Vision

“Lexington will be one of the world’s great mid-sized cities by striking and sustaining a brilliant balance of dynamic urban living and a matchless rural setting.” (Destination 2040 Report)

My vision—the vision our community has been working toward since day one of the Newbery Administration, and the vision that guides us forward now—is in complete agreement with the dream outlined by our citizens, as part of the community visioning project we organized in 2008-09 called Destination 2040.

In 2007, the Council and my administration met to discuss common issues we needed to focus on while in office. One of the "pillars" we identified was the need for Lexington to have a common sense of direction, a shared vision. My administration initiated the Destination 2040 community visioning project and appointed a diverse and inclusive citizen-led steering committee to lead the effort. During the process of their work, they would collect input from over 3,000 of our citizens. The 2040 participants searched for answers to a basic question: What do we want our community to be like in the year 2040?

I want a city where we protect that “matchless rural setting” … our environment … and my administration is working on it:

We've created Lexington's first-ever Department of Environmental Quality, ramping up efforts to clean up our environment.
We’re fighting to clean up our water, declaring war on sewers that haven’t been adequately functioning for decades and have instead allowed raw sewage and filthy stormwater run-off to pollute our streams and waterways.
We’re fighting to protect our land, funding land preservation programs, stopping expansion of the Urban Service Area and supporting dense, mixed use development within the urban core.
We’re fighting for cleaner air, with an ambitious community-wide education program on energy efficiencies.

I want a city with “dynamic urban living,” and we’re working on it:

We’ve help to establish a growing entertainment district downtown.
We’ve supported and grown private support for our arts and cultural community.
We’ve built new cultural facilities.
We’ve developed recreational trails, and pedestrian friendly sidewalks, and built an exciting new pavilion downtown for the Farmers Market and many other events, thanks to support from the private sector.

I want a city where our children and our grandchildren grow up, get a great education, find great jobs and enjoy our high quality of life … a city where they have plenty of reasons to stick around in the years leading up to 2040, and beyond. And we’re working on it:

We’ve brought over 2,300 jobs to our city by marrying the brainpower at the University of Kentucky to the strong entrepreneurial spirit of our business leaders. Our primary focus is our expanding horse, healthcare and high tech sectors, which create good, high-paying jobs and help protect our existing land.
New businesses will continue to grow downtown in the Higher Education Triangle we are creating. We’ve help to facilitate the new campus for Bluegrass Community and Technical College at the former Eastern State Hospital. When added with UK and Transylvania, a triangle is created that holds great promise for the future. It will be a remarkable configuration of assets, connected by pedestrian and bike friendly streets and sidewalks and integrating the intellectual resources of the campuses with our talented business community and downtown’s arts and entertainment venues.

And I want the city I love to reclaim its heritage. In the 19th Century, Lexington was known as the “Athens of the West” because of its educational opportunities, fertile land, medical community, arts and cultural offerings, and industrious citizens.

We’re working on it, tackling the tough problems that have stopped Lexington's progress in the past. We’re going to get there … and it won’t take until 2040!