# Planning Commission Zoning Subcommittee - January 4, 2024 > Auto-transcribed civic record · January 4, 2024 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/5990 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/5990?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2024-01-04 - **Last revised**: January 4, 2024 - **Length**: 33,183 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Zoning Committee met on January 4, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. in the Phoenix Building, 3rd Floor Conference Room. The committee considered three agenda items during the meeting. All three items on the agenda were postponed: PLN-MAR-23-00020 regarding BOTTS/CRAVENS HOMEBUILDERS @ PARADISE, LLC; PLN-MJDP-23-00066 concerning PLEASANT RIDGE SUBDIVISION, LOT 127 (CAREFREE VILLAGE); and PLN-ZOTA-23-00004 relating to an amendment to Article 8-1 regarding outdoor recreation in the Agricultural Rural (A-R) zone. No votes were taken and no public comments were heard during the meeting. ## PLN-MAR-23-00020: BOTTS/CRAVENS HOMEBUILDERS @ PARADISE, LLC This agenda item addressed a petition for a zone map amendment affecting property located at 766 Paradise Lane. The proposal seeks to rezone 2.53 gross and net acres from a Single Family Residential (R-1B) zone to a Townhouse Residential (R-1T) zone. The item was postponed and was not discussed during this meeting. ## PLN-MJDP-23-00066: PLEASANT RIDGE SUBDIVISION, LOT 127 (CAREFREE VILLAGE) This agenda item addressed a zoning map amendment for Pleasant Ridge Subdivision, Lot 127, identified as Carefree Village. The matter was classified as an ordinance item for discussion. The meeting resulted in a postponement of this item, with no action taken at this time. No specific speakers were identified in the meeting record, and no transcript timestamp is available for locating discussion details in the meeting video. ## PLN-ZOTA-23-00004: AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE 8-1, OUTDOOR RECREATION IN THE AGRICULTURAL RURAL (A-R) ZONE This agenda item addressed a text amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to modify Article 8 regarding outdoor recreation uses in the Agricultural Rural (A-R) zone. Specifically, the proposed amendment would reclassify baseball diamonds from an accessory use to a conditional use within this zoning district. No transcript timestamp information was available for this item. The meeting record does not identify specific speakers who presented or debated the proposal, nor does it document particular concerns raised during discussion. The outcome of this agenda item was postponement. The amendment was not acted upon at this meeting and was deferred to a future date. --- ## Full transcript Community centers that we just opened. What's unique about Taste Creek is that it's on the Taste Creek campus. So we have the elementary, middle, and high school, and then we have the community center. So we see a lot of kids come straight from school to the community center. That's great because I think that's set up well to engage the neighborhood and the young people that we want to see in our community centers. Yes, yes, yes. We are definitely engaging in more youth activities at that community center and still trying to get those high schoolers in, even if it's just to hang out and mentor some of the younger kids. And then we have William Wells Brown, which is unique as it's inside of William Wells Brown Elementary. So Ms. Jill does a lot of partnership programs with the school. A lot of those kids come straight from the 21st century program to the after school program up to the community center. and then she has this amazing adult wellness program. They're dancing and doing yoga and doing Zumba. So it's pretty incredible. Now, I think Ms. Jill has a reputation that goes beyond the walls of the community center. She's done a great job for a long time engaging that community and make sure that there's quality programming at William Wells Brown for the families in that neighborhood. Yes, indeed. So I started off talking about the investment that the city has made in parks, and I know I was at a ribbon cutting yesterday where we've invested a lot of money out, Cardinal Run area, for the development of that new park. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the investment that we have made recently here in this community center? I see construction in the hallway. I'm looking up at new windows in this gym. Can you talk a little bit more about what folks that come to this center will see in regards to improvements? Yeah, so specifically in the gym, we're getting new windows and a new roof. And that's really going to, you know, cut down on our electricity, our heating. You know, we'll start to see those things kind of drop down as we're getting more efficient, you know, windows and things like that. And then our bathrooms, we're getting on the second and third floor where our LFUCG offices are. We're getting new restrooms. And then here on this on the first floor, we converted our esports room, formerly the video game room. And that's going to be a bathroom. And then across the hall, it's going to be a handicapped accessible restroom. OK. Yeah. Now, I know the Dunbar Center Advisory Board has been real strong advocates for this center in the city's continued commitment to making improvements here. So I'm thankful that we have the funds and the ability to do some of these improvements. I know we're going to look to try to do more as we go forward. And I just want to say thank you for all you do to serve our community and your role in park and recreation. Yeah, I appreciate it. Yes. All right. So I think the information is going to be shared on the screen. If you've got any questions, I want to come and see what's going on at Dunbar Community Center. Reach out. Thank you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. Oh Oh I'm a summer night I feel like an it I gotta find my baby yet I need you To soothe my head Turn my blue heart to red Doctor, doctor, give me the news I got a bad case of love in you No pills gonna kill my ill I got a bad case of love in you A pretty face Don't mean no pretty heart I learned that But from the start You think I'm cute A little bit shy Mama, I Ain't that kind of guy Doctor, doctor, give me the news I got a bad case of love in you No pills gonna cure my head I got a bad case of love in you I know you like it You like it on top Tell me mama Are you gonna stop? You had me down But 21 was there Swallowed you Yes, on your lip Shake my fist Knock on wood I've got it bad And I've got it good Doctor, doctor, give me the news I've got a bad case of love in you Something's gonna kill my head I've got a bad case of love in you We'll be right back. That's the way I like it. That's the way I like it. When you take me by the hand, tell me how you love me. When you give me all your love and do it, babe, very best you can. That's the way I like it. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it. Uh-huh, uh-huh, that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it. Uh-huh, uh-huh, that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it. Uh-huh, uh-huh, when I get to be in your arms, when you're all, all alone. When you whisper, sweet in my ear. When you turn, turn me off That's the way I like it That's the way I like it That's the way I like it That's the way I like it Oh, that's the way. Oh, that's the way. Oh, I like it. Oh, that's the way. Oh, I like it. Oh, that's the way. I like it. That's the way I like it. That's the way I like it. Uh-huh, uh-huh, that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it. Uh-huh, uh-huh, that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it. Uh-huh, uh-huh, that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it. Uh-huh, uh-huh, we love this. Yeah, I like it. We'll be right back. Tries for dancers in the streets They're dancing in Chicago They'll be dancing Down in New Orleans Into the streets Up in New York City Dancing in the streets All we need is music Sweet, sweet, sweet There'll be music everywhere There'll be a swing and swaying Records playing Dancing in the street Oh, it doesn't matter what you say Just as long as you are there Come on, every guy Where we go, everywhere Oh, every day Dancing in the street It's just an invitation Prostitation A chance for the boys to meet There'll be a man that's singing Insane, sweet, and Dancing in the street Feelin' up your feet Dancing in the street Baltimore, we see now Dancing in the street Can't forget the morning city Dancing in the street All we need is music Sweet music There'll be music everywhere All these swingin' swayin' Records playin' Raisins in the street Oh, it doesn't matter what you're saying Just let's go and you are there Come on, every guy Grab your girl Grab your girl Grab your girl We'll be right back. We'll be right back. If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do is to save every day till eternity passes away just to spend them with you. If I could make days last forever, if words could make wishes come true, I'd save every day like a treasure and then again I would spend them with you. But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find them. I've looked around enough to know that you're the one I want to go through time with. If I had a box just for wishes And dreams that had never come true The box would be empty Except for the memory of how They were answered by you But there never seems to be enough time To do the things I want to do once you wind up I've looked around enough to know That you're the one I want to go through time I look at all the lovely people I look at all the lovely people Eleanor Rigby Picks up the rice in the church Where her wedding has been Lives in a dream Waits at the window Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door Who is it for? All the lonely people Where do they all come from? All the lonely people Where do they all belong? Father Mackenzie Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear No one comes near Look at him working, knotting his socks in the night when there's nobody there But does he care? All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong? Ah, look at all the lonely people I look at all the lonely people Eleanor Brinkley died in the church And was buried along with her name Nobody came, Father Mackenzie Wiping the dirt from his hands As he walks from the grave No one was saved All the lonely people Where do they all come from? Where do they all belong? Hello darkness my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence In restless dreams I walked away narrow streets of cobblestone near the hill of A Street land I turn my collar to the cold and damp when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light I split the night and touched the sound of silence And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs That voices never share No one did He spilled the sound Of silent hands Who said I do not know The silent tiger cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you But my words, like silent raindrops fell And echoed me in the words of silence And the people bowed and prayed During the ungodly made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was for me And the sign said the words of the prophets Are written on the subway wall The tenement falls Whisper in the sound of silence Don't go changing, try to please me, never let me down before. Don't imagine, you're too familiar, and I don't see you anymore. I would not leave you in times of trouble. We never could have come this far. I took the good times I'll take the bad times I'll take you just the way you are Need to know that you will always be The same old someone that I knew Oh, what will it take till you believe in me The way that I believe in you I said I love you That's forever This I promise from the heart I could love you any better I love you just the way you are Wait a minute I don't want clever I never want to work at all I just want someone that I can talk to I want you just the way you are Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Thank you. I see the questions in your eyes. I know what's weighing on your mind. But you can be sure I know my part. Cause I stand beside you in the years You'll only cry those happy tears And though I'll make mistakes I'll never break your heart I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky, I'll be there. I swear, like the shadow that's by your side, I'll be there. For better or worse, till death do us part, I'll love you with every beat of my heart. I swear I'll give you everything I can I'll build your dreams with these two hands Real hangs and memories on the wall And when there's silver in your hair Won't have to ask if I still care Cause as time turns the page My love won't age at all I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky, I'll be there. I swear like the shadow that's by your side, I'll be there for better than worse. On this edition of Lexington Now, Part 2 of 2023, A Year in Review. Happy New Year and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of January 1st, 2024. I'm Neil Noah. We continue our look back at 2023 with a trio of stories focused on recreation. First, the opening of a welcome addition along the new Town Branch Trail. Splash at Charles Young Park. I am Colonel Charles Young of the United States Army, 10th Cavalry, and I'm here to open the ceremony for the celebration of this park. Many of you know a little bit about my history. I was the third African-American to graduate from West Point and had a long career in the United States Army. And at the time of the start of World War I, I was the highest ranking African-American in the Army. Today's a big day. We are here to officially open Splash, a large water feature that's bringing water play space to the East End neighborhood and downtown. Splash connects the park's new playground, resurfaced basketball court, and community center to the Town Branch Commons Trail, making Charles Young Park a cornerstone of the neighborhood as well as the community. Splash has something for everyone. And now I know eventually y'all are going to take your shoes off and get wet, right? It's designed for children of all ages and abilities. It also offers a comfortable, relaxing area for parents and for those who stop in for a break off the Town Branch Commons Trail. As you can see, it's already very popular. As you can see throughout the splash pad, Brigadier General Charles Young is described as humble, courageous, and determined. The timeline surrounding the perimeter of the splash pad details the history of his remarkable life. life. I keep inheriting wonderful things that was left by Council at Large Brown and for that I am truly grateful. It has been a long time since this park has truly been vibrant and a lot of children in the park. I am so excited as you can hear in the background that is getting ready to be filled with noise. I love to have noise. The voices of our future is behind me. So I look forward to families coming back to Charles Young to reunite. This is a deep, rich area for the East End neighborhood. We will make this safe. We will bring our neighborhoods back. We will bring our children back to the park. We will have football, basketball, run through the water, picnics, family reunions. It is time to come back home. So East End community, come on down to Charles Young and enjoy yourself. You can put your hands together for that one. I just want to say it's another beautiful day in East End as we continue to show our commitment to reinvesting in this community. You have to be intentional and you have to be focused whenever you invest, whether private or public dollars in a community, a historic community like East End, that's seeing a lot of investment and kind of turnover in regards to the older infrastructure. And I'd just like to give a shout out to our parks department, Monica and her team, Brandy, for reaching out to the Charles Young advisory board, the William Wells Brown Community Center and school, and all the other neighborhood partners to get input and to get feedback on what this amenity in this community should be. It is such a pleasure to be here to celebrate the opening of Splash, a project that embodies so much that is important to the community foundation. Equitable, beautiful parks and playgrounds for everyone, fun, safe, creative water play, a more vibrant, healthy, engaged, and connected neighborhood, community, and city, and the power of charitable giving. When I spoke with Monica Conrad a little over a year ago, I conveyed to her the American Water Charitable Foundation is looking for the perfect project in Lexington, in our region, to focus on water-based play and nature-based play and so forth, and they have a $250,000 grant that they'd like to contribute. Do you have something? And she mentioned, I think I do. And today we're celebrating that. When she told me the story of the park and the collaboration and the engagement of the community and so many partners, we and the American Water Charitable Foundation knew this was the perfect fit. Three, two, one. Woo-hoo! One of the biggest stories of the year also happened along Towne Branch Trail in the form of the groundbreaking of Towne Branch Park, destined to be the crown jewel of Lexington's trail system. It's hard to imagine that in just two short years, all of this will be transformed into what you see in the video on my right, a beautiful green space featuring a high-tech stage and 4,000-person amphitheater, a unique children's playground, educational and interactive water play area, a dog park for both small and large dogs, food and beverage offerings, a butterfly garden, an art installation, the town branch commons trail, a recreation lawn, a reading room, and so much more. The park will also reconnect the community to Town Branch Creek through this space just to my right. That actually is the creek rolling through in the middle of those trees. I became involved in this project at the request of my dear friend and then Mayor Jim Gray. And a few other civic-minded friends and peers of mine were asked to take a task of creating a public park for Lexington that would be privately funded. This was an unprecedented project for our community. Raise $31 million, he told me, of private funds to build a world glass park in the heart of downtown for all of our residents and visitors to enjoy. What a dream. Our community has never come together to raise that much money for a single cause like this. Some people didn't think we could do it. Actually, there were many people that didn't think we can do it. And I would hear about it every now and then. Maybe they were right. We didn't raise 31 million. We raised 39 million! It was Victor Hugo who famously said, there's nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Now, I would just add that an idea without funding is nothing more than a hallucination. So fortunately and inspiringly, Town Branch Park is a reality and not a hallucination. Now, let me, too, pay tribute to Ann Bacus, Lexington's Grand Dame. The late W.T. Young was often described as the bell cow of fundraising and philanthropy. And of course the bell cow is the one who leads. Well, there's a new bell cow in town. This is a groundbreaking. A groundbreaking. Groundbreaking in that we are literally breaking ground, in this case, someone said asphalt, to begin construction of this wonderful park. and groundbreaking in the landmark sense in that we are creating a new landmark, a new destination, a place for community celebration, a place to bring your children and your visitors from out of town, a place to enjoy a brisk walk or an evening stroll. This park is also groundbreaking in a pioneering sense. It is not every day in our city that the private sector comes together to fund something like Town Branch Park. This is a big deal. This park is a gift. It's a gift of improved quality of life to each and every one of us, as well as all 325,000 people who live here. as well as their visitors. That's really special. Buildings come and go. Parking lots come and go. But parks can live forever if you take care of them. And I can assure you that our board and the people that have donated their time and energy here are going to make sure that this park is not built but is taken care of. Lexington's Parks Department announced the development of its largest addition in over 26 years with the groundbreaking of Cardinal Run North. Today has been 26 years in the making. We're finally doing it. Back in 1997, this property was given to our community along with Cardinal Run South, an incredible gift of over 190 acres of pristine bluegrass property. So far, the public has only been able to really enjoy 54 of those acres, and that is Cardinal Run South. The bulk of the property has remained inaccessible because we have not been able to afford to develop a usable park. And that ends today. The City is opening the doors to Cardinal Run North with a $10.1 million investment through American Rescue Plan funds. At Cardinal Run North, Lexington will soon be able to enjoy two miles of natural hiking trails, six pickleball courts, a basketball court, four youth multi-purpose fields, a large playground, a dog park with two paddocks, a mile-long paved shared-use trail, two picnic shelters, and many other amenities. There will be something for everyone. These features were selected in part by the public during a public engagement period last year. Almost 900 people filled out the survey. We also followed the guidance in our parks master plan. The two parks, Cardinal Run North and South, are separated by Parker's Mill Road. We will install a crosswalk to make it easy for citizens on both sides of Parker's Mill to enjoy both parks. I remember attending some of the public input sessions on this and it was really fun to watch constituents and other folks across really the whole county come in and talk about their ideas and as the mayor just said you saw some of the cool things that are going to be here the trail everyone loves at dog park you've got recreational opportunities out here and And just the acreage itself. What a wonderful gift this is. And thank you, Parks and Rec Director Conrad, the whole staff. I know you put a lot of work and time in it. It's great that it's here. You know, there's nothing better than a groundbreaking except for ribbon cutting. This has been one of those projects that takes a lot of people. It takes a village to kind of make something like this happen. I think the best thing