1. Please give us a brief biography, including your age, residence history, education, business interests, political career and any family or personal information you'd like voters to know.
I am currently serving my second term as a Bowling Green city commissioner. I am an associate professor of economics at Western Kentucky University, where I have taught since 1999. I am a dedicated husband, a caring parent, and a member of Broadway United Methodist Church.
I am married to WKU professor Claudia Strow. Together we have three children, Tucker, Colette, and Oliver. I have coached Tucker's soccer team for two seasons, and am in my second season as an assistant coach for Tucker's baseball team.
Born in 1974, I grew up on a farm in Illinois. My parents always stressed the importance of God, family, country, and education. I graduated from Wheaton College, Ill., with a double major in economics and political science. I continued my education at Vanderbilt University, earning a master's and Ph.D. in economics.
My grandfather served as mayor of Benton. As mayor, he worked to improve city infrastructure. I hope to continue my grandfather's tradition by making improved infrastructure my primary focus.
I took my first job at age 8 delivering newspapers and worked my way through school. My jobs included paperboy, farmhand, cashier, janitor, projectionist, fundraiser, snow crew worker, accounts manager, congressional intern, and budget analyst for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While at WKU, I have served as a university senator, the chairman of the University Senate General Education Committee, and a member of the University Senate Academic Quality Committee. I have also served as a board member, program chair, and president of the Kentucky Economics Association.
I have served on the following city boards: Bowling Green/Warren County Convention Center Corporation (chair), Operation P.R.I.D.E., Bowling Green/Warren County Contractors Licensing Board, the Bowling Green Internal Audit Committee, Warren County Greenways Commission, Downtown Redevelopment Authority, and the University Area Review Committee.
2. Why do you want to be mayor? What is your overall vision for this community in the next four years, or the main theme of your campaign?
I want to be mayor because I believe that city government can and should focus its resources on roads, sidewalks and public safety. The citizens of Bowling Green are driving on roads that weren't built to handle the traffic demands of a growing city. The lack of sidewalks near our schools and parks prevent our children from walking or riding their bikes safely.
This infrastructure problem has been a long time in developing and we need a mayor who will focus the city's attention on providing long term solutions to our infrastructure needs. Specifically, I want the city in the next four years to increase money going to road paving, fix the Cave Mill/Smallhouse Road intersection, build the Shive Lane extension, widen Old Morgantown Road, focus on funding the sidewalk plan that I helped to create, and plan for future infrastructure improvements.
Stewardship of taxpayer resources has been, and will continue to be, important to me. I sponsored the municipal order mandating a zero-based budget. I exposed the city stockpiling of tax money and voted to reduce the occupational tax rate. I led the way to renegotiate the management contract of the convention center that saved taxpayer money. Tax money should first and foremost be used to provide public safety and solve our infrastructure problems. The city currently spends more money on an annual basis subsidizing golf courses than it does paving roads. That's an example of poor stewardship of city resources.
I believe that city government should respect private property rights. I'm not running for mayor to tell you how to live your life or how to run your business. I'm running for mayor in an effort to use hard earned tax money to support public safety and improve our infrastructure.
3. What do you consider to be the major issues facing Bowling Green, and how do your positions on those distinguish you from your opponents?
The current mayor and I have had differing opinions on most of the important issues that have faced our city in the last four years. The four biggest issues in the city are infrastructure, private property, taxation, and government spending.
Infrastructure: I think the city should increase the road paving and road construction budgets. Rather than improving our roads, the current mayor wants to spend money on a consultant to tell people to stay home and to not drive. When I was first elected, I immediately pushed for sidewalk funding. It wouldn't have taken three years to fund a sidewalk plan if the current mayor had supported it.
Private property: I voted to eliminate eminent domain as a tool for private economic development. The current mayor opposed me. The current mayor sponsored the pre-pay gas ordinance that I opposed. The current mayor proposed that Bowling Green unilaterally adopt the Kyoto Protocol, which would have stifled our local economy. I opposed this. Liberty and property should be protected by our government, not taken from us by our government.
Taxation: I voted to reduce the occupational tax and the tax on natural gas bills. The current mayor opposed both. In fact, she has lobbied to bring a sales tax to Bowling Green.
