Recent editorials from Kentucky newspapers:
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May 24
The State Journal on the Frankfort Convention Center:
The Capital Development Committee meeting Tuesday was notable for several reasons.
Judging by the tone of Finance Secretary William Landrum, unless an elegant - see cheap - solution is proposed posthaste, it will likely be remembered as the first and last time the public or public officials had to weigh in on the plan to topple the Frankfort Convention Center.
We are still very much against racing to knock down the convention center without a firm plan for its replacement, or even a suitable plan for how to utilize the space left behind.
The most eyebrow-raising comments came from Landrum, who noted that after 10 years and multiple reports on the complex, it is time to move forward. We are as curious about those reports as we are about why, after that decade of deliberation, a solution that was hammered out in the dark must move forward at such runaway speed.
Landrum also let slip that the state-owned YMCA building not included in the current plan could go the way of the other buildings, citing the organization’s desire to move. That is an important part of any future redevelopment that has not been disclosed or discussed publicly.
What the meeting made clear, if it was not already, is that we are past the juncture when public outcry alone will lead to positive outcomes with regards to this part of the project. Those who want a renovated or replaced convention center, or some comparable complex, and have the power to have their voices heard, must present compelling alternatives that make fiscal sense.
That would likely mean a public-private partnership with big public commitment from local sources. We have not heard any proposals from the city, county or state officials who have voiced concerns.
Sen. Julian Carroll offered a sensible suggestion doubling as a fairly transparent stall tactic when he called for a postponement until after the special session on taxes and pension reform the governor says he wants. We can get behind that.
Absent that reprieve, or an idea too good to turn away, Tuesday may have been a cathartic but futile exercise.
Online: https://www.state-journal.com/
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May 23
The Daily Independent on inmate gardening spaces:
The tripling of the size of the garden tended by inmates at the Boyd County Detention Center provides many advantages for the jail, for county government, for the inmates, and for the hungry in Boyd County.
By increasing the size of the garden located on Hatchery Road, Shopes Creek Road and Ky. 5 from two acres to six acres, the inmates will be able to grow more fresh vegetables to both reduce the cost of feeding the inmates and provide them with more nutritious meals.
The detention center is reimbursed for the food grown by the inmates by Kellwell Foods, its service contractor. In 2016, the total amount billed to Kellwell was $2,584.77. This year the jail expects to sell about $7,500 worth of vegetables to Kellwell Foods.
That income will reduce the cost of operating the detention center at a time when county government is seeing a decline in tax revenue because of the extended layoff of workers at AK Steel’s Ashland Mill, a sharp reduction in the amount of garbage being buried at Big Run Landfill, a decline in revenue from the coal severance tax and other factors. It will not be enough of a savings to solve the county’s financial headaches, but it certainly reduces operating costs at a time when the county must reduce its spending.
This year, the inmates are planting three acres of sweet corn, 1.5 acres of green beans, 1?2 acre of Zucchini, one acre of pumpkins, and 200 tomato plants. Approximately half of it has been planted so far, with staggered plantings planned so the produce doesn’t all mature at the same time. Four inmates have been assigned to work in the garden. Instead of spending idle hours in the jail, those inmates are using their time getting good exercise, being out in the sun and learning gardening skills that will serve them well and help feed their families once they are released from jail.
The larger garden provides an added source of fresh vegetables that will be distributed to the hungry through non-profit agencies that serve the needy. In recent years, River Cities Harvest has received tons of fruits and vegetables from a large garden maintained by inmates at the Federal Correctional Institute in Summit because federal law prohibits federal prisons from using food grown by inmates.
However, no such restriction exists for inmates in county jails. In the past, much of the food grown in the detention center’s garden has been consumed by inmates. The larger garden will increase the amount of surplus food that can be distributed to the poor and hungry.
Boyd County Jailer Joe Burchett called the garden a “win-win situation” for all concerned. The four inmates tending the garden stay focus and it gives them a little bit of pride, Burchett said. The garden is a help to the community with no expense to taxpayers. All seeds, fertilizer and garden equipment (tractor, implements, power and hand tools, etc.) were purchased with proceeds from the inmate commissary fund. All food grown is served to jail inmates or donated to local food banks. We see many positives and no negatives coming from the jail’s larger garden. Burchett is right: It is a win-win situation. May this year’s harvest be a bountiful one.
Online: https://www.dailyindependent.com/
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May 18
The Lexington Herald-Leader on a favorable house purchase for Gov. Bevin:
Gov. Matt Bevin seems to believe in nothing so much as his own purity of motive but, as an elected official, he owes the public more.
Specifically, he owes the public details about the transaction in which a political supporter who he appointed to a powerful state board, apparently sold him a mansion on 10 acres for $1.6 million, although public records put the value at about $2.5 million.
We say “apparently” because the house in the exclusive Louisville suburb of Anchorage was purchased by a company, Anchorage Place LLC, whose ownership hasn’t been revealed.
Bevin has been tight-lipped about the entire deal since the Louisville Courier-Journal’s Tom Loftus first reported on it in early April.
Thanks to Loftus, we now also know that well before the sale in March the state began paying for security enhancements at the property.
Indeed, that work was requested and largely completed even before the former owner, Neil Ramsey, briefly advertised the property for sale in February.
Ramsey told Loftus that, even though “most of the details” had been worked out, he advertised because “I was concerned that the buyer might change their mind.”
The relationship between Bevin and Ramsey goes beyond this transaction.
In 2015 and 2016 Ramsey and his wife, who live next door to the house the Bevins now occupy, gave $39,000 in total to Bevin, the Republican Party in Kentucky and Bevin’s inauguration. Last June, Bevin upended the board that oversaw Kentucky’s public retirement systems, enlarging it and replacing old members with new ones.
Among those appointed to oversee $16 billion in retirement investments is Ramsey, the founder of the investment firm RQSI, or Ramsey Quantitative Systems, Inc. Ramsey is also president and CEO of Conficare, which develops nursing homes, and other senior facilities.
We have written before that the governor’s about-face on releasing his tax returns - he promised to do so if elected but hasn’t - opens him to legitimate questions about his personal financial dealings.
This too-curious, too-favorable house deal raises even more questions:
If Bevin and/or members of his family bought the house, how was the price determined?
If others own Anchorage Place LLC, who are they and what are the Bevins paying to live there?
If the deal really wasn’t solid in February, why did the state begin installing security equipment - a legitimate expense on a governor’s personal home - in October 2016?
Do Ramsey and Bevin, who operated an investment firm before entering politics, have any other business relationships?
And, finally, how much does state government interact with Ramsey’s firms, in terms of licensure or oversight or in other ways?
Bevin talks a lot about “cleaning up the mess” in Frankfort. Before he can do that he must get his own house deal in order.
Online: https://www.kentucky.com/
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