about this park for District 10 is it is very walkable from most of the neighborhoods on this side of Harrodsburg Road. And I think that those people will be using it extensively. I also think that the best thing about parks is not only do they provide physical help for people, But the open area, guys, is a great mental and emotional support system for the people here in Lexington. We partnered with Fayette County Public Schools, Girls Who Game, and the district-wide Minecraft Challenge to create really an inclusive, accessible, Cardinal-run North vision utilizing Minecraft gaming and design. So thanks to all those Fayette County School kids who are out here with us today. it's a big deal we're now working with ATS and Tecton construction companies to deliver the park design the park will provide the community with access to beautiful expansive green spaces rich with a blend of topography including forests and karst areas the addition of the park will increase the portion of the neighborhood within a 10-minute walk to a park and access to natural areas which are cornerstones of our parks master plan. Our parks team who've already been recognized today, I really can't thank them enough. They're the ones who bring you clean, green, programmable green space every day in our community. They're really the backbone of our division and the ones who deliver these wonderful park spaces. Three, two, one. When we come back, we continue our look back at 2023. Hello, I'm Lieutenant Chris Van Brackle with the Lexington Police Department Traffic Unit. Today we are talking about disability accessible parking and the aisles between those parking places. Accessible parking is a valuable and necessary resource for people with disabilities, and that includes the striped area next to accessible parking spots. These are access aisles, and it is illegal to park here, even if you have an accessible parking permit. Police and Lex Park will write tickets when they see vehicles parked in an access aisle or parked in an accessible space without a placard and the fine is $250. Know where and where not to park. Keep the access aisles clear. Thank you and drive safe. Welcome back to Lexington Now. In 2023, Lexington's fire department got a major boost in the way of a grant for the training of 27 new EMT paramedics. Like many communities, the post-pandemic years have seen an uptick in call volume here in Lexington. Last year alone, we responded to over 66,000 emergency calls, with at least three-quarters of those being medically related. In order to adequately respond to those calls, it is critical that we have the absolute best trained and best prepared paramedics paramedics here at the Lexington Fire Department. This grant will allow us to not only continue, but to increase the capacity of our paramedic class, putting more highly trained providers on the front lines ready to answer the call. The Lexington Fire Department, with the support of our LFUCG leaders, will continue to seek new and innovative ways to meet the growing needs of our community. As Chief Wells said, today we're talking about something very important in our city and really it all boils down to good strong public safety. We know that's the foundation of a great community is good strong public safety. So today's announcement will make our city safer. Our fire department has won an Assistance to Firefighters grant that will pay for training and certification of 27 new EMT paramedics. And you're looking at them right now. This is a huge step forward for us. We have the best fire department in Kentucky and in the region. And this grant will help them be even better. All Lexington firefighters are certified as EMT basic, which is the norm among professional firefighting departments. However, and this is something which is, I didn't know before today, this is wonderful. Half of Lexington's firefighters are certified paramedics, which is highly unusual, especially in Kentucky. And over half of all the state's registered paramedics work in the Lexington Fire Department. Think about that. Over half of Kentucky's registered paramedics. And you've helped train them, Dr. Patty Howard. As a registered nurse, this gives me a lot of confidence in our ability to help our residents in emergency situations. Just yesterday, the 22nd anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy, we were all reminded again of the importance of our first responders. People who routinely put their lives on the line and run toward the danger while the rest of us are running away. As mayor, one of my responsibilities is to ensure that our firefighters well trained and well equipped. Today's announcement is about an important investment in their training and in Lexington's community safety. So congratulations and thank you so much. We're really excited about this class. Thank you. Lexington police expanded their capabilities with the opening of the new East Sector Roll Call Center. We joined officials for the ribbon cutting. When you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hail at the twilight's last gleaming, whose rush drives and bright stars through the air. This new East Sector roll call will position our police closer to major traffic arteries and to neighborhoods along Manowar. It will also save us money in utility expenses and in rent. This roll call is a satellite office where police officers who work in the east sector of City Report for Duty. We also have a west sector office on Old Frankfurt Pike, a central sector near Eastland, and our headquarters downtown. town. Police began using this new East Sector office last month. This 7,900 square foot, $4.2 million building was designed with energy efficiency in mind, using insulated concrete, wall construction, high-efficiency windows, and a geothermal heating and cooling system. Work areas all receive natural light. This is one of the most beautiful things about this building is the natural light. And the building can accommodate solar panels if needed. It also incorporates many security features including a controlled entrance, bullet resistant materials, a separation of private offices and meeting spaces, separate entrance for the public and police, a storm shelter, separation between public and police parking. It's really state of the art. building is designed to accommodate a variety of uses. The facility's conference room and roll call are separated by a movable partition that allows for increased space that could be used for community meetings, award ceremonies and classroom training opportunities. Previously, East Sector Roll Call was located on Center Parkway in a rental facility. This new facility has been built on land already owned by our city. Any building like this is a true partnership and a true collaboration. So, you know, I got to thank the community for their support. You know, since I've been here, I don't think we've had a roll call facility built from the ground up, and that takes a lot of support. It takes a lot of support from our mayor and her team, but also from our council members. And it means, it means, truly means a lot to me that you all stepped up and supported the police department, and we appreciate that very much. This is a satellite facility, but it's built with a purpose for us to be part of the East Sector community, part of not just the community surrounding and not just the school here, but part of whole East Sector. It's inviting and it's accessible. That's what I want you to know about our officers. You know, our officers do a great job every day. They want you to know that they're part of the community too. Three, two, one. Lexington Police continued their reputation for innovation with the announcement of the new FUSIS system, consolidating assets to further streamline public safety. Today, I'm excited to announce the integration of the FUSIS platform. This new technology will help unify all of our public safety assets, like flock license plate readers, traffic cameras, and other cameras operated by private entities who opt in with this technology, we will be able to solve crimes quicker and provide real-time information to officers. Technology does not replace good police work, but instead it is another tool for our officers and detectives that they can use for safer and more efficient investigations. We will still have officers talking and engaging with the community and following up on any leads. The FUSES platform also allows businesses, the community, and our partners and residents to engage with us in a more efficient manner and help keep us and our community safe. We are taking an exciting step forward that will make our community safer through technology. Our investment in FLOC license plate readers has been an enormous success. That is why I proposed back in April that we take the next step and establish the Real-Time Intelligence Center with an additional investment of about $150,000 annually in video-based intelligence software known as FUSIS. We're now ready to begin using FUSIS in our community. It allows us to combine our existing technology assets, including alerts from FLOC license plate readers and video from traffic cameras, while also allowing the voluntary addition of private security cameras from partnering businesses and even residential cameras. Starting today, businesses and individual citizens here can choose to have a direct impact on the safety of our community through this technology partnership. The software combines these assets into a single source. It's an investigative tool and a resource we can use to streamline emergency response and incident management with real-time information for our first responders. Technology is the future, some say. It's here now. We started this on July 1st, and after about two months, we're almost close to being fully implemented. We nearly have all of our traffic cameras loaded into the system, but our site is live. Our site is connectlex.org. That's where the community can go to register their cameras and or integrate their cameras into the Real-Time Intelligence Center. Registration is voluntary and it's free, so that's where we see most of our residential cameras. We would like to just know you have a camera in the area. It's good for us to have that ability to go directly to you and also reach out to you electronically to see if you had any video that may be related to a criminal incident that you wish to share. If you are a business and you want to integrate your cameras into the Real Time Intelligence Center, it allows us to be efficient when we respond to your business in or around your business if a criminal act is occurring. There is a small fee associated with that. That fee allows you to buy the purchase of the core device, which will integrate your cameras. and then there is a yearly subscription thereafter, but that is a nominal fee of $150, I believe. The good thing about it, you don't have to replace your camera system. It integrates with most every camera system that's out there, so it's just literally a plug-and-play option that usually can be set up within a week's time once the order actually received. Fuses will then get on the phone until you have to connect that. Plug it in and you'll be integrated right with the system. That's all for now, but as always, you can keep up with us on social media. Check out the latest traffic updates on X at Lex Rex or catch our live traffic cans on LexingtonKY.gov. For all of us at Lex TV, I'm Neil Noah and that's it for now. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. Hey, it's Bajan Niko and we are here with your next episode of Year Lex PD. We are here at the new East Sector Roll Call at the intersection of Clearwater Way and Saren Drive. Outstanding facility here, right? Very nice. State of the art. Yes. This month, the holidays are coming up. Yes. Right? So we want to talk about property crimes. And property crimes are something that obviously we experience year-round, but we think a little bit more about it during the holidays just because of opportunities. Yes. So today, let's go talk to a couple of our detectives about car break-ins, house break-ins, all these types of things that we don't want you to encounter. And hi, we are back with Lieutenant Barton and Detective McMillan with the Property Crime Section. So we're going to be talking about property crimes today. Can you describe what property crimes are? So property crimes are basically any theft or damage to any of your property that you may own, whether it be your vehicle, your house, your yard, an animal, or anything such as that. So any crime that's committed against the property, not your person. So that's what a property crime is. Okay. Well, let's start with talking about your house, all right? And burglary, obviously, is something we always think about. Your house is your castle, right? We don't want anybody to go in. So are we having, do we see a lot of burglaries in Lexington? No, we have our fair share, of course, just like any other city. But, you know, it's a crime of opportunity, right? So, you know, these would-be criminals are coming by your house and they happen to see that your front door is open or whatever it may be. You don't leave your lights on, and there's an opportunity for them to get in. They're going to try it. So there are some things, obviously, you can do to help prevent that, and we can discuss that later if you wish. But, yes, there are burglaries in Fayette County. And I've always heard that typically residential burglies occur more during the day than they do at night. Is that true? That is correct. Most folks are out at work usually 8 in the morning until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. So, yes, most of the time your burglies are going to happen during the daytime. And with the holiday season coming up and people being out more shopping and things like that, Do you see an increase in burglaries around this time of year as throughout the entire year? No, I wouldn't say so much for that. You know, no, I would say no. So what are some of the things that we can do around our own home to make sure that we're less likely to be a victim of a burglary? Yeah, I would say light up your house, especially when we're specifically at night. Light up your house, lock your doors. Obviously, security systems and surveillance are a big benefit and deterrent for would-be burglars. During the day, I would say, again, just lock your house, secure your property the best that you can, and, you know, watch out for your neighbors as well. So I know now today, in today's times, there's a lot more people working from home now. So if you know your neighbors, maybe ask them to, you know, watch out for your property as you would watch out for their property as well. Well, I think that's a great point as far as talking about neighbors and making sure that you report anything that appears suspicious. And that would be applicable whether it's daytime or nighttime, either one, obviously. What about folks that have camera systems? You mentioned alarm systems. What about folks that may have camera systems, ring doorbells, things like that? Because I know in the last episode, we talked with the Real-Time Intelligence Center, and they talked about the importance of registering those. So have you all seen, from the detective standpoint, have you seen a benefit as far as investigating crimes because of those? Yeah, I would say absolutely. Obviously, like I said, video surveillance is one of the biggest pieces of evidence that a detective can receive, whether that's investigating a residential crime or any crime, commercial crime, theft of packages, whatever it may be. The better shot or the better picture of a suspect that we can get and description of that individual that we can get, the better. So like you had mentioned, there's a lot more people are installing the doorbell cameras as well as security cameras around their property. and there's a way now or that that's coming that we can start registering those those cameras voluntarily to the police department so if there is an incident or a crime that occurred within a specific area we can refer to our resources and and see if there's any video surveillance and if there is then we can directly link into that system and or reach out to the to the owners and then obtain that very vital piece of evidence that we need. And some people, as far as that goes, would like to stay anonymous. So if they integrate and register their cameras, an officer necessarily doesn't have to go out to their house, so someone may not even know, in case the burglar lives in the neighborhood, that, hey, we're helping the police. Yeah, exactly. I mean, anyone can see that there's a camera system attached to your house or whatnot, But your name doesn't have to be associated with with that address or with the video surveillance that we obtain as of right now With the unit that I'm working with I work closely with commercial businesses But now I don't even have to go to the business itself I can just send a link directly to them and everything's happening over the server over the internet and no one has to know Specifically about your involvement at all as far as the system with the police Awesome. Well, great. So, Nicole, I understand that you are quite the online shopper. Is that right? I am. I am a Prime member. Okay. So, packages being delivered probably hourly, not just daily, right? No, it's more like every other day. Okay. All right. So, is that a concern for us as far as, and particularly it's a year-round thing, but during the holidays we probably have more packages delivered to Nicole? Yeah, so this is definitely peak season for our, you know, if you want to call them porch pirates or whatever it may be. But, yes, this is the time of year where everyone's going to pick up their online shopping in preparation for the holidays, right? So, you know, we just had one yesterday, for instance, that was going around following a FedEx vehicle. So, luckily, we were able to use the Flock license plate readers to find those suspects and apprehend them at a later time. It's very important, you know, to be able to use the resources like we were just talking about. Camera systems are a great tool, and it will help us, you know, investigate these crimes and help bring the people that are held responsible for those crimes as well. And just like you said earlier with neighbors, if you see suspicious activity like that, if you see somebody following a delivery truck around or walking up checking boxes on porches, please call the police department. Absolutely. And on the same note, you know, I would extend that invitation or that request to delivery drivers in general now. You know, if you're a delivery driver and you see someone or suspect that someone's following you, it doesn't hurt to at least give the non-emergency line a phone call and ask us to, you know, investigate the potential of what's going on. So that's what I would request. You know, I know these drivers are busy. They are, you know, have minimum time, downtime in between their deliveries. If they can't do it themselves, we ask them to contact their dispatch, and I'm sure that might be a little bit easier for them. That way they can continue on the route, and the dispatch personnel at their headquarters, wherever it may be, can call us and give us that information. Now, the other part of the property crimes that you all had mentioned was auto thefts or just any crimes from vehicles. So tell us a little more about that. Like, how can we stay safe, or what can the community do to not become a victim of those crimes? All right, for auto larcenies in general, you know, this time of year is starting to get colder. I think the temperatures are going to start changing on us over the weekend. And along with that comes people going outside and warming up their cars, right? So most newer cars have a capability of not leaving the keys inside. Unfortunately, some of our older vehicles still require the key and ignition, and most folks leave their doors unlocked. And we have people, these criminals who, you know, they're walking through the neighborhoods. They're looking for that steam coming out of the exhaust or whatever it may be. The lights may be on if it's parked in the driveway, and they take advantage of that. Again, it's a crime, you know, an opportunity for them to get an easy vehicle and just be driving right off before the owner even knows that it's gone. So this is peak season for that, like I said, with the colder weather coming in. And that could be at your house. It could be at a gas station. It could be wherever, right? Yes. And correct me if I'm wrong. I mean, I would recommend to be a little bit more conscious about leaving your car running if it's an older model. Because obviously you're going to have to leave the keys in. Like LT was saying, you know, with the newer models and everything, there's the remote start and whatnot. But the older models, obviously, they don't have that capability. Well, we've seen an influx in car thefts across the United States. Some very significant numbers across the United States. And we want to make sure that that doesn't continue to be a problem in Lexington. What about, that's stealing the car, so what if somebody breaks in the car? All right, again, this is a crime that happens year-round. It can increase a little bit as well during the holiday season if we start talking about going shopping and visiting malls and shopping centers and the big parking lots. But yes, larceny from autos are one of our biggest Part 1 crimes. And, you know, just last month alone, we had, I think, around 56 just in East Sector, around 40-some in West Sector, and around 36, I think, in Central Sector. So you add that up, and that's just for the month. And along with that were, I think, around 22 stolen handguns and firearms from these vehicles. So that's a significant amount of guns that are getting stolen from our vehicles and then out here on our streets. So our advice for folks out there is, you know, lock your vehicles, park in well-lit areas if you can, and take all valuables out of your vehicles, especially firearms. You know, the safest place for a firearm is in your house and a safe if you have one or, you know, a lock box or something like that. So we ask that, you know, people take a little extra time all year round in particular for that, for everyone's safety. But in general, with vehicles and car break-ins, we would really like for everyone to start locking their doors and keeping all valuables out of sight. So whether