Job growth up, homicides down. Five takeaways from Mayor Gorton’s State of City speech
Mayor Linda Gorton celebrated the city’s declining homicide rates, robust job growth and new investments in housing and economic development Tuesday during her annual State of the City speech.
Tuesday was Gorton’s seventh State of the City speech in front of the Lexington Forum, a local civics group, at Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena.
Gorton, who is in her second year of her second term as mayor, spent much of Tuesday’s speech focused on where the city has come and where it will go.
This year marks Lexington’s 250th anniversary.
“The need for continuing change and improvement drives us forward as we move into our next 250 years,” Gorton said.” We know we have much work to do to continue the tradition of accomplishment that has been part of our community since its founding.”
Over the past two years, Gorton and her team have focused on tamping down a rise in homicide and non-fatal shootings, upping investments in affordable housing and overseeing $121 million in various infrastructure upgrades made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act, or federal coronavirus relief money.
A nurse and former vice mayor who won re-election by a landslide in 2022, Gorton has not said if she will run for mayor again in 2026. Lexington mayors can serve three terms. The office is nonpartisan.
Here’s five takeaways from Gorton’s speech:
More people working, new designs for Rupp Arena parking lot
Lexington has the highest number of people working in history — more than 178,000, as of October. The Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland, which covers cities including Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, recently noted that Lexington has had the strongest job growth of any Midwestern city. Since the pandemic, Lexington’s job growth has been 5.5%.
The city is investing in new office and business parks to keep job growth humming, Gorton said. More than 60% of the city’s budget comes from a tax on wages.
The 200-acre Legacy Business Park off of Georgetown Road will begin construction this year, she noted, and Fayette County recently joined Madison, Scott and Berea to create a regional business park in Berea. The city will receive 33% of taxes generated from that project.
It’s not clear when that business park will be opened.
Construction will finally begin this year on multi-use development for the 17-acre parking lot across from Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena on High Street, a plan that has been in the works for several years.
The plans call for multiple parking garages to replace the surface parking, apartments, retail and other spaces.
“A mix of residential, retail, and multiple parking garages is planned,” Gorton said. “The High Street project is the work of Dallas-based Lincoln Property Company, and local developer Dudley Webb.”
Webb attended Tuesday’s speech.
More funding for affordable housing, homelessness
Gorton also touted the city’s efforts to tackle one of its thorniest problems — the rising cost of housing.
“Affordable housing is an urgent priority. We need more of it. Working with public and private partners, we are tackling the problem head-on,” Gorton said.
The city opened 577 affordable living units in 2024. This year, $4.7 million has been dedicated to affordable housing, she said.
The city was also recently awarded a $2 million federal grant with Bluegrass Care Navigators to help seniors make modifications to their homes. These modifications can help improve seniors’ quality of life and keep them in homes longer.
Additionally, the city will receive more money from the federal government for its homeless services, Gorton said.
“And just last week we learned that the federal grant funding we receive to operate programs related to homelessness will increase by 8.8% next year. These are highly competitive grants, and we received over 99% of the funds we requested — a tribute to the quality of our programs,” Gorton said.
Decline in homicides, increase in funding for public safety
Lexington’s homicides continue to fall, Gorton said.
Lexington had 37 homicides in 2021 and 44 homicides in 2022. In 2024, that number dropped to 22.
“Last year saw a 10% decrease in homicides; and a 68% decrease in reported shooting victims among victims ages 10 to 29 years,” Gorton said.
Gorton credited the Lexington Police Department and One Lexington, its youth gun violence intervention program for the drop in fatal and non-fatal shootings over the past several years.
The city has also turned to technology to help it catch and solve crimes. The city has invested in Flock license plate readers and a real-time intelligence unit, which uses technology and cameras, to help police solve crimes.
“In part because of this technology we have been able to cut the time it takes to recover stolen cars in half, recovering vehicles valued at $4.5 million; increased the clearance rate for homicides; assisted with returning 27 missing persons to their families; and taken 113 firearms off the street,” Gorton said.
In addition, the city has invested in a new emergency unit, 12 new firefighters and has upped employee retention and recruitment at the once-chronically understaffed Fayette County Detention Center.
“After staffing deficits that ran as high as 130 officers, we are now just eight vacancies from being fully staffed,” Gorton said. “Today our Division of Community Corrections leads the nation in the number of nationally certified officers through the American Jail Association.”
Massive investments in parks
Lexington will open part of Cardinal Run North off of Versailles and Parkers Mill roads later this year. The new regional park will have a dog park, trails and sports courts. It’s been more than 25 years in the making, Gorton said.
Kelley’s Landing, a new Kentucky River Park, will also likely be partly open later in 2025, Gorton said.
In addition, a new Douglass Pool will also be opened later this year, she said.
The vast majority of the funding for those projects comes from American Rescue Plan Act funding, or federal coronavirus relief funding.
In addition, that funding has helped pay for:
- $17.8 million for affordable housing;
- $31 million for parks
- $10 million for programs related to homelessness
- $6.7 million to non-profits
- $5.7 million to economic and workforce development
- $4.6 million to community support through housing assistance, community violence intervention and mental health support.
No discussion of winter storm or immigration issues
Gorton did not mention the city’s response to the latest round of winter storms or the complaints about the city’s response to clearing roads, particularly neighborhoods streets, which left many residents frustrated.
The city has made changes in response to the storms, including ordering more snow plows and trucks. It’s also looking at adding additional private contractors to help clear neighborhood streets if the city is hit with another round of bad winter storms.
Also absent from Gorton’s speech were references to President Donald Trump or his immigration policies. At least one man was arrested Monday at the Madison County court house for allegedly being in the country illegally.
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 12:41 PM.
