>> And November.

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton handily won re-election to a second term in the state's second most populous city.

What the should consider her major accomplishment in her first term.

And what's on her to do list for the next 4 years.

Get some answers from Mayor Linda Gorton herself.

That's now connections.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> Welcome to connections today.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Happy New Year to you.

And thanks for joining us and the 2022 general election.

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton are 71% of the vote, giving her a decisive victory in her bid to serve the Lexington community.

Another 4 years.

>> A registered nurse, former vice mayor and 16 year member of the council.

Mayor Gordon has said that the job she has now is a good fit for her.

Her mettle was tested in her first term with a global health pandemic calls for social justice and police reform and public concern over violent crime.

How will she continue to address those lingering issues and what else is on her agenda?

We're glad to have Mayo Linda.

Linda Gordon with us right now to answer all those questions and more.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for having me.

Well, it's so great.

Congratulations.

All say that publicly.

And by the time this airs you would have been inaugurated and sworn in again.

And I'm fortunate enough to have been a part of that activity is so thank you for that.

So let's talk November.

Not that you want to go back and relive the fall campaign.

But as I said, a 71% victory.

I mean, you had won it 4 years prior.

63% of the vote.

But to win by this large of a margin, a mandate, as we often say, were you surprised?

I was a little bit surprised.

>> I've been around a while.

So a lot of people know me and they know how I operate and what I do and where my focus is.

So I had hoped I would do well.

I didn't really expect that well.

So I'm really honored.

That so many people.

Voted to put me or to KET me.

Yeah office.

Yes.

And it really is it's a great honor that people trust me.

You know, it's all about trusting the And so I was thrilled.

Yeah, very excited.

>> Your first term.

What are you most proud of?

>> You know, my first term was.

Really defined I will say budget troubles in COVID because when I first came into office the first week of 2019, I learned that we were not going to make our budget now that was pre-covid.

And then of course, the next year COVID hit.

And it was a challenge of a lifetime because as you know, there was no one to pick up the phone and say how did you do this for That right now or anything like that?

So we had to right the and I have a wonderful team of senior leaders in government and they helped every step of the way and our stakeholder groups in the community are healthcare or healthcare stakeholders.

Our business stakeholders, all of those groups helped get us And it was a huge Remember all the different things in the beginning?

We didn't know if our waste workers could pick it up off the surface of the her bees in the Rosie right.

So we put them and gloves and masks and tie Send.

You know, there were a lot of unknowns about this virus might and what it could do.

And so I'm very proud of the way our city came through that came through the testing, the vaccinations.

We folks in the community who stepped up and said use my the gym sitting empty.

You can have vaccines here or whenever.

That is still, you know, we're still dealing with the aftereffects of all of the economy was like a roller coaster.

It was terrible.

And thank goodness for federal funds because they really save cities.

The other thing as you know, right in the middle of the pandemic.

George Floyd was killed.

The streets erupted racial justice protests.

And for me, that was a a real ah, ha It was a cry for help.

And for change.

And so the really good that came out of that was my commission on racial justice and equality.

And then we had 7, 70.

Community members who worked all summer the summer of 2020 to make a plan for us to be better in that area.

And so now we're still working on implementing some of those recommendations.

We've implemented about half of the 54 mile and one Lexington, which is an anti-violence, but really a community building and initiative divine Koroma who has been on this show a few times in different capacities.

>> Who's really a community stalwart when it comes to engaging with use is having some success with this initiative that is proven to lower youth violence crime.

So this is a positive if there can be a silver lining, it's a real positive.

And, you know, there's always a silver lining some where.

And the work divine and his team are doing is >> very difficult.

They're in the street, you know, working with families impacted by violence and he he's amazing.

And hit in just the last year.

If you take the last 12 months.

gun violence among his group, which is the 13 to 29 year-olds, has decreased by 50%.

The gun homicides.

That's pretty big.

And that's the kind of thing we're looking for.

Is that kind of change and helping steer people and families to a path of nonviolence.

And that takes work.

Well, we know that there's been some and our friends to the West and Louisville.

There are I don't want to 6 peer Manning with a concept called group Violence Intervention and that we've talked about.

