Housing and safety: How Lexington’s District 1 candidates want to address the big issues
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Heading into the upcoming election, both candidates vying for the First District Urban County Council seat want to address affordable housing and community safety.
Incumbent Tayna Fogle, first elected in 2022, faces off against her former council aide Tyler Morton, a first-time candidate.
The First District includes parts of downtown Lexington north of Main Street and extends to Interstate 75. It encompasses neighborhoods along Newtown Pike, North Broadway and North Limestone. Here are what the candidates say are the main priorities of their campaigns.
Tayna Fogle
With almost two years of service under her belt, Fogle touted road infrastructure improvements as some of her greatest successes.
“My biggest thrill is the safety of school kids. None of our schools had decent crosswalks or flashing beacon lights, and I noticed that when I came into office,” she said.
By George Washington Carver STEM Academy, on Sixth Street, Keller Alley is now a one-way street with a sidewalk so students don’t have to walk in the mud to get to school. There are also new four-way stops on Sixth Street, a flashing pedestrian light by Winburn Middle school and freshly paved roads in the district.
Fogle worked on feeding initiatives in partnership with Fayette County Public Schools to send meals home with students over fall and spring break. If she’s reelected, she said, she wants to focus on creating a meal program for students over the summer.
Going into the next term, Fogle said she is excited to see Douglas Pool open in Spring 2025, after completing the refurbishing for which she pushed.
The city also needs to do more to address gun violence, she said.
“We continue to have gun violence and deaths in the first district. At one time, I went to seven funerals in 10 days with folks in the first district,” Fogle said. “We’ve lost some great people.”
She also wants to create more resources and opportunities for Lexington’s homeless population.
She said the creation of the mobile “dignity station,” which gives people the chance to shower and wash their clothes, was a great first step towards rehabilitation, but the city needs to make housing accessible to everyone.
“They started believing in themselves. They could take a bath, they could wash their clothes, they could go into Goodwill and get some resources,” she said. “People were starting to become whole.”
As solutions to the lack of housing in the first district, Fogle suggested turning abandoned lots into affordable homes or offering incentives for new developments with inclusionary zoning, which sets aside a percentage of new developments for low-income people.
Fogle people need to be seen as more than profit and the council needs to consider “affordability” when talking about “affordable housing.”
“I don’t talk about affordable housing because I don’t think that that word exists in Lexington. I try to talk about affordability,” she said.
Hoping to clinch a second term, Fogle called her first two years on the council a “learning season” that taught her the processes of local government. She said she’s “ready to fly” in a second term.
Tyler Morton
While this is his first time running for elected office, Morton is not new to the political scene. After getting a Master’s degree in public administration from Eastern Kentucky University, he interned and went on to work as a full time staffer for Councilman James Brown. He also worked as a council aide for Tayna Fogle before quitting in June 2023.
With his experience being around the urban government, Morton said he won’t need an adjustment period and can start working for District One on the first day of the term if he’s elected.
“I know the process. I know the procedures. There’s no learning curve — It’s direct action, and I’m ready to hop in and get the job done for the First District constituents while working full time for them,” he said.
Morton said the biggest issue in the district is community safety, specifically gun violence and traffic safety. He said gun violence needs to be addressed through community programming and increased youth services.
“There must be wraparound services tailored to the community — addressing those most at risk of committing crimes, committing violence, or most at risk of being a victim of violence — and making sure that they have all the unique services needed in that area,” he said.
For road infrastructure, he said more funds should go toward speed bumps and mitigation signage to reduce speeding in the district. He said there’s not been adequate investment into the first district, and he would use his position as a council member to bring money into the area.
Morton said it’s important the city has programs that address the root causes of the challenges in the first district through outreach and education. He used mental health and substance abuse as examples of root causes of homelessness.
As far as affordable housing, he said Lexington should invest in more home ownership because that leads to more generational wealth.
Two years — the typical term for a council member — isn’t a lot of time to enact change. Morton said one campaign promise he knows he can fulfill in those two years is being accessible to the people he represents. He said the council needs to do a better job of listening to the community to reach the goals that are important to people.
“The city could do a better job of reaching out to our minority communities — to all of our communities — seeking input,” he said. “The First District council office can do a much better job at reaching folks, showing up, and being accessible.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Housing and safety: How Lexington’s District 1 candidates want to address the big issues."
