# Inter Governmental Committee - June 30, 2009 > Auto-transcribed civic record · June 30, 2009 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/964 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/964?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2009-06-30 - **Last revised**: July 17, 2026 - **Length**: 11,522 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Special Inter-Governmental Committee met on June 30, 2009, at 1:00 p.m., with Andrea James presiding. The committee addressed two informational agenda items: the Authority of Downtown Development Authority and an Update on Committee Items. During the meeting, the committee heard five public comments and took one motion to a vote. No substantive actions were passed, as both agenda items were presented for informational purposes only. ## Attendance The following individuals were present at the meeting on June 30, 2009: * James * Myers * Gray * Blues * Beard * Henson * Feigel * Lawless * Martin No absences or late arrivals were recorded. ## Votes and Decisions The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn. Beard moved to adjourn the meeting, and Blues seconded the motion [timestamp: 02:40:00]. The motion passed by voice vote. ## Public Comment Several council members and city officials provided comments addressing the Downtown Development Authority's (DDA) role and the need for improved strategic coordination across the city. **Vice Mayor Gray** [timestamp: 01:00:16] emphasized that while the DDA has made progress, the city lacks a comprehensive, strategic plan connecting downtown development with broader urban fabric and economic development goals. He urged the committee to address the absence of a unified vision and a central point of coordination. **Council Member Lawless** [timestamp: 01:04:18] stressed that Lexington lacks a commissioner-level entity with authority to develop and lead a cohesive, citywide strategic plan. She criticized the current siloed approach and called for a reevaluation of how downtown development, economic development, and urban planning are coordinated. **Council Member Myers** [timestamp: 01:09:38] requested that the DDA provide a list of past projects, challenges, and policy barriers encountered. He asked the DDA to bring back recommendations on alternative funding mechanisms and expanded authority beyond downtown, emphasizing the need for concrete examples to inform future policy decisions. **Council Member Feigel** [timestamp: 01:12:25], noting her status as a new council member, suggested that the DDA could serve as a clearinghouse for project status and progress. She proposed that regular updates on key developments would help the council track outcomes and maintain confidence in the authority's effectiveness. **Council Member Martin** [timestamp: 01:19:21] questioned whether this discussion should be held in the Planning Committee instead, given the overlap with long-range planning, small area plans, and the role of the Planning Commission. He urged alignment with the Planning Committee's ongoing work. ## Contested Items **Role and Authority of the DDA** Council members engaged in a heated discussion regarding the Downtown Development Authority's (DDA) role and effectiveness. Members expressed frustration over what they perceived as the DDA's lack of strategic direction, despite its broad legal authority. The disagreement centered on how the DDA should be structured and empowered to function more effectively. Some council members advocated for restructuring or renaming the organization, while others called for granting it more formal power to coordinate citywide development initiatives. A key concern underlying this debate was the fragmentation of development efforts across multiple entities and questions about accountability for the DDA's performance and decision-making. **Need for Citywide Strategic Planning** A split vote resulted from debate over which body should lead efforts to develop a unified strategic plan for the city. Council members disagreed on whether the Intergovernmental Committee or the Planning Committee should take the lead on this initiative. Proponents of a citywide strategic planning effort argued for the need to establish a comprehensive vision for development across the city. However, other members contended that the Planning Committee was the more appropriate forum for leading such planning efforts. This disagreement reflected broader questions about governance structure and which committee had the proper mandate and expertise to coordinate citywide strategic planning. ## Authority of Downtown Development Authority [timestamp: 00:05:08] The committee reviewed the legal authority of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) as established under Section 2-429 of the Code of Ordinances. The Department of Law provided clarification on the scope and limitations of DDA's powers. **Key Points Presented** The DDA was confirmed to have broad authority to facilitate development, coordinate policies, and implement plans across Fayette County. However, the Department of Law noted an important limitation: the DDA cannot act on projects involving the Lexington Center Corporation without obtaining consent from that entity. **Discussion Focus** The committee's discussion centered on several aspects of DDA operations: - The DDA's role and scope within the county - Reporting requirements and accountability measures - The need for strategic coordination among relevant parties **Participants** The discussion included input from David Barberie, Harold Tate, Andrea James, Vice Mayor Gray, and Council Member Lawless. **Outcome** This agenda item was informational in nature, with no formal action taken. The review served to clarify the legal framework governing the DDA's authority and operations. ## Update on Committee Items During this agenda item, the committee provided an update on matters referred to the Intergovernmental Committee. [timestamp: 02:40:00] **Status of Referred Items** No changes were reported to the existing list of items referred to the Intergovernmental Committee. The committee confirmed that no new motions or actions were generated from the meeting. **Key Participants** The discussion involved Andrea James, Council Member Myers, and Council Member Lawless. **Discussion Focus** The committee's discussion centered on identifying areas for improvement in organizational operations. Specifically, participants addressed: * The need for better coordination among relevant parties * Strategic planning requirements * Improved reporting mechanisms for the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) **Outcome** This agenda item was informational in nature, with no formal actions taken. The update served to confirm the status quo regarding committee referrals while highlighting operational areas that would benefit from enhanced processes and communication. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed: Motion to adjourn the meeting --- ## Full transcript Always bragging about how you got it made Your kisses are sweet as they mean Before I let you make a fool out of me Drink better water, sleep better Thank you. . Love me, baby, you won't be fast Don't know how to be on the square Have your fun, woman, if you must Before I have a woman that I can't show the love Drink by the bottom, sleep in a hollow Yeah. The love of me, my boy, sleeping all alone Thank you! Thank you so very much. We'd like to say a very pleasant good evening to you. We will start the meeting of the intergovernmental, this is a special intergovernmental committee meeting. We typically meet on a different day and have changed to today's, and we only have one item on the agenda, and that's the Downtown Development Authority, review of their authority and clarification of that. I felt it as the chair and also as the person that recommended this issue into committee that I establish kind of what the reasoning of the motion to place this into committee is. and I've had some council members come to me for clarification of that. And truly it is to clarify the authority and the intent of any type of legislation or ordinance or resolution establishing the authority. And so it's just to get clarification for new council members, for existing council members, and to give us an opportunity to speak with the representative of the authority here in this setting and maybe even see if this is an opportunity for any type of review of that authority and if anything needs to be different, because we could be the body that makes any changes as prescribed by the authority board or by this council. So it really is just to get clarity. There had