rehearsals on the first day of recording. ВОСТОРЖЕННЫЕ ВОЗГЛАСЫ МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC Have any questions or additions? Any motions to approve? Motion to approve the minutes. Motion, I second. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed, like sign. We are off and running. All right. I don't know about this says open seats on the public art commission and I'm not sure how many that is or what that means. I'm still looking here. So. So we have two. Thank you, yes. We have two vacant positions. Okay. It's on. It's on, it's just not closed. The LFUCG representative and an architect and design professional and there are some possibilities for both of those, but if somebody wanted to, if anybody on the commission has recommendations, we do need to fill these positions and we have sort of knocked around some possibilities, but I would like to in this meeting, and people can give me the information afterwards, but get anyone's recommendations and then I will be contacting people and seeing who we can actually get a firm commitment from. So. Have a conversation with you or send you an email? Yes, if somebody wants to send me an email today, if we could just get this information today after the meeting or let's say by the end of this week, if people could send me their recommendations, then we hope to take this up in the February meeting. Do you know if Melissa McCart Smith has anybody in queue? Are there any like applications? Will people have submitted applications for the commission? Not for these two positions. Okay. We do have some submissions, but they are for positions that are already filled. Okay. Good question. How many positions are there? It's in your pocket. We've got these two. LFUCG representative and an architect or design professional. Like I said, we have some really good recommendations, but I just wanted to make sure everyone had their opportunity to give us that information if you know of someone that you'd like to recommend. I'd like to hear those and we'll move forward after that. So the LFUCG representative, be it someone who works for the city now? It was me and... It was me and so we have also considered that we were waiting to see who the new Pam Miller downtown art center manager was and that would be a good art slash LFUCG, but they have not filled the position yet. We can take other nominees, but when I moved to be the mayor's office representative, it opened the spot for LFUCG. And then an architect or design professional. Yes. Someone in the craft. Yes. Alright. So we're taking recommendations. That's exactly right. Should we reach out to individuals we think would be good and see if they're interested in it? Well, I think just one point of contact is going to be a little bit easier, so I think if everybody agrees, if you all would just send me your recommendations and then I can go from there and contact people and mention the opening and see who would like it. I know it's not a horrible heavy lift, it's not a giant commitment, but it takes some time and I think people need to be able to think about it and understand. So anyway, I'm happy to be that conduit of information and then I can say if one of you wants to discuss it with that person, I can say you were recommended by so and so, please contact them if you'd like to know what their experience is like on the commission. If you all are comfortable with that, then I think that's a better way to do it. It's next to Clearinghouse? Yes. And then ideally we'd get recommendations and the council would have to take action on those, wouldn't they? Yes, they do approve our nominees. So it's likely we may not have someone, we may have identified somebody by next month, but we may not have them seated yet. I just thought by next month we could talk about here's the person who has said yes. And then we move it forward through council. Nice process. Thank you. Alright, then we have a couple of Phase 1 applications to consider. The first one is the Lady Lyric sculpture, which we have the Phase 1 application for us. Everybody take a quick look at that one. We have Krishna Dare is here from the Lyric. And we can speak to any questions that we have about that. Just make a little presentation perhaps. Krishna, can you come up to the mic and tell us a little bit about this project? Well, there you go. What we started out with was to do a six-month installation with the University of Kentucky. We wanted to create a relationship with them and actually do a presentation with them Actually, Mr. Bibbs, I approached him and asked do you have students that are willing to create some art pieces that we would install for the Lyric every six months or so. We did a competition in a sort where they would submit their renderings of what they would put out front. It was pretty awesome. The students were very enthusiastic. It gave them a job to do. It created a connection between the Lyric and the University of Kentucky. We're an arts facility. We wanted everybody to know about it. When they did that, we went through a selection process and then we actually gave feedback on what we would like. One of the artists changed some things to make it, which is what you see. She made some changes to reflect the goal of the Lyric was to reflect the community. This piece that she created being from the Morris people influence and dancing and being beautiful and enlightening and looking up. We chose it because we felt it reflected African American women in particular in that roots of it. Our number one supporter at the Lyric are African American women. There's no other sculpture or statue that I know of in Lexington, let alone maybe even Kentucky, that is specifically reflecting an art piece of African American women. When we did this piece, we got a great and we put it up and we got a lot of feedback and a lot of appreciation. A lot of acknowledgement and it was an advocacy piece as you see that we see you, we appreciate you and the Lyric is here because of you and so this piece got a little bit more enthusiasm behind it and because of that we decided to keep it. We would love to keep it there. It is an arts facility. We want people to know it. It does say cultural arts on the side but this piece right here kind of gives us another piece. We are about that. This piece, we want a permanent installation, however we can be able to move it at some point if we want to. I sent the installation at the last minute because I just got this from last night. We want to install it and we want to keep it there for a while, at least for two to five years and to be able to do whatever we want with it afterwards. As you see, it is about 15 feet tall. It fits that space amazingly. That space is weird to say this but it catches trash from blocks away. A lot of trash. We had bushes there. We had flowers. We had all kinds of things there already which ends up being a trash collecting place. It is hard to keep that place beautified but this piece right here as you see, we just clean up around it and it brings your eyes to the building. It brings your eyes up. On the back of it, it has a kente pattern which is historically a pattern that reflects the roots of African Americans from Ghana. We appreciate that in Nigeria and it matches the wall. You can see a piece of the colorful wall right there but that whole wall is a mosaic and it is a kente pattern so it all matches but to find a piece that draws yourself up like that reflects out the window. You can see it from inside going up and down the stairs. It would be hard to find something else that would be a better place for that type of piece there. I have a quick question. Did you say it is going to not stay in there? It is going to stay there. It is going to stay there. We want permanent installation however the board wanted to make sure that two to five years if we wanted to review it that we could take it and possibly move it somewhere else. Although it is a permanent it is not as permanent as the building. Your ask is for $7,000. We have already paid for everything. We don't want to ask for money from anyone. We are taking care of everything. You are not asking for funding? I am not asking for funding. You just came for us to bless this because it is a beautiful addition to downtown? Yes. Give it a great blessing. Tell the world about it. It is a beautiful piece to come see. Come take a selfie with it. It is. I think it is a very soothing piece for the space. It really fits the space well. You mentioned that you had talked with an engineer. Yes. I was curious about when we placed that base that was from the horse mania program. I just wanted to make sure that an engineer looks at the height and weight of that particular piece. As a permanent installation that base is sufficient to anchor it. I can give you what they gave me. I don't understand it. Basically we pour some concrete and go a little bit deeper with the bolts. They came and did all the measurements and weights and all what engineers do. It is not that big of a deal. I can give it and pass it. Good doctor. Overhead is great. They can fix it. Mr. Chair. Yes sir. If you all would go back and rethink as of last year it was brought up by Heather that we had not approved the piece because it is city property. Again at that particular time Mr. O'Dary was looking at not a permanent situation. Heather then said we are going to need to approve it and it is going to have to pass some speculation about the base and the security of the base. Now this is moving forward and Mr. Christian is now bringing forth the information necessary for us to look at, to review and say we approve the piece for the city. And for this particular space. Is this what Yes this is what I said. It is to And this is Kelly engineering who does most of our structural engineering in the city. So that is what he has given us as a structural engineer stamp in order to now permanently place the piece properly and make it safe. Okay so that has all been done. It has been assessed and there is an engineer stamp on the plan? Yes. Okay so that is a huge piece to have out of the way. So I think what you are saying Gary is that we need and tell me if I am wrong that we need to approve that it will be permanent. And approve its current location? Yes. And when it is approved that is when we will go forward with laying the rest of the concrete. Based on this right here. So Georgia brings up a good point too. The maintenance of the project, normally when we are funding a project some portion of it is set aside for maintenance. Do you have a plan for the maintenance of this part of it? Yes and it has been submitted. It was submitted to Heather actually and I don't know if it was passed on but there is a whole maintenance plan, how we would take care of it, what we would need to do to upkeep. However, if you see it, you can probably tell more about the material. It is a low maintenance material. It is a heavy metal structure. We wanted to get some coloring to it as well. We wanted to so we submitted a whole plan. I will just follow the guidelines. If you want to rust proof it every once in a while you come back and wipe it down. Things like that. Gary, I have a question that you can maybe answer. If you have this patina on it and it has to be power washed and something happens, it has to be done. Do you start over with that process and then it is modeled or different? Yes, you can. What is really good about this piece as massive as it looks, it is not that heavy. It took no more than two or three of us to horse it up there and then screw it down to the ground. This piece is not permanent in terms of work. You can't unscrew it and remove it. I think that is the plan that you are all looking at too. You are going to have what you call anchor bolts in there and solid concrete because the pad we in there now is no more than about two or three inches and that is not really secure. That was one of the concerns that Heather had that the piece had not passed any speculation about security. Now with the permanent base and the whole idea of being able to bolt it to the concrete or unbolt it, refinishing it. If you were to wash it, how much does that change the finish and then does it catch back up again? Do you get the ability to have that look of it in the patina without it being damaged by maintenance? It is possible to do that. Yes, very possible. And according on the artist or agreement he has with the artist, he wants them to change it. He can have it changed to color or whatever. At this point it is mild steel. It is not like bronze or anything that is going to turn in season. So that means you can put any kind of finish on it if you want. We are looking for a motion to approve. Is that where we are? Before you all do that, I do want to raise a question to Christian. Do you have all the funding for the installment? Yes. Because if you wanted to request you could request that too. We can always use some more money. The installment is going to cost $1,500 to $2,000 depending on the concrete cost at that time. I wasn't planning on submitting anything. A lot of people come and they fail to realize that we are here to help fund things as well. I was not aware. I was not aware. I was coming for approval to do it. Then I was going to raise or do whatever it took to get it in. I love it too. We are willing to do whatever. Is there a formal process or request that I can ask for assistance? Is there a form? I will be glad to fill it out. You guys know we are a non-profit. We give our money away. There is the Phase I process that is the same form. You would just say that you were requesting funding for, let's say, installation or the purchase of the piece. That is going to put you back at square one with a new application which is fine. If you want to request funding for your outlay for what you are doing for this project, that is a different process. I will do that. Two questions. Number one, do