Incentive Idea

Maybe it’s presumptuous of me to write about certain topics or ideas. I’ve actually gone back and forth several times about what I would or wouldn’t like to post on here. I also don’t want to be one more hack using his little space on the Internet to rant. So, I will say that I post this with humility. I’m certain there are things I don’t know, things I don’t understand and barriers that I would have never thought of. However, it is my little piece of the Internet and as the boyfriend is fond of saying “I do what I want.”

Ok, so let’s start with the premise that we’d like to not only attract young people to Lexington, but we’d also like to retain the people that we have. I think we realize that the acquisition and retention of young, talented, industrious and creative folks are the foundation we must build to improve our city. I might go even further to say that we’d like to concentrate those people into our Downtown/Campus area. I think creating an environment where these like-minded young professionals (I’m going WAY out of my way to not say Creative Class *gag*) can live, work, play, spend and feed off of each other is not only a catalyst for growth, but also a magnet for getting them here.

I think it’s also safe to say that we are pretty well failing at appealing to those people now. Additionally, as I’ve mentioned here before, our Downtown is overpriced. And contrary to what might have been said at our debate this past week, there really isn’t much going on Downtown to entice someone to head down there, let alone form a community.

Here’s the thing though, we have some of the foundation. New housing that appeals to young people, check, thriving arts community, check, ability to get in on the ground floor of something special, check. So, then how can we maximize what we already have to catapult us into something better?

My thought: let’s invest in the young professionals we already have scattered throughout the city. Let’s say that we take $1 million. (Admittedly, that’s a lot of money, but it’s a small investment into really making our city better and making it the “World-Class City” that we all pay a lot of lip service to). But, let’s take that $1 million and provide an incentive to any first time homebuyer who buys a home within a certain area. For hypothesis sake, let’s say Euclid to Newtown to Third to Midland. Maybe we provide those first time homebuyers with $10,000 towards the purchase of a new place. (I’d also say with a contingency that you remain in the property for 3 years to encourage people to really put down roots). That’s 100 new young professionals (at least most likely) that you get into Downtown.

Now, what’s the benefit of that? You start building the community that will attract other young professionals. From there, you start attracting retail to service this new neighborhood, which then springs restaurants, nightlife and of course more business and with those businesses come jobs. It also starts the process of making living Downtown more attractive. It would also be an incentive to make someone think twice before leaving Lexington for greener pastures or even just the suburbs.

I know this isn’t a solve everything solution. However, I think we have to start building a foundation for economic growth and find ways to make our city appealing. We’ve seen that we can’t rely on businesses to do it. We’re left with a gaping hole in Downtown and shops that no one goes into when we do that. At the same time, can you blame businesses for not investing in Downtown? There’s no customer base. So, let’s establish a customer base for them and then reap the rewards. Those being, revitalized Downtown, a draw to the kinds of people we want in our city, jobs and I’d imagine increased tax revenue on both the housing that we’ve sold and the eventual businesses that open to serve these new Downtown residents.

I know there are plenty of fine-point details to this little idea that I’ve glossed over. I didn’t want to write a 10 page report to post on a blog. However, I do think that floating an idea out there can at least generate some discussion. I’ll also restate that I don’t pretend to know or understand everything. But, what harm can it do? I’m just blogging and besides, I do what I want.