# Planning Commission Work Session - July 17, 2025 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Commission · July 17, 2025 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/6492 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/6492?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2025-07-17 - **Body**: Commission - **Last revised**: March 1, 2026 - **Length**: 57,335 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1, with speaker labels folded in from Granicus closed-captioning. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude Sonnet. Speaker labels and verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Planning Commission met on July 17, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. in the Phoenix Building 3rd Floor Conference Room, with Eve Miller presiding. The meeting covered 4 agenda items, all of which were informational in nature, including updates on the Blue Sky Master Plan, the Downtown Area Master Plan, and two legislative updates concerning House Bill 443 (KRS 100.275) and House Bill 160 (amending KRS 100.348). No votes were taken during the session, and no public comments were heard. The meeting functioned entirely as an informational briefing, with no formal actions or motions recorded. ## Blue Sky Master Plan Update [timestamp: 00:46] Eve Miller and a team of consultants presented an update on the Blue Sky Master Plan, covering market analysis and existing land use conditions. Key speakers included Sam Castro, Abigail Ferretti, Anita Morrison, and Matt McLaren. The presentation was informational in nature, providing the Commission with current findings and analysis as part of the ongoing master planning process. The update focused on two primary areas: - **Market analysis:** An overview of relevant market conditions informing the planning effort. - **Existing land use conditions:** A review of current land uses as a baseline for the master plan's development. No formal action was taken on this item, as it was presented for the Commission's information. Additional details regarding specific concerns raised, debate among commissioners, or further findings from the presentation are not available in the provided materials. ## Downtown Area Master Plan Update [timestamp: 1:07:00] Boyd O. Sewe delivered a presentation to the Commission providing an update on the Downtown Area Master Plan. The presentation focused on outreach efforts and project milestones associated with the plan's development. No additional detail on specific milestones, outreach activities, concerns raised, or Commission discussion is available from the provided data. The item was informational in nature, with no vote or formal action taken. ## House Bill 443--KRS100.275 Update [timestamp: 1:14:40] Traci Wade presented an informational update on House Bill 443, which has been codified as KRS 100.275. The discussion focused on the implications of this legislation for zoning ordinance changes and the processes associated with them. Wade walked the Commission through how the new statute affects existing procedures for zoning ordinance updates, outlining what changes may be required to bring local practice into compliance with the updated state law. The presentation was informational in nature, intended to keep Commission members apprised of the legislative development and its potential impact on how zoning-related matters are handled going forward. No vote or formal action was taken as a result of this agenda item. The outcome was purely informational, serving as an update to the Commission on the current state of the law and any process adjustments that may follow from it. ## House Bill 160 (amending KRS 100.348) [timestamp: 1:14:40] Daniel Crum presented an overview of House Bill 160, which amends KRS 100.348 and introduces changes related to manufactured homes and their zoning implications. Crum explained the requirements that the new legislation imposes, walking the Commission through how the bill affects the way manufactured homes are treated under local zoning regulations. This item was presented as informational, with no vote or formal action taken by the Commission. No additional speakers or specific concerns are reflected in the available record for this agenda item. The discussion served to ensure Commission members were aware of the statutory changes brought about by House Bill 160 and understood how those changes may affect local zoning administration going forward. --- ## Full transcript Good afternoon, it is 1.30 PM and we are prepared to start our July 17th Planning Commission work session. The first item on the agenda is the Blue Sky Master Plan update. Good afternoon, Commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to present an update for you all for the Blue Sky Small Area Plan. We've been busy since March, and my name is Eve Miller, I'm a Senior Planner for Long Range Planning and I am the Project Manager for this Small Area Plan project. As you all know, the Blue Sky Small Area Plan is part of our broader implementation of the 2020-2024 Urban Growth Master Plan, and this planning effort is going to focus on providing strategic guidance for the Blue Sky area, emphasizing routes for employment growth, redevelopment, and industrial modernization. To lay the groundwork for the Small Area Plan, our primary consultant, TSW Design, engaged Partners for Economic Solutions, PES, and Strategic Land Advisors, or SLA, to conduct a detailed market analysis and site location analysis. Our research examines the economic trends, industrial demand, and future development potential for the site. This analysis will help us understand how the study area fits into the broader regional landscape of Lexington and our MSA. We'll also dive into some existing land use conditions and infrastructure currently at the site this afternoon with Gresham Smith, and then together these insights will help shape our policy recommendations that will come forward in the next coming months. And with that, I will introduce Samantha Castro from TSW to guide us in this afternoon's discussion. Thank you all. Good morning, folks. I told you guys when I left that you would see a bunch more of me, so here I am again. Eve is even taller than I am. Well, we'll leave it. Okay, so again, Sam Castro. I work for Tonell Spangler Walsh, a planning, architecture, and landscape architecture firm based out of Atlanta, but with our Lexington presence. And like Eve was saying, we are here to talk about the Blue Sky Small Area Plan. We had a really great meeting this morning with our advisory committee where we started really kind of getting into the details and the nitty-gritty, but this is going to be – we're going to throw a lot of information at you guys all at once. This is all of our sort of existing conditions on both the land side and on the market side. So again, it's – TSW will be doing the master planning piece of it, a lot of the physical planning. We're working with Gresham Smith on transportation and infrastructure. Partners for Economic Solutions and Strategic Location Advisors are helping us with the market analysis piece. And then Yarden Co., who you'll be hearing from later on this summer, is helping us out with sort of the engagement, branding, and marketing strategy of how do we make Blue Sky an exciting place that people want to hear more about. So as you all are aware, I don't need to go into too much detail, but Blue Sky was brought into the urban service area through the Urban Growth Master Plan process. But the area around Blue Sky Industrial was – we put a pin in that as a future look for a small area plan because it was so very different from the greenfield planning that we were doing for the rest of the Urban Growth Master Plan. So we're here now to do that small area plan. If any of you have been out there, which hopefully you've had a chance to drive out there recently, it was formed in a very much, I would say, an ad hoc style. Lots of incremental development starting in the 70s, a lot of which happened in the 80s, and hasn't seen a ton of new growth or development since then. It's anchored by several large companies, Elliott, and then two large auto auction sites are sort of the primary tenants out there. And then, of course, the neighbors include your sort of highway-serving businesses right at the interchange there, Sayre Athletic Complex to the northeast, and then Lexington Sporting Club is catty-corner across the highway, and then really the rest of it is surrounded by mostly agricultural uses. The visual character is what you would think it is. It's industrial with large expanses of impervious paving. It's a lot of warehouses, loading docks, et cetera. It's relatively well-maintained out there. People are mowing their lawns. But in general, it looks like an industrial area, like you would expect it to. The majority of the study area is zoned I-1, so light industrial. There's a little bit of B-3, which is the highway-serving business that's along 8th and Spoonsboro, bordered all around, like I said, by the AR, and then there's a whole node there of B-5P that's the highway-serving business that's, you know, got the McDonald's and the Lex Hotel, the new, well, refurbished hotel that's out there, et cetera. Existing land uses consist of what you would think, manufacturing, warehousing, lots of equipment storage out on site, significant flex space, which is kind of located in specific facilities, and then what we would call, you know, some smaller office-type uses in strips. There's a fair amount of impervious surface out there, as you all are probably aware, which is not surprising, and then a lot of the areas that we see that aren't covered by impervious surface are green, sort of by default, because the area has so much topography and it moves down towards a stream, there's, you know, a lot of tree line that's kind of in the back of properties, and so that's sort of what you're seeing in the white. Like I said, a lot of this area was developed in, starting in the 70s, much of it happened, I would say mid-80s, and then very little construction beyond 2000. Now that being said, even in speaking to the advisory committee, what we're not capturing here are some of the retrofits of buildings that we would normally say are sort of coming to the end of their usable lifespan. Elliott in particular has come in and has started refurbishing a lot of the buildings that are out there, so even though we're seeing some older dates, you know, some of this needs to be adjusted some to start to show that some of those buildings are actually getting a second life. I'm going to turn this over now to Matt with Gresham to talk about more of the physical aspects of the site. I'm just going to go ahead and give this thing, hold it. My name is Matt McLaren. I work with Gresham Smith here in town, site civil engineer. So just to kind of give a little bit of background on the site from more of the physical side, there is a ton of topography change across the site. From Athens Boonesboro to the stream that serves as kind of the northern property line for most of it, there's about 130 vertical feet of change, so it is a ton of slope going down there. And what that does is it creates a lot of challenges for redevelopment because you have to work through that elevation change through each parcel or each building. In terms of percentages of slope, a lot of the site has kind of a 10% slope, which is fairly steep. Some are 20. You can see the red down there by the creek where, you know, the development was trying to get back down to the stream buffer and the floodplain. So up near Athens Boonesboro, there's a lot of steep areas where you're trying to get off that road and get down into the development. Most of the flatter, relatively, for this site, areas that are prime for redevelopment are going to come through that middle swath. And if you have any questions as we go, please interrupt me. I love questions. So with the topography and the slope challenges out here, it lends itself more towards smaller redevelopment, smaller buildings, as opposed to significant, large, single uses. To the left, you have a distribution, crosstalk distribution warehouse. So that particular development, you can see the red at the north. Does this point? I'll walk over. So this is the area I'm talking about right here. As you can see on the north and the south of that, they've had to do some significant grading and creating those steep slope areas. So that's the kind of challenge that this site has. In terms of waterways and floodplains, as I mentioned, that northern piece of it is an existing stream that does have a regulated floodplain, as well as stream buffers on it. It's been developed kind of up to that waterway at this point. And one of the big challenges connecting the north piece to the main site is there's a single existing culvert there. That's the only connection between the north and the south piece. On our field visits, we have seen evidence of overtopping of that. So that's something that, as you look at redeveloping this, you need to improve that crossing to provide a safe access under all conditions. From a utility standpoint, this is always a very big topic. For water, there's a 12-inch loop that serves the existing development. A little larger, actually, than usual, provides plenty of flow to the existing uses. And then, depending on what goes into it, is kind of unique. If it stays along the existing development patterns, should be more than enough. Natural gas, same deal. Loop around the main site with services up individual roads, and again, same deal. If the redevelopment were to occur with the same development type, more than sufficient. Utility and telecom are items that we're still working through. Sufficient for today's uses, sufficient for redevelopment along the same patterns, but understanding available capacity for more intense uses is something that we're working on as well. Sanitary sewer is always a hot topic. This particular site is served by the Blue Sky pump station, which then pumps up into the Boonesboro pump station, which then pumps up through a force main along Athens-Boonesboro Road. So, this, along with the urban growth areas 3, 4, and 5, all sewer to this particular area. So, that overall study is ongoing right now to really develop it. But again, just like with the water, just like with the natural gas, there's capacity out there, and if a redevelopment were to occur in the same general fashion as what's there today, you're replacing like for like. So, not expecting a lot of sewer constraints unless something were to go in that is heavy manufacturing or a heavy process type project. Traffic is something that is kind of two-fold on this project. One is the I-75 interchange concepts, so we're getting that geared up, we're working with the stakeholders for that interchange, getting those concepts developed. But this is just a crash map, and you'd expect to see the ones up there by I-75, everybody knows that's a challenge. There's a few within the site, very sporadic, there's a few at the entrances to the sky on Blue Sky Parkway. But one of the things that kind of jumped out at us though is the hot spot that's between the interchange and Cane Break. So, right there where some of those businesses are, we're seeing a big hot spot there, so that's something that needs to take a look at as we kind of look at Blue Sky itself and the interchange, making sure that piece in the middle doesn't fall into no man's land. And I will turn it over to Abby. Oh, of course. Is it buildable where all that fill was put in? There's a lot of fill there. Can you build on that? You can build on anything, it just comes down to the cost to remediate the fill. Let's see, which map would be best to kind of point to what you're talking about? Well, it's the crutcher property, but I can't tell by the map where it is. I didn't expect it to go that way, but it's on the south side of the basement. Okay. Gotcha. So that's going to be part of Abby's presentation. But again, I will say we've done a lot of work on sites that have had fill placed in the past. If it was placed in a way where someone paid attention when it was going in the ground, it makes it a lot easier. If it was just a construction debris dump, it gets a lot more expensive, because you have to explore and then potentially remediate, which would be dig out a certain amount and put back with good fill, micro piles, that kind of stuff, so. Any other questions? Excellent. Thank you so much. I'm going to try to. Thank you, Matt. Thank you. I think so, yeah. Word for me. Okay. No, where were you? So I'm Abby Ferretti with Partners for Economic Solutions. I believe I met some members of the Planning Commission during the UGMP process, but I'm here to talk about the draft market findings that we have to date. And just wanted to start off with the geographic landscape. So we went out and took a look at where blue sky sits within the region, and conducted a survey, windshield survey, of 103 of the buildings that are out there, and kind of looked at a couple different metrics to grab data about what the existing conditions are, what buildings are there, and what businesses are there. It's a one point in time accurate look at what's there. It could have changed since I was there in May. It likely did, but it's important that we have a place to start from to say what's existing in the environment right now. So for blue sky's environment, we're looking at a concentration of industrial flex uses. For our purposes, we looked at the entirety of the study area, which crosses over I-75 and incorporates the soccer flex. So I just want to be clear that it's a broader area than what Matt was just talking about as the blue sky industrial park. And so we're talking about roughly 140 businesses in those buildings that we surveyed, and over 1,000 jobs. So these are estimates that we get from longitudinal data that's available from the census. And then we did have some intercept surveys and some data from individual business users who updated that and provided us with it so we could take a look at that. Those are really critical jobs. I want to be clear that these are jobs that right now are paying very good wages. And so they're not, you know, there's a mixed bag in terms of what's out there because there is some retail space and some hotel space as well as some of them. But a lot of these businesses are paying some pretty decent jobs. The largest industry segments that we see are construction, which shouldn't be a surprise as it's a growing industry here in Lexington Bay at. But we also see transportation and warehouse as well as manufacturing. And those are kind of keys that we see within the area. The largest companies are, you know, ADESA with the automobile auction, Coparts, but with Elliott Services that Matt and Sam both mentioned. So I also think I like to point out like folks like ISG Manufacturing, they're sign manufacturers and they're out there, they have about 35 employees that make a really good living wage and are there doing pretty well. We do know that in Lexington-Fayette County, when we think about it as the metro area, it has workers that are coming from about almost a third coming from Franklin and Jefferson County. That's important because when we think about those that are employed in this study area, we see that 41% of them are coming from outside the MSA. And SLA is going to talk a little bit more about that. It's also important to think about these workers and who they are, you know, 58% of them are folks that are, you know, between 30 and 54, the key working age, but you have one in five workers out there who's under 30. So these are young people, just got a job, maybe out of high school, maybe out of a trade school, and then start their career at Blue Sky, which is terrific. We look at the land use, but we did a little bit broader of a look. So Sam and Matt were talking about, again, that area, we went, as we mentioned, kind of west to look at that sportsplex. But we also wanted to capture some of the land that's available out there that's within the expansion area. So you see the green triangle north of 8th and Spoonsboro Road, west of I-75. That's really another key piece of land that hasn't been developed yet, right? We just have a gas station there. You can also see, sort of by virtue of this map, there's a little bit more of the pink and the red. That's that commercial, that's where your retail is, and that's where your five hotels are with about 370 rooms. And then we took a look at the warehouse and the distribution space. And what I want to point out to everybody is that we see where the UPS freight facility used to be. Does everybody know where that is when I point on the map, or do I need to walk over there? Let me walk over real quick. Okay. And so that facility is, I mean, is a piece, that parcel of land, you know, together is about 37 acres, of which about 26 is really developable land, and it's been vacant for a while now. There was the fire out there in 2018, and then in 2021, it was purchased by a Canadian company for all of UPS sold. What we understand today is that that may be changing hands, but our understanding is that it'll still remain distribution. So we kept it colored that way. There are some other parcels on here, which we understand from working with the advisory committee, we'll be updating as we go in terms of what their use is. But when we look at this, it's really important to understand what the underlying zoning is from that perspective. But what we see in terms of the business operations, who's operating there and what they're doing, who are some of those blue slices, which are really office space, they're really folks like Jim Nash Homes or contractors or folks like that, that you would think would mix well with the folks that we already have on the ground. And when we look at this space, oh, it seems to be missing part of my table. Well, all right, it's missing the table. Not sure where it went. There should be a table in the upper left-hand corner. So what we see is small, stable businesses, not a lot of additions or subtractions. But what we see is that 852,000, I'm going to read you the number, 852,600 square feet of that space, 65 percent of that space is an industrial and flex space. So your retail component is only about four percent, just those few gas stations and convenience stores we talked about. Your office space is roughly 80,000 square feet alone in isolation. The salvage really only has tinier buildings, and then that hospitality, like we talked about before, has the 370 rooms, but it's about 270,000 square feet. And so when we look at how things are performing and what's happening, we like to take a look at a chart that I'm going to take a few minutes to explain. This is taking both industrial and flex buildings and properties and kind of merging them together and saying, what's happened over the last 10 years? So we take a look back, and so the dark blue bar that you see is where you would have growth. And so what we would expect is that that blue bar would, over time, kind of show the addition of new buildings. Now, with industrial and flex space, it's not tiny little buildings, right? Usually it's a bigger building, and you usually see some more busts. And as you add that supply, it takes a while for it to be filled up, even if you're building it for... So there's a period of time where that vacancy rate goes up and it's not occupied. What we're seeing here is not that many new deliveries. In fact, it's relatively stable and kind of... It's what we'd call stable growth, but maybe modest growth. So between that 10-year period, it went from 3.2 million square feet to 33 million square feet in all of Lexington-Fayette County, so we're not doing gangbusters development. And I guess what's important to point out is that net absorption, which is the light blue, that's when you see a change in occupied space. So people moving from one place to another place. And that, to us, is really interesting as we start to look at where the available land is, where potential growth would go. And this is where we identified some parcels that would be available for folks to move into, develop, purchase. And I think what's interesting is that the largest of these parcels, which is nearly 12 acres, is west of I-75 on Ethan Spoonsboro Road, as you can see here. There's a few other moderately sized parcels, but what you note is that there's not a lot of land. And I just want to leave that impression with you. There's not a lot of land. In fact, when we look at all of Lexington-Fayette County, what we see is about 688 acres today. If you said to me today, what's out there for industrial land only, it's about 688 acres. In Scott County, one of our competitors, how are they doing? About 400. Same for Bourbon. So we really have the most land available. Just in this particular area, it's already being used and used by folks who are making money on it, whether they're the property owner who has a business or they're the business themselves, or they're renting it out and they're receiving a lease payment that's sustaining them for a period of time under something that they purchased and built a long time ago. These are viable businesses. They are giving us some payroll taxes and they're doing well for us. The competition, when we thought about it, we took a look all over. The industrial users often seek industrial space in Lexington due to the anchor institutions and the great highway access and those things. And I'm going to probably turn it over to SLA and they're going to talk about this more. But what I want to point out to you is here's some of the competition that we considered. So on the higher end, that's attracting R&D type industrial tenants and biotech and those types of things. We're talking about Cold Stream and Legacy Business Park. And then we're also thinking about places like Blue Grass and Leaves Town and West Hampton and those others that might be more competitive with us. They've been around for a while. They're asking similar rents to what we're asking and we're seeing that potential. In terms of conclusions, the market analysis always has to come up with conclusions. So these are our demand projections for the future of the Blue Sky Study Area. We think that the study area will match what's happening in the region. So regionally, we're talking about a growth of 4.2 to 5, close to 6 million square feet. Okay, so think about that like, you know, one small 200,000 square foot building to maybe close to 300,000 square foot building each year. They don't come like that, but maybe they would. Lexington would capture roughly 35 to 40% of that, so you know, close to 2 million square feet. Whereas the Blue Sky Area could maybe squeeze 200,000 to 400,000 square feet by 2045, over a 20-year period. I'm going to turn it over to Chuck with SLA now to talk a little bit about how site selection works. This is a little bit of a different presentation because he's going to walk you through how it works too. Does it? Oh yeah, Mike, sure. Just to clarify, I think you said job-wise, there's 1,000 plus jobs. Are you saying that's closer to 1,200 as opposed to 5,000? I would guess it's closer to like 1,100. It was based on information that we got in the last meeting with the advisory committee where a user said, oh, my job number is actually higher than what it was reported previously. And you said 140 businesses? Actually 140 businesses, yeah. How much percentage-wise is that occupant of the 140 businesses of the Blue Sky? Is it? Oh, it's fairly well-occupied. You mean in terms of like what's vacant and available right now? It was minimally available, it was less than 1% the last time I looked. So there's very little available. And what is available is owned by a landlord. So you might drive up there today, Mike might say, I'm going to drive up there and see if Abby's right. And what Mike's going to find is he might see one more space than what I mentioned. The reality is if he picks up that phone and calls about it, it's likely that it has a tenant. They're signing the lease next week and they're doing the TIs. Just curious. Overall, all of Lexington and Fayette is about a 3% vacancy rate right now for that type of space. Thank you. Yep. I'm going to have to do what Matt did. I'm too tall for that thing. So I'm Chuck Sexton. I'm the owner and CEO of Strategic Location Advisors. We're a site selection firm. So what we do is we work with companies to pick locations across the United States for new jobs and new investment. We were asked to be a part of this to add a little probably spice, if everybody wanted to describe it that way, to this total plan, how we can give our expertise to it to help you all understand how this can be reutilized and redeveloped potentially in the future. In addition to site selection, because we tell companies where they need to make their investments, communities, states, power companies also hire us to help them figure out how to attract those companies in a better way. We do a lot of market analysis similar to PES. We're going to focus today on how we view this particular property. This is our executive team, by the way. One of them has joined me, Ivy Stanley is here with us. And even though everybody calls us site selection professionals, we're really site elimination. Our job is to eliminate, eliminate, down to one. So that's really more of what we do. As a matter of fact, I've been doing some of that this week across five other states. Several industry publications asked our opinion on a regular basis about what are the top reasons that companies are currently choosing to go places. This is this year, so I participated in this in the first quarter. This just came out, I guess, a month ago. On my peers and I, you'll see it's energy availability, available land, and skilled labor. The only reason energy availability is number one and not land is because we have such an energy crisis here in the U.S. right now, and there are a lot of projects out there that have been looking for power availability. But I can tell you right now that if you don't have land, you can't acquire new entities into your community. No new jobs, no new investments. So land is king, because you can have everything else on this list, but if you don't have the land, you're not getting the jobs, okay? Skilled labor is really important, too. So what we did was we decided to do a little 30,000-foot view of Lexington-Fayette County. When we are assessing communities for our clients on the corporate side, we do quantitative and qualitative analysis. So the quantitative is the data piece of it. Again, we did a 30,000-foot view for you all. We dig very deep into data when we're doing it specifically for a company. The qualitative piece is our expertise over 20 years of doing site location analysis. I'm going to give you a little bit of flavor on that. So we've cited everything from steel mills, electric battery plants, tier one automotive suppliers from Germany, food production, plastics, regional headquarters, IT, you name it, we've probably done it. So we sprinkled our expertise into this as well. One thing I do want to say is Lexington-Fayette County is a very attractive place on the surface. So if you take away the available land piece of it, this is an attractive place to be. You've got a good population base within the region. And one of the things that I think it's important for you all to understand is that when we look at a community, we don't look at what the population of that community is. Companies don't care where government lines are, really. Really state lines, yes, because of incentives and tax structure. But where your city ends and the next one begins, where the county is, they don't care. They care about where that labor is going to come from. So when we assess labor, we look at it in a 45-minute drive time radius. So you're big, you probably saw in Ohio, it's so close, Hyundai, several large semiconductor facilities have announced over the last couple of years there, those big billion-dollar 2,000 job facilities are looking for a million population within 45 minutes. That's usually the first key driver. Because of energy availability issues and land availability issues, that has driven down to half a million in a 45-minute drive time, which puts Lexington-Fayette County in the mix for some larger, higher-paying jobs that are advanced manufacturing. And one of the communities that we're going to compare you all to as we go through the process is Huntsville, Alabama, and I'll tell you why in a minute. One of the interesting things about Lexington-Fayette County, your all's labor force participation rate is much better than a lot of communities we look at. So labor force participation rate is the number of people who are working between 16 and 65. The average in the U.S. is 63 percent, never historically really been much higher than that by the way. Here it's 67 percent. The data shows that people here like to work. You have a good education base, good educational attainment, and people here like to go to work. The other interesting thing that we found was your EDR, so, did I skip that already? No. Economic dependency ratio, this is another one we've started looking at recently. In the U.S., you'll see it's 100.9. For every 100 people working, that's how many people don't work in a given geography, okay? Here it's 91.8, that's really good by the way, because we're working in places right now in Mississippi and South Carolina where it's 180 to 250. So for every 100 people working, there's 180 people not working. Again, that tells us the health of the local economy, and the willingness, the culture of people who want to work, okay? So again, all indications are that you all have a healthy workforce here, and you probably need more people coming in, which is why residential is so important to the master plan, right? You need more people coming in. But you also have to have industry coming in. You can't just do one or the other. You got to recruit new, and you got to get new people in too. One of the other things that we're starting to assess that will probably be in the next report is the amount of new jobs and capital investment that's occurred here that's come from existing industries and businesses versus new coming in. Because again, if you want a balanced economy and growth, you always have to have new coming in. And what we're seeing so far is that Lexington has all these assets that all of your surrounding counties are using to attract to them, and you all aren't getting a big percentage of that new investment that's coming in. So we'll be going along with that. Other things that are great about Lexington-Fayette County, transportation access. 