Government spending: The current mayor voted to refinance the ITA debt at a higher interest rate to politically avoid subsidizing the Transpark. I opposed this costly decision. The current mayor wanted to increase the mayor's salary by almost 300 percent. I opposed that. City government for many years has operated as a club rather than a service organization. I want city government to focus on providing services to the people of Bowling Green. Government should serve the people, not the other way around.
4. What is your view of the status and benefit of downtown redevelopment plans? The financing and major portions of the agreement with developers have changed several times since the plan was approved; what further alteration or situational change would be a deal-breaker?
City government has already spent millions of dollars on downtown redevelopment with little to show for it. Millions of dollars were spent to remove (in some cases prospering) downtown businesses to put in Circus Square Park. The city bought up land downtown and on the riverfront to engage in economic redevelopment. What taxpayers got in return for their investment was an increased number of empty lots downtown. City government is still very much alive in land speculation in this town, buying land for which it has no purpose and not selling land it owns to business owners who want to increase the tax rolls. I have been trying to get the city out of the land speculation business.
As a commissioner I have differed from the current mayor on downtown redevelopment. She voted for the costly SKyPAC land swap between the city and WKU. I voted against it. I supported the removal of blighted city owned buildings on Center Street, she opposed it. Before there was a TIF program, there was the original baseball proposal which I voted against, but which the current mayor voted to pursue.
I want to bring an end to the money for nothing redevelopment strategy. When I was presented with the TIF package for downtown redevelopment, it came with a large possible upside and a potentially big price tag. Upon questioning my city colleagues, I found that even if the TIF vote failed, they would proceed with downtown revitalization on a block by block basis. Having been in discussions with developers, this entailed $2 million or so in city money per half a block. So if the city is going to do downtown revitalization, the way to achieve the most redevelopment per dollar spent is through the TIF process.
5. What is your position on a city ordinance banning smoking in various establishments? What specific provisions of such a proposal would you support or reject: indoor, outdoor, on private or only public property, legal justifications, any exemptions, enforcement and penalties?
I don't believe that the ends justify the means. In fact, there is little that scares me more than people in control of governments who believe that the ends do justify the means. There are some who want to "help" people by saving them from themselves. I subscribe to our founding fathers' belief that we have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. With this liberty comes the need for personal responsibility. I'm not running for mayor to tell you how to live your life or run your business. I'm running for mayor to improve city infrastructure and provide better oversight of city finances.
I don't smoke, nor do I enjoy being near people when they do. Given the dangers of secondhand smoke, smoking should not be allowed in any publicly owned buildings. I further approve of banning smoking in public parks. I don't want families sitting on bleachers watching baseball games to have to deal with secondhand smoke. That being said, I do not support a government-enacted ban on smoking in private businesses or in private homes.
Business decisions should be left to businesses, not governments. I voted against the prepaid gas ordinance on the belief that the government ought not micromanage private businesses and their customers. I trust that private business owners will do what is best for their business and the customers they serve. More than 100 area restaurants are now smoke-free with more joining the ranks all the time. We can make progress moving to a smoke-free society without depriving people of liberty.
Whether it is pre-paid gas, protecting private property from eminent domain, or a no smoking ordinance, I have been, and will continue to be, consistent in my belief and voting record in support of liberty and property rights.
6. What do you consider to be the general public's top priorities or worries about Bowling Green, and how should they be addressed?
Virtually every public survey lists traffic as the number one concern of citizens. City government should focus its attention on road paving and construction. We need a mayor who sees better roads as their top priority. The current mayor has publicly stated her epiphany that traffic wouldn't be a problem if people would just stay home. In fact, there are real traffic problems in this city that can only be addressed through more road construction and better road maintenance.
As a commissioner, I have heard loud and clear from citizens that they want and need sidewalks. Improved sidewalk coverage makes it safer for people to walk to parks and children to walk to school. Part of our infrastructure problem is that pedestrians too often have been forced to share the road with cars. This is unsafe for both pedestrians and motorists. Improved sidewalk coverage will also allow people to have a choice for transportation which will remove some cars from the road.
