Music The The first item on our agenda today is open standards, open data presentation. And this was put on our agenda by Council Member Doug Martin, and he's going to introduce our presenter. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. I've included in today's packet a resolution that's been reviewed by our law department, and it's based on a policy adopted by the City of Portland last year. And I've also included an article in the New York Times which highlights some of the practical examples of open data and how releasing government data in a format that others can use can improve government services and transparency. And basically, open data is the practice of providing existing government data in a way that computer programmers can use. And one thing I might know is that in the mayor's fresh start plan, building open government is an entire chapter. And one of the quotes in there is to make it easier for citizens to have useful and important information, whether crime statistics, trash pickup dates, or construction detours at their fingertips. And this is exactly what we're looking at. And this is something I put into committee last year, I guess last August. I've invited Chase Southerd of Open Lexington, which is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that promotes local government transparency, To sort of give us a wrap-up of the open data issue, I've previously brought in Doug Robinson, who is the director of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, who really is a large supporter of the open data movement. Mr. Southerd is a research analyst in the Department of Pharmacology at UK, which I just found out is where my dad used to be chairman. and we just put that together. But his resume is longer than my arm. So, Chase, we've got a couple minutes. Come on, tell us about this. Thank you for the invitation. Good afternoon. So over the past few years, this topic has come to my attention. after seeing a presentation by – where is – how's that? Hold on. There we go. Sorry. Oh, shoot. This is a – We advance to that slide. So I'd like to talk today, give you a brief background, discussions, some examples, some suggestions. And a lot of time for Q&A, I want to make sure that the council members understand the idea and try not to use so much terminology and geek speak, but try and make it practical. And that's really the big idea here. So I was inspired a few years ago listening to this talk about being a civic coder by Luigi Montanez. And basically this idea that I'm a geek and I have certain skills and I want to give back to my community. And there's a way that I can use my skills and talents to provide utility, make useful things, provide analysis, insight, and volunteer my time to make those things happen, which the government may not have time for, budget for, expertise for. And there are many other Lexingtonians like myself who see this as a good way to give back using our time and talent. And so we began to ask myself, well, how can we go about this? How do I volunteer? What's the information we need to know and figure out? And so myself with some friends, we formed this organization in town to study those things and to work together and to educate and collaborate with the city government to make that happen. So we talk about lots of different open things, open government, open data, open standards, open source. And it's a big soup of terminology. Open government is the larger concept. It's sort of that thing which is the sum of these other parts. that allows for the collaboration and participation and civic engagement for not only geeks like myself, but average citizens. We can do some of the more technical work and provide benefit for those who want to use technology, or will engage with the city through technology. Technology is the vehicle. It's the platform. It's the way in which this interaction happens. but open government is kind of this the term gets lost it kind of means a lot of things it's this idea of the collaboration of things happen but it doesn't really provide any structure so some things like so instead of talking about that first let's talk about transparency transparency is more like a behavior it's more like an adverb it's the state of being something versus open data is this idea where we go about through a set of principles, and that therefore creates transparency. Open data is the mechanism to make transparency happen. Transparency is a good thing, right? It builds trust. It provides people feel good about their government when they see things that are happening in a certain way and they can interact with their government, right? So the set of principles, and I've included in the packet the list of ten principles established by the – revised by the Sunlight Foundation. And using those ten principles, some of which are largely outlined in the Portland, Oregon proposal. And they include things like this idea of we have primary data that's released in a timely fashion, that's machine readable, that's free for use, it's free for reuse, it's accessible, It's done in such a way that is easily mutated into something that into a useful application, a novel application, provides for innovation. And I think if we align any discussion, whether it's a formal ordinance, a resolution, a directive, a mission statement, align ourselves with these ten principles to provide A plus two principles there, we'll be well on our way to doing the right thing to providing data and services to the community in a way that is reusable and useful. So there's a lot of other cities who have already embarked on this mission. Some of the larger metropolitan cities, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, New York, Seattle. Some smaller cities like Arvada, Colorado, Manor, Texas. Manor, Texas has roughly 5,000 people in its city limits, and they're doing an excellent job with this. They realize that in such a small city government with limited resources that they can get more done by doing things in an open way that allows collaboration and ease of communication across departments and all these other things that the transmission of data in an open and standard way allows for. Sorry, this is all wonky. There are some examples, and this is also in the packet as well, example data sets, right? Like the PVA is doing a great job about bringing data closer to people, but we could take it one step further. There is a website in Lexington about crime incidents, but the way in which you interact with that data, the way you can reuse that data, it's nonexistent. We have a 311 service and a 311 application, but then there's a 311 open standard that we could adopt to reuse this, to allow us to have, to interact with any one of multiple applications across multiple platforms, not just an iPhone app. And we wouldn't have to develop any of those things. They're already there. Big ones with lots of success are food safety inspection scores or housing code enforcement or parking spaces or a citywide calendar. These are all examples of ways in which we can transmit data and use data effectively to provide feedback and interaction with not just those of us who want to build those things and make that stuff happen, but those of us in the general public who might want to have that information. We've got about two and a half minutes. Two and a half minutes. Okay, I'll burn through these. Show us the good stuff. Show us the good stuff. Well, all right, so there's lots of example applications. New York City has a great one about the restaurant scrutinizer, and the health department was able to make the data available and then pay for the data, the cost of that being produced by selling their iPhone app for $0.99 or something on the iPhone store. The 311 standard allows us to use any one of these number of applications to directly interact with that 311 service that we have. And these are all third-party developed free applications for your computer, your smartphone. And crime data is another big one. The Oakland Crime Spotting is doing a very interesting visualization about how and where crime is happening. So some ideas I think we could, you know, making business, new businesses, startups in Lexington, you know, having the gateway, an interactive gateway through the city that they can fill all the forms, do all the things, and reduce that startup expense. Restaurant scores, we've talked about, QR codes to find your bus route, to find your bicycle route, to figure out where you are on the legacy trail, whatever, all through your mobile device. and some things like the public arts floor, I think, that they're being currently developed. And I want to stress one point that's not in the proposal that I think is useful, and we can talk about this at length at some other time. I'd be happy to come back and provide further discussion, but open source is not necessarily a bad