Jul 7, 2021, 9 – 10 a.m.
Join us online for “Mornings with Planning” – a monthly interactive digital panel series, held on the first Wednesday of the month, to discuss how our City’s planning efforts have evolved and changed over time.
July's discussion, which will take place on Wednesday, July 7 from 9 – 10 a.m., will focus on equity in Planning. On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a presidential proclamation and executive order, known as the Emancipation Proclamation, outlawing slavery. That order was not officially enacted nationwide until June 19, 1865. This day is now celebrated as Freedom Day or as it’s more commonly known, Juneteenth. In honor of this seminal day, and recognizing there are still lasting effects from institutional racism and injustice, this month’s Mornings with Planning will discuss the topic of equity as it relates to urban planning.
While planning policy cannot address all of the issues related to inequity in our society, we have started to address some and can address others. On July 2, 2020, Mayor Gorton appointed 70 residents to the Commission for Racial Justice & Equality whose purpose was to listen, discuss and create empowering solutions that dismantle systematic racism in Fayette County. That group released a report with many pointed recommendations for change throughout the City’s policies, including many that were aimed squarely at land use regulations and practices. Additionally, Imagine Lexington, our 2018 Comprehensive Plan specifically calls out equity as a consideration that must be ingrained in our future growth strategy and includes many parallel recommendations with those of the Mayor’s commission. This panel will discuss the topics and recommendations of these two documents and what policy reform can mean going forward.
Join our expert panelists
- Lisa Higgins-Hord (Guest Moderator), Assistant Vice President for Community Engagement at University of Kentucky
- James Brown, 1st District Councilmember, Urban County Council, Lexington, KY
- Deqah Hussein-Wetzel, Architectural Historian, Podcaster
- Christine L. Stanley, Partner, Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. Law Firm
- Kristofer Nonn, Former Executive Director, North Limestone CDC