been a statement during the budget process in an outside agency oversight meeting that said that the downtown development authority seemed to act more as an advisory than authority. And that, to me, triggered this idea that we need to clarify really what is the role, what is our perception of that role, and how do we clarify that to ourselves as a council and to the public at large. So that's why Harold has been asked to come today, and we do have within our packet information from David Barbary with our law department, who is with us today as well. And so at this time, I would just ask for Harold, if you would like to step forward. Actually, let's start with David, since we've got that information in our packet, and then we'll get to Harold, and that may make it easier for you, Harold. David, do you want to just real, not everybody watching has the information we have in front of us. Just review for us briefly what we are looking at. Good afternoon. You all should have two memos at this point. One of them, the first one that went out was simply where the authority for the housing authority is located, and that is in Article 40, Chapter 2 of the Code of Ordinances. And specifically the powers and duties are laid out in Section 2429. You all were probably generally aware of that already, but that was the first memo, just to indicate to you all where the actual authority was. Although it's not as detailed as this, the Downtown Development Authority is actually created pursuant to KRS 58, or I guess Chapter 58, which has several sections to it. I believe in some, the statute is a legal basis for the authority to get into bonding of certain projects on their own. I don't know that we've ever really done that here, but that's really primarily the authority that the statute that this was created under addresses. I don't think there's an issue with how we've laid the ordinance out in empowering the Downtown Development Authority to do these extra things that are not necessarily in the statute because they don't conflict with it. But our local ordinance actually allows them arguably to do more than what the statute specifically has in it. Council Member Gorton had asked a clarification question towards the end of last week that hopefully you all got a memo on, should have gone out Friday. and her question was in the context, at least how the Department of Law was interpreting it, as to whether or not the Downtown Development Authority could rely on a plan or policy that had not been adopted by the Urban County Government Council as some authority for them to proceed on something. And we pointed out in the memo, if it ends up being the type of planning document that's elaborated on, it actually goes to the Planning Commission. and the Planning Commission adopts it, there would not be a need for the Urban County Council to also adopt it. I think perhaps one of your other concerns, which I don't know that we put in writing yet, is could the Housing Authority on its own adopt a – You mean DDA? I'm sorry. Okay. Sorry. Could the Development Authority adopt a plan or policy on its own, and could that be considered the urban county government's policy, the answer to that is likely no. They would have to either have you all or the planning commission in its function as the planning commission have adopted something formally in order for it to be considered an urban county government plan or policy that they could actually operate on. They would be of assistance in developing and implementing those types of things, But when it actually came to the adoption process, that would be done by either you all or the Planning Commission, depending on what type of document it was. Okay. Thank you. I see Council Member Beard may have a question for you. Section 2-433, bylaws. Is there a conflict there? I don't know if I have the entire section in front of me, Council Member Beard. It says the board of directors may adopt bylaws, rules, and regulations as necessary to carry out its duties and purposes. No, that's a natural bylaws phrase. They can't do anything that's – if they did something that was inconsistent with their authority, the authority section would trump that. I'm not aware of them doing something in their bylaws that's contrary to the authority that's laid out in the ordinance. This is just a standard bylaws provision. Well, it says as necessary to carry out its duties and purposes. Well, it sounds like it opens that door. It may be limited to a certain extent, but it looks like it opens the door. I guess what I'm saying is if that conflict did exist, actually the ordinance would end up trumping it and making it essentially moot as an operational bylaw. Someone brought that issue up. I don't have the bylaws in front of me, So I don't know as a practical matter whether that's a current issue with respect to what their bylaws look like now. But if it was an issue that was brought up, I think the ordinance itself and the other sections outlays what their parameters of their authority is. And if a bylaw was contrary to that, the ordinance would trump the bylaw that they passed as an authority. Does it need to get that far, though, or should that not be clarified and reviewed so that? I don't know that it's necessarily clarified. I would assume they're simply, to the extent they've adopted bylaws, they're simply, as they normally would be, consistent with what their authority is in this particular document. I believe, I mean, we could clarify that by saying consistent with this or not inconsistent with this in the bylaws phrase if you'd like to do that, but I don't know that it would really be necessary to do that. Well, I just would, I'm trying to keep any type of. Sure. confusion or potential conflict or whatever. But if you all think it would behoove us to clarify the bylaws section to, I think it already says that by saying it's necessary to carry out its duties, it's implied that they can't do something that's not consistent with those duties. But if you all would like that clarified, that they are not afforded the ability to adopt a bylaw that's inconsistent with this article, that would be appropriate if that's what you all wanted to do. I think that probably would be an abundance of caution, for lack of a better term. Okay. Council Member Beard, did you have a particular example that you could offer as to something you think would automatically? Well, over time when you have changes to boards of directors and in all probability they haven't reviewed the bylaws, and so they may think they can function one way when in essence there's some limiting factor that we would want to protect ourselves to a certain extent. And this is nothing, it's not a specific problem necessarily, but it's just a potential problem. I see nothing at this moment that would concern me, and really nothing in the past that would concern me, but it's just the future because of time and what might happen as people change and you have a whole different group of folks on the board, for that matter. As hailing hardy as he is, Harold might not always be there. Okay. All right. Any other questions for David Barberi regarding the memo included? Thank you, David. Harold? The main thing I want to say to you all was that our bylaws, basically what the bylaws do, is determine when we meet and the makeup of the board. It does not go into the ordinance. We follow what the ordinance is what our guideline is in terms of what we do. Harold, have you had a chance to review the information that's in the packet? Did you have any comments or questions regarding the memo? No, we fully agree with what the Department of Law has said. We've tried to follow that. The example that I use is that when we did the College Town study, that was something just like when Division of Planning does it when they did the East End study. They're a government agency, but they had to take the plan to the Planning Commission for their review and approval. We kind of act as the same way. We are able to hire consultants to come in and do studies for us that we then forward on to the Division of Planning and to the Planning Commission. Okay. Thank you. Any questions for Harold? Okay. Vice Mayor? I'll let Council Member Lawless first. Okay. Okay. Harold, what is your total budget, operating budget? This year, the one we're going into is $244. So does all your operating come from the urban county government? Yes. Has it always been that way? Pretty much. We have done the Urban Life and Style Tour. We may have made $2,000 or something, but that's pretty much it, yes. Okay. And so you work for a board, but you're fully funded by the LFUCG. Is