90% of our clients typically will start wanting to look on the 75 or 65 corridor. I have one right now from Canada. Our first kickoff call, and Ivy was on it with me. They said, we want to look on the 75 corridor. They're probably going to end up in Virginia, North Carolina, or South Carolina, just so you know. But Lexington's right in that mix. And so there are naturally going to be companies who look here that you never know about. There's probably a high percentage of companies who go on to Commerce Lex's website, Cabinet for Economic Development's website, never call a soul. They're just looking to see if you have available land. And if you don't, you never find out about them. So there is an untold amount of missed opportunities out there if you don't have good industrial property. Talent development pipeline is also critical. So when I talk about quantitative and qualitative, we're looking at data. But then when we get into it, we go and visit every community. We look at the real estate. We get with folks like Matt to make sure geotech, environmental, phase ones, all that's done really well. Also, by the way, fill is such a problem. You said all that a while ago. We've had to deal with so many sites that have fill problems. And it's a lot of times it's cut and replace. So that's a very important part of what we do. But we also look at workforce training. Workforce training in Kentucky, I talked about this yesterday, but there's probably a video somewhere. But Kentucky does not beat out some of your neighbors when it comes to workforce training. However, certain communities do a better job than others here in the state, Lexington and Fayette County is one of those. We are in agreement with PES on the market analysis, everything that Abby talked about. But one of the things that I think is critical for us to talk to you about is to understand a piece of terminology that we use, not just our team, but this is across our entire profession, fatal flaws. Fatal flaws are things that prevent companies from coming in more often than not. These are examples of those. No feasible access to major transportation, limited buildable area, lack of suitable scalable utility infrastructure. It's a lot of things. And in this particular study area, there are several. Now I'm saying this from the standpoint of how attractive is Blue Sky to new investment versus what's really happening there and is probably a great use for it, which is existing company growth and regional company growth within that study area. From a new investment standpoint, there are a lot of fatal flaws that would be triggered for us at the beginning. The Sayer School, you've got utility infrastructure limitations, potentially, I think those can be fixed, but they're not there today because, by the way, when we're doing these projects, there's usually a six-month lead time and they don't want to wait three years for all the planning and bureaucracy to get sewer to it, you know, upgraded somewhere. The public-use sports facility adjacent to the study area boundaries, you know, residential's getting pretty close to it, and so all those things are mitigating factors, okay? And look, there are certain other businesses they don't want to be around. That's just part of it. Doesn't mean those are bad things, like a good lake or a good river, but a company doesn't want to be near that usually because they don't want to get flooded, okay? So it's just risk mitigation that we work on with these clients. So I'm going to summarize this real quick so you all can ask questions. Our recommendation for the study areas at this point would be to focus on continuing to support the businesses that are there, supporting their growth, making sure that long-term from this plan that you all have a good redevelopment and reuse program going on so that when companies do leave, for some reason, that area, there's a plan and a process for backfilling those vacancies. We are pretty bullish on the fact that we feel Lexington-Fayette County needs more potential land, but for this one in particular, along the 75 corridor, there's only so much you can do with it. It's got limitations as far as available land today. So at the end of the day, we are going to do some comparative studies against Huntsville, Alabama, like I said earlier. Huntsville's about the same population as Lexington. It's on the 65 corridor versus the 75. It gets natural looks. And we had a client, it was a $1.5 billion electric battery facility, 1,200 new jobs, three different facilities were going to be built on the same piece of property. And we got them to look at half a million population areas. Huntsville, Alabama was looked at. Kentucky was looked at for this project. Everything in Lexington-Fayette County was submitted for it. But your neighbors did submit. Winchester did, actually. And we scored them. But it wasn't close enough to the core of Lexington for what the client wanted. Because their big key, and so that you all know, this is just from a growth perspective, most of your manufacturers today are advanced manufacturing. They need engineering talent and they need technical skilled talent, both. And you all have a great engineering college here. You have great educated people and technically trained people here. There's no reason that you can't attract these types of companies if you have the appropriate land to do so. So Huntsville was, they actually came in second on that project. They lost to Greenville, South Carolina on that one. But that is a good benchmark because of the growth that Huntsville is planning for. Because one of the things that they talked about during that entire process was their growth and their planning department, what they're working on. So we'll be doing some comparisons as we go forward. I think I covered most of it. We did put into our report if that company had landed here, that billion dollar project had landed here, what kind of local impact that would have made, just for general information purposes for you all as well. We also talk about manufacturing a little bit here because we don't want any of the clients or communities that we work with to lose sight of how important manufacturing is to your industry mix. Tech is great, pharmaceutical is great, all biotech, fantastic things. And there's a lot of manufacturing in that as well. However, not everyone is geared to be a researcher, R&D professor, all that stuff. So what we don't want is for any community we work with to forget about the fact that there are plenty of people out there who are geared towards technical jobs who can make a great living making anywhere from $80,000 to $120,000 a year in an advanced manufacturing facility. So, any questions for me? We've got 400 acres sitting there and 200 acres sitting there for 20-25 years. Is it the price of the land that's the problem? Probably. How are you going to change that? So I can tell you how other communities change it. They buy the land publicly and they discount the rate. Doesn't mean you all have to do that. I'm just telling you what other communities do. But you never mentioned that as a problem. We have not dug into that. I don't even know about this acreage or the cost of it. 200 of it has been there for 25 years and we just developed it on the north side of Lexington. You're talking about Legacy Park? No. Coal Street? I'm talking about Dennis Anderson and Providence Place. So it's private land? Yeah. Yeah. See, I never hear price is the problem from the consultants. I hear it from the owners. Well, I can tell you price is a mitigating factor. So your large billion dollar, two billion dollar projects, price is not as much of a factor for those large projects. But your run of the mill, everyday manufacturing projects, you can have a good impact, provide good paying jobs. It is. Well, there's something else involved then because, you know, we keep hearing that if we just had more land, the price would go down and that doesn't happen. More supply. Here it doesn't. Here it doesn't. Here it doesn't. Everybody loves their property. Yeah. And we have a lot of investment people that buy land for investment. So you are in an interesting position, it's a unique position, that communities of your size face. Okay. Huntsville's faced the same thing. So that's why they're publicly buying farmland and developing residential and industrial and commercial, all three. Who's buying it? Their IDA is. So, they're purchasing that property and preparing it with the intent of it being an incentive to incentivize companies to come in, okay? Where you all are having the trouble is all of your surrounding counties in the MSA, their property's cheaper. Sure. So if a company's coming to look and they look all in this region and they say, well, we want to be near Lexington but I can do it for 30% of the cost over there, they're going to do it. That's why I told the owners in Scott County. We can't change this. Yeah. Look, I can tell you right now. I'm going to go ahead and tell them the Huntsville, Greenville story. All right. So this is basically public information at this point, I think. So we got down to the nitty gritty on that battery plant and the client at the beginning, Huntsville was number one. When we did our first seven site visits, we did six states in three and a half days. The end of it, we got together. We all ranked them, myself, the construction company, and the executives from the company. Everyone picked Huntsville number one. They did a great job. Great planning, good location, everything was looking great. They dropped the ball a little bit. The company also really liked Greenville, South Carolina. Any of you all been to Greenville? Oh, yeah. 20 years ago, it wasn't too great. Today, it's a fantastic community, beautiful town. I am worried about the capacity to get the engineering talent they want because they're competing so much in that market for it, but anyway. They wanted Greenville, and Greenville was a little bit less to operate in than Huntsville. Great, right? We did the financial pro forma. But the problem is, is Greenville was $41 million more expensive to start up in. Part of that was due to the fact that the gas company was trying to charge my client $25 million for the gas rollout, and we estimated it at five. Then the site was $19 million more to develop, so it was around $43 million, $44 million. I went and met with Governor McMaster, and I sat down and said, look, here's the issues. Number one, make a phone call to the gas company and tell them to quit being dorks. Just tell them to stop that. He did, did a great job. Then the question came down to, we really want to be here, but it's too expensive from land acquisition and prep versus the other place that we're looking to go. The state came in with an incentive. It wasn't the full amount because we didn't need the full amount. By the way, a good consultant does the financial pro forma appropriately and does not ask for more than is needed to make the project work. They ask for what makes the project work financially, and that's it. They gave us a certain amount. The rest of it, we made up over seven years because of the reduced cost of operating there. Worked out fine. They chose Greenville, South Carolina. The lesson in that is, here in Kentucky, you all have more burden on the local government to get deals done because there's not as much of a robust incentive structure from the state side of things. Okay? That's good. John? I'm sorry. Can you hear me now? Yes. All right. First of all, thank you again for sharing your insights on the project previous to ours. I think I missed where you said Huntsville dropped the ball. I didn't catch that part. Is this being broadcast publicly? I do not want to say what happened. Okay. Okay. Okay. I was curious about that. Yeah. Let's just say a good professional economic development team is really critical. It's more critical than people realize to get new companies. I have a question. I'm not quite sure how to frame this, and I don't know how relevant it is. When you talked about regional, we've signed an agreement, a multi-county agreement for a regional complex, and I don't know which county that's landed in. Madison. Madison. Where we get, was it 30% we get out of that deal? I can't remember if it's light industrial. Does anybody remember what's happening on that property? It's an interlocal agreement for cost share as well as revenue share. Yeah. Yeah. I guess part of my question is, did that factor into this, and are we competing with ourselves here in what you're talking about and what we're trying to do with that multi-county? It's not necessarily a bad idea to look for partnerships regionally like that. I don't think that's a bad idea. The problem is, when you look at it long-term, you have to maintain those relationships well. Make sure everybody's on the same page long-term, because eventually, because I have seen this happen before. I'm not saying this would happen here. I'm just giving you a for instance. I have seen these multi-county intergovernmental agreements go south. If it takes too long to start filling it up, then you have the county who's the host county that's continuing to maintain, and everybody else stops helping with that cost of maintenance on the park. Then all of a sudden, a new company comes in, and everybody wants to cost share, but the host county has been keeping infrastructure up and had more of a cost burden, so then you run into problems. You just have to be careful of that and be wary of that as you do these projects. My question is, how does that factor into what we're talking about here? At the end of the day, I'm a big believer in you should have your own industrial parks in your own county that you're developing. The reason for that is because you have a higher return on that investment if it lands within your community, because you're getting more tax revenues off of it. Mr. Wilson, did you have a question? Yeah, I have one that's related to, it's hard to ask this question in a way, but how much does the, what I call the intangible things, relate to? For example, we had a business that wanted to relocate. They chose to locate Ashland, what it was, Ashland Incorporated. They didn't have a problem with the land. They didn't have a problem with all the quantitative, qualitative things you did. What they had a challenge with was some of the employees didn't want to come until they found out that Lexington had an outstanding Lexington public library system. The question is, how much do these things count in terms of schools and libraries and places to go and things like that? Those intangible things can be project specific. You never know. What could end up driving a location decision? I had one one time that we were in the community and the executive on the trip had a bad experience at the local rental car place because he had to go to D.C. to meet with the Department of Defense. Because he had that bad experience, he called the chairman of the board to let him know, I had this weird experience today. I'm afraid I was going to be late to that DOD meeting. The chairman said, where were you at? He told him the city. The chairman said, 15 years ago, I lived and worked there for six months and I hated it. Strike them off the list. You never know. I had a client, I told them until I was blue in the face, everything says you need to go right here. They said, well, the North American CEO lives 15 minutes from this one though. I said, here's number one reason, number two reason, number three reason you're going to have a problem with that site and that location. They chose it anyway. Within six months, two months later, I got a call about the first reason. Four months later, I got a call about the second one and the third one. I said, I put it all in writing to you that you're going to have those problems. I can't help you now. You've already chosen it. There are extraneous reasons that those things could happen. What you have to do as a community is understand what you can control and what you can't. You can't control someone's bad experience from 15 years ago. What you can control, good quality of life things like a solid public library, good school systems are really critical. Making sure the roads look good and are paved, getting rid of blight in your community. All of those things, because if I'm driving through town, we do this thing called the eye test. If we see a little more than normal blight, every community has a little bit. If it's rampant in a certain area, then the CEO of the company looks at me and says, they don't take care of themselves, they're not going to take care of us. With all these little things that you have to focus on as a community and as public officials and government, your job is not to be the primary on economic development, you're the assistant to economic development. Economic development is done by the private sector. Community development is done by the public sector. Things like Phoenix Park out here, great stuff. The sidewalk streetscapes project, great. Makes the town look great. I saw it, it went all the way up, what's the other park that I passed coming in, it goes all the way up to. Those are all quality of life things that are really important. The other piece, though, is if you are uncompetitive in the market, then you have to pick up that piece of it, too, and help make your community more competitive. Mr. Forrester, I have maybe two questions. The first one, thank you for coming. I could have used that information last year. It would have been helpful. When you discuss some of the sites, and you may not be able to give us full details, but from an acreage standpoint, we all talk about certain acreage that's available. I've heard 688, I think that's probably the first time I've heard how much was available now. From that site, the recent one that went to Greenville, how much acreage did they need at the time? Is there an average amount of acreage? I know it depends on the businesses themselves. The second question is, how much is Frankfort holding us back because of the tax code? This is a public question. I'm going to be careful on that second one. You know what, I don't care. Whatever. What are they going to do? Kick me out of the state? I live here. I pay taxes here. At any rate, on the first question, contiguously developable acres is important. How much you have. We try to teach communities that when you're looking at the target industries that you want to attract into your local economy, to grow your economy and give a good mix. You have to understand so many factors beyond geography, transportation, it's workforce makeup, it's training programs, and it's the amount of acreage and utility capacities that you have. It's not one or two things. It's a myriad of things. The one in Greenville was 100 acres. It wasn't a massive amount for a billion dollar project with 1,200 jobs. But it had to be contiguously developable acreage. It couldn't be 100 acres that had some floodplain over here and wetlands issues over there. All of it had to be developable. On your 688, which I haven't dug into those properties yet, but the 688 that says it's available here, I haven't looked at those sites yet. I was focused on this Blue Sky Small Area piece. How do I put the second question answer? No, I want to because you need to hear it. I have to judge states all over the country. Kentucky is naturally going to attract industry because of geography and water access more than anything else. There are natural incentives to being in this state. You have good core educational institutions in certain pockets of the state as well. The issue that I see is when we get down to a final three sites, and I'm looking at say Kentucky, Alabama, and South Carolina. I already know that when we get the incentive offer, what that means for those three states. Historically, Kentucky has done a good job. When Paul Patton was governor, he reinvented incentives. There are site consultants. I call them the old heads. They're the older ones than me. They brag and brag on Governor Patton. They brag and brag on Steve Beshear when he was governor because he reinvented incentives during a difficult economic time in the country that focused on incentives for companies who maybe they're just investing in machinery, but we want that investment to happen in Kentucky. It was a great idea, but then we just stopped innovating. As a state, this doesn't just go for Kentucky. It's every state out there. Every government body needs to continue to look at trends, how to be more innovative and more creative in being an attractive location. I will say the income tax thing, great for me personally, but from the standpoint of attracting new corporations into the state of Kentucky, they don't care. Ford's CEO does not care if his employees pay an income tax in the state that they're working in. A couple of questions. Thank you. Follow up with Larry's question as to size of acreage and so forth. You mentioned 100 acres. What would be the average size that you would consider for a business considering Lexington? Most companies could be within that 20 to 50 acre range, really, as long as it's all developable, has utility infrastructure there based on the transportation that's in the region. 20 to 50 acres, pop, pop, pop, pop, all day long. Y'all should be able to land. It all goes back to recruitment and marketing and all those pieces as well. Another couple of things I'll say about Kentucky. KCTCS, great foundation and infrastructure for workforce training in the state. They're working on, one of the things I spoke on yesterday was with a workforce panel with economic development on how they can improve. I like seeing the state systems here in Kentucky working on how they can improve. The Cabinet for Economic Development does a really good job. Their Build Ready site program is one that we use as a model across the U.S. That's a really, really great program. The fact that they are putting money, the Beshear administration specifically started putting a lot of money into site development across the state, tremendous program. All the other states started copying Kentucky, by the way. Virginia's done it, South Carolina, North Carolina, all of them are copying Kentucky again on that program. One of your slides mentioned fatal flaws. Am I reading that right? You were saying the sports facility across the road and then a school in the area is a fatal flaw for Blue Sky? Yep. Think about it from a risk mitigation standpoint. If you attract, and I'll be honest with you, if another transportation distribution center goes into that vacant facility that's there today, one of the things I would imagine the owners are looking at is the traffic patterns and potential for young drivers who are around and the risks for potentially getting into a lawsuit if they have an accident with one of them. So, you know, school systems near industrial land, residential near industrial land, those are all red flags. But in our industry we call them fatal flaws that we try to mitigate around. Lastly, I don't know how you keep them clean, but I love your shoes. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. These are my comfy shoes. I walked all around Paris in some real beautiful leather heeled shoes and I just wanted to kill myself when it was done. Cut my feet off. So I wear these comfy ones now. Paris, France. Yeah. Any other questions? I've got a really loaded question for you, and it's a political one. But does DEI going to help or hurt, for example, all of our universities went over and recapitulated or capitulated on the DEI issue. Is that a good thing or a bad thing from an industry perspective? I'll be honest with you. Industry moves within whatever the framework looks like. Okay? Good, I will say this as a blanket statement too, best in class communities, best in class industry works to have a diverse leadership. Okay? Always. Now, DEI in of itself, I will compare it to green energy. There are certain companies who feel like they have a corporate responsibility to include that as a main piece of what they do and the decisions that they make. So for those types of companies, it's really important. But for others, they don't care. I try to get people to think about this all the time. Companies are just like people. They have a budget, like you have a household budget, and they have their opinions, just like everybody has their own opinions. For some, it matters, and for some, it just doesn't. All righty. Mr. Owens. I'm sorry. One other thing. In our conversation, you mentioned something you said in the next report. Will we be seeing you again? Possibly. It depends on how much Sam likes me. But there are some additional things that we've recommended we'd like to look at through this study. Honestly, the way we operate is we also like to ebb and flow with our clients. As we get done with this report, we want to get appropriate feedback. If we need to change what we're doing and how we're doing it, we're willing to do that to make sure we give you all the best information possible for decision-making. All righty. Thank you very much. Certainly. That's kind of a little bit of a follow-up. Yes, the plan moving ahead is now we're going to start talking to all of the folks that are out there. We're going to talk to the employers. We're going to talk to the employees. We're going to talk to the community surrounding and start to get that feedback. But at the same time, we're also going to start building those frameworks, very similar to what we did in the Urban Growth Master Plan, and building off those concepts. Here, it's very much like – this is a small area plan like any other small area plan, like ones we've done in the neighborhoods surrounding. The idea is we're not trying to push anyone out or take anyone's land. I want to keep that as a central focus. The idea is we want to talk about long-term, 15, 20 years, what is the highest and best use of the land. That's where SLA and Chalk and Ivy will be able to help us as we come up with incremental growth concepts that we want to share amongst the group and that we'll build into our eventual small area plan. But that's the idea is that we are looking to not take away – because what's really interesting and what's unique about Blue Sky, and it's touched on more in the reports, is that it's really a great space for incubator businesses and small businesses and shops of specialty trade that don't fit into a place like a cold stream. The idea is not to have them leave Fayette County, essentially, because that's not what we want to do. So we want to figure out how to continue to grow and support what's happening in Blue Sky, but to start looking for what makes it better and to start unlocking some of the available opportunity that's there. So, yeah, I think that's – did you have anything you wanted to add, Eve? Okay, great. Thank you all. Thank you, Sam. Good to see you. Yes, sir. Mr. Winkler. Well, I just have – it's a question, comment, or something that I, you know, would like to see sort of included that I picked up on the trend here. So, you know, the – it sounds like it's primarily occupied with a big vacancy where UPS was, and I'm here – and I'm also sort of just noticing this isn't a statistically significant sample, but that it's this sort of out-of-town, large, foreign company's property that, you know, sold and is picked up and vacant, and it's the smaller, slower growth that's still sort of occupying and employing people. Especially as we've sort of heard in that redevelopment, these are things we needed to bring in outside growth. I mean, I would be curious to bring in some more information on what are the lifespans of businesses that are incubated within the community itself versus the lifespans of these outside companies that come in and locate on a site. That's interesting. I think, you know, one thing anecdotally, Elliott Services, which has, you know, a whole bunch of pieces to it, has really started to take off and reform a lot of the pieces that are out there and rethink different spaces. And when I think one of you had asked, you know, what is sort of the special sauce, the intangibles that get people to come here, and I think one of their executive committee members, or maybe even their CEO, is from the area. And so that's sort of the reason why they're here and why they're reinvesting into a place like Blue Sky, but yeah, I think it's that idea of, you know, how are we measuring that and what is the, you know, how do we categorize that? And that's something that someone from Elliott is on the advisory committee, and so when we were talking about a lot of this information being in draft form still, they really need to take a look because even a lot of our data that we were using hasn't caught up yet with their reinvestment in the area. So I think that that's a good point. What's their core business? Electrical, yeah. Well, industrial or like... Alrighty, do we have anything else for Sam? If not, thank you. All right. Our next item on the agenda is the downtown area master plan update from Boyd. This bothered me. Let me just fix it. Good afternoon, planning commission. Can you guys hear me? We're good? Okay. I'm here to give you an update on the downtown area master plan, specifically our outreach project from this past weekend. That's two weeks ago, July 4th. Background on the project, this was brought about by the place making policy number 13 from the comp plan that asked us to update our master plan. Council allocated 500,000 towards this project. There were eight... There were nine consultants that applied. One did not meet the qualifications, so we reviewed eight applications. MKSK came out on top, and their fee for the project was $495,075. And the work started on May 16th is when we signed our contract. So this is a project timeline. We've already started the coordination. Land use assessment is ongoing. We've shared some of our previous plans with them, and we are reviewing that. And our last meeting we had was yesterday. And we've started on the housing and market analysis. So the project milestones, the RFP went out February 13th. The consultant came on board May 16th. On July 4th, we had... Nawakishi ya mtaosi waOki luri ya kwongwezi, Tande Park. Na, uliti, lakini kwa kasaleo Marki. Fahazi inayookejiezi mtisoche, startledakua. Unaguma, kwa kutkruta ambao. N multipliedofanya. Maglooko kua ng tunaipa. Waliendi inayookejiezi mtaoi kwa hali, tui maaezi mandi zote Mtampl.com moneya k traveledile ahema. Tunayokejiza haphazi kwa hisi. Oe secondasathime watu wa ndishina. Nightumalagu wanashama. Tawezooitudani na amboja uzadafite. We had Lincoln, Mary Todd and Isaac Murphy. They were there. Fill out surveys. Made it interesting. And then from the website, we had a good, good response. From that one day we had up to 276 people visit the website and fill out the survey. And this is a summary of what's happened. From July 4th event, we had 123 paper surveys. That means the survey that is in front of you, 123 people actually stopped and filled those out, which was pretty interesting. We had the consultant come in from Columbus and Louisville and our local team were there all day. Shout out to the LFUCG planning team for showing up. They really helped. They were there all day. And the next day, with little rest, we were out at Castlewood Park meeting people again. And that was also another successful event. We don't have the numbers. We're still tabulating that. Right now, we think we had 55 paper forms that were filled out. That was just within three hours of the park. So that was a good turnout and we really appreciate that. Next up here, we have biweekly meetings on the week of August 11th. That's the Sunday before we'll have a stakeholder meeting. And one thing that we are doing different with this stakeholder meeting, while we have the Sunday, which is August 4th, I mean, August 10th, we are trying to reach out to the food and beverage industry in Lexington. So since they work during the day, during the week, we are having an event for them that Sunday evening downtown, where they can come meet the consultants. We want to hear what they have to say. As I've been explaining to most of the people that I've met, one thing that makes the food industry different is people who come downtown and you go to a restaurant, you talk to your waiter, you tell them what you like, you tell them what you don't like, you tell them what you want to see. So just talking to like one waiter, waitress, you get so much information that you will need so many people to give you that information. So we want to hear from them. And in the downtown area, interesting fact, we have 94 restaurants. We've personally been to 61 of those, and we are still doing the outreach. They all offered me water. I don't know. I might have looked thirsty. I don't know. It was a hard days, but almost every one of them offered me water. And something that I also found interesting was they were so interested. And most of them, let me not say most of them, a lot of them have committed to being there for this event. So that's pretty interesting. And also the week of August 11th, that afternoon, there are some project advisory committee members. Some of them are part of you. Please look at your schedules. We'll have the project advisory committee meeting at from 1 o'clock to 2.30 at the Palm Miller Center. That's where those events will be held on the 11th and the 12th. So once again, if you know someone who is interested in this, just tell them to go to the website, sign up for the stakeholder meeting. We will have only one stakeholder meeting with a consultant. The rest, we'll see how we'll plan for the rest if we need more. But one is guaranteed, which is the week of the 11th. There will be four meetings with the project advisory team and the consultants. And that's the website. You can scan that. You can go there and take the survey. Quick summary of where we are with the project. Any questions? Thank you, Boyd. Do we have any questions? Thank you very much. Thank you. All righty. Next item on the agenda is number three, House Bill 443. Okay. All right. So that's House Bill 160. All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Daniel Crum, planning staff. The next item on your agenda, as I kind of indicated before, is another zoning ordinance text amendment that is going to be necessary due to some changes at the state level. So House Bill 160 is sort of the newest iteration of this, and it relates to manufactured homes. So I've handed you all a packet, the front of the packet. The first piece is the state language. The secondary pieces are what our proposed changes are to make that. That's the red line text. This will be something that, moving forward, we'll be looking for you all to initiate. We have some time. This isn't going to take place, or it doesn't take effect until the subsequent year, but we wanted to go ahead and address that now while we've got the chance. So once again, this is an act that relates to manufactured homes, specifically how local governments can and can't regulate them and the standards that have to be applied to them. So it was adopted earlier this year in April, and it's basically designed that, and it creates a definition for what a qualified manufactured home is, but essentially states that if these manufactured homes meet certain requirements, that local governments are not allowed to treat them any differently as far as the zones they can be located, the setbacks, the architectural standards. Basically, they have to treat them in line with other single family residential uses. And so kind of to help situate this, some definitions are really wildly important here. So mobile homes versus manufactured homes. I know kind of before this was dropped on my desk, I'd sort of used them interchangeably, but they do have kind of very specific definitions, and it's really more to do with when the unit was constructed. So prior to the 1970s, so 1976 is basically the cutoff, any factory-made dwelling unit before then is considered a mobile home. Anything past that point is a manufactured home. So today we are dealing with basically the new construction since the 1976. These are both regulated by HUD and are kind of bound by those standards, but that 1976 point is basically the dividing line. So what this language does is it creates a definition for what a qualified manufactured home is, and it says that this is a home that has been installed within five years of its construction. So this is really pertaining to kind of new construction and development, that it has all of the pieces that are relevant for transport. So if there's wheels, if there's other aspects of that that are used to transport the home onto the site, that those have been removed, that it's affixed to a permanent foundation, and that meets some very specific requirements relevant to its size. So the size threshold here is a minimum of 20 feet wide and a greater size than 900 square feet. The language that the state has put forward does have some caveats, so if this is a smaller lot, basically if a manufactured home is not large enough, or if the site is too small to accommodate what is considered a manufactured home, then they are allowed to go smaller and still be kind of qualified. So what this does is it says, all right, if you meet those criteria to be a qualified manufactured home, local governments do not have any ability to say that that can't be placed in a residential lot that allows for standard single-family residential. Our zoning ordinance is not currently set up that way. So right now, we have a manufactured home is just included within the definition of mobile homes, and mobile homes as it stands today are basically limited to the mobile home park zone, the M1P, and under some very limited instances can be done with, say, farm employee dwelling units, industrial sites, and the like. So we've got some lifting to do on our end to bring that definition forward. So one of the important implications of the state's language is if the manufactured home doesn't meet the qualifications, so if it hasn't been constructed in the last five years, it doesn't meet the qualifications, then it isn't subject to that same requirement to be allowed or required to be in residential zones. Yes, Mr. Davis. Thank you, Dale. I have a quick question. Sure. I didn't hear the answer to it, so I'll need to bring this up. But you're talking about mobile homes, to make sure I'm saying this right. So now a mobile home can now go on to a site that was previously approved or even had a single-family home on it. A manufactured home. Manufactured home, excuse me. Let me ask you this. Is there any stipulation or is there any language in here that would prevent the owner of that property putting more than one mobile home on that same site since they are smaller? Yes, so it is still bound by the same requirements. You can have one principle, you know, it would not let you suddenly put three of these on a single-family residential lot. It just means that if a property owner has a vacant lot, we do not get to weigh in on whether that is a site-built house or whether that is a qualified manufactured house. Thank you. Let me ask one other quick question. If you have a homeowners association, do they have any? Yes, so one of the implications or one of the state language explicitly says if you have, this doesn't cover things like restrictive covenants, any of those homeowners associations. Essentially, it is just taking out instances where at a local level, we are applying standards that don't apply to other single-family homes. So we can't treat them any differently, but if your HOA says all of the homes have to have these features, then we can apply that. Similarly, things like the infill and redevelopment standards that say, hey, you need to have a front door at this location. Do you have architectural standards that need to be met? We can still hold to those because they are applied equally. So that is kind of where that is coming from. But let me get clarification. What you are saying is we couldn't stop if a homeowners association wanted to prohibit a mobile or pre-manufactured. They couldn't do that, but they could set standards of which that unit would have to. So this is, yes, once again, we are not party to any type of private deed restrictions or anything like this is really specifying just from the local government side of things. So if a, once again, homeowners association, deeds, restrictive covenants, those sorts of things that the government is not party to, those could still apply and are allowed to under this law. But it is basically us on the government side. Yes. What about restrictions for malicious intent? I mean, what if I live in a neighborhood with all million dollar houses and you come along and you put a trailer right next to where I live? Well, so, yeah, from a, you still need to meet the setbacks. You still need to meet all of those kind of universal constraints. But basically, yeah, with the local governments, if it meets all of the criteria that we showed earlier, so that it meets all of those aspects, then we don't have from a zoning capacity any way to say that you can't do that. So, so, I'm sorry, well, I was just going to ask, so. The state law set forward this qualified definition, which is, I just sort of gleaned from you. Had this time period of manufacturer 5 years, and it also had a size requirement. Yep, as a local level. We would have to adhere to that, but we could set a smaller size requirement or no size requirement. We could just say. A manufactured home would be allowable substitution and that would be in compliance, or we could say a manufactured home that meets the. Building code, and the architectural would be permitted. We wouldn't have to say it had to be made within 5 years. Is that. Yeah, fair, so we can't would be that would still be meeting that standard. It just. I guess, I mean, I'm partly asking the question to see if it would, you know, if that. Is allowed and then the other question is. Why are these lines even there? Like, I just don't quite get them. Yeah, so the, the specifications that you're seeing in the proposed text are straight from the state. This is 1 of those aspects where. It's neater and more straightforward to do that. We, where we'd be, we would be running into issues is the state passing a law that says, okay, this is what a qualified is and we are now excluding homes that would otherwise qualify based on the state's definition apply. So we can't run afoul of that. So that's why our proposal for what a qualified manufactured home. I have no idea kind of where the state kind