thing, and it doesn't have to be used extensively, but there are places where it might be advantageous, and we should consider it, not mandate it, but consider its use when making those decisions to adopt technology. I mentioned the 311 open standard. And so here's an example of what I've done recently of this is unemployment data in machine-readable format, and a program I wrote that's freely available to process that data to take all of the county information and populate it over a map. And this is just one example from someone who's a very simple programmer, but I can make a visualization, provide utility to information like this. And anyone else can take this stuff and reuse it and make it better, do whatever. And there's other organizations, not just us. The Code for American Organization, Sunlight Foundation, Civic Commons, and Open Plans who directly interact with local governments and state governments and federal agencies to make that happen. Code for America is a great example where cities partner with the organization and sponsor a fellow, and that fellow is then able to build those applications and be that person in government to take on that leadership role to make those applications and make that data available. And I thank you for your patience and your – I hope I have contributed to the discussion. Chase, thank you very much for coming. I appreciate you sharing your expertise with us. And for folks with your group, other members of the OpenLex group are here, as well as Ben Self is here to sort of support this. Before you sit down, we may have some questions that people might like to ask. Does anybody have a question? May I be first, then? So I was interested in this because I think if I summarize what you were saying, that if the city could make raw data available from our different sources, that there would be creative people that write applications that could take the database, put it in a format where it would be readily available to the citizens to use on everyday issues like checking out what the rating is on a restaurant from the health department, for example. Yes, that's the idea that myself and other creative and talented people can volunteer their time to build those applications and give them away for free, allow in an open source way, and have the city and our community benefit from that information and from our building on top of that information and making something useful and productive or insightful or a new understanding of what that data might mean or unlocking some of its potential. How many firms do you feel like we have in Lexington that might be able to do something like this? Because, you know, this is sort of an emerging area of technology, and I don't think I've seen anything published on the number of companies, but hopefully you know some of the people around, but there are a number of companies that could help out. We have a fair amount of people who are participating in the organization from places like UK and from startup companies and from small software development shops and independent developers. I don't know exactly like a specific number to tell you about how many private firms or public citizens might best do that. But I'd say if I go by our mailing list, we have like 46 or so people that are at least listening and participating in the discussion and want to do that, want to give back. If the urban county government were to adopt a resolution endorsing this type of use of our data, would there be sort of like an event that you could hold and invite application writers and designers and all that to come and see what databases are available? And maybe they would say, well, I'll do this one, I'll do that one. I'd love to have a city camp. An afternoon, a couple of hours where we bring not only council members, but division heads or city programmers or those stakeholders with us, get us together for lunch, talk about those issues, figure out what applications or data sources are the most important for people, for your districts, for whomever, to benefit from. I'd love to be able to continue that discussion and make that happen and perhaps even do that on an annual basis or something like a summit between the two sides, if you will. Council Member Kay has a question for you. Thank you, Chair. Actually, I don't have a question. I have a comment, but thank you for recognizing me. Thank you, Council Member Martin, for bringing this forward and, Chase, for you coming today and sharing this with us. I think this is something that is probably long overdue. I think we're behind the curve on this in our own government. And any movement we can make to take this forward, I would be strongly in support of it. So thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you very much for coming today. Thank you. And I guess at this time, I would like to make a motion that the General Government Committee approve and recommend to the full council the resolution that I have included in our packet. This is basically a public endorsement of open data, and this doesn't require any specific expenditures. It's kind of like organizing your closed drawer. I mean, we're keeping data in some format now. And by adopting and sort of endorsing the open data standards, hopefully over time over the next couple of years, we'll sort of rearrange our sock drawer so that we're more in line with these standards. We keep them in certain formats anyway. And as it becomes convenient, as resources are available, I guess this would encourage government to make data and to store data in a readable format that complies with these national standards. These aren't local. And that will make this information more available to the public so that we have more ways for the public to access what permits are being issued or what bus schedules are being issued or what restaurant expenses or what public salaries we have or what the budget is. And so I make a motion that we adopt the resolution and recommend it to the full council. So move. Okay. Just a question. This resolution was reviewed by our legal department. Yes. Okay, good. Does anybody have a discussion on the motion on the floor? Go ahead. Thank you, Chairman. Council Member Martin, I fully support the transparency of government and what the attempt here is. I do think that I'm going to vote no, and I want to explain why. I think it would be very important for the administration to come to us and tell us exactly how they would propose doing this, what their thoughts are on this as to how they would organize that. I'm not opposed to this in the fashion of I don't believe we should do it at all, but I'm going to vote no at this time just so that I can hear from them as we go forward. So I just wanted to explain my vote. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm in agreement with that. I think that last time this came forward, computer services or IT had some concerns about some of it. So we have a new administration now. I would like to hear them come in and present, you know, what aspects of this they think are doable and how they would do it and if they have any concerns about some aspects of it. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Kaye. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I said before, I'm in support. I see no reason not to move this forward in Council. and the administration would have a full opportunity to address that issue as the discussion goes forward. So I would favor people voting for it. Thank you. Thank you. House Member Martin. I saw, I thought Mr. Ford was a, you know, I appreciate it and I understand the concerns. I think this is our third meeting, maybe our fourth meeting on this. We had sort of a national expert on data, Mr. Robson, who came in, who was the head of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. Rama came and spoke about it last year. And so I think they were – they had – what I recall from the discussion was that there were data sets that they already had, such as the GIS data set. Other data sets would take longer to put together. But this is a really loosey-goosey, low-threshold sort of resolution. It's just kind of a non-binding resolution of support, and it doesn't require the administration, frankly, to do anything. It's just a statement by the council that, hey, we'd like to organize things over the next period of time so that the information can get out there to the public, because it really doesn't help if it's stuck in the bottom of a drawer someplace. And that's where our information is now. I mean, our sewer information is in a filing cabinet in a lot of ways. And so for me, the question is, are we going to wait until everyone else has adopted this? I think Louisville is way ahead of us on this. And this isn't something that's just, you know, something that came out in a magazine. I mean, we're five, ten years behind getting these data sets