I understand that the unit is already installed and everything is already done? Yes. What you are seeing there is exactly what it is right now. It just doesn't have the permanent footing. It has to go below frost level. That padding there was provided by Nathan to be a permanent piece to set it there. Now we have to go back and re-pour so the concrete goes below frost line. My other question was your introduction to this I thought was wonderful. Is there a panel with the narrative inside or outside the building that tells that story? It will be. Right next to it on the wall there will be a panel to tell the history of why it is there and what the history is. Again, I didn't want to go that far until we were going to permanently install it. I would suggest if you are going to come back and ask for some funding to make sure you are specing how much the install crew is going to charge the concrete and likely a small crane movement because you want to pick the piece up safely, move it off site and then that piece of concrete probably needs to go away which is going to require some lifting. I would put all that into the package of requests. Very good idea. Any comments here? Funding for your interpretive plaque too. Sorry. I'll do that as well. Christian, may we ask that you put this new material together and do another phase one and it will be fast tracked. I feel like we will be able to fast track that one. Absolutely. So that you would come back with a new application with your complete budget. Can I interrupt? Can we still approve the artwork first? In my opinion, we can. It's up to the commissions. I don't think we need to. It's already there. That's what he's here to do to make sure that we approve that. Yes. We're going to do that. I think if we would approve it as a funded project in its completion and if you can get your budget together and all that information, we could do that in the February meeting. That's the first Tuesday of February. It would be essentially you'd come back and basically do the same thing. But with the budget. With the budget in hand. Your specific request. If you have matching funds or if you have other donations and things we just need to know what you're asking for and what you've already raised. We'll do it again. Thank you. I've got one other thing. A little hint here. Also include the cost of your narrative panel. They can be very expensive. Excellent point. Appreciate any more advice. I got it. This is good. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you looking at it. Again, come take a selfie with it. Post it on your social media. Tag us. Let the community know about how we want to reflect art and the community. Appreciate it. Christian, there's a lot of information out there about how there are many, many sculptures of men and there's not a lot of sculptures of women. I very much appreciate the fact that you all have been very sensitive to that. Thank you. Beautiful. I think Shayla came when we did the grant for Her Story Month. I just wanted to chime in and say I agree. It's a beautiful piece. I'm glad you're considering it for more of a permanent installation. Hannah Stein is a University of Kentucky student. She just graduated. She's in dental school. She's a person from Eastern Kentucky. She's from Eastern Kentucky. She put that work in. That student work I think is a great relationship that we created with you guys up there at the University of Kentucky. It's about community, right? Yeah. Did Hannah do the fabrication also? Yeah. Under his watch. She made the small piece first and then she went to work. Installed it and I guess wore the metal gloves and the whole nine. She is a white female but it's still cool that a female created this female piece through and through. I appreciate that fact on it as well. That's awesome. Thank you very much, Christian. Thank you for your time this morning. Thank you. Next up is our Shropshire Avenue Asphalt Art Project which we have some information on here. Good morning. I guess I'll take the podium. Say that again? If you'll take the podium so we can hear you. Great. Good morning, everybody. For those of you who don't know, I've met a few of you but my name is Hannah Krefts and I'm a principal planner in our division of planning. I'm actually going to talk a big picture about asphalt art for a few minutes and then Alice Hilton from Living Streets Lexington is going to come and join me. I wanted to set the stage. Planning has been in conversation with a number of council members, other LFUCG divisions and even some residents exploring the possibility of bringing asphalt art into Lexington. As stewards of our city's public art, I'm really excited to be here this morning to share the background of what we've been doing so far and I hope start an ongoing conversation about what it might look like to bring asphalt art to Lexington. What is asphalt art? Some of you all may know but sometimes it's referred to as street art, street murals. It's a way to creatively activate the city's largest public space which is our transportation system. It has two purposes placemaking and also traffic calming. I want to share a couple of quotes to set the tone. From Cincinnati's Paint the Streets program, by converting parts of streets into public art installations, street murals also showcase the creativity and input of local artists and residents. Street murals take advantage of our most extensive public spaces, our streets, to bring more art into daily life, fostering inclusive and vibrant communities. I think that's very well put. Then also from David Anderson who is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies' arts team, and I'll reference Bloomberg a couple of times. Street murals are creative designs that promote traffic calming by contributing to a sense of place. Adding color to the asphalt makes it extremely clear that this is a space for the pedestrian. But I think another layer is also the psychology of it. Art makes the space feel used, loved, and cared for. It signals to drivers that the street is not designed just for cars, but for people. Okay. So broadly speaking, asphalt art is highly context specific. It can vary tremendously from one installation to another. The local conditions should really determine what kind of asphalt art installation goes in, whether it's a traffic calming or placemaking. So for instance, you can do an asphalt art piece that's maybe part of a neighborhood celebrating hitting a historic milestone. Or it can also help prepare a community for the construction of a future roadway design. So you can put asphalt art inside intersections, what transportation professionals call bulb outs, which is just sort of extending the kind of corner of an intersection. You can put asphalt art in crosswalks, also mid-block. I've got some pictures on the next slide to kind of demonstrate these different placements. But the durability of the art depends on the materials that are used. I'm sure you guys can imagine. It kind of depends on where in the street it goes, and then of course the details of a maintenance agreement. So sometimes they last for a few days because they're chalk paint. Sometimes they last for a few months. And then sometimes if you're really using the highest-end materials and you've put it in certain parts of the street and you've agreed to reapply every year, you might get it for three-plus years. Okay, so some examples from places like Huntington, West Virginia and Kansas City, Missouri. I tried in my research and in conversations with others, we're trying to kind of look at cities, not just on the coast and big metropolises, but kind of our sister cities. We've got inside intersection, mid-block, crosswalk, and the one that we're sort of most, I think, drawn to for reasons I can get into are kind of the bottom, I guess, to you all, the bottom right. So curb extension, bulb outs, and other pedestrian spaces. So when conducted well, it is self-evident, I think, that asphalt art enhances the look of a place. And it highlights the importance of our most extensive, tangible public good, our streets and roads. This is asphalt art's placemaking power. But it also has been shown to contribute to increased driver awareness, greater perceived and actual safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, and then just better behavior across all modes of getting around. Bloomberg Philanthropies is a leading funder and researcher into asphalt art. So just some numbers I have here from their study, which I think, I can't remember exactly, I think it's maybe like a 2022, oh, look at that, it's right there on the, that's great, 2022. In their research, they determined they saw about a 50% reduction in vulnerable user crash rates, so that means, that's kind of lingo for bicyclists and pedestrians. They also saw about a 36% reduction in injury crash rates, so crashes that result in someone being hurt. And then about a 61% reduction in crash potential, which is kind of tricky to test, but they are seeing that I think because of slower speeds and just general sort of awareness, because the street looks different, people are paying closer attention and they can prevent something from happening. So asphalt art can produce safety improvements for comparatively way less money and within a relatively shorter timeline. That is its traffic calming power. So in planning, we're interested in asphalt art as an embodied experience of the changes that we are talking about in our plan documents. So in contrast to our conventional approach, which we will continue doing, of showing diagrams and using words. So asphalt art has the potential to rally support more easily for government concepts like complete streets, if you guys have come across that, because it lifts the issue off the page and into the real world. Just another quick example to kind of hone in on we're taking space and reallocating it. So in this example from Lancaster, Pennsylvania you can see that in the after image there's more space for people who are not in cars to be visible. I think just in this drone image you can feel that there is more of a sense of this whole area this intersection that is pretty complex is actually safer to navigate if you're not in a car. And frankly, safer to navigate if you're in a car. So I do just want to say that because the art is changing the intersection and helps rightsizing it the behavior much like the behavior changes that we see with other public art, it's not going to totally prevent bad behavior or unwanted and incorrect behavior, but it can do a lot to encourage what we desire and it can change and shift perceptions of public space. Just a few examples to show that we're exploring and learning from others. We've had conversations with a few other cities who have done these kinds of projects and as you can see there's a really wide spectrum of possibilities much like the durability the way in which cities approach these projects varies. Sometimes it's city driven sometimes it's just city approved and then other times it's an external agency that is just kind of up to stuff and they get permission from the city's transportation professionals. It can be connected to a range of policies and plans and funding comes from a number of sources. So very importantly I want to kind of reference some supporting policy that we have here in Lexington. I'm not going to read everything because that would take up too much time, but our comprehensive plan that the city adopted talks about a placemaking program developing street retrofit and traffic calming projects. Your very own public arts master plan says use public arts to activate and define spaces. Our complete streets policy the urban growth master plan also references relevant kind of approaches and then the Lexington area metropolitan transportation plan which kind of guides 20 years of transportation development even that kind of gets into including quality of life elements such as public art in our transportation. And then I did want to point out that there is in fact precedent so these are not programs that planning manages but in environmental services they have well actually the bottom one is environmental services the top one is traffic engineering but we kind of already have programs in place for kind of placing art in slightly unusual places and you I'm sure are all aware of that. Okay, so just about to hand over to Alice what's on the horizon? So from conversations with traffic engineering their recommendation is that we stick with having asphalt art in curb extensions and day lighting zones which that's I can, well actually I don't, oh yeah here we go let me go back. So that's more like what you see here as opposed to sort of painting in the middle of the intersection or even painting in the crosswalks and that's because when we put paint in those areas we're actually more effectively addressing traffic calming because we're kind of again reallocating space and you're also not having cars drive over it as much so it can last longer and look nicer. Also asphalt art in these zones is more easily fit into kind of any future quick build projects that we might do as a city so if you're familiar with what happened on High Street, maybe a future version of that on another road incorporates asphalt art. So planning envisions at this point perhaps a future program where members of the community can apply to do these projects and then they receive a permit from traffic engineering to install them themselves but at the same time planning is also having conversations again with a couple council members with the administration's complete streets coordinator about like I said incorporating this kind of art in our own projects so both a city led kind of program, a city driven internal and then also kind of sanctioning community members to do these projects so we're figuring out how to do what that might look like and this is where the application that you have