>> On other programs here at KET.

And even the gentleman who was responsible for engineering.

That program is talked about how successful it has been in other cities, but you're not convinced.

And and many of the African American clergy weren't convinced.

And and some people say, well, what's the difference?

They both have very similar approach is about getting intervening and diverting all when a kid or maybe of someone who's on the cusp of adulthood is on the wrong path.

No one disagrees with that philosophical approach right?

Why do you think that community violence intervention or this one Lexington approach is better than what other cities nearby are trying.

Well, the thing about one Lexington is it's community violence.

Intervention.

we think it's a better fit for Lexington.

Our team of folks.

>> Throughout government made many phone calls to other cities that have use gvi.

We wanted to know if it was a good fit for us because if we thought it was we would have implemented it.

However, one of the things that we learned is that the mechanism we believed would have put a focus on the communities of color here.

Big whether you were in violence are not involved in violence or not.

And the other thing that we learned when we talk to these individual cities is that many of them used to use that.

But then they learned the homicides were rising while they were using gvi.

We just did not feel it was a good fit for us.

And so we went to the community violence intervention, which now the Department of Justice, he's really supportive of what we're calling cvi or community violence intervention because you're going right to the people, right?

And the root causes.

Yes.

And the root causes.

I mean, if we do look at the root causes and try to intervene and those we will never make progress and the root causes are housing affordability.

Yes, poverty people living on the edge not being able to support families because they don't have money for food or clothing.

You mentioned affordable housing.

It's lots of those kinds of issues.

So an example, a really good example is education.

We all know that with improved education, a community can thrive better.

And so for people who don't have a GED, we've worked really h*** o* that piece.

Workforce development.

People who don't have skills to write a resume or do an interview or any of those what we call soft skills right to get a job.

We have set up places where people can go and learn those skills.

Those all go toward this effort and someone once said to me, you know, almost everything we do in government is centered around helping people in a way avoid violent paths.

If you think about it, our social services, all of those things.

So we think we're on a good And, you know, it's not by any means perfect.

No city has it down.

Perfect.

I don't think, but we're making progress.

That's what import is important.

>> There is there.

The news is replete with stories about violent crime and we heard particularly during the election season.

That was part of the political platform for some candidates.

This to really hone in on that message that violent crime is out of control.

But the reality in Lexington is perhaps somewhat different than the picture that is painted for whatever reason.

What does it look like here in Lexington?

What is a success been and where are you seeing spikes or increases and violent crime that maybe surprising or informative to people?

One thing is it's and so it's.

>> It is not a true picture to just paint the picture in one way violent crime.

The category includes of course, homicide rape, arson assault.

The the bad things, if you will.

And in Lexington are violent crime.

That category is down 2% from last year.

Now that is not true across the country.

And so that's a good thing.

Now, within that, you know, homicides are embedded in that category.

Homicides are up and homicides are up.

What we know about our homicides here is that now we have 13 of them that were directly related to domestic violence.

This time last year, one year ago, we have had one that was domestic violence related.

That's not street crime.

That is crime inside the home.

Generally.

And usually it involves women and children.

And we have seen that dramatic rise really since And this is a different dynamic.

And because of that, I have stood up a really robust effort around domestic violence because we have got to attend to that right?

And we have a lot of people in the community who serve on my advisory committee right now.

And we've launched first phase of a new campaign to educate people who on domestic violence.

Now we've educated are 3, 1, one call takers.

Anyone who is in fear of their life or even just afraid of their partner can call 3, 9, 3, 1, 1, and get help.

I mean, things like that that can help people.

It's very difficult to get out of an abusive relationship.

So it's complex, So we're working really h*** o* those kinds of things.

And then the other piece is mental health.

It's and you have a an advisory council for that as well.

Correct?

I do.

And we're really excited because when we met the first time we decided what we needed to do was take a survey of our community.

What resources do we have gaps to?

We have to help people with mental health issues and we just learned that we've received a grant to do that survey.

This is a big deal because, you know, we need to know what's out there in our community and the advisory group is made up of lots of different people in this area.