together. And so as far as being a transparent government and allowing us to be more accountable to the public, because if they can't see the information, they don't know how much we spend on stuff, we can't be held accountable for that. So I hope my fellow council members will support this. I think it's a rather general, just generalized endorsement. And, again, this was a model on the movement and the resolution that was approved last year in Portland, Oregon. So I appreciate your folks' support. Thank you. Okay. I think I would like to speak to the issue just for a second. What I like about this idea is that if it made databases available that would create, you know, economic development opportunities where local technology companies can take the data and create applications. So not only would we be creating data that would be more readily available to the community and our citizens, but it also could have an economic development impact on the community and to encourage more technology businesses here. The other thought that I have is this is only a recommendation coming out of our committee, and it actually would go before the work session coming up. So we'd have opportunity for everybody on the council to look at our suggestion and it would create another opportunity for somebody from the administration, like the chief administrative officer, to come forward who's overseeing technology and to maybe address the issue also. So that's just my thought. We have a motion, a second. We have, Council Member, do you want to? Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Lane. I have just two questions, I guess. I would ask just for a restatement of the motion, just so I'm certain what the motion will call for. And if you could honor me with that, Mr. Moore, and I appreciate it. Yeah, the motion is to approve the resolution that's on page one of the packet. and this is the general government packet for today and it's approximately a two-page resolution which endorses the principle of transparency and that the government freely share with citizens its information while respecting privacy and security concerns and move as quickly as possible to adopt prevailing open standards for data, documents, maps and other formats of media so that that information can be available to the public so that they can have access to this information we have. Because it's hard to be transparent if folks can't actually see in. And right now this information is stored places where people can't access it. Thank you, Mr. Warren, and thank you for bringing me back with that information. My question, I guess, is to Mr. Lane and the rest of the committee in regards to the process. I know that we have a work session following this meeting, But I guess my question is, are we recommending that this resolution be reported out to the committee of the whole work session? And my second question is when, because we are we're not on the agenda. This committee general government is not on the agenda for the three o'clock meeting. So would we be reporting out at the appropriate time at a future committee of the whole work session? or are we asking to walk this on today at what session? No, my recommendation would be we would put it in our report to the council, and it would be on our, not today's meeting, but our next, and it would be two weeks from today. Okay. And thank you both. As such, I feel supportive to allow this resolution, that opportunity, through our normal process to get before the whole council. Okay. Thank you both. Thank you. Is there any other discussion? There being none, and the motion hasn't been restated. We're ready to take a vote. All those in favor of the motion, please raise your hand. Four votes in favor. All those opposed? Two. So the motion passes four to two. And thank you all very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The next item on the agenda is a presentation regarding the purchase of energy-efficient vehicles, and this was put on the agenda by Council Member Myers. I'll let you introduce the speaker on this. Wrong button. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Jomscheek, if you want to come up. We've had a couple conversations. We've got some additional information that we're going to compare and probably come back and present at a later meeting. But I wanted to just let Mr. John Sheet go through this and kind of tell you where we're at right now. Thank you very much. We'll be very brief. When we were requested by CM Myers to provide an overall overview of our ongoing policies, procedures, goals in terms of vehicle replacement, specifically in regard to fuel efficiency, we thought it was going to be a good opportunity to at least give you all a little bit of a broad background on So the fuel efficiency in what we do is a smaller part of what we consider to be a green fleet philosophy of doing business, which is also in a larger scale is a part of our sustainability initiatives within the department. I have with me Dave Loney, who is the deputy director in charge of all the fleet activities, in case if there are any specific questions and so forth. Dave's very knowledgeable about what we are about to discuss. As a matter of fact, most of the data has been provided by his department. Just to give you an overall idea, our vehicles are primarily divided into two primary groups. You've got the light vehicles and the heavy ones. Overall, we've got about 1,500-plus vehicles in our fleet, 20% of which approximately is classified under heavy vehicles. On the heavy side, the majority of the vehicles we've got are with the solid waste group, the different types of compactors and so forth. And the next largest group is the streets and roads that also utilize those. On the light vehicle side, the majority of the vehicles are assigned to public safety, primarily with the police department. During the past year or so, we've been looking at the alternative choices we've got in regard to fuel technology and what have you. And the choices, again, depending on what classification of vehicles you're looking at are different. As you can see from the slide, under the light vehicles, and by no means what you see up there are all-encompassing. These are the primary top three options that we have identified that have some history in regard to performance and also the technology that's currently available. On the light side, hybrids primarily have been traditionally part of our fleet. We received a, and this was before my time as a matter of fact, but about 10 years ago the fleet got engaged during part of its replacement activities to introduce hybrids into our fleet. And since then we have grown to 71, by the end of this week 73 hybrids, and that's a feather in the city's cap because we can claim to have the largest hybrid fleet anywhere in the state of Kentucky. And as you will see later on in the presentation, they have proven to be effective means to reduce our fuel consumption and thus reducing our carbon footprint. The next option that we have looked at for the past few months have been propane vehicles and the conversions that it's required, and lately have been the electric vehicles. Each one of these have their pros and cons, obviously, associated with the technology and the fuel. When we do analysis on both, be it light vehicle or the heavy, the emphasis is done on what we call a life cycle analysis. This is looking at these vehicles over the life, which is traditionally we use a 10-year cycle. And that includes your upfront capital, obviously, as well as your typical expenses associated with your fuel, associated with maintaining these, and obviously at the end of the life cycle, salvage value of the vehicles. So every one of those options got their pros and cons associated with it. Heavy vehicles, what we consider to be the low-hanging fruit, is obviously increased in the usage of biodiesel versus a diesel. You'll see in the upcoming slides, we've had very good success into introducing more and more biodiesel as part of the executive order which was issued. At the time, we were given a directive of implementing utilizing B5 biodiesel in 100 of our waste management collection vehicles. I'm glad to report that we have met and, as a matter of fact, exceeded that number. As you can see by the biodiesel usage summary data that's provided, you can see from FY 2009 to 2010, we almost increased our usage of biodiesel by about 700%. And also from 2010 to 2011, we've got probably about 220, 230% increase in the amount of biodiesel being utilized. The CNG is another option that we're currently looking at for our heavy vehicles. And obviously, as I said, every one of these options has got their pros and cons. CNG is very promising up and coming. It's been around for a while, but primarily been utilized in the West and East Coast. The biggest challenge we've got right now is the lack of infrastructure