Approve site for city hall | Lexington Herald Leader

The announcement that Wallethub selected Lexington as the fourth-best well-run city should be celebrated. A great way to do that is to move the new city hall onto a renovated Herald-Leader site.

Lexington was one of the first cities to adopt an urban county government and an urban services boundary. These innovative moves, along with excellent leadership, have made Lexington a standout place by achieving exemplary management and limiting urban sprawl.

As the city continues to reinvent itself and to grow in intelligent ways, government offices deserve to be housed in a facility that expresses our pride and that symbolizes the potential of democracy.

The Herald-Leader site, a vital gateway to downtown, is ideal. The opportunity to reuse a critical piece of real estate, rather than letting it languish in disuse, is not to be taken for granted.

The development would solve problems that have plagued development of the east end of downtown. It would provide significant parking and create an anchor around which new secondary and service businesses would thrive.

Furthermore, the design is inspirational — not something that can be said of other proposals. Even if it weren’t the least expensive proposal, the site is the runaway winner. We hope the council will agree.