that correct? That is correct. I know in a couple of meetings over the last year or so, you've made a statement, I work for the mayor. And I guess you do, since we pay all the operating for the DDA. So you're answerable to the board, but also to the mayor, but not the council. I also respond. I mean, just like today, you all asked me to come, and I came. Okay. As far as reporting and updating things that are going on as they're going on, et cetera? I report that to the board. I do periodically come to the council and do an update as well. I try to avoid it during budget time so that it doesn't look like I'm – but, yes, I do come back and give updates to the council as well periodically. Okay. Periodically. Well, I'll stop now for now. Okay. Vice Mayor. Okay. Harold, I have... Is it Steve? I forget. Steve, yeah. Sorry, sorry. I think that's my... I'm making that noise. I went back to my files when I saw that we had this on the agenda, and I pulled up a document that I sort of worked on a couple of years ago. I want to put it in context because I think the reason that we're having this session, we're having this session that it trails on the budget where there were questions and issues related to the expectations of the Downtown Development Authority. And, you know, I think there's good news in all of this, and the good news is that there are high expectations. As our downtown goes, we've taken enough trips around the country now to realize that as our downtown goes, so goes the rest of the community, perhaps the rest of the economy. And it's a bellwether in that sense. And I think some council members, I know Council Member James was in this meeting. It's been more than two years ago now. Council Member DeCamp was there. The downtown, I guess, Council Member Stevens was there. Dr. Stevens was there. and I think you had called a meeting because you wanted to give us an update. And in that meeting, not unexpectedly, when there is no agenda, everybody's going to have their own agenda. And Council Member James properly was right there with where's affordable housing. And I think I was probably there with issues related to traffic and streets and pedestrians and development projects and so forth. And I remember getting up on a flip chart and saying, you know, this conversation sounds like to me that we need some strategy here. That word has a lot of baggage associated with it, and I know. It's like try to find a different word than strategy because a lot of people, including myself, sometimes just wig out. But what that meeting illustrated, at least to me, and Andrew, you may have remembered that one, was that we all have a passionate interest and commitment as council members in the downtown, even though we may have districts that aren't downtown. The downtown represents the heart, and in many respects, the center, the soul of the city. And I remember getting up to a flip chart as everybody was talking and just sort of taking notes on the flip chart of the issues that we were discussing in that meeting. And then I went back to my office and I sort of put this in the form of a Venn diagram. This is now two years old, so some of those circles are pretty faded. The ones that are in typeface and not handwritten are the ones that came from that first meeting. and they were the issues that we talked about that day. And then I just sort of kept a running record of those as we moved along until about a year ago and I added them and that's the ones that are circled as they would come up. For example, the Knight Foundation interface, interfacing with Knight Foundation, the Third Street renewal and reinvention. Center point. Branding and marketing. Down at the bottom there, hard to read, minority engagement. That had to do with, as the minority recruiting and retention task force, Lexmark and Toyota's participation was emerging, and how that might influence downtown strategies. and I mentioned I've shared this with Joe I've shared this with the mayor I've shared it with you as a hopefully as it would have been a guide post for somehow influencing our thinking strategically and connecting the dots on all of these issues and so my disappointment is that in two and a half years, three years now, that I've really seen nothing that addresses these issues in the fashion that was requested three years ago. And, you know, sometimes there's no way to say something but directly after you've talked about it for three years. And I don't think we would be having these conversations, myself, if there was complete level of satisfaction that we are addressing these issues systematically and strategically. Not that we can't do it and that we're not getting there or that we can't get there, but this council represents an opportunity for us to speak out after we've made the efforts in a private way, in a direct way, and we really still haven't gotten what we feel like is a satisfactory attention to them. So you might want to comment on that if you'd like. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Did you have a comment right off on that? Yeah. Well, in terms of the items up on the screen that the Vice Mayor has talked about, in terms of activity, I kind of have to disagree. I think we've made a lot of progress on that board up there. Are we complete? No. And we'll never be complete. Downtown is an ongoing process of changes and organizations and strategy in terms of development. I think in terms of what the DDA has done is we've tried to reach out to other entities to help us accomplish some of those things. In terms of Cox Street, the land bank, that's stuff that we can't do by ourselves. We need help from other people. Our staff is very limited. There's only one professional on staff. That's me. So I have to work closely with Chris in the Division of Planning to make some of those zoning changes that we need to make. I have to work closely with Commerce Lexington in terms of when we have a new project coming, what types of financing is out there, what state financing is out there that could help. I depend upon the private community a lot in terms of banks. What tax credits do you have? What low-income tax credits do you have? What historic tax credits do you have? And Farmer's Market, the location of Farmer's Market was three years, simply because we had to work with the farmers. And with Jeff's help, we were able to convince them, there is another way to have a market. You don't have to just pull up to the sidewalk and sell out to buy your truck. You can make those changes. And so I think in terms of progress, is everything up there complete? No, it's not. And to me, everything up there won't be complete, because we're going to constantly be revisiting, constantly rethinking, and constantly looking at what we can do to make it even better. Okay. I'd like to respond to that here. The purpose of this illustration was not to suggest that things aren't being done. I think everyone recognizes that things are being done. This was to illustrate that a strategic plan that has goals associated with it and tactics associated with it is, at least in my view, an essential part of this role and the expectations of the council of the DDA. The absence of that means that, for example, the farmer's market can succeed even when it falls backward into a strategy. And that's what happened. Now, we can claim success with the farmer's market today, but the truth is we stumbled backward into where it is today. I think it's wonderful, and you and I talked about it three years ago. That's when you said it really couldn't be done around the old courthouse. But we discovered that it could be done when we were backed into a corner. The purpose of this is to illustrate that on a good day, we can plan for a lot of where we're going. So we can let folks know where we're going and why we're going there, when we're going, and what we're going to do once we get there. and not just talk about the tactics after they've been done. So at least from my point of view, the deficiency is that we don't have this level of strategy coming from the DDA, and that is what our city deserves, and that's what we as a council should expect and ask for. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Madam Chair. Contrarian view, if I might. Farmer's Market, while the initial nudge involved Centerpoint, the TIF was the answer. We never had funding to put them anywhere else until we went through the TIF process. arena issues for instance three years ago I'm not sure that we knew that there was going to be a proposal for a brand new arena on the parking structure we looked at other types of things on the parking lot but not necessarily a whole brand new 24,000 seat arena and what do we do with the old one And so I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's a continual, dynamic, moving target. And all of us need to be involved in, maybe it's to a certain extent, continual communication between you and the council. Council, I think we have gotten so involved in downtown, and it means a lot more to us. And I think previous councils, maybe downtown was not at the level of interest as it is and has been in the last two or three years. And I think primarily because we've seen things happen that we've dreamed about, but they never actually happened. and now we've got some tangible things we can go out and put our hands on, like the Maine and Rose Project and others. So a slight contrarian view of Vice Mayor's comments. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks, Council Member Beard. Council Member Blues? Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just add this comment in the light of the Vice Mayor's concerns. And I guess looking at it from my point of view, what I feel with regard to downtown development and economic development is that we have a number of entities in, out, and related to government working on economic development. your office, of course, the Mayor's Economic Development Office, Commerce Lexington, and now the Council has a kind of foot in the water with its Economic Development Task Force. we consult here and there with UK, but what I sense we don't really have is a cohesive, coherent, directed plan. When the Vice Mayor speaks of a level of strategy, I think that's got to come from a number of entities, including your office. And it's going to involve, as Council Member Beard says, better communication, but really the making of a plan so that we're all on the same page, or at least pages, because I know we're all concerned with how to make this, how to make the engine work, but preliminary to that, how to make the engine. And that's where the concern is. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I'd like to comment. I'm just going to hand it over to Councilman Feigl unless someone else on the committee turn the chair over to Councilman Feigl. Do I have, can I speak? Is it okay? Okay, thank you. I think this is a tough conversation for a district council representative whose district is within the DDA authority because I benefit from a lot of the work that the authority does. So I know that you've been engaged in the land banking, and I know that many of the bubbles and things that are shown on the overhead are helpful. And I agree with Vice Mayor. It just, my level of being uncomfortable with the title authority but working in more of an advisory is really kind of uncomfortable when I think back to two and a half years ago or whenever we had this discussion. And it was, my thought was, wow, how vast your authority as the DEA can be. And what a great asset to the city that we have an authority that can champion and take the lead on so many things that can improve our city and our downtown to the point that would make it really attractive, a very attractive place to be. And in many of those, as I've sat in the district seat for First District, I haven't seen a lot of it connect. I've seen a lot of things kind of here and there. I'll take an example. Some of these might be, I can't see, I didn't bring my glasses, but some of these might be on there and some may not. But when I think about some things that I think we talked about two and a half years ago, minority engagement, downtown neighborhoods. I don't know if entertainment is on there, but the Downtown Entertainment Task Force, I think, came about from some discussions that you were engaged in. The Third Street Corridor, the streetscape, and the Lyric, those six items could have been combined and really made a lot of ground, but I never saw them brought together. I've never even seen DDA as a board's opinion of the Lyric Theater. I've not seen you all at any meetings, and maybe people were there at meetings and I don't know about it, but there's never been a stand, and that's an economic development opportunity, that's a downtown arts opportunity, that's a 3rd Street corridor revitalization, that's a minority engagement in a downtown neighborhood, but I think that's a missed opportunity. And I think that's, as an authority, the same as when Gary Means comes and talks about parking, the parking authority seems to say, okay, the problem is parking. And if we need to raise it to $2 an hour to do that, we're going to take those steps to make that happen. And so what we see, we may hear some complaints, but what we see is an availability of parking downtown. So we see the positive in a result that the authority was given. So I guess my thing is to you is how can we, as a council, as a city, help to define the authority in a way that gets us to where Vice Mayor was talking about? How do we get to where they need to connect? It all needs to connect, or otherwise it's not an authority. It's just we'll do whatever pops up. Help me to, as a district representative within the defined boundaries, Help me to know that if you're in a meeting about infill and redevelopment and the issue of affordability comes up, or if you're in a meeting with a developer about affordability, that you talk about the results of the housing market study, which shows that we are sorely lacking in affordability, and that in order for a plan to be brought forward that you feel like as an authority needs to be able, we can't have everything over $250,000. dollars. Help me to understand how we can have faith, how I as a representative can have faith in the authority that you will take everything you've heard and incorporate it. Well, first, and I do mean this when I say I appreciate your all's thought of what we could be. That means a lot to me because, yes, it has in the past, as Council Member Beard said, not you all, but the last council, downtown wasn't even on the radar. There were some concerns, but the momentum hadn't started. And now it's great to see all of you all are concerned with downtown, and not just you all, but UK, Commerce, Lexington. And it does amaze me the number of people who call. What can we do? How can we do this? How can we do that? And what has happened in the last two years has totally changed in terms of how we function, how we need to function, how the board needs to function, my relationship with you all as the DDA to the council, and my relationship to other agencies as well. In the past, it was working within City Hall, talking engineering, talking traffic, talking the parks. It's gone beyond that now because everybody is so charged up on downtown. You know, affordability. How do we address affordability? Austin and I talked about that. I was just downstairs talking to Bill Embry. You know, Bill says can you help me? How can we get more lots? And the issue has grown and it's great because that means people are starting to look. They're starting to concentrate and they're starting to think what can we do to make downtown better. And it's going to take a lot of us to do that. It's not just going to take the DDA. It's going to take a lot of us. And I think if you would allow me, I would like to go back and rethink the strategy that you all are wanting us to do, because it will involve more than just the DDA. And I think we can develop a method that brings these issues together. You know, we have a concern, you know, Lexington Center. They announced, what, last month about Cox Street parking lot. And that downtown master plan, that Cox Street parking lot was right there. We just talked about an amphitheater. Well, now Lexington Center's thinking bigger than that. You know, so how does that relate to the distillery district? How does that relate to the new arena? And that's an important issue. How does that relate then to Main and Vine Street as it goes down? We have identified the streetscape plan, but we've got new items now that weren't even there. So how do we tie that streetscape plan to, you know, Cox Street? You and I have had this conversation. How do we take the streetscape plan and do that connection from 3rd Street over to Limestone now so that you have that corridor that goes from Midland Avenue all the way to Newtown now? Because now we've picked up Transylvania. You know, the Bluegrass Community College is now wanting to come within the downtown area. So for me, it's very positive, but it's other things that two years ago weren't even thought about. So we do. That's why I keep saying we have to constantly go back and rethink and revisit what we've done. And, yes, I