Your voice matters in Lexington’s future. Join On The Table for community conversation.

This week, thousands of Fayette County residents are planning to gather in their homes, businesses, in parks, libraries, and online to talk about the future of Lexington and how they would like to see Lexington grow and change over the next 20 years.

These gatherings are part of On the Table, a week of community conversations built by a team of residents and community organizations to bring people together and help shape our community’s future. These aren’t just conversations for conversations’ sake— the input that participants provide will be used to inform Lexington’s next Comprehensive Plan, which shapes how Lexington will grow for the next two decades.

Here are four reasons that you should participate in On the Table this week:

It’s easy!

On the Table is an easy process to get engaged with. You can participate by either hosting your own conversation or joining an existing one.

Hosting is simple. Just get a small group of people together, register, and use the materials that On the Table provides to plan and direct your conversation. The host guide covers everything you need to know about hosting, and even has a script that you can read from if you aren’t sure what to say. Your conversation can be with friends, family, neighbors, or anyone!

You can also join one of the hundreds of public tables happening across Lexington throughout each day from April 10 - 16. These tables are open for anyone to drop in and join the conversation. In almost all cases, you don’t even have to register! Just show up on the day of, and everything else will be ready.

Your input matters

Each conversation that is part of this year’s On the Table will start with a quick survey about five parts of life in Lexington: neighborhoods, the environment, jobs, transportation, and how we grow. This survey data will be used to provide input and perspective to Lexington’s Division of Planning while it creates our next Comprehensive Plan.

Decisions about our lives — where our children play, what our streets look like, how we commute to work, and so much more— are being made every day in local government. Many of those decisions are guided by the Comprehensive Plan. This is a chance to join a city-wide conversation about those issues — and have your perspective impact the future of our city.

It’s a chance to meet new people and hear different perspectives

After the relative isolation of the past two years, we’re excited for the chance to connect with people we’ve never met from across Lexington at this year’s On the Table. So many projects, programs, and ideas have sprung up from meeting strangers at past On the Table conversations. Often, these ideas get created by people who come to the table with different perspectives on an important issue but leave with a common understanding. This year, we hope that residents with different viewpoints and experiences find an opportunity to connect over a thing that we all care about the future of our city!

Local government matters

For better or worse, when people talk about engaging in our democracy, the conversation almost always defaults to national politics. While the national political conversation is important, it can also be overwhelming and is almost always polarizing. But when it comes to the changes affecting people’s lives the most, local government often gets overlooked. There is a power in participating in your local government that doesn’t necessarily extend to larger conversations. The issues at hand have a direct impact on our lives - our schools, roads, jobs, neighborhoods, and more - and it is easier and more effective to contact a local representative than a national one. Because input in local government is often so limited, even a small intervention can shift the conversation.

Each conversation that is part of this year’s On the Table will start with a quick survey about five parts of life in Lexington: neighborhoods, the environment, jobs, transportation, and how we grow. This survey data will be used to provide input and perspective to Lexington’s Division of Planning while it creates our next Comprehensive Plan. This is a chance to join a city-wide conversation about the issues that affect us all, and have your perspective impact the future of our city!

For more information about On the Table, you can go to ottlex.org. From there, you can find a public table to join, learn how you can host, find some resources on the Comprehensive Plan, and more. We need your voice at the table!

The On The Table Advisory Board is made up of 36 people from around Fayette County. The process is being directed by CivicLex.

This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 1:39 PM.