The other major concern being voiced by the public is a concern about financial oversight of taxpayer money. I am committed to keeping public finances in clear public view. I proposed a zero-based budget so all could see where government spending was going. When the city has mismanaged funds I haven't tried to sweep it under the rug, I've shone a light on it to help improve public management of taxpayer money. When the ITA wasn't following its inter-local agreement by not providing the city with annual budgets, I raised a red flag as others tried to keep that information from becoming public. We can't afford to have TIF financing fall out of the public spotlight.
I will do my best to ensure the public gets the infrastructure and financial oversight they are demanding.
1. Please give us a brief biography, including your age, residence history, education, business interests, political career and any family or personal information you'd like voters to know.
I'm proud to be the daughter of decorated World War II bomber pilot, Bill Nogay, and homemaker mother, Mary Nogay. I am 56 years old. We were stationed in a number of locations until my father retired from Andrews Air Force Base in the D.C. area where I spent most of my formative years. I attended the University of Maryland and worked for two U.S. Congressmen and two trade associations before meeting my husband, Dorian Walker. When Dorian was accepted into the American Film Institute's Director's Program, we moved to Los Angeles in 1980 where we had two children, daughter Erin and son Evan. There I worked in communications and served for several years as press deputy to the president of the Los Angeles City Council, Pat Russell. In 1993, we sought a better place to raise our two children, then 81/2 and 11, and discovered Bowling Green. In 1994, we started our film and television production company, Peridot Pictures. Many years of involvement in community organizations led me to run for mayor in 2004 and I was proud to be elected by the citizens of Bowling Green.
2. Why do you want to be mayor? What is your overall vision for this community in the next four years, or the main theme of your campaign?
The 31/2 years I have spent as mayor have been challenging, fulfilling and exhilarating. First and foremost, I'm proud that we truly have open government. Decisions are made in full public view and, although the process is not always pretty, it is transparent. We've been able to reduce both the occupational license tax and property taxes while increasing public services. This has happened because we continue to grow, bringing in 18 new businesses in our region and expanding 50 existing companies to create 3,500 jobs which resulted in an investment by private industry in our regional economy of $332 million. I'm also proud to have played a key role in the creation of a Small Business Development Program that has helped create 19 new businesses that now employ more than 200 people. Our homeownership programs, one of my target projects, have garnered state and national awards, including one from the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and our commitment to public safety has allowed us to move up construction of the Southside fire station one full year and to embark upon a wireless network for police and fire units. In addition, we have been proactive to ensure that the breach of our financial security which we discovered after I was in office for only three months, never occurs again. After tightening controls, we established a position of internal auditor as well as an Internal Audit Committee made up of knowledgeable citizens to provide extra protection of the city's resources and revenues. In this process, our Finance Department, under the capable leadership of now CFO/Treasurer Jeff Meisel, have led the charge to shore up the way we handle city funds.
3. What do you consider to be the major issues facing Bowling Green, and how do your positions on those distinguish you from your opponents?
The reason Bowling Green has been able to continue to increase revenues is that we continue to grow. My economic development experience working with the Chamber of Commerce and the county has been extremely successful. In fact, Bowling Green was ranked by Site Selection Magazine as sixth in the nation for industry location and expansion.
While we must grow, it is also critical that we maintain our quality of life. That is why I have been extremely active in increasing homeownership in the city, attempting to raise our homeownership rate from a paltry 47 percent, and have worked closely with neighborhoods on such issues as bringing in state funds to replace cement streets in the Northern Heights/Parker Bennett neighborhood and to address safety concerns along Old Morgantown Road. I am also proud to be a sponsor of the city's first Bike Summit and am involved in efforts to create a Bicycle Friendly Community.
I believe my experience in living outside this community has made me more aware that we must take our story statewide and nationally to benefit from numerous programs and so that we can have input into issues that directly effect our bottom line. I am the only candidate who has brought Bowling Green to the attention of the Kentucky League of Cities, the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, being involved not only in fighting for issues that affect our city, but also in bringing recognition and monetary grants for innovative city programs. My efforts have been recognized by being elected to the Board and Executive Committee of the Kentucky League of Cities; Chair of the Women Mayors of America's Cities; and I am only the second Kentucky mayor to be elected to the highly competitive Advisory Board of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
4. What is your view of the status and benefit of downtown redevelopment plans? The financing and major portions of the agreement with developers have changed several times since the plan was approved; what further alteration or situational change would be a deal-breaker?
