reneejackson
A vibrant nightlife has been emerging in downtown Lexington in recent years, as the city’s core evolves into an energetic destination for dining and entertainment. Renee Jackson, president of the Downtown Lexington Corporation, shares her perspective on what has driven this transformation and what it will take to keep it going.
The DLC, as it’s called, represents the interests of some 360 merchants and business organizations in downtown Lexington. Under Jackson’s leadership, the DLC has seen its revenues triple and its staff grow from three to five full-time positions. Part-time staffers, interns and volunteers also work with the organization.
TM (Tom Martin): You joined the DLC as president in 2006. Are you pleased with the changes you’ve seen taking place downtown?
RJ (Renee Jackson): Absolutely. I’ve always loved downtown and remember when there were only a few places to go. But it’s just exploded. And with the investment that the city made in a streetscape, that was a huge improvement. The World Equestrian Games played a significant role in getting a lot of things accomplished in a short period time and in creating that excitement and awareness about downtown. Many people that have lived here all their lives had hardly come down for some of the things that were offered other than maybe the Fourth of July. So I really think that awareness has taken hold and people know what’s going on and how awesome our downtown is.
TM: Do you sense momentum?
RJ: Absolutely, you’ve got a lot more people down here. Seeing people on the streets makes all the difference in the world. And if you have not been out at midnight or 2 a.m. to see the number of people, it is amazing. There are probably, at any given time, four to five times as many people on Main and Short Street at night as there are during the day, which really points out how important the nighttime economy is to our city.
TM: How will you sustain that momentum?
RJ: We’re looking at any way that we can create a sustainable new program, such as the Friday Night Movie Series that we did this year at Triangle Park. People seemed to love that. It was a different audience than might come to some of the other events.
TM: It seems that the biggest thing with the broadest impact that’s happened since you’ve arrived at the DLC would be Thursday Night Live.
RJ: Yes, it’s been a 13-week series since 1996, and in the beginning, only a few hundred people would come out. We’ve seen a shift. People ask me what the differences are, and I think social media has played a huge role in getting the word out and making people aware of it — and then, of course, the investment in the space. There was a lot of excitement and buzz about the Fifth Third Bank Pavilion, and certainly that space is much more usable now.
We’ve expanded that series from 13 weeks up to 26 and may take it to 30 next year, because people certainly have the itch to get out in the spring. It’s a great way for people to see local talent; it’s free if you want to come down and enjoy the music. But it’s also been a huge economic development tool for the establishments around there and even spiraling out. People tell us that they know when Thursday Night Live is over because their crowd hits. That’s one of the reasons that we try to stop the music at a decent time is to encourage those people to go out and enjoy our downtown.
TM: The DLC has advocated the concept of a business improvement district [BID] for downtown. What does such a district do?
RJ: It creates a known revenue stream for what the organization’s budget will be. It establishes a boundary, and within that boundary, property owners elect to assess themselves a fee every year based on their property value, and that money goes into a special fund that can only be used in that area.
And that would allow a budget to do things that there isn’t money for now, such as a very comprehensive marketing plan to get our message out, or to support beautification efforts. We’ve got this great streetscape now, but we don’t have a lot of money in the budget to maintain it. There would also be money for other projects that might come along, extra security if that’s what the property owners chose. These are just examples of how other cities use their [BID] money.
TM: And these are services and projects that are over and above those provided by the city [LFUCG]?
RJ: Correct, and by state law, the LFUCG cannot reduce services within that boundary. For example, if they have trash pickup certain days or certain times of the day, they can’t cut that service unless they cut it citywide. So property owners who are choosing this path know that their money is being spent wisely. It can’t be used for any projects that they haven’t approved.
TM: It’s getting better downtown — much better, in terms of fewer and fewer empty storefronts. We’re seeing far fewer than we might have seen six or seven years ago.
RJ: Yes.
TM: Yet some are persistently empty. Has there been any thought given to an ‘empty storefront tax,’ where a storefront that is left vacant for ‘x’ amount of time faces a punitive tax, with the intention of motivating that property owner to recruit a business?
RJ: There has definitely been some discussion around that in the Infill and Redevelopment Committee that LCUCG has. And I’m not sure if that’s got any traction at this moment, but I do know that that is something that is under consideration as a tool to not only generate some revenue but to also help our downtown grow even further.
TM: To be fair, not all of these properties are cases of intentional or blatant neglect. In some cases, it’s a matter of an inheritance. The heirs may live far away from Lexington, they are not connected with the community, they really have no stake with what’s going on here — so the property is kind of ‘out of sight, out of mind?’
RJ: Right. This is certainly a good way to refresh their memory, though. Because what you see in other cities is that when there is a punitive fine, it becomes an issue of, ‘Well, maybe we want to pay attention and either let that property go or actually do something with it.’ So it’s just a tool.
It’s not really meant to place a burden necessarily; it’s intended as a motivator to get something done in situations where otherwise you don’t have any way to encourage them. So it’s definitely a tool that’s seen across the country as effective.
TM: What do you consider your most important accomplishments?
RJ: I definitely think Thursday Night Live is one of our biggest accomplishments, and I’m very proud that it not only helps us but it helps other nonprofits in the community. We’ve started encouraging volunteers from organizations and then giving money back through the tips that are collected each night. We give about $15,000 a year back to the community, which I think is a great thing.
Raising the awareness about downtown is certainly there. I spoke to a group last week and asked them to raise their hands if they had heard of the DLC, and this was the first time in six years speaking to this group that they pretty much all raised their hands.
I also think one of our bigger accomplishments was helping to get Sunday alcohol sales expanded. That was a citywide effort, but it really was a big detriment to our downtown businesses, because the way that ordinance was written before it changed was, if you didn’t have at least 100 seats, you couldn’t be open on Sunday, even if you were a restaurant. And that really hurt a lot of our smaller boutique restaurants that we have down here that are so unique. So we’ve started to see Sunday come alive a little bit.
TM: What has not gone so well?
RJ: Well, definitely the management district [bid] is certainly a controversial issue. When I was hired, I had these lofty expectations that I would be able to have it in place by now, and it’s certainly a struggle. It’s definitely a controversial topic, and I am hopeful that we will be able to move that to a vote and at least find out if it is something that people really want. We’re working on a major effort to raise awareness about why it’s needed.
TM: Turning back to some positives: Short Street and the Cheapside district.
RJ: That is really emerging as our great restaurant row or entertainment district. We’ve seen so many restaurants go in. Instead of saying ‘meet me at a specific restaurant or bar,’ it’s ‘meet at the pavilion, and we’ll figure it out.’ Or meet near Short Street and just walk around.
You see a lot of bar-hopping occurring, which is nice when you have that concentration. I think that people feel that energy, and they want to be a part of it. You’ve got new spaces going into Victorian Square. And Nick Ryan’s and Grey Goose.
TM: On Jefferson Street.
RJ: Yeah, Jefferson Street is great, and having the trolleys circulate through there [is great].
TM: Is there anything else that you wanted to make sure you mentioned?
RJ: Well, I did want to mention that one issue that we want to take on is to look at redefining some of the Alcohol Beverage Control state laws. There’s an effort to try to have an area where you can carry an open container. I think that will be a really good addition.