your car is at your house at night sitting outside or whether you're in a parking lot somewhere, making sure those doors are locked and making sure that there's nothing visible in your car that makes it an opportunity, right? So very good advice. Very good advice. Also a consideration, too, on the newer models, I'm terrible at remembering to lock my car. But with the newer models, there's oftentimes a setting where, like, once you exit the vehicle after a certain amount of time, your vehicle automatically locks for you. So that could be something to consider for some people that forget sometimes, like myself. So you mentioned shopping, too. Do we have any concerns other than cars being broken into when we're out shopping? Is that one of the main ones probably? Yeah, I would say so. So what you get usually when people shop, especially at a mall or a larger shopping center, is they like to make intermittent trips back and forth to the car from in the mall, right? So they have too many bags and they maybe want to drop some off. So sometimes these criminals are out in the parking lots and they're watching for that, right? So they're watching for this family to bring out some gifts, put them in the car, and then go back inside. That gives them the opportunity to then go to that car because they know they're not going to be back for a minute and take advantage of the gifts that were just purchased and take them home from themselves or whatever else they may do. So just like we talked about earlier, even if it's in your driveway or any parking lot, just if you can, put them in your trunk if you have a trunk, if it's a sedan, obviously. If it's an SUV and you put it in the cargo area, you know, we ask maybe bring a blanket or something like that, some jackets, and just try to cover them up the best you can. because if a would-be criminal walks by your vehicle and they see shopping bags, they're more than likely going to take advantage of that opportunity and get into that vehicle. So with the increased amount of shopping, do we see also an increase with identity theft? And people noticing after the holidays, like, wait a minute, I know I spent some money, but I didn't spend this much money. Yeah, I think that we're all guilty now, especially with online shopping. you know, brick and mortar type of businesses is kind of becoming less popular and now we're ordering more online. So I know there's a lot of interesting websites out there and a lot of interesting items that may be promising, you know, the best product ever. But I would suggest, you know, be careful with what information that you're providing these maybe less known or less reputable businesses online and just maybe also obtain like some credit monitoring and that will add a sense of protection as well. So if there's any sort of transactions or purchases that you don't recognize, obviously you'll catch it on early and be able to stop that and prevent any further damage. So absolutely. So we talked about a lot of different types of property crimes today and i think the theme is we all can be a victim right so we need to make sure that we take the steps whether it's making sure our house is locked whether it's our cars are locked nothing's visible in the car being aware of your surroundings right if whether you're out shopping and making sure that we report any suspicious activity that we see yeah by all means please if you see something that doesn't look right give us a call and you know hopefully we can get out there with our patrol officers and uh at least find out and get a good description of these folks and maybe get out with them and investigate their suspicious activity so all right you all have done a great job today and we appreciate that but the whole purpose is this of this is to make sure that you the public never have to encounter the detectives right so hopefully you'll never get to meet them Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. McMillan with joining us today to talk about property crops. Making sure that you stay safe during the holidays, right? So with the first of the year, next month episode, we are going to be talking about wellness, physical wellness, mental wellness, how we need to be thinking about that and how you need to be thinking about that because everybody's going to be making resolutions, right? Absolutely. So make sure you join us next month on Your Lex PD. Thank you. Thank you. We got tonight Who needs tomorrow Let's make it last Let's find a way Turn out the light Come take my hand out We've got tonight baby Why don't you stay We've got tonight Who needs to walk Let's make it last Let's find a way. Turn out the light. Come take my hand now. We've got tonight, baby. Why don't you stay? We've got tonight. Who needs tomorrow? Let's make it loud. Let's find a way Turn off the light Turn off the light Come take my hand now We've got tonight, baby Why don't you stay? Oh Why don't you stay? I'm sorry. The End them open for so long As I have wandered through this world and as each moment has unfurled I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams People go just where they will I never noticed them until I got this feeling That it's later than it seems Doctor, my eyes Tell me what you see I hear their cries Just say if it's too late for me guitar solo I cannot see the sky Is it surprise For having learned How not to cry Thank you. Blue Jean Baby L.A. Lady Seamstress for the band Pretty eyes Pirate smile You merry music man Ballerina You must have seen her Dancing in the sand Now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand. Jesus freaks out in the street Handing tickets I've forgotten Turning back, she just laughs The boulevard is not that bad Piano man, he makes a stand In the auditorium Looking on, she sings the song The words she knows, the tune she hunks But oh how it feels so real, lying here, with no one near Only you, and you can hear me, when I say softly Please, slowly Hold me closer, tiny dancers Count the headlights on the highway Lay me down and she's so blanding You had a busy day today Hold me close, a tiny dancer Count the headlights on the highway Lay me down in the sheets of linen You had a bad day, yeah, today Blue jean, baby L.A. lady Seems to sort a band Pretty eyes Pirate smile You marry a music man Ballerina You must have seen her Dancing in the sand Now she's in me Always with me Tiny dancer in my hand Oh how it feels so real Lying here, no one near Only you, and you can hear me When I say softly, slowly Hold me close, a tiny dancer Count the headlights on the highway Thank you. I am Councilwoman Denise Gray. I am proud and honored to represent the 6th District of Lexington. 6th District is an area that has the most Fayette County public schools. We have Bryan Station High School, Bryan Station Middle School, whoop, whoop, here in the house. Also, we have Frederick Douglass High School and Carter G. Woodson Academy to go on and on. We have over 16 Fayette County Public Schools programs. As someone that went through the Black Achievers program when I was younger, I know how important it is for you to be exposed to government. As someone that looked just like you in one of your schools, I never had anyone that looked like me or anyone who was a political leader in our community ever come and speak or ask you to come see them in their offices. And I'm here now in my first term. I want to make sure that you have the opportunities I did not. So I welcome you. We have a large number of my colleagues, commissioners, and even the mayor who are eager to meet you, to let you know what they do on a daily basis. I do understand you have some questions. I want you to ask them those questions, and you can dig a little bit deeper, because we make the hard decisions, and we represent you, and your voice matters. So how this will go on, each person will speak at each table. So that will give you a one-on-one opportunity to speak to each commissioner and each council member present. And we do have our recruiter from our police department. I want you all to start thinking, and you all can spread the word to others, the importance of public safety. We know that there's not that much good press about them, but in Lexington, we are proud. We are honored to have one of the best, maybe the best police department in the nation where what you see in the news is not here. We is down to earth, and I'm honored that that's what we have here. I would like to introduce now my mentor, my friend, my friend, my friend, my friend, my friend, my friend, my friend, my friend, my friend, Wow. My mentor, my friend, one of the longest serving leaders, council members. She was a district council member, went on to be at large council member, which means she represented all of Lexington and not just a district like me. So and now she is the, the top woman, the top leader in all of Lexington next to me. So come on up, Mayor Linda Gordon. Hi. Thank you. Oh, she's a hoot, isn't she? Thank you very much, Council Member Gray. Welcome, everybody. It's great to see you all. As you know, I'm the mayor here, and I'm really happy to welcome you and to have you in City Hall. And I love it when young people visit our government to learn, and, you know, you're our future leaders. So this is really important, and I know you have your folks here too, right? So you're here, I think, to learn a bit about how government functions and about our city, which is now getting to be a bigger city, about 322,000 people. And so you're going to learn about the inner workings. It's pretty amazing how many things go on inside government and how many services we provide to people. That's why we're here. The only reason government's here is to serve people. If we're not doing that, then we take a step back and we look at how we can better serve you. So I love this engagement and question time and learning to be informed and learning more, because maybe one day one of you will be a council member or a mayor. We need that. So I'm really thrilled that you all are taking the opportunity to do this. To the staff and volunteers, I've seen some of them here for the YMCA of Central Kentucky. I really, really, really appreciate your dedication to this as well as to other things. What you do to support our young people is really something that is critical to our future, and it doesn't go unnoticed. And so with that, I want to thank Council Member Gray for organizing this, and thank you all for being here. Thank the parents who are here, and I am going to see you in the council meeting, I believe. Thank you. So Marley is the director of the YMCA Central Kentucky Black Achievers Program, and Paula is the president of the YMCA of Central Kentucky. We are also joined by YMCA of Central Kentucky staff, members of the Black Achievers Program, as well as some of their parents. And we thank you all for being here tonight. This program provides young people with resources like academic support, career exploration, mentoring services, and social and emotional well-being programs. All resources that will better equip them for a successful future. Over the past 38 years, the YMCA of Central Kentucky has served 8,000 students. and has awarded seniors over $9 million in scholarships. I am thrilled that these students have these opportunities. I had an opportunity earlier today to speak with some of these young people, and our future is in great hands. So Marley, I want to thank you, your staff, and all the volunteers who commit so much time to this program and to our young people. So at this time, I am pleased to present this proclamation. Here's how it goes. Whereas YMCA Black Achievers is a college and career readiness program that provides equitable access, opportunities, and support to ensure success after high school for historically marginalized youth. And whereas through this program, students are known as achievers and are exposed to academic support, career exploration, mentoring, and social and emotional well-being programs. And whereas achievers are supported by YMCA staff, volunteers, and adult achievers as they develop mind, body, and spirit. and whereas the YMCA of Central Kentucky is dedicated to the betterment of our young people and our community, and whereas we thank the staff and volunteers of the YMCA of Central Kentucky for their determination and compassion. Now, therefore, I, Linda Gorton, Mayor of Lexington, do hereby declare November 2, 2023, YMCA Black Achievers Day in Lexington. Thank you for your good work. Thank you. Thank you. Would you like to say something? Yes. So I'll first ask Marley if she'd like to say a few words. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor Gordon, and thank you, Lexington Urban City Council, for this amazing recognition. As many of you may know, we are a program dedicated to the youth, and we could not do it without the support of our community. So this recognition is so, so, so amazing. and it means a lot that you all are recognizing this program and that you are recognizing the kids in this program and it really does mean a lot and just I can't thank you enough for it. Thank you. All right, Paula, would you like to say a few words? Well, I'd just like to say thank you for recognizing the program and these very bright young people tonight. It really is a community program. It's a volunteer-based program. So people like you spending time with them to share your expertise and your knowledge of our community is exactly at the core of what we try to do. So thank you for doing that today. We appreciate you. Thank you very much. And now, Council Member Gray. It's okay. Black Achievers, YMCA Black Achievers. First of all, I would like to say thank you to my colleagues, Council Member James Brown, Councilmember Shayla Lynch for taking a bit of your time to volunteer with the YMCA Black Achievers as well. I was once in your shoes Achievers. I was I grew up and was part of the YMCA Black Achievers. It is through that program that I am here today. You are greatness. You are what success looks like. You are what excellence looks like. It is important for you all to be here today to see what we the elected officials do on a daily basis. We are here to serve you. The program that we had earlier, that is for me to ensure that you know your power, you know your voice, and we answer to you, and you are to ask us the questions, not just the easy questions, but those hard questions, because that's why we're here. And so now you know you're no longer in my shoes, where I never had anyone that looked like me in a position of leadership or even within our community who came to speak to me about what's possible. You don't have to live without seeing anyone that looks like you on council that cares enough about you to say, come see me. So use this powerful day. Use this moment. Use your voice now and forevermore. and lift it up and ask those hard questions because you are what excellence looks like. You are what success looks like. So I applaud you in your walk now and in the future. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hello and thank you for joining me on this segment of my council comment. I'm 9th District Council Member Whitney Elliott Baxter and today I'm at our recycling facility to tell you a little bit more about how we can service your needs here. I've got Nancy Albright here, our Commissioner of Environmental Quality and Public Works. Thank you for joining me today. Happy to be here. So we were talking earlier about the amount of people who utilize our recycling services in Lexington. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? I would be happy to. So in Lexington, 82% of the customers that receive city garbage also participate in our recycling program. And that is a really strong number that tells us that a lot of people in our community find this service important. And we want to do everything we can to make it the best service possible. That's great. And I know that we've invested a lot of money recently into our recycling facility. Can you tell me a little bit about what improvements we've made here? Yes, ma'am. We just completed in 2021 a $4 million upgrade of the facility, replaced a lot of the equipment that had not been replaced since the plant opened. And we just got word not that long ago that we received a grant from the EPA for an additional $1.8 million. dollars. That's by far the largest award in Kentucky and we will use those monies to install another optical sorter, which I know is not necessarily clear, but that helps us sort more material and sort the material we already get better so that we have a better finished product that more of our vendors will be interested in, which will help make this an even better program. I know that behind us we've got a lot of bales of different types of materials and And what the public may not know is that when your recycled products come here, we actually bail them up and sell them to kind of offset some of our costs here. And it's just a service that we can provide to the community. So I appreciate all the hard work and grant writing that we've done in the city so that we can better serve our community. Yeah, I will say that is one of the things that we're called a recycling facility because we don't actually do something with the product. We bundle it up and then we sell it to vendors who are the ones that turn it into park benches or toilet paper or new cans and bottles. So we package everything that we get up and we provide it to the vendors that are interested in using the material. Great. Well, thank you for this information. I think the community will really appreciate your knowledge on this. Thanks for joining me. Well, thank you all for being here today. I'm now joined by Julie, our plant manager here at the recycling facility. Thanks for being with me today. Thanks for having me. So I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about the process that recycled materials go through from the time that a resident puts it in their recycling container until we can see it back here in one of these bales. Absolutely. So basically, we get the materials from the trucks. They get dumped in our old tipping fuller in our tent there. And then from there, our loader feeds it into the drum feeder, and it makes its way up to the pre-sort line. We pull off scrap metal. We pull off plastic bags and a lot of debris that doesn't get bailed into these products here. And then from the pre-sort line, it goes through our OCCs, and then we sort the fibers and the plastics. and so we have our optical sorters which actually kind of identify what material that is and send it in the right direction. And then from there, once they get through that sorting process, they go to our bunkers and then once the bunkers are full, we bale them and then we have the products that you see here. Seems like a pretty intense process. Yes. So you mentioned pulling things off that we can't recycle. So what are some of those items? You mentioned plastic bags, metal. It sounds like that might be some dangerous materials because I know that our employees are actually physically pulling those off of the line. So what are some tips that you could give our community on appropriate things to recycle? Absolutely, that's correct. There's a couple of different hazards. There's the hazards that we're pulling off the lines. We get things like car rotors and large metal items that are not, they're recyclable, they're just not recyclable at our facility. And then we have materials that kind of get hung up in our equipment. And so things like hoses, extension cords, lights, and even like larger big pieces of cardboard that get caught up in our equipment. So we recommend that, you know, if you have large cardboard, if you can cut it down to like a five by five foot size so that it fits through our conveyor belt systems. And then that way we can process it. So the items that we can't recycle at this facility, what happens with them? And what's the percentage that maybe still goes into the landfill? Absolutely. So the items that we pull off of the lines and stuff that cannot be recycled, they go to our trash compactors or even our scrap metal bins. And so the scrap metal that we do pull off, we do recycle that with the other recycling companies in the area. And then the other waste ends up going to the transfer facility that we have to pay for disposal. And what do you think that percentage is, the amount of products that come here that we then have to send to the landfill after all? Well, it started off back in September. We were at about 29 percent, and last month we were down to 26 percent of our waste or our material that comes in here does have to go to the transfer station. And we would like that number to continue to go down, and so we're doing things here on our site to help with that and help put our commodities and our products that are still recyclable that end up, you know, at the end of our line here, we can still continue to recycle that. But we do get a lot of garbage and, you know, food waste and things that, you know, larger plastic items that at this time we don't recycle, but that could change in the future. So I think, you know, it's important to keep ahead of the materials that we do recycle, you know, our milk jugs, our laundry detergent jugs. And right now we do not recycle the yogurt containers and the butter dishes. But after the EPA grant that we'll be getting, we will be recycling those items. So I think just the important thing is to keep in mind what items we recycle and what items are actually not recyclable. Thank you. I know we'll talk a little bit more later about educational opportunities for the community so that everybody's kind of on the same page with what we can recycle. But what are some of the biggest, I know you mentioned butter containers and yogurt containers. What are some of the other items that you see a lot that we can't recycle here? Absolutely. We see a lot of car batteries. We see a lot of car rotors. We see a lot of helium tanks and things of that nature. Okay. And for those items, where is the most appropriate place for people to take? So with car batteries, you probably take those back to an auto parts store. And I'm not sure if in this area some of the other scrap recycling companies take those. And then as far as the helium tanks, those also do go to those scrap metal recycling companies. Well, great. Thank you so much for joining me. Appreciate it. Next, we'll have some educational information. I'm now joined by Danny. He's our educational coordinator here. So thanks