agree 100%. There needs to be a strategy that involves downtown, but it's more than just the DDA because there's more players than just the DDA. now. And you know I applaud your concern. Thank you. I'll give it back to me. I'm done. I'll turn the chairmanship back over to the chair. Thank you. Councilmember Lawless. I think you make a very good point and it's kind of one that's been my mantra for about the last three years and that is we do not have a single point of coming together for a strategy. all in silos and pieces and parts, Commerce Lexington doing this piece, the Economic Development Office doing this piece, you doing another piece, Streets and Roads doing a piece. You know, there's no, we do not have a clear strategic plan for how our city, how we envision our city in the future and how we're going to get there. And that is not your fault. And I think when the Downtown Development Authority was created back, I believe, when we were both younger. A lot younger. You know, downtown was dead. You know, you're right. Nothing was going on downtown. There had been the earlier spurt that splashed, and then it just kind of leveled out, and nobody was paying attention. But we as a community, not just the downtown, but our entire Fayette County, doesn't have a single point, a commissioner-level person who can take us through a strategic planning model about vision and future and how to get there, an urban planner, but urban county planner in our case. So that being said, the thing that I'm curious about is how do you decide which one of these little dots you're going to do? Where do you get your direction? Who tells you, okay, Harold, this is the priority for right now, and this is how I want it done? Who does that? A lot of it is conversation with you all individually. A lot of it is conversation with the board members. It's going to depend. I try to do as much of it as we can, you know, at one time. sometimes when you have money for certain things that's going to get a little bit more attention than the other one when you have the ability to actually implement something yeah that's going to take a little bit more attention but it's kind of one of those things you never know I'm sure you're all aware of this when you wake up in the morning you don't know what's going to happen that day and so from day to day it changes but money is a big input But, you know, if you have something that you can implement financially, then you're going to pay a little bit more attention on it. So how do you find that out? Who says, okay, there's some money, let's throw it at this or let's throw it at that or, you know, let's put this project off or let's choose this project. Where does that come from? Because, you know, sitting here, and again, I think that in many ways maybe it's time for the city to regroup and rethink all these silos. And that the DDA, when you were charged with this monumental task, it wasn't a monumental task because nobody really had their eye on the downtown ball. and that maybe the city has outgrown the way we're doing business in bringing economic development and urban planning and city planning together. So when I look at this chart, what I think of is a dartboard that I was trying to hit, completely random and rarely at a target I would be trying to hit. So my point in that is you're answerable to the mayor, to the board. Where do you get your direction? Who says, okay, CenterPoint's really important. It's going to be the biggest deal since sliced bread for Lexington. Go for it. Work with the developers. Help them get the financing. Get the stuff, you know, through. Or this streetscape project. Where do you get your direction? What I do, and what I'm going to do from now on is I'm going to make sure each of you all get our packets, the board packets that I send to the board for you all to review. Because what I do is we have on the agenda, the board asked me to list items of discussion, and we will go through and we will discuss each of those items. Some of those include projects, so they do kind of give me some direction. They also helped me in terms of where funding could come from or strategy could come from to move it forward. So the board does have a lot of input in terms of where do we concentrate our efforts on at that time. So, yes, the board does have a huge role on that because you do have your private industry there who kind of thinks a little bit different than government does. They also are aware of some financial mechanisms that we as a government agency are not aware of. So, like I said, what I'll do is I'll make sure you all get those packets from now on so you can kind of see the direction that the board is looking at. I have a couple more questions, but if other people want to talk, I'll come back in. Okay, we'll go to Councilman Myers and come back to you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a couple questions for you, Mr. Tate, but if I could have – Jill, could you come up just for a second? Harold touched on something that was an interesting point regarding his packets. A while back, this committee passed out an ordinance or a resolution that would require all the external boards and commissions that the mayor can appoint to to submit their charter, if you will, their mission statement, vision statement, all that kind of stuff, along with their annual reports, if they have one, and their monthly meeting minutes. And they were supposed to submit those to LFUCG, and then they were going to be posted on our website. Can you – I don't want to single Harold's group out on this, but can you give us an update maybe in work session today as to how that's going And if there was ever a letter that went out to all these entities stating that they needed to do that, and then how we're doing on getting those posted on the website. Yes. I know the letters did go out, and Shay and Ana have been working on that task. So, yes, we can get you an update on that if you'd like. Okay. I know some people, some of those things have been added, so I know you guys aren't working on it. I just wonder if we can get an update. and then maybe a list of who hasn't complied, if you will. That's maybe it. Yes, sir. I'll try to do that. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Mr. Tate. A lot of questions have been raised today, some good ones, I think. And some of it leads me back to a conversation that we had during outside agencies this year during the budget cycle. And you had, I think, two of your board members there at one of the meetings, and you talked about a couple of things. One was an alternative funding mechanism for your entity, and another one was I asked your board members specifically to think about thinking outside of the box. And I know that your entity is called Downtown Development Authority, but could you speak first about your authority to operate in all of Lexington, if you will, and not just downtown, even though you're called Downtown Development Authority? I believe when we were created, we had the ability to do anything within Fayette County. But before even I came on, the board made an action of a focus area where they were going to concentrate their effort. And at the time, it was basically 4th Street to the north, Euclid Avenue, Angliana to the south, Midland to the east, and around Manchester Street, Cox Street Park, and on to the west. So, yes, we do have the ability to work anywhere within Bayek County. Okay, so as authority is attached to your name, you do have the authority to work outside of downtown. Correct. Even outside of New Circle. Correct. That's where all my focus is for the most part. The reason I bring that up is because, you know, as we talk about whether it's maybe time to look at reshaping some things, I know that your board members and you also said that in order for that to happen that you can really begin to focus outside of downtown. You need what? More resources. Yes, sir. And then that goes back to those alternative funding sources. And I know that you guys have a study that's out. What we are doing, and I'm glad you brought that up, Council Member, because we're doing two things right now. Both are reaction to your committee. One, we are looking at other downtown development authorities and we're collecting data from them in terms of staffing responsibilities, what they deal with in terms of their agency. We are also looking at how these agencies are funded. And we'll have a full report at the next board meeting that you will get copies as well. And what we're seeing is business improvement districts. It's parking authorities. When you do a TIF, a percentage of the TIF