first of the year, in order to create "exposure for the performers and a new connection between the people and their government."
If you're interested in downtown issues, stop by a council meeting - many people don't realize that they are open to the public. Join the Downtown Entertainment Task Force (e-mail erik@bizlex.com) and give them your feedback. It's a new year, a new era, an ongoing conversation. And in many ways, our sleepy city is waking up.