in regard to fueling stations. So we obviously right now we're looking and are in discussion with a couple of outfits that are interested in providing fueling station as a fee, obviously. The next challenge is the availability of the funding that is required to change some of the vehicles, either through the conversion process, which is not as desired as actually purchasing a vehicle that is designed and built for CNG usage. Mr. Jamsheed, I just wanted to let you know about four more minutes. Sure. I'm done with the first slide. The next one, I just want to give you a visual presentation of since 2001, the number of vehicles in our fleet that have been changed over to hybrid. And as you can see, as I said, right now we've got 71, soon to be 73 total. If you can go to the next slide. This also gives you an idea of where are these hybrids. And the largest group that currently are operating is the police. Obviously, they are our largest partners with this. And just because they've got the largest fleet in terms of light vehicles, they are the end users. and that pretty much tried to give you an idea of how the hybrid vehicles have been distributed among different divisions and groups. If you can go to the next slide, please. This one might be hard to read, but you all have copies of all this. This just provides you an overview of all the vehicles that have been replaced by hybrids. And on the bottom of the sheet, you'll see what, and we did a comparison, If we had not replaced the older vehicles with a hybrid, we were looking at probably about $130,000, $140,000 additional fuel costs we would have had to pay. So a hybrid average is about 35 miles per gallon versus what we typically use for the traditional sedans, anywhere from 16.5 to 17.5 miles per gallon. So there are efficiencies to be recognized there. If we can go to the next one, please. This graph just primarily providing you all the trend in utilizing unleaded fuel, the consumption overall for ALPCG for the past three years. Obviously the data for 2011, we still, you know, got four more months to get everything put together and audited and put up there. And the next, if I can have the next one, please. The next one gives you what I was discussing in regard to increase in usage of biodiesel versus diesel. So as you can see, there is probably about going back to July of 2008, you can see where we started about a 50,000 with the diesel. And during the past probably about 10 to 12 months, you can see how the usage of diesel has reduced. as, meanwhile we have increased the usage of biodiesel in our heavy equipment. And if I can have a last one. This one's just for y'all's information. This is something we've been looking at in terms of what are some of the initiatives that we can, that we would like to see implemented in regard to more fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as reducing our carbon footprint reduction in the number of vehicles and so forth. sort of provide us with a map for the next 10 years on where we want to be in terms of percentages and reductions in varying areas with a fleet operation. With that, I'll be glad to answer any questions that you all might have. This is something, as I said, this is a very brief overview. We'll plan later on to provide you something a little bit more complete, primarily dealing with green fleet initiatives. Thank you very much for your presentation. I think Council Member Martin has a question for you now. Thank you, Chair. Tom Sheehy, thank you for your presentation and for putting this information together. I know there's a new sort of wave of plug-in hybrids that are coming in, and I don't know whether those are appropriate for the high-performance cars that we need for our public safety divisions. But have you all explored what this new type of vehicle will be able to do? Because I understand they can go 30, 35 miles without using any fuel at all. Yes, we've been. And on about 50 cents of electricity, I think. Absolutely. Yeah, we've been evaluating those. One of the initiatives we're going to be engaged in fairly soon is going to be introduction of fleet sharing concept. Part of that would require us to actually reduce the number of vehicles. What we're really interested in and feel like that would be a very good niche or a starting point is to actually utilize eventually electric fleet for that purpose and then expand from that point on. Yeah, I saw that the new, I guess the new Prius, the plug-in Prius, will recharge overnight about an hour and a half on a 220, three hours on a regular 110 for about 50 cents. And that will go approximately 30 miles before kicking into the hybrid part of that, which is just like a standard Prius. It basically uses the gasoline engine to generate electricity, which runs the electric car. And so it would be certainly something where we would be a leader in showing how we can stop importing our fuels and reduce our fuel costs at the same time. So we don't pay taxes, so we don't get an energy tax credit for buying that kind of vehicle, though. Is that correct? No, but part of that, again, going back to our mission statement of trying to reduce our emission and trying to more and more look for what we call renewable energy, which is non-petroleum-based type of energies. And obviously the electric is one of them. As a matter of fact, they've already looked at introducing specific charging stations that utilize a solar energy, which is very promising. So that is definitely something we're very interested in. Well, there's also a Chevy Volt that's made by GM, though I don't know what the effect of having a Bose sound system for our city workers would be. We'd have folks out on it. I think that would be an option we would do without. That's right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chair. I see no other council members have questions, but I have a couple. Sure. So with regard to the cost for the biodiesel versus regular diesel, can you give me an idea of the cost difference? Well, biodiesel traditionally have enjoyed the support in terms of taxes from federal government, which was a good incentive for us to utilize. And we have seen in the past a pretty decent amount of reduction in the cost of the fuel to us. Now, as of last year, I believe those tax incentives were done away with. And we've been keeping a very close eye on the biodiesel versus diesel cost. We got to a point in some cases where actually the biodiesel cost went up higher than the diesel. By how much it was not really to a point where we felt like we needed to switch back to the diesel because of it. The challenge you run into, once you start utilizing biodiesel, if you go back and forth between biodiesel and diesel, there are all some maintenance and operational issues, especially in the cold weather time of the year. So at that time we felt like, you know, even if you're paying a couple of pennies more per gallon, it was still worth it because over, as I said, we're looking at it over the long term, what the impact is. What I have heard lately is that they're going to probably introduce some additional incentives, like what it was before in terms of utilizing biodiesel. Part of that has to do with the cost of actually the mix, as the cost of the corn and a few other items that goes up that they utilize to mix with the petrol base, that also have an impact on the cost of your biodiesel that you pay at the pump. We think, based on what I have seen, that that's going to drop a little bit based on potential incentives that federal government is getting ready to release. Also, they're doing the same thing with electric. That seems to be pushing for that quite a bit right now. All right. I have a couple more questions, and our time is sort of short, so maybe a little shorter answer would be helpful today. One of the issues that I thought would be appropriate, and maybe this is something you could bring back to us very quickly, is I think it would be helpful if we could evaluate the cost of buying a hybrid energy efficient type vehicle, which has a higher purchase cost, which means we have to finance more money, we have more interest cost if we are borrowing the money for that. And at the same time, though, we'll be saving money perhaps for fuel and maybe on maintenance, or maybe maintenance would be greater. And then at the end of, say, a five-year period, looking at what the residual value of that vehicle is when we sell it. And some of this would be estimates because you don't know the fuel cost, but you could use current data and project it over the five-year period and compare that to a more conventional vehicle that runs on gas. That would allow the committee and the council to see if it's of value to us to spend more money for a hybrid vehicle and maybe accelerate our acquisition of hybrid vehicles or not, except maybe just stay with more conventional vehicles. We've