before you comes in and I will let Alice talk a little bit more about it but we do see this pilot project as a way to kind of help define what that future process might look like and I think it's a great opportunity to connect with the neighborhood there the project kind of emerged as a result of the street fest event that we hosted last May it's an annual event is anyone familiar with the street fest event? Cool, some, yes, okay so it happens again every year last year was the first time it happened on Shropshire Avenue and it was kind of right by the Met and the sort of 3rd and Midland development and Living Streets Lexington was at that event and played a really big role in kind of working with people who came out as you see in the picture we had a lot of kiddos had a lot of families and they sort of put in temporary, very temporary chalk, temporary paint in the street to kind of just start that kind of conversation about reimagining the street as not simply a place to go from A to B and to speed down but a space that the community kind of lives around and lives in okay I think that that is everything for me, if you have any questions I'm happy to answer, also I can just hand it over to Alice Good morning, welcome Hannah, I have a quick question so what you are proposing is for Shropshire the application is for Shropshire, yes so it would be a more permanent installation exactly, yes and I wonder Alice if you could put the I can send kind of a mock up, we've had a couple of versions and Alice hopefully it works can we can show you kind of the rough drawing that our bike and pedestrian coordinator Scott Thompson kind of put together of where I think of it as a coloring book basically we would add striping kind of in tandem with traffic engineering we would re-stripe and basically create space in the roadway to put in color and we have to figure out with traffic engineering what's appropriate and what would work well in terms of like the operations of that street they very much are a part of this conversation because without them we can't do it so we had talked about a roundabout, we had talked about big crosswalks that gets into vertical, you need signs, lots of signs you need sort of wheel stops and basically 3D elements which adds to cost also if we do crosswalks you need to make sure they're ADA compliant and because we're already woefully behind on our ADA compliance if we put in a new crosswalk we have to be able to cut the curb and put in the ramp which adds lots of money so now for a number of reasons we've kind of drifted away from this drawing but this hopefully shows just the intersection that we're talking about which is Goodloe and Shropshire and basically I think there's a way, isn't there a way for me to point on this how do I do that it's not working well, fudge let me paint a picture for you it's the curves and the turns are so wide so what we're imagining is basically tightening them so that they're much more like a 90 degree turn as opposed to this big soft sweeping curve that encourages speeding frankly so we would be putting art kind of like that piece from Lancaster to kind of just change the turning so that it's tighter and that allows us to not have to incur all the extra expense for signage and wheel stops also means we don't have to cut into the curb or anything like that and ideally it would last a bit longer and at some point we could put in bollards which are those kind of temporary white poles just to kind of visually catch people's eye and again encourage them to go around it I think that's everything I want to say is there anything you want to add? yeah does that answer your question? okay maybe you could talk about the kind of the team that we're assembling alright hello, my name is Alice Hilton and you'll have to forgive me I'm recovering from a pretty terrible ear infection in both ears my hearing is super impaired I kind of feel like I'm in a cotton ball right now so I'm not at 100% but thank you for having us and giving us this time I'm a member of Living Streets Lexington which is a community organization made up of residents, folks in Lexington who really care about streets as public spaces and streets that are welcoming and safe for anyone no matter how they're getting around and so we've been super interested in asphalt art and have kind of been watching these projects develop in other cities and just think they have a really positive impact on how streets feel and how it feels to be in a public space and it's just a really good reminder that I think like Hana said streets are for people and also many streets are overbuilt and just have a lot of asphalt that is kind of way more than what's needed and so we see this as a way to to help activate some of those spaces we have a project team that's three Living Streets Lexington members one of them is also a city employee but is wearing kind of a Living Streets Lexington hat and then one member of the community, someone who grew up in the east end and has a lot of ties in that area and then this this structure was identified as a good spot for this first pilot project because it's where a pretty busy road midland transitions into more residential, much more low volume, low traffic volume area is right next to a park and so having asphalt art there will kind of help remind drivers that they're moving into a space that's more likely to have pedestrians way more likely to have kids so yeah I think we have talked a lot so happy to answer questions there is a question yes, the last image you showed the two images I'm a little confused is the street being realigned to include a roundabout or are you talking about the roundabout that already exists no, that was us very last minute, just like before we came up here, realizing it would have been helpful if we had brought a visual of the intersection those two drawings were things that we initially were considering with traffic engineering but in conversation with them it doesn't make sense I think to do such a big redesign of the road, so instead we're thinking about doing curb extensions, which is just basically taking, say you're on Shroffshire and you're coming from Midland, and you're kind of coming up sweeping around, say you want to turn onto Goodloe turn left onto Goodloe, right now that turn is wide and sweeping and the curve is very wide and soft, I guess and we want to kind of tighten it so that if you're in a car, you're encouraged to slow down and then make the turn, as opposed to kind of like you're a NASCAR driver, just sweep around the curve so that image was misleading because it's not the design that we wanted but wanted to kind of provide and I can follow up with an actual better depiction of it Yeah, I think it would be great to have a map to see exactly what you're talking about of the space and also to have a map to see where in that space you want to apply art, whether it would be on the asphalt or whether it would be on the concrete curb that's where I'm confused Not on the asphalt, for sure not on the sidewalk I was just going to ask about artist involvement if there was a plan in the budget to pay a lead artist what the selection process was going to be what that looked like Yeah, so we in the budget my understanding was that for Phase 1 the budget could be sort of a placeholder number and with Phase 2 we could come back with a line by line tightened up, this is exactly what the budget is going to be and part of that is that we still haven't identified exactly what kind of paint we're going to be using, so it's hard to know exactly what the paint cost will be, but yeah, we'll set aside money to work with an artist who will do community engagement and then also lead the installation, though I think a huge part of these projects a huge part of the benefit is that you have community members out who are able to participate in painting and then have that experience of sort of hands-on creating art together, so yeah a big chunk of that budget will be artist engagement. Okay, so there would be a lead artist that would help guide that design and then community involvement in helping implement it. Yes, yes it's like the community would be engaged in the installation as well as in coming up with the design but we would need, as Alice said kind of a lead artist a lead point person and just to tack on to that we're really striving for someone, ideally from the East End, ideally from as near as possible to that location so I've had a couple of conversations, I think also Alice has had one or two with Mark Johnson to kind of connect and just kind of in general through word of mouth at this point, try to get the word out and find an artist You had a question Two questions One this is a little new to me in terms of how we handle space but what is the actual restrictions on how the city sees regulation to paint stripes and direct traffic versus how we can aesthetically change that because that's what's interesting to me about this because I mean the lines are there for a reason, right? Yes But if you bring design into it, wouldn't that confuse traffic? I mean I'm just trying to see how to regulate that to then see the possibilities of where you can bring art to that situation They have parameters Yes, that's such a spot on question It's a very important question and that's why myself and then other members of planning we've been talking about this for a little over a year actually just kind of in general how can we go about doing it because it is very different from anything we've done before I just continue insisting to everyone like look at all these other places that are doing it It is very possible and so traffic engineering there's about three folks in traffic engineering that I am engaged with on a very regular basis You may have encountered some of them They're responsible for exactly what you're talking about, making sure that the street once it's built it operates the way it's supposed to and it's safe So I understood that before we could proceed further at all they needed to be on board and they're a big reason why we've kind of pivoted away from crosswalks because the federal government at this point is kind of grumpy about artistic crosswalks and then also kind of moving away from big things like roundabouts However like I kind of mentioned I think the city at large planning, engineering, traffic engineering council members, the administration there's a whole conversation about changing how we design our streets and there is a desire I think to do kind of shorter term changes that don't involve so much concrete and that will leave a lot of open space, it'll leave asphalt that's just there and so it might be possible to put asphalt art in a quick build roundabout So I would in approaching with a proposal knowing what those restrictions are first based on how you're going to design something within that restricted space because we face the same thing who does the sculpture As soon as we walk in it tells us what our restrictions are and then we have to build something around those restrictions. So I think that would be really helpful for me to be able to look at just in terms of how the design is going to work within the restrictions Okay Like Nathan said, I'm very concerned about who the design artist would be and how the aesthetics of what the design is going to fit in that particular space because we're here to promote art foremost than some plans to just make something So I think looking at what the design is, how it's going to enhance the area that's going to be where we really want to look at But I think your concept is wonderful Oh, I appreciate that If I could just quickly add, so they're also part of part of why I think the city is can you, am I, am I part of why the city is comfortable and open to trying this now is that there's a federal document called the MUTCD, it's the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices that sets out at the federal level what roadway design can and can't look like, and so up until 2023, it didn't say much about asphalt art, and so all these cities that were doing asphalt art projects were kind of in a gray area, and I don't know if you remember, the city was sent Lexington was sent the letter by the Federal Highway Administration about the Rainbow Crosswalks downtown basically demanding that they be removed, and then they weren't But in 2023, the MUTCD was updated to explicitly allow asphalt art projects and set out clear guidelines about what they could and couldn't do, so we have access to that federal document, which is quite clear-cut in terms of what's allowed and what's not And maybe just directly to Mr. Bibbs, to your comment about the design and kind of what the artist is going to come up with I think that's sort of what we've been, it's kind of a chicken and egg thing is we've come seeking funds because we want to be able to compensate an artist We can't really We feel like we can't sort of connect and select an artist until we can let them know this is how much money you will get to do what you want to do But then they can't design it until we have the money Do you know, it's sort of like a funny cycle which is why we're pretty general now Okay We're going to look at the concepts Excellent If I might, just one more comment. When you're looking at the budget, I don't know the cost of these particular materials. I imagine they're going to be a little more expensive than typical paint on a wall And paint murals average about $50 per square foot So when you're looking at the amount of square foot that's being activated, that's probably a starting place But your costs are likely going to be more than that based on the special materials that you need And then just make sure that the artist is being compensated for the time that they're engaging with the community as well, not just the painting coordination I would think that this budget could probably grow a little bit to make sure that that