of drew the line or where that's coming from. So a lot of this text is simply aligning our existing zoning ordinance to kind of make that work. Now, once again, as far as adding any additional criteria, the state's very specific on if it checks all these boxes. That criteria has to be applicable or you can't discriminate against them in how that's sort of applied. So it has to apply to everything essentially. Thank you again, Daniel. Another question. Will this also apply to container homes or homes made of alternative materials? So this is talking specifically about manufactured homes. So that has a HUD designation that has its own specific meaning. Retrofitting existing things into, you know, things that necessarily weren't housing units to begin with is going to be a separate process. And I believe something like a more modular construction that follows local and state building code. And that is an approved by HUD. So manufactured homes are a very particular definition that get a very particular approval process. So no, this would not allow this doesn't touch anything as far as the shipping containers, because we actually have been asked that on occasion a handful of times. So just moving forward, we need to update aspects of the definitions, because once again, right now we say that manufactured home is a type of mobile home. So we have to split those out, talk about what's a qualified versus a non-qualified home, and then updating the mobile home park zone. So essentially, the mobile home park zone today would allow allows for manufactured homes. So we need to basically tweak some of the language as we're updating these to kind of allow for those as well. So once again, qualified can go anywhere a single family residence can. If it's not qualified, then we have the ability to say, okay, that has to be within the M1P zones, and we retain that ability. So basically, this language was designed to kind of bring that framework up. So next steps, this would be initiated as early as your meeting on the 24th there. That would kickstart a process that would begin in August. Committees would get it in September, if everything was, and the Planning Commission was comfortable, could move forward on the 25th. And we have up until 2026 to get this on the books. So if there are any questions, but really, this is not something kind of that staff is really looking to do much more on our end than just bringing us in line with the state requirements. So once again, you've got a copy of the state language and all of its black and white glory, and then the red color up or the red line, rather, is in the subsequent pages and walks through our kind of first stab. So we'll be taking a look at that language in more depth and then letting you all kind of take a look at that as we get to the process, but happy to answer any other questions you got. Daniel, are we going to say that these things have to be attached to a foundation? So yes, as a part of the qualified definition, it talks about it's affixed to a foundation. So that's built into the definition. And so they'll need to meet that aspect of it. That's not going to be a problem for us, but it's going to be a problem for an awful lot of counties in Kentucky. Because very few of them in Kentucky are attached to a firm foundation. And that's where you take the wheels off, you build either a block or a board of concrete and you attach the thing to it. So we can require that. Yes, so that's part of the definition. If they are not, if they said, nope, we want to keep this on a chassis and we don't want to put this on a foundation, then that would be, you know, we don't have to allow those in single family. Most places, they pull the wheels out from under them and set them on a concrete block. So that, now, is there an affordable housing part to this? Is this aimed for more affordable housing? What drove this? Yes, so they, the... Yes. But in all actuality, it does kind of open up things for more affordability in housing. Because the cost of a stick build versus a manufactured build is, you know, a lot different. So, you know, it's a little bit lower to bring something in than it is to build it from the ground up. So that could possibly be an opportunity. But the manufactured homes that you're applying to don't come in on wheels. They come in on tractors and trailers and assemble on the lawn. Okay, so is that not... So regardless of whether it's got wheels attached, came in on a chassis or not, if it meets those criteria, then they have the ability to place it on it. And once again, very similarly to House Bill 443, this is one where we really don't have a great read on the intent behind it. It's just been adopted. So we've... Ms. Barksdale, I think, makes it... Ms. Barksdale makes a good point. This isn't about the conversion of mobile homes to a fixed foundation. It's about an emerging product that is more affordable to build off-site and bring onto a site and affix to a foundation. And there's not the discernible difference. It's not... We're not talking about a product that looks anywhere or functions anywhere or is constructed anywhere near like what these regulations were drafted in the 70s for. It's a completely different product. And so I think differentiating very clearly that this is about manufactured homes and not about mobile homes is really important. No, it's not about mobile homes. This is about manufactured... Correct. I mean, there's entire industries around accessory dwelling units that are all built off-site. That's a manufactured home affixed to a foundation. Yeah. And it's, once again, colloquially, it's something that I use the terms, once again, interchangeably until two and a half weeks ago when this sort of popped on Daniel's radar. Ms. Bork, do you have anything? Okay. I was just thinking about the case we saw out by Lexington Cemetery where they showed us illustrations of manufactured homes. And if they're done right, it doesn't look like a manufactured home, right? Well, the question would be, Judy, I guess, what does done right look like? Or, I mean, you're allowed to regulate the design, certain architectural designs, as long as they apply to houses as well. Yes. I guess, is there, are there design or materials in the manufacturing home industries that are concerning from a staff perspective? I honestly couldn't tell you as far as kind of that aspect of it. Once again, yeah, if it's a single family lot, they would be allowed to kind of... And the text of the actual law itself kind of spells some of these things out. But once again, if you're in, take the Price Road example there. That's a, I think it was R1C or R1D. It hasn't been subdivided, so at best you're putting one on there. But if it were subdivided, they would be able to mix and match construction, whether they want to do site built, whether they want to do qualified. And we wouldn't be able to say, no, you couldn't use, you know, brick, or you require them to use brick in instances if we aren't saying to the entirety of all R1C or R1D to do that. But things like ND1, so if there's the neighborhood design requirements, those still apply. Those apply equally across an area to anything that's constructed there. And so, basically, we are going to try to kind of hew as close as possible to the state language, make sure that we're not kind of running afoul of that. But it is, it is a change. All right. Thank you, Daniel. Mr. Chair, just to punctuate what Daniel said, first of all, we're coming into compliance with state statutes. So this is something we have to do, like House Bill 443. But as Ms. Barksdale said, we believe that, so if we're being advocates for this, it's because we're being an advocate for something the legislature told us we had to do. So we're doing that. But as Ms. Barksdale said, we also believe that this is an element that can contribute to the affordability of housing. And to demonstrate that, the city of Versailles, the government of the city of Versailles, just this month, held a ribbon cutting because they put some money into it to show how, and partnered with a manufactured home developer, to bring a house into Versailles and showcase what it could look like. And they're going to have a lottery to give it away. But the idea was that they could set the stage and show the community that this is indeed something that fits right in. You would not know that this is a house that was built in a factory and brought in. And I saw the pictures in the Woodford Sun, and it looks like any other house that's built right now. It just doesn't have the two-car garage on it. That's the only difference. But otherwise, it is a shotgun-type house, 20 feet, 30 feet wide, and it looks like a house. So I know we've got some getting used to on this, but I do agree with Ms. Barksdale. I think that this is something that was missing in our regulations, and that if we follow through on this, and we use the right words, and we say it in the right way, that this is something we can bring the community along with, and it will give another option for our affordable housing developers. Also, if it's affixed to the land, you can lend longer. So if it's just a trailer, I don't know who grew up in a trailer around here, but I did. So I know you would limit the length of time that you can finance the actual trailer. This is really not a trailer. This is a manufacturer home, so it's a lot better. Trust me, I know. But I agree with you. Yeah, I've been there, done that, and I'm not going back. But I understand the importance of it, though. But from an affordability standpoint, Mr. Penn, I think we should be able to do that. When it's affixed to the land, permanently structured to the land, you can. If it's got the wheels, they can just roll off any time. All right. Thank you, Mr. Forrester. Do we have anything else? Thank you, Mr. Crum. All right. House Bill 443, otherwise known as KRS 100.275. Sorry, I was late. Yeah, let me give credit to our handout, original artwork and credits. It goes to Sam Castro and Grace Coy. So I handed out two handouts to you today. One is an updated development handbook flow chart, and the other is just a copy of the presentation. As Chair Davis noted, we are changing our reference to this particular topic. So here to date, we've talked about House Bill 443, and now it is an adopted element in our adopted regulation in KRS. So it's under KRS 100.275. So going forward, you won't hear us talk about House Bills for this particular topic anymore. It'll just be KRS 100.275. Today, we're going to talk about the zoning ordinance and what did change, and then also what did not change and is kind of coming in the future. We're going to talk about process changes for the Planning Commission, new notice requirements that the Council put into effect, and then our next steps for what other things need to happen with our ordinances and processes. In terms of what did change, most of what the Planning Commission forwarded to the Council was adopted. There were a few tweaks, but one thing stood out, and it's at the bottom here that we'll talk more about. So they did agree to update the zoning ordinance definitions. I think one may have gotten removed about temporary construction trailers, and I think that's saving for a later date. We did remove all the discretionary criteria and replace those with objective criteria. We did create objective standards, some for DES and some for traffic engineering, also for solid waste. We did reduce the number of items that needed hearings in front of the Planning Commission, and then part of the ordinance is implementing updated development plan requirements and implementing a waiver process. What the Planning Commission sent to the Council was missing something, and the Council heard what you said about there still needs to be some opportunity for people to know when development is occurring. And to participate. I think what they recognized is there needed to be some new notification standards, and what they implemented was truly notification that there is a development plan, not necessarily an invitation to come speak about the development plan. Caveat that. The one thing that got pulled from the Council ordinance, or the ordinance we sent to the Council from the Planning Commission, was the drive-through standards. So they sent that piece, which is Article 16-9, to their committee, their general government and planning committee, for further conversations. At this point, all of the development plans that might have a drive-through, we're just applying the existing five-space standard that has been in place for decades. So there's currently no change to the ordinance there, but it is in committee. Tracy, here's a question. What is the notification range, or the zone? Do you want to skip to that? Sorry, no, I was just popping it off. Subdivision plots and development plans are going to keep the same process. So our preliminary subdivision plans, our preliminary development plans, with a zone change, are still going to come through the Planning Commission for an action. So you'll see those on agendas going forward. What changed was the final development plan process, and then final record plots already were kind of in this category. A final, and this is on your flow chart, and I'm open to suggestions on how to make it easier to read. The final development plan, if it is accompanied by a waiver, would follow the top-line process, where it still comes in for an application review. They've brought in their waiver request, staff reviews it, and it goes through our technical committee, as well as the subdivision committee, and then to the Commission for a hearing. Then, if approved, the Planning Commission secretary, or Mr. Duncan on their behalf, signs and certifies the plan. What is changing, or has a new process, is the second line. So the applicant files their development plan with no waiver, the staff reviews it, and still presents that to the technical review committee. This is where it can go forward to get certified, if it does meet all the standards. So now we're following the straight line, meets all standards. But if it doesn't meet all the standards, their plan, a plan would stay at tech committee. It would circle through tech committee, potentially multiple times, until an applicant adjusts their plan to meet the standards. And then it would move forward to the secretary signing the plan on behalf of the commission, basically stating this plan meets all of the requirements. And what does that really mean? Some of my old stuff is sitting there. So we did talk to the technical committee last time they met, and then they'll meet again in a week and a half, about how the process was changing. And we talked to them about making sure that they were providing detailed comments, identifying what regulations they were citing, and making sure to tell people if they would need a waiver to go ahead and ask for it. So the TRC members do provide comments in Acela. And just a reminder to them and you all, the TRC meeting is an open meeting, and now it's being recorded and broadcast on LexTV. So if you ever want to watch on Wednesday mornings once a month. As we move forward, if an item is coming to the commission for the subdivision committee and then ultimately the commission, our staff reports will be changing a bit. You're going to see different sections and then sign-offs. So how we're breaking it up or planning to is a section that says these requirements are not met. And that's where we're envisioning the cleanup conditions that people, you know, I didn't get my north arrow on there, or you're missing, and this note needs to be corrected because it's referring to a bad address or something like that. Then a section about waivers or if there's a necessary process that needs to be addressed so that we're identifying those again early before tech committee. If there are any design considerations that an applicant will need to consider, for instance, do they need to go to the Royal Springs Aquifer Committee or is there an overlay on their property that they need to address those things? We want to bring those up ahead of time, too, so that our applicants can consider those when they're designing things. And then are there any remaining questions? So historically, those have found their way to the commission as discussion items, but it could be some just basic. We don't understand what you're proposing on this plan. Can you explain this design choice? And then for the TRC, if an applicant is providing a plan that meets the regulations, our expectation is those would be approved, but still likely need final sign off from the different divisions. But then it can go to planning with a mylar for final check and signature by Mr. Duncan on behalf of the commission. If an item does need to be referred to the planning commission, it's going to have to fall under one of these categories. The applicant is asking for a waiver, so subdivision committee is still going to see those and then planning commission. Another board or commission is making a recommendation and the applicant doesn't want to follow it. I was late because I was at the Royal Springs Aquifer. They make recommendations that sometimes our applicants are not keen on following. So development plans that accompany the zone change still coming to subdivision committee. Adaptive reuse projects will as well. Just the way that's worded on our ordinance, it says the planning commission must approve a development plan. And in those cases, those applicants are asking for extra uses. And so we're applying some criteria about meeting different comp plan goals and objectives. And so that still needs a discretionary review. If a preliminary development plan is expired, they would come back to the commission and the subdivision committee. Or if the we've talked about this a couple of times, if there's a specific threat to public health, safety or welfare. We reminded the TRC about what how they might think about this specific threat to public health, safety and welfare. They need to be able to provide specific evidence to that so that we can, as a division, make the choice to forward it to the commission. Those requests, we've asked them, the committee members to forward it to their division director. And then that director to forward it to Mr. Duncan. And then the division of planning with his direction would then refer things to the planning commission related to that criteria. This is where, again, the subdivision committee and the planning commission review the following. And that's the same the same list that I just discussed. With the addition of preliminary subdivision plans, those will still come to the commission as well. Our new notice requirements, and this is what Mr. Davis was talking about, include a few things. A sign posted on the property and then mailed notice. So that first layer of notice is really informational. The sign being posted, and we have these now for sale upstairs, where you enter the name of the applicant and their phone number so they can be contacted. And the case number and then the QR code on that sign allows for anyone going by to use their cell phone to access Acela. Now, once you get to Acela, you still need the case number to type that in and get to the actual information about that particular property. So that's one level of information that's going to be available for all development, any location with a final development plan. The second layer of... What? There's no way to make it go to the case? No. Oh, man. That's going to throw, like, everybody. Do you all know Stephanie Cunningham in our office? You all may remember her. Chris Taylor and I, in 2014, 15, and 16, sat on a committee of ourselves and other divisions to try to get Acela implemented. And there are just limitations to what it can do. And also QR codes. So without printing a specific QR code for each sign... Because these are printed ahead of time so that we can sell them and be posted. Yeah, plastic board that gets posted on the sign. It has to be durable because it has to be there for three weeks. You scan this, and it takes you to the Acela portal. And then you just enter the case number. Yeah. Keep in mind, Acela was not implemented or purchased from the government side to be a citizen access portal. It was a development tracking tool. So it was for developers and applicants to use. That we're using it in this fashion is already not its intended purpose. It's meeting the need identified by council and the planning commission to provide a way to see the plans. It does that. I mean, in addition, it also has the division of planning's contact information. And if anyone has trouble, you know, getting to where those are, I hope they'll call us or e-mail us. And we can certainly help them out. We answer the phone every day. Is that what you mean? That's the main number for planning. Yeah, that's the main number for planning. Laura will answer the phone. And if she doesn't, Patty will or Paula or all of our staff. Bill, yeah. The reason I'm asking is because it's so good for the community. And it's not a company. And more than that, I don't want to get you in trouble. Please don't. So, but I don't want to tell them to call the numbers. It's not going to get the answers they want. You know, and we don't, I mean, I wasn't trying to be flippant. We don't have an automated answering service. That's what some of the divisions do that cycle you to a particular group. But we have a person that answers the phone 8 to 5 every day. Remember, everyone, please use your microphone. Please use your microphone. Okay. Okay, so one element is the sign. Then if, again, the council, in an attempt to address your concerns and the concerns they heard, implemented this. The second layer is a mailed letter for informational purposes when there is a change of use. So if a project came in for a zone change and had, we'll just use this example for a recent one. Say your multifamily housing, student housing project came in, and when they came back for their final development plan, they decided, no, instead of multifamily housing, I want to do a hotel. They would need to send out a mailed notice for that because they're changing the use. If they, on their first final development plan, come in and they're doing exactly what they showed at the preliminary development plan, now at their first final, they do not have to mail notice. Because, again, we just had hearings about that use. We sent letters to 500 feet, so they don't send another mailed notice, unless there's a change of use from what was approved at the zone change. There's also the opportunity if a shopping center already has retail listed and they want to change it to medical office, clinic, that would be a change of use, too, and we triggered a letter going out for those around those sites. Those go to owners and occupants, so 250 feet. The third level of notice, and this is really asking for people to participate, is what we had talked about previously, which is to owners and occupants and also neighborhood associations when there's a waiver. So when there's a waiver, you're having a hearing, and that's the opportunity for people to come in and say, No, don't waive that requirement. The requirement is what we need for this community. Or we support the waiver, but it is an opportunity at a hearing because they're asking for you to waive something and provide some discretion to them. And then letters go out no less than 10 days before the meeting. So that gives them an opportunity to file for us to say, Hey, you've got a land use change here. You need to mail notice letters out about your change of use. Or we see a waiver at the tech committee. You need to mail notice out for the planning commission action. That was mine. So do you have, Zach, do you have more questions about notice? No, that's great. Thank you. We are having to implement some administrative changes, like how does the Division of Planning collect information from people and process these applications? So first we've created a new website for application instructions and resources, and it's listed up there, application instruction checklist. And it does include our tech committee membership. It includes our – we've heard some of my staff talk about a new site statistic box. That's there so that they can access that. We included the application requirements so that they know what they're supposed to be submitting, and it includes the lighting plan. So everyone needs to submit their lighting plan and their tree preservation plan when they file. And that also includes the fee for the sign. At this point, you can see – oh, it's not my next one. We have an updated fees, but that could be next. The council asked us to report to the planning commission, and then obviously your agendas are all publicly available, what plans have been certified. So we will start under the activity report that comes out on the zoning meeting. You have two or three pages of things that the MPO is doing or strategic planning. Under the planning services section, we'll start reporting all of the development plans and final plats that get certified that month prior. So at the end of July, you'll see the June list. In August, you'll see the July list. We are creating a separate waiver application in Acela so that those things can be separate. We're updating the filing requirements checklist, which is available on that website. We've created notice – sample notice letters, and then we've updated, at least at this point, just this one page of the development handbook, and we're working on some other updates to the development handbook as well. And then our next steps will be updating the relevant land subdivision regulations that kind of coexist with our zoning ordinance, and there's a list there. We also will continue to assist the other divisions in terms of their ministerial review of development plans and ensuring that they are using checklists and also for consistent review and also making sure they post their comments in Acela. And then we're looking at doing some updated fee schedules, first to accommodate waivers to collect a fee for that. Those have always been free, but I anticipate that with the changes, there's going to be a more detailed staff review or at least more effort because there will be more waivers than we've had in the past. I'm happy to answer any questions. Give me a wild guess of how much time this is going to save a developer to get his plan through. Two months. Two months? Because, you know, we need to know the answer to that question. That's my – I mean, we haven't started yet. I understand. I might be wrong. We can compare process lengths after. What's going to be interesting to me is to see if the plans that you get are detailed enough. I'm not talking about the zoning plan. I'm talking about the ones that ought to go straight on through. If they're detailed enough that we don't have to answer the question, well, this normally would be at the final development stage. Are we going to be able to address that at the preliminary development stage so that plan can go straight on through? And will the zoning attorneys and the applicants, how long is it going to take them to get up to speed? I'm not sure how long it will take them to get up to speed. I think they, you know, they want to make sure that they file the correct things so that they can get through the process more quickly. I do think they're eager to do that. I'm hopeful that they are because they've caused us a lot of work with the thing in Frankfurt. If they're not willing to participate on their end, they sure gunned up our process a lot. Well, they've asked a lot of questions. They participated in our TRC training discussion last month. There were four or five of the applicants you see a lot of here asking questions to ensure that they do understand. And we saw a lower application list this month as well. So we had, I think, 11 cases. Four of them are plats that you won't necessarily see anyway, so there's only six or seven cases that potentially could come to the commission. And before all this went down, how many would you have normally gotten? I would say we would have had more development plans. We probably had eight to ten. It's not a huge change, but I do think people are holding off to make sure that they understand the process before they are jumping back in. To see that much work put into it, I hope it has the results that they want. Thank you. Not only the process, but I think at the end of the process, the sign-off should be a shorter, and that's what we've heard, that it's not the three months that it takes to get through the planning commission process. It's after the planning commission process that it takes longer. So hopefully that will, yeah. Commissioner Owens. A couple of questions. Thank you. We've got a commission member that's watching that's not here today. Oh, yeah, Ms. Davis. She sent a question. I think it regards the one slide where it says TRC member must provide specific evidence for health, safety, and welfare. She's asking, is there a specific email for someone to be able to send public health, safety, and welfare concerns to? If it's something that the planning commission, or the division of planning needs to review, we have a generic email address, again, that gets checked by our administrative staff daily, hourly. Just the planning mailbox at lexingtonky.gov. If there's a concern about a particular topic, I would suggest someone reach out to that particular division, which is why our TRC list is available on the website. So if you have a question or a concern about traffic and it being a public health concern, I would encourage those people to reach out to the public to reach out to traffic engineering first to discuss their concern and allow that person to share that. So just as a follow-up, how can someone find a contact info for that specific person? So on the new site, if you go to lexingtonky.gov, the planning commission actually does have a webpage, and on that page there is a link that says new filing requirements, and that will take you to this page, application instructions and checklists. And the very first document you can click on is the technical committee membership. So that lists all of the divisions that we work with on tech committee, but it also lists the outside individuals like the utility companies, and they list two or three contacts. A lot of times Fayette County public schools, the national or natural resource conservation. I'm not sure what NRCS natural resource conservation. Okay. They have a reference too. Yeah. So those people are all listed their phone numbers and email addresses. On that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. One other question. I think in one of your plans, it kind of, or schematics, it kind of showed where if it goes to TRC and whatever has been requested, hasn't been done. It kind of circles back to TRC. Would that be on like cleanup conditions that doesn't get done? Would they, would that circle back? My sense is if the, if the division of planning has cleanup conditions that we would, we wouldn't, our double check is that we wouldn't sign the plan until those were corrected. The things that need to come back through will probably be related to other divisions. Hasn't that been part of the problem with the delay in the past, in the fact that we may approve something with conditions and it sets there for however long before they decide to finish up on their end. It's not often the cleanup conditions, like use the right site statistic table there. Those are easy things to correct. It's usually needs to be a discussion with a division about a particular requirement. Sometimes it's a stormwater requirement or a traffic engineering issue that needs further discussion between the designer and the division itself. So those are. Following on Mr. Owen's question about a member of the public reaching out, I would hope that if they did send an email to the planning mailbox that it would just be forwarded to the appropriate division, because I don't want to, when someone's trying to access government, trying to share a concern or a comment or whatever, maybe I don't want to put another barrier in front of them by saying, well, you need to go on our website. And then that's also assuming they know the correct division to contact when, when you don't do this every day or every week, like we do. It can be extremely confusing. And they remember the public could easily unintentionally send something to the wrong division and then it just gets ignored or deleted. That that's my concern is that if we do hear from somebody that it will be addressed regardless without putting another step on them necessarily. Okay. Yep. I do have a question. I'm a little concerned about if, if the posting is supposed to be a way for the community to provide comment or look at the plan or whatever, dumping them into a cell seems like, I mean, you know, you're putting them in the back end of something that they don't know. Suggestion and, you know, take it for what it's worth is to have it go to a website that has instructions for when you click here to go to see the plan, here are the things that you need to do. How do, how do I, how do I use, I need to set up an account. I need to record this number and then I need to click on this particular thing where I put the number in. You know, I think that would just be more, more user-friendly because the way the cell is not for just the general public. So just a suggestion. If someone were to go on our website and they wanted to look at is, is a cell of the portal for all everything. So it is truly the way the public can see plans and documents. Attached that. So it's just a cell. Yes. Okay. So it's, it's not just between staff and developers, but it is the vehicle in the face for the public. Yes. Okay. There is a, well, I would call it a plugin, but there is a map version of a cell that's available. It's called agency counter. Is that right? Okay. And it is something that the public can register for and get notified of for and get notices about so they can pick a particular geographic area, a zip code, a council district, a mile border around their own home to receive notice when applications are filed for planning cases, building inspection cases and so forth. And that can be a little bit more user-friendly, but that requires someone to register ahead of time. Whereas this sign is telling you there's a plan for this property today that you can review. Um, and we have had internal conversations about how do we make this easier? We've developed a, a seller video, right. That helps people to navigate it. And it is meant to be a teaching tool for, you know, the new user and it's on the division of planning's website. We can certainly ask if that can be put on the seller site, but again, that takes, it does take some time for someone to invest in watching it and how to, how to navigate it. Um, but yeah. With the seller, just one thing that I would mention is that when you go to it, it kind of drives you by design to, to try to create that user account, but it does work without one. It does. And, but that's not super intuitive. I know the first time I landed on there, I didn't like quite catch right away that you didn't actually have to have a user account. Um, I do wonder if. That code or link go to a web page where we do actually link somehow that by, that takes you into that non-user sort of page. If that makes sense. Um, that navigation, when you land there and it's sort of prompting you for the case number, And things like that, that is not that takes a minute to orient. And especially if you're on the side of a road on a cell phone, I don't know that. Like, that's the moment you're going to figure it out. So, I mean, some way of, even if you're not printed that QR code, we can get people in an easier way to their destination would be good. Members, we hear your concern and we'll take them to heart. Absolutely. Uh, but I do want to remind you. That just by simply posting a sign that says development is coming here is more information. Going forward than the public ever got in the past. So people are now getting notice. They're getting written notice that development is happening in their neighborhood. They're seeing a sign on a site next door to them. When prior to this, they didn't so they are just by that nature. They're getting more information already. And there is the phone number. If they're frustrated by the website, or they don't know how to use the computer. There's the phone number. So, and we won't turn them away. We're not going to say, well, you've got to log into this and that's it. Mr. Davis. I think that was a, you're right. Well, you know, if something comes to the planning mailbox and it's clearly a traffic engineering or water quality issue. We're not going to write it back and say, you need to do something else. We'll, we'll help facilitate that. And we'll be feeling our way through this. You know, this won't be a perfect thing starting next week. And, uh, and we'll have to feel our way through this. And the developers know that and the council, we have expressed that to the council. I think all will understand that. So we will, we would, we appreciate your feedback, your suggestions. And as you observe this, we want to continue to hear from you on that as well. Do we have anything else from his way? No, no, no, no. I think we're good. Okay. Speaking of next week's meeting, Mr. Duncan, how is our agenda looking? Why don't we ask Ms. Wade? Well, we do have a zone change scheduled. We have a. Daniel has a brief. You mean. Yes. next week's meeting Mr. Duncan, how is our agenda looking? Why don't we ask Ms. Wade? Well, we do have a zone change scheduled. We have, Daniel has a BOAR appeal also. And I think the initiation of the text amendment that also Mr. Crum spoke to you about, which should be on your agenda, those are the only three things I remember. I don't think we postponed anything to next week, so. And there's a stupid question, is there anything on next week's agenda affected by KRS 100.275? No. Nothing, okay. All righty, does anyone have anything else Mr. Duncan? Nothing? All righty, well thank you all without objection, we are adjourned. We've got to hold on to what we've got. It doesn't make a difference if we're making or not. We've got each other and that's a lot for love. We're giving it a shot. Oh, we're halfway there. Oh, living on a prayer. Take my hand, we'll make it, I swear. Oh, living on a prayer. Living on a prayer. Oh, we've got to hold on. Ready or not, you live on the fight when that's all that you've got. Oh, we're halfway there. Oh, living on a prayer. Take my hand