got that data. I've been more than glad to provide it to you. That's based on what I discussed with the life cycle cost analysis. It takes all of that into consideration. I'd be glad to send those to you. All right. Well, thank you. That's the last one of my questions. Any other council member have a question? If not, we thank you so much for coming in today. Appreciate it. All right. The only remaining item on the agenda is if there are any issues that we need to put it as a committee item. We only have two items that are on today's agenda that I think have not been resolved. Is there any other items? Now, there was a number of items that were referred out of the Links Committee, but I'm not necessarily recommending that we take on every one of those. But perhaps after the budget is done, we can go back and look at those recommendations and see if we want to recommend to Council that we take those on. Are there any other items that you want to bring up today at the meeting? Do I have a motion for adjournment? Motion adjourned. Second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. I thank you very much today. I'll see you at three. Thank you. Another, anyone do, you're in the world again And when you get the chance You are the Dancing Queen Young and sweet, only seventeen Dancing Queen Feel the beat from the tanderine Oh yeah You can dance You can dance You can dance Heaven must have all your life See that girl Watch that scene Dig in the Dancing Queen Dig in the Dancing Queen I'm out. Mother, Mother Ocean, I have heard you call Wanted to sail upon your water since I was three feet tall You see. Coming up on Lexington Now, a week celebrating Henry Clay, second Sunday at the airport, and a look at the family care center. This and more up next on this week's edition of Lexington Now. Thank you. Hello, everybody. I'm David Sullivan. Welcome to Lexington Now. This week's edition features a roundup of the latest news from urban county government and our weekly review of traffic lane closures, along with a rundown of the city meetings for the week. We kick off this edition with the announcement of Henry Clay Week and some important visitors who will be in attendance. I'm Bill Giles, President of the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation and Co-Chair of the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship. We believe today we have an important announcement that will benefit Lexington, the Commonwealth, and our nation. For 50 years, the foundation has both preserved the Clay Homestead as an educational experience and most recently, through the Center's efforts, advanced Henry Clay's core beliefs of conciliatory dialogue and win-win compromise solutions. Most recently, these strategies have returned to the forefront of political discourse. This has prompted us to put together a first-ever Henry Clay Week, June 18th to 24th, that will bring positive attention to Lexington and the Commonwealth. It will be formally recognized by Governor Beshear and Mayor Jim Gray. I had a chance, actually twice, to visit with Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York. and I'll never forget entering City Hall in lower Manhattan, begun the building that was started construction in 1802 when John Adams was president. It wasn't finished until 1812. There's a little rotunda. It's really a modest-sized building, but an elegant building. Walking into the rotunda, there's a statue of George Washington. Then walking down the hallway, there are four full-length portraits, one of Washington, one of Alexander Hamilton, a third of the first governor of New York, and a fourth full-length portrait of a Kentucky native, Henry Clay. And I said, you know, Henry Clay's out here in your hallway. He didn't miss a beat. Bloomberg said Clay was so instrumental in this country's founding. he wasn't just the great compromiser he was so much more Henry Clay thought beyond the city limits beyond the county borders beyond the state borders he imagined Lexington as a great American city he imagined then our country along those same lines as a great nation as the father of the American system Clay thought creatively about American commerce, about its promise and its possibility, its potential. He was all about entrepreneurial imagination, whether it was in business, in agriculture, in the thoroughbred sport, or in transportation, or in politics and government. He was all about entrepreneurial imagination, all about innovation and creative thinking. So this is the legacy and the gift that you all have been able to help us preserve right here in Lexington. These extraordinary young people that you're allowing the chance to visit here, We can say to them, wherever you go to or wherever you go back to as your home, Henry Clay's message to you as young leaders is to use your minds and use your inspiration and use your imagination to advance your city and your state, our nation, and in fact, our world. The Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship and the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation are pleased to announce a very special event to culminate Henry Clay Week and the Student Congress. It will be called the role of the Speaker of the House, a tribute to Henry Clay. 2011 marks the 200th anniversary of Henry Clay being elected Speaker of the House. historians agree that it was Lexington's own Henry Clay who made this speakership the influential position it is today. And so to celebrate the 200th anniversary and to pay tribute to both Clay and the office itself, we've invited the current and former speakers of the U.S. House's representatives to join us. I'm pleased to announce that Speaker John Boehner, former speaker and current House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Former speakers Denny Hastert and Jim Wright will be participating in the program on Friday, June the 24th. In addition to paying tribute to Clay, the speakers will participate in a moderated conversation and discussion symposium about the role of the Speaker of the House. The speakers will reflect on their respective terms and their positions, their thoughts on how the office has or has not changed over the years, and certainly we hope they will discuss examples of times they have been able to find beneficial compromise in the spirit of Henry Clay, the great compromiser. Three years ago, the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship started what we call the Henry Clay Student Congress. And this year will be the fourth student Congress where we bring 50 students, 51, 50 from each state, and one from the District of Columbia to Lexington to study the ideals of Henry Clay reconciliation compromise. Again, this year we've partnered with the University of Kentucky and the Patterson School of Diplomacy International Commerce, Transylvania University, actually in the Henry Clay Estate to sponsor the student congress. The students will come to Lexington for a week. They start here and move on to Transylvania University to learn about Henry Clay's life, what he did, learn about his growing up in this part of Kentucky and then his taking Kentucky to not only the nation's capital but to the world. They then move on to Frankfurt for a day at the state capitol and then come back to the University of Kentucky for two days, learning about political compromise, learning about reconciliation, and learning about peacemaking. They'll be hearing directly from Ambassador Richard Solomon, who's the president of the U.S. Institute for Peace, John Marks, who's president of the Search for Common Ground. And we're bringing in some European ambassadors who are going to talk about peace efforts that are going on in their countries because their countries are now divided by conflict. So they're going to hear both from practitioners of peacemaking and politicians involved in these conflicts. Home box office has given us permission to screen at UK their recent documentary, Burma Soldier. And this is a story about a man who, trying to flee poverty, joins the army, fights for the military junta, is severely wounded in inter-ethnic conflict in Burma, and loses an arm and a leg and decides to join a Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and work for the pro-democracy forces in Burma. He has some success here. He ends up being a political prisoner because of that. He ends up becoming a refugee. But he is also going to come and sit down and talk to students about how you make those personal choices, how you move from the easy path of a better life and a simple life to one that really is dedicating your life for the common and greater good. So the hope is by the time this week of instruction is over, these students will leave and return to all of their states with a far better understanding of Henry Clay, a far better understanding and exposure to Lexington and to Kentucky, and some