artist's time is being appropriately paid for I'll just put that out there. If you want any offline questions, I'm happy to Yeah, that's great, Nathan. Thank you Now, will there be a maintenance on something like this too? Definitely Yes Can I ask that might be possibly, I don't know where that would fall, but we usually ask for some money to be set aside for maintenance. Since you're doing this through planning, there may also be a part of your division that will come up with, this will be maintenance on the road that would come under your department instead. But again, there would maybe be some of the money that the art commission gives you that could be earmarked for that Just to think about No, absolutely. I mean, yes, this has been, like I said, over a year, just a lot of different conversations and just trying to figure out how best to do it. And there's so many players that would need to be involved and each has kind of their own ideal situation for it. The maintenance, I think, yes I think it absolutely is necessary and kind of like I said, it will be context specific. Sometimes one might go in and it's a church organization that's put it in and they're okay with it going away in a year and then other times they might want, we want it kind of touched up every year for the next three years and figuring out how that gets agreed upon is TBD, frankly. To be honest, Hannah, that would just have to be part of your budget that you are actually going to make that a line item. In this particular instance, we're going to do three years of maintenance, that sort of thing. So we would want to have that. I would just like to say thank you all for bringing this project forward. You all are 100% correct. This is what council is wanting to see more of in our city. The street safety task force, this is right in line with that work in creating a more pedestrian friendly, bicycle friendly, and car friendly community that will lessen accidents and fatalities to zero. I think this is a great project because I'm super excited about that and I'll just echo what Nathan said that I encourage you all to have a real formalized process as far as selecting the artist so we can ensure that equity is occurring there. I'm very excited about this. Thank you all very much. Can I have one comment and one suggestion? You presented the different paints that some are more permanent, some are temporary. One suggestion is that with that particular intersection and with traffic, there is a gray buffer zone between pedestrian and auto and those radiuses were designed and set for a reason and so I wonder if you could consider or have the artist consider the lines that really define auto versus pedestrian be more permanent and maybe that's where the maintenance, that delineation would come into play and maybe there's a fill area that could be more temporary and different materials. I think that's the part that I get a little concerned about is safety and if those lines are going to go away and just any confusion between pedestrian and auto. I think this is where when I follow up with the visual where you can see the outline will be the kind of thermoplastic white that we see if a bike lane gets marked, it would be in that kind of paint that just lasts as long as other striping in the road does, but then inside of that would be the... Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. So I had a couple comments just as a civil engineer. So I just think Shop Shire is kind of problematic. It's got bike lanes on both sides. There's no pedestrian crossing. The pedestrian crossing is only a good loose, so there isn't any way for anybody to cross from the neighborhoods or the parking lot on that side to get to Charles Young except by going up to what is that, 3rd Street? And then also Midland. So there really isn't a safe pedestrian crossing along Shop Shire. But if you look at that area, if you go over to Lewis Street, there is multiple zones of striped pavement that I think would be perfect for asphalt art that's already existing that you wouldn't need any kind of permitting for. You could already implement it. The zones are there. They've already implemented striping for traffic calming to direct a right only onto Midland. And they've blocked that left turn where the crosswalk is at Town Bridge Commons. But I think that's an opportunity for you guys to use a trial run, get some asphalt art out there, see how the community engages. It's right there near the park. It's where all that parallel parking or the angled parking is. So I think they have a huge radius there at the intersection of Lewis and 3rd Street that you could go ahead and do some painting. Have you guys looked at that at all? Actually, yes. Roger Mulvaney, who runs the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Management Program, we were looking at it most recently. This is, again, maybe like the 10th conversation we've had about it and just continually evolving. And then he pointed and he said, well, what about you could just paint in these kind of daylighted spaces on Lewis? Because that's the road that's right against the park, right? Yeah, yeah. So that had gotten pointed out. So I kind of identified that as an area. I think that'd be great. And I think that's something where you could show that this is being implemented. This is what it looks like. I mean, I think the intersection you're talking about is very complicated. I mean, it does make sense that roundabout there. I think this is all traffic stuff, though. No, absolutely. I'm not a traffic engineer, but that's all up to them to decide. How do we safely design this for pedestrians? You also have bikes. It's a very bike-heavy area with the Town Branch Commons right there and Legacy Trail. I think that would be a great place to start, personally. And I think you have the areas there to do so. I think just this intersection can be problematic, and it really takes a traffic engineer. And I'd like to see an impact study as well done on this area to see how many pedestrians actually traffic through here, bicyclists, cars, daily counts, everything like that, just to kind of see what we're dealing with in that intersection. I have been leaning very heavily on them, because if they're not okay with it, like you said, it's just not safe. But noted. We'll come back with that. Definitely. Because I think there needs to be some kind of pedestrian crossing with the parking lot being there. It's kind of surprising there isn't. You have to go all the way to the intersection, which people aren't doing. They're going to just walk across the street anyway. But that's the problem, Maggie, is you don't have any sidewalk ramps either for any kind of crosswalks across Chopsire. So that's just my suggestion. I think this is great. Alice and I have met previously talking about this. I'm definitely supportive. I just think where it needs to go, the traffic is a huge part of this, and getting that designed accurately and appropriately for the area. But I think this whole area, Lewis Street, I think would be perfect for it. So I'd really like to see whatever you guys come up with in that area. I think that for Phase 2, we can have one of the traffic engineers come help answer questions. I think that would be helpful. I do my best. Any other questions? Anything else? Is there any action we wish to take today? Well, we're going to score it. So at this point, what we normally do is ask for you all to step out. If you guys will just wait out there. And we score your project. And we'll come get you. Does everybody have a score sheet? We have two. Well, we're not scoring the first one. We're waiting for February. Okay. Anybody got any other questions about scoring? Yes. Are we scoring to give them the funding right now? Or are we scoring just for Phase 1? For moving it forward with Phase 1. Yep. And then you guys pass them to me if you would. I'll do the math. How do we score on the design and artists? We can't really give a score there. Well, this is the way I scored it. I was assured that these are coming. This is Phase 1. So if this is not brought to us by Phase 2, then the scoring is less. But right now, personally, I scored thinking that an artist will be selected. The design is coming. I'm not scoring the aesthetics of it. I'm scoring the... Let's see. There's a slot here for score. That's what I mean. I went ahead and scored thinking that there will be an artist selected. I am rest assured that there will be a professional artist picked. And this is one of those that there's kind of a chicken and egg situation. Even in the next phase, if they come back and we approve a funding, that's when they will then go out and find an artist because they'll know how much they have to... My understanding is that by Phase 2, they will have to have all of that. Okay. What I just heard from them, though, is that they want to know how much they can pay an artist before they go and find an artist. We would be saying that this is the amount. I think they can already go ahead and hire someone for the amount. They're only asking for a certain amount. There is an amount. Are we approving an amount? We're approving their request for $16,000. That's the entirety of the budget because it didn't seem like they were completely firm on those costs. It sounds like the entirety of the project is $20,000. I assume they had $4,000. They mentioned they're going to pass an NDF with the council to maybe get the other four strikes made. I'm assuming that we are being asked for $16,000 and that there will be an artist forthcoming. Do you want to bring them back in and ask them about that? Okay. Let me get her. I still can't answer these three questions. Six, nine, and ten. Make it 70 instead of 100 and eliminate those three categories for now? How does that sound? It makes sense for the situation. I was stuck on six. That makes me uneasy. I feel like this is an exploratory conversation and that from this conversation they'll go back and redefine their budget. Come back to us with a more formal request with specific materials selected and an appropriate artist fee defined because this amount without a clear breakout I think that's what's needed here. We don't need to score today? That's up to Celeste and you all. I don't have a problem scoring it today, but I don't want to mess up the process. Hannah, the question is you're asking for a certain amount of money, but then you indicated that you don't know yet what you'll be paying the artist. It's hard for us to score if we don't have a design and we don't have an artist. My understanding of it is that you're asking for $16,000. I'm scoring based on by the time you get to phase two, you're going to have an artist and you're going to have a design and you already know that you're going to pay some portion of $16,000. I think what most of the commission people are saying is that you maybe could have in this phase had a little bit more of a distinct idea of how that $16,000 is to be distributed. How much of this is for the artist? How much is for the materials? To me, we can score today because by phase two, you're going to have to have this information for us and you would be significantly scored down if you did not have this information for us. I'm not sure if that's answering everyone's question that you do know that it's $16,000 is what you're asking. Yes, and that's because the council member in District 1 has agreed to contribute $4,000. I guess my question is if you know the exact square footage that you will be painting, the exact cost of the material that you're going to be selecting, I'd like to see that breakout budget and make sure that the artist is being appropriately compensated within this request. If not, then we can encourage you to ask for more if it's needed to make sure that rather than approve a smaller amount and have to cut down on the artist's fee, I'm just wanting to make sure that the artist is being compensated appropriately. From the beginning, basically. If this was an exploratory conversation and you come back with more detail on the square footage, the exact material you're going to be recommending being used and the exact amount that the artist would be paid, I think I would feel more comfortable that we're going into the project from the start with that knowledge. I think there's a significant difference between the epoxy paint and the tempera paint. Absolutely. There are some variables in here that are extremely different. I think the other thing I don't want to get too bogged down in, and I totally agree with you Nathan, but this is phase one to just move it forward. We're just saying yes, we will approve to move forward. Correct me if I'm wrong, but then you would need all of this information by phase two. I'll just chime in and say I feel uneasy about even voting on this today because everyone had so many questions. There was even a suggestion of a different intersection, which I thought was a good suggestion. I don't know if y'all may go back and talk to Roger about that intersection or that street, but I think it would be worth another conversation and more data and information. Traffic engineering folks to come with you as a follow-up to this. I don't feel comfortable scoring today. It's just me. Are you comfortable pulling all this together then? Yes. Coming back for our February meeting? Yes. I can email you all this, but do you have a list in your mind now of exactly what you're to come with? Yes. I think perhaps a lack of understanding or misunderstanding of the pieces that you guys were talking about. We know we need. I think we thought we should before we dive too deep into that, we could present it as a very high-level concept. But this is revealing that and understandably, you would like more details. But absolutely, we can by February, I think it's the third maybe is when your next meeting is? It's the first Tuesday of February. When you come back with that also, could