I work in downtown Lexington every day and I love this city. We are a loving and caring city, but recently I am deeply alarmed by what downtown Lexington is becoming. Our sidewalks are crowded with people who are visibly intoxicated with drugs or alcohol, in the grip of severe mental illness, or sometimes both. Your heart can ache for those afflicted, but aggressive panhandling has become routine. Open use of hard drugs happens in plain sight. And now, we’ve seen what unfortunately feels like an inevitable result — a vicious attack on a woman, right here in our own city.
Lexington’s leadership cannot continue to reiterate platitudes or simply add additional security. The band-aid does not fix the problem. This is not compassion—it is neglect, both of the public and of the very people suffering on our streets. We can reduce visible homelessness, improve safety, and offer real help without surrendering our public spaces. Here’s how:
Expand crisis response and mental health intervention teams so that trained professionals—not just police—are on the streets every day, intercepting those in crisis before tragedy strikes. Spend the money and fix the problem…