real-life skills to use as they move into leadership positions in the future. And that has been the purpose of this institution for four years. It's really to help educate that next generation in leadership, in political abilities to compromise and have a constructive dialogue that were so highlighted by Henry Clay. For more than 22 years, the Family Care Center has offered assistance and advice to less fortunate families. A rally took place to celebrate all the center has to offer. Thank you. We are the Family Care Center. We work to make life better for families. We empower them for success. That is a noble profession with very far-reaching ramifications. There is no one job more important than the other, no component more important. We work as a team. We work together. Most of us have worked together for a very long time, some for more than 20 years. But we have done more than work together. We have gone through good times and bad together, and we've stuck together. We have laughed together and cried together. We've mourned together and celebrated together. And we have cared for and about each other. Childcare earned four stars, the highest rating possible from the state of Kentucky's quality rating system. When asked what other accomplishments Ms. Karen was most proud of, she said that child care has faced many obstacles and challenges, and she is very proud of the way we faced them and got the job done. She is also proud of the way staff works with families and their ability to make our families feel special. Parent Ed has had their first senior class recognition breakfast and teacher appreciation luncheon this year. They organized their first Veterans Day celebration honoring women who had served in the military, and they presented Black History Month. They have utilized staff and guest speakers from local businesses and community organizations to provide life skills education programs on a monthly basis for the students to develop personal and interpersonal skills. They collaborated with day treatment staff to provide opportunities for combined activities and programs which included college tours, lights on after school, and open house. Grants have been written and funding received for special products for students to enhance the education program. And all this while Sandra Young was working part time. Parent Ed, you're awesome! ¶¶ Thank you. After the break, we take a look at the latest Second Sunday event. Play golf, Lexington. In a world where the idyllic notion of free family fun is nearing extinction, In a town where the cost of entertaining a family of four can more times than not spoil a happy ending. In a park where your family can experience the freedom to kick back, have a picnic, and view a newly released movie on a giant outdoor screen. From the award-winning creators of year-round family fun and amusement, the Lexington Division of Parks and Recreation and Insight Communications proudly announced the return of Free Friday Flicks. Free Friday Flicks offers a great evening of entertainment for all ages. Plus, there are free children's games and a free petting zoo. Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, and a picnic dinner or purchase concessions from one of the many vendors on site. Call 288-2900 or go to lexingtonky.gov slash parks for more info. Since 2008, Second Sunday events have offered people of all walks of life a chance to get out, enjoy the outdoors, and take part in healthy activities. Last year, as a part of the Second Sunday initiative, the airport opened its newest runway to bikers, an opportunity which is being offered again this year. Hi, I'm Tamara Deckard with the Downtown Lexington Corporation, and today I'm here with Eric Frankel, the Executive Director of the Bluegrass Airport. How are you, Eric? Great, thanks. Today you just announced that the Bluegrass Airport will be again offering the new runway to the second Sunday ride. But this second Sunday ride is on June 12th. It's not exactly a ride. What can you tell us about it? Well, we're really excited to have the community out at the airport again. And, you know, it's important to remember that the airport really is a community asset. And, of course, everybody thinks of the airport in terms of flying out, which we want them to do. But this is a great community event for people to bring their whole families out, come get some exercise, some fitness. or come out and look at the planes and bring your kids. There's going to be lots of different activities, and so we're just excited to have people out here. I was actually out here last year, and I can tell you it was a great experience to be able to ride on the runway with the countryside open right in front of you. It was really cool. This is the second year that you all have offered this space to the community, and it's gained a lot of national attention. Some other cities are even considering doing it at their own airports. How did this idea come about? Well, frankly, I mean, you've got to give a lot of credit to Jay McCord. He really kind of came up with the idea. Initially, I wasn't sure we were done because mainly it was under construction at the time. We weren't sure if it was going to be available. But we really worked together, and again, with downtown Lexington, really put our heads together. And everybody remained kind of kept a positive attitude about how can we do it as opposed to why we might not be able to do it. And that came up with a good solution. So we're excited to have it, and it was a little hot last year. We're hoping for a little bit better weather, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun. What other attractions will be offered to the public this year? This year we're going to be in a little bit better condition because last year the runway was still under construction, and really we had to kind of keep to the pavement because there wasn't a lot of grass or other areas out there. This year now the runway's been done, and there's some nice grassy areas out there. I think there's going to be plenty of room for people to play soccer or volleyball in addition to running or biking or whatever. And I think there's going to be a lot more areas for the kids to play. And certainly we'll have a lot of aircraft out there. And obviously just being able to watch aviation should be fun too. So you can come out here and just play a picket game of soccer or whatever, bring your balls and sports equipment and just have fun. There's a lot of space available. Awesome. What are the parking logistics with this event? Are there any concerns with parking? We think we can accommodate most parking. For folks that were out here last year, we had most of the parking actually on the airport. We do have an overflow option with Keeneland. We've had a great partnership with Keeneland. They've been outstanding to work with, so we're really pleased. Hopefully we won't need it. We have a lot of parking, but if we do, LexTrain is also going to partner with us and help transport people from Keeneland over to the airport. So we think we're going to have it, no matter how many people show up, we think we can accommodate them. How should people get to the event? Where is the entrance? Okay, for those that aren't familiar with the area, if you just take for sales road, and particularly once you get past Keeneland, there's going to be plenty of signs on Keeneland. It's on the opposite side of Keeneland once you pass Keeneland, and there will be plenty of signs to direct people where to go. So it's not the main airport entrance? Absolutely not the main airport entrance. It's actually off of Versailles, past Keeneland. What advice can you give to people to prepare for this event? What should they bring? Well, certainly we want people to have fun, but obviously we want people to be safe. So certainly we think we had water last year, but if they want to bring extra water, maybe a snack or two throughout the day in case it is warm or uncomfortable. And then certainly suntan lotion. It's pretty exposed out here, so we think people should obviously put some sun protection on as well. But most importantly, bring toys and have fun. Prepare for the weather. It's rain or shine. Exactly, rain or shine. So for those hardcore fitness folks, we're going to be open one way or another. I'll be out here one way or another. And, Eric, where is your favorite place to ride in Lexington? Well, I'm actually fortunate enough. I actually live downtown, so I get to enjoy downtown living in Lexington. And I like to run basically downtown up Richmond Road and obviously through the campus. So just started running last year, so starting to enjoy it a little bit more and seeing more of the downtown area. And that's where I like to go. Downtown is beautiful. It is really nice. I love being down there. Eric, thank you for offering this rare and exciting opportunity to Lexington this