for being with me today. Happy to be here. So I know we do a lot of education in our community. Can you tell me a little bit about recycling education and what your role is here? Absolutely. So one of the things that we like to do is we do classroom education throughout Fayette County. So we'll work with students from kindergarten all the way through high school. And going to the classroom, we're talking about the importance of waste management and how to properly recycle. We might take a can just like this and we'll walk through all the different ways that this can goes from consumers into the recycle process and back to the consumer shelves again and how many jobs that might create and the processes that are going behind that and the importance of why recycling is so helpful to our communities. We might bring schools on tour groups here. So starting at fourth grade, you're welcome to sign up for a free tour at the Recycle Center. We actually cover the buses for that if you're in a public school system and then we will take high school students on a deeper tour throughout the facility and let them kind of see all the behind the scenes looks and what that looks like. That's great that you're starting that education at such a young age. I know my children have participated in those programs, and they come home and tell me what I can and can't recycle, so it's very beneficial. So can the public come and take a tour of the facility as well, and how would they go about doing that? They absolutely can. So the easiest way to learn more about recycling in the city is go to lexingtonky.gov slash recycle. Okay. So we try to make it as easy as possible, and you can go there, learn about the different details and kind of what we offer. We offer tours for anybody in the public who wants to do that. I get emails all the time from different groups, church groups, Boy Scout, Girl Scout groups, interested community groups. We get all kinds of different people who just want to come and see the facility. And so they'll email me. My email address is dwolums at Lexingtonky.gov. I get emails. We'll schedule a tour. We'll figure out what dates work. And absolutely, we'll do all that. I've taken one of those tours before, and this is a really impressive facility. So I would encourage anyone in the community who's interested to come out and take a peek. So what kind of education is out there in regards to what our facility actually recycles? Is there a list on our website that tells people what's an appropriate recycled item? Absolutely. Again, if you go to the lexingtonky.gov slash recycle, it has a list of all the different things that you can recycle. It has an FAQ, so frequently asked questions of what are the things that people might not be sure about. We have a list of all the commonly most requested items, and so we have people who are asking about the helium tanks. And so you might go there and find out where you can distribute it. It also has information about our special collection events. And so people who do have items that might be hazardous to our facility here, you can go there, learn about our upcoming special collection events and know where to take those instead. Okay, and then we also offer electronics recycling in the city as well. Is that something that people can access year round or are there special days as well? We do have a facility off of Brussels Road that you can absolutely visit. The information is also on Lexingtonky.gov slash recycle. you can learn a little bit more about what time that's open for the public. As long as you're a Fayette County resident and you bring your ID to show that, you're welcome to bring so. We don't collect things from businesses, but from individual households, we absolutely do at that facility. Well, thank you so much for your work in our community and educating, especially our children. They're the next generation, and they're the ones that will benefit from the recycling that we're doing. So I appreciate it. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you have found this segment educational. and like Danny mentioned visit lexingtonky.gov forward slash recycle for any additional information that you might find beneficial and as always you're welcome to follow me on social media and if you would like to join my weekly newsletter please email me at wbaxter at lexingtonky.gov it's been a pleasure talking to you today hope you have a good day Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah Oh, Lord Oh, Lord Oh, Lord Oh, Lord Where Are you? Oh, Lord My lover I was wrong I took a trap to love a few. Well, then my lover, what was just for you. My dog, I need you To call my own and never do wrong To hold in mind your little hand I'll go too soon That all is so great Please hold my hand My dear I was wrong To try To love you Well That my lover was just for you. For only you. Last chance for love Yes, it's my last chance Romance tonight I need you By me Beside me To guide me To hold me To scold me Cause when I'm bad, I'm so, so bad So let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance tonight Last chance, last chance for love Yes, it's my last chance Romance tonight Oh, I need you by me Beside me to guide me To hold me, to scold me Cause when I'm in, I'm so, so bad. So let's dance, let's dance. Let's dance, let's dance. Let's dance, let's dance tonight. Hey, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh Dance, dance, dance. Come on, baby. Let's dance tonight. Yeah. I'm a hard-working man. I wear a steel hard hat. I can ride rope, a hammer and paint. Do things with my hands that most men can't. I can't get ahead no matter how hard I try. I'm getting really good at barely getting by. Got everything on By the sweat of my brow From my four-wheel drive To my cowboy boots How old it all to my blue-collar roots Feel like I'm working overtime On a runaway train I got to burst loose From this ball and chain I'm a hard, poor working man I got it all on the line for a piece of the promised land And I'm burning my candle at both ends That's the only way to keep the fire going is to outrun the wind Come Friday night I like to party hard I carry on with the Cadillac cutie Spend my whole week's pay on some weekend beauty Come Monday morning, I'm the first to arrive I ain't nothing but business, y'all, from nine to five I'm a hard-working man I got it all on my mind for a piece of the promised land And I'm burning my candle at both ends That's the only way to keep the fire going Is to outrun the wind I can't wait to get up in the morning and do it all over again Well, I'm a hard-living, hard-working man And women too I I I saw the ocean's dark I'm walking on the way that she came It's very nice to call my name And I can't get it out of my head No, I can't get it out of my head Now my old world is gone for days Cause I can't get it out of my head When I break down On the shoreline And blue It's a Leptide Morning, don't get here tonight Searching for her silver light And I can't get it out of my head No, I can't get it out of my head Now my whole world is gone for dead Cause I can't get it out of my head now now Thank you. Oh, there's a line that'll end me yet. The city took us down and dreams going round, round. And I can't get out of my head. Oh, I can't get out of my head. But my world is on me. Just get it out of here I'm just gonna make it out of here I can't get it out of here My whole world is not for this Cause I can't get it out of here Now, now, now Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Something shot right through me My heart skipped a beating time There's a different feel about you tonight It's got me thinking lots of crazy things I even think I saw a flash of light Felt like electricity You shouldn't kiss me like this Unless you mean it like that Cause I'll just close my eyes And I won't know where I'm at We'll get lost on this dance floor Spinning it round and around And around and around They're all watching us now They think we're falling in love They never believe we're just friends When you kiss me like this I think you mean it like that If you do, baby, kiss me again Everybody swear we make the perfect pair But dancing is as far as it goes Girl, you never move me quite the way you move me tonight I just wanted you to know I just wanted you to know You shouldn't kiss me like this Unless you mean it like that Cause I'll just close my eyes And I won't know where I'm at And we'll get lost on this dance floor Spinning around and around and around and around They're all watching us now They think we're falling in love They never believe we're just friends When you kiss me like this I think you mean it like that If you do, baby, kiss me again Kiss me again When you be Feeling small when tears are in your eyes, I'll drive them on. I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough. And friends just can't be found Like a bridge over trouble's water I will lay thee down Like a bridge over trouble's water I would lay me down When you're down the middle When you're on the street When evening falls so far I'll comfort you I'll take your part Oh, when darkness comes And pain is all around Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay thee down Sail on, silver girl Sail on, white Your time has come to shine All your dreams along their way See how they shine Oh, give me a friend I'm sailing right behind Like the bridge over trouble I will ease your mind Like a bridge or a troubled water I will ease your mind Just off of the beaten path A little dot on a state road map That's where I was born and where I'll die. Things move at a slower pace. Nobody's in the rat race. And these days that's a special way of life. Down home, where they know you by name and treat you like family. Down home, a man's good word and a handshake are all you need Folks know, if they're falling on hard times, they can fall back home Those of us raised up down home In the corner of the hardware store, gathered round a checkerboard Old men telling lies and crowning kings Kids driving around the old town square Cops roll down in the cool night air Go and see what's shaking at the very queen Down home, where they know you by name And treat you like family Down home, a man's good word and a handshake are all you need. Folks know if they're falling on hard times they can fall back on those of us raised up down home. When I was born I couldn't wait to leave this place but now I want to see my children raised down home. Down home. Folks know if they're falling on hard times, they can fall back on. Those of us raised up down home, Where they know you by name and treat you like family Down home A man's good word and a handshake are all unique Folks know If they're falling on hard times They can fall back on Those of us phrase that Down home Down home Way down home Down home Way down home I'll drive a million miles to be with you tonight If you're feeling low Turn up your radio The words we use are strong They make reality Now the music's sung Well, baby, dance with me Yeah Lift it up, lift it up Move it down to the ground Lift it up, lift it up Lift it up Don't hate me on the party line Everybody have fun tonight Everybody have fun tonight Everybody won't come tonight Everybody have fun tonight Everybody wait for tonight Everybody have fun Deep in the world tonight I hope it saves themselves I'll hold you so close Just let yourself go down Keep it up Move it down to the ground Get out what's inside of you Everybody have fun tonight Everybody have fun tonight Everybody wait on tonight Everybody have fun tonight Everybody waging tonight Everybody have fun Everybody Everybody have fun All angels and angels And all the world is Babylon And all the love and everyone A ship of fools sailing on Everybody, everybody had fun today Across the nation, around the world Everybody had fun today The celebrations spread the word Everybody have fun tonight Everybody have fun tonight Everybody watch on tonight Everybody have fun tonight Everybody watch on tonight Everybody has fun to hear Everybody has fun to hear Everybody Everybody Everybody Everybody Everybody I know you're pain I'm no match for you, baby You're like a nigga And it's all for me, don't you? My, my, my Back to the set Oh, yeah, nothing seems to be better than that If time has taught me anything Got to learn to be the ball And I can't keep from laughing at it all I'm going out I'm going all the way Oh, say the way that I've got to love somebody. No care how long you take. Like a shock to the heart, I got news for you. I may not look so smart, but I'm nobody's fool. Oh, no. Oh, no. That's it, love for me, baby. Taking it slow It's too much for me to end lines Still on the right top Heading into the rhythm of the sunlight Winter wild insanity Go with me tonight Sad love for you cowboys All right. I'm going all the way. Someone ain't got to love somebody. I don't care how long it takes. You can turn up the key, but I'm playing it cool. I know it's hard to believe. I ain't nobody's fool. I'm going all the way. All the way. You're my lady, I got a love so far. I don't care how long it takes. You might think that I'm not going to school on you. Baby, like it's not. I love my school. My illumination Becoming some surprise You may try to deny it You're amazed when the clown slaps you in the face Leaves you dumbfounded there in his way I'm going on the way I'm going on the way I love nobody I don't care how long it takes Like a shark to the heart I've got news for you Baby, I'm not so smart But I'm nobody's fool I'm going all the way Yeah Yeah I'm nobody's I'm nobody's fool Baby Nobody's gonna walk in my heart I don't care I'm going all the way I look up this morning And the sun was gone Turned on some music to start my day, and lost my sight. On this edition of Lexington Now, Part 2 of 2023, a year in review. Happy New Year and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of January 1st, 2024. I'm Neil Noah. We continue our look back at 2023 with a trio of stories focused on recreation. First, the opening of a welcome addition along the new Town Branch Trail. Splash at Charles Young Park. I am Colonel Charles Young of the United States Army, 10th Cavalry, and I'm here to open the ceremony for the celebration of this park. Many of you know a little bit about my history. I was the third African American to graduate from West Point and had a long career in the United States Army. And at the time of the start of World War I, I was the highest ranking African-American in the Army. Today's a big day. We are here to officially open Splash, a large water feature that's bringing water play space to the East End neighborhood and downtown. town. Splash connects the park's new playground, resurfaced basketball court, and community center to the Town Branch Commons Trail, making Charles Young Park a cornerstone of the neighborhood as well as the community. Splash has something for everyone. And now I know eventually y'all are going to take your shoes off and get wet, right? It's designed for children of all ages and abilities. It also offers a comfortable, relaxing area for parents and for those who stop in for a break off the Town Branch Commons Trail. As you can see, it's already very popular, As you can see throughout the splash pad, Brigadier General Charles Young is described as humble, courageous, and determined. The timeline surrounding the perimeter of the splash pad details the history of his remarkable life. I keep inheriting wonderful things that was left by Council at Large Brown. And for that, I am truly grateful. It has been a long time since this park has truly been vibrant and a lot of children in the park. I am so excited, as you can hear in the background, that it is getting ready to be filled with noise. I love to have noise. The voices of our future is behind me. So I look forward to families coming back to Charles Young to reunite. This is a deep, rich area for the East End neighborhood. We will make this safe. We will bring our neighborhoods back. We will bring our children back to the park. We will have football, basketball, run through the water, picnics, family reunions. It is time to come back home. So East End community, come on down to Charles Young and enjoy yourself. You can put your hands together for that one. I just want to say it's another beautiful day in East End as we continue to show our commitment to reinvesting in this community. You have to be intentional and you have to be focused whenever you invest, whether private or public dollars in a community, a historic community like East End, that's seeing a lot of investment and kind of turnover in regards to the older infrastructure. And I'd just like to give a shout-out to our parks department, Monica and her team, Brandy, for reaching out to the Charles Young Advisory Board, the William Wells Brown Community Center and school, and all the other neighborhood partners to get input and to get feedback on what this amenity in this community should be. It is such a pleasure to be here to celebrate the opening at Splash, a project that embodies so much that is important to the community foundation. Equitable, beautiful parks and playgrounds for everyone, fun, safe, creative water play, a more vibrant, healthy, engaged and connected neighborhood, community and city, and the power of charitable giving. When I spoke with Monica Conrad a little over a year ago, I conveyed to her the American Water Charitable Foundation is looking for the perfect project in Lexington, in our region, to focus on water-based play and nature-based play and so forth. And they have a $250,000 grant that they'd like to contribute. Do you have something? And she mentioned, I think I do. And today we're celebrating that. When she told me the story of the park and the collaboration and the engagement of the community and so many partners, we and the American Water Charitable Foundation knew this was the perfect fit. Three, two, one. One of the biggest stories of the year also happened along Town Branch Trail in the form of the groundbreaking of Town Branch Park, destined to be the crown jewel of Lexington's trail system. It's hard to imagine that in just two short years, all of this will be transformed into what you see in the video on my right. A beautiful green space featuring a high-tech stage and 4,000-person amphitheater. A unique children's playground, educational and interactive water play area. A dog park for both small and large dogs. food and beverage offerings, a butterfly garden, an art installation, the Town Branch Commons Trail, a recreation lawn, a reading room, and so much more. The park will also reconnect the community to Town Branch Creek through this space just to my right. That actually is the creek rolling through in the middle of those trees. I became involved in this project at the request of my dear friend and then Mayor Jim Gray. and a few other civic-minded friends and peers of mine were asked to take a task of creating a public park for Lexington that would be privately funded. This was an unprecedented project for our community. Raise $31 million, he told me, of private funds to build a world glass park in the heart of downtown for all of our residents and visitors to enjoy. What a dream. Our community has never come together to raise that much money for a single cause like this. Some people didn't think we could do it. Actually, there were many people that didn't think we could do it. And I would hear about it every now and then. Maybe they were right. We didn't raise $31 million. We raised $39 million! It was Victor Hugo who famously said, there's nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Now, I would just add that an idea without funding is nothing more than a hallucination. So fortunately and inspiringly, Town Branch Park is a reality and not a hallucination. Now let me too pay tribute to Ann Bacus, Lexington's Grand Dame. The late W.T. Young was often described as the bell cow of fundraising and philanthropy. And of course the bell cow is the one who leads. Well, there's a new bell cow in town. This is a groundbreaking. A groundbreaking. groundbreaking groundbreaking in that we are literally breaking ground. In this case, someone said asphalt to begin construction of this wonderful park. And groundbreaking in the landmark sense in that we are creating a new landmark, a new destination, a place for community celebration, a place to bring your children and your visitors from out of town. a place to enjoy a brisk walk or an evening stroll. This park is also groundbreaking in a pioneering sense. It is not every day in our city that the private sector comes together to fund something like Town Branch Park. This is a big deal. This park is a gift. It's a gift of improved quality of life to each and every one of us as well as all 325,000 people who live here, as well as their visitors. That's really special. Buildings come and go. Parking lots come and go. But parks can live forever if you take care of them. And I can assure you that our board and the people that have donated their time and energy here are going to make sure that this park is not built, but is taken care of. Lexington's Parks Department announced the development of its largest addition in over 26 years with the groundbreaking of Cardinal Run North. Today has been 26 years in the making. finally doing it! Back in 1997 this property was given to our community along with Cardinal Run South, an incredible gift of over 190 acres of pristine bluegrass property. So far the public has only been able to really enjoy 54 of those acres and that is Cardinal Run South. The bulk of the property has remained inaccessible because we have not been able to afford to develop a usable park and that ends today. The city is opening the doors to Cardinal Run North with a 10.1 million dollar investment through American Rescue Plan funds. At Cardinal Run North, Lexington will soon be able to enjoy two miles of natural hiking trails, six pickleball courts, a basketball court, four youth multi-purpose fields, a large playground, a dog park with two paddocks, a mile-long paved shared use trail, two picnic shelters, and many other amenities. There will be something for everyone. These features were selected in part by the public during a public engagement period last year. Almost 900 people filled out the survey. We also followed the guidance in our parks master plan. The two parks, Cardinal Run North and South, are separated by Parker's Mill Road. We will install a crosswalk to make it easy for citizens on both sides of Parker's Mill to enjoy both