and we'll make it, I swear. Oh, living on a prayer. Oh, we're halfway there. Oh, living on a prayer. Take my hand and we'll make it, I swear. Oh, living on a prayer. Oh, we're halfway there. Oh, living on a prayer. Have you heard about the lonesome loser? Beaten by the queen of hearts every time. Have you heard about the lonesome loser? He's a loser but he still keeps on trying. Sit down, take a look at yourself. Don't you want to be somebody? Someday somebody's gonna see him sigh. You have to face up, you can't run and hide. Have you heard about the lonesome loser? Have you heard about the lonesome loser? Beaten by the queen of hearts every time. Have you heard about the lonesome loser? He's a loser but he still keeps on trying. Unlucky in love, at least that's what they say. He lost his head and he gambled his heart away. There's nothing left, he staked his heart and lost. Now he has to pay the cost. Have you heard about the lonesome loser? Beaten by the queen of hearts every time. Have you heard about the lonesome loser? He's a loser but he still keeps on trying. It's okay, he smiles and sheds. Though this loneliness is driving him crazy. He don't know what goes on in his head. But if you watch very close, you'll see it all. Sit down and take a look at yourself. Don't you want to be somebody? Someday somebody's gonna see inside. You have to face up, you can't run and hide. Have you heard about the lonesome loser? He's a loser but he still keeps on trying. Have you heard about the lonesome loser? He's a loser but he still keeps on trying Have you heard about the lonesome loser? Have you heard about the lonesome loser? Have you heard about the lonesome loser? Now tell me, have you heard about the lonesome loser? Have you heard about the lonesome loser? Have you heard about the lonesome loser? I realize, the best part of love is the thinnest lies And I don't care for much, but I'm not letting go I believe there's so much to believe in So lift your eyes if you feel you can Reach for a star and I'll show you a plan I figured it out, what I needed was someone to show me You know you can't fool me I've been loving you too long It started so easy, you want to carry on But I'm still in love and I don't know much I wasn't thinking aloud and fell out of touch But I'm back on my feet and eager to be what you want So lift your eyes if you feel you can Reach for a star and I'll show you a plan I figured it out, what I needed was someone to show me You know you can't fool me I've been loving you too long It started so easy, you want to carry on But I'm still in love and I don't know much I wasn't thinking aloud and fell out of touch But I'm back on my feet and eager to be what you want So lift your eyes if you feel you can Reach for a star and I'll show you a plan I figured it out, what I needed was someone to show me You know you can't fool me I've been loving you too long It started so easy, you want to carry on But I'm still in love and I don't know much I wasn't thinking aloud and fell out of touch But I'm back on my feet and eager to be what you want Now I'm lost, lost in love Lost in love, lost in love Now I'm lost, I'm lost in love Lost in love Lost in love Love, love me do You know I love you I'll always be true So please Love me do Oh, love me do Love, love me do You know I love you I'll always be true So please Love me do Oh, love me do Someone to love Somebody new Someone to love Someone like you Love, love me do You know I love you I'll always be true So please Love me do Oh, love me do Love, love me do You know I love you I'll always be true So please Love me do Oh, love me do Yeah, love me do Oh, love me do Yeah, love me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Love me do Yeah, love me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Love me do Oh, love me do Love me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Want me do Want me do Want me do Want me do Want me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do Want me do Want me do Oh, love me do Oh, love me do gonna do Wanna do Gonna do Gonna do Gonna do Gonna do Gonna do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Got to do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do Gotta do On this edition of Lexington Now, plastic free July. You belong here and summer safe. music music I'm Neal Noah and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of July 14th, 2025. Lexington is encouraging folks to do their part for the environment with Plastic Free July. Here's how it works. Chrissy Balding, Environmental Initiative Specialist for the Sustainability Section, City of Lexington. My name is Holly Kasten, I'm also with the Sustainability Section as a Sustainability Intern. Sustainability in a nutshell is making sure that not only do we have enough resources to enjoy right now, but making sure that future generations do as well. Things like green space, water, food, clean air. It's very important. It's a conversation really that we can't put off. And we're just encouraging people to do what they can. Everyone can play a role. July is Plastic Free July, which is a global movement. It started in 2011 in Australia. And this is the first time Lexington is participating. Very simply, so just making swaps for any of those single-use plastics that you may have. Getting at stores, so your cups at coffee shops, your plastic bags at grocery stores when you're out shopping. We have a couple examples we'd be happy to show you. So when you're out and about, you're buying either a book or a shirt, instead of using one of the plastic bags they provide you, just bring your own reusable bag. It's quite simple. And also reduce your plastic use when you borrow a book from a friend. No packaging. You can bring your own container to get, this is great for iced coffee, which is perfect this time of year. So just bring your own container and a lot of times you'll get a discount for doing that. We know that the term Plastic Free July can be a little intimidating, but we're not asking you to go completely plastic free. There's a lot of plastic in our daily lives from pieces of our car that keep us safe. So just find either one thing to focus on or one area of your life. So some examples from the kitchen. This is what I take for my lunch. I bring my own silverware, so if I get takeout I don't have to get the plastic utensil. Instead of using a Ziploc baggie, I just put my snack in this little mason jar. And when you're shopping at the grocery store or the farmer's market, you can put produce in a bag like this. So those are really easy things to change, but they do add up. So in Lexington, the only types of plastic that are recyclable are bottles, jugs, and jars. So if you think about a container, it should be narrower on the top than it is the bottom. Some common items are what ketchup comes in, any condiments, what your shampoo might come in. But if you're describing it to someone else, if you would use the word bottle, jug, or jar, that is appropriate to recycle. We do ask that you make sure that it's completely empty and clean. It goes beyond the environment, starting with your health as well. So plastics can impact your bodily systems in many negative ways. So thinking about how sensitive your body is and then applying that to the systems within an ecosystem and nature all around us, all of our critters, all of our waterways, having plastic pollute those things can be really detrimental and cause a lot of negative impacts. So reducing your own use and finding these swaps, it's really amazing and helpful towards working towards a more sustainable environment. So microplastics are very, very fine materials that break down from larger plastics. They're usually hardly even visible, if they are at all. Essentially, their size allows them to infiltrate a lot of very small systems in our bodies. So think about your cells. Think about all the cells that make up an environment. Those things are really easy to infiltrate when the size of a particulate matter or plastic is that small. They are not good for your health. So some studies have shown that we swallow the equivalent of a credit card size of plastic every year, or ingest, I should say, through different mechanisms. So anything that you can do to reduce the amount of plastic in your life is good. I just want to mention that we hope that you take what you do during Plastic Free July and carry that forward. Part of the intent behind this campaign is to help people find really easy swaps that then become normalized for them. Sometimes it's really helpful to focus on different locations. So you could go with your work events. You could start at home, like your bathroom or your kitchen, or even at your favorite stores. Any place where you're using plastic. Think about the flower carrier that you use to catch the water. Those small things that you will eventually just throw away in landfill. Those things can be swapped out for something more sustainable and reusable. So if you would like to participate in Plastic Free July, post on Facebook or Instagram and tag LiveGreenLex. Or you can email us at sustainability at lexingtonky.gov and send us a picture, a video, or just a testimonial of what you're trying for the month. They can go to our webpage. It's lexingtonky.gov slash sustainability and they can sign up for our monthly email newsletter. Kentucky's film and television industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Mayor Gorton joined Steve Zahn and others to recognize this and a new project celebrating Kentucky cuisine. You Belong Here, an eight-part docu-series hosted and executive produced by Weta Michael, produced by Steve Zahn, and directed by Rick Gomez, was recently featured at both Tribeca X in New York City and the ATX TV Festival in Austin. You Belong Here tells Kentucky's story through food and relationships, an approach that reflects Weta's blend of culinary mastery and community spirit. I'm Weta Michael. And I'm Steve. And together we are Steeda. Good joke. Landed. Well, can I start? Yes, you start. So we picked up a camera and we started following Weta over a year ago. And it was amazing. And we met so many great people in this state, all over, very talented. And we went to farms and cities and small towns and haulers. And Main Streets, little Main Streets all across the state. And through David Morrison's lens, Rick Gomez, my partner, the director, his brain, and Coby Toland's editing, your story flourished. But we realized it's our story. It's Kentucky. It's flyover country where amazing things are happening, right? Yes. And I can't say, there's a lot of things I can't say because I don't know. This is a marathon when you're involved with something like this. It's a marathon and we're at mile 18? Yeah, it took a year. It took more than a year to shoot because we wanted to show every season in Kentucky. That's one of the things we're blessed with here and the incredible landscape that we have. It shines at every moment. And our cities shine throughout the year. And sometimes we get a little tired of the winter and the rain and the stuff we've been through this year weather-wise. But it was important to us to show the passage of time. And instead of staging a show in one place, each time you're in the same place, we wanted to show the scope of Kentucky. We still have a lot to show. Yeah, we do. We still have a lot to shoot. There's actually nine episodes. Yeah, there's nine episodes. We added one. I think one of the things, too, that we in Kentucky don't always think about ourselves is how special we really are and how special the people in Kentucky are and that you can be your authentic self. I think I have to be the biggest antihero of all time if this ever gets aired in terms of who I am and who the media world is. And my role and my goal is just to show that to other women and other people. Whereas you belong here is a joyous celebration of Kentucky's rich culture and people. And whereas chef, host, and executive producer Weta Michael guides viewers through the power of food to bring people together. And whereas the docuseries is brought to life through the talents of producer Steve Zahn, right here, director Rick Gomez, and the Macaroni Art Productions team. And whereas viewers are taken on a heartfelt journey across Kentucky, experiencing food, memory, and belonging and whereas You Belong Here was presented as an official selection at both TribecaX and the ATX Television Festival. And whereas we congratulate the entire team and supporters of You Belong Here for sharing the culture, the joy, the stories of Kentucky, its people and food with audiences around the world. Now, therefore, I, Linda Gorton, Mayor of Lexington, do hereby declare June 30th, 2025, You Belong Here Day in Lexington. Congratulations to all of you. Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to give it to the two of you. Hot weather safety after this. Hot weather safety after this. Welcome back to Lexington Now. Hot weather has descended on central Kentucky. Here's how to stay safe during the dog days. When it comes to being outside in the summer heat, it's important to take breaks, stay in the shade as much as possible, and really work on staying hydrated. Drinking lots of water or beverages that don't have caffeine or lots of sugar. Caffeine dehydrates you. As much tasty it is, and we get our sugar, and we're all jived up, it is actually dehydrating. So if you're having, you know, a Dr. Pepper, bounce it out with water. Your normal intake, maybe try to double that. Just imagine, whenever you're sweating out, you need to replenish. It's important to wear light, loose clothing in a lighter color to prevent yourself from overheating. So dark colors, heavy fabrics, trap the heat. It will not help. But if you're outside, you have a loose shirt on, it's a light color. It will help the air move around you freely and breathe and help you enjoy the summer longer. When you're exposed, when you're outside in the sun for long periods of time, you want to make sure you have sunscreen. They recommend you start SPF 30, SPF 45, but that all depends on your skin condition. But that all depends on your skin tone and how easily you burn and how long you'll be exposed. You want to keep in mind that the UV is highest between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and so you want to make sure you're protected, especially during those hours. When you have, you're taking your pet for a walk in the summer, you've got to monitor the temperature of the asphalt. Put your back of your hand on the asphalt for about five to seven seconds, and if it hurts you, it's going to hurt them. Their paw pads are extremely sensitive, so when they touch the asphalt, it will actually burn and, like, peel off. I mean, it's just like you burning the bottom of your foot walking on asphalt in July. It's not fair. But they can also exhibit signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion and overheat. Similar, you can't see their skin and see that it's hot and red, but you can tell when they're overheating, excessive panting, they can't cool down. So it's important to keep them inside during those hot times, offer them lots of water, and make sure they have a chance to rest and recuperate. For heat-related illnesses, there are three types. There's heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. So heat cramps are characterized by heavy sweating during intense physical activity, and then obviously muscle cramps or spasms. So you're out playing soccer, it's 90 degrees, all of a sudden you go down, your leg's cramping. That would be heat cramp. You would stop the physical exercise and start rehydrating, give yourself time to rest. Move to a cool location or at least in the shade to allow your body to cool down. So heat exhaustion is a much more serious type of heat illness. In this case, you see heavy sweating. Weakness, your skin gets cold and pale and clammy, which seems like the opposite of a heat illness, but it is a dangerous sign. Of course, you can see fainting and vomiting as well. When you see someone with signs of heat exhaustion, it's important to slowly start reintroducing liquids to them, and you also want to try to cool the person down. You can use cool cloths, areas of heat release. That could be like your armpits, the inside of your legs, your wrists. Signs of heat stroke include someone whose skin is hot, dry, and red, as well as a temperature of over 103 degrees, a fast pulse, headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion, and sometimes loss of consciousness. If you see someone with any of these signs outside, it's important to get them to medical attention right away. You want to loosen their clothing, try to cool them down, but be careful not to force too much water into them because they may throw it right back up and it's not going to do anybody any favors. You can still enjoy your summer. It's just a matter about being safe when you do it. So if you're outside between 10 and 2, the point where it's the hottest of the day, take lots of breaks, go into the shade to cool down, and monitor your activity. You see yourself start to overheat, that's time to take a break. By no means do you have to stop enjoying summer. Just do it carefully. For more information about heat safety, you can visit BeReadyLexington.com or follow us on any social media pages, including Facebook, X, which is Twitter, or Instagram. We mentioned pets in the previous segment, but here is a more deep dive into keeping them safe in summer heat. As the temperature continues to rise, many people are doing more and more outside activities. And like a lot of us, we like to spend our outdoor time with our pet. But we, as humans, take all kinds of precautions. Hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, a bottle of water. We sometimes forget about our four-legged friends like Max here, who are wearing a fur coat 24-7. To get some tips on how to help your pet beat the heat, I stopped by the Shea Bell Veterinary Hospital for some advice. The time that we see the most heat strokes is now. And so you would think June, July, August. But when dogs are acclimated to the weather and the weather changes, that's when we start seeing heat strokes. So April, May, I typically see more than the hottest months, which is kind of surprising. And so make sure fresh water is available. Don't keep them out, you know, if it's over 70 or 80. Good exposure. If you have a very active dog, kind of limit their activity in the heat of the day. Brachycephalic dogs, so dogs with squished nose, Bostons, Pugs, Boxers, they don't handle the heat well. And so I wouldn't take them to the dog park or running or any outdoor activity, you know, from 10 in the morning until 5 at night on hot days because they just can't tolerate the heat. You know, in the heat of the day, keeping them on the grass is better than the hot concrete. Some dogs shouldn't be walked in the heat of the day just because it burns their pads. And so definitely stay off the black asphalt. Sometimes concrete is not terribly as hot as black because it doesn't attract the heat. But grass is going to be better for sure. The big thing to watch for is excessive panting is kind of a first sign. So if they can't get comfortable and they're trying to lay down and kicking their feet out and panting a whole lot, they're restless because they're getting overheated. A lot of times their gums will be really pink and injected, and more so than normal. Extreme cases, you'll start seeing vomiting, diarrhea. A lot of times they can have blood passing their stool. End stages or convulsions can even cause death. And so if you start noticing that, you need to cool your dog off pretty fast and get them to the vet. And if your pet's like Joey here, who likes to take long summer drives with his head out the window, you've got to make a plan to make sure your pet spends no time in an unattended hot car. The hot weather becomes a crucial time for animal welfare. What you want to make sure you always have handy is extra water for your dogs and cats. If you keep your dogs and cats outside, you want to definitely have an area constructed where they have adequate shade. And it's essential in this time of season not to leave your dogs or cats locked in hot vehicles. A lot of people just want to spend as much time with their beloved pets as possible, so they want to take them on errands with them, which we totally understand. But sometimes you do need to leave your pets at home or with trusted friends and family because they can overheat really quickly in vehicles. And it is something that we do respond to. So we can potentially go out if your dog is in your car unattended. If you absolutely have to take your dog or cat with you in the car, make sure you have visible food and water present for them. It's not uncommon for us to do a temperature reading inside of a car and it to be above 100 degrees. So it can be extremely hot in there. That's why animals can get in distress a lot hotter. And especially a lot of small breeds that have more breathing issues can get hotter and in distress a lot quicker. So it is something we see very common. So it is important to just leave your pets at home if you can, but if not, always have that food and water available. Every call that we respond to is situational. We do respond to every single complaint that we get, anything animal related, but especially when it's animal welfare concerns. And it just depends on a lot of different factors, how much history we have with that particular person, what condition their animal is, how bad of distress they're in. If it's something that can be fixed through education, we always want to do that. But if it's something that's beyond the point of education, then we do have every right on a cruelty case to issue a charge and seize the animal if we have to do that. But we prefer to work with the public and educate them to try to make sure that if it's a pet that they love, that they keep it home but in compliance. We rely 100% on the community to call us and tell us whenever they see an animal in distress, in danger, trapped, or possibly being abused. So please call us at 859-255-9033. That's where you'll get to our dispatcher. And we do have an animal control officer working 24-7. You can always visit our website for information, which is www.lfacc.org or go on our Facebook page. But those are not for emergencies. If you have an emergency with an animal in distress, you should always call us. There's live coverage on LexTV and streaming online coming your way this week. And remember, you can also find the most up-to-date information on non-televised city business at LexingtonKY.gov. Here's this week's Meeting Cup. 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 LexRex, or catch our live traffic cams on LexingtonKY.gov. For all of us at LexTV, I'm Neal Noah, and that's it for now. [♪ music playing ♪ 611 repair service, she said, hello, may I help you please? I told her something must be wrong with my phone, cause my baby wouldn't hang up on me. Mr. Telephone Man, there's something wrong with my line. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Mr. Telephone Man, there's something wrong with my line. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. She let the phone ring 20 times before she answered. Let me tell you what happened then. A minute later, I got the operator saying, please hang up and please should call again. Baby, Mr. Telephone Man, there's something wrong with my line. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Mr. Telephone Man, there's something wrong with my line. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Some strange man is on the telephone. Keeps telling me my baby ain't got you. She ain't got no phone in line. The situation's blowing my mind. Oh, I just can't take this anymore. Please operator, see what you can do. I dialed the right number, but I still couldn't get through. Would you just check the line just one more time if you can? I'm pretty sure my phone really is about an old man. Mr. Telephone Man, there's something wrong with my line. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Mr. Telephone Man, there's something wrong with my line. When I dial my baby's number, I get a click every time. Must be a bad connection. I need more love and affection. Oh, I just can't take this anymore. This situation's blowing my mind. Oh, I can't get my baby on the line. Blackjack got information. Mr. Telephone Man. I can't get no cooperation. Mr. Telephone Man. System on the phone. Telling me my baby ain't at home. Come on, baby. I just can't take it anymore. Come on, help me out. Please, Mr. Telephone Man. Come on, help me out. Please, Mr. Telephone Man. De-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. De-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de. And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson. Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa-whoa-whoa. God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson. Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey-hey-hey. Hey-hey-hey. We'd like to know a little bit about your four eyes. We'd like to help you learn to help yourself. Look around you while you see our sympathetic eyes. Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home. And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson. Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa-whoa-whoa. God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson. Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey-hey-hey. Hey-hey-hey. Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes. Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes. It's a little secret, just for Robinson's affair. Most of all, you've got to hide it from the kids. This is Robinson. Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa-whoa-whoa. God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson. Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey-hey-hey. Hey-hey-hey. Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon. Going to the candidates' debate. Laugh about it, shout about it, when you've got to choose. Every way you look at it, it's yours. Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Whoa-whoa-whoa. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Joe DiMaggio has left and gone away. Hey-hey-hey. Hey-hey-hey. Hey-hey-hey. ♪♪ ♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh. ♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh. ♪ We used to be real close. ♪ Said he couldn't go on the American way. ♪ Closed the shop, sold the house, ♪ Bought a ticket to the West Coast. ♪ Now he gives them a stand-up routine in L.A. ♪ I don't need you to worry for me, ♪ Cause I'm all right. ♪ I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home. ♪ I don't care what you say anymore, ♪ This is my life. ♪ Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone. ♪ Never said you had to offer me a second chance. ♪ I never said I was a victim of circumstance. ♪ I still belong. ♪ Don't get me wrong. ♪ You can speak your mind, but not on my time. ♪ They will tell you you can't sleep alone in a strange place. ♪ Then they'll tell you you can't sleep with somebody else. ♪ But sooner or later you'll sleep in your own space. ♪ Either way. ♪ Hey, it's Vaja Nicole with another episode of Your Lex PD. So this next episode is going to be near and dear to you. It is. We're going back to early beginnings of my career, and we're going to talk about the Explorer Post 357 program that we started back in 1999 for young people that have an interest in law enforcement. And now that I've transitioned to another role, a couple of my former explorers and their officers on the police department have taken over the program. So we are at West Rock Hall, and let's go talk to them. All right, let's go. So LPD Explorer Post 357 started in 1999? 1999. So, you know, the way it came about, I had been at a training conference, and I had the opportunity to actually speak with some other agencies around the country, and we were talking about different types of crime prevention programming and things that they were doing. And the Explorer Program came up. So when I came back, I spoke with Assistant Chief Ulysses Berry, which was the Assistant Chief over Community Services at the time, and I said, Do we have an Explorer Post? And he said, Well, we do now. So we had attempted, the police department had attempted a couple of times before, but it never really happened. So we talked about it. We formulated everything through Scouting America, and we had an opening night where we invited parents and some of the youth in to talk about the program, and that's where it all began. And it's hard to believe 25 years ago, 1999, but we're still here. Didn't you start it? Yeah, yeah. So something has changed. Congratulations are in order. If you notice, Baj has chevrons on his sleeve. So congratulations, Sergeant. Thank you very much. I'm very blessed. So who took over? Who did you take over the reins? Well, it makes me very happy because I had two former explorers that had become Lexington police officers, and actually we've had several, but these two started when they were both very young, worked their way through the Explorer program, came on the police department, and now I'm turning the program over after 25 years to these two former explorers. Absolutely fantastic. Couldn't make me any happier. Well, awesome. Well, let's go talk to them about it. All right. Sounds good. We are here with Officer Hobson and Officer Meredith with Explorer Post 357 with Community Services Section. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you for having us. Absolute pleasure. It's absolutely great to have them because, as I said earlier, both of these guys were explorers, and so in their youth they trained with us and were very involved with the Explorer program, made it through, became Lexington police officers, and now they're taking over this program after 25 years. So I'm excited about it. Tell us a little bit about the program. So we have a group of kids between the ages of 14 and 21 that are interested in law enforcement. It's a pre-academy program that we designed. And it's very structured, very similar to going through the academy, a lot of the same curriculum and so forth. So what all do you do? I like to start off when new individuals come into the program just to kind of give them a brief explanation that we do a lot of academy-adjacent training. So a lot of the same classroom opportunities that you get in the academy, we kind of give an intro training to here at the program. So either one of you can answer this. What are the eligibility requirements to be in the Explorer program? Sure, so obviously you have to be between the age of 14 and 21. You have to at least have a 2.0 grade average. You have to have completed middle school, so you have to be actively in high school. Okay, so they have to be enrolled somewhere. Yes. Do they have to be a Lexington or Fayette County resident, or can it just be anywhere? They do not. Anybody in the state, if you're willing to come hang out with us, you're welcome. We've had kids from all over the state. I think the furthest in recent past, we've had a couple brothers that came from Jackson County. So what would you tell someone that's interested in the Explorer program to be a future Explorer? The Explorer program is a great place to find your community if law enforcement is really what you're wanting to focus on in a career. A lot of individuals who are growing up in high school, they don't have an outlet to be able to go to to kind of focus all of their goals into something. Here is a good place for that because you're with other kids that are around your same age or a little bit older to have some sort of mentorship and fellowship with. And then on top of that, again, you're honing in your skills to do what you want to do when you grow up. So how often do the Explorers meet? Yes, so we meet every Thursday night from 6 to 9 here at West Rocall. We meet 365 days a year. The only time that we usually take off is to try to keep around the Fayette County public school schedule. So if they implement weather or holidays, even some of the holidays we kind of get together and just kind of hang out. So yeah, but every Thursday night from 6 to 9. And you also do different types of community service events outside of training, correct? Yeah, we do. Some of our big events is that we work the UK football games. We do traffic control for them. We recently had a new event coming up that we're going to be doing some bike patrols. We're pretty excited about that. So yeah, we do a lot of different community events. So with both of you all being officers now, let's go back a few days. How did this help? Did it help you become officers? Did it help you get on the police department? Because I know one of the reasons when we first started this program, young people really did not have a career path towards law enforcement. That was pre-criminal justice classes in a lot of the high schools and things like that. And so young people really didn't have a way to find out about law enforcement. They do more so now, but was this a good path to get where you are now? I would absolutely agree that this is the place to be if your goal as a young person is to eventually be in law enforcement. This program gives you the opportunity to see the inner workings of how our department runs and how it works. You go through every section in the department, you get a good in-depth understanding of what individuals in those units do on a daily basis. It's also a great networking opportunity. You get to meet a lot of officers all the way from training academy staff and recruits all the way up to the chief. Nice. Very good. What about you, Hobbs? For me, it's been a fantastic road. I remember when I was 14, I was working at a dry cleaners and I had Officer J.D. Retired and Officer J.D. Washington come in. He was real nice looking. He had all his uniform nice and crisp. I said, hey, I want to be like you one day. That's when he introduced me to you. Ever since then, it's just been amazing for me. It's taught me a lot, not just how to be a police officer, but it taught me how to interview. It taught me how to just be a citizen in general of how to do my work. It's been a great path for me as well. Then there's a lot of other components, too, as far as physical fitness. I know we all still do. I know we used to do the POPS training, which is the Police Officer Standards Training for Kentucky, a couple times a year to kind of let the kids gauge where they are and know because that's such a big component as far as getting hired too, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so we still do it twice a year. Sometimes we try to slide in three times a year, depending on the weather. But ultimately, we just try to get them ready for the next level just because we know how tough the academy is and we know that anywhere you go is kind of the same standard. So once we go through that POPS, we say, hey, this is pretty much what you're going to be doing. So if you can't do it now, it's time to start training now. That way you have enough time when the academy comes that you'll be ready. Wayne, you don't have to be or want to be a police officer in order to do this because I know we've had folks that have gone to the military, just all different types of careers. But this was just a really good experience for them, a very structured setting, disciplinary setting, that was very beneficial, I think, for that age, whether they have a career path towards law enforcement or not. Would you agree? We're definitely a program that's very constructive in building your skills to have a career just in general. We've had Explorers go to be teachers, to be EMT. Again, to the military. You get a lot of opportunities to deal with military recruiters in our program through other recruiting events that we do. It's just a good baseline stepping stone for young adults to gain the ability to have a better chance at success. Nicole, can you imagine when you started the academy, if you had already known how to spit shine your shoes, if you had already known a lot of the criminal law, the Kentucky Revised Statutes, you'd known some of the departmental policies, it's a pretty big heads up. Yeah, that would have helped a lot. And it's not all work. We do a lot of recreational things. I know we compete every year in the national competition, largest Explorer competition in the world, usually about 3,000 Explorers at this thing. And I will say that very proud of Lexington's Explorer program, have always fared very well in that first, second, third place in so many different events, competing against agencies all over the United States. So there are a lot of things other than just career path working. As you mentioned fellowship, there is a lot of outlet there as well. Absolutely. Yeah, so I'm glad you brought up Winterfest. We actually just went to Winterfest in Gatlinburg this past year. They had a good time. They worked really hard. They got to see just how other posts operate, some of their uniforms, and see that it's not just us. We actually got to meet a few other posts here in Kentucky that we didn't know about. So we got pretty excited about that and so had the opportunity to get a link up with them and do some things. But we go for five days or four days, and they get an opportunity to kind of stay around each other for more than three hours so they can understand. Some people have brothers and sisters. Now you have an opportunity to stay with somebody that you don't know. So they get closer when they go to this competition as well too. So it's fun to have an opportunity to really see their work actually be done and what it looks like when it comes together. I always look forward to February going to Gatlinburg every year for the competition. It was a lot of fun for the youth, and it was a lot of fun for the officers as well. So I think that you two standing here today as Lexington police officers, it's definitely a testament to the fact that this program works, that people that have a commitment, want to be a police officer, this is a positive, positive direction to go in. So we encourage anybody out there that's interested in law enforcement, has a child interested, grandchild, whatever, reach out to us and let's talk about your tomorrow, which starts today with your Tomorrow Post 357. And I always kid you, Officer Hobson, because he's wanted my job for a long time, and probably since he was 14. And now, not only have you taken over the Explorer program, but you actually took over my crime prevention spot in community services. So very proud of you for that, proud of both of you. So, and I know you mentioned at 14 you met an officer and he introduced you. But for those that maybe doesn't come across an officer and they're interested in the Explorer program, how do they get in contact with you all? Well, so first of all, nowadays, now we've been going to a lot of the high schools, doing a lot of career events at the high school. I just did a few this week. It just gives us the opportunity to get face-to-face contact with them, to say, hey, this is what our program is, and this is how we operate. I showed some pictures, I showed a video, and it just gets them excited about it. So that's the number one thing that we are trying to work on is just more getting out there. That way people know more about us. Obviously, social media is a big thing nowadays, so we try to be on there as much as possible with pictures and videos. That way they can gauge it that way as well too. So you can look at the screen right now. We've got the website, QR code. You can actually go to that website and get information about the program itself and also get information on how to join, right? Absolutely. Well, thank you, Officer Hobson and Officer Meredith, for joining us today. Thank you all for having me. Thank you very much. It was really nice talking to Officer Hobson and Meredith about the Explorer Program because I didn't really know that much about it. I'm so proud of them. They're doing a great job. Couldn't ask for a better situation than them coming into that role. So, outstanding. So next month, where are we going? We're going to the doghouse. So we get to talk to our four-legged friends. Yeah, looking forward to that. The canine unit. And everybody's always excited about seeing the canine unit, the officers, and the dogs, right? So we've got patrol dogs, we've got narcotic dogs, and we've got bond dogs. So we're going to focus on them next week, go out and visit them at the kennel and see them do some of their training and some of their work. So I'm excited about that. I am too. So join us next month for another episode of Your Lex PD. [♪upbeat music♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ No matter what you are, I will always be with you ♪ ♪ Doesn't matter what you do, girl, who'll go with you? ♪ ♪ No matter what you do, I will always be around ♪ ♪ Won't you tell me what you want, girl? Who's out for you? ♪ ♪ Knock down the old gray wall, be a part of it all ♪ ♪ Nothing to say, nothing to see, nothing to do ♪ ♪ If you would give me all, as I would give it to you ♪ ♪ Nothing would be, nothing would be, nothing would be ♪ ♪ No matter where you go, there will always be a place ♪ ♪ Can't you see it in my face, girl? Who else wants you? ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Knock down the old gray wall, be a part of it all ♪ ♪ Nothing to say, nothing to see, nothing to do ♪ ♪ If you would give me all, as I would give it to you ♪ ♪ Nothing would be, nothing would be, nothing would be ♪ ♪ No matter what you are, I will always be with you ♪ ♪ Doesn't matter what you do, girl, I'm here with you ♪ ♪ Ooh, girl, ooh, you, girl, want you ♪ ♪ Ooh, girl, ooh, you, girl, want you ♪ ♪♪ Hello, my name is Diane. I'm here today from the Lexington Senior Center. I'm going to lead you through a 50-minute exercise class. This class is called Get Up and Go, and one of the things I love most about this class is it does give you the option to do some exercises seated as well as standing. Now, most of the class in the beginning, I will be leading you through some standing exercises, a little bit of cardio. We're going to walk back and forth, side to side. But if that doesn't suit you, you can follow me for the entire class seated. I'm going to use a little bit of equipment today. Today, I'm going to use this ball. If you don't have a ball at home, you have a lot of different options. One would be a pillow, maybe, you know, something right there off of your couch, something like that. Weights, if you don't have any weights, you can always go to your pantry, grab a couple of soup cans, or just follow me without either one of these things. This, you might not have. This is an exercise band, and it's going to offer you some resistance training. And again, if you don't have it, you can follow me perfectly, just kind of creating your own resistance. All right? So with no further ado, I'm going to turn on some music, and we are going to get started. First thing I want you to do is stand up nice and tall, big, deep breath. Exhale, up again, and down. All right, let's march. Warm up your body. All right, let's take those feet out wide and back in, back out, and back in. That's all it is to it, just move. All right, this time we're going to go out, and I'm going to plant the feet down on the floor. I'm just going to do a little light stretching. Now, when you go into this stretch, ideally, you're not pushing your weight into the back of your knee. You just want to keep that weight right here. Tummy tight, nice and easy. Let's do four, three, two. Now, just hold. Now, this is where you're going to get that great stretch. Release that arm, big stretch. Good, let's bring it on back down, and rock side to side again. All right, we're always going to do the same thing on both sides, so get ready, and hold over here. Good, now let's release that arm. Oh, big stretch. Good, bring it down, and now we're going to stretch out our back. I want you to remember this stretch. It's called a cat-cow. Round up like an angry cat, and then just flatten out, and then round up again, and flatten. All right, let's do one more. Big, big, big angry cat. All the way up, shoulders up, back, and down. Take you right back to where you started. Nice and easy, a little march. Feet out wide again, and back in, and back out. This time, wide, wide, little toe tap. Little toe tap, side to side. Now, there is a purpose behind this, trying to get you to stretch out the top of your foot, but be aware and exaggerate that. Toe, toe, toe. All right, let's change it to heel. Close up that heel. Let's add some bicep curls to that. There you go. We're going to do this four more times. One, two, three, and down. All right, I'm going to bring you right back here, and one more deep breath up, and exhale. Good. Okay, come on back to that march. This time, I'm going to bring you up and back. Walk four times. One, two, three, four, and back, and up. That's all it is. One, two, three, four, five. Just walk, walk, walk, touch, walk, walk, walk, touch. One more time, and stay in your place. Good. Going to take you back out like this. We did this in our warm-up, side-to-side tap. Heels, close up feet. You have heels going on, and move up four, three, two. Now, move back with your heel. Now, travel up with your heel, but let's add some arms, and go back. One, two, three, and travel up. Looking good. Move on back. Stay in your place with those heels and curls. Four, and three, and two, and march. Right back here. This one will be a little different. Walk up four, go. A little different on this one because on four, I want you to add your knee up, so it looks like this. One, two, three, up. Sometimes when I'm teaching class, I like to say you're playing basketball. Dribble, dribble, dribble, shoot. That's it. You got big arms, big legs going on. Heart rate's getting up. Remember, that's the purpose. That's the purpose of our cardio set here. We want the heart rate to increase and all the good things happening with that. One more time. All right, guys. Stay in your place. Just knees. Remember, at any time throughout this workout, you should have your chair handy or something, and if you want to, look right here. Easy hold on. All right. Stay with that knee, but change it to a kick as soon as you're ready, and we'll take you right back to where we started, heels. Right there. Yes. Travel. Return. March. Walk up four. All right. Let's add that knee. Play a little b-ball here if you want to. Dribble, dribble, shoot. Up. Yes. One more like that. Just knees. Just knees. Four, three. Change it to kicks. Four. Take you back to your heels. All right. New move. This is called a step touch. You're moving laterally. Just get the feel of it. It's a nice, kind of a natural move. Let's add a few arms here, and I want you to move up, and then go back. Now, I want you to think about these arms like a figure eight. Back. Looking good. Let's travel up for your final set. Return and stay in your place. Step touch. Now, grapevine. It looks like this. Call it a grapevine. However, if you want to think about it in a different way, think of it as two step touches. That's all it is. One, two. We're going for three. Now, single step touches. This is what you started with. Yeah, right here. Good. New move. You're going to pull that heel back behind you. If this is your first time really bending that knee today, the first couple you're going to feel, try to get a little deeper each time. All right, let's move up with this. One, two, three. Move back, step touch. Move up, hamstring curl. I call it a hamstring curl. I forgot to tell you that part. Step touch. Let's go up, hamstring curl. Go now. Step touch back. Yes. All right, here we go. Big step touch. Get ready. Grapevine, go. You got it. Remember, you can break that down to two step touches or any time, any time you're feeling a little confused, all you have to do is march. We'll get you right back to where you need to be. All right, I'm going to add a hamstring curl onto this. One, two, three, curl. So you're pulling that heel up again behind you. Four, three. All right, single hamstrings again. This time, let's go into windmill. Reach back and tap that heel. Good. Big bend in the knee, big lift with the arm. For four. And let's step touch again. Two more times and march. Good. Let's take a big, deep breath. Exhale. If you're starting to feel a little breathless, that's good. That's what we're working towards. We're working towards a nice, steady buildup. I want you to march and take it from the very top. Walk four. Two, three, five, two, three, four. That's all it is. This time a little different. We're going to end this little move with a kick. So walk, walk, walk, kick. Looking good. All right, with arms. Let's do a little punching bag. Punch. One, two, three. Punch, kick. Punch, kick. Walk, walk, walk, punch, kick. One more time. In your place, just punch and kick. Go. Looking good. Let's travel forward like this. And return. If you're running out of space where you are, stay in place. Move up. And move back. All right, going right back to that heel kick. Woo! Yeah. Now how about a step touch? Okay, now from here, we're going into a speed skate. Very similar to a step touch, but you're down a little bit. One leg's going back. Got those arms moving, guys. Just like you see in the Olympics when you see the speed skating, so much of the momentum is created with the upper body. Now I'm going to take you directly back. So this is called a back lunge. Your moving leg goes behind your supporting leg. Let's go. It doesn't have to be perfect. All I'm asking you to do is move. I want you to feel secure and safe in the movement. Try not to stop. Going to continue with your back lunge. Four, three, back to your march. Yes, good job, guys. Push down. Push down. Basketball. Woo! That's it. One, two, three, big. We have one more. Knees in place. All right, now, see these knees are coming right up to that chest? We're going to change that and take it straight out. Whoa, that's a big difference. Big difference. So let's punch down as we do that high knee. Woo, yeah. Let's take one arm in, one out. Right there, right there, right there. Hang with me, guys. Bring it right back to the chest. Woo! Let's march. Let's all march. Roll your shoulders up, back, and down. Keep moving. Roll your shoulders back, up, and forward. Big, deep breath. And exhale. Feet out wide. Toe tap. Now, don't get too excited. We're not finished yet. What we're going to do is keep you moving. Can you get a little lower? Can you get a little lower? Can you add some arms? Of course, of course, of course. How about an uppercut? Big, big, big move. Yes. We have four, three, two. Now relax your arms a bit. Take it back to step touch. Works perfectly. Grapevine, go now. Continue with grapevine. Remember that high knee? Let's add one. Right there. Right there. Right there. One more. Now repeat your high knee. So I haven't really shown you that yet. But all that means is lifting without any stopping. Cool. Now bring this repeater knee to chest. Oh, yeah. Now go back one. I just showed you that. And march. Good job. Step out, out, go. All right, listen. Now here's your change. Change with your other leg. So it's out, out, in, in, creating a V. March. Walk four. Make sure you're taking deep breaths. Sometimes when the going gets tough, we tend to hold our breath. Last thing we need to do. Make sure you're breathing. All right, let's add the kick with that punchy bag again. You ready? Bam. You got it? Come on now. Give me a couple more good ones in place, just kick and punch. Heel dig. Step touch. Oh, yeah. You've been down here before. Honey. Right there. Right there. You know what's coming. Repeat it. Oh, yeah. Two, three, bring it to the chest. And back lunge. Back lunge. And march. All right. Feet out wide. Take a deep breath. Exhale. Beautiful job so far. Let's take a quick seat. If you have some water, great time to have some water. Make sure that the equipment that you have is stored in a way that you won't trip on it. When you stand back up. All right. So this is my band. Again, if you don't have one at home, just follow me without anything. But this tool is for resistance. So you gain strength and flexibility by using resistance. So I'm going to have you hold it. Sit up real tall in the chair before we do anything at all. Sit up tall. Pull your tummy in. Shoulders back. And just pull. Looks easy, right? Give me about four or five more seconds. And you'll be going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Up. Chest. Up overhead. And chest. Go. All right. Out and down. So where am I aiming this? Pretty safe to say wherever you are. If you look at where the ceiling and wall meets. That's kind of what you're eyeballing. So you're at an angle. And the purpose is. Let me have one more here. Hold it. At an angle and squeeze your shoulder blades. So I'm going to turn here and finish our last set. Eight. Pull. Seven. Pull. Six. Pull. Five. Four. Three. Two. All right, here's a break. Here's a break. Good job, guys. March. Nice and easy. Nice and easy. Let's do it again. Go. Pull, pull, pull. Chest level. All right, let's go back to that angled pull. Pull down. Pull down. Feel those shoulder blades doing the work. Four more here. Good job. And break. March. Just stay seated and march. That's just going to keep your heart rate up. Give your arms and chest a little break here. Looking good. All right, relax a bit. And let's bring that band back. Now, again, if you don't have a band, no big deal. You can follow me. Let's pull that tummy in, sit up tall, and do a few little punches out. Out. Punch out. Out. Out. Continue. Come on. Stay with it. Punch it. Final eight. Go. One, two, three. Seven and eight. Yes. All right. Good job. Put the band down. We're getting ready for a little bit more standing work. But before we stand up, lace up your fingers. Turn inside out. We need a nice stretch. All the way up. And unlace. Okay. In my classes, I like to have people be aware of how they stand up. So cross your arms and stand up. All right. Looks easy, right? But you wouldn't believe how much we hold on to things or use a ton of momentum to stand up. So practice. Next time you're standing and sitting, are you holding on to anything? Hopefully not. All right. Let's march a little bit. Now, I don't know how much room you have where you are. And actually, I'm going to step back a little bit here. Because what I'm going to do is have you walk up eight times. Go. One, two, five, six, seven, eight. Five, six, seven, eight. Five, six, seven, eight. Stay in your place. Wide feet, toes. You all know this. This is what we did our first minute we met each other. A little bit different on this one. Let's lift that leg all the way up. Let's add some arms. Big, low, big, low. This is called a slow motion jumping jack. Big, down. All right. Let's put those arms down. Go back to toe taps and step touch. Let's call this a stand sit. Get ready, guys. Double stand sit. Go now. One, two. Woo. Double. Couple more. Singles. March. And again, be thinking about eight. In your place for now. Get those knees up. I hope you're smiling. I hope you're having fun. Walk eight. Go. Five, six, seven, eight. Five, six, seven, eight. Five, six, seven, eight. Back. All right. I got a new move for you. How about this? Oh, you don't like it? No big deal. Just do it. Just see if you can. March. Woo. Walk eight. Five, six, seven, eight. Up eight. This is your final eight. Now we turn eight. Five, six, seven, eight. Deep breath. March. March quietly. Quiet. Barely touch that floor. I can hear my boots. Let's go a little deeper. Now we can hear them. That's okay. Get those knees up. Woo. Come on. Get your knees up. Little bit higher. Little bit higher. Looking good. Come on. Maybe a little bit higher. Little bit higher. Toe tap. Good job. Backstroke with that. Easy toe tap. Now let's go back to heel and change the position of your arms. So if you're a swimmer, this is going to be a freestyle stroke. Arms down and heels and step touch. Stay and sit. Stay and sit looks just like a double step touch. Just a little bit more bending the knee. Woo. Let's do two more. That will be our final one right here. Woo. Arms down. Great job, everybody. Great job. All right. So we are going to switch gears now. Good time to grab some water. Do you have some? After you have a nice sip of water, let's pick up our dumbbells. So guys at home, if you don't have them, I'll repeat it again. Anything works. Maybe a can of soup or nothing. Because ideally, this is really a lower body exercise. Stand in front of your chair and come down in a deep squat. If you're unfamiliar with squats, they're really not super simple. You really need to think about it. You're going to come down as if you're sitting on a chair. Then you change your mind. Let's do one more. Okay. So a couple things to look at. Are your knees coming over your shoes? Definitely need to reevaluate that. Do not do that. You want to come down, leading with your backside. Squeeze. Lower. Squeeze. Lower. So it's a movement you do all day long. You didn't even know you were doing a squat. Down and up. One more time, everybody. All right. Let's take a little break. That was great. I'd like to finish that set up with eight more reps. By the way, if you prefer weights here, that works well. No weights work well. But everybody be aware, no knees over shoes. Let's go. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Good, good, good, good. All right. Next up, we're going to go into some upper body work. So you've got your weights. I'd like for you to stand comfortably with your feet about hip distance. And this next exercise is called an overhead press. So you're just going to go straight up and come back down to your goal post position. Let's go for ten. You ready? One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Let's do one more and we'll take a little break. Good. If you follow other instructors here at the Lexington Senior Center, you may see some different exercises. You may see the same exercise taught a little bit differently, maybe a few different reps, this and that. But believe me, it all is good. Some people do eight reps, some people ten. But that's what's cool about being able to pick up different videos. You'll see different ways. All right. Second set. You ready? You're going up. Now make sure, guys, you start and stop in that goal post. Let's go, guys. We have five. We have four. Stay strong. Three. One more. And you did it. Beautiful. All right. Let's switch it up. Have a seat. Put your weights down close by. And let's take a big deep breath. Fill your lungs up. Exhale. If you're sitting in a straight back chair like I am, let's get a little bit deeper stretch using the chair. Bend forward and fingertips come behind the chair. Now, if you're on another type of chair, if this doesn't work, that's okay. You can just hold your arms back. But if you're here, this right here is a wonderful stretch for your shoulders. Bring your chin down. And then turn. Look over one shoulder. And turn. Go to the other side. Good. Turn and come back. Let's march. So in get up and go, in a lot of the classes at the Senior Center, we use a chair. Instead of getting on the floor. So we incorporate abdominal exercises in almost all of our classes. Seated. That's what I'm getting ready to do. We're going to start with a little stampede to just kind of work out the cheeks and the legs. Have a little fun. Feel a little freer here. And march. All right. Let's make sure we're seated tall. Abs in. And let's go to some kicks. How about some heel digs? Now, we're going to take that dig to the side. Lifting elbows. All right. So far, so good. Let's add full arms. And this is going to lead you in to the most fun you've had all week. Seated jumping jacks. Oh, yeah. This is such a thing. And they're a lot harder than they look. Woo! All right, guys. How about three, two, and march. Good. So now that you know what's coming, let's do it all over again. Stampede. March. Four kicks. One, two, three heel digs. One, two, three side dig. Elbow. Full arm. And here's those seated jacks. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and that's it. Woo-hoo! No more of those. Stampede, though. Let's get those legs worked out again. Hold. Fill your lungs up again. Exhale. All right. Knees together. Roll up off of your heels, on your toes, and simply lift and crunch into that. And relax. All right? Let's do ten. One, two, three. Woo! Seven, crunch in now. And that's it for that set. So you can see it may look easy, but it's not. But you do have to kind of force yourself to pull that belly button in, come on down, and deep crunch. So let's try ten more, and then we'll move on. One, two, belly button to spine on three, four. Four, three. Woo, we did it! Great job, everybody. Big, deep breath. And exhale. All right. Let's reach down and pick up those dumbbells again. When you start seated with dumbbells, I'd like for you to put them on your legs between your knee and hip, and then walk up carefully and slowly. All right. So next up is going to be a side raise. You're going to bring your weights down here like this. This is a shoulder exercise. Out and back down. So let's say you're at home, and this is quite difficult, and you find yourself using a ton of momentum, and you find yourself bringing your weights way up to the ceiling. I'd like for you just to put those weights down and just perform the exercises without weights for today. One more, and we'll take a break. Or maybe two or three with, two or three without, something like that. You'll figure it out. You can do it the best way for you. Here we go. One, two. Weight training is so important, so important for everybody, but especially folks over 65. It's just essential to how we're going to age. How about two more? How about this last one? Yeah. Okay, next up, we're going to work on the back of those arms. So this is a tricep kickback. I like to take one foot forward, one foot back. That's just what I like. By the way, if you prefer this stance, that's perfectly fine. A little lean forward, though, is very important. Elbows up, and you're going to kick back and bend. That's two. That's three. Come on, let's get the back of those arms. We have five more here. And last one. All right. Let's take a little mini break. Change your leg. Lean forward. Elbows up. Let's go. One, two. You can do it. Come on. That's three. That's five, six. How about two more good ones? Come on, you can do it. Last one right here. Yes, you did it. Good job, everybody. All right. Next up, biceps. So you just worked the back of your arms, so we need to get that fun. So let's do a little different stance here where your feet are hip-distance apart. You want to feel comfortable. Knees are soft. Elbows into your waist. Let's hold like this. This is called the hammer grip. We're going to do ten like this. Ready? One, two. That's three. That's four. Five. Tummy in tight. How about one more? All right, good. Take a moment. Now I'd like for you to change the grip. Turn it this way. We'll do another set of ten with holding the weight like this. Here we go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Let's make this our last one. Yes, you did it. And guess what? You get to have a seat now. Oh, gosh. I'm impressed. I don't even know what's going on behind that camera, but I think you all are working hard. I just can feel it. So let's keep that momentum up, and we're going to wind down here, getting very close to the end. But let's work really hard on this last one. This one is called a bent over row. The benefit of this is it's going to strengthen your upper back. So bend forward, get the weight, and pull. So my head is up because I'm talking to you. But when you are performing this exercise, have your head, your gaze, a little bit above your shoes there. Just want to keep your spine straight. Okay? But I want you to think about pulling a weave. And the idea is to squeeze your shoulder blades. Let's do one more. And put the weight down. So if this brings something else to mind, remember when we had our band and we pulled like that? This is the same exercise, but instead of resistance, you're using your weight. So let's do another ten, and then we'll move on. One, two, three, four. I want you to feel it now. If you're not feeling anything, ask yourself, are you feeling it tightening between your shoulder blades? Let's do one more. Good one. One more. Excellent. All right. Excellent job, everybody. Let's put our weight down. Whoo! Let's take our hands, lace them up. Big stretch. All the way up. Unlace. Hands down. Drop your chin to the chest. And now one ear to the same shoulder. Drop your chin down to the chest and go to the other side. And come on back. So a lot of times when we're doing weight training, we may not realize it, but we can kind of pull on our neck a little bit. So always a good idea to get a nice little stretch in between exercises or at least when we're transitioning from one thing to another. All right. Last. We're going to get this ball. All right? Again, if you don't have one at home, not a big deal. But let's just hold the ball for now. And we're going to do a little bit more stretching. So I want you to just take it and go real big with your shoulders. Wonderful stretch here in that shoulder along with working range of motion in the shoulder. So nice and smooth. No reason to rush. We're going out to the side now. Keep it lifted. Bring it across. And this is a stretch for your shoulder. Now we really need to get that tricep. So let's take the ball back and push down. I'll turn real quick so you can kind of see what this looks like. That's about how far you want to get, if you can. Remember, exercise is a process. Every day you'll get better. Do not expect overnight success and don't give up, especially on the days when you just don't have it in you to do it. Give yourself a 10-minute workout. And that may be all you do that day. And guess what? That is fine. And that's better than doing nothing. All right. Let's go back behind and get that great stretch. All right, guys. We are going to take this ball now. And this is where we're actually going to use the ball is put it between your knee and hip. We're going to work on our inner thigh and outer thigh. And all we're going to do is sit up tall. Don't pull that belly button in, though. Shoulders back, head up, and just begin to squeeze the ball. Just squeeze and release. Let's go. You can have some fun here. Just squeeze and release. That's all it is. Don't get too carried away. Forget to squeeze and release, though. That's it. Ooh, you'll feel it. Give it about 20 seconds. You'll feel it. Squeeze and release. Squeeze and release. And this is what I was referring to earlier. Maybe if you have a little throw pillow, if you don't have a ball. Or you can even put your fingers on the inner thighs to create resistance. Or nothing. Don't let the lack of equipment keep you from working out and following this video along. Or perfectly without. All right, let's break. And let's do a couple more little abdominal crunches. Keeping the ball there. Pulling that belly button in. Lifting the heels. How about four, three, two, break. Back from the top. Squeeze it. Let's go. Squeeze, release. Oh, I'm feeling it. Almost there, I promise. We're finishing up in ten seconds. Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. Woo! All right, let's take the ball now and put it in the palms of your hands. Palms of your hands. Elbows out. Simply press and release. Press and release. And the purpose of this, it gives you a little strengthener for the chest wall. So you'll begin to feel the pressure and the squeeze under your arm going straight to the other underarm. So it doesn't have to be fast. Nice and slow. Press. All right, now take a real quick break and bring the ball up. And just press and release your elbows. You can go a little faster here. It's the same muscle group. You're going to feel it in the same part of your body. Press and release. Press and release. Last four. And release. Now keep those elbows close together. Lift and lower. And this will be your last one. Good job! All right, so we are winding down. The next exercise is very calming. It works your fingers. So we're going to use the ball for that. I want you to take one leg out, kind of creating a ramp with one of your legs. And take the ball. And with exaggerated fingers, walk the ball down. And if you don't have the ball, you can go along perfectly without. Walk down and walk back. And this time, let's walk it up to the hips. Bring it behind your back. Scoop back in the chair. And then rock side to side. Hold that tummy in tight. Side to side. Feels good. It's kind of a little back massage. And it's a little bit of work for your obliques. Center. Arms down. Reach back. Get the ball. Put it on the other leg. You know where we're going now. Let's walk it out. Exaggerate your fingers because that is the point of this exercise. Exaggerate your fingers. And that will be your last time down. Bring it on back. And behind your back. And side to side. All right. Let's do four, three, two, and last time. Good. All right, guys. Ball goes up. And I'd like you to spend about two more minutes with me here so we get a wonderful stretch to end our class. Sit up in your chair and scoot down almost to the very edge. Lean back in your chair. Arms come up. Big, deep breath. Fill your lungs up. Arms up over your head. And exhale. Good. Arms come down. Let's pay attention to these feet. Take your toes down. Point your toes. Change that. Heels. Heels on the floor. And pull your toes up towards you. Let's do it again. Lower your toes down. Feel that wonderful stretch in the top of your leg, your shin. And now switch that. Heels. And now you're on calves. All right. Let's sit up real tall again. And take one leg. Wrap your hands around your shin. And pull your knee to your shoulder so you're on the same side. And this gives you a chance to roll your ankle. And reverse. Point. Flex. One more time. That's beautiful. Okay. Foot comes over here like this. Love this stretch. It's a hip opener, a hip stretch. Just sitting like this is a great way to get some kinks out. And you can intensify this move by actually folding down, if you'd like to get a little back stretch here. Sit back up and switch it up. Other side, of course. Knee to shoulder. Ankle roll. Again, exaggerating. Maybe wiggling those toes a bit. Other side. Point and flex. All righty. Time to bring it over here. Push down. Okay. Good. Oh, I forgot to show you, if you'd like to fold over. Come on back up. All right, everybody. Both feet flat on the floor. Remember earlier? Try not to hold on to anything or use a lot of momentum. So cross your arms in front and stand up. Very good. Uncross. We're going to end our class where we started. Feet apart. You're going to slide down into a cat cow. So we'll begin with a rounded back. So you're angry cat position. And flat back position. Let's do that again. Round up. And round. Stay here. Take one shoulder down to the opposite big toe. Change it over to the other side. And now center yourself again. Rounded back. This time come up one vertebrae at a time. Shoulders up. Back and down. Deep breath. Exhale. One more time. Exhale. All right. Thank you all so much for joining me today here at the Lexington Senior Center. This class was called Get Up and Go. We have a tremendous amount of classes here that I'd love for you to investigate. Maybe there's something that's just right for you. Thanks again for joining me. I'm Jack Patty and this is the Senior Minute. Successfully serving seniors. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Senior Minute. I'm Council Member Shayla Lynch. I'm so glad you are joining us today. And here my guest today is Commissioner Charlie Lanter. Charlie, thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for the Senior Minute. Now, Commissioner Lanter is the Commissioner of Housing Advocacy and Community Development. Now, that's a lot of words. It is. You have a huge division and it's a very, very important division, I feel. So, tell us a little bit about your division. What do you all do? Yeah. So, our division really kind of emerged from the Mayor's Commission on Racial Justice and Equity. And what we did was combine all of the city's divisions that touch housing under one commissioner. And we've been doing that for a little over three years now. I've been the commissioner during that time. And we have code enforcement. We have community resident services, which does our direct assistance piece. We have the Grants and Special Programs Division, which manages all of our HUD funding. So, that's why there's the housing tie-in. And then we also have the Offices of Affordable Housing and the Office of Homelessness, both of which, you know, deal with different ends of the spectrum on how we get folks housed. Awesome. A lot of very, very important things. And today we're here to talk about a specific housing development that is a recent, so it's still breaking news, I feel. It's the Oaks and Woodland. There's going to be a new senior live-in opportunity here in Lexington. So, tell us a little bit about that project. Yeah, that's a really exciting project. So, that's an adaptive reuse of the former, well, not former, the historic Woodland Christian Church. And what it's going to do is it takes the church building, does some rehab work and refinishing, and puts 10 units of affordable senior housing. Then it builds an addition onto the property, which does another 28 units of senior housing. Wow. And so, the units are just going to be really cool because you're going to get to, you know, some of them you're going to get to live in this historic church building. Some of it will be new, but you're still attached to the historic church building. And then within it, there's going to be a community service facility that the residents can use, but then also the church will use, the neighborhood can use. It can be available for, like, neighborhood meetings, community meetings, Boy Scout troops, all the, you know, AA meetings, all the kinds of things you need a community space for. So, it's not just providing that senior housing. It's also providing a central hub for that community. That is awesome. That is exactly what we need and our seniors need. I love that. I love that. So, how did this project all come about? Well, the Woodland Christian Church congregation had seen their membership and attendance decline through the years, which a number of older churches have experienced. But they had this beautiful historic building, and they wanted to make good use of it while still trying to preserve their church environment. So, they approached some of us and the different developers to try and see what could we do and how could we get the financing together to do a preservation work that converts this to housing. And it's really exciting because in addition to the housing, it does help the church stay open, and it helps them be able to continue to use the property and really even expand their mission to the housing services, the associated services with that. I mean, you've now got 38 people living there that may be potential congregants. Right, right. So, it was really a nice way to take an aging church that had been declining in membership and not just help address our housing crisis, but also help this church and help it preserve its historic relationship with the community. I love that. I really love that. Do you know, I know it's still in the beginning stages, but do you know any specific features that will the units have? Will they be completely accessible? Four of the units will be completely accessible. Others will have different sort of, not fully accessible, but different elements, like, you know, shower grab bars, those kinds of things that we need in our senior housing units. And in addition to that, of course, I mentioned the community service facility. One of the great things, amenities of this project that I think gets overlooked is its proximity to Woodland Park. You can literally walk across the street and be in Woodland Park, which is going to provide a huge range of activities that the folks that live there can do. You know, Woodland's got pickleball courts that are brand new, and they've got a brand new restroom facility, and it's kind of been experiencing a bit of a renaissance. And so that whole area, it's just a beautiful neighborhood to live in, especially if you're a senior because it's quiet and there's not a ton of traffic. And so I think between that and the community service facility and the church's services, and in addition, obviously it's affordable, and then you have the senior amenities. It's going to be a very popular place, I think. I love that. As you know, I'm on the Senior Services Commission, and one of our focuses is housing. And we have a committee called Reimagine Home that specifically tackles housing issues for seniors. In your opinion, what does the senior housing landscape look like here in Lexington? Is it different from other demographics? Is there plenty of housing? Do we need more for specifically our seniors? We absolutely need more, and that's an easy answer because we need more housing for every category of person, every demographic. We have a huge shortage of affordable units that is growing faster than we can build them. So it's very important that we do this not just for seniors but for everyone. But we're especially focused on seniors because that is an aging and growing population. As the boomers of aging and retiring, every day there are more seniors that need affordable housing. And so over the past few years, that's been a big area of focus for our Affordable Housing Fund and our board that oversees that. We have opened units at Polo Club in Hamburg. We've opened units at Christian Towers was rehabbed on Versailles Road. Oh gosh, what else? There's been so many. Oasis at Kearney was 96 units for seniors. That's what I counted. As I said, that's a beautiful development. Brand new building and really nice. And they're actually working on an expansion of that. It won't be for seniors, but it will be additional units on that same property for families. Wonderful, wonderful. And that's just something that we think will continue to be a need as we go forward. At this point, I've told the staff, you can't really have too much, so just keep going. Don't slow down. We don't need to worry about that. I'll let you know when we're getting close. Right, right. We definitely need more housing. As I'm going to wrap up here, what can seniors do, in your opinion, to advocate for more housing? What do you advise them to do? The first thing I would say is whatever they're doing now, they're doing it right. Because it's on our radar and we're definitely focused on it. We have some great interactions with the staff at the Senior Center and also the folks who hang out there. I think they just need to continue through the Senior Services Commission, through the various committees like what you're on, to push for that and hold us and hold that board accountable for meeting that need. Because we know that not only is there a need for more senior housing, there's a need for more accessible housing. And I mean fully accessible housing. So many of our affordable units are affordable because they're aging. And an aging unit is rarely an accessible unit because the building wasn't built for that. It's usually so old it was grandfathered in or something. It's going to be a continual focus for years to come. Wonderful. Commissioner Lanter, if our viewers want to get in contact with you or someone from your office to get some questions answered or to get help, what's the best way to contact you all? Super easy. All I do is call 311. Ask to speak to the housing advocate. That's what I always recommend because we have two ladies that are just wonderful at their jobs. And they will take down your information and kind of interview you, find out more about your situation and what you can afford. And then their job is to help you find a unit that works for you. It's a tough job. A lot of times the math doesn't math with the income versus the rent. So we have to look for other solutions like programs that help with subsidies. But that's their job, and they're very good. So I would encourage anyone, if you need housing, if you just would like more affordable or better housing, give us a call at 311. Ask for the housing advocates or ask for the Office of Housing and Community Development, and we'll take a look at it. Awesome. Thank you so much, Commissioner, for being here on the Senior Minute today. If you have questions, need help finding housing, let's call, which is 311, and our housing advocates will be there to assist you. Thank you so much for tuning in today, and I'll see you next time. ¶¶ ¶ every day I want to show me the way ¶¶ ¶ well, I can't see no reason you're living on your nerve ¶¶ ¶ when someone drops a cup and I submerge ¶¶ ¶ I'm swimming in a circle ¶¶ ¶ I feel I'm going down ¶¶ ¶ there has to be a boy ¶¶ On this edition of Lexington Now, plastic-free July, you belong here and summer safe. ¶¶ I'm Neal Noah, and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of July 14th, 2025. Here's how it works. Chrissy Balding, environmental initiative specialist for the sustainability section, city of Lexington. My name's Holly Kaysen, I'm also with the sustainability section as a sustainability intern. Sustainability, in a nutshell, is making sure that not only do we have enough resources to enjoy right now, but making sure that future generations do as well. Things like green space, water, food, clean air. It's very important, it's a conversation really that we can't put off, and we're just encouraging people to do what they can. Everyone can play a role. July is plastic-free July, which is a global movement. It started in 2011 in Australia, and this is the first time Lexington is participating. Very simply, so just making swaps for any of those single-use plastics that you may have. Getting at stores, so your cups at coffee shops, your plastic bags at grocery stores when you're out shopping. We have a couple examples we'd be happy to show you. So, when you're out and about, you're buying either a book or a shirt. Instead of using one of the plastic bags they provide you, just bring your own reusable bag, it's quite simple. And also reduce your plastic use when you borrow a book from a friend. No packaging. You can bring your own container. This is great for iced coffee, which is perfect this time of year. So just bring your own container, and a lot of times you'll get a discount for doing that. We know that the term plastic-free July can be a little intimidating, but we're not asking you to go completely plastic-free. There's a lot of plastic in our daily lives, from pieces of our car that keep us safe. So just find either one thing to focus on, or one area of your life. So, some examples from the kitchen. This is what I take for my lunch. I bring my own silverware, so if I get takeout, I don't have to get the plastic utensil. Instead of using a Ziploc baggie, I just put my snack in this little mason jar. And when you're shopping at the grocery store or the farmer's market, you can put produce in a bag like this. So those are really easy things to change, but they do add up. So in Lexington, the only types of plastic that are recyclable are bottles, jugs, and jars. So if you think about a container, it should be narrower on the top than it is the bottom. Some common items are what ketchup comes in, any condiments, what your shampoo might come in. But if you're describing it to someone else, if you would use the word bottle, jug, or jar, that is appropriate to recycle. We do ask that you make sure that it's completely empty and clean. It goes beyond the environment, starting with your health as well. So plastics can impact your bodily systems in many negative ways. So thinking about how sensitive your body is and then applying that to the systems within an ecosystem, and nature all around us, all of our critters, all of our waterways, having plastic pollute those things can be really detrimental and cause a lot of negative impacts. So reducing your own use and finding these swaps, it's really amazing and helpful towards working towards a more sustainable environment. So microplastics are very, very fine materials that break down from liquid to solid. Microplastics are very, very fine materials that break down from larger plastics. They're usually hardly even visible, if they are at all. Essentially, their size allows them to infiltrate a lot of very small systems in our bodies. So think about your cells. Think about all the cells that make up an environment. Those things are really easy to infiltrate when the size of a particulate matter or plastic is that small. They are not good for your health. Some studies have shown that we swallow the equivalent of a credit card size of plastic every year, or ingest, I should say, through different mechanisms. So anything that you can do to reduce the amount of plastic in your life is good. I just want to mention that we hope that you take what you do during Plastic Free July and carry that forward. Part of the intent behind this campaign is to help people find really easy swaps that are the best. then become normalized for them. Sometimes it's really helpful to focus on different locations. So you could go with your work events. You could start at home, like your bathroom or your kitchen, or even at your favorite stores. Any place where you're using plastic, think about the flower carrier that you use to catch the water. Those small things that you will eventually just throw away in landfill, those things can be swapped out for something more sustainable and reusable. So if you would like to participate in Plastic Free July, post on Facebook or Instagram and tag LiveGreenLex. Or you can email us at sustainability at lexingtonky.gov and send us a picture, a video, or just a testimonial of what you're trying for the month. They can go to our web page. It's lexingtonky.gov slash sustainability. And they can sign up for our monthly email newsletter. Kentucky's film and television industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Mayor Gorton joins Steve Zahn and others to recognize this and a new project celebrating Kentucky cuisine. You Belong Here, an eight-part docuseries hosted and executive produced by Weta Michael, produced by Steve Zahn, and directed by Rick Gomez, was recently featured at both Tribeca X in New York City and the ATX TV Festival in Austin. You Belong Here tells Kentucky's story through food and relationships, an approach that reflects Weta's blend of culinary mastery and community spirit. I'm Weta Michael. And I'm Steve. And together, we are Steeda. Good joke. Landed. OK. Well, can I start? Yes, you start. So we picked up a camera. And we started following Weta over a year ago. And it was amazing. And we met so many great people in this state, all over, very talented. And we went to farms, and cities, and small towns, and haulers. And Main Streets, little Main Streets all across the state. And through David Morrison's lens, Rick Gomez, my partner, the director, his brain, and Coby Toland's editing, your story flourished. But we realized it's our story. It's Kentucky. It's flyover country, where amazing things are happening. Right? Yes. And I can't say, there's a lot of things I can't say, because I don't know. This is a marathon, when you're involved with something like this. It's a marathon. And we're at mile 18? Yeah. It took a year. It took more than a year to shoot, because we wanted to show every season in Kentucky. That's one of the things we're blessed with here. And the incredible landscape that we have, it shines at every moment. And our cities shine throughout the year. And sometimes, we get a little tired of the winter, and the rain, and the stuff we've been through this year, weather-wise. But it was important to us to show the passage of time. And instead of staging a show in one place, each time you're in the same place, we wanted to show the scope of Kentucky. We still have a lot to show. Yeah, we do. We still have a lot to shoot. There's actually nine episodes. Yeah, there's nine episodes. We added one. And I think one of the things, too, that we in Kentucky don't always think about ourselves is how special we really are and how special the people in Kentucky are and that you can be your authentic self. I think I have to be the biggest anti-hero of all time, if this ever gets aired, in terms of who I am and who the media world is. And my role and my goal is just to show that to other women and other people. Whereas, You Belong Here is a joyous celebration of Kentucky's rich culture and people. And whereas, chef, host, and executive producer, Weta Michael, guides viewers through the power of food to bring people together. And whereas, the docuseries is brought to life through the talents of producer Steve Zahn, right here, director Rick Gomez, and the macaroni art productions team. And whereas, viewers are taken on a heartfelt journey across Kentucky, experiencing food, memory, and belonging. And whereas, You Belong Here was presented as an official selection at both TribecaX and the ATX Television Festival. And whereas, we congratulate the entire team and supporters of You Belong Here for sharing the culture, the joy, the stories of Kentucky, its people, and food with audiences around the world. Now, therefore, I, Linda Gorton, mayor of Lexington, do hereby declare June 30, 2025, You Belong Here Day in Lexington. Congratulations to all of you. Thank you, mayor. I'm going to give it to the two of you. Thank you. Hot weather safety after this. Welcome back to Lexington Now. Hot weather has descended on central Kentucky. Here's how to stay safe during the dog days. When it comes to being outside in the summer heat, it's important to take breaks, stay in the shade as much as possible, and really work on staying hydrated. So drinking lots of water or beverages that don't have caffeine or lots of sugar. Caffeine dehydrates you. As much tasty it is, and we get our sugar, and we're all jived up, it is actually dehydrating. So if you're having a Dr. Pepper, bounce it out with water. Your normal intake, maybe try to double that. Just imagine, whatever you're sweating out, you need to replenish. It's important to wear light, loose clothing in a lighter color to prevent yourself from overheating. So dark colors, heavy fabrics, trap the heat will not help. But if you're outside, you have a loose shirt on, it's a light color. It will help the air move around you freely and breathe. And help you enjoy the summer longer. When you're exposed, when you're outside in the sun for long periods of time, you want to make sure you have sunscreen. They recommend you start SPF 30, SPF 45. But that all depends on your skin tone and how easily you burn. And how long you'll be exposed. You want to keep in mind that the UV is highest between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. And so you want to make sure you're protected, especially during those hours. When you have, you're taking your pet for a walk in the summer, you've got to monitor the temperature of the asphalt. Put your back of your hand on the asphalt for about five to seven seconds. And if it hurts you, it's going to hurt them. Their paw pads are extremely sensitive. So when they touch the asphalt, it will actually burn and like peel off. I mean, it's just like you burning the bottom of your foot walking on asphalt in July. It's not fair. But they can also exhibit signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion. And overheat, similar, you can't see their skin and see that it's hot and red. But you can tell when they're overheating, excessive panting, they can't cool down. So it's important to keep them inside during those hot times. Offer them lots of water. And make sure they have a chance to rest and recuperate. For heat-related illnesses, there are three types. There's heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. So heat cramps are characterized by heavy sweating during intense physical activity. And then obviously muscle cramps or spasms. So you're out playing soccer, it's 90 degrees. All of a sudden you go down, your leg's cramping. That would be heat cramp. You would stop the physical exercise and start rehydrating. Give yourself time to rest. Move to a cool location or at least in the shade to allow your body to cool down. So heat exhaustion is a much more serious type of heat illness. In this case, you see heavy sweating. Weakness, your skin gets cold and pale and clammy. Which seems like the opposite of a heat illness, but it is a dangerous sign. Of course, you can see fainting and vomiting as well. When you see someone with signs of heat exhaustion, it's important to slowly start reintroducing liquids to them. And you also want to try to cool the person down. You can use cool cloths, areas of heat release. That could be like your armpits, the inside of your legs, your wrists. Signs of heat stroke include someone whose skin is hot, dry, and red. As well as a temperature of over 103 degrees. A fast pulse, headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion, and sometimes loss of consciousness. If you see someone with any of these signs outside, it's important to get them to medical attention right away. You want to loosen their clothing, try to cool them down. But be careful not to force too much water into them, because they may throw it right back up and it's not going to do anybody any favors. You can still enjoy your summer. It's just a matter about being safe when you do it. So if you're outside between 10 and 2, points where it's the hottest of the day, take lots of breaks, go into the shade to cool down, and monitor your activity. You see yourself start to overheat, that's time to take a break. By no means do you have to stop enjoying summer, just do it carefully. But for more information about heat safety, you can visit BeReadyLexington.com, or follow us on any social media pages, including Facebook, X, which is Twitter, or Instagram. We mentioned pets in the previous segment, but here is a more deep dive into keeping them safe in summer heat. As the temperature continues to rise, many people are doing more and more outside activities. And like a lot of us, we like to spend our outdoor time with our pet. But we, as humans, take all kinds of precautions. Hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, a bottle of water. We sometimes forget about our four-legged friends like Max here, who are wearing a fur coat 24-7. To get some tips on how to help your pet beat the heat, I stopped by the Shea Bell Veterinary Hospital for some advice. The time that we see the most heat strokes is now, and so you would think June, July, August, but when dogs are acclimated to the weather and the weather changes, that's when we start seeing heat strokes. So April, May, I typically see more than the hottest months, which is kind of surprising. And so make sure fresh water is available. Don't keep them out, you know, if it's over 70 or 80. Limited exposure. If you have a very active dog, kind of limit their activity in the heat of the day. Brachycephalic dogs, so dogs with squished nose, Boston's, Pugs, Boxers, they don't handle the heat well. And so I wouldn't take them to the dog park or running or any outdoor activity and, you know, from 10 in the morning till 5 at night on hot days because they just can't tolerate the heat. You know, in the heat of the day, keeping them on the grass is better than the hot concrete. Some dogs shouldn't be walked in the heat of the day just because it burns their pads. And so definitely stay off the black asphalt. Sometimes concrete is not terribly as hot as black because it doesn't attract the heat, but grass is going to be better for sure. The big thing to watch for is excessive panting is kind of a first time. So if they can't get comfortable and they're trying to lay down and kicking their feet out and panting a whole lot, they're restless because they're getting overheated. A lot of times their gums will be really pink and injected and more so than normal. Extreme cases, you'll start seeing vomiting, diarrhea. A lot of times they can have blood passing their stool. End stages or convulsions can even cause death. And so if you start noticing that, you need to cool your dog off pretty fast and get them to the vet. And if your pet's like Joey here, who likes to take long summer drives with his head out the window, you got to make a plan to make sure your pet spends no time in an unattended hot car. The hot weather becomes crucial time for animal welfare. What you want to make sure you always have handy is extra water for your dogs and cats. If you keep your dogs and cats outside, you want to definitely have an area constructed where they have adequate shade. And it's essential in this time of season not to leave your dogs or cats locked in hot vehicles. A lot of people just want to spend as much time with their beloved pets as possible. So they want to take them on errands with them, which we totally understand, but sometimes you do need to leave your pets at home or with trusted friends and family because they can overheat really quickly in vehicles. And it is something that we do respond to. So we can potentially go out if your dog is in your car unattended. If you absolutely have to take your dog or cat with you in the car, make sure you have visible food and water present for them. It's not uncommon for us to do a temperature reading inside of a car and it to be above a hundred degrees. So it can be extremely hot in there. That's why animals can get in distress a lot hotter. And especially a lot of small breeds that have more breathing issues can get hotter and in distress a lot quicker. So it is something we see very common. So it is important to just leave your pets at home if you can, but if not, always have that food and water available. Every call that we respond to is situational. We do respond to every single complaint that we get, anything animal related, but especially when it's animal welfare concerns. And it just depends on a lot of different factors, how much history we have with that particular person, what condition their animal is, how bad of distress they're in. If it's something that can be fixed through education, we always want to do that. But if it's something that's beyond the point of education, then we do have every right on a cruelty case to issue a charge and seize the animal if we have to do that. But we prefer to work with the public and educate them to try to make sure that if it's a pet that they love, that they keep it home, but in compliance. We rely 100% on the community to call us and tell us whenever they see an animal in distress, in danger, trapped, or possibly being abused. So please call us at 859-255-9033. That's where you'll get to our dispatcher. And we do have an animal control officer working 24-7. You can always visit our website for information, which is www.lfacc.org or go on our Facebook page. But those are not for emergencies. If you have an emergency with an animal in distress, you should always call us. There's live coverage on LexTV and streaming online coming your way this week. And remember, you can also find the most up-to-date information on non-televised city business at lexingtonky.gov. Here's this week's Meeting Cup. 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 LexRex or catch our live traffic cams on lexingtonky.gov. For all of us at LexTV, I'm Neil Noah, and that's it for now. Have a great day. Thanks for listening. And remember, LexTV is only at LexTV.it. Stay active and stay awesome. Thank you. So, come on. Let's cruise. You got nothing to lose. So, come on. Hey, come on. Come on, let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose. So, come on, let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose. So, baby, come on. Now get yourself in gear. Get in the mood. Still cruising after all of these years. Hey, girl, let's go for a spin. Hop in my hot rod and do it again. You've got a greenhouse effect on me. I'm in a secret spot. Paradise by the sea. We'll find a place with pop. It's kind of cool out the door. We'll take a trip on up to the lake. Down by the river where we can make out. On the island, pick up on the kid. Punch up your favorite station. Toss in your favorite kid. When we go cruising, everything is all right. So, right, let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose. Baby, when we go cruising now. Baby, put your top down. Parade around downtown. People trying to cool down. Party all summer long. Come on, let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Get yourself in gear. Still cruising after all of these years. Everybody got a favorite spot where they like to come and go. When we go cruising, everything is all right. So, right, let's cruise. Baby, when we go cruising now. People dancing in the sand, rocking to the reggae band. Lovers walking hand in hand. Party all summer long. Let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Get yourself in gear. Still cruising after all of these years. Come on, let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Get yourself in gear. Still cruising after all of these years. Come on, let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Get yourself in gear. Get myself in gear. We had more fun than we expected. I knew this would be fantastic. We were in Manhattan and ей wrote us in the ceiling before they took off. Come on, let's cruise. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Get yourself in gear. You've got nothing to lose, so come on. Steer it up. Little darling, steer it up. Come on, hit it. Come on and steer it up. Oh, little darling, steer it up. Oh, it's been a long, long time together. Since I've got you on my mind. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And now you're here. I said it's OK to see what we can do, baby. Doesn't mean that you're gonna steer it up. I said, little darling, steer it up. Come on, baby. Come on and steer it up. Yeah. Little darling, steer it up. Oh. Come on. I'm steering you, steering you, girl. And I'm glad you're fine. And I satisfy your heart and your lungs. Said I steer it, girl. Yeah, baby. All you got to do, baby, is keep it in. Steer it up. Oh. Little darling, steer it up. Come on, baby. Come on and steer it up. Oh. Little darling, steer it up. Oh. Oh, my love, quench me when I'm thirsty. Come pull me down, baby, when I'm hungry. Your recipe, little darling, is so tasty. When you're sure, just give your heart some steering up. Oh. Little darling, steer it up. Come on, baby. Come on and steer it up. Oh. Little darling, steer it up. Oh. Little darling, steer it up. Come on. Come on and steer it up. Oh. Little darling, steer it up. Come on, baby. Come on, come on and steer it up. Oh. Oh. I got my first real six string. Bought it at the five and dime. Played it till my fingers bled. Was the summer of 69. Me and some guys from school had a band. And we tried real hard. Jimmy quit. ♪♪ Hey, it's Vaja Nicole with another episode of Your Lex PD. So this next episode is gonna be near and dear to you. It is. We're going back to early beginnings of my career. And we're gonna talk about the Explorer Post 357 program that we started back in 1999 for young people that have an interest in law enforcement. And now that I've transitioned to another role, a couple of my former explorers and their officers on the police department have taken over the program. So we are at West Rock Hall and let's go talk to them. All right, let's go. So LPD Explorer Post 357 started in 1999? 1999. So, you know, the way it came about, I had been at a training conference and I had the opportunity to actually speak with some other agencies around the country. And we were talking about different types of crime prevention programming and things that they were doing. So the Explorer program came up. And when I came back, I spoke with Assistant Chief Ulysses Berry, which was the Assistant Chief over Community Services at the time. And I said, do we have an Explorer Post? And he said, well, we do now. So we had attempted, the police department attempted a couple of times before, but it never really happened. So we talked about it. We formulated everything through Scouting America. And we had an opening night where we invited parents and some of the youth in to talk about the program. And that's where it all began. And it's hard to believe, 25 years ago, 1999. But we're still here. Did you start it? Yeah, yeah. So something has changed. Congratulations are in order. If you notice, Baj has chevrons on his sleeve. So congratulations, Sergeant Bowery. Thank you very much. I'm very blessed. So who took over? Who did you take over the reins? Well, it makes me very happy. Because I had two former Explorers that had become Lexington police officers. And actually, we've had several. These two started when they were both very young, worked their way through the Explorer program, came on the police department. And now I'm turning the program over, after 25 years, to these two former Explorers. Absolutely fantastic. Couldn't make me any happier. Well, awesome. Well, let's go talk to them about it. All right. Sounds good. We are here with Officer Hobson and Officer Meredith with Explorer Post 357 with Community Services Section. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you for having us. Absolute pleasure. It's absolutely great to have them. Because as I said earlier, both of these guys were Explorers. And so in their youth, they trained with us and were very involved with the Explorer program, made it through, became Lexington police officers. And now they're taking over this program after 25 years. So I'm excited about it. Tell us a little bit about the program. So we have a group of kids between the ages of 14 and 21 that are interested in law enforcement. It's a pre-academy program that we designed. And it's very structured, very similar to going through the academy, a lot of the same curriculum and so forth. So what all do you do? I like to start off when new individuals come into the program, just to kind of give them a brief explanation that we do a lot of academy-adjacent training. So a lot of the same classroom opportunities that you get in the academy, we kind of give a intro training to here at the program. So either one of you can answer this. What are the eligibility requirements to be in the Explorer program? Sure, so obviously you have to be between the age of 14 and 21. You have to at least have a 2.0 grade average. You have to have completed middle school, so you have to be actively in high school. Okay, so they have to be enrolled somewhere. Do they have to be a Lexington or Fayette County resident, or can it just be anywhere? They do not. Anybody in the state, if you're willing to come hang out with us, you're welcome. We've had kids from all over the state. I think the furthest in recent past, we've had a couple brothers that came from Jackson County. So what would you tell someone that's interested in the Explorer program to be a future Explorer? The Explorer program is a great place to find your community if law enforcement is really what you're wanting to focus on in a career. A lot of individuals who are growing up in high school that they don't have an outlet to be able to go to to kind of focus all of their goals into something, here is a good place for that because you're with other kids that are around your same age or a little bit older to have some sort of mentorship and fellowship with. And then on top of that, again, you're honing in your skills to do what you want to do when you grow up. So how often do the Explorers meet? Yeah, so we meet every Thursday night from 6 to 9 here at West Rocall. We meet 365 days a year. The only time that we usually take off is to try to keep around the Fay County Public School schedule. So if they implement weather or holidays, even some of the holidays, we kind of get together and just kind of hang out. So yeah, but every Thursday night from 6 to 9. And you also do different types of community service events outside of training, correct? Yeah, we do. Some of our big events is that we work the UK football games. We do traffic control for them. We recently had a new event coming up that we're going to be doing some bike patrols. We're pretty excited about that. So yeah, we do a lot of different community events. So with both of you all being officers now, let's go back a few days. How did this help? Did it help you become officers? Did it help you get on the police department? Because I know one of the reasons young people really did not have a career path towards law enforcement. That was pre-criminal justice classes and a lot of high schools and things like that. And so young people really didn't have a way to find out about law enforcement. They do more so now. But was this a good path to get where you are now? I would absolutely agree that this is the place to be if your goal as a young person is to eventually be in law enforcement. This program gives you the opportunity to see the inner workings of how our department runs and how it works. You go through every section in the department and you get a good in-depth understanding of what individuals in those units do on a daily basis. It's also a great networking opportunity. You get to meet a lot of officers all the way from training academy staff and recruits all the way up to the chief. What about you, Hobson? It's been a fantastic road. I remember when I was 14, I was working at a dry cleaners and I had retired officer J.D. Washington come in. He was real nice looking. He had all his uniform nice and crisp. And I said, hey, I want to be like you one day. And that's when he introduced me to you. And ever since then, it's just been amazing for me. It's taught me a lot. Not just how to be a police officer, but it taught me how to interview, and it taught me how to just be a citizen in general of how to do my work. So it's been a great path for me as well. And then there's a lot of other components, too, as far as physical fitness. I know we all still do. I know we used to do the POPS training, which is the Police Officer Standards Training for Kentucky, a couple times a year to kind of let the kids gauge where they are and know, because that's such a big component as far as getting hired, too, right? Yeah, so we still do it twice a year. Sometimes we try to slide in three times a year, depending on the weather. But ultimately, we just try to get them ready for the next level, just because we know how tough the academy is, and we know that anywhere you go, it's kind of the same standard. So once we go through that POPS, we say, hey, this is pretty much what you're going to be doing. So if you can't do it now, it's time to start training now. That way you have enough time when the academy comes that you'll be ready. Wayne, you don't have to be or want to be a police officer in order to do this, because I know we've had folks that have gone to the military, just all different types of careers, but this was just a really good experience for them, a very structured setting, discipline-oriented setting that was very beneficial, I think, for that age, whether they have a career path towards law enforcement or not. Would you agree? We're definitely a program that's very constructive in building your skills to have a career just in general. You get a lot of opportunities to be teachers, to be EMT, again, to the military. You get a lot of opportunities to deal with military recruiters in our program through other recruiting events that we do. Yeah, I mean, it's just a good... It's a good baseline stepping stone for young adults to gain the ability to have a better chance at success. Nicole, can you imagine when you started the academy, if you'd already known how to spit shine your shoes, if you'd already known a lot of the criminal law, the Kentucky revised statutes, you'd known some of the departmental policies, it's a pretty big heads-up, isn't it? Yeah, that would have helped a lot. And it's not all work, all right? We do a lot of recreational things. I know we compete every year in the national competition, largest explorer competition in the world, usually about 3,000 explorers at this thing, and I will say that very proud of the Lexington Explorer Program have always fared very well in that first, second, third place in so many different events, competing against agencies all over the United States, so there are a lot of things other than just career path working. As you mentioned, fellowship, there is a lot of outlet there as well. Absolutely. I'm glad you brought up Winterfest. We actually just went to Winterfest in Gatlinburg this past year. They had a good time. They worked really hard. They got to see just how other posts operate, some of their uniforms, and see that it's not just us. We actually got to meet a few other posts here in Kentucky that we didn't know about, so we got pretty excited about that and had the opportunity to link up with them and do some things. We go for four days and they get an opportunity to kind of stay around each other for more than three hours so they can understand that some people now you have an opportunity to stay with somebody that you don't know, so they get closer when they go to this competition as well too. It's fun to have an opportunity to really see their work actually be done and what it looks like when it comes together. I always look forward to February going to Gatlinburg every year for the competition. It was a lot of fun for the youth and it was a lot of fun for the officers as well. I think that you two standing here today as Lexington Police Officers is definitely a testament to the fact that this program works, that people that have a commitment want to be a police officer. This is a positive, positive direction to go in so we encourage anybody out there that's interested in law enforcement, has a child interested, grandchild, whatever, reach out to us and let's talk about your tomorrow which starts today with Explorer Post 357. And I always kid you, Officer Hobson, because he's wanted my job for a long time and probably since he was 14 and now not only have you taken over the Explorer program but you actually took over my crime prevention spot in community services so very proud of you for that, proud of both of you. So, and I know you mentioned at 14 you met an officer and he introduced you but for those that maybe doesn't come across an officer and they're interested in the Explorer program, how do they get in contact with you all? Well, so first of all nowadays now we've been going to a lot of the high schools, doing a lot of career events at the high school. I just did a few this week. It just gives us the opportunity to get face-to-face contact with them to say, hey, this is what our program is and this is how we operate. I showed some pictures, I showed a video and it just gets them excited about it so that's the number one thing that we are trying to work on. It's just more getting out there. That way people know more about us. Obviously, social media is a big thing nowadays, so we try to be on as much as possible with pictures and videos that way they can gauge it that way as well too. So you can look at the screen right now and we've got the website, QR code, you can actually go to that website and get information about the program itself and also get information on how to join, right? Absolutely. Well, thank you Officer Hobson and Officer Meredith for joining us today. Thank you all for having us. Thank you very much. Thank you. It was really nice talking to Officer Hobson and Meredith about the Explorer Program because I didn't really know that much about it. I'm so proud of them. They're doing a great job. Couldn't ask for a better situation than them coming into that role, so outstanding. So next month, where are we going? We're going to the dog house. So we get to talk to our four-legged friends. Yeah, looking forward to that. Our canine unit and everybody's always excited about seeing the canine unit, the officers and the dogs, right? So we've got patrol dogs, we've got narcotic dogs, and we've got bond dogs. So we're going to focus on them next week, go out, visit them at the kennel and see them do some of their training and some of their work. So I'm excited about that. I am too. So join us next month for another episode of Your Lex PD. Your Lex PD. We We We We A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A being back in Lexington and being in this department are very responsive to their residents. And they want to do what's best for their community. And so if you contact your council member, talk to them about it, your council member will then contact Parks and figure out like, what can we do here? And maybe how much is it gonna cost? And so we will work on that and respond to them and try and get something put together. The other thing I'll mention is that some parks are developing a Friends of Parks group. Yeah. So we have several parks in Lexington, Friends of Jacobson Park, Friends of Waverly, Friends of Dogwood Park. And I think there are maybe one or two others. And basically the function of these groups is they are nonprofit. They find opportunities to do projects in their park. It could be a tree planting. It could be a pollinator garden. It could be other native habitat, native planting habitat work. They find funding for that. They work with our office to get approval of their proposal. So we have to sign off on what they're doing. Okay. And so that's a great way for the local community to kind of take ownership of their park. Even though it's a city park and everybody uses it, they get a little bit more, there's a little bit more interest in maintaining it and really stewarding it through those kinds of groups. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Tim. And so neighbors, council members are allotted funding for capital projects in their district. And so that's how I, that's how we got the trees in Madison Station Park. I use some of my council capital funds to pay for the trees installed. So thank you, Tim, for talking with me today and informing my neighbors about trees in our parks. And thank you for all that you do for the city. Thank you for all you do. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Nice to see you guys too. See you again sometime soon, Tim. Good to see you again, Tim. Good to see you, Tim. Good to see you. Oh, you're fine. Notguess what. Hey, look who's coming, a salesman. Hello Mr. Wadsworth, How are you? I'm uh, I'm doing the lines, jeez, a below average, near average. Hello neighbors, I'm council member Shayla Lynch, and I'm here to talk about trees and our environment today with Heather Wilson. Hi, Heather. Hi, how are you? Good, good. Thank you for joining me this morning. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to talk with you. Of course, I'm glad. Let's get into it. So tell everybody first what you do for the city. Sure, I am the program manager senior for urban forestry with the division of environmental services. So for the city, I function as the tree expert. When there's questions about where trees go or what trees are having problems or how we best manage trees or how we grow our tree canopy, which I think we'll talk about here in a little bit. I'm the one that generally guides those answers. I also manage our urban forester and our urban forester is kind of your first stop for when you have questions about those trees in spaces that are in front of your houses. He also works with our development community and making sure that our trees are protected and part of new developments. And then also I manage the group of our arborists within the city that actually manage the pruning, planting, removal, placement of trees throughout Lexington. Wonderful. Lots of jobs. Lots of hats. Yes, bless it. So since I've been on council, I've come to learn how important trees are to the environment. And I have kind of taken it on as a banner to promote trees here in the second district because I learned in my first year of being on council that we have such a low tree canopy. So can you tell my neighbors what's a tree canopy and why trees are so important? Sure. Tree canopy is for an individual tree, the amount of leaves that you see on a tree up above ground. So collectively our tree canopy is the entire forest that we exist within, within our city because we are a city amongst trees. And so that canopy is kind of what covers us all. Trees are so important. Canopy is so important because it does so many environmental and human health or provides so much in environmental and human health benefits for us. It cools our city by 10 to 20 degrees in temperature, depending on the time of day and locations of those trees. Personally, like for your own home, it helps to lower your utility bills by providing shade in the summer, making it so that you can use less air conditioning because that shade is providing some of that. They work to move moisture through our systems. And so they pull water out of the ground and put it back up into our atmosphere, kind of making this like air conditioner for our city as well. They help mitigate storm responses. So they absorb again that water when we have those rain events so that it's not winding up in your basements and in our storm systems. Personally, for us as humans, they provide, well, they put out what are called phenols, which help calm our nervous systems. They reduce rates of depression, just being out and among trees, being able to see trees out your windows calms your nervous system. It reduces rates of ADHD in children. They've been shown to increase rates of test scores in students. Wow. If you can go take a walk in a forest, you're much calmer if you can get away from traffic. Those are just a couple of the things. I could go on and on, but I know we don't have a whole lot of time. But I'm happy to ever have a conversation about all of the things they do. That's wonderful. That's a lot of stuff I didn't know. So the second district has the lowest tree canopy score in the city. So what are some ways my neighbors can get involved in improving our tree canopy score? Sure. So some of the best ways that your neighbors can get involved in increasing tree canopy in your district is to plant trees at your houses or encourage your local businesses that you frequent to plant trees on their properties as well. There's a couple of reasons why we have low canopy, and not all of them are bad. If you can see behind us in this big, beautiful open field, which is also environmentally important, not all of Lexington was always forested. So part of the challenge is that we have these big open fields, which we also want, and they shouldn't all have trees. And so you're going to have lower tree canopy. And in spaces like this, it's okay. Where it's really important to put more trees is by our houses for all the environmental benefits and all the human health benefits that trees provide for us. Wonderful. I know last year, during tree week, I got a free tree and it's planted in my backyard. Cause I have two trees in my front yard, none in my backyard. So I planted it in my back. And so it's so cute. The leaves are so great. It's so cute. I call her Ruby. She's really cute. Okay. What are your top three tree tips you can tell my neighbors? There's lots of tree tips. But I think the ones that, you know, coming into spring or out of spring and into summer, the biggest things to think about is making sure that you have your trees matched. Match is a big conversation. A lot of people love match. A lot of people hate match. The biggest reasons for match is that it helps to refeed that soil. And that's where your tree is getting its nutrients. And so if it has healthy soil, your tree will be healthy and require less maintenance moving forward. It will have less problems. And so if it has good soil, you will also have to water a little bit less in those times of the year when we have less water. So mulching is the most important. Not only does it do that, but it also protects your tree's roots and the trunks of the trees from mowers. So most of our urban problems with trees come from human induced damage. And so making sure to not run over the roots with your lawnmower, making sure to not hit the trunks of your tree with your lawnmower or weed eater, which is a big culprit. That's the best way that you can guarantee to have a good healthy tree into its expanded life. Pruning is good. It's maybe not like the top tip now is not the most ideal time to prune. However, if you need to prune to make sure that tree is not being damaged by a vehicle or hitting your head on it when you're trying to mow around it, that would be a good one. And then watering. Watering is kind of tricky. It's not rocket science, but you kind of just have to have an understanding of our rain system and when we're getting water, when we're not getting water, because trees can die from drought, but they can also die from drowning. It's a root rot that will happen when we have too much water, especially in young trees. So I'll say, you know, making sure that they get about an inch of water a week during normal time in the spring. Rains count. So we really don't need to be watering right now at all. But come late June through July, August, September, into October sometimes even now, watering once a week when we don't have rain. And if we have long spells of no rain, watering twice a week. What I do is I set my hose around three sides of the tree, give it 20 minutes on each side. And then that's good for me because I don't have a rain gauge. But if you want a rain gauge, that's a good way to know if you've had that inch of water. Well, these are great tips. I learned so much. Thank you so much, Heather. And I want to invite my neighbors, come out to Madison Station Park here and see the new trees have been planted along the trail. And please be tree advocates with me. And if you want some trees, please contact me. I'll be happy to direct you to some awesome agencies and partners here in the community that can give you a tree when, if you want to plant one. Thank you, Heather. Thank you. Hi, I'm Councilmember Hannah LaGrie, and I'm really excited to share about a new pilot project launching in early June that reflects the values that we all care about. Safer streets, community-driven solutions, and a more connected Lexington. We're making changes to East High Street between Woodland and Rose to address longstanding concerns about speeding and pedestrian safety. This quick build project will add over 30 spots of new parking, a loading zone, a protected bike lane, and will modify our travel lanes. It's a multifaceted effort aimed at calming traffic and making the streets safer for everyone. These changes are based on feedback from neighbors, and we'll be testing and adjusting as we go. Installation is planned to begin on June 2nd, weather permitting. Thank you to everybody who's helped to shape this effort, from our Complete Streets coordinator to our traffic engineering, to our division of planning, to our metropolitan planning organization, and especially a big thank you to our neighborhood champions who helped to push this initiative forward in our community. To learn more, visit lexingtonky.gov forward slash roadpilot. Let's keep moving Lexington forward together. That's all we want to hold each other. Play us a groove so we hardly move. Just let our hearts beat together. Oh baby, cause it feels so good when we're close like this. Whisper in my ear and let me steal a kiss. Come on, touch me when we're dancing. You know you've got that loving touch. Oh, touch me when we're dancing. I want to feel you when I'm falling in love. Tonight's the night and it feels so right. What my heart's saying to me. You're the one and I've waited so long. So let your love go through me. Oh baby, cause it feels so good. We can be this close. You've got me up so high. I could fly coast to coast. Come on and touch me when we're dancing. You know you've got that loving touch. Oh, touch me when we're dancing. I want to feel you when I'm falling in love. Whoa, whoa, touch me when we're dancing. You know you've got that loving touch. Oh, touch me when we're dancing. I want to feel you when I'm falling. Feel you when I'm falling in love. Oh baby, cause it feels so good when we're close like this. Oh baby, you know you've got that loving touch. Touch me when we're dancing. I want to feel you when I'm falling. Touch. All day and all of the night. Touch me when we're dancing. I want to feel you when I'm falling. You've got to feel you when I'm falling in love. Touch me when we're dancing. Touch me when we're romancing. Touch me when we're dancing. Baby, you've got the magic to me. It seems like only yesterday I didn't have a clue. I stood alone not knowing where to turn. I stood alone not knowing where to turn. I stood alone not knowing where to turn. I stood alone not knowing where to turn. I stood alone not knowing where to turn. Now suddenly I look around and everything looks new. Now suddenly I look around and everything looks new. I don't know why but I think I'm starting to learn. They call it understanding or willingness to grow. I finally understand that there's so much I can know. Until the day you came along I used to just get lost. I only heard the things I wanted to hear. Always seemed like no one cared. Then you took the time. Now I look and everything seems clear. You got me understanding. You really helped me see. I finally understand. It's meant so much to me. You got me understanding. You've given me some pride. I finally understand. You're really on my side. Really on my side. You got me understanding. Understanding. You got me understanding. Understanding. Understanding. You got me understanding. For the first time. You got me understanding. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. You got me understanding. You got me understanding. Mm, yeah. I used to think maybe you loved me. Now, baby, I'm sure. And I just can't wait till the day when you knock on my door. Now, every time I go for the mailbox, I gotta hold myself down. Because I just can't wait till you write me you're coming around. Now, I'm walking on sunshine. Whoa, I'm walking on sunshine. Whoa, I'm walking on sunshine. Whoa, and don't it feel good? Hey, all right now. And don't it feel good? Hey, yeah. I used to think maybe you loved me. Now, I know that it's true. And I don't want to spend my whole life just waiting for you. Now, I don't want you back for the weekend. Not back for a day. No, no, no. I said, baby, I just want you back, and I want you to stay. Oh, yeah. I'm walking on sunshine. Whoa, I'm walking on sunshine. Whoa, I'm walking on sunshine. Whoa, and don't it feel good? Hey, all right now. And don't it feel good? Yeah, oh, yeah. And don't it feel good? Walking on sunshine. Walking on sunshine. I feel the love, I feel the love, I feel the love, it's really real. I feel the love, I feel the love, I feel the love, it's really real. I'm on sunshine, baby. Oh, oh, I'm on sunshine, baby. Oh, I'm walking on sunshine. Oh, oh, I'm walking on sunshine. Oh, I'm walking on sunshine. Oh, enjoy it, feel good. Hey, all right now, enjoy it, feel good. I said it, I said it, I said it again now, enjoy it, feel good. Hey, yeah now enjoy it, feel good. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy it, feel good. I said it, I said it, I said it again now, enjoy it, feel good. Hey, enjoy it, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy it, enjoy, enjoy it, feel good. Oh, tell me, tell me, tell me again now, enjoy it, feel good. Oh, yeah, enjoy it, feel good. Oh, enjoy it, feel good, enjoy it, feel good. Enjoy it, feel good. Oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, yeah, yeah. Hey, yeah, yeah. I was a sailor, I was lost at sea. I was under the waves before love rescued me. I was a fighter, I could turn on a thread. Now I stand accused of the things I've said. Love comes around, I'm gonna jump that train. But love don't count, I'm gonna catch that pain. Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down. But I did what I did before love came to town. I used to make love under a red sunset. I was making promises I would soon forget. I used to play on the lace of a wedding gown. But I left her standing before love came to town. I ran towards you, John, when I heard the kids all scream. The notes were turning blue, I was dazing in a dream. As the music played, I saw my life turn around. That was the day before love came to town. When love comes around, I'm gonna jump that train. But love don't count, I'm gonna catch that pain. Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down. But I did what I did before love came to town. When love comes around, I'm gonna jump that train. But love don't count, I'm gonna catch that pain. Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down. But I did what I did before love came to town. I was dead when they crucified my lord. I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword. I threw the dice when they pierced his side. But I'll see love conquer the great divine. When love comes around, I'm gonna catch that train. But love don't count, I'm gonna catch that pain. Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down. When love comes around, I'm gonna catch that pain. Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down. But I did what I did before love came to town. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Young man, there's no need to feel down. I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground. I said, young man, cause you're in a new town. There's no need to be unhappy. Young man, there's a place you can go. I said, young man, when you're short on your dough, you can stay there. And I'm sure you will find many ways to have a good time. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. They have everything for young men to enjoy. You can hang out with all the boys. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. You can get yourself clean. You can have a good meal. You can do whatever you feel. Young man, are you listening to me? I said, young man, what do you want to be? I said, young man, you can make brilliant dreams, but you've got to know this one thing. No man does it all by himself. I said, young man, put your pride on the shelf and just go there. To the YMCA, I'm sure they can help you today. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. They have everything for young men to enjoy. You can hang out with all the boys. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. You can get yourself clean. You can have a good meal. You can do whatever you feel. Young man, I was once in your shoes. I said, I was. Down and out with the blues. I felt no man cared if I were alive. I felt the whole world was so tired. That's when someone came up to me and said, young man, take a walk up the street. It's a place there called the YMCA. They can stop you back on your way. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. They have everything for young men to enjoy. You can hang out with all the boys. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. Young man, young man, there's no need to feel down. Young man, young man, kick yourself off the ground. YMCA. You'll find it at the YMCA. No man, young man, does it all by himself. Young man, young man, put your pride on the shelf. YMCA. YMCA. YMCA. YMCA. YMCA. They have everything for young men to enjoy. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. Young man, young man, let's go. We have no time to waste. We have nothing to lose. Young man, young man, kick yourself off the ground. YMCA. We'll find it at the YMCA. We'll find it at the YMCA. Oh yeah. You've really got me now. You've got me so I can't sleep at night. You've really got me. You've really got me. You've really got me. You know our love was meant to be The kind of love that lasts forever And I want you here with me From tonight until the end of time You should know Everywhere I go Always on my mind In my heart In my soul Baby, you're the meaning in my life You're the inspiration You bring feeling to my life You're the inspiration I wanna have you near me I wanna have you here with me Saying No one needs you more than I need you And I know, and I know Yes, I know that it's plain to see So in love when we're together Now I know, now I know That I need you here with me From tonight until the end of time You should know Everywhere I go Always on my mind In my heart In my soul You're the meaning in my life You're the inspiration You bring feeling to my life You're the inspiration I wanna have you near me I wanna have you here with me Saying No one needs you more than I need you I wanna have you near me I wanna have you here with me Saying No one needs you more than I need you You're the meaning in my life You're the inspiration You bring feeling to my life You're the inspiration When you love somebody Till the end of time When you love somebody Always on my mind No one needs you more than I need you When you love somebody Till the end of time When you love somebody Always on my mind No one needs you more than I need you When you love somebody Till the end of time It's a little bit funny This feeling inside I'm not one of those Who can easily hide I don't have much money But boy if I did I'd buy a big house Where we both could live If I was a sculptor But then again no Or a man who makes potions In a traveling show I know it's not much But it's the best I can do My gift is my song And this one's for you And you can tell everybody This is your song It may be quite simple But now that it's done I hope you don't mind I hope you don't mind That I put down in words How wonderful life is While you're in the world I sat on the roof And kicked off the moss Well a few of the verses Well they've got me quite cross But the sun's been quite kind While I wrote this song It's for people like you That keep it turned on So excuse me for getting But these things I do You see I've forgotten If they're green or they're blue Anyway the thing is What I really mean Yours are the sweetest guys I've ever seen And you can tell everybody This is your song It may be quite simple But now that it's done I hope you don't mind I hope you don't mind That I put down in words How wonderful life is While you're in the world I hope you don't mind I hope you don't mind That I put down in words How wonderful life is While you're in the world I hope you don't mind I hope you don't mind How wonderful life is As the son of a son of a sailor I went out on the sea for adventure Expanding the view of the captain and crew Like a man just released from indenture As a dreamer of dreams and a traveling man I have chalked up many a mile Read dozens of books about heroes and crooks And I learned much from both of their styles Son of a son, son of a son Son of a son of a sailor Son of a god, though the last done One step ahead of the jailer Now away in the near future Southeast of disorder You can shake the hand of the mango man As he greets you at the border And the lady she hails from Trinidad Olive oil and spices Salt for your meat and cinnamon sweet And the rum is for all your goodbyes Haul the sheet in as we ride on the wind That our forefathers harnessed before us Hear the bells ring as the tide riggin' sings It's the son of a god of a chorus Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends If I knew I might toss out my anchor So I'll cruise along always searching for songs Not a lawyer, a thief, or a banker But a son of a son, son of a son Son of a son of a sailor Son of a god, though the last done One step ahead of the jailer I'm just a son of a son, son of a son Son of a son of a sailor The seas in my veins, my tradition remains I'm just glad I don't live in a trailer I'm just glad I don't live in a trailer There is a tale that the island people tell Don't care if it is true, cause they love it so well Jalliemond sang for his supper every night The people fed him well, cause he treated them so right Oh, oh, oh, Jalliemond sang Oh, oh, oh, make a right ring And they wanted him to sing on the island near and far He always found his way by a rye and lucky star He tells them of their joys, he tells them of their woes They'd love to see him come, they'd hate to see him go Oh, oh, oh, Jalliemond sang Oh, oh, oh, make the music ring He was making his way home on a dark and stormy night When he heard a cry for help, he saw a flashing light When he reached the other boat and offered them a hand They said, give us all your cargo, as they took a pirate stand Oh, oh, oh, Jalliemond sang Oh, oh, oh, give them everything Jalliemond, it's over, sing your last song very well They tossed him in the ocean, cause their hearts were made in hell Came along a dolphin, he said, Jalliemond, hello I've always loved your singing, climb on board, don't let go Oh, oh, oh, Jalliemond sang Oh, oh, oh, Jalliemond sang I'm Neil Noah and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of July 14, 2025. Lexington is encouraging folks to do their part for the environment with Plastic Free July. Here's how it works. Chrissy Balding, an Environmental Initiative Specialist for the Sustainability Section, City of Lexington. My name is Holly Kasten, I'm also with the Sustainability Section as a Sustainability Intern. My name is Jallie Kasten, I'm also with the Sustainability Section as a Sustainability Intern. Sustainability in a nutshell is making sure that not only do we have enough resources to enjoy right now, but making sure that future generations do as well. Things like green space, water, food, clean air. It's very important, it's a conversation really that we can't put off. And we're just encouraging people to do what they can, everyone can play a role. July is Plastic Free July, which is a global movement. It started in 2011 in Australia, and this is the first time Lexington is participating. Very simply, so just making swaps for any of those single-use plastics that you may have. Getting at stores, so your cups at coffee shops, your plastic bags at grocery stores when you're out shopping. We have a couple examples we'd be happy to show you. So when you're out and about, you're buying either a book or a shirt, instead of using one of the plastic bags they provide you, just bring your own reusable bag, it's quite simple. And also reduce your plastic use when you borrow a book from a friend. No packaging. You can bring your own container to get, this is great for iced coffee, which is perfect this time of year. So just bring your own container, and a lot of times you'll get a discount for doing that. We know that the term Plastic Free July can be a little intimidating, but we're not asking you to go completely plastic free. There's a lot of plastic in our daily lives, from pieces of our car that keep us safe. So just find either one thing to focus on, or one area of your life. So some examples from the kitchen, this is what I take for my lunch. I bring my own silverware, so if I get takeout, I don't have to get the plastic utensil. Instead of using a Ziploc baggie, I just put my snack in this little mason jar. And when you're shopping at the grocery store or the farmer's market, you can put produce in a bag like this. So those are really easy things to change, but they do add up. So in Lexington, the only types of plastic that are recyclable are bottles, jugs, and jars. So if you think about a container, it should be narrower on the top than it is the bottom. Some common items are like what ketchup comes in, any condiments, what your shampoo might come in. But if you're describing it to someone else, if you would use the word bottle, jug, or jar, that is appropriate to recycle. We do ask that you make sure that it's completely empty and clean. It goes beyond the environment, starting with your health as well. So plastics can impact your bodily systems in many negative ways. So thinking about how sensitive your body is, and then applying that to the systems within an ecosystem, and nature all around us, all of our critters, all of our waterways, having plastic pollute those things can be really detrimental and cause a lot of negative impacts. So reducing your own use and finding these swaps, it's really amazing and helpful towards working towards a more sustainable environment. So microplastics are very, very fine materials that break down from larger plastics. They're usually hardly even visible, if they are at all. Size allows them to infiltrate a lot of very small systems in our bodies. So think about your cells. Think about all the cells that make up an environment. Those things are really easy to infiltrate when the size of a particulate matter or plastic is that small. They are not good for your health. Some studies have shown that we swallow the equivalent of a credit card size of plastic every year. Or ingest, I should say, through different mechanisms. So anything that you can do to reduce the amount of plastic in your life is good. I just want to mention that we hope that you take what you do during Plastic Free July and carry that forward. Part of the intent behind this campaign is to help people find really easy swaps that then become normalized for them. So if you would like to participate in Plastic Free July, post on Facebook or Instagram and tag LiveGreenLex. Or you can email us at sustainable.plasticfreejuly.org. Thank you. Or you can email us at sustainability at lexingtonky.gov. And send us a picture, a video, or just a testimonial of what you're trying for the month. They can go to our webpage. It's lexingtonky.gov slash sustainability. And they can sign up for our monthly email newsletter. Kentucky's film and television industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds. And a new project celebrating Kentucky cuisine. And approach that reflects WIDA's blend of culinary mastery and community spirit. I'm WIDA Michael. And I'm Steve. Good joke. Well, can I start? Well, I started researching WIDA over a year ago. And it was amazing. And we met so many great people in this state all over. Very talented. And we went to farms and cities and small towns and haulers. And it was amazing. With David Morrison's lens, Rick Gomez, my partner, the director, his brain. And Coby Toland's editing. Your story flourished. But we realized it's our story. There's a lot of things I can't say because I don't know. This is a marathon when you're involved with something like this. It's a marathon. And we're at mile 18. It took more than a year to shoot because we wanted to show every season in Kentucky. And sometimes we get a little tired of the winter and the rain and the stuff we've been through this year weather-wise. But it was important to us to show the passage of time. And instead of staging a show in one place, each time you're in the same place, we wanted to show the scope of Kentucky. We still have a lot to show. We still have a lot to shoot. We still have nine episodes. We added one. I think one of the things, too, that we in Kentucky don't always think about ourselves is how special we really are. And how special the people in Kentucky are. And that you can be your authentic self. And that I can be my antihero of all time if this ever gets aired. In terms of who I am and who the media world is. And my role and my goal is just to show that to other women and other people. Whereas you belong here is a joyous celebration of Kentucky's rich culture and people. And whereas chef, host, and executive producer, Weta Michael, guides viewers through the power of food to bring people together. And whereas the docuseries is brought to life through the talents of producer Steve Zahn. Director Rick Gomez and the macaroni art productions team. And whereas viewers are taken on a heartfelt journey across Kentucky. Experiencing food, memory, and belonging. And whereas You Belong Here was presented as an official selection at both TribecaX and the ATX Television Festival. And whereas we congratulate the entire team and supporters of You Belong Here for sharing the culture, the joy, the stories of Kentucky. It's people and food with audiences around the world. Now therefore I, Linda Gorton, Mayor of Lexington, do hereby declare June 30th, 2025, You Belong Here Day in Lexington. Congratulations to all of you. We'll talk about weather safety after this. Welcome back to Lexington Now. Hot weather has descended on central Kentucky. Here's how to stay safe during the dog days. Stay in the shade as much as possible and really work on staying hydrated. Drinking lots of water or beverages that don't have caffeine or lots of sugar. Caffeine dehydrates you. As much tasty it is, and we get our sugar and we're all jived up, it is actually dehydrating. So if you're having a Dr. Pepper, bounce it out with water. If you're outside, you have a loose shirt on, it's a light color. It will help the air move around you freely and breathe and help you enjoy the summer longer. When you're exposed, when you're outside in the sun for long periods of time, you want to make sure you have sunscreen. They recommend you start SPF 30, SPF 45, but that all depends on your skin tone and how easily you burn and how long you'll be exposed. You want to keep in mind that the UV is highest between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. If you're taking your pet for a walk in the summer, you've got to monitor the temperature of the asphalt. Put the back of your hand on the asphalt for about 5 to 7 seconds, and if it hurts you, it's going to hurt them. Their paw pads are extremely sensitive, so when they touch the asphalt, it will actually burn and peel off. I mean, it's just like you burning the bottom of your foot walking on asphalt in July. It's not fair. But they can also exhibit signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion and overheat. You can tell when they're overheating, excessive panting, they can't cool down, so it's important to keep them inside during those hot times, offer them lots of water, and make sure they have a chance to rest and recuperate. For heat-related illnesses, there are three types. There's heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. So heat cramps are characterized by heavy sweating during intense physical activity, and then obviously muscle cramps or spasms. So you're out playing soccer, it's 90 degrees, all of a sudden you go down, your leg's cramping. That would be heat cramp. You would stop the physical exercise and start rehydrating, give yourself time to rest. Move to a cool location or at least in the shade to allow your body to cool down. So heat exhaustion is a much more serious type of heat illness. In this case, you see heavy sweating, weakness. Your skin gets cold and pale and clammy, which seems like the opposite of a heat illness, but it is a dangerous sign. Of course, you can see fainting and vomiting as well. When you see someone with signs of heat exhaustion, it's important to slowly start reintroducing liquids to them. You also want to try to cool the person down. You can use cool cloths, areas of heat release. That could be like your armpits, the inside of your legs, your wrists. Signs of heat stroke include someone whose skin is hot, dry, and red, as well as a temperature of over 103 degrees, a fast pulse, headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion, and sometimes loss of consciousness. If you see someone with any of these signs outside, it's important to get them to medical attention right away. You want to loosen their clothing, try to cool them down, but be careful not to force too much water into them because they may throw it right back up and it's not going to do anybody any favors. You can still enjoy your summer. It's just a matter of being safe when you do it. So if you're outside between 10 and 2, points where it's the hottest of the day, take lots of breaks, go into the shade to cool down, and monitor your activity. You see yourself start to overheat, that's time to take a break. By no means do you have to stop enjoying summer. Just do it carefully. For more information about heat safety, you can visit BeReadyLexington.com or follow us on any social media pages, including Facebook, X, which is Twitter, or Instagram. We mentioned pets in the previous segment, but here is a more deep dive into keeping them safe in summer heat. As the temperature continues to rise, many people are doing more and more outside activities. And like a lot of us, we like to spend our outdoor time with our pet. But we, as humans, take all kinds of precautions. Hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, a bottle of water. We sometimes forget about our four-legged friends like Max here, who are wearing a fur coat 24-7. To get some tips on how to help your pet beat the heat, I stopped by the Shea Bell Veterinary Hospital for some advice. The time that we see the most heat strokes is now. And so you would think June, July, August. But when dogs aren't acclimated to the weather and the weather changes, that's when we start seeing heat strokes. So April, May, I typically see more than the hottest months, which is kind of surprising. And so make sure fresh water is available. Don't keep them out, you know, if it's over 70 or 80. Limited exposure. If you have a very active dog, kind of limit their activity in the heat of the day. Brachycephalic dogs, so dogs with squished nose, Boston's, Pugs, Boxers, they don't handle the heat well. And so I wouldn't take them to the dog park or running or any outdoor activity. And, you know, from 10 in the morning until 5 at night on hot days because they just can't tolerate the heat. You know, in the heat of the day, keeping them on the grass is better than the hot concrete. Some dogs shouldn't be walked in the heat of the day just because it burns their pads. And so definitely stay off the black asphalt. Sometimes concrete is not terribly as hot as black because it doesn't attract the heat. But grass is going to be better for sure. The big thing to watch for is excessive panting is kind of a first time. So if they can't get comfortable and they're trying to lay down and kicking their feet out and panting a whole lot, they're restless because they're getting overheated. A lot of times their gums will be really pink and injected and more so than normal. In extreme cases, you'll start seeing vomiting, diarrhea. A lot of times they can have blood passing their stool. End stages or convulsions can even cause death. And so if you start noticing that, you need to cool your dog off pretty fast and get them to the vet. And if your pet's like Joey here, who likes to take long summer drives with his head out the window, you've got to make a plan to make sure your pet spends no time in an unattended hot car. The hot weather becomes crucial time for animal welfare. What you want to make sure you always have handy is extra water for your dogs and cats. If you keep your dogs and cats outside, you want to definitely have an area constructed where they have adequate shade. And it's essential in this time of season not to leave your dogs or cats locked in hot vehicles. A lot of people just want to spend as much time with their beloved pets as possible. So they want to take them on errands with them, which we totally understand. But sometimes you do need to leave your pets at home or with trusted friends and family because they can overheat really quickly in vehicles. And it is something that we do respond to. So we can potentially go out if your dog is in your car unattended. If you absolutely have to take your dog or cat with you in the car, make sure you have visible food and water present for them. It's not uncommon for us to do a temperature reading inside of a car and it to be above 100 degrees. So it can be extremely hot in there. That's why animals can get into stress a lot hotter. And especially a lot of small breeds that have more breathing issues can get hotter and into stress a lot quicker. So it is something we see very common. So it is important to just leave your pets at home if you can. But if not, always have that food and water available. Every call that we respond to is situational. We do respond to every single complaint that we get. Anything animal related, but especially when it's animal welfare concerns. And it just depends on a lot of different factors. How much history we have with that particular person. What condition their animal is. How bad of distress they're in. If it's something that can be fixed through education, we always want to do that. But if it's something that's beyond the point of education, then we do have every right on a cruelty case to issue a charge and seize the animal if we have to do that. But we prefer to work with the public and educate them to try to make sure that if it's a pet that they love that they keep it home but in compliance. We rely 100% on the community to call us and tell us whenever they see an animal in distress, in danger, trapped, or possibly being abused. So please call us at 859-255-9033. That's where you'll get to our dispatcher. And we do have an animal control officer working 24-7. You can always visit our website for information, which is www.lfacc.org or go on our Facebook page. But those are not for emergencies. If you have an emergency with an animal in distress, you should always call us. There's live coverage on LexTV and streaming online coming your way this week. And remember, you can also find the most up-to-date information on non-televised city business at LexingtonKY.gov. Here's this week's Meeting Cup. 