year. It's going to be a lot of fun. Thank you. We're happy to host it. We're looking forward to it. Great. For more information on the Second Sunday bike rides, you can go to SecondSundayKY.com. For more information on events in downtown Lexington, go to downtownlex.com. A fresh look is being taken at the Centerpoint block in downtown, which has been a controversial project since its announcement several years ago. New design ideas were unveiled at the Lexington History Museum, and the public was invited to give their input. We're here today because we do care about Lexington, and downtown really has never been as active as it is right now in many years and decades. And we really want to keep it that way. Center Point and this block is a very important project, not just because of the location of where it is, but because of the potential impact on the community that it can have for many years to come. because done right, it will be a catalyst for our community and for our downtown in so many ways. And so we are working diligently and have been to make this project happen. We started over three years ago, and soon after we announced it, we ran into one of the greatest recessions of modern times, and I think in many ways we're still going through it. But because of that delay, we've been able to keep refining and continuously improving the project. and this project is really all about infill and redevelopment. It's about the preservation of our rural landscape and our horse farms. It's about bringing added new life and vitality to downtown. Today is a new day and we're looking at the project in a new way and we are open to new ideas. We figured it'd be standing room only and so it is. This is great to see everybody out this afternoon. I got to share with y'all that one of the great things about being mayor is being able to go and visit lots of kids in lots of schools. This morning, I was at Dixie and second graders, about 70 or 80 of them. And I've shared with Dudley a bunch of times this story. wherever I've gone to any school since I've been mayor and a little bit before, all the kids, whether they're second grade, whether they're fourth grade, ninth grade, or high school, always get the same question about first the downtown and then about Centerpoint. So what's happening on Centerpoint? Well, now I can tell the kids that there is another direction. We have a new direction and that there's a lot of enthusiasm about it. And that's a big deal. Okay, I get to introduce Jeannie Gang. Woodford and Dudley asked me to, and I really appreciate it. But what can I say? Jeannie is super duper. She has worked all over the world, and yet she is right here at home in mid-America, In the American South, she proves over and again that it's all about capturing and translating a sense of place into and through our architecture and onto our streets. And she has a sense for time, too. For today's time, set within place and history, she gets Lexington. as a visiting lecturer at UK's College of Design. And thanks to Michael Speaks for introducing me to Jeannie. She has gotten to know us. She's gotten to know Lexington. She senses our rich history, the deep roots, the sense of place that comes with a city born in the 18th century, some 236 years ago. She senses the agrarian roots of this history and the landscape that defines us. And yet she also senses the aspirations of our people, the need to imagine, to create, to grow our city, to create jobs and opportunities. She senses Lexington as a unique and special place, as an authentic and original place. She sees Lexington, like so many of you here do, as a great American city. The tension that we've been through for a time over this really little plot of land in the heart of our city. It's that same tension that's at the heart of creativity. the creative spirit. We are where we are today in many respects through that tension and also an unyielding demand for excellence and for doing what's good as Woodford said and right for our city. So now as I introduce Jeannie I want to especially thank Dudley and Woodford Webb and Joe Rosenthal for bringing Jeannie Gang and her colleagues into our dreams as we take another step in designing and building and creating our great city and its promising future. I wanted to tell you today we're going to just talk about, it's not so much a lecture of a position that we've taken, but I wanted to open up our process, our design process to all of you and to get your input and to get your ideas. I know people have been thinking about this site for a very long time and we want to hear that. And so today we're here, there's five of us here from Studio Gang. Maybe everybody can stand up from Studio Gang. There we all are. And Mark over there. And so afterwards, you can also ask questions to them too. So if you can't, I'll get to me or feel free to ask any of our team. Thank you. Thank you. For the last 35 years, the National Organization for Black Law Enforcement Executives, NOBLE, has been committed to the goal of ensuring equity in the administration of justice in public service and to serving as the conscience of law enforcement. This year's annual conference is taking place in Lexington. Here's more. Noble is the national organization of black law enforcement executives. It's actually an organization made up of police managers, lieutenants, chiefs, assistants, chiefs from all different diverse backgrounds, all different cultures. And this conference is going to be exciting, July 16th through the 20th. All these folks are going to be coming in along with their families. We're expecting about 1,500 to 1,600 people. And it's going to be an exciting conference. It's going to be workshops. There will be fun events. We're going to be showcasing the bluegrass. And everything that makes Lexington worth living in and worth seeing, we're going to be showcasing to these individuals. This is an annual national conference. And so it does have a national body, a national executive board. And they will be responsible for some programming as well as an exhibition. so people will get to see some of the new technology out there for police and law enforcement. There will be informative classes for the visitors who come. Their wives will be coming as well, those who are married. So we'll be having a women's symposium where some of our local women will be showcasing their talents. Judge Pamela Goodwine is going to be a keynote speaker at a banquet that we're having for the women. We'll also have a program for the youth. We're going to have a youth program that will involve getting over to the University of Kentucky and touring that campus, hearing more about scholarships. Noble also has a real passion for helping disadvantaged youth. So we'll be basically reaching out to some disadvantaged youth in the community. We'll be having a special program for them with activities and food and fun. It's going to be a great time to reach out. And then one of the highlights of the Noble Conference is always a memorial march and service to pay tribute to those officers who were killed in the line of duty during this past year or those who are members of Nubble that passed away during the following year, they'll be honored as well. So it's going to be four action-packed days, lots of fun, lots of fun for the community, and there will be some things that people right here in Lexington can do to enjoy themselves, and there will be things for them to do as far as volunteering and reaching out. This is a huge undertaking. You can't bring 1,500 or 1,600 people to the Bluegrass and not have lots of help, And so we want people to reach out and be ambassadors of Lexington with us and for us. We're going to have a host city night, which is going to be awesome. We're going to show off everything that's awesome about the bluegrass. And so people can volunteer there. And there's many more opportunities. If individuals would like to volunteer, they can get in touch with us by calling 859-367-4977. Or they can go to our website, which is www.noble2011.com. And you can learn more about the conference as well as learn about volunteer opportunities there. Now, let's take a break for a preview of what's happening in Parks and Recreation with our weekly Parks Minute. Welcome to this week's Parks Minute. Big Ben and Jazz continues at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21st at Ecton Park. Remember to bring your lawn chair or blanket for seating. This week's entertainment will be provided by Dan Brock and Friends. The Southland Association of Parks and Recreation invites you to come out to the Southland Jamboree. This event will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21 at the Collins Bowling Lanes. Please bring a lawn chair for seating. Concessions will be available or you may pack a picnic basket. Music for the concert will be provided by Dix River Crossing. Bring