parks. I remember attending some of the public input sessions on this and it was really fun to watch constituents and other folks across the whole county come in and talk about their ideas and as the mayor just said you saw some of the cool things that are going to be here the trail everyone loves at dog park you've got recreational opportunities out here and just the acreage itself what a what a wonderful gift this is and thank you parks and rec director conrad the whole staff i know you put a lot of work and time in it it's great that it's here you know there's nothing better than a groundbreaking except for wrote ribbon cutting this has been one of those projects that takes a lot of people. It takes a village to kind of make something like this happen. I think the best thing about this park for District 10 is it is very walkable from most of the neighborhoods on this side of Harrodsburg Road and I think that those people will be using it extensively. I also think that the best thing about parks is not only do they provide physical help for people. But the open area, guys, is a great mental and emotional support system for the people here in Lexington. We partnered with Fayette County Public Schools, Girls Who Game, and the district-wide Minecraft Challenge to create really an inclusive, accessible Cardinal Run North vision utilizing Minecraft gaming and design. So thanks to all those Fayette County School kids who are out here with us today. It's a big deal. We're now working with ATS and Tecton Construction Companies to deliver the park design. The park will provide the community with access to beautiful expansive green spaces rich with a blend of topography including forests and karst areas. The addition of the park will increase the portion of the neighborhood within a 10-minute walk to a park and access to natural areas which are cornerstones of our parks master plan. Our parks team who've already been recognized today I really can't thank them enough. They're the ones who bring you clean green programmable green space every day in our community. They're really the backbone of our division and the ones who deliver these wonderful park spaces. Three, two, one. That's so nice. Now you're not. When we come back, we continue our look back at 2023. Hello, I'm Lieutenant Chris Van Brackle with the Lexton Police Department Traffic Unit. Today we are talking about disability accessible parking and the aisles between those parking places. Accessible parking is a valuable and necessary resource for people with disabilities, and that includes the striped area next to accessible parking spots. These are access aisles and it is illegal to park here even if you have an accessible parking permit. Police and Lex Park will write tickets when they see vehicles parked in an access aisle or parked in an accessible space without a placard and the fine is $250. Know where and where not to park. Keep the access aisles clear. Thank you and drive safe. Welcome back to Lexington Now. In 2023, Lexington's Fire Department got a major boost in the way of a grant for the training of 27 new EMT paramedics. Like many communities, the post-pandemic years have seen an uptick in call volume here in Lexington. Last year alone, we responded to over 66,000 emergency calls, with at least three-quarters of those being medically related. In order to adequately respond to those calls, it is critical that we have the absolute best trained and best prepared paramedics here at the Lexington Fire Department. This grant will allow us to not only continue, but to increase the capacity of our paramedic class, putting more highly trained providers on the front lines ready to answer the call. The Lexington Fire Department, with the support of our LFUCG leaders, will continue to seek new and innovative ways to meet the growing needs of our community. As Chief Wells said, today we're talking about something very important in our city. And really, it all boils down to good, strong public safety. We know that's the foundation of a great community, is good, strong public safety. So today's announcement will make our city safer. Our fire department has won an assistance to firefighters grant that will pay for training and certification of 27 new EMT paramedics and you're looking at them right now. This is a huge step forward for us. We have the best fire department in Kentucky and in the region. And this grant will help them be even better. All Lexington firefighters are certified as EMT basic, which is the norm among professional firefighting departments. However, and this is something which is, I didn't know before today. This is wonderful. Half of Lexington's firefighters are certified paramedics, paramedics, which is highly unusual, especially in Kentucky. And over half of all the state's registered paramedics work in the Lexington Fire Department. Think about that, over half of Kentucky's registered paramedics. And you've helped train them, Dr. Patty Howard. As a registered nurse, this gives me a lot of confidence in our ability to help our residents and emergency situations. Just yesterday, the 22nd anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy, we were all reminded again of the importance of our first responders. People who routinely put their lives on the line and run toward the danger while the rest of us are running away. As mayor, one of my responsibilities is to ensure that Our firefighters are well trained and well equipped. Today's announcement is about an important investment in their training and in Lexington's community safety. So congratulations and thank you so much. We're really excited about this class. Thank you. Lexington police expanded their capabilities with the opening of the new East Sector Roll Call Center. We joined officials for the ribbon cutting. This new East Sector roll call will position our police closer to major traffic arteries and to neighborhoods along Manowar. It will also save us money in utility expenses and in rent. This roll call is a satellite office where police officers who work in the east sector of City Report for Duty. We also have a west sector office on Old Frankfort Pike, Pike, a central sector near Eastland and our headquarters downtown. Police began using this new East Sector office last month. This 7,900 square foot, 4.2 million dollar building was designed with energy efficiency in mind. Using insulated concrete, wall construction, high efficiency windows, and a geothermal heating and cooling system. Work areas all receive natural light. This is one of the most beautiful things about this building is the natural light. And the building can accommodate solar panels if needed. It also incorporates many security features including a controlled entrance, bullet resistant materials, a separation of private offices and meeting spaces, separate entrance for the public and police, a storm shelter, separation between public and police parking. It's really state-of-the-art. The building is designed to accommodate a variety of uses. The facility's conference room and roll call are separated by a movable partition that allows for increased space that could be used for community meetings, where's the neighborhood mayor, community meetings, award ceremonies, and classroom training opportunities. Previously, East Sector Roll Call was located on Center Parkway in a rental facility. This new facility has been built on land already owned by our city. Any building like this is a true partnership and a true collaboration. So you know I got to thank the community for their support. You know since I've been here I don't think we've had a roll call facility built from the ground up And that takes a lot of support. It takes a lot of support from our mayor and her team, but also from our council members. And it truly means a lot to me that you all stepped up and supported the police department. And we appreciate that very much. This is a satellite facility, but it's built with a purpose for us to be part of the East Sector community, part of not just the community surrounding and not just the school here, but part of whole East sector. It's inviting and it's accessible. That's what I want you to know about our officers. You know, our officers do a great job every day. They want you to know that they're part of the community too. Three, two, one. Lexington Police continued their reputation for innovation with the announcement of the new FUSIS system, consolidating assets to further streamline public safety. Today I'm excited to announce the integration of the FUSIS platform. This new technology will help unify all of our public safety assets like flock license plate readers, traffic cameras, and other cameras operated by private entities who opt in with this technology, we will be able to solve crimes quicker and provide real-time information to officers. Technology does not replace good police work, but instead it is another tool for our officers and detectives that they can use for safer and more efficient investigations. We will still have officers talking and engaging with the community and following up on any leads. The FUSES platform also allows businesses, the community, and our partners and residents to engage with us in a more efficient manner and help keep us and our community safe. We are taking an exciting step forward that will make our community safer through technology. Our investment in Flock license plate readers has been an enormous success. That is why I proposed back in April that we take the next step and establish the Real-Time Intelligence Center with an additional investment of about $150,000 annually in video-based intelligence software known as FUSIS. We're now ready to begin using FUSIS in our community. It allows us to combine our existing technology assets, including alerts from FLOC license plate readers and video from traffic cameras, while also allowing the voluntary addition of private security cameras from partnering businesses and even residential cameras. Starting today, businesses and individual citizens here can choose to have a direct impact on the safety of our community through this technology partnership. The software combines these assets into a single source. It's an investigative tool and a resource we can use to streamline emergency response and incident management with real-time information for our first responders. Technology is the future, some say. It's here now. We started this on July 1st, and after about two months, we're almost close to being fully implemented. We nearly have all of our traffic cameras loaded into the system, but our site is live. Our site is connectlex.org. That's where the community can go to register their cameras and or integrate their cameras into the Real-Time Intelligence Center. Registration is voluntary and it's free, so that's where we see most of our residential cameras. We would like to just know you have a camera in the area. It's good for us to have that ability to go directly to you and also reach out to you electronically to see if you had any video that may be related to a criminal incident that you wish to share. If you are a business and you want to integrate your cameras into the real-time intelligence center, it allows us to be efficient when we respond to your business in or around your business if a criminal act is occurring. There is a small fee associated with that. That fee allows you to buy the purchase of the core device, which will integrate your cameras. and then there is a yearly subscription thereafter, but that is a nominal fee of $150, I believe. The good thing about it, you don't have to replace your camera system. It integrates with most every camera system that's out there, so it's just literally a plug-and-play option that usually can be set up within a week's time once the order actually received. Fuses will then get on the phone until you have to connect that. Plug it in, and you'll be integrated right with the system. That's all for now, but as always, you can keep up with us on social media. check out the latest traffic updates on X at Lex Rex, or catch our live traffic cans on lexingtonky.gov. For all of us at Lex TV, I'm Neil Noah, and that's it for now. I am an innocent man. I'm an innocent man Oh, yes I am An innocent man You know you only hurt yourself out of spite I guess you'd rather be a martyr tonight That's your decision but I'm not low Anybody I know We'll be right back. Hey, it's Bajan Niko and we are here with your next episode of Year Lex PD. We are here at the new East Sector Roll Call at the intersection of Clearwater Way and Saren Drive. Outstanding facility here, right? Very nice. State of the art. Yes. This month, the holidays are coming up. Yes. Right? So we want to talk about property crimes. And property crimes are something that obviously we experience year-round, but we think a little bit more about it during the holidays just because of opportunities. Yes. So today, let's go talk to a couple of our detectives about car break-ins, house break-ins, all these types of things that we don't want you to encounter. And hi, we are back with Lieutenant Barton and Detective McMillan with the Property Crime Section. So we're going to be talking about property crimes today. Can you describe what property crimes are? So property crimes are basically any theft or damage to any of your property that you may own, whether it be your vehicle, your house, your yard, an animal, or anything such as that. So any crime that's committed against the property, not your person. So that's what a property crime is. All right. Well, let's start with talking about your house, all right? And burglary, obviously, is something we always think about. Your house is your castle, right? We don't want anybody to go in. So are we having, do we see a lot of burglaries in Lexington? No, we have our fair share, of course, just like any other city. But, you know, it's a crime of opportunity, right? So, you know, these would-be criminals are coming by your house and they happen to see that your front door is open or whatever it may be. You don't leave your lights on, and there's an opportunity for them to get in. They're going to try it. So there are some things, obviously, you can do to help prevent that, and we can discuss that later if you wish. But, yes, there are burglaries in Fayette County. And I've always heard that typically residential burglies occur more during the day than they do at night. Is that true? That is correct. Most folks are out at work usually 8 in the morning until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. So, yes, most of the time your burglies are going to happen during the daytime. And with the holiday season coming up and people being out more shopping and things like that, Do you see an increase in burglaries around this time of year as throughout the entire year? No, I wouldn't say so much for that. No, I would say no. So what are some of the things that we can do around our own home to make sure that we're less likely to be a victim of a burglary? Yeah, I would say light up your house, especially when we're specifically at night. up your house, lock your doors. Obviously security systems and surveillance are a big benefit and deterrent for would-be burglars. During the day, I would say again, just lock your house, secure your property the best that you can, and you know, watch out for your neighbors as well. So I know now today, in today's times, there's a lot more people working from home now. So if you know your neighbors, maybe ask them to, you know, watch out for your property as you know you would watch out for their property as well I think I think that's a great point as far as talking about neighbors and making sure that you report anything that appears suspicious and that that would be applicable whether it's daytime or nighttime either one obviously what about folks that have camera systems you mentioned alarm systems what about folks that may have camera systems ring doorbells things like that because I know in the last episode, we talked with the Real-Time Intelligence Center, and they talked about the importance of registering those. So have you all seen, from the detective standpoint, have you seen a benefit as far as investigating crimes because of those? Yeah, I would say absolutely. Obviously, like I said, video surveillance is one of the biggest pieces of evidence that a detective can receive, whether that's investigating a residential crime or any crime, commercial crime, theft of packages, whatever it may be. The better shot or the better picture of a suspect that we can get and description of that individual that we can get, the better. So like you had mentioned, there's a lot more people are installing the doorbell cameras as well as security cameras around their property. And there's a way now or that's coming that we can start registering those cameras voluntarily to the police department. So if there was an incident or a crime that occurred within a specific area, we can refer to our resources and see if there's any video surveillance. And if there is, then we can directly link into that system or reach out to the owners and then obtain that very vital piece of evidence that we need. And some people, as far as that goes, would like to stay anonymous. So if they integrate and register their cameras, an officer necessarily doesn't have to go out to their house. So someone may not even know in case the burglar lives in the neighborhood that, hey, we're helping the police. Yeah, exactly. I mean, anyone can see that there's a camera system attached to your house or whatnot. But your name doesn't have to be associated with with that address or with the video surveillance that we obtain. And as of right now, with the unit that I'm working with, I work closely with commercial businesses. But now I don't even have to go to the business itself. I can just send a link directly to them. And everything's happening over the server, over the Internet. And no one has to know specifically about your involvement at all as far as assisting with the police. Awesome. Well, great. So, Nicole, I understand that you are quite the online shopper. Is that right? I am. I am a prime member. So packages being delivered probably hourly, not just daily, right? No, it's more like every other day. Okay, all right. So is that a concern for us as far as, and particularly it's a year-round thing, but during the holidays we probably have more packages delivered to the whole? Yeah, so this is definitely peak season for our, you know, if you want to call them porch pirates or whatever it may be. But, yes, this is the time of year where everyone's going to pick up their online shopping in preparation for the holidays, right? So, you know, we just had one yesterday, for instance, that was going around following a FedEx vehicle. So luckily we were able to use the Flock license plate readers to find those suspects and apprehend them at a later time. It's very important, you know, to be able to use the resources like we were just talking about. Camera systems are a great tool, and it will help us, you know, investigate these crimes and hopefully bring the people that are held responsible for those crimes as well. And just like you said earlier, with neighbors, if you see suspicious activity like that, if you see somebody following a delivery truck around or walking up checking boxes on porches, please call the police department. Absolutely. And on the same note, I would extend that invitation or that request to delivery drivers in general now. If you're a delivery driver and you see someone or suspect that someone's following you, It doesn't hurt to at least give the non-emergency line a phone call and ask us to investigate the potential of what's going on. So that's what I would request. I know these drivers are busy. They have minimum downtime in between their deliveries. If they can't do it themselves, we ask them to contact their dispatch, and I'm sure that might be a little bit easier for them. That way they can continue on the route, and the dispatch personnel at their headquarters, wherever it may be, can call us and give us that information. Now, the other part of the property crimes that you all had mentioned was auto thefts or just any crimes from vehicles. So tell us a little more about that. Like, how can we stay safe or what can the community do to not become a victim of those crimes? All right. For auto larcenies in general, you know, this time of year is starting to get colder. I think the temperatures are going to start changing on us over the weekend. And along with that comes people going outside and warming up their cars. Right. So most newer cars have a capability of not leaving the keys inside. Unfortunately, some of our older vehicles still require the key and ignition, and most folks leave their doors unlocked. And we have people, these criminals who, you know, they're walking through the neighborhoods. They're looking for that steam coming out of the exhaust or whatever it may be. The lights may be on if it's parked in the driveway, and they take advantage of that. Again, it's a crime, you know, an opportunity for them to get an easy vehicle and be driving right off before the owner even knows that it's gone. So this is peak season for that, like I said, with the colder weather coming in. And that could be at your house. It could be at a gas station. It could be wherever, right? Yes. And correct me if I'm wrong. I mean, I would recommend to be a little bit more conscious about leaving your car running if it's an older model because obviously you're going to have to leave the keys in. Like LT was saying, you know, with the newer models and everything, there's the remote start and whatnot. But the older models, obviously, they don't have that capability. Well, we've seen an influx in car thefts across the United States, some very significant numbers across the United States. And we want to make sure that that doesn't continue to be a problem in Lexington. What about, that's stealing the car. So what if somebody breaks in the car? All right. Again, this is a crime that happens year-round. It can increase a little bit as well during the holiday season if we start talking about going shopping and visiting malls and shopping centers and the big parking lots. But, yes, larceny from autos are one of our biggest Part 1 crimes. And, you know, just last month alone we had, I think, around 56 just in East Sector, around 40 some in West sector and around 36 I think in Central sector so you add that up and that's just for the month