When I served as chair of the Downtown Redevelopment Authority, we developed the Master Plan to revitalize our downtown area. The plan we developed was designed to take 10-20 years to implement and would have required a great deal of financial investment by the city. Under the Signature TIF, we will be able to recapture fully 86 percent of state tax revenues to finance this major revitalization. The ballpark is only one part of the overall project. During the vote approving the bond issue, I required that the developer show a commitment of $150 million before the city's bonds could be issued. At our last meeting, we were advised that, indeed, the developer had met the letter of the ordinance, showing that over $150 million was committed to the downtown area. If agreement can be reached on the SKyPAC parking issue and repayment schedule for the TIF bonds, we will be moving forward with the sale of the city's bonds. We made it very clear at the last meeting that no further modifications to the city's position would be approved. In summation, I believe we stand on the brink of one of the most dramatic projects in the history of Bowling Green. This downtown redevelopment plan will totally change our historic downtown, creating an exciting place to live, work and play for all our citizens, without having to raise taxes to create the revenue.
5. What is your position on a city ordinance banning smoking in various establishments? What specific provisions of such a proposal would you support or reject: indoor, outdoor, on private or only public property, legal justifications, any exemptions, enforcement and penalties?
There can be no question that secondhand smoke is harmful to people's health. Given that fact, it is our obligation to protect not only the employees who must work in establishments that permit smoking, but also protect those who eat in those areas. We simply must pass a smoking ordinance that protects individuals in any business. My preference is for an ordinance that bans indoor smoking, allowing smokers to exercise their right to smoke outside these establishments.
6. What do you consider to be the general public's top priorities or worries about Bowling Green, and how should they be addressed?
The number one problem consistently cited by our citizens is traffic. It was the top problem when I took office and it continues to be the top problem, this despite the fact that the City has dedicated an increased amount of revenue to build or repair roads. The bottom line is that we simply cannot build ourselves out of a half-billion dollar problem. To modify Old Morgantown Road alone, we have received estimates that it would take a minimum of $9 million to $11 million. Even this major investment does little to help those who are stuck in traffic in other areas of the city. In addition, state and federal revenues are shrinking. If we truly want to tackle our traffic congestion, we must find ways to better utilize the streets and roads we already have. That is why I have pushed for the formation of a task force, under the Metropolitan Planning Organization, that is "Rethinking Transportation." This broad-based group is looking at every possible option to spread peak traffic hours, reduce demand and encourage the use of carpools and public transit. Perhaps this way we can actually have a time when traffic will not be Bowling Green's number one problem.
1. Please give us a brief biography, including your age, residence history, education, business interests, political career and any family or personal information you'd like voters to know.
I am 57 years of age. I was raised in the Buffalo community of LaRue County, located about 60 miles northeast of Bowling Green. I graduated from LaRue County High School in 1968, moved to Bowling Green in the fall of 1968 to attend Western Kentucky University and graduated with a B.A. in history and government in 1973, then graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with an M.S. in criminal justice administration in 1990. I have finished all classwork for Spalding University in pursuit of an Ed.D in leadership education which makes me an Ed.D (candidate) by having finished all but my dissertation (ABD), which must be completed by June 2010.
I have lived my entire life in LaRue County and Warren County, with the most time being spent here in Bowling Green. I served 30 years in Bowling Green city government as a law enforcement officer beginning as a police officer and rose to the rank of deputy chief, and served the last three months as the interim chief of police until my retirement on October 31, 2006.
My current business interest is that of consultant and instructor for public safety entities nationwide. This is my first stand at holding myself up for public office and thus is the beginning of my political career.
I am married to Robbin and have a stepson named Andrew.
2. Why do you want to be mayor? What is your overall vision for this community in the next four years, or the main theme of your campaign?
I view holding the office of mayor as the next logical step in a long public service career that is not yet over. Having retired from the Bowling Green Police Department after 30 years; and having served under eight mayors, 24 commissioners, four city managers and four police chiefs I am uniquely qualified to be able to use my common sense, my training and education and my lifetime of experience in municipal government. I know what it takes to have consensus building in a city manager/city commission form of government. I will be able to take the "best practices" that I have learned from those former officials and combine them with my philosophy of value-centered leadership and situational awareness and continue the moving of this great city forward.