your family out to Jacobson Park and enjoy a free movie at Free Friday Flicks. Held on Friday, June 24th, pre-show activities will begin at 7pm and the movie will start at dark. Remember to bring lawn chairs and blankets for seating. You can also pack a picnic dinner or purchase concessions from one of the many vendors. This week's movie is Shrek Forever After. Come out to Raven Run at 9 p.m. on Friday, June 24th for their Insects of the Night program. This free program will focus on the habits and folklore of insects active at dusk throughout the night. There will be a few flashlights available, but please bring your own if you have them. Registration is required and can be done by calling 272-6105. That's this week's Parks Minute. For more information, visit lexingtonky.gov slash parks. Unique service in the region provided by the Division of Government Communications is Crosstown Traffic. It airs live on GTV3 weekday mornings, 630 to 830, featuring live cameras focusing on traffic delays. Now we take a look at this week's lane closure report. Here's a look at this week's lane closures from Crosstown Traffic and the Traffic Management Center. Thank you. Thank you. Tune in to Crosstown Traffic every weekday morning from 6.30 to 8.30 a.m. on GTV3 for live traffic surveillance cameras, collision and impact reports, and up-to-the-minute lane closure information. Now a listing of the meetings coming up this week for the urban county government. The full schedule of business and events is online at lexiononky.gov. Here's what's going on this week. Thank you. Local artists will again have the opportunity to creatively educate citizens on environmental issues and responsibilities through the third annual Echo Art Grant program. A partnership between the city and LexArts will educate the public about the importance of water quality, recycling, energy conservation and litter through art. Non-profit groups, schools and individual artists can apply for up to $5,000 in grants to fund their projects. Artists do not have to live in Fayette County, but the project must take place in Fayette County. Proposals are due July 15, 2011. More information on the ECHO Art program can be found at this web address. That's all for this edition of Lexington Now. Tune in next week and we'll have more urban county government news for you, for the staff, and the producers here at GTV3. I'm David Sullivan. That's it for now. Thank you. Did you know as a citizen of Lexington and Fayette County, you can view archived council meetings, special GTV3 programs, and various other meetings on the web at LexingtonKY.gov. You can also watch meetings and events live via streaming. Just go to LexingtonKY.gov and click on the GTV3 button in the lower right-hand corner. By pressing this button, it will take you to GTV3's live and archived video page. Click either the live button or the archive video button. Press the live video button to watch live streaming of programs or meetings. Press the archive button and scroll through the list to watch past meetings or GTV3 programs. Discover government at work through transparency and effective communications. Provided by the Division of Government Communications. Visit lexingtonky.gov or call LexCall 311 for more information. Have high gas prices got you feeling down? Dump the pump. Let Lextran pick you up. National Dump the Pump Day is June the 16th. LuxTran is offering free rides all day. Save gas and save money. Ride with LuxTran. Take the bus. Dump the pump on June 16th. National Dump the Pump Day is June the 16th. LuxTran is offering free rides all day. Save gas and save money. Dump the pump on June 16th. Oh, I've never been to Spain But I kind of like the music See the ladies on the same day And they sure know how to use it Ain't tired of losing Never gonna lose it I can't refuse it Well, I've never been to heaven But I've been to Oklahoma Girl, they tell me I was born there But I really don't remember In Oklahoma In Arizona What does it matter? What does it matter? I'm out. Leave me in small pieces of grass You've got your little ways They hurt me, they're not too big They're real tough Just one cold look for you Knock me down To love you and me No one would ever know The pain that I've endured I won't let it show My friends will laugh out loud If they only knew The truth about how I am just your lovesick, boo You got your little way You know just how to tear me up Leave me in small pieces on the ground And you got your little weight You hurt me, they're not too big But they're real tough Just one cold look from you Knock me down guitar solo I should somehow be a clue No one knew the heavens suspect me below you There have been rumors of the truth But I've kept it quiet Cause I'm too ashamed to let them know you make me cry And you've got your Little waves that hurt me, you know just how to tear me up. Leave me in small pieces on the ground. You've got your little waves that hurt me, they're not too big, but they're real tough. Just one cold look from you can knock me down. Your little ways connect me to the ground Oh, how you sparkle And oh, how you shine That blush on your cheeks is more than the wine And he must do something that I didn't do Whatever he's doing, it looks good on you You look so good in love You want him, that's easy to see You look so good in love I wish you still wanted me He must have stolen some stars from the sky And gave them to you to wear in your eyes I had my chances, but I set you free. And now I wonder why I couldn't see you. You look so good in love. You want him, that's easy to see. You look so good in love I wish you still wanted me Darling, I've wasted a lot of years not seeing the real you But tonight your beauty is shining through And I never took the time to let you know So before he takes you away Please let me say You look so good in love You want him, that's easy to see You look so good in love I wish you still wanted me You look so good in love He wakes and says hello Turns on the breakfast show She takes his coffee while he takes a shower Hey, that was great, he said I wish we could stay in bed But I get to be at work in less than an hour She manages to smile as he walks out the door She's a modern girl who's been through this move ever before She don't build her world around no single man But she's scared by doing what she can She is free to be what she wants to be All she wants to be is a modern girl Na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na na na, she's a funny girl It looks like rain again, she takes the train again, she's on her way again through London town Where she eats a tangerine, flicks through a magazine, until it's time to leave her dreams on the underground She walks to the office like everyone else An independent lady taking care of herself She don't build her world around no single matter But she's getting by doing what she can She is free to be what she wants to be All she wants to be is a modern girl Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Na na na na na, she's a fallen girl She's a dream about him all day long Soon as she gets home, it's him on the telephone He asks her to dinner, she says I'm not free Tonight I'm gonna stay at home and watch my TV I don't feel my world, I'm no single man But she's getting back, doing what she can She is free to be what she wants to be All she wants to be is a modern girl Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na She's a modern girl Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na She's a modern girl Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na She's a modern girl Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na Slip sliding away Slip sliding away You know the nearer your destination The more you slip sliding away I know a man He came from my hometown He wore his passion for his woman like a thorny crown He said, Dolores, I live in fear My love for you is so empowering I'm afraid that I will disappear Slip sliding away Slip sliding away You know the nearest destination The more you slip sliding away And I know a woman Became a wife These are the very words she uses To describe her life She said a good day Ain't got no rain She set up bad days when I lie in bed And think of things that might have been Slip sliding away Slip sliding away You know the nearer destination The more you slip sliding away And I know a father who had a son He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he'd done He came a long way just to explain He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping Then he turned around and headed home again You slip sliding Slip sliding away You know the nearer destination The more you slip sliding away And God only knows God makes his plan The information's unavailable to the mortal man We're working our jobs Collect our pain Believe we're gliding down the highway When in fact we're slip sliding away