and along with that we're I think around 22 stolen handguns and firearms from these vehicles so that's a significant amount of guns that are getting stolen from our vehicles and then out here on our street so our advice for folks out there is you know lock your vehicles park in well-lit areas if you can and take all valuables out of your vehicles especially firearms you know the safest place for a firearm is in your house and it's safe if you have one or you know a lock box or something like that so just we ask that you know people take a little extra time all year round in particular for that for everyone's safety but in general with vehicles and car break-ins we we would really like for everyone to start locking their doors and keeping all valuables out of sight. So whether your car is at your house at night sitting outside or whether you're in a parking lot somewhere, making sure those doors are locked and making sure that there's nothing visible in your car that makes it an opportunity, right? So very good advice, very good advice. Also a consideration too, on the newer models, I'm terrible at remembering to lock my car. But with the newer models, there's oftentimes a setting where like once you exit the vehicle after a certain amount of time, your vehicle automatically locks for you. So that, that could be something, you know, to consider for some people that forget sometimes like myself. So, so you mentioned shopping too. Do we have any concerns other than cars being broken into when we're out shopping? Is that one of the main ones probably? Yeah, I would say so. So what you get usually when people shop, especially at a mall or larger shopping center is they like to make intermittent trips back and forth to the car from in the mall, right? So they have too many bags and they maybe want to drop some off. So sometimes these criminals are out in the parking lots and they're watching for that, right? So they're watching for this family to bring out some gifts, put them in the car, and then go back inside. That gives them the opportunity to then go to that car because they know they're not going to be back for a minute and take advantage of the gifts that were just purchased and take them home from themselves or whatever else they may do. So just like we talked about earlier, even if it's in your driveway or any parking lot, just if you can, put them in your trunk if you have a trunk. If it's a sedan, obviously. If it's an SUV and you put it in the cargo area, we ask maybe bring a blanket or something like that, some jackets, and just try to cover them up the best you can. Because if a would-be criminal walks by your vehicle and they see shopping bags, they're more than likely going to take that take advantage of that opportunity and get into that vehicle so. So with the increased amount of shopping do we see also an increase with identity theft and people noticing after the holidays like wait a minute I didn't I know I spent some money but I didn't spend this much money. Yeah I think that we're all guilty now especially with the online shopping you know brick brick and mortar type of businesses is kind of becoming less popular and now we're ordering more online. So I know there's a lot of, uh, interesting websites out there and a lot of interesting items that may be promising, you know, the best product ever. Uh, but I would suggest, you know, uh, be careful, uh, with what information that you're providing these, uh, maybe less known, uh, or less, uh, reputable businesses online. Um, and just maybe also, obtain like some credit monitoring and that will add a sense of protection as well. So if there's any sort of transactions or purchases that you don't recognize, obviously you'll catch it on early and be able to stop that and, you know, prevent any further damage. So absolutely. So we talked about a lot of different types of property crimes today. And I think the theme is we all can be a victim, right? So we need to make sure that we take the steps, whether it's making sure our house is locked, whether it's our cars are locked, nothing's visible in the car, being aware of your surroundings, right? Whether you're out shopping and making sure that we report any suspicious activity that we see. Yeah, by all means, please. If you see something that doesn't look right, give us a call. And hopefully we can get out there with our patrol officers and at least find out and get a good description of these folks and maybe get out with them and investigate their suspicious activity. All right. You all have done a great job today, and we appreciate that. But the whole purpose of this is to make sure that you, the public, never have to encounter the detectives, right? So hopefully you'll never get to meet them. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'd like to thank Lieutenant Barton and Detective McMillan for joining us today to talk about property crimes. making sure that you stay safe during the holidays right so with the first of the year next month episode we are going to be talking about wellness physical wellness mental wellness how we need to be thinking about that and how you need to be thinking about that because everybody's going to be making resolutions right absolutely so make sure you join us next month on your lex pd Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and put it in the middle of the room. Oh Give a little love. Give a little love. Give a little love. Give a little love. You have to learn to pace yourself Pressure You're just like everybody else Pressure You've only had to run so far So good But you will come to a place Where the only thing you feel Are loaded guns in your face And you'll have to deal with pressure You used to call me paranoid Pressure But even you cannot avoid Pressure You turned the tap dance into your crusade Now here you are with your faith And your feet are kind of ice You have no scars upon your face And you cannot handle pressure All cold and no place to go Psych 1, Psych 2, what do you know? All your life is Channel 13 Sesame Street, what does it mean? I'm sure you have some cosmic rationale But here you are with your faith And your feet of head You have those scars on your face And you cannot handle pressure Pressure Mission One, two, three, four, faster Stranger Stranger Stranger It's hot in the night, lonely, black and white On a hot summer night Don't be afraid of the world we made On a hot summer night Cause when a lonely, lovely walks by You can see her looking high And you know that it's hot in the city Hot in the city tonight Tonight Hot in the city Hot in the city tonight Tonight Stranger Stranger For all the dreams and schemes People always don't seem On a hot summer night Don't be no fun Don't forget you're young On a hot summer night Sometimes someone you're not Away to see what you got But you know that you're hot in the city Hot in the city tonight Tonight, alright Hot in the city Hot in the city tonight Tonight, alright Walking, walking Walking, walking I'm a train when I pay for it. You lay right down now. I don't ride until your head breaks. I'm a wife and you're a brain boss. I'm a move with the feet now. I'm a train when I pay for it. I'm already feeling it now New York Hot in the city Hot in the city tonight Tonight Hot in the city Hot in the city tonight Hot in the city Hot in the city tonight Hot in the city Hot in the city tonight Hot in the city Hot in the city tonight Tonight Hot in the city I love you. It's not that I want to not to say but if you only knew How easy it would be to show me how you feel More than words is all you have to do to make it real Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me Cause I'd already know What would you do If my heart was torn in two More than words to show you feel That your love for me is real What would you say If I took those words away Then you couldn't make things new Just by saying I love you More than once Now that I've tried to talk to you And make you understand All you have to do is Close your eyes And just reach out your hands And touch me Hold me close Don't ever let me go More than words Is all I ever needed you to show Then you wouldn't Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Jenny Normand, and I'm here with the Senior Center in Lexington. and we are going to do a little flow yoga this morning. So you're going to need your mat and maybe a block, whatever you can find around the house about different sizes. And grab your water and towel, whatever you need. And let's go for about 50 minutes here doing some down dogs as well as standing up as well as stretching on the floor. So you'll be a little up and down. So right now let's intentionally just quiet our minds and get our spine up tall, as tall as we can. Lengthen our spine. Just kind of be aware of our breath. Maybe close your eyes or maybe place your hand across your heart. And then just going to breathe in the nose and out the nose. If you need to open your mouth, open your mouth. And let's just take some deep inhales here. Exhale. And get the rhythm of your breath going that feels comfortable to you. Right now you're just decluttering your mind, taking some stress away, getting ready for your yoga practice. Give me two more deep inhalation. Exhale. Exhale. Dropping your right ear, right shoulder to start. Inhale, lift that head straight up. Flowing to the left ear, left shoulder. We'll do that once more on each side. Inhale, lift off. And exhale, lowering right ear, right shoulder. Inhale lengthening. Left ear, left shoulder. Inhale lengthening. This time dropping the chin to the chest slowly. Inhale lengthening, back up. and dropping the head back gently. Inhale, lift up. Just going to press your fingertips into your knees or your thighs and we're slowly just going to roll the torso to the front as you exhale, rising back up as you inhale. And maybe go the other direction. And go with your rhythm, go with your flow, right direction, let the head roll with you. Once again, releasing some tension here, just comfort zone. Let's flow one more time each way. Inhale on the Lift, exhale on the bends. And good, let's center it all back up. Center your heart over your pelvis and your head over your heart. Let's sweep to the sky with a big sunrise up. Interlace at the top, press the palms to the sky. Gently draw the shoulders back. Maybe that chin rest towards the chest, whatever feels natural for you. Just taking that big chest stretch. and then reach tall, center up, releasing the right hand to the floor as you sweep to the right with your left hand. Oh, feel that side bend. I like to swerve my wrist here. You might also. Just going to give a wave and then we're going to flow back up to the top, interlace again. Press the palms to the ceiling, big inhalation. Exhale, releasing the left hand to the earth as the right reaches over. Big side bend. Give yourself a little wave here with that right hand, that right wrist. Maybe open and close the fingers. One more time each way. Inhale, rising to the sky. Pressing the palms to the ceiling. Lift. And release to the right. Big sway. You should feel that coming up out of your hip, to the waist, to the ribs, to the armpit. And rise one more time to the sky. And side bend to the left. And good, coming neutral spine. We're just gonna take an eagle wing to the back, opening the sternum, the chest, the collarbone, reaching the fingertips back to your ability. Take that big inhalation here. And then exhale. Draw the sternum in and sweep the arms to the front. Hollow out that chest area. Big reach. Exhale. Now we're going to keep flowing over to your cat and cow here, which is on all fours, and continuing that spine flexion. Just rounding that spine up, pushing the shoulder blades to the sky, tucking that tailbone under, exhale that breath. Inhale, now we're going to make this a flow. Chin rises, tailbone rises, your inhale is here. Exhale, cat. Push those shoulder blades away, tuck that tailbone under, exhale the breath. Three more of those. Inhale, lift. Exhale, round. Inhale, lift. Exhale, round. And one more, lift with the chin and the tail. The belly's going to sag here. And one more, big cat. Now stay here on tabletop, neutral spine, which is parallel with the floor. This time we're gonna push the ribs to the left. So your right shoulder is going towards your right hip. So now your spine is going left to right or lateral. Come back center, right ribs, push away. Your left shoulder goes towards your left hip. Exhale. Let's do that two more times. If you have wrist issue, you can always come into a fist position, whatever feels good. Left ribs reach to the left. Center. To the right, those ribs, you should feel that from the hip to the shoulder. Center, last time each way. Left ribs reach. Right center. Center first, then right. And good. Once again, if you need to loosen up those wrists, go ahead. Spinal balance now. We're going to take our left toes and press them into the earth. Feel that stretch through the heel, up the calf, up the back of the knee. Now from there, you're going to just give your butt top some little squeeze, and that leg is going to lift. As your right arm reaches front, your left heel reaches back. Now feel the lengthening of the spine. Pulling the belly core in. Reach, inhale. Exhale, tabletop. Right toes dig into the mat. Press through that heel. Feel each muscle stretching and lengthening. Give that buttocks a little squeeze. You can call it a bum. Bum, left hand reaches. Right heel flexes. Reach, inhale. Back to tabletop. Let's do that two more times each way. Right arm, left leg, reach, extend. Take your inhale. Take your exhale. Back to tabletop. Left and right. Reach and extend. Go taller. Go longer. Back down. Last one. Each side. Right leg. Left foot. Reach. Bringing those muscles alive. Bringing those tissues alive. Getting the blood flowing. Circulation. Reach. And good. Tabletop. Let's go wide with our knees and just sit your hips all the way back to your heels. First to start, we're just going to take our fist and put them in our forehead. Or I should say under our forehead. Just kind of let the lower back, the opening of the hips. This is called Wide Child's Pose. Just let yourself feel grounded, feel relaxed. And then we're going to extend the hand straight up, called Extended Wide Child's Pose. And if you really take those spider walks, like reach those fingers until they can't reach anymore, you actually feel your muscles stretching from that tailbone, that pelvis area, up the back. Armpits are pressing towards the mat, letting the head rest. You can always put a block or a pillow underneath that forehead if it doesn't rest down. No big deal. Just enjoy this stretch. From here, we're flowing into a shoulder stretch. It's called knot pose. The right arm's going to go in between the chin and the chest. Maybe the right ear turns towards the mat. And take advantage of that stretch. You should feel it from the mid spine. Wrap it around your shoulder. Get comfortable there, right arm comes back out, big stretch to the top of the mat. And then we take our left arm in between chin and the chest, the ear can turn if it wants to. Exhale, take the stretch, walk that hand out there. And good, bringing everything back center, including the knees a little bit. If you have a hard time with bending those knees, you can always put your pillow or a mat, I mean a block underneath those knees. Now child's pose this time with the knees a little closer together, take your hands down by your outer foot. Sometimes this hurts my knees, but hanging in there. Now this is your pose to relax, to come. If anything gets difficult and you're not feeling it today, just come to Child's Pose. Listen to your body. Check in. And join us again when you can. But right now, we're going to extend the palms out. We're going to press our forearms. Take our first plank here. Forearms right underneath our elbows. from our shoulders and then extend our legs long. Now modification, knees drop, but you want to be intentional of kind of squeezing those thighs together, letting the lower abdominal area feel nice and firm. You want to push up out of the shoulders and then lengthen the spine so you can breathe. So move your chin away from your chest. And normally we take five long breaths here. I think we've probably already taken three. Let's go two more in the nose, out of the nose, and one more. Lowering the knees first, lowering the thighs, then the hips, chest, and then just let your head rest down. Once again, you can put your hands underneath your forehead. Now, let's warm up the cobra, the lower back area, the upper back. So to start, just kind of lengthen the legs, pick them up and lengthen them, pick them up and reach down to the bottom or top of your mat there. Going to take your hands to the outside of your chest and close to your chest. Going to tuck those wings in or those elbows or those triceps, whatever you want to call them. Tuck them right by your ribcage, like squeeze your ribcage. Now toenails are down, so start to squeeze the legs as you squeeze your shoulder blades. Just lift your heart slowly. So let that lower spine start to feel some blood flow in that lower spine. But you're squeezing your upper shoulder blades. Take a big inhale here. Exhale, lower. Squeeze the shoulder blades. That's the initial contraction. slowly lift by squeezing those legs towards each other. So roll the thighs towards each other. Give your bum a little squeeze. Toenails down so your legs are nice and strong. And exhale, lower. This is good if you have the sciatic nerve also. You gotta get your lower disc back in place. Let's get two more little baby cobra poses. Squeeze the blades, lift the heart. Inhale, breath. Exhale, lower. One more. I'm going to need your strength on this one. Squeeze your blades. Lift your heart. Now, use your strength. Push yourself up. Push yourself back. Child's pose. Exhale, breath. Now, let's put it all together. Coming to a modified plank with the knees down. You're going to shoot those elbows back. Squeeze your side body. lower your chest, extend the legs, squeeze the shoulder blades, lift your heart cobra, inhale, push back, child's pose, check in. Two more of those, getting that blood flowing, getting everything lubricated here, ready? Chaturaga down, squeeze the shoulder blades cobra up push back child's pose just want to do one more do your best here we go plank modify exhale chaturanga squeeze up cobra push back child's pose curl your toes now sit back just walk yourself back kind of sit back on those heels You're feeling a nice stretch in the feet. We're going to place our hands by our knees and pop our knees up. If this hurts, you're going to go stand all the way up. Otherwise, enjoy this stretch here. Nothing fancy. Now we're going to lift our hips and go into a forward fold. But the first forward fold, keep those knees as deeply bent as needed. Let's just kind of shake the head out. Nod it yes and no. Hold on to those thighs or the knees, whatever you got there. Just slowly letting these hamstrings, which are the back of your thighs, let those stretch out. Taking a deep breath. Now bend a little more. Start walking yourself up those thighs. Start to draw your navel in. Give that core nice support. Walk your hands up your thighs. Then just take your hands to your back. You can also squeeze your waist, whatever feels normal for you. You're just going to slowly open your heart. If you feel dizzy, don't go here. Listen to yourself or stay close to a wall. Back bend. Let it go. And now we're going to squeeze our waist and come to a complete stand. And this is called mountain pose. Mountain Pose is just kind of checking in, bringing everything back to center, being aware of your breath. Let the hands just shake out. Then knuckle up your big toe. Press it into the earth and then just let the side of your foot just feel normal into the mat. Just kind of coming back. Next week, I'll throw in a Balance Pose and just let you maybe scoot closer to the wall or something. Today we're not going to do balance. Just because I'm not good at balances, but I need them. I'm going to step a little wider than your hips. Taking the arms straight up to the sky. Inhale. We're going to swan dive. Let's just do plies here. Just kind of warm up the knees. No tipping over yet. Reaching high. Inhale, breath. Exhale. Just kind of warming the knees up, the thighs up, the torso up. Go at your rhythm. Give me one more. Rise up. And then this time take the hands to the thighs. Lengthening the spine. Let's push the right hand into the right as you twist to the left. Oh, yeah, a little pop there in that lower back. So you're pressing into the right and twisting to the left. Draw center. Be intentional of pulling that core in, left hand in the thigh. Right twist. Incoming center again. Good. heel toe in a couple of times so you're right underneath your hips roll up nice and slowly we're going back into that back bend thumbs in back, fist in back squeeze your waist, whatever you feel open up open up that heart and good squeeze the waist to come to a complete stand ready? we're going to just tip on over to forward fold some people like their legs together some people take them out a little bit So we'll get the flow going. From here I want you to think about lengthening, lengthening, starting to bend the knees, starting to put the ribs on the thighs, letting the head just dangle, letting the arms come to a ragdoll, or holding on still. Let's take five breaths here. You might have raked some leaves yesterday. Things are tight. Okay, so this would be a forward fold. Then we go into monkey and this is side view monkey. Monkey is where your hands will go to your shins or your block. But the main thing is you will try to get your spine parallel with the earth. Monkey pose. and then from monkeys just into a seated chair. So hips go back and this is usually a nice diagonal spine with the fingertips floating to the top. Ready we rise straight up inhale we exhale back bend and then we swan dive over into a forward fold hopefully getting a little tighter as we go folding those lines together. Hands can come back to the back of the calves or they can still hold on where they need to. One more inhale. Exhale monkey lengthening. Be intentional of those lower abdominals and then chair pose have a seat now push through the feet squeeze through the thighs lift through the core exhale the back bend one more swanda now if you feel a little dizzy as you do that it's usually because the large large artery has been cut off when we sit in chair. I'll