March 27, 2011. Herald-Leader.
The closer it gets to April 11, the more some folks are feeling some heat.
That date is when the social action group BUILD — Building a United Interfaith Lexington through Direct Action — will gather members of its 17 faith-based congregations and the general public at the annual “hold-officials’-feet-to-the-fire” meeting at Imani Baptist Church.
OK, that’s not really what it’s called, but that is its intention.
The BUILD Action Assembly — the event’s real name — will focus on three items that have a far-reaching effect on the Lexington community:
■ employment of ex-offenders
■ health care access for the uninsured
■ affordable housing.
The Rev. Joseph Owens of Shiloh Baptist Church, a BUILD spokesman, said the issue of affordable housing is of particular interest because about 9,000 people in Lexington pay at least 50 percent of their income for housing.
“No one should have to pay over 30 percent,” he said.
This will be the third year for the housing agenda item. Former Mayor Jim Newberry set up a commission in 2008 when asked to tackle the issue. The commission suggested the city levy a 1 percent tax increase on house and car insurance premiums for a trust fund to build new affordable homes or renovate existing ones.
At last year’s assembly, Newberry and then-Vice Mayor Jim Gray said they couldn’t do that.
This year, Mayor Jim Gray — fully aware of the awaiting humidity — has said he has a couple of meetings scheduled for April 11 and isn’t sure he can make it.
“He said he was going to be there,” Owens said when he learned the news. “We sat around the table and he said he was coming.”
Owens and other BUILD folks met around the table in February, according to Gray, and he does recall saying he would attend. But, he said, he doesn’t think the BUILD members gave him an exact date. Gray said he always notes meetings when he has a date.
Owens said BUILD members, having met with government and other officials for several years, always read from a script. The script, Owens said, establishes a date and time and asks for a commitment.
Gray said he has two other meetings scheduled for April 11. One is a meeting of the health department board at 5:30 p.m., and the other is a design charrette for the Living Arts and Science Center.
The charrette is “a process that engages the community in looking forward to design issues surrounding our building and grounds,” said Heather Lyon, executive director of the center. The meeting will be led by De Leon & Primmer Architecture, a Louisville firm.
Both meetings are important, Gray said.
“I love the BUILD people even when they are hollering at me,” Gray said, laughing. “I will try to adjust my schedule.”
But, he said, BUILD wants the insurance tax increase to fund affordable housing and he can’t agree to that. “Not right now,” he said.
Urban County Council members have also been invited to the assembly, Owens said. At least two have accepted.
The BUILD item of access to health care for uninsured adults has been addressed by the health department previously with a commitment to provide primary care to an additional 6,000 Fayette County patients. But a new commissioner has since been named at the health department, because the previous commissioner resigned over managerial problems. Owens said BUILD wants a commitment from new Fayette County Health Commissioner Dr. Rice Leach to continue what has been started.
Leach, who will attend the same health department board meeting as Gray, asked to be placed at the end of the BUILD assembly agenda so that he could attend both, Owens said.
The agenda item of providing a means to aid the re-entry of ex-offenders into society has been zeroed in on because of employment barriers that marginalize ex-offenders and boost the rate of recidivism, Owens said.
“Most employers don’t know how to read (criminal) records,” Owens said. “The community really needs to be re-educated.”
Owens, who has been with BUILD since its inception in 2002, said, “Community justice is a passion of mine. It is a biblical mandate in Micah 6:8.
“We should do things to correct systems that are keeping people poor and keeping them down,” he said.
Owens is encouraging attendance at the April 11 assembly. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and the program starts at 7 p.m. About 1,400 people usually attend, and police will be on hand to direct traffic. Carpooling is encouraged.
“We do want people to come early,” he said. “If I were them, I would.”
Let’s hope our mayor can make it, too. If it gets too hot, I’m sure church fans can be provided.