comes back or whatever. So what we're seeing is some even have our state law won't allow, but in terms of taxes coming back to the agency that worked with the developer to get the project. So we're looking to see what alternatives are out there that we can bring back to you. Some cities, what they do is they put a percentage on the building permit fee. So any building permit fee that comes in, there's a percentage that's added on to that that then goes back to the authority. Is that building that takes place downtown? Most of them are anywhere, but you've got to realize Lexington is a little unique that we're that merged government, so I don't know yet. But those are just what some other cities that we've seen at this point have been doing. Okay. As you put that together and develop it, could you come back to this body, or I guess this would be the appropriate body, appropriate body, unless you wanted to come to a work session, but probably here would be the best place to start. We don't want to steal the thunder of your board. We want you guys to go ahead and meet and discuss it in your board meeting and everything, but when you come out of there, could you bring that back with maybe some recommendations to us? You want me to come back to this committee? I think that would be appropriate. And then we can move forward with that. You know, if at some point it ends up being something that's more economic development, then we can go there. I'm really just more focused on you coming back, not where you come when you get here. Could you also look at if you need enabling language from the state on any of those things that you guys look at and you think, you know, this is an opportunity we really want to look at? Because it sounds like almost a mini TIF in a sense that some of that tax money would come back to the entities that help those developments get started. That's sort of the same idea on the TIF on a smaller scale. So if you could bring back those recommendations also, and we'll put those in a committee and work on that, and then work on a delegation in Frankfurt to see if we can't make those happen. But also, as you start to look at those alternative funding mechanisms, can you also look at, like you said, what other DDAs are doing to increase their scope so that they're not just doing work downtown, and then what the resources would look like to do that so that, you know, at the end of the day, that's where we move. I told you before, candidly, that if you look at DDA in its title, then around this horseshoe, you have a very focused, select few council members that are really interested in what you're doing if you only determine that you're going to work downtown. But because your authority has the authority to work all over Fayette County, I've talked to you over the last three or four years about a couple different things in my district that I'd like to get your help on, and you've helped me. We're working together on one of them. But if you were able to do that and get the resources to focus on Lexington and Fayette County, suddenly you've got 15 council members around the horseshoe that are interested in what you do and interested in you being successful. So to that end, those two things, if you could work on those continually and then bring those back to us, I'd be very interested in seeing how we could help you out. Thank you. No problem. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think one of the confusions about the area that you work with is that the name of your entity is the Downtown Development Authority. And, you know, that doesn't really get out into the farmland and the horse park and a few other places, I don't think. How many directors do you have at this point? I'm sorry, what did you say? How many directors? Nine. You do have a full complement? Because I was thinking in relationship to communications, for lack of a better term, it would be maybe an ex officio position, but that this council has a representative in addition to the mayor. We do have an advisory board and Ed Lane is the council representative. Oh really? Yes, sir. Well, then he needs to talk to the rest of us, I guess. Okay, that's all I had. Thank you, Madam Chair. Vice Mayor Gray. Thank you, Madam Chair. First off, I want to correct any misimpressions about my perceptions about the work that you've done, Harold. I think that if we look back over time, the DDA and the influence of the DDA, and your work especially, has been pivotal. It has moved the dial significantly. And this conversation today is all about success. It's all about having achieved some level of success where the expectations have risen exponentially, dramatically. And I think you said that earlier, too. So if we look at it in a constructive way, even though there is dissent, even though there is pushback, even though there are concerns and problems, we still got to acknowledge that these are good opportunities. This is a good problem to have. But what we do know is that, and after hanging around for a little while in an elective role, after going through a couple of campaigns, after seeing the interest among our citizens in preserving the rural landscape, we know that there's a real strategy then associated with the downtown and the urban fabric, you know, not just, as Council Member Myers was saying, as others have said, not just the borders of whatever streets, but the urban fabric, that that's a big deal. And I think what, after several of these conversations, conversations, beginning perhaps with the one on the fifth floor where we had the flip chart where this diagram emerged, and then others in this chamber where we hear different voices representing the same issue or the same problem. Problem meaning the opportunity of translating our downtown into economic leverage. And one of the tributes to you comes from Cleet. Cleet says, Harold has helped me enormously in navigating through the bureaucracy. Joe said the same thing. And we want to give you a tribute for that. And the whole issue of strategy may not be, may perhaps not be your responsibility, but it's somebody's responsibility, whether it's the mayor or whether it's the administration or whether it's a collection of all these groups. What I think we are hearing is an old management maxim that goes like this, where everybody's responsible, nobody's responsible. and that's where if I were to characterize the tension and the distress and the frustration today, it is over our sense that we are not leveraging this opportunity to the level that we could and that we should. If we are indeed a place that has been able to resist this recession, then goodness gracious, we ought to be able to leverage these enormous resources that we've got. and it is the difference between thinking like you said, well, you know, I get up every morning like you do and think, hey, I get up every day and decide what's important today. And that's a comfort zone. That's the tactical comfort zone. And we're not talking about that. That's not where I don't think, I don't sense that that's what we are saying from this side of this horseshoe. We are saying that we're anxious about where we're going and why. And that tough word strategy. And that we just don't feel like we're getting it. And that's why we hire specialists. We don't pretend to have those special competencies. That's why we go to outsiders. But now we can sometimes, we'll end up blaming ourselves if things don't happen and say, well, we didn't create the strategy. But I've learned in business that, you know, what that's doing is conflict avoidance. It's work avoidance. Because that's why we recruit talent in special disciplines. If it's okay with you, Madam Chairman, I can just hand off to Council Member Henson because we were having an admitted, forgive us, we had a little sidebar conversation about this, but we are, this is a useful dialogue, it's a useful conversation because we're getting at stuff that helps us connect dots from our experience, from the data that we collect from our constituencies and among ourselves and from those who, like you, are working hard in our government to do good work. So is that okay, Madam Chairman? because as we were talking about the full structure, and you asked Peggy, who is responsible? I think that was it. Or how many people, entities? Go ahead. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Chair. I think you have a very difficult job, Harold. And I was just thinking about all the entities within Lexington, and everybody has their own agenda, and how difficult it must be when you've got the courthouse area design board, you've got the planning commission, and the downtown development authority, and the board of architectural review, and all these entities that, and if there's some way we really need to come together, and I guess I was kind of thinking it was kind of like blowing bubbles, and one bubble will burst and another one will come and so it's like we're just grabbing at things and kind of haphazardly. But I do think that there's been significant changes in downtown Lexington. We now have residential properties, maybe not affordable, but we do have residential. And hopefully one day we will have something on the center point block. I mean, I feel something will go there. So I think there's things that we need to be thankful for, but we just need a more comprehensive where we can all come together. And I don't know the answer to it. But I know we met with some guys from Columbus, and you were in on that as well. And I kind of felt like they have a very good strategy of dealing with all the different issues that, you know, the historic preservation is very important and what goes into our downtown is very important. And so if we can just all come together with the transportation, you know. Also, I was thinking about would it be possible to do like a spreadsheet? I know our environmental quality has recently come up with a spreadsheet of projects. Maybe if we could do the same thing and have them prioritized with the timeline, just maybe so it would help us vision, have better vision. One thing that we are looking at right now is our goals and objectives, and also we're developing an action plan as well that as we develop, I'll be more than happy to forward to you as well. So that might kind of address some of the issues that you just brought up. And let me say, too, I was with the city for 28 years, and the communication that exists now is very, very great. We are seeing more communication between the different divisions and the different departments. Once a month I have a meeting, it's UK, Commerce, Lexington, Convention and Visitors Bureau, DLC, I mean there's like 15 of us. Talk about what issues are, how can you help me on this, how can I help you on that. So is it perfect? No. But as we're seeing the issues that you all bring forward, the issues that citizens bring forward, we are trying to work together somehow to address it in some way. And I think that that can result in a strategy that can make all of us feel better. And it sounds, listening to you all, it's not just a downtown issue. It's a citywide issue as well. And, you know, I agree. Thank you. And Council Member Lawless is next, and Council Member Myers. I think one of the things that, as I'm sitting here thinking about it, And Lexington, Kentucky, was the first community in America to have an urban service boundary because they valued the rural landscape, and they knew it was critical to our economic development, to our tourism, to agriculture, and that once it was gone, it was gone. they had and created out of seeing that as a great value an overarching plan a vision, a vision for the future and a strategic plan for getting there getting the PDR in place so then it was during those periods that downtown didn't matter But now we know that also matters. And again, I'm not blaming you at all. What I'm saying is this government needs to have someone who has the ability to have an overarching plan to make sure the gathering point, a strategic plan and the gathering point of all this information because you talk to the parking authority, DLC, streets and roads talks to this person. There's not a commissioner level position that looks at our entire county and has a vision and goals for reaching that. And that's why I feel like until we get that, we're still, we're going to keep throwing, you know, shooting a shotgun in the air and seeing which one of the circles gets hit. And I can appreciate how much you have to do. I can't imagine wanting to expand to all of Fayette County, given what there is to do downtown. My major concern is that we are a community this size that doesn't have that kind of person in place for planning and economic development, because I think planning and economic development are essentially the same thing. And so I think it's time for Lexington and our administration to take a bold step forward and change that and see how critical that is to our future as they did way back when they started the urban service boundary and valuing the urban service boundary what's inside it not just what's outside it so again that's my frustration also my frustration comes from you know not getting information I know that if I call one of the commissioners about something I get answers and I get good answers and I get quick answers and I really appreciate that. But you know that's not my experience always with some of the other groups and although it has been with a lot of them. And I have to just one other point of is the farmers market didn't go to cheapside because of a tip. I believe that was you. I was on the Friends of the Lexington Farmers Market Board until I came on council and I resigned in case there was any conflict. And, you know, their place got tossed away, and I know they met with you and tried to get something arranged, and you were suggesting the parking lot behind either a transportation center or an OKU building. No, they're at a parking lot downtown. But at any rate, it has worked well there. And they're happy. There's some problems with storing their equipment and parking and parking their trucks. But, you know, the city's ecstatic, you know. And this past weekend, there were over 2,000 people in Sheepside Park. That is incredible. That's dynamic. That is about economic growth and excitement. And again, you know, maybe things have changed a lot since the ZDA was created. And no longer can you be that point person about something nobody cares about because everybody cares about it now. So thank you. Did you have a response or anything on that one? Okay, Councilor Myers. Councilor Myers. Councilor Myers. At your meeting? Yes. Okay, I remember now, yeah. And things have changed drastically with this administration, so it's not a reflection of this administration. But what I would like to get, and I said this to Mr. Lear in that meeting, a list of those things that you help them do. And the reason is because as policymakers, that's where we can be of help to you guys. Because we hear these stories all the time from developers and different people who would like to do things downtown and even in other places in the city. But we don't have those concrete antidotes. You know, this is my scenario. This is exactly what happened. I know when the previous vice mayor came on board, he put together an economic development task force group. They met one time, and in the first meeting, Alan Stein said that he could show you on paper a million dollars extra that he had to spend to build that stadium because people in this building didn't want it done. What we don't have is those examples, those concrete examples, so that we can look to what type of policy differences we can make to change that, so that you don't have to spend a lot of your time getting people through that part of the process. It just works. And you can spend more of your time and resources focused on getting projects initiated and moving and completed. So if you could work with Mr. Lear to maybe get a list of those things that he talked about, and then your work group that you talked about, if you could have them, I don't know if you have any kind of notes that you take during those meetings, or not necessarily minutes, but anything that you write down that you could then help us understand where the problems are, where the conundrums are, so that we can help get those lined out from a policy perspective. Could you bring those? I guess if you can bring that sooner than once you get your other two pieces done and come back before us, that would be fantastic. When's your next meeting? We'll go on break before the next meeting, so it's going to be sometime in August. And if Mr. Lear and anybody else from the development community would like to come to that meeting and help us understand what changes can or need to be made, that would be fantastic. Thank you. Council Member Feigl is next. Thank you, Madam Chair. This conversation has been really helpful to me as a relatively new council member. I don't know how long I can say I'm new. But I know that when I first came on council, I was having a hard time taking what you do and put it into context. So this has been a really good discussion for me. And I was really, and I guess what I'm sensing now is that we really