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 LexRex, or catch our live traffic cams on LexingtonKY.gov. For all of us at LexTV, I'm Neal Noah, and that's it for now. Thanks for watching. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ I feel it when I fly So talk to me, I'll listen to your story I've been around enough to know That there's more than meets the eye Everybody needs a little bit of charm A little greebery keeps you safe from harm Reckons on me, I'll remind on you Luckiest couple on the avenue With a little love and luck you will get by With a little love and luck we'll take the sky In this megalomodern world you've got to try Try a little love and luck and you'll get by Mysteries don't ever try to solve them We're just players in a game and no one's keeping score So have fun, go ahead and tell your story Find yourself a lover who will glue you to the floor Everybody needs a little bit of charm A little greebery keeps you safe from harm Reckons on me, I'll remind on you Luckiest couple on the avenue With a little love and luck you will get by With a little love and luck we'll take the sky In this megalomodern world you've got to try Try a little love and luck and you'll get by Go ahead, say it Go ahead, say it Go ahead, say it Go ahead, say it With a little love and luck you will get by With a little love and luck we'll take the sky In this megalomodern world you've got to try Try a little love and luck and you'll get by Go ahead, say it Go ahead, say it With a little love and luck you will get by With a little love and luck we'll take the sky With a little love and luck you will get by I can't stop this feeling deep inside of me Girl, you just don't realize what you do to me When you hold me in your arms so tight You let me know everything's alright I, I'm hooked on a feeling I'm believing that you're in love with me It's as sweet as candy The taste stays on my mind Girl, you keep me thirsty for another cup of wine I got it bad for you, girl But I don't need a cure I, I'm hooked on a feeling I'm believing that you're in love with me It's as sweet as candy The taste stays on my mind Girl, you keep me thirsty for another cup of wine Hey, it's Vagina Cole with another episode of Your Lex PD. So this next episode is going to be near and dear to you. It is. We're going back to early beginnings of my career. And we're going to talk about the Explorer Post 357 program that we started back in 1999 for young people that have an interest in law enforcement. And now that I've transitioned to another role, a couple of my former explorers and their officers on the police department have taken over the program. So we are at West Rock Hall and let's go talk to them. All right, let's go. So LPD Explorer Post 357 started in 1999? 1999. So, you know, the way it came about, I had been at a training conference and I had the opportunity to actually speak with some other agencies around the country. And they were taught, we were talking about different types of crime prevention programming and things that they were doing. So the Explorer Program came up. So when I came back, I spoke with Assistant Chief Ulysses Berry, which was the Assistant Chief of Community Services at the time. And I said, do we have an Explorer Post? And he said, well, we do now. So we had attempted, the police department attempted a couple of times before, but it never really happened. So we talked about it. We formulated everything through Scouting America. And we had an opening night where we invited parents and some of the youth in to talk about the program. And that's where it all began. So it's hard to believe 25 years ago, 1999. Did you start it? Yeah, yeah. So something has changed. Congratulations are in order. If you notice, Baj has chevrons on his sleeve. So congratulations, Sergeant. Thank you very much. I'm very blessed. So who took over? Who did you take over the reins? Well, it makes me very happy because I had two former Explorers that had become Lexington police officers, and actually we've had several. But these two started when they were both very young, worked their way through the Explorer program, came on the police department, and now I'm turning the program over after 25 years to these two former Explorers. Absolutely fantastic. Couldn't make me any happier. Well, awesome. Well, let's go talk to them about it. All right. Sounds good. We are here with Officer Hobson and Officer Meredith with Explorer Post 357 with Community Services Section. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you for having us. Absolute pleasure. It's absolutely great to have them because, as I said earlier, both of these guys were Explorers. And so in their youth they trained with us and were very involved with the Explorer program, made it through, became Lexington police officers, and now they're taking over this program after 25 years. So I'm excited about it. Tell us a little bit about the program. So we have a group of kids between the ages of 14 and 21 that are interested in law enforcement. It's a pre-academy program that we designed. And it's very structured, very similar to going through the academy, a lot of the same curriculum and so forth. So what all do you do? I like to start off when new individuals come into the program just to kind of give them a brief explanation that we do a lot of academy-adjacent training. So a lot of the same classroom opportunities that you get in the academy, we kind of give an intro training to here at the program. So either one of you can answer this. What are the eligibility requirements to be in the Explorer program? Sure. So obviously you have to be between the age of 14 and 21. You have to at least have a 2.0 grade average. You have to have completed middle school, so you have to be actively in high school. Okay, so they have to be enrolled somewhere. Do they have to be a Lexington or Fayette County resident, or can it just be anywhere? They do not. Anybody in the state, if you're willing to come hang out with us, you're welcome. We've had kids from all over the state. I think the furthest in recent past we've had a couple brothers that came from Jackson County. So what would you tell someone that's interested in the Explorer program to be a future Explorer? The Explorer program is a great place to find your community if law enforcement is really what you're wanting to focus on in a career. A lot of individuals who are growing up in high school, they don't have an outlet to be able to go to to kind of focus all of their goals into something. Here is a good place for that because you're with other kids that are around your same age or a little bit older to have some sort of mentorship and fellowship with. And then on top of that, again, you're honing in your skills to do what you want to do when you grow up. So how often do the Explorers meet? Yeah, so we meet every Thursday night from 6 to 9 here at West Rocall. We meet 365 days a year. The only time that we usually check off is to try to keep around the Fayette County public school schedule. So if they implement weather or holidays, even some of the holidays, we kind of get together and just kind of hang out. So yeah, but every Thursday night from 6 to 9. And you also do different types of community service events outside of training, correct? Yeah, we do. Some of our big events is that we work the U.K. football games. We do traffic control for them. We recently had a new event coming up that we're going to be doing some bike patrols. We're pretty excited about that. So yeah, we do a lot of different community events. So with both of you all being officers now, let's go back a few days. How did this help? Did it help you become officers? Did it help you get on the police department? Because I know one of the reasons when we first started this program, young people really did not have a career path towards law enforcement. That was pre-criminal justice classes in a lot of the high schools and things like that. And so young people really didn't have a way to find out about law enforcement. They do more so now. But was this a good path to get where you are now? I would absolutely agree that this is the place to be if your goal as a young person is to eventually be in law enforcement. This program gives you the opportunity to see the inner workings of how our department runs and how it works. You go through every section in the department and you get a good in-depth understanding of what individuals in those units do on a daily basis. It's also a great networking opportunity. You get to meet a lot of officers all the way from training academy staff and recruits all the way up to the chief. Nice. Very good. What about you, Hobson? For me, it's been a fantastic road. I remember when I was 14 years old working at a dry cleaners and I had Officer J.D. Retired and Officer J.D. Washington come in. He was real nice looking. He had all his uniform nice and crisp. And I said, hey, I want to be like you one day. And that's when he introduced me to you. And ever since then, it's just been amazing for me. It's taught me a lot. Not just how to be a police officer, but it taught me how to interview. It taught me how to just be a citizen in general of how to do my work. It's been a great path for me as well. And then there's a lot of other components too as far as physical fitness. I know we all still do. I know we used to do the POPS training, which is the Police Officer Standards Training for Kentucky, a couple times a year to kind of let the kids gauge where they are and know because that's such a big component as far as getting hired too, right? Yeah, so we still do it twice a year. Sometimes we try to slide in three times a year depending on the weather. But ultimately, we just try to get them ready for the next level just because we know how tough the academy is and we know that anywhere you go is kind of the same standard. So once we go through that POPS, we say, hey, this is pretty much what you're going to be doing. So if you can't do it now, it's time to start training now. That way you have enough time when the academy comes that you'll be ready. Wayne, you don't have to be or want to be a police officer in order to do this because I know we've had folks that have gone to the military, just all different types of careers. But this was just a really good experience for them, a very structured setting, disciplinary setting that was very beneficial, I think, for that age, whether they have a career path towards law enforcement or not. Would you agree? We're definitely a program that's very constructive in building your skills to have a career just in general. We've had explorers go to be teachers, to be EMT, again, to the military. You get a lot of opportunities to deal with military recruiters in our program through other recruiting events that we do. I mean, it's just a good baseline stepping stone for young adults to gain the ability to have a better chance at success. Nicole, can you imagine when you started the academy, if you had already known how to spit shine your shoes, if you had already known a lot of the criminal law, the Kentucky Revised Statutes, you'd known some of the departmental policies, pretty big heads up. Yeah, that would have helped a lot. And it's not all work, all right? We do a lot of recreational things. I know we compete every year in the national competition, largest explorer competition in the world, usually about 3,000 explorers at this thing. And I will say that very proud of Lexington's Explorer Program, have always fared very well in that first, second, third place in so many different events, competing against agencies all over the United States. So there are a lot of things other than just career path working. As you mentioned, fellowship, there is a lot of outlet there as well. Absolutely. Yeah, so I'm glad you brought up Winterfest. We actually just went to Winterfest in Gatlinburg this past year. They had a good time. They worked really hard. They got to see just how other posts operate, some of their uniforms, and see that it's not just us. We actually got to meet a few other posts here in Kentucky that we didn't know about. So we got pretty excited about that, and so had the opportunity to get a link up with them and do some things. But, yeah, we go for five days or four days, and they get an opportunity to kind of stay around each other for more than three hours so they can understand that some people have brothers and sisters. Now you have an opportunity to stay with somebody that you don't know. So they get closer when they go to this competition as well too. So it's fun to have an opportunity to really see their work actually be done and what it looks like when it comes together. I always look forward to February going to Gatlinburg every year for the competition. It was a lot of fun for the youth, and it was a lot of fun for the officers as well. So I think that you two standing here today as Lexington police officers is definitely a testament to the fact that this program works, that people that have a commitment, want to be a police officer, this is a positive, positive direction to go in. So we encourage anybody out there that's interested in law enforcement, has a child interested, grandchild, whatever, reach out to us, and let's talk about your tomorrow, which starts today with the Explorer Post 357. And I always kid you, Officer Hobson, because he's wanted my job for a long time, and probably since he was 14. And now not only have you taken over the Explorer program, but you actually took over my crime prevention spot in community services. So very proud of you for that, proud of both of you. So, and I know you mentioned at 14 you met an officer and he introduced you. But for those that maybe doesn't come across an officer and they're interested in the Explorer program, how do they get in contact with you all? Well, so first of all, nowadays, now we've been going to a lot of the high schools, doing a lot of career events at the high school. I just did a few this week. It just gives us the opportunity to get face-to-face contact with them to say, hey, this is what our program is, and this is how we operate. Let's show some pictures, let's show a video. And it just gets them excited about it. So that's the number one thing that we are trying to work on, is just more getting out there. That way people know more about us. Obviously, social media is a big thing nowadays. So we try to be on it as much as possible with pictures and videos. That way they can gauge it that way as well, too. So you can look at the screen right now. We've got the website, QR code. You can actually go to that website and get information about the program itself and also get information on how to join, right? Absolutely. Well, thank you, Officer Hobson and Officer Meredith, for joining us today. Thank you all for having us. Thank you very much. It was really nice talking to Officer Hobson and Meredith about the Explorer Program because I didn't really know that much about it. I'm so proud of them. They're doing a great job. Couldn't ask for a better situation than them coming into that role. So, outstanding. So next month, where are we going? We're going to the dog house. So we get to talk to our four-legged friends. Yeah, looking forward to that. Our canine unit. And everybody's always excited about seeing the canine unit, the officers, and the dogs, right? So we've got patrol dogs, we've got narcotic dogs, and we've got bond dogs. So we're going to focus on them next week, go out and visit them at the kennel and see them do some of their training and some of their work. So I'm excited about that. I am too. So join us next month for another episode of Your Lex PD. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Oh, I like that. Now, Jenny. Luke. You got it. Baby J is turning back for me. We got more money, more money. Luke and Jenny. Here we go. More money, more money. Lift the boat. Here we go. Grab the seats. Big. Best things in life are for free. Are for free. Baby. No more than you're willing to give. Because you won't give me nothing for my good love. And it's for free. And I won't let you by myself. You see, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. We're going to do it. I'm going to do the very best I can to be your lover. Because I understand. Feels good. Feels good. Feels good. Feels so good. Wait a minute. I still don't think they've got it. Let's tell them one more time. Check it out. Everybody needs to know that. Best things in life are for free. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you won't give me nothing for my good love. And it's for free. Everybody knows that. Best things in life are for free. Yeah. We've got each other. Best things in life are for free. But you know, you know. You are free. You know. But you won't give me nothing for my good love. And it's for free. Best things in life are for free. But you know, you know. That best things in life are for free. And I'm free. It's late in the evening She's wondering what clothes to wear She puts on her makeup And brushes along blonde hair And then she asks me Do I look all right And I say yes You look wonderful tonight Go to a party And everyone turns to see A beautiful lady Walking around with me And then she asks me Do you feel all right And I say yes I feel wonderful tonight I feel wonderful Because I see the love Right in your eyes And the wonder of it all Is that you just won't realize How much I love you Oh It's time to go home now And I've got an aching head So I give her the car keys She helps me to bed And then I tell her As I turn out the light I say my darling You are wonderful tonight Oh my darling You are wonderful tonight I'm sorry If a picture paints a thousand words Then why can't I paint you? The words will never show The you I've come to know If a face could launch a thousand ships Then where am I to go? There's no one home but you You're all that's left me to And when my love for life is running dry You come and pour yourself on me If a man could be two places At one time I'd be with you Tomorrow and today Beside you all the way If the world should stop with all the things Spinning slowly down to die I'd spend the end with you And when the world was through Then one by one The stars would all go out Then you and I Would simply fly away Operator, please connect me With 1982 I need to make apologies For what I didn't do I sure do need to tell her That I thought the whole thing through And now it's clear that she is what I should have held on to They say hindsight's 20-20 But I'm nearly going blind From staring at her photograph And wishing she was mine It's that same old lost love story It's sad but it's true There was a time when she was mine In 1982 Postman, can you sell me A special kind of stamp One to send a letter From this crazy lonely man Back into the wasted years Of my living past I need to tell her now I know how long my love will last They say hindsight's 20-20 But I'm nearly going blind From staring at her photograph And wishing she was mine It's that same old lost love story It's sad but it's true There was a time when she was mine In 1982 Losing my mind going back in time To 1982 instrumental music plays instrumental music plays Well, I'm Councilwoman Denise Gray. I proudly represent the 6th District here on Council. So Youth and Government Day is an opportunity for students to come in and learn. We have students from Fayette County Public Schools come in to the Government Center where they learn about the intricacies of local government. And they also have an opportunity to meet their council members, commissioners, and even our public safety leaders. Students always participate in the mock council, which they loved. And what was a joy to watch was how tentative students were in the very beginning to the end where they wanted to keep doing it. So that right there was just lovely to see and just hearing their different points of view. The motion has passed. applause Youth and Government Day was my baby that I came up with when I entered Council. It's so important to me because I remember being a child of being a student in Fayette County Public Schools and not knowing anything about government. Most people in the City of Lexington don't understand that the City of Lexington belongs to them. And they are free to come here. So that was the opportunity to have young people who have never been to the Government Center learn more about how accessible local government should be for them. Last year was the first year of our Youth and Government Day program. So this year, what I did is that I added an outside aspect where we had our public safety there with their horses, with their copsicles, with the fire truck, all there. So that right there was something new. And this year, the students learned about a career that most people don't know about, which is urban planning. And so I see future planners who will be deciding what they want to do. My favorite part about this day is just being able to be around people who do government and getting the experience. Because maybe one day I might want to do this, so I can get the experience right now to pave a path that might let me be able to do this for my family. The Carter G. Woodson Academy was approached because the students come from representatives from every single district except for District 10. I think it's important for our young people to see people who do not look like them or who are typically the people in positions of leadership or making major decisions. And so that's why I take this role as a black woman very seriously and I do. And when I'm thinking about policies to introduce, am I reflecting as many residents as possible? And that's why diversity is important. And not only just racially, I'm speaking about how we worship, where we come from, the different cultures. It is so important for us to have representation means diverse thought. And so I want to make sure as an elected official here in Lexington, Kentucky that I create room for our next generation of leaders. I believe every single thing about me as being a leader and being a council member is to make sure that I make this office as accessible to not only those who can vote, but all the leaders here. I liked watching how they did everything. The process was really interesting to me, especially when we got up and did it ourselves. Getting to first-hand see everything, it felt different knowing how much they do. More than one student asked if we could do this more often. They asked for the next time judges. And I'm like, that sounds amazing. So that's possibly something that we can add. So I love the fact that these young people are enjoying this. And I'm hoping even after I'm here on council, that whoever's on council or the mayor, that they will always consider our next generation of leaders. The most important takeaway that I hope they took away from Youth and Government Day this year is the power that they have. And the fact that leadership doesn't begin once you're an adult. It begins right now at this age. They can be leaders in their school, they can be leaders in their neighborhood, in our community, in the city. They have the power within them to do all things that are positive. And as I told them when I spoke with them, it begins now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, neighbors. I'm Council Member Shayla Lynch and I have the honor of serving the 2nd District. Today I'm going to interview two important city staff employees that help take care of our parks and our environment here in the city. So please stay tuned and learn some great tips about trees and trees. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, neighbors. I'm Council Member Shayla Lynch and I'm here with Tim Joyce who works in our Parks and Recreation Department. Welcome, Tim. Hi. How are you today? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm wonderful. Now tell my neighbors what you do for the city. Sure. I'm a park designer in our Parks Planning and Design Office. So what that means is I work on all kinds of projects related specifically to what happens in our parks. So any day of the week I might be working on a park plan for the overall park and what's happening inside of it, the amenities that are going in it or that already exist in it. I might be working on a playground design. I might be working on tree plantings or I might be working on trail designs. It really ranges from park to park. How long have you been doing this for the city? I've actually only been here since August of 23 but I interned here in the same office with the city and I've been here since August of 23. So I've been here since August of 23 and I was in the same office when I was in undergrad at the University of Kentucky and that was about 25 years or 20 years ago. That's awesome! Awesome! Full circle moment, huh? Yeah, absolutely. So speaking of tree plantings, you helped us with a tree planting here in National Station Park. That's where we are neighbors. We're in National Station Park. Tell us about how you decided the design for the planting of those trees that were put in by the trail. Sure. So the most important thing to mention is that our park's master plan for all of our city parks, it guides what we do in each park, identified, this was back in 2016-17, it identified needs in each park and generally speaking many of our residents wanted more trails. So over the last 10 plus years, we have made huge strides in putting more trees for people to walk on and run on. What that means ultimately is having a better climate, having more trees so you can provide shade, maybe not the whole trail but at least part of the trail have shade. So here at Masterson Station we wanted to provide shade in pockets along just a particular section that we could make happen in this one planting. So we planted some closer to the trail, some a little further off so that over time the plants, these trees will grow to different, slightly varied sizes and provide both taller shade and lower shade and it provides a better overall experience than if we just did all of one species, one type, one height. That's wonderful and I want to thank my Masterson Station neighbors because you all brought me to this part of the trail and you're exactly right. I ran that trail and I was like, oh it's very sunny and we do need some trees. So I was excited to partner with Parks and Tim to get some trees planted in that section of the trail in the Masterson Station Park. So thank you neighbors. I appreciate your help with this project. How does this work? It's a fantastic project. We were beginning to pick up trees and we were having lost trees due to a storm event, having lost trees due to disease or insects. Or generally maybe we forgot to wait til later to plant them. So we're primarily looking at native species which is generally a city-wide effort, not just a parks thing. So native species, we want to make sure we're planting the right size species for the particular application. We also want to make sure that all of our, so the parks maintenance staff is aware of that. And then maintenance-wise, generally we're planting species that thrive long-term in our climate. Native species do that. So they have minimal maintenance ultimately. Some of the maintenance that may be required is that first year we make sure they're watered in, we make sure they're mulched. And then as they mature, we do have to depend on environmental services to assist at times with some maintenance of tree species depending on the particular issue at hand. So for example, we have ash trees around our parks that have been attacked over the last 15 years by the emerald ash borer. And environmental services has the ability to do that for them. So those trees have been able to be saved by them due to their work and their ability. That's wonderful. A question I got this week from one of my neighbors is when we have storm events and trees go down, if a tree in a park falls over a trail, what should they do? The best advice there is to contact their council member. I think council members, I have found in my short time being back in Lexington and being in this department, are very responsive to their residents. And they want to do what's best for their community. So if you contact your council member, talk to them about it, your council member will then contact parks and figure out what can we do here and maybe how much is it going to cost. So we'll work on that and respond to them and try to get something put together. The other thing I'll mention is some parks are developing a friends of parks group. Friends of Jacobson Park, Waverly, Dogwood Park, and maybe one or two others. And basically the function of these groups is they are nonprofit. They find opportunities to do projects in their park. It could be a tree planting, a pollinator garden, other native habitat, native planting habitat work. They find funding for that. And then they get approval of their proposal. So we have to sign off on what they're doing. And so that's a great way for the local community to kind of take ownership of their park. Even though it's a city park and everybody uses it, they get a little bit more, there's a little bit more interest in maintaining it and really stewarding it through those funds. And council members are allotted funding for capital projects in their district. So that's how we got the trees in Madison Station Park. I used some of my council capital funds to pay for the trees installed. Thank you, Tim, for talking with me today and informing my neighbors about trees in our parks. And thank you for joining me. I'm here to talk about trees in our environment today with Heather Wilson. Hi, Heather. How are you? Good. Good. Thank you for joining us for today's show. You can see us right there on the edge of Madison Station Park. It's a beautiful day and we're here to talk about trees in our environment. So, Heather, welcome. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk with you. Of course. I'm glad. Let's get into it. Tell us what you do for the city. I'm the senior for urban forestry with the division of environmental services. I'm the tree expert. When there's questions about where trees grow, I'm the urban forester. Our urban forester is your first stop for when you have questions about trees in spaces in front of your houses. He works with our development community. I manage the group of our arborists that manage the pruning, planting, removal, placement of trees throughout Lexington. Lots of questions. Since I've been on council, I've come to learn how important trees are to the environment. I've taken it on as a banner to promote trees in the second district. I learned we have such a low tree canopy. Can you tell my neighbors what's a tree canopy and why trees are so important? Tree canopy is for an individual tree that we exist within our city because we are a city amongst trees. That canopy is what covers us all. Trees are so important because it does so many environmental and human health benefits for us. It cools our city by 10 to 20 degrees depending on the time of day and location of those trees. It also provides shade in the summer so you can use less air conditioning because that shade is providing some of that. They work to move moisture through our systems so they pull water out of the ground and put it back into the atmosphere making this air conditioner for our city as well. They help mitigate storm responses so they absorb moisture from the trees. They put out phenols which help calm our nervous systems and reduce rates of depression. Being able to see trees out your windows calms your nervous system and reduces rates of ADHD in children. They've been shown to increase rates of test scores in students. If you want to learn more about tree canopy, visit our website. The second district has the lowest tree canopy score in the city. What are some ways my neighbors can get involved in improving our tree canopy score? Some of the best ways to get involved is to plant trees in your neighborhood. You can see behind us in this big beautiful field, not all of Lexington was always forested. Part of the challenge is we have these big open fields which we also want. And you're going to have lower tree canopy and it's OK in places like this. I got a free tree and it's planted in my backyard. I have two trees in my front yard, none in my backyard. It's so cute. I call her Ruby. She's really cute. What are your top three tree tips you can tell my neighbors? I think the ones coming out of spring and into summer, is mulch. Mulch is a big conversation. A lot of people hate mulch. The biggest reason is it helps to refeed the soil. If it has healthy soil, your tree will be healthy and require less maintenance. If it has good soil, you have to water less. Mulching is a good way to get the nutrients out of the trees. Most of our urban problems come from human-induced damage. Making sure to not run over the roots with your lawn mower or weed eater, that's the best way you can guarantee to have a good healthy tree. If you need to prune to make sure the tree is not damaged by a vehicle, that would be a good way. Watering is tricky. It's not rocket science, but you have to have an understanding of our rain system and when we're getting water. Trees can die from drought and drowning. If we get about an inch of water a week during normal time in the spring, rains count. But come late June through July, August, September, into October sometimes even now, watering once a week when we don't have rain. If we have long spells of no rain, watering twice a week. These are great tips. I learned so much. Thank you so much, Heather. I want to invite my neighbors to come out and see the new trees along the trail. Please be tree advocates with me. If you want some trees, contact me. I'll be happy to direct you to some partners in the community that can give you a tree right Ya don't need to have lurking to do just what you for. If you have a tree, before you come in. I love my tree. Thank you. Thank you so much. Some trees take only a few minutes to grow. So I'm really excited to share about a new pilot project launching in early June that reflects the values that we all care about. Safer streets, community driven solutions, and a more connected Lexington. We're making changes to East High Street between June 1st and June 2nd. We'll modify our travel lanes. It's a multi-faceted effort aimed at calming traffic and making the streets safer for everyone. These changes are based on feedback from neighbors and we'll be testing and adjusting as we go. Installation is planned to begin on June 2nd, weather permitting. Thank you to the Lexington Planning Organization, and especially a big thank you to our Neighborhood Champions who helped to push this initiative forward in our community. To learn more, visit lexingtonky.gov forward slash roadpilot. Let's keep moving Lexington forward together. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next week. Have a good day. ¶ oh yeah ¶ ¶ oh yeah ¶ ¶ oh yeah ¶ ¶ oh yeah ¶ ¶ oh yeah ¶ ¶ you gave me ¶ oh yeah ¶ ¶ because you loved me ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ you went uptown riding in your limousine ¶¶ ¶ with your fine Paul Gavin clothes ¶¶ ¶ you had the Dom Perignon in your hand ¶¶ ¶ and the spoon up your nose ¶¶ ¶ when you wake up in the morning with your head on fire ¶¶ ¶ and your eyes too bloody to see ¶¶ ¶ don't come bitching to me ¶¶ ¶ because you had to be a big shot, didn't you ¶¶