you maybe put some description or explanation of why you're choosing this particular intersection? Sure. I thought maybe it was in the Phase 1, but maybe it's not. Maybe I didn't. Just an explanation as to why we picked the intersection. I'd also love to see you do some stuff on Lewis. I think that's a really great place to start. It does seem like low-hanging fruit. This is something we get the ball rolling with right now. We can actually get square footages. We can get everything priced. We can get an artist. That's something I think you could move on right now. I think the intersection is a very complex thing. When you say move on right now? To get approval from the city or whoever. The zones are already painted. You just have to go in there and paint the artwork now. Right. I think we're all in real-time realizing what is murky about this. You all are the stewards of art in public space, but then planning is also the city. It's unclear who has authority and who approves, aside from your point about traffic engineering and making sure that the street is safe. In real-time, me and you were figuring out who says yes in the end and who all needs to sign off on it and when and on what pieces. Traffic is going to need the approval that we can paint a street. We're not going to tell Overtop then. They already have. In my mind, I think we could do it, except we want your all's approval as well. Andrew is saying that Lewis just seemed easier because it's not as heavy a lift as an intersection. If that could speed up the process, great. That part of the process is already done. You have permission. From traffic engineering. They're on board. It sounds like maybe the possibility is that you would be able to do both of these. Possibly. Possibly you come back and it's a bigger project. I don't know how that's going to shake out for you. Maybe you're going to do both. I do think that what most of the commission members have said is that you're going to need to come back with more information. And have some of those decisions that we were leaving open closed up. I think that's fair. I'm sure there's still some traffic regulations on what they do as far as striping and all those things. That's what I'm really concerned about. I think she's gotten permission for some of that. That's a done deal. I don't think we're moving forward without traffic engineering is basically first. I think everybody here wants them to be first in their permissions. In my head they are, but I'm realizing and it makes sense. You would like Roger or David standing here saying we're good with this. That should be in the proposal. Yes. I'm sorry I didn't hear. That should be in your proposal. So that way we read it and we know that's fair. You already have this commission. We're figuring it out. Let's say in two years we'll have a nice smooth way of doing it. So we're not going to score it today. We'll see you at the February meeting. Thank you guys so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next on the agenda. Discuss parameters of maintenance plan for public art. I'm not familiar with any underlying information there. I don't really have underlying information. I think this came up to decide what pieces that we've done so far are there pieces that we want to back up and include in this. What is the parameters for temporary work? Also, some are more high maintenance than others. Are we comfortable with the amount that we put aside for each piece considering that some of them are super high maintenance and some of them require... We've just given a standard amount every time. Exactly. Some of them are going to require more. This also came up, Nathan, when we talked about the book benches and things like that. There is not a clear plan for how those... We had an incident in which one of the book benches was damaged and who was going to be responsible for that. It's on a city sidewalk, but it was a LexArts project. It was a privately paid for piece. It got confusing. I'll mention that it's okay for an art project to have a finite lifespan. Not every piece has to last forever. With the book benches, they were meant to be temporary out there for only I think we had them out there for six months. At that point, they were sold at auction, privately owned. A few of those were purchased by the city or council members and placed in their districts, purchased by friends of certain parks and placed in their spaces. At that point, if they are purchased and placed, that is a city property owned artwork that would be placed in that location. Still, they don't last forever. I think that if a piece sees its lifespan coming and that completion, we can determine that this piece shouldn't be necessarily repaired, but has fulfilled its expectation of lifespan. It's fine for these paint on asphalt to expect them to last three years and if that's when they go away, then that's okay too. They don't necessarily need to be maintained forever as long as there's a defined period of time and a plan to maintain them for that duration and a decommissioning process at the end. I think that should be okay. I'm not sure if we need to change this in the master plan, but language needs to be put somewhere where people understand that because the person who had bought the bench was not happy about that at all and was very disappointed that there wasn't a way for us to maintain it, fix it, put it back. I think they did think that this would be a permanent project. Somewhere along the way, that piece of communication did not happen. It occurred to me that we need to make that super clear and it's maybe a LexArts thing also when those kind of projects come along that it's very clearly stated that even if it's put on a piece of city property, it will not be a permanent installation. I believe that if an individual is placing a piece of privately owned property on city property, there needs to be a very clear memo of understanding about the terms of that loan because in that case, LexArts wasn't involved in that particular agreement. That was between the individual and the city. We can define what is appropriate in terms of the city taking on, if we want to take on loans of artwork from individuals, but there needs to be terms specified in that memo of understanding. I think what I'm suggesting is perhaps that we put together a subcommittee to discuss some of the language and some of the parameters that we want for that part of our maintenance plan because that was just early on in my tenure in my new position and I didn't really have the proper language and I felt like it was a real frustration for this person. I thought this is a little tiny loop that we did not close in our language on the maintenance plan. Also, it was a weird situation that this was a privately bought piece put on city property. I want to make sure that the master plan addresses this. If you guys would let me know. Is anybody interested in being on this? I'm happy to volunteer. That's great. That would be great to have one more. Is anybody else interested in that? We don't have a full... I can just send out an email. I'll send out an email to everybody and just ask who's interested in being on that. I would lump in with that charge to explore some type of policy around temporary art in general. I know that temporary art, anything under a year or two years doesn't necessarily have to be approved by Public Art Commission, but there should be some basic guidelines. We want to make sure that anything on city property is safe for the public to be around. There should be some temporary public art guidelines at least. It was suggested by Parks that we don't do this at all. So that they were very... They got a little bit pinched in the middle of the situation because they went ahead and took possession of it at Heather's request. That got weird because it got damaged there also. It was just a big complicated thing. I realized that without engaging Parks in this process, it's unfair for us to ask them to be part of that if that's not where they want to go. I just want to avoid this. This is liable to happen more in the future. I wanted the commission to be able to have really clear parameters about that. I think there is definitely a place for temporary public art. But again, even the piece that went to the Lyric, that was on Lyric property, which is technically city property. So that was there for a temporary period. But there was... While it was well installed and everything, again, just some basic guidelines there, a minimum of understanding between whoever's piece it is and the city would be appropriate and just clearly defining those parameters. I think if this committee could take on the temporary and the permanent, that would be great. I'll send out an email and we'll get going on that. That's very good. I'll take care of that. Then under old business, review existing work for Gainesway Park Project. I set the date for their subcommittee to meet. This is another thing that I didn't completely have all the information about. Who wanted to be on that committee? We've taken a couple of stabs at this, the Gainesway Project. So we need to... Because it's complicated. It's very complicated. The progress that we made kind of got undone because we couldn't use some of the ideas that we came up with to begin with. Roseanne, are you on that? Do you still want to continue with that? I think it was Roseanne and see Craig is gone. Craig was in that group. Does anybody want to identify? You and Andrew? Jill, were you on that? I don't think so. I was just thinking who was part of that? I wanted to try to... What we would do is if we could talk just for a minute after this meeting, you guys take a look at your schedules. If we could go ahead and plan a meeting and then start to... Basically what we're doing is almost starting over on this project. It's worthy of doing that though. It's a very cool site. It really screams the need for a piece of art. There's nothing in that district. There's a lot of things about this project that could be amazing but it involves water. There's land. There's water. There's a bridge. There's a lot of different possibilities. I think maybe we need to go back to the drawing board. I wanted to convene the Gainesway Park Committee. Excellent. Are you all going to have a short meeting to make that happen? Those of you who are here that are on that committee if you'll just talk to me a little bit about your schedule. Then we're down to new business which I don't believe there is any unless anybody has anything. The public has left so there's no comment. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn is always in order. All those in favor? Opposed? Aye. Motion to adjourn. Music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Are you lonesome tonight Do you miss me tonight Are you sorry we drifted apart Does your memory stray To a brighter summer day Have I kissed you And called you sweetheart Do the chairs in your parlor Seem empty and bare Do you gaze at your doorstep Cover me there Is your heart filled with pain Shall I come back again Tell me dear Are you lonesome tonight ♪ I wonder if you're lonesome tonight You know someone said the world's a stage And it must play a part Fate had me playing in love With you as my sweetheart Act one was where we met I loved you at first glance You read your lines so cleverly And never missed a cue Then came act two You seemed to change You acted strange And why I've never known Honey you lied when you said you loved me And I had no cause to doubt you But I'd rather go on hearing your lies Than to go on living without you Now the stage is bare And I'm standing there With emptiness all around And if you won't come back to me Then they can ring the curtain down Is your heart filled with pain Shall I come back again Tell me dear Are you lonesome tonight Hmm ♪ ♪ ♪ Yeah Well I was a lucky man Double in the heartland Had a head-on collision Smashing in my gut With a party and a crossfire That I don't understand The truth will feed my lonely soul Girl I don't give a damn If the same old play don't change me I don't give a damn We're just in between For me I want the heart I want the soul I want control right now You better listen to me baby It's all just about a dream Try to make it real You wake up in the night But the fear is so real You spend your life waiting for a moment It just don't come Don't waste your time waiting Bad lads You gotta live it or a deal But once you understand It's the price you gotta pay Keep breathing it's understood If these bad lads Might treat us good Well I sit in the field Tired of getting your back burned Working at the wheel Telling you to get some facts learned Baby I got my facts Learned real good right now You better get it straight darling Old man wanna be rich Rich man wanna be king And a king ain't satisfied And you said well fine I wanna go out tonight I wanna find out what I've got Well I believe in the love That you gave me I believe in the faith That can save me I believe in the hope that I've bred That someday it may raise me Above these bad lads You gotta live it or a deal But once you understand It's the price you gotta pay Keep breathing it's understood If these bad lads Might treat us good . . . We're the ones who had an ocean An ocean deep inside But it ain't no sin To be glad you're alive I wanna find one face That ain't looking through I wanna find one place I wanna breathe it in my face Above these bad lads You gotta live it or a deal But once you understand It's the price you gotta pay Keep breathing it's understood If these bad lads Might treat us good . . . . . . Blue jean baby L.A. lady Seamstress for the band Pretty eyes Pirate smile You merry music man Ballerina You must have seen her Dancing in the sand Now she's in here Always with me Tiny dancing in my hand . . . Hi, I'm Liz Sheehan, the 5th District Councilmember in Lexington, and I'm here today with Co-Executive Director Gail Reese