The CivicLex Weekly

Here’s one thing this week to watch in city hall… a presentation on the impact of the Fayette County Mental Health Court.

Here's one thing this week to watch in city hall... a presentation in the Planning & Public Safety Committee on the Imagine Nicholasville Road project and changes it may bring to one of Lexington's busiest streets.

Here's one thing this week to watch in city hall... a presentation in the General Government & Social Services Committee on the Mayoral Administration's proposal to create a new Department within LFUCG - the Department of Housing Advocacy.

Why should you care?

Lexington's linked housing crises - affordable housing shortages, rising homelessness, and evictions - have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. Housing prices are rising across Lexington; homelessness cases pose massive local public health challenges; and, despite a national COVID-related eviction moratorium, evictions are still a major issue in Lexington. These problems are rooted in a history of racialized housing policies that have exacerbated income and many other inequalities among non-white communities. Local government and policymakers can have a significant influence on creating more equitable housing policies. If you care about any of these housing issues, you should pay attention to this conversation.

Plus: That thing, last week - How does the Detention Center cooperate with ICE? - and more updates from city hall.

Read more about these issues and more at civiclex.org

Here's one thing this week to watch in city hall... a presentation in the Planning & Public Safety Committee on how the Fayette County Detention Center cooperates with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Watch this meeting live on LexTV on Tuesday, February 2 at 1:00pm

Why should you care?

You should care about this if you are interested in the relationship between the City of Lexington and the federal Immigration and Custom's Enforcement (ICE) agency. A history of controversy has long surrounded ICE. As ICE's tactics have fallen under increased scrutiny in the past decade, pressure has mounted on cities to review how they cooperate with the agency. Cities from Birmingham, Alabama to Portland, Oregon, have either refused to work with the agency or have made significant changes to how their relationship works. This presentation will detail the relationship between the City of Lexington and ICE.

Plus: That thing, last week - Will the City of Lexington sell some of its properties? - and more updates from city hall.

Read more about these issues and more at civiclex.org

This week, we’re covering a presentation in the Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday, January 26. This presentation will focus on current plans for the uses of buildings the City owns.

Watch this meeting live on LexTV on Tuesday, January 26 at 1:00pm

Why should you care?

City Government owns a significant amount of property and real estate across Lexington. While the City Government does use most of them for internal uses, many are public-facing, and some even house organizations or businesses outside of the City Government. With the City’s financial prospects still uncertain, selling some of the City’s properties could ease expenses and bring additional revenue. At the same time, this could cause dramatic shifts in services and, potentially, the displacement of organizations that rent from the City.

Plus: That thing, last week - Environment & Energy Programs at Risk?

Read more about these issues and more at civiclex.org

This week, we're covering two presentations happening in this week's Environmental Quality and Public Works committee meeting on Tuesday, January 19th. These presentations involve ways that the City reduces its carbon footprint, although that isn't the presentations' explicit framing.

Why should you care?

With the pace of climate change accelerating and green infrastructure costs dropping, cities across the country are finding it makes good financial and societal sense to focus on reducing their carbon footprint. These two presentations present two different approaches the City is taking to reduce its footprint. One of these processes is internal, and it is indeed lowering costs for the City. The other strategy is more external (resident-facing) and is at risk of becoming financially unviable due to some residents' misuse of the program. 

Plus: That thing, last week - Updates on Lexington's New Council

Read more about this issue and more at civiclex.org

We're back (again)! The CivicLex Team is starting out the new year with an audio version of our weekly newsletter. This week, we're discussing the new Lexington Urban County Council - what challenges they face, and how new members could change the conversation.

Read more about this issue and more at civiclex.org

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Welcome to a new version of the CivicLex Radio Hour! 

We've been away from the microphone for a while, but today, we're coming back with a new podcast experiment - The CivicLex Weekly. Now that name might sound familiar to some of you, and for a good reason! It is also the name of our newsletter that goes out every Monday. Now, we're going to release a short companion podcast at the beginning of each week to help you understand what is happening in city government that you need to keep your eyes on. It will go slightly more in-depth than our weekly posting, referencing other meetings throughout the week, but much of the content will be the same.

For now, we'll be releasing the CivicLex Weekly on our old CivicLex Radio Hour feed just to see how it goes. If it gains some traction, we'll start a new podcast feed and keep this up.

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This week on CivicLex Weekly:

In April 2020, Mayor Linda Gorton has announced a $40M Budget shortfall for the upcoming FY21 Budget due to Tax Revenue losses from the COVID-19 Crisis. In this Digital Town Hall, we discussed the implications this had on city services with Council Member Amanda Bledsoe, Chair of the Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee and Tyler Scott, Chief of Staff to Mayor Linda Gorton.

In times of crisis, the need for support systems for Basic Needs becomes can become more acute and clear to a wider audience. In this Digital Town Hall, we were joined by Sharon Price of Community Action Council and Michael Halligan of God's Pantry Food Bank to discuss how they are responding to this pandemic and what we can do to build a more resilient society once the threat of COVID-19 has cleared.