show you. And then that blood flow has got a little bit of jet up there. That's where we get a little dizzy when the blood flow has a little hesitation. Forward fold, inhale. Exhale monkey, lengthening that spine. So here's chair, have a seat. So right there is that big artery right there is a A little folded, a little chopped off. Now the blood flow is going straight up. This is where you might get dizzy. If you do, don't take the back bend. Exhale. Okay, we're moving on. Slide dive forward fold. I want you to find yourself back in a plank. So either walk forward, walk back with the feet. Find yourself in a nice, strong, straight plank. We're going to open the feet hip width apart. Push your hips high. We're going right into down dog. Push your hips high. Push the floor away. I still feel like I need to bend my knees. I'm not totally warmed up back there. Main thing is lift the tailbone. Push the floor away with the palms. Your head is going to dangle through your biceps. Good stretch, good stretch, good stretch. Give me one more breath. Now we're just going to drop to the knees. Sink back, child's pose, check in. And rising up. Taking our blocks, if you have them. If not, just even, you know, sometimes you can just use a water bottle or whatever feels good for a stretch. We're going to take the left leg through first. Go right into a deep lunge. So the knee's going to be over the ankle. I want you to see if you can lift your heart. You should feel that nice stretch in the right hip flexor. I can't see myself. Oh, I see myself. I feel that stretch. I haven't done much yoga, y'all. I've missed y'all. Seven months has been a long time. Right arm is going up. And it's just going to take a little stretch back as you're stretching it to the left. Knee bent. That feels good. Okay, both hands come back to the earth or your block. Now it's a hamstring stretch. Just going to flex your heel, sit back, just lengthen over that leg. Good. Take it over. So your left foot is out in front. going to curl your right toe and then rise up for the low lunge give your right hamstring a nice little tight firm now see if you can walk yourself up take your hands to your thighs and we're going straight up if your arms can rise over your shoulders go there if not keep them right there on that thigh, low lunge. And good, all we're going to do is bring the hands back to the floor and push off with that right foot to meet the left for your forward fold. Ragdoll, whatever you're feeling there, knees bent, take your time, inhale, exhale monkey, Inhale. Exhale. Let's have a chair pose. Rising all the way up. Straight up, straight up. Back bend. Exhale. Swat dive. Forward fold. Now, the last time we hit our left leg out in front, this time we're going for the right leg. So let's step back with your left foot. of drop that left knee immediately to the earth and then we're going to take on that stretch that we did in the beginning. So your right knee is over your ankle. Taking that left arm so you've got a nice hip flexor stretch. Let's take the left arm up. A further stretch if you need it. That left hand comes down, grab your blocks again and slowly shift your hips back so your right leg is hamstring and stretched. Shift those hips back, ease into it, bend the knee if you need to. Good. And then we come up to our low lunge. So walk the blocks back to the ankle. Curl your left toes, pop it up there. So it's all control back here in this left leg as you start to rise your torso. Walk your hands up your thighs. If you're feeling it, arms extend. Low lunge. my line sink deeper if you can beautiful two more breaths arms come around you push off that left foot it meets right you're in forward fold check in deep breaths Okay, moving on. Monkey pose. Chair pose. Straight up, inhale, exhale back, bend. Swan dive, forward fold. Now you can either A, jump back to a plank or B, walk back. I'm going to walk back. So my hands stay at the top. I go back to a plank and then we're going to the flow. Adding Chaturanga, adding down dog, dropping our knees first, shooting our elbows back so our chest lowers, squeezing our shoulder blades as the legs lengthen, it's Cobra. We curl, we push back, we curl our toes, child's pose. Pop those knees up, pop those hips up, down facing dog. Now your legs are part little. Stretch down even more. Let's go ahead and walk the dog. That means right heel up, left heel up. Tailbone still rises. Head just dangles through those biceps. No stress there. Taking the right leg behind us. It's called three-legged down lift as high as you can. You can also be, if you need modified, just drop your left knee. You can lift that right leg up. Circling the ankle. Bending the knee and pumping in a little bit. Kind of loosens the quadriceps up. From here, we're gonna swing the knee towards our chest and then just lay the shin down where you wanna lay it down. If you can do full pitching, go ahead. my hips aren't totally warm i'm just doing modified pigeon it's just a comfort zone once again it's nice hip stretch there some people lay or down some people stay up but you could get that right hip left hip flexor loosen up your wrist if you need it there we're doing good okay you're going to curl the back toe again and just slide the right leg back to that plank dropping those knees we're going through the flow try to run the town squeeze your shoulder blades up push back child's pose curl your toes take a little break there take a little stretch. Right back into down facing dog. Lift the hips. Find your pose. Breathe your breath. Left leg rises. Lift it. Circle the ankle. It's your ability. Bend the knee and pump it a few times. That's optional. Keep pushing out of the shoulders. Try not to collapse in the shoulder. From here, we bring our knee towards our chest. We just let that shin bone down where it wants to float today. And then take that. You'll feel it on the right hip flexor, which is your front. And then you'll feel it on your left outer hip. If you want to lower, you can lower it. You don't have to. Loosen up your wrist. Two more breaths. So that was sun salutation. You'll see that almost every time. It's just the perfect flow. Now we're on our left hip. We're going to stay on the floor now. Just kind of shift our body to the left and swing your legs over and come into a bone. we're just going to come into a seated position until I get my thoughts together which I want to go look at y'all so with that said you are seated you're checking in be intentional of your breath be intentional of loosening up now just going to extend your left leg out and keeping the right one then go Go ahead and flex that left foot so it's nice and firm. It feels nice and soft. Now to take a little twist and a side bend. It's kind of fun. Take a twist towards the bent knee. I always take the right hand to the back. The left one just kind of helps me twist. Just a little twist. Sweeping the right arm over now. Try to reach for that left big toe. That should feel like a really good stretch. Your left hand can also go to the thigh, if it wants, or it can stay out in front. You're feeling it though. Breathe through it. Should feel it like a side and a back. Nice stretch. Of course, the leg is feeling a stretch as well. and good let's push off and bring ourselves back to center this time switch legs right leg extends I like to flex it I just feel like the muscle feels a little firmer ready take your twist first first your spine goes as tall as you can like someone's pulling you to the ceiling right hand to the front left hand to the back just feel the twist feel the twist flex that right foot again be aware now right left hand reaches over finds that side bend oh that's the side where you're raking the leaves yesterday it got me let it go Good, one more breath. Okay, good, rise back up. Help that right leg come in for, oh my goodness. I've gone blank. Senior moment here. Feet together. Butterfly pose. There it is. Seventh grade. Gym class. Soles of the feet together. Go ahead and think about lengthening the spine. Don't round. Think about lengthening. You're not going to get very far, but you're going to feel it right on those inner thighs. We just don't draw enough attention to that inner leg. So let's give it a little stretch. And good. Just going to bring those thighs together and extend them straight out. So shake a little bit. Reaching tall like at 90 degrees. The legs, the arms, 90 degrees. And slowly forward fold. My goal for 2020 was to touch my chest to my thighs. Obviously 2020 had a pivot. Had a change of plans for all of us. Hands, just relax now. as you're still stretching that lower back. And good. Walking those hands up the thighs. Before we hit our back, let's take our spinal seated twist. Right knee comes in, right heel comes in, right knee bends. We're gonna cross it over. Once again, nice straight leg, nice straight 80 degree 90 degree body. Getting that spine lifted, taking that right hand toward the tailbone and take your twist. Healthy spine, healthy body, healthier day. Good. Just relax that right shoulder, letting the head relax as well. And good. I just sometimes take that right arm back up to get my spine back in line. And then removing the right foot down to the earth. Shake it out. So once again, both legs are straight. as tall as possible. Heel. Left heel in this time. Left heel can cross over. It doesn't have to. You want to think about that knee coming towards the sternum. Left arm rises and waves and comes to the lower back. And make those little adjustments. You know, sometimes we feel like the Tin Man and it takes forever to feel like the Scarecrow, but hopefully you're getting a little looser as you exhale on each of those twists. One more deep inhale, ring out that spine like you're ringing out a dishrag. Exhale and good bringing everything back center and bringing that foot to a straight leg. Shake it out. Now, if you're not afraid to rock and roll back, some of you all would take my Tuesday, Thursday class. We're going to rock and roll back. If you're scared to rock and roll back, just lay on your back. But rock and roll is just a little Pilates move. You're just going to crisscross at the ankle and roll like a somersault, like once We were a kitten. But you're just massaging your spine. Give me one more, and I'll be in the back with you. I'll be on your back. Now still kind of holding on to the knees. You can rock left to right. And good. We're going right into bridge pose. So feet flat. Bring the heels as close to your tush as you can. If you have a block or a pillow that you would like a little inner thighs contraction, you can put it in those inner thighs or inner knees. So your heels are close to your bottom. Your hands are flat, just nice and relaxed. You're slowly going to peel your pelvis up, your lower back, to your ability. If you have issues there, you can also put your hands there and pop it up. You can also put a pillow underneath there, a block. But press the hands into the earth right now. It gives you a little pressure. You can walk your feet in. Push a little more into the feet as you lift those hips. Now we're going to take five breaths here. Think about the back of the leg, strengthening your buttocks, you're opening your hip flexors getting a nice stretch out the front sorry five breaths And one more. Start to bring your vertebrae down one by one. Remove the block if you had it there. And then once your tailbone hits, bring both knees to your chest. Maybe tuck like a ball. Just counteract that last back bend. Come back to the center. We're going to happy baby pose here. Bring the knees high to the shoulders and the feet over the knees. Reach for the outside of the foot and press down. You can rock right and left. You can close your eyes. From here, we're going to extend the legs. wide straddle. Maybe piece fingers on the big toes. Maybe just press them in the inner knees. Once again, you can rock right to left. Let's bring the legs together. Flex and point. Bring the palms up. Give them a circle. Get those joints. Some attention there. Give them some love. Dropping the right knee, right leg first. Go long as you can as your left knee comes high towards your shoulder. Good stretch here. Relax your chin, relax your neck relax your face from here we're just going to bring both knees towards our chest extending the left leg long nice extension squeeze that calf or that knee towards your shoulder. Both knees in. One more time each way. Right leg long, big stretch. Both knees in, left leg long, hug right. Good, now just let your left leg relax as your right leg extends up. Once again, peace fingers on the big toe or on the inside of the thigh. Let's take a stretch of the hamstring. Go gentle here. Right leg is stretching. Now we're going to take that right leg to the right, but you've got to keep your left hip down, so it's not going to go far. It's not going to touch the floor. Now I want you to extend your left arm as long as you can. Help that right leg come back to center. Relax it by bending it, foot flat. Left leg's coming up, we're gonna stretch it first. No big deal if you can't touch your toes, no big deal. Just gently draw it towards your chest. If you can grab the foot or the inside of that calf, take it to the left, but you gotta keep your right hip on the mat and your right shoulder on the mat as your right arm extends. Let's bring that leg back to center. And this time both knees are bent. Go ahead and put those knees together. You can stay in big arm, Texas T. We're going to pick our hips up, lift a little shift to the right as both knees drop to the left. Oh, I'm feeling that. Let's turn our face to the right. If it's too much, you can put the pillows underneath those knees. Mine are not touching. No big deal, but I'm definitely feeling the stretch in the lower lumbar. Quiet your face here. quiet your mind let's bring our knees back to center now feel free to stay in these poses even longer let's little hip shift of the hips to the left both knees to the right turning our face to the left quietening our breath And then coming center for final relaxation. Maybe you want to go diamond shape, just letting the legs flop open, the knees flop open, or you can go straight legs long. I always like to keep them bent some way because completely straight leg kind of raises that lower back. to keep it more towards the lower back, closer to the mat if you can. Now just kinda let yourself go. Obviously you can stay here and take your afternoon nap. Take a 20 minute nap. Otherwise, let's just open our palms close to our hips, palms towards the ceiling. Shoulders relax. We carry a lot of stress in our eyes, so let's relax our eyes. Relax our cheeks, your mouth, your tongue, your throat, your shoulders. Think about melting into the mat on a sunny day like that's your beach towel out by the sun on the ocean front. And like I said, feel free to stay there. If not, let's bring our knees together to one side. Push off on the floor to help yourself come back to Indian style comfort zone. Sitting that spine upright again. Thinking of how blessed you are, how grateful you are, let's sweep our arms in one more big sunrise. Palms come together, they come to your heart center, and then we namaste. Have a wonderful weekend, have a wonderful week ahead. I hope I get to see everybody soon in person. Thanks for coming. Thank you. Senior Center. I'm here just to take you through a quick five minute routine to help improve your balance. Alright, so that's usually something that all of us are concerned with. So I'm just going to give you five minutes to just focus on some easy exercises that will help you to improve your balance. The biggest things that you can focus on leg strength, mobility in your ankles, and then also core strength. So we're going to do just a couple of exercises. We will hold our position for about 30 seconds of course if you want to grab a sturdy chair and have it here beside you so that you can hold on to that if you want to feel free to do that some things to think about try to breathe as normal as possible contract your belly in just a little bit focus on something that is not moving so once you know what we're doing maybe find a spot off in the distance and focus on that so we're going to start with a tandem stance so what I'm going to do is I'm going to take one foot in front of the other and sort of butt that heel up against my toe. So from a side view, I'm going to take the heel and butt it up against the toe, and then I'm going to soften my knees. All right, you want to keep the same amount of weight in both legs. Open the chest up a little bit, and then I just want you to try to hold still. Watch that you are not doing what I call kickstanding, where we lock the legs and sort of lean into our back leg. You want to soften the knees, try to keep the same amount of weight in both legs. So now I'm turning to the side, but you want to bring the head forward and focus on your position that is off in the distance. And then think about the same amount of weight being distributed in both feet equally, toe to heel. Then all I'm going to do is just switch my lead leg. All right, so I'm just going to switch my lead leg. So I have a new front and back. It's heel to toe. I'm going to soften the knees, sink down a little bit into my stance. Focus on something off in the distance and hold as still as you can. And then remember, same amount of weight in both legs so we are not kickstanding. and you can always hold on to something just watch you're not leaning into it we want to breathe as normal as possible pulling the tummy in a little bit and then we'll relax it and shake those legs watch that you're not holding your breath so now we're just going to go simply into a one-legged stance if you want to you can hold your chair you can start with the toe on the floor with that right leg or you can bring the toe and just gently tap into the lower leg area or you can even bring the leg up higher we're gonna soften the knee on that stabilizing leg open the chest find our focal point and then hold as still as possible and if you happen to touch down with the toe no big deal just bring it back up so remember we're gazing on something that is not moving we are breathing we have our tummy pulled in our stabilizing knee is soft you might feel that ankle wobble around a little bit that's all right relax it shake your legs of course we're just going to move to the opposite side so I'm going to shift my weight soften my knee and then either toe tap come up slightly or maybe a bit higher and then I'm going to do my checklist head to toe I focused on something that's not moving breathing as normal as possible tummy is in stabilizing knee is soft ears shoulders hips are stacked and just hold as still as you can as still as you can almost done knee is soft and relax and shake those legs a little bit good then we're going to take the ankles and put them right underneath the hips soften the knees open the chest a little bit and then I'm going to lift off with my heels in a calf raise so I'm going to lift the heels up almost like you're wearing high heels so I want to bring the heels way up watch that we're not leaning forward or back we want to try to keep the shoulders over the hips and stay right there with those heels up off the floor more. Holding still doing our little checklist head to toe. What are the eyes doing? We're breathing. Tummy in, knees soft. Really lifting those heels. See if you can hold maybe five more seconds. Don't hold your breath. Good. Relax it and shake out a little bit. So those are just some easy exercises that you can do that will help you improve your balance. A couple other things that I'd like to suggest that you do during the day are toe taps, just tapping the toe up and down, calf raises up and down, circling the ankle, making sure you do that both directions. And you can do those three exercises in a seated position. You can even do it while you are waiting in the doctor's waiting room. You can hold on to the Carden Kroger and do some calf raises or some toe taps. Sitting and standing several times a day will help to develop more strength in the legs, which is vitally important for good balance. All right? So I hope you'll try these out and maybe work that into your routine three or four times a week. And I'm sure that you'll notice a difference. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you have a wonderful day. Bye-bye. It's like magic Oh, rolling and riding and slipping and sliding It's magic And you have to switch inside Higher and higher, baby It's a living thing It's a terrible thing to lose It's a giving thing What a terrible thing to lose Take it aside! Take it aside! I'll take a move for you and your sweet desire. Don't you do it, don't you do it. Higher and higher, baby. It's a living thing. It's a terrible thing to lose. It's a given thing. What a terrible thing to lose. I'm taking a dive. On the slide. Taking a dive. Because you can't hold the slide. Floating downstream. I'm taking a dive. So let her go. Don't start spoiling the show. It's a bad dream I'll take it, I'll take it You can just keep the same Don't you do it, don't you do it Higher and higher, baby It's a little thing It's a terrible thing to watch It's a given thing. What a terrible thing to love. It's a living thing. It's a terrible thing to love. It's a given thing. guitar solo You can't hide Put on a little makeup, makeup Make sure they get your good side, good side If the words aren't spoken Get stuck in your throat Send a treasure token, token Ride it on a pound, no, pound, no Goody-toop, goody-toop, goody-goody-tooshies Goody-toop, goody-toop, goody-goody-tooshies Don't drink, don't smoke What do you do? Don't drink, don't smoke What do you do? Something in you and don't follow There must be something inside We don't follow fashion, that'd be a joke You know we're gonna set down, set down So everyone can take note, take note When it's all you kneeling, cry of words that you need Opening the eyeballs, eyeballs Pretending that you're Al Green, Al Green On this edition of Lexington Now, part two of 2023, a year in review. Happy New Year and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of January 1st, 2024. I'm Neil Noah. We continue our look back at 2023 with a trio of stories focused on recreation. First, the opening of a welcome addition along the new Town Branch Trail. Splash at Charles Young Park. I am Colonel Charles Young of the United States Army, 10th Cavalry, and I'm here to open the ceremony for the celebration of this park. Many of you know a little bit about my history. I was the third African American to graduate from West Point and had a long career in the United States Army. And at the time of the start of World War I, I was the highest ranking African American in the Army. Today's a big day. We are here to officially open Splash, a large water feature that's bringing water play space to the East End neighborhood and downtown. town. Splash connects the park's new playground, resurfaced basketball court, and community center to the Town Branch Commons Trail, making Charles Young Park a cornerstone of the neighborhood as well as the community. Splash has something for everyone, and now I know eventually y'all are going to take your shoes off and get wet, right? It's designed for children of all ages and abilities. It also offers a comfortable, relaxing area for parents and for those who stop in for a break off the Town Branch Commons Trail. As you can see, it's already very popular, As you can see throughout the splash pad, Brigadier General Charles Young is described as humble, courageous, and determined. The timeline surrounding the perimeter of the splash pad details the history of his remarkable life. I keep inheriting wonderful things that was left by Council at Large Brown. and for that I am truly grateful. It has been a long time since this park has truly been vibrant and a lot of children in the park. I am so excited, as you can hear in the background, that it is getting ready to be filled with noise. I love to have noise. The voices of our future is behind me. So I look forward to families coming back to Charles Young to reunite. This is a deep, rich area for the East End neighborhood. We will make this safe. We will bring our neighborhoods back. We will bring our children back to the park. We will have football, basketball, run through the water, picnics, family reunions. It is time to come back home. So East End community, come on down to Charles Young and enjoy yourself. You can put your hands together for that one. I just want to say it's another beautiful day in East End as we continue to show our commitment to reinvesting in this community. you have to be intentional and you have to be focused whenever you invest whether private or public dollars in a community a historic community like east end with they're seeing a lot of investment and kind of turnover in regards to the older infrastructure and i'd just like to give a shout out to our parks department monica and her team brandy for reaching out to the Charles Young Advisory Board, the William Wells Brown Community Center and school, and all the other neighborhood partners to get input and to get feedback on what this amenity in this community should be. It is such a pleasure to be here to celebrate the opening at Splash, a project that embodies so much that is important to the community foundation. Equitable, beautiful parks and playgrounds for everyone, fun, safe, creative water play, a more vibrant, healthy, engaged, and connected neighborhood, community, and city, and the power of charitable giving. When I spoke with Monica Conrad a little over a year ago, I conveyed to her the American Water Charitable Foundation is looking for the perfect project in Lexington, in our region, to focus on water-based play and nature-based play and so forth, and they have a $250,000 grant that they'd like to contribute. Do you have something? And she mentioned, I think I do. And today we're celebrating that. When she told me the story of the park and the collaboration and the engagement of the community and so many partners, we and the American Water Charitable Foundation knew this was the perfect fit. Three, two, one. One of the biggest stories of the year also happened along Town Branch Trail in the form of the groundbreaking of Town Branch Park, destined to be the crown jewel of Lexington's trail system. It's hard to imagine that in just two short years, all of this will be transformed into what you see in the video on my right, a beautiful green space featuring a high-tech stage and 4,000-person amphitheater, a unique children's playground, educational and interactive water play area, a dog park for both small and large dogs, food and beverage offerings, a butterfly garden, an art installation, the town branch commons trail, a recreation lawn, a reading room, and so much more. The park will also reconnect the community to Town Branch Creek through this space just to my right. That actually is the creek rolling through in the middle of those trees. I became involved in this project at the request of my dear friend and then Mayor Jim Gray. And a few other civic-minded friends and peers of mine were asked to take a task of creating a public park for Lexington that would be privately funded. This was an unprecedented project for our community. Raise $31 million, he told me, of private funds to build a world glass park in the heart of downtown for all of our residents and visitors to enjoy. What a dream. Our community has never come together to raise that much money for a single cause like this. Some people didn't think we could do it. Actually, there were many people that didn't think we could do it. And I would hear about it every now and then. Maybe they were right. We didn't raise $31 million. We raised $39 million! It was Victor Hugo who famously said, there's nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Now, I would just add that an idea without funding is nothing more than a hallucination. So fortunately and inspiringly, Town Branch Park is a reality and not a hallucination. Now, let me, too, pay tribute to Ann Bakas, Lexington's Grand Dame. The late W.T. Young was often described as the bell cow of fundraising and philanthropy. And of course the bell cow is the one who leads. Well, there's a new bell cow in town. This is a groundbreaking. A groundbreaking. Groundbreaking in that we are literally breaking ground, in this case, someone said asphalt, to begin construction of this wonderful park. and groundbreaking in the landmark sense in that we are creating a new landmark, a new destination, a place for community celebration, a place to bring your children and your visitors from out of town, a place to enjoy a brisk walk or an evening stroll. This park is also groundbreaking in a pioneering sense. It is not every day in our city that the private sector comes together to fund something like Town Branch Park. This is a big deal. This park is a gift. It's a gift of improved quality of life to each and every one of us, as well as all 325,000 people who live here. as well as their visitors. That's really special. Buildings come and go. Parking lots come and go. But parks can live forever if you take care of them. And I can assure you that our board and the people that have donated their time and energy here are going to make sure that this park is not built, but is taken care of. Lexington's Parks Department announced the development of its largest addition in over 26 years with the groundbreaking of Cardinal Run North. Today has been 26 years in the making. We're finally doing it. Back in 1997, this property was given to our community along with Cardinal Run South, an incredible gift of over 190 acres of pristine bluegrass property. So far, the public has only been able to really enjoy 54 of those acres, and that is Cardinal Run South. The bulk of the property has remained inaccessible because we have not been able to afford to develop a usable park. And that ends today. The City is opening the doors to Cardinal Run North with a $10.1 million investment through American Rescue Plan funds. At Cardinal Run North, Lexington will soon be able to enjoy two miles of natural hiking trails, six pickleball courts, a basketball court, four youth multi-purpose fields, a large playground, a dog park with two paddocks, a mile-long paved shared-use trail, two picnic shelters, and many other amenities. There will be something for everyone. These features were selected in part by the public during a public engagement period last year. Almost 900 people filled out the survey. We also followed the guidance in our parks master plan. The two parks, Cardinal Run North and South, are separated by Parker's Mill Road. We will install a crosswalk to make it easy for citizens on both sides of Parker's Mill to enjoy both parks. I remember attending some of the public input sessions on this and it was really fun to watch constituents and other folks across really the whole county come in and talk about their ideas and as the mayor just said you saw some of the cool things that are going to be here the trail everyone loves at dog park you've got recreational opportunities out here and And just the acreage itself. What a wonderful gift this is. And thank you, Parks and Rec Director Conrad, the whole staff. I know you put a lot of work and time in it. It's great that it's here. You know, there's nothing better than a groundbreaking except for ribbon cutting. This has been one of those projects that takes a lot of people. It takes a village to kind of make something like this happen. I think the best thing about this park for District 10 is it is very walkable from most of the neighborhoods on this side of Harrodsburg Road. And I think that those people will be using it extensively. I also think that the best thing about parks is not only do they provide physical help for people, But the open area, guys, is a great mental and emotional support system for the people here in Lexington. We partnered with Fayette County Public Schools, Girls Who Game, and the district-wide Minecraft Challenge to create really an inclusive, accessible, Cardinal-run North vision utilizing Minecraft gaming and design. So thanks to all those Fayette County School kids who are out here with us today. It's a big deal. We're now working with ATS and Tecton Construction Companies to deliver the park design. The park will provide the community with access to beautiful, expansive green spaces, rich with a blend of topography, including forests and karst areas. The addition of the park will increase the portion of the neighborhood within a 10-minute walk to a park, and access to natural areas, which are cornerstones of our parks master plan. Our parks team, who've already been recognized today, I really can't thank them enough. They're the ones who bring you clean, green, programmable green space every day in our community. They're really the backbone of our division and the ones who deliver these wonderful park spaces. Three, two, one. When we come back, we continue our look back at 2023. Hello, I'm Lieutenant Chris Van Brackle with the Lexton Police Department Traffic Unit. Today we are talking about disability accessible parking and the aisles between those parking places. Accessible parking is a valuable and necessary resource for people with disabilities, and that includes the striped area next to accessible parking spots. These are access aisles, and it is illegal to park here, even if you have an accessible parking permit. Police and Lex Park will write tickets when they see vehicles parked in an access aisle or parked in an accessible space without a placard and the fine is $250. Know where and where not to park. Keep the access aisles clear. Thank you and drive safe. Welcome back to Lexington Now. In 2023, Lexington's fire department got a major boost in the way of a grant for the training of 27 new EMT paramedics. Like many communities, the post-pandemic years have seen an uptick in call volume here in Lexington. Last year alone, we responded to over 66,000 emergency calls, with at least three-quarters of those being medically related. In order to adequately respond to those calls, it is critical that we have the absolute best-trained and best-prepared paramedics paramedics here at the Lexington Fire Department. This grant will allow us to not only continue, but to increase the capacity of our paramedic class, putting more highly trained providers on the front lines ready to answer the call. The Lexington Fire Department, with the support of our LFUCG leaders, will continue to seek new and innovative ways to meet the growing needs of our As Chief Wells said, today we're talking about something very important in our city. And really it all boils down to good strong public safety. We know that's the foundation of a great community is good strong public safety. So today's announcement will make our city safer. Our fire department has won an assistance to firefighters grant that will pay for training and certification of 27 new EMT paramedics and you're looking at them right now. This is a huge step forward for us. We have the best fire department in Kentucky and in the region. And this grant will help them be even better. All Lexington firefighters are certified as EMT basic, which is the norm among professional firefighting departments. However, and this is something which is, I didn't know before today, this is wonderful. Half of Lexington's firefighters are certified paramedics, which is highly unusual, especially in Kentucky. And over half of all the state's registered paramedics work in the Lexington Fire Department. Think about that. Over half of Kentucky's registered paramedics. And you've helped train them, Dr. Patty Howard. As a registered nurse, this gives me a lot of confidence in our ability to help our residents in emergency situations. Just yesterday, the 22nd anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy, we were all reminded again of the importance of our first responders. People who routinely put their lives on the line and run toward the danger while the rest of us are running away. As mayor, one of my responsibilities is to ensure that our firefighters well trained and well equipped. Today's announcement is about an important investment in their training and in Lexington's community safety. So congratulations and thank you so much. We're really excited about this class. Thank you. Lexington police expanded their capabilities with the opening of the new East Sector Roll Call Center. We joined officials for the ribbon cutting. When you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hail at the twilight's last gleaming, whose rush drives and bright stars through the air. This new East Sector Roll Call will position our police closer to major traffic arteries and to neighborhoods along Manowar. It will also save us money in utility expenses and in rent. This roll call is a satellite office where police officers who work in the east sector of city report for duty. We also have a west sector office on Old Frankfort Pike, a central sector near Eastland and our headquarters downtown. began using this new East Sector office last month. This 7,900 square foot, 4.2 million dollar building was designed with energy efficiency in mind, using insulated concrete, wall construction, high efficiency windows, and a geothermal heating and cooling system. Work areas all receive natural light. This is one of the most beautiful things about this building is the natural light. And the building can accommodate solar panels if needed. It also incorporates many security features including a controlled entrance, Bullet resistant materials, a separation of private offices and meeting spaces, separate entrance for the public and police, a storm shelter, separation between public and police parking. It's really state of the art. The building is designed to accommodate a variety of uses. The facility's conference room and roll call are separated by a movable partition that allows for increased space that could be used for community meetings, award ceremonies, and classroom training opportunities. Previously, East Sector Roll Call was located on Center Parkway in a rental facility. This new facility has been built on land already owned by our city. Any building like this is a true partnership and a true collaboration. So, I gotta thank the community for their support. Since I've been here, I don't think we've had a roll call facility built from the ground up. And that takes a lot of support. It takes a lot of support from our mayor and her team, but also from our council members. And it truly means a lot to me that you all stepped up and supported the police department and we appreciate that very much. This is a satellite facility, but it's built with a purpose for us to be part of the East Sector community, part of not just the community surrounding and not just the school here, but part of whole East Sector. It's inviting and it's accessible. That's what I want you to know about our officers. You know, our officers do a great job every day. They want you to know that they're part of the community too. Three, two, one. Lexington Police continued their reputation for innovation with the announcement of the new FUSIS system, consolidating assets to further streamline public safety. Today, I'm excited to announce the integration of the FUSIS platform. This new technology will help unify all of our public safety assets, like flock license plate readers, traffic cameras, and other cameras operated by private entities who opt in. With this technology, we will be able to solve crimes quicker and provide real-time information to officers. Technology does not replace good police work, but instead it is another tool for our officers and detectives that they can use for safer and more efficient investigations. We will still have officers talking and engaging with the community and following up on any leads. The FUSES platform also allows businesses, the community, and our partners and residents to engage with us in a more efficient manner and help keep us and our community safe. We are taking an exciting step forward that will make our community safer through technology. Our investment in Flock license plate readers has been an enormous success. That is why I proposed back in April that we take the next step and establish the Real-Time Intelligence Center with an additional investment of about $150,000 annually in video-based intelligence software known as FUSIS. We're now ready to begin using FUSIS in our community. It allows us to combine our existing technology assets, including alerts from FLOC license plate readers and video from traffic cameras, while also allowing the voluntary addition of private security cameras from partnering businesses and even residential cameras. Starting today, businesses and individual citizens here can choose to have a direct impact on the safety of our community through this technology partnership. The software combines these assets into a single source. It's an investigative tool and a resource we can use to streamline emergency response and incident management with real-time information for our first responders. Technology is the future, some say. It's here now. We started this on July 1st, and after about two months, we're almost close to being fully implemented. We nearly have all of our traffic cameras loaded into the system, but our site is live. Our site is connectlex.org. That's where the community can go to register their cameras and or integrate their cameras into the Real-Time Intelligence Center. Registration is voluntary and it's free, so that's where we see most of our residential cameras. We would like to just know you have a camera in the area. It's good for us to have that ability to go directly to you and also reach out to you electronically to see if you've had any video that may be related to a criminal incident that you wish to share. If you are a business and you want to integrate your cameras into the Real-Time Intelligence Center, it allows us to be efficient when we respond to your business in or around your business if a criminal act is occurring. There is a small fee associated with that. That fee allows you to buy the purchase of the core device, which will integrate your cameras. and then there is a yearly subscription thereafter, but that is a nominal fee of $150, I believe. The good thing about it, you don't have to replace your camera system. It integrates with most every camera system that's out there, so it's just literally a plug-and-play option that usually can be set up within a week's time once the order actually received. Fuses will then get on the phone until you have to connect that. Plug it in, and you'll be integrated right with the system. That's all for now, but as always, you can keep up with us on social media. check out the latest traffic updates on X at Lex Rex, or catch our live traffic cans on LexingtonKY.gov. For all of us at Lex TV, I'm Neil Noah, and that's it for now. Thank you. I can call my own to fall in love. That's what everyone's dreaming of. I hold this feeling oh so strong. Life is too short to live alone without someone. Music Hey, it's Bajan Niko and we are here with your next episode of Year Lex PD. We are here at the new East Sector Roll Call at the intersection of Clearwater Way and Saran Drive. Outstanding facility here, right? Very nice. State of the art. Yes. This month, the holidays are coming up. Yes. Right? So we want to talk about property crimes. And property crimes are something that obviously we experience year-round, but we think a little bit more about it during the holidays just because of opportunities. Yes. So today, let's go talk to a couple of our detectives about car break-ins, house break-ins, all these types of things that we don't want you to encounter. And hi, we are back with Lieutenant Barton and Detective McMillian with the Property Crime Section. So we're going to be talking about property crimes today. Can you describe what property crimes are? So property crimes are basically any theft or damage to any of your property that you may own. whether it be your vehicle, your house, your yard, an animal, or anything such as that. So any crime that's committed against the property, not your person. So that's what a property crime is. Thanks. All right. Well, let's start with talking about your house, all right? And burglary, obviously, is something we always think about. Your house is your castle, right? We don't want anybody to go in. So are we having, do we see a lot of burglaries in Lexington? No, we have our fair share, of course, just like any other city. But, you know, it's a crime of opportunity, right? So, you know, these would-be criminals are coming by your house and they happen to see that your front door is open or whatever it may be. You don't leave your lights on, and there's an opportunity for them to get in. They're going to try it. So there are some things, obviously, you can do to help prevent that, and we can discuss that later if you wish.