When will Lexington do something about our graffiti problem? | Opinion

Visual deterioration

Everyone knows that allowing neighborhoods to visually deteriorate leads to more crime. The “broken windows” in north Lexington include burned out, vacant buildings covered in graffiti. In my opinion, this would never be allowed in the south part of Lexington.

I would like Mayor Linda Gorton and the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council to explain why the open city position to remediate graffiti has not been filled. Graffiti is everywhere in north Lexington, and it appears as if the city isn’t doing anything to remove it. It is dragging down our North Limestone neighborhood, and it is an invitation to more crime because it looks like no one cares. Some of us are trying hard to make our neighborhood safer, but we need the city’s help.

If we want to reduce crime and violence in north Lexington, we must address the visual blight and the abandoned buildings.

Dave Cooper, Lexington

Pity Calloway

I disagree with Linda Blackford’s opinion that Ky. Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, should resign. Ms. Blackford shouldn’t condemn Mr. Calloway but pity him. His remarks toward the LGBTQ community stating they are diseased and unfit for his society are coming from a mindset of fear. Like all of his kind, he is scared of the unknown.

I think Josh imagines himself as St. Michael slaying demons.

“Children must be protected,” I imagine him screaming to an empty room. “No matter how many hundreds of thousands of dollars we waste, like Bill 150, our insignificant program will succeed! We must wipe out the 10 transgender people and the drag shows in prisons. We must burn any book which might encourage thinking. We must concentrate on the trivial and disregard good roads, good schools and teachers pay. We must protect Kentuckians from words like ‘woke.’”

“We have a Christian mandate,” Calloway might say.

(Sorry, Josh. In the four gospels, Jesus never mentions drag queens or transgender people. He never condemns homosexuals. But in Luke 7:1-10, he does cure a Roman soldier’s young male lover.)

Damian Beach, Frankfort

Transgender treatment

The state legislatures who passed laws against medical treatment for transgender youth seem to be focused on matters which are not in their area of expertise. For example, those laws are not protecting the youth as much as they are taking parental rights away by those who are neither doctors nor involved in the day-to-day lives of these children. Also, the denial of puberty blockers and hormones which they believe causes harm do not cause permanent bodily changes.

Most of these same states have very restrictive abortion laws. Consider a 12-year-old girl who is pregnant and would be denied an abortion. Are there hormonal changes? Are there physical and emotional changes which are not reversible? Under the guise of “protecting children” these lawmakers are interfering in these family’s personal matters by imposing their own personal moral beliefs. It is a clear overreach of government over the rights and freedoms of individuals.

Cheryl Keenan, Lexington

Beautiful community

This Memorial Day Weekend I had the privilege to be at the Kentucky Aviation Museum while touring with the Commemorative Air Force’s C-47 “That’s All Brother.” We fly this airplane around the country to accomplish our mission to “Honor, Educate, and Inspire” by telling the stories of World War II and to providing the public with an opportunity to experience this historic airplane in several ways up to and including flying aboard it.

While I have flown to Lexington many times, this was the first time I was off the airport and it is a wonderful community. Yours is a beautiful community and I look forward to returning.

The Museum is a real treasure for Lexington and the volunteers were great. The public who came out to see our airplane and ride in it were polite and respectful of our historic aircraft.

On behalf of the “That’s All Brother” crew, and the entire membership of the Commemorative Air Force, thank you to the Museum and the community for providing us the opportunity to share the important history of WWII with your community.

Doug Rozendaal, Clear Lake, Iowa

Guthrie applauded

I applaud U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie’s efforts to ensure that patients have total clarity when it comes to the price of healthcare. Health systems are committed to price transparency for patients, but that is not possible if we make rules more confusing.

There are many issues to address around the high cost of healthcare. The original intent of the 340B Pharmacy program, for example, makes sense, but there is really no transparency around the costs, cost savings or expenditures. I understand there are U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration audits to rightly identify eligibility compliance of covered entities. And there are federal rules for reporting health care costs. But how do those translate to information that hospitals and patients can use? A standardized data collection system of claims paid would provide a clear and consistent audit of all healthcare systems, better informed funding of programs and policy initiatives, and be a useful tool for patients.

Government should prioritize enhancing and enforcing existing price transparency laws, so patients have access to the latest and most accurate pricing information. When patients are empowered, the market works itself out. More red tape does the opposite.

Thanks to Congressman Guthrie for everything he does for his constituents in Congress.

State Rep. Kim Moser, Frankfort

Real men

I will gladly respond to the concerned writer questioning if “we could amass enough men to save us from the next ‘Hitler’?” The answer is- we already have.

In November 2020, millions of my fellow American men voted for President Biden and removed the disgraced former executive from our government.

The writer offers a suitable case of American bravery and selflessness, demonstrated during the liberation of Europe, as an exemplar of “real” manhood. However, it shouldn’t be lost on “educated” Americans that among the heroes of D-Day and other World War II battles were men who were neither white, Christian, “straight”, or even U.S. citizens.

I agree with the writer; that model, at least within the culture of the far-right, HAS been replaced. We saw the replacement on shameful display on Jan. 6, 2021. The men of “Operation Overlord” were replaced by those of “Operation TrumpOurLord”: resentful, self-important criminals attempting to subvert the peaceful transition of government those men were defending nearly 80 years ago.

It really is obvious: if you must, as the writer exclaimed, “insist on being a real man”, well then you already know, don’t you?

Steven Lombardo, Lexington

Compiled by Liz Carey

This story was originally published June 9, 2023 at 7:44 AM.