don't seem to have a vision for where we want to be. We kind of all know where we want to be, but there's no plan to get us there. And I had kind of hoped that maybe the 2040 vision plan would give us that roadmap. But, you know, whether it has or it hasn't, I don't know. But at this point, though, I'm seeing all the kinds of things that you do. And there's a very, very broad range, a very broad scope of interaction that you have in the community. And I feel like that you network with everybody. And you might be the good, you know, clearinghouse to gather information to bring back and give status reports to the council. because I don't expect you to come back and report on every conversation that you have with every potential developer in downtown because I know that they want some level of anonymity when they come to talk to the city, and I guess you're the point person there. And so I wouldn't expect you to report on every single one of those, but where you can see benchmarks or some level of success on any one project, that kind of information coming back to us would be very helpful to make us feel that there's real progress being made and that this downtown development authority is, in fact, doing what we had hoped it would do. So those are the kinds of things that I'm looking for. But, I mean, you just have a tremendous scope there if all that falls within your responsibilities. So that's kind of what I was hoping is that maybe with all that scope that you really would have more current status reports working with the Chamber and everybody else and that could come back and give us those updates on projects. Thank you. You want to comment on that? I just want to like to say it from where we were when we first started, you know, it's a whole new animal now. We've taken on, because of the excitement that's been created, a desire to be more than we are. You know, economic development is becoming more a part of what we do now. in terms of developers coming in with projects, you've got to realize I've got to be careful what I say to somebody else, because if there is a zone change involved, I can't really have that conversation with you. But, yeah, and I think that's one thing the board's looking at right now is how do we reinvent ourselves? How do we refocus our attention? and I will definitely take this conversation I'm having with you all back to them at our July meeting so that they can start thinking, you know, what is the next step? And how do we collaborate? How do we bring all this together? And not just within the City Hall, but outside City Hall as well. And I do have to apologize to Ms. Councilman James because she and I have talked at East End. How do we get that going? And that's going to be a rough one. It's going to take more than just DDA to get that one going. It's going to take a lot of it. Well, with that, talk a little bit about your involvement with the small area plans, because we've had Central Sector, East End, and now we have two on Nicholasville Road. How does what the Downtown Development Authority, how do you help to implement those things? because I know in the east and central sector they both recommended a CDC with the understanding that DDA did exist. So they didn't say have the DDA do this. They said create a CDC in order to implement this. How do you see the DDA falling into that? And I've talked to the board about that because that is something that the DDA could create that could work with neighborhoods, not just East End, but all neighborhoods in terms of a development corporation. Kentucky Housing Corporation, you know, they're very interested in what they could do to help, you know, move that forward. You know, so that is something that we can look at. But the first thing that was important to me as we were developing the central sector and as we were developing East End and as we were developing the non-residential and film redevelopment report is that we were aware what the recommendations were so we could start thinking now, how do we start that implementation process? Because, you know, as Ms. James and I had the conversation, you know, North Limestone came to me and said, you know, Marty came to me, will you come and be a part of our neighborhood to help us, you know, because people see us as implementators. and that is kind of part of our role, which wasn't so much at the beginning, but now it is. I just kind of want to summarize some of the things that we've heard. So for our notes, I've heard that you can be our kind of eyes and ears, what's happening with development, strategy holder, gathering point, clearing house. We've talked about that there maybe needs to be a look at the name. it's kind of it's a bit deceiving to folks like out in 8th district or 12th district that it's a downtown development authority and you actually go all the way it's all of Fayette County potentially funding we're interested in seeing about your funding mechanisms and as a CDC that would be a potential funding source boundaries just again clarifying the boundaries prioritizing and some kind of status report of what's going on. And I don't know, maybe with Council Member Lane on the advisory committee, I'm maybe trying to figure out what that role would be to help facilitate that conversation. And if that's the best, you know, if it needs to be a council member that is 12th District Council representative and appropriate, Is that where doing or with his business consulting business, is that the best person to be there, the best position to be there? Council Member Martin. Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I want to apologize for being late. I was unexpectedly seated with Congressman and Mrs. Hal Rogers at the chamber lunch, and so I could not make a quick exit. I was up front, and I do apologize. One of the things I wanted to ask was how the DDA relates to intergovernmental, because Council Member James and I were both, as some others, were at the planning committee meeting this morning, and this overlaps a great deal with what planning does, particularly the joint planning committee, because one thing that I think we've all wanted to try to do is to plan better in Lexington, and that's one of the things that's currently being discussed in the planning committee meeting. I wouldn't want to sort of send the DDA in a direction that was inconsistent with the direction of that committee on how Lexington should organize its planning function and pursue its planning function. A lot of the things, such as developing small area plans and things of that nature, seem to be a natural function of the possible planning department that we all may want and love and are looking for. So one thing we may want to decide is whether this conversation needs to take place within the council's planning committee because they are, in fact, looking at these planning functions. Council Member Martin, is that a question to the committee, to the chair at this point? It's just sort of an observation, and I don't know whether, you know, the chair is certainly welcome to respond to that, and I apologize for missing the first part of the conversation. My aides here try to be my eyes and ears, but that is something that I think the overall function of planning in Lexington needs to, and all the different pieces needs to be looked at. I think we all want to do better planning. We all want to look further down the road, and we all want to know what we're going to be in 20 years and how we're going to get there. And the DDA is an important part of that, as well as our own planning department and our long-range planning department and Commerce Lexington. So I just throw that out, whether this needs to be in the council planning committee so that it can go in a direction with what the DDA may be doing. Thank you, Chair. I will respond to that as the chair. Whatever it is. Thank you. . Looking at some logs that are located in the area across Main Street from the New Farmer's market location, Chief Light Party. The artist market is in the fall of the city. Artists have planned the two places to treat local and well-known working artists in their work. The artist market is open for 10 a.m. to 6 a.m. The artist registration is very sweet. The latest document easily. ... Thank you. All the incidents are in France and Dublin featuring local and well-known emerging artists in their work. The artists are in the middle of the May 8am to June 10th. Artist registration series weekly. The point of something needs to be received by the different artists in their team's work of art. For more information, go to the downtown Lexus Incorporation website. . Thank you. .