at ITN Bluegrass, and we're going to talk a little bit about the services that they provide to the community. Hi, Gail. Hi, Councilmember Liz. Nice to see you. It's hard not to just call you Liz. I know. We work together in so many different domains. Yes, you do. Can you tell me a little bit about ITN Bluegrass? ITN stands for Independent Transportation Network, and we are part of an affiliate. We're an affiliate of a national organization called ITN America, which started actually 30 years ago, and we became an affiliate 20 years ago. We're the second oldest in the country, and we match volunteers driving their own cars. We're a nonprofit with people who need rides, and we operate in Fayette County and northern Jessamine County. We use some paid drivers. We own some cars. We do about 40 to 50 rides a day. Wow. Okay, so that's a pretty big undertaking to organize, to get people scheduled and matched and have all of the locations. So what types of transportation services do you provide? Like where do you take people? You know, the great thing about this is just because you're not going to drive anymore, it doesn't mean you have to stop living. It's not just medical appointments. I tell you, a really important one is hairdressers and nails. Hairdressers, nails, lunch with a friend, and we do do medical. We do quite a few medical. We are an arm-through-arm, door-through-door service. So that means if someone needs help getting into a medical facility or they haven't been there before, then our drivers can help them find the right room. This is for people 16 and over or visually impaired adults. So for our visually impaired folks, we can help them also navigate these large centers or any way that they need. Okay, and so you are the Bluegrass Division, so do you operate solely in Fayette County or do you go to any of the surrounding counties? When Brandon Crossing opened, now we're in northern Jessamine County. So we'll go to Brandon Crossing. But we have so much business in Fayette County that that's where we limit ours. Now, Versailles has something called Woodford Wheels, which is an affiliate of ITN also, which is not affiliate, a portion of ITN also. Okay. So when you – if someone is a community member and they meet your criteria, so a visual impairment or over 60, how do they get in touch with you to let you know they might need this service? The good part about ITN is for our seniors today, we're still phone-based. You can pick up the phone and call someone. And first, it's a membership organization, so we can mail you a membership application or you can go online because more and more people are getting to the point where they can go online and do stuff because my generation is aging. We can do that. But once you become a member, once you fill out the application, we learn what your needs are. Like, do you have any physical things we need to know about? Do you have vision problems? Do you have some memory loss? What are your – our drivers need to know how we can help you. So we have all of that, all that's loaded into the computer. We have emergency contacts for everyone. And the same kind of – our drivers, our volunteer drivers get training and our paid drivers. So they know who they – they're getting a manifest, they know who they're picking up and what their issues are, if they have any issues, where they're taking them. The computer system matches everything. Well, it matches – our ride coordinators put it together, but then they get manifests every day. It's like, what time are you picking up and where you're taking them and what time you should be there, and it calculates all that. And that was developed out of IT in America, so we use their – that software. Are there any particular times of year that you see more ride requests or is it pretty steady across the year? You know, it's – people, as we get older, and I'm going to say we, as we get older, I mean, if it's raining hard and the weather's bad, people don't like to get out and go. But if you've had a doctor's appointment scheduled for months, you're going to go. And the doctors are so – there's so much demand these days that people are struggling to get all the appointments that they need. So we – but we do also drive people for dialysis and things like that, so they go any time. And we have drivers who will do that – rain, snow, ice, whatever. And if someone from the community wanted to be a driver to volunteer their time that way, how do they get matched up for that? So we have a brand-new program called drivealittlechangealot.com. So you go to that splash page, and then it'll take you to our website, which is currently under redesign, but you can get there or call the office. I tell you what, people find it – especially early retired men, or men when they've just retired, find this a wonderful volunteer activity because you can drive at your own convenience. You can say, okay, I'll do Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings. But I can't do it next week. You know, it's totally flexible. Whatever someone can do, then we schedule it and let them do it. If you're going on vacation, that's fine. It's no big deal. But we accommodate a volunteer's time and availability. So do you have – can you share the website that you use if people want to find out more information? Yes, itinbluegrass.org or drivealittlechangealot.com, both of them. Okay, and then do you know the phone number? Yes. Share that. It is 859-785-2180. Okay, well, that's great. So that's all the information that we need to get in contact with ITN. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Bill, for joining me today. So I'm here with Bill Goodman, and he is a user of the ITN Bluegrass Service. And I want to talk a little bit about that and what your experience has been. So can you share with us first, like, when did you start using ITN? Liz, I have glaucoma, which is an eye disease that is quite pervasive all over the world. In times when the optic nerve is so damaged that people begin to lose their eyesight, and that occurred to me starting about three years ago. I'd had glaucoma all my life, but I was able to function, and I had good eyesight up until about three years ago. And because of the damage to my optic nerve over the many years, I began to lose my eyesight. I had to give up my car and driving. And I know that that's a traumatic incident for many people. But for me, over the course of the last two-and-a-half to three years, I've made as many adjustments as I can to continue to work and be active, and that's how I found out about ITN. Yeah, and I appreciate you sharing your story today with us. And I know we've had several conversations about pedestrian facilities around town and crosswalks and signaling and how to improve that for people who have a visual impairment. But I appreciate you being willing to talk about your experiences. So where does ITN Bluegrass typically take you? Like, what types of appointments do you think I should use this for that? Well, I have used ITN in a variety of ways. I have them take me back and forth to my ophthalmologist for my regular checkups. Not too long ago, I had an early morning ride out to the Joseph Beth Booksellers for our Kentucky Book Festival and needed to get transportation out there. I've had other appointments across town that I didn't think I could walk to. I try to walk as much as I possibly can, but sometimes the distance and the time is difficult. So what I have found is that ITN is available to really go anywhere. In fact, the executive director, Gail Reese, gave me a lift one day to another optometrist down in Nicholasville, and we had a great time chatting about ITN and the service, and I've really gotten involved a lot more in what they're doing. And as Gail has said, they really do need volunteer drivers and more drivers as much as they possibly can. That's the campaign that's going on right now. It's such a great service for not only low vision and people who are totally blind, but others that are either disabled or need some support or help, or as Gail also said, to get their hair fixed. Now, I don't have that problem, so I've not asked for ITN to give me a ride to the barbershop, but it's just such a valuable service for all the citizens in Fayette and in Jessamine County. Yeah, and in Fayette County, we've recently been having conversations around microtransit, and I see this as one version of microtransit to a specialized population. So as a newer user, what are some of the things that you would want someone to know about this service if they're just getting started and wanting to use it? I think there are a couple of things. First of all, I don't think anyone should hesitate at all to be ashamed or to not have knowledge about a service that's so valuable. It's very easy to book a ride. There have been – I could count on one or two fingers the number of times when I've tried to book a ride, and because they're so busy, I could not get a ride at that particular time, and I just waited patiently, and then I got a call back, and that worked out just fine. I would also say that the drivers are wonderful. They're friendly. They do their best to get you always on time. There's a lovely chatty conversation that goes on. I've learned so much from so many people about their backgrounds. Recently, I had a ride with someone who had just recently retired from Toyota, and he told me all about their – he was a foreman and how many cars they put out each day. It was fascinating, and it took up some of the time that we were going that day. As a matter of fact, we were – and I've forgotten exactly why, but I was going out to the ice rink, and he was a wonderful guy that gave me – I was meeting somebody out there. So you've got a little entertainment on your ride, too. Exactly. Storytelling. Well, they're just – honestly, I don't know if they go through some kind of personality test, but I've never had one that's not friendly and warm. I could name some names of people that I've gotten to know on a first-name basis, or I've ridden with them maybe six months ago, and here they come again in my driveway or at my business place. I would think that there are many, many reasons that people need to be aware of ITN. Now, I will have to tell you, and thus the campaign that ITN is underway with right now, I will mention this to some people that don't have transportation, that are low vision and aren't driving anymore, and they don't know about it. So we really do need to get the word out about how valuable a service it is and how beneficial it is to individuals. And I think to the city as a whole, we need to, in Lexington, work on some of these things that you and I have talked about with public transportation and getting from point A to point B. There's no reason at all for someone to sit at home and not get to an appointment or not to get to an entertainment venue if they want just because these services are available. And when you want to book a ride, how far in advance do you typically plan for that? One of the things that I've tried to cooperate with ITN on is that they do like 24 hours or as much notice as you can give them. It's not something that you can do immediately like an Uber or a Lyft, but it's much better than, if I can say that, Uber and Lyft. So you just need to give them a little time to notice. They have really wonderful, friendly people who answer the telephone. If you've called more than once or twice, they know exactly who you are. You don't even have to say your last name. They have everything. They have your address and your phone number already registered. It's very simple, very easy. And, again, they're always on time. They're always there. They get you to point A, and then sometimes they'll bring you back at the same time. They might have another ride in between, but if they can give you 30 minutes or an hour in an appointment of some sort and then bring you back, in my case, to my office, it works out really well. Well, that's great. And, you know, the drivers are primarily volunteers, so it is people who want to give back to the community, and this is the way they're spending their time. So it's nice that you're having these warm experiences with the drivers. Well, I've tried to suggest to people that I meet, if they are recently retired or have some means to not be employed all the time, to be a volunteer driver. And I think I've recruited one or two, but we need many more than just one or two to make this service really viable for the entire community. Yeah, well, thank you again for sharing your story today. And I hope you in the community, if this is a service that you might need to utilize for yourself or you want to volunteer to be a driver, go check out more information at their website, which is itnbluegrass.org. »» Thank you. ¶ Look around you ¶ Look up here ¶ Take time to make time, make time to be there ¶ Look around ¶ Be a part ¶ Feel for the winter but don't have a cold heart ¶ And I love you best ¶ You're not like the rest ¶ You're there when I need you, you're there when I need ¶ You're there when I'm gonna need you ¶ A long time ago I had a lady to love ¶ She made me think of things I never thought of ¶ Now she's gone and I'm on my own ¶ A love song has come into my mind ¶ A love song that was there all the time ¶ So lady, let me take a look at you now ¶ You're there on the dance floor making me want you somehow ¶ Oh lady, I think it's only fair I should say to you ¶ Don't be thinking that I don't want you, cause maybe I do ¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶ ¶ Look around ¶ Come to me ¶ I know where I want to be ¶ I look around ¶ Lay apart ¶ I was born in the winter ¶ And pulled by a warm heart ¶ And I love you best ¶ You're not like the rest ¶ You're there when I need you ¶ You're there when I need ¶ I'm gonna need you ¶ So lady ¶ Let me take a look at you now ¶ You're there on the dance floor ¶ Making me want you somehow ¶ Oh lady ¶ I