Last night, I received the tremendous honor of being nominated and elected as the Chair of the Golfview Estates Neighborhood Association. Anyone who’s been within earshot of me in the past three months has heard me talk about how I excited I’ve been about working with our Steering Committee to get this association off the ground. Being nominated and elected as Chair is such a privilege. and I can’t overstate how much it means to me.

I genuinely believe this neighborhood association has the potential to be special. Too many times I’ve seen associations go to war with certain populations in or near their neighborhoods. I could not print the words I’ve heard people use to disparage students, renters of any age, retirees, low-income families, members of marginalized groups, and people who simply live in apartments. All of those populations are represented in Golfview, but with an especially high percentage of renters and students.

And I see that as a strength. We elected a UK undergraduate student as our treasurer. Renters represent the clear majority of our elected officers and directors, and they are all under the age of 40. And a significant number of those nominated and elected were nominated by older residents who have lived in the neighborhood for decades. I thought for the past few months we’d have to put in a lot of work building a truly unified neighborhood across divides that I’ve seen break other neighborhoods in Lexington; turns out, we’re already unified.

We’re in a prime location in Lexington. We sit along Red Mile Road and South Broadway, simply a thirty minute walk to campus or to downtown. We’re one of the most transit-rich neighborhoods in Lexington. We are by far one of the most affordable neighborhoods for renters and buyers within New Circle Road. We have an amazing neighborhood park. Doctors, dentists, veterinarians, restaurants, and schools are all within 15-20 minute walks.

And for all of those reasons, we know that infill and redevelopment will come to our door soon. Half of our neighborhood is in Lexington’s Infill and Redevelopment zone. But our leadership is committed not to fight every townhome, every apartment, every piece of housing built near or in our neighborhood; in fact, we’re almost entirely surrounded by large multi-family housing, despite being a mostly single-family neighborhood. But rather, when that time comes, we want to be leaders for equitable, community-led projects that open more homes for more amazing neighbors while protecting current residents and the unique livability we have here.

I have a sincere hope that we can be a model for neighborhoods across Lexington, showing that so many rifts that have crumbled other associations can in fact be our greatest strengths. And we’re only two meetings in, but I think we’re at a terrific start. I’m truly humbled to be trusted to help lead the effort alongside all the people that make Golfview Estates so magical.