So this is the way we're going to make a and hopefully maybe change some of the narrative or perceptions around mental health and seeking treatments and so that it's not so taboo.

>> As a registered nurse, 2, I know a lot of these issues do strike you in a different rate because of your frame of reference in your experience.

And so when you think about opioid addiction, which you've taken on in these mental health and intimate partner violence issues.

True point that you made earlier.

A lot of it does stem from these environmental or root issues that need a much broader approach, then incarceration S that are typical approaches.

Yes.

And one of the areas where we're going to be focusing is.

>> On our folks who are incarcerated here in Fayette County, in our jail.

And to work with them before they get released.

You know, for someone in jail who was on a certain path, it took them there.

If there's nothing in terms of intervention when they get released from jail, more than likely they're going right back to the same path we want to interrupt that and we want folks too, have programming in the jail and what we have been working on that also so that when they're released, they are going back to the same path.

They have new and different skills and understandings of themselves and how to deal with things.

So we know that first responders interrupting.

We know that's been a struggle to our retain recruit.

>> That very critical part of our work force to deal with these issues.

How is that?

Is that improving?

We think it is slowly but surely, you know, during the there was a shift and what people wanted to do for work.

And of course, now today we're also having the issue of people not working and the difficulty of finding workforce.

But what happened was a lot of people said, no, forget it.

I don't want to be and public safety.

It's hard work.

It's very hard to us.

Yes, being a police officer being a firefighter being a jailer or corrections officer and then the stress of the a 9-1-1 call takers is big.

So we have kind of pivoted.

We're doing a lot marketing.

For those public safety divisions.

We have increased their pay.

Given supplements and all kinds of things that we believe will help.

We're starting to see a little bit of an increase in people who are applying for those jobs and we want to show them that we value them.

And you value your employees by, you know, treating them respect fully and correctly, but also paying them fairly and compensating them with benefits and that's very important to me.

I've said all along, you know what we do in governments all about serving people.

It is all about that.

And if what we're doing isn't serving people, then we need to take a step back and figure out how to do it differently because our bottom line is people, it's not profit.

You know, it's not a financial profit, right?

That's right.

Let's talk about flock which is not necessarily viewed as an intervention, by the way, too.

>> Catch the criminals for cars, thievery and other instance.

But it's controversial.

Even a council member has had said he was concerned that it would disproportionately affect minority communities.

There's concerns about privacy, liberty, right, surveillance, all of the things that you've heard, Madam Mayor for a long time about this issue.

There were 25 cameras.

Now you're thinking about adding more may be in the process of doing that.

Tell us why this is such a purposeful tool.

Well, these license plate readers take a photo of a license plate.

>> They don't take photos of people driving.

They don't catch red light runners.

They don't catch speeders.

None of that.

So the license plates are then fed into a federal database.

You know, there are hundreds of these thousands all over the country.

And so there's a network.

And then if there's a hit and the system, the police know that that license plate is attached to a car that's wanted for some reason.

It may be a stolen vehicle.

It may lead to finding a missing person.

If they have a they have.

Through the license plate reader.

They've apprehended a murder suspect from Michigan.

That's pretty big.

They have located unconscious state confiscated quite a number of weapons.

I think the numbers, 37 or 38.

All of these kinds of things and I hear all the time that people want us to have safe streets.

They want criminals to suffer some sort of consequence.

Committing a crime.

And I can tell you because I know where these cameras are and council members have access to that information with the pilot program.

They are not only in communities of color.

They are widely dispersed.

They are in places where the community has called in to report crime.

That's that's how they're placed.

And that was at the determination to made on where they were placed.

Yeah, yes.

>> They're all placed where the highest number of crime calls come in.

Now, that's not from the police.

That's from the public.

So, yes, we're in the process of placing 75 more.

The council approved that the funding was in the budget, but they approved to move forward and we will have a presentation to the new council before that first camera goes in that first one of the next 75.

And then we will place all of them on a map for the public to see.

We felt like with the pilot.

We really didn't want to tell people where they were because it was a pilot and MS new and we didn't want people to start avoiding them because that would have skewed the year.

The information.

But the data we're getting is stunning.

And this is data that police would have needed to get one way or another.