think it's only fair I should say to you ¶ Don't be thinking ¶ That I don't want you ¶ Because baby I do ¶ Don't be thinking ¶ That I don't want you ¶ Lady I do ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶ Back through the years I go wondering once again ¶ Back to the seasons of my youth ¶ I recall a box of rags that someone gave us ¶ And how my mama put the rags to use ¶ There were rags of many colors ¶ But every piece was small ¶ And I didn't have a coat ¶ And it was way down in the fall ¶ Mama sewed the rags together ¶ Sewing every piece with love ¶ She made my coat of many colors ¶ That I was so proud of ¶ As she sewed she told a story ¶ From the Bible she had read ¶ About a coat of many colors ¶ Joseph Warren then she said ¶ Perhaps this coat will bring you ¶ Good luck and happiness ¶ And I just couldn't wait to wear it ¶ And mama blessed it with a kiss ¶ My coat of many colors ¶ That my mama made for me ¶ Made only from rags ¶ But I wore it so proudly ¶ Although we had no money ¶ I was rich as I could be ¶ In my coat of many colors ¶ My mama made for me ¶ So with patches on my breeches ¶ And holes in both my shoes ¶ In my coat of many colors ¶ I hurried off to school ¶ Just to find the others laughing ¶ And making fun of me ¶ In my coat of many colors ¶ My mama made for me ¶ And oh, I couldn't understand it ¶ For I felt I was rich ¶ And I told them all the love ¶ My mama sewed in every stitch ¶ And I told them all the story ¶ Mama told me why she sewed ¶ And how my coat of many colors ¶ Was worth more than all their clothes ¶ But they didn't understand it ¶ And I tried to make them see ¶ That one is only poor ¶ Only if they choose to be ¶ Now I know we had no money ¶ But I was rich as I could be ¶ In my coat of many colors ¶ My mama made for me ¶ Made just for me ¶¶ ¶ Boy ¶ Boy ¶ Now in the streets there is violence ¶ And then a lot of slow work to be done ¶ No place to hang a load washing ¶ And then I can't blame all on the sun ¶ Oh, no ¶ We're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Oh, we're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Working so hard like a soldier ¶ Can't afford a thing on TV ¶ Deep in my heart I have for you ¶ Can't get food for the kids, good God ¶ We're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Oh, we're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Oh, no ¶ Oh, no ¶ Oh, no ¶ Oh, no ¶ Oh, no ¶ We're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Oh, we're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Who is to blame in what country ¶ Never can get to the one ¶ Dealing in multiplication ¶ And they still can't feed everyone ¶ Oh, no ¶ We're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Oh, no ¶ We're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Oh, out in the street ¶ Out in the street ¶ Out in the daytime ¶ Out in the night ¶ Oh, we're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Oh, we're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Out in the street ¶ Out in the street ¶ Out in the playground ¶ In the dark side of town ¶ Oh, we're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Hey, we're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue ¶ Oh, yeah ¶ And then we'll take it higher ¶ Rock it in the daytime ¶ Electric Avenue ¶ Rock it in the night ¶ Take it higher ¶ Electric Avenue ¶ Rock it in my yachty, my mommy ¶ Electric Avenue ¶ Oh, in the break time ¶ Electric Avenue ¶ We're gonna rock it ¶ I know you deceive me ¶ Now here's a surprise ¶ I know that you have ¶ Cause there's magic in my eyes ¶ I can see for miles and miles and miles ¶ And miles and miles ¶ Oh, yeah ¶ If you think that I don't know about ¶ The little tricks you play ¶ And never see you when you live with me ¶ Put me in my way ¶ Now here's a joke at you ¶ You're gonna choke on it too ¶ You're gonna lose that smile ¶ Because all the while ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ And miles and miles and miles ¶ Oh, yeah ¶ You took advantage of my trust ¶ And you and I were so far away ¶ I saw you holding lots of other guys ¶ And now you've got the nerve to say ¶ That you still want me ¶ Well, that's as may be ¶ But you gotta stand trial ¶ Because all the while ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ And miles and miles and miles ¶ Oh, yeah ¶ I know you deceive me ¶ Now here's a surprise ¶ I know that you have ¶ Because there's magic in my eyes ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ And miles and miles ¶ And miles and miles ¶ And miles and miles ¶ And miles and miles ¶ Oh, yeah ¶ The Eiffel Tower and the Tornado ¶ I see on clear days ¶ You thought that I would be ¶ The crystal ball to see ¶ Right through the days ¶ Well, there's a poke at you ¶ You're gonna choke on it too ¶ You're gonna lose that smile ¶ Because you're wild ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ And miles and miles ¶ And miles and ¶ Miles and ¶ Miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles and miles ¶ I can see for miles ¶¶ ¶ And I never thought I'd feel this way ¶ And as far as I'm concerned ¶ Glad I got the chance to say ¶ That I do believe I love you ¶ And if I should ever go away ¶ Well, then close your eyes and try ¶ Feel the way we do today ¶ And then if you can remember ¶ Keep smiling, keep shining ¶ Knowing you can always count on me ¶ For sure ¶ That's what friends are for ¶ For good times and bad times ¶ I'll be on your side forevermore ¶ That's what friends are for ¶ Well, you came and opened me ¶ And now there's so much more I see ¶ And so by the way, I thank you ¶ Oh, and then ¶ For the times when we were apart ¶ Well, then close your eyes and know ¶ The words are coming from my heart ¶ And then if you can remember ¶ Oh ¶ Keep smiling, keep shining ¶ Knowing you can always count on me ¶ For sure ¶ That's what friends are for ¶ In good times, in bad times ¶ I'll be on your side forevermore ¶ Oh, that's what friends are for ¶ Keep smiling, keep shining ¶ Knowing you can always count on me ¶ For sure ¶ That's what friends are for ¶ For good times and bad times ¶ I'll be on your side forevermore ¶ That's what friends are for ¶ Keep smiling, keep shining ¶ Knowing you can always count on me ¶ For sure ¶ Cause I tell you that's what friends are for ¶ For good times and bad times ¶ I'll be on your side forevermore ¶ That's what friends are for ¶ Only for sure ¶ I don't need for sure ¶ That's what friends are for ¶ 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, Jody got married ¶ Should've known we'd never get far ¶ Oh, and I look back now ¶ That summer would be the last forever ¶ And if I had the choice ¶ Yeah, I would want to be there ¶ Those were the best days of my life ¶ Hey ¶ Ain't no use in complaining ¶ When you got a job to do ¶ To make me sound as charming ¶ And that's when I met you, yeah ¶ Standing on your mama's porch ¶ You told me that you'd wait forever ¶ Oh, now you know where I am ¶ I knew that it was now or never ¶ Those were the best days of my life ¶ Oh, yeah ¶ Back in the summer of 69 ¶ Oh ¶ Man, it was killing time ¶ Ruling all your efforts ¶ From here to unwind ¶ I guess nothing could last forever ¶ Forever, no ¶ Yeah ¶ And now the times are changing ¶ Look at everything that's come and gone ¶ Sometimes when I play that old six string ¶ Think about you wondering what went wrong ¶ Standing on your mama's porch ¶ You told me that it'd last forever ¶ Oh, now you held my hand ¶ I knew that it was now or never ¶ Those were the best days of my life ¶ Oh, yeah ¶ Back in the summer of 69 ¶ Oh ¶ It was the summer of 69 ¶ Oh, yeah ¶ Me and my baby ¶ Back in 69 ¶ Oh ¶ Oh ¶ Back in 69 ¶ Back in 69 ¶ Oh, mama, I'm in fear for my life ¶ From the long arm of the law ¶ Lawmen is putting in to my running ¶ And I'm so far from my home ¶ Oh, mama, I can hear you a-crying ¶ And you're so scared and all alone ¶ Hangman is coming down from the gallows ¶ And I don't have very long ¶ The king is up, the news is out ¶ They finally found me ¶ The renegade who had it made ¶ Retreat for a party ¶ Tell them all to go astray ¶ This will be the end today ¶ Of the one man ¶ Oh, mama, I've been here all my life ¶ And had a hard life on my head ¶ Lawmen's a dead-end day on the line ¶ I wish for sure he'll see me in death ¶ Dear mama, I can hear you a-crying ¶ And you're so scared and all alone ¶ Hangman is coming down from the gallows ¶ And I don't have very long ¶ The king is up, the news is out ¶ They finally found me ¶ The renegade who had it made ¶ Retreat for a party ¶ Tell them all to go astray ¶ This will be the end today ¶ Of the one man ¶¶ ¶ Oh, mama, I'm in fear for my life ¶ From the long arm of the law ¶ Hangman is coming down from the gallows ¶ And I don't have very long ¶ The king is up, the news is out ¶ They finally found me ¶ The renegade who had it made ¶ Retreat for a party ¶ Tell them all to go astray ¶ This will be the end today ¶ Of the one man ¶ The one man ¶ And I don't have very long ¶ The king is up, the news is out ¶ They finally found me ¶ The renegade who had it made ¶ Retreat for a party ¶ Tell them all to go astray ¶ This will be the end today ¶ Of the one man ¶ The one man ¶ The one man ¶ The one man ¶ The one man ¶ The one man ¶ The one man ¶ The one man ¶ ¶ Burn it down ¶ People are searching for ¶ The kind of love that we possess ¶ Some go on ¶ Searching their whole life through ¶ And never find the love I found in you ¶ Oh ¶ And when I speak of you ¶ I see envy and other means ¶ And I'm well aware ¶ Of what's on their minds ¶ They pretend to be my friend ¶ With all the time ¶ They long to persuade you ¶ From my side ¶ They give the world ¶ And all they own ¶ For just one moment ¶ We have no ¶ Burn it down ¶ They want you because ¶ Of the pride that it gives ¶ But burn it down ¶ I want you because ¶ I need you to live ¶ But while I live ¶ Only to hold you ¶ Trouble in me ¶ They long to control you ¶ But how can they control you ¶ Burn it down ¶ When they cannot control themselves ¶ Burn it down ¶ From wanting you ¶ Needing you ¶ You belong to me ¶ I tell the world ¶ You belong to me ¶ I tell the world ¶ You're the soul of me ¶ I tell the world ¶ You're part of me ¶ Burn it down ¶ Burn ¶ It down ¶¶ On this edition of Lexington Now, helping the environment, Pets of the Week, and This Weekend in Lexington. ¶¶ ¶¶ I'm Neal Noah, and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of January 5th, 2026. It's a new year, and it's time for a new start and for many resolutions. One resolution you can make is to help the environment. Chrissy Balding tells us how. I'm Chrissy Balding. I'm with the sustainability section of environmental services. You know, this kind of in-between time of year, in-between holidays, maybe people are thinking about what they want to do in 2026 and ways they'd like to improve. So one thing you can do is make an environmental New Year's resolution. Like, really simple things you can do. It is, you know, they say the best kind of resolution is to be simple. So rather than just saying, I'm going to exercise more, say, I'm going to take the stairs two days a week. So we came up with some simple ones. Pack your lunch for work, and this is mine right here. Very nice. It will save you money. It's going to cut down on the packaging waste, so you're not having, you know, that plastic silverware and the wrappers and everything. And probably be a little bit healthier, too. Well, one of my favorites, and I can't really count it for a resolution for myself because I already do it a lot, is to utilize the library. So we are lucky enough to be just a couple blocks from the Central Library. But the Lexington Public Library is free. It's available to anyone who either lives or works in Fayette County, and there are six locations. So besides just books, and I've learned some of this recently, you can also check out DVDs, board games, so if you want to have like a family game night, you can access magazines, newspapers, all kinds of stuff. I'm a little bit of a reading nerd, so I added up earlier in the year, if I bought everything that I borrowed from the library, how much it would have cost me, and it was like $280. So, yeah, it can save you quite a lot. But I think by now we're all pretty used to taking our water bottle where we go places, and it's a cool way to express yourself and show off your adventures. I would challenge people to bring their own coffee cup when they go get their coffee or tea. There are a few businesses that Environmental Services partners with in the Green Cup program. So they'll give you a little discount if you bring your own cup, and that cuts down on those paper cups, you know, the lids, the sleeves that end up in the landfill. So it's a win-win. Cup of Commonwealth, Lucy Brown, Good Foods Co-op, Lee's Town Coffee, Kenwick Table. But you just bring your own cup in. Something I like to do when I hand it to the barista is tell them, hey, this is 16 ounces, so that way they know this is going to be a medium, usually. And the last one is if you are someone either who has a green thumb or you just want to cut down on your food waste is if you're thinking about composting this year, it's actually a good time to get started is the winter months, before you have planted everything. There's a few different ways that you can compost, depending on your yard and your space, but go to lexingtonky.gov slash compost and we will be offering some free compost workshops later this year, so look for those to be announced in February. It's really very much a hands-on seminar. I mean, you're going to get your hands dirty, so to speak. So you'll learn about the different kinds of composters and what may work for your yard depends on your space, if you have a dog, and so on. But we'll also talk about what should go in your compost and what shouldn't and how to maintain that balance. You can follow us on social media at Live Green Lex. We are on Facebook and Instagram. You can go to lexingtonky.gov slash sustainability and sign up to get our monthly sustainability email newsletter with all kinds of tips like this. We are now joined by our own Randy Rosenbaum with a new segment, The Pets of the Week. Hey, thanks Neil. Welcome back everybody to the Lexington Humane Society look at some adoptable pets here on LexTV. Man, we've got some great pets Neil. And number one, look at this adorable, aw, Arky is available at the Lexington Humane Society. Aw, look, he is a male, age five years old. Absolutely adorable. Or it could be eight. I can't really see that real well. A Labrador pit bull mix. Absolutely adorable. And he's in training Neil. Make sure to contact the lexingtonhumanesociety.org for more information. Search them out on Google. Absolutely adorable. Here's another one, here's another great one Neil. Look at Kobe absolutely adorable. A male six years old. A boxer mix. Medium in size. Absolutely adorable. Is he not adorable Neil? Kobe is also available at your Lexington Humane Society right here in Lexington and Fayette County. Check them out on Facebook. And of course always at lexingtonhumanesociety.org Look at Gotham. Oh, Gotham is so precious. A female. She is seven years old. Looks like an American bully mix. Mature size and large. Not in training, but also does well in apartments. Check out Gotham at Lexington Humane Society here in Lexington and Lexington Humane Society on Facebook as well as online. Absolutely adorable Neil. Here we have another adorable pet. What about Flick? Flick is chocolate and white. A male. Age two years old. Looks like a pit bull mix. Mature size of large. Not in training, but also good in apartments. If you want to know more information about Flick, he is available at the Lexington Humane Society. Look him up on Facebook and of course always online. lexingtonhumanesociety.org We've got a couple more for you Neil. Look at Buddy. Oh, is he not precious? He's only one year old. Probably a pit bull mix they say. Not in training. Absolutely adorable. For more information about Buddy, you can check him out online at Lexington Humane Society and of course lexingtonhumanesociety.org is their Facebook page. Is he not adorable Neil? Neil, do you have a pet? Maybe you can take him home. Look at Bella Rae. She is nine years old. Very precious and looks like a beagle mix they say out there at the Lexington Humane Society. In training, no. Medium mature size, but very good in apartments. Also does well with children of all ages. Bella Rae is absolutely adorable. Look at that. She is so precious. Available at the lexingtonhumanesociety.org or like and follow lexingtonhumanesociety on Facebook. Absolutely Neil, those are six great, adorable adoptable pets this week from the Lexington Humane Society. You can also check them out on their website right here lexingtonhumanesociety.org. Look at some of those pets. Very easy to navigate around their website and we'll have some more next week. Look at those adorable adoptable pets. Back to you Neil in the studio and that's been this week's adoptable pets from the Lexington Humane Society and LEX TV. Thanks for watching. music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music Welcome back to Lexington Now. Your Lex PD host with a look at this weekend's events. Hey there, I'm Sgt. Bodge Towery with the Lexington Police Department. Here are some of the upcoming events this weekend, January 10th. Tax Fraud Awareness, Saturday, January 10th at 9.30am at Global X on Versailles Road. It's tax time. It's this time of year that many are making mistakes or experiencing fraud to the point of suffering unfortunate consequences. To avoid finding yourself in these bad situations, come listen and learn for free from our tax experts. Spots are limited, so register soon. It's free. For information, please call 859-229-4631. 859-229-4631. This is a teen cooking class featuring taquitos at the Dunbar Community Center, Saturday, January 10th. Teens ages 13 to 17 are invited to our teen cooking class, Chicken and Veggie Taquitos at Dunbar Community Center. This free hands-on class will take place January 10th from noon to 1.30pm. Participants will learn basic cooking techniques, food safety skills, and how to prepare tasty chicken and vegetable taquitos from scratch in a fun, supportive environment. All supplies are provided. Email trose at lexingtonky.gov to rsvp as spots are limited. Check out the Owl Prowl, Saturday, January 10th at 6pm at Raven Run Nature Sanctuary. Join park staff and take a wintery evening hike to listen to the owls of Raven Run. Online registration and payments are required for all attending participants. Hike will be approximately 1.5 miles over easy to moderate difficult terrain, and some even terrain and elevation gains and losses. Dress appropriately for the weather and wear sturdy walking shoes or boots. The program is recommended for adults and children ages 8 and up. Please feel free to call ahead for further details about the route and any accessibility concerns or questions. Call Nature Center at 859-272- 6105. I'm Sergeant Bodge Towery, and that's some of the things going on this weekend and next week in Lexington, Fayette County. For more events and more information, be sure to visit lexingtonky.gov and click the calendar tab at the top. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time. Bodge is also giving us a look at this week's meeting coverage. Hey there, I'm Sergeant Bodge Towery with the Lexington Police Department. Here's our current live meeting schedule this week, January 5th, 2026 for LexTV. Remember, you can watch all our live meeting coverage on LexTV channel 185 and always online at lexingtonky.gov. First up, on Tuesday morning, January 6th at 930, watch the Public Art Commission meeting. On Thursday, January 8th in the morning at 830, watch the Planning Commission Subdivision Subcommittee meeting. Late in the afternoon on Thursday at 130, you can watch the Planning Commission Zoning Subcommittee meeting. And on Friday, January 9th at 10 a.m., you can watch the Opioid Abatement Commission meeting. That's our current live meeting schedule for LexTV for the week of January 5th, 2026. Watch all our live meeting coverage on LexTV channel 185 or always online at lexingtonky.gov. And click the LexTV tab on the top. I'm Sergeant Bodge Towery with the Lexington Police Department. We'll see you next time. 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. See you next time. Bye, ya. Kisses like fire. Burn me up with fire. I like what you're doing now. Fire. Touching me. Fire. Touching me. Burning me. Fire. Take me home. Fire. Kisses like fire. Driving home this evening. Could have sworn we had it all worked out. You had this boy believing way beyond the shadow of a doubt. Well, I heard it on the street. I heard you might have found somebody new. Yeah. Well, who is he, baby? Who is he and tell me what he means to you? Oh, yeah. Took it all for granted. But how was I to know that you'd be letting go? Now, cuts like a knife. But it feels so right. Yeah. Cuts like a knife. Oh, but it feels so right. These times I've been mistaken. These times I've done I've been misunderstood. Oh, yeah. So wait a minute, darling. Can't you see we did the best we could? Ooh, we could. Wouldn't be the first time that things have gone astray. Now you've thrown it all away. Now, cuts like a knife. Yeah. But it feels so right. Oh, cuts like a knife. Yeah, but it feels so right. Oh, cuts like a knife. But it feels so right, baby. Oh, cuts like a knife. Yeah. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Took it all for granted. Yeah, but it feels so right. Ooh, I cut it like a knife. Yeah, but it feels so right. Yeah! Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na. Ooh, I cut it like a knife. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na. But it feels so right, baby. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I cut it like a knife, I cut it like a knife. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na. feel so right. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na. Yes! Now kiss with your large mouth. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na. Feel so right, baby. Na, na, na, na, na, na. Na. Feel so right. How about a kiss with your eyes. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na. Woo! Hey! Yes, I love you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, bless my soul. What's wrong with me? I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree. My friends say I'm acting wild as a bug. I'm in love. I'm all shook up. Ooh. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Well, my hands are shaking and my knees are weak. I can't seem to stand on my own feet. Who do you think of when you have such luck? I'm in love. I'm all shook up. Ooh. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Well, please don't ask me what's on my mind. I'm a little mixed up on the field. But when I'm with a girl that I love best, my heart beats so it scares me to death. What a chill I got. Her lips are like a buffalo tail and it's hot. I'm proud to say that she's my buttercup. I'm in love. I'm all shook up. Ooh. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. My tongue gets tired when I try to speak. My insides shake like a leaf on a tree. There's only one cure for this body of mine. That's to have that girl that I love so fine. She touches my head and what a chill I got. Her lips are like a buffalo tail and it's hot. I'm proud to say that she's my buttercup. I'm in love. I'm all shook up. Ooh. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Ooh. Ooh. Yeah. I'm all shook up. Chapter 2 I burn with desire each time my heart fans the fire through that old flame. That old flame that burns inside of me. She cried when I left her, now I cry to forgive her. Oh, how foolish I was to ever want to leave. Nobody in his right mind would have left her. I had to be crazy to say goodbye. Nobody in his right mind would have left her. Even my heart was smart enough to stay behind. I still carry her picture, I wish her well with a new love. I know she's found by now. Each night finds me dreaming, each day I spend thinking how much I wish she was still around. Nobody in his right mind would have left her. I had to be crazy to say goodbye. Nobody in his right mind would have left her. Even my heart was smart enough to stay behind. Even my heart was smart enough to stay behind. Skippin' rocks, skippin' roads, laughing at all my best friends' jokes. Things I loved when I was a kid. Muddy roads, muddy roads. Skippin' rocks, skippin' roads, laughing at all my best friends' jokes. Muddy roads, muddy feet. I didn't live on no blacktop streets. Things have changed a lot, but I never did. And I don't wanna think about tomorrow. I don't need anything money can buy. I don't have to beg, steal, or borrow. I just wanna live until I die. Living right, living in this little old town I grew up in. But I still held on to my dreams. Standing proud, standing tall, standing smack dab in the middle of it all. Standing proud, standing tall, standing smack dab in the middle of it all. I don't worry about things, and I can't change. And I don't wanna think about tomorrow. I don't need anything money can buy. I don't have to beg, steal, or borrow. I just wanna live until I die. And everything around me are things I dearly love. And every night I get on my knees and thank the Lord above. And I don't have to think about tomorrow. I don't need anything money can buy. I don't have to beg, steal, or borrow. I just wanna live until I die. I don't have to beg, steal, or borrow. I just wanna live until I die. Baby, all I got's this beat-up leather bag. And everything I own don't fill up half. But don't you worry about the way I pack. All I care about is getting back real soon. A goodbye kiss is all I need from you. Since I'm carrying your love with me, West Virginia down to Tennessee. I'll be moving when the good Lord speaks. Carrying your love with me. It's my strength, I'm holding on. Every minute that I have to be gone. I have everything I'll ever need. I'm carrying your love with me. www.LRCgenerator.com Where are we at, Bash? We are at the famous, the historic Kentucky Theatre, downtown Lexington, Kentucky. And what a great place to celebrate what we're celebrating today. And do you know what we're celebrating? It's unbelievable. It's our last episode of Season 2. It's hard to believe it was two seasons, right? I remember starting in late 23 when we started working on this project. Yep. And we have had so much, so much fun with it. And we've learned a lot, too, I think. And we've gotten to be really good friends. It's been a great, great project. But before we do what we're going to do today, which we're going to have some fun with, Absolutely. We want to thank, enjoy the popcorn, right? We want to thank some people. So, first of all, Chief Weathers. Hey, is this the theatre for Dockworth? It's my favorite Christmas movie. That's not a Christmas movie. You know, we haven't seen you since Episode 1. And now you show up at the theatre here and you're at the wrong place. Oh, man. Bye, Chief. Chief Weathers and the command staff have been fantastic. Men, so supportive of this project. And we really, really appreciate them. We appreciate all of the guests that we've had on. We've worked with so many different topics, so many special guests. We can't forget the production crew behind the scenes. They're amazing. Lex TV is phenomenal. We have had so much fun with them, getting to know them. They are fantastic. So talented and they have been so supportive of this project. They have done a fantastic job. And let me just say, it's the viewers, right? We have had so many people who have come up to us in the community, outside the community, outside the state, that have come up to us and said, hey, we watched the show. We absolutely love it. And we've learned so much about the police department, about policing, about police technology.