You know, they could have gone door to door without these license plate readers and said you observed the crime.

Did you get a license plate number?

Did you get the color of the car?

That's intense work.

This is a tool just like a body cam as a tool.

And we believe I personally think that they will be very successful in helping our officers.

If you're on a public street.

And you're obeying the laws.

You shouldn't have any fear of these because they're taking a picture of your license, right?

And so if you're jaywalking, now, that's not going to be in a fraction that you're going to go, right?

Yeah, that's that's a serious crime.

It is for serious crime.

And I think in the beginning, people may be misunderstood.

What they were.

I happen to know a lot of people know that were being surveilled every day by cameras on public businesses, private businesses and personal soften drive.

But everywhere, yes.

we only use them on public And you know, it's a tool that's helping us find people who are committing crimes and they're not light weight crimes.

Do you know what I would say?

Absolutely.

Murder suspect while missing persons, violent crimes stolen vehicles.

It's all of that and more so.

We want the public to know where all these are going to pan.

It will be, you know, very transparent to everyone and then we'll be able to see how the data comes in right?

So we'll see if it's replicated in other areas.

Let's talk real quickly affordable housing and mentioned this in the urban growth boundaries and gentrification.

We won't get all that done.

>> 4 and a half minutes.

But I do want to talk about the affordable housing and we know that in the weeks leading up to our conversation, a group called Kentucky Tenants has been a very active protesting and they're warning a tenants Bill of rights, etcetera.

We know evictions are still high.

And so what is being done to address affordable housing?

Is it expanding their urban growth boundary to allow for more development?

And when we've tried that in the past, has it yielded affordable housing?

That's the in 1996, when the boundary was expanded till today.

It has not resulted in any affordable housing.

>> And there may have been housing, but it wasn't affordable.

That's right.

In those expansion area, it just doesn't work that way.

>> so so.

>> That is not the answer.

The answer is to KET our affordable housing Fund.

I guess I would say robust.

Council every every year I put 2 or 3 million dollars into the budget for affordable housing this time I recommended to the council and they approved 10 million to go into the fund and our director manager of Affordable Housing is doing a great job.

What does that money go when it goes into the and then he uses that Rick Mcwane.

He's our manager.

He uses it to leverage outside money.

Whether it's banks or other entities who want to partner on these funds and then they go into the development, whether it's a rehab or a new development to lower the help lower the cost of those housing units.

And it works.

And Ari fiction, I wanted to speak a second.

You mentioned even yes, because we have a really, really strong the VIX shun program that's been noticed at the federal level because we have put a lot of funds into helping people who are about to be evicted.

We have someone who goes to court with people.

We have funds available now.

They have to apply because they have to meet certain criteria.

But it's been very successful.

I think that we need to look at the tenants rights requests.

Some of them may work here.

Some of them may not.

We need to be sure that we can hold landlords accountable because a lot of what I've heard is that some housing is subpar and that's not right.

And so here again, this is a real complex, multifaceted issue, but we're doing a lot and looking at what more we can do.

Yeah.

>> In a minute and a half your to do list.

What's the first thing are your big dreams.

Let's do that.

What's the big dream that Mayor Linda Gorton has in her second term that she wants to say?

I got accomplished when this will have 3 right so I want a new city hall right to a conversation for a long time.

Every mayor since to re sizing has proposed one and they've all gone and so that is one a really wonderful 200 50th birthday celebration for our community by 2025.

Right.

25 we are a year older than the Declaration of Independence.

And then we've been in conversation with some different folks about our carbon emissions and some things that might elevate us in terms of energy.

And I'm really excited about all of that.

So those are 3 along with just the processional sports team.

I'm hoping we get one.

You know, I'm hoping we get that soccer team.

That would be good for Lex.

And that would be good for last season.

>> Well, we didn't get a chance.

Talk about town There's a lot of us do part to some time with their schedule.

But I thank you so very much.

Congratulations again to you.

Thank you, Mayor Linda Gorton, thank you so much.

Thank you for watching today.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Happy New Year again to you.

Thank you for watching.

Follow us on Kentucky.

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Thanks again for watching.

Take good care.

I see a son.