Bowling Green continues to grow and prosper and that is because this city has had some great leaders in the form of its mayors and commissioners, its business leaders, its educational leaders, its small business entrepreneurs, its innovators, etc. I believe that I am a strong leader, but I have a style that is tempered with proven employee development techniques that causes persons to want to follow my leadership. I want to put my leadership skills to work and tap and unify the various citizen talents that exist in this city for government and private enterprise collaborations and partnerships. I have a strong work ethic, a firm belief in the rule of law with a great regard of a public servant's duty to obey and defend the Constitutions of the United States and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The future of Bowling Green is bright. But it needs firm guidance through what appears to be some possible tough economic conditions on the horizon. It is nothing that can not be handled through proper and intelligent stewardship of the finances of the city.
3. What do you consider to be the major issues facing Bowling Green, and how do your positions on those distinguish you from your opponents?
The downtown Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district plans and the February 7, 2008, approval by a vote of 3-2 (Walker, Strow and Nash for; and Denning and Wilkerson against) to let $25 million in bonds has not resonated well with a number of the citizens. The easy way for me to possibly win this election would be to say simply that I am against the TIF and the baseball stadium. However that would not be honest, nor true to you or to me.
My position consists of two things: First, I would have preferred that if a baseball stadium is to be built on the backs of the Bowling Green taxpayers through a bond guarantee process, that the structure plans should have had multi-purpose usage woven into its design. Western Kentucky University has done this for years by having the example in two major athletic structures that have classroom, offices and other facilities built within them to where the structures do not sit without usage in the off-season of their primary athletic purposes.
Second, I have not taken the strong position against, in that all plans will be voted and contracted before I take office on January 1, 2009. Whatever this current commission writes into place, I must live with as they are the current elected officials and it will be my duty to the citizens of Bowling Green to do the very best that I can, along with the other commissioners and city staff, to ensure that it all works out correctly and successfully. The reader knows already that both Commissioner Strow and Mayor Walker voted for moving forward with the bonds and thus their positions are well known on the Signature TIF and the baseball stadium.
4. What is your view of the status and benefit of downtown redevelopment plans? The financing and major portions of the agreement with developers have changed several times since the plan was approved; what further alteration or situational change would be a deal-breaker?
In attending the May 6, 2008, working session of the city commission, I learned that the status of this project seems to be shifting in terms of giving the appearance of a moving target. When this much money is involved it seems to me that elected officials should be ever vigilant to ensure that the public's money is recoverable. I was surprised to discover that in the recovery of investments portion, that the city will collect its monies by being third or fourth in line to receive its dollars. That does not sound good to me.
These shifting targets and ongoing negotiations make me very nervous. Many of these things should be "nailed down" before the bonds are ever sold, in my opinion. All of us will have to take a wait-and-see attitude as the staff on May 6 were directed to begin to work up the appropriate papers. I think that a deal breaker for this commission may not exist while Strow and Walker are in office along with their third voting partner. Not being in office yet, I cannot propose a deal breaker. What I can say is that all planners would be well advised to have everything in place in terms of letters of credit and/or commitments made before I take office on January 1. I am a fiscal conservative and again will do everything I can to make this project successful as this elected city commission has spoken. However if things are not "nailed down" by Jan. 1, it would tell me that the project would be in more potential trouble then any of us would ever want to believe and it might have to be reevaluated by the new mayor and city commission.
5. What is your position on a city ordinance banning smoking in various establishments? What specific provisions of such a proposal would you support or reject: indoor, outdoor, on private or only public property, legal justifications, any exemptions, enforcement and penalties?
This nation, commonwealth and municipal government have allowed cigarette smokers to endanger themselves and nonsmoking third parties in confined indoor spaces for far too long. I was very surprised that the city commission last year did not pass some kind of smoking cessation ordinance. It is painfully evident that Congress and the General Assembly are not going to take this issue up until they see it is a good thing politically.
I had taken the neutral position of allowing a business owner to make the conscious choice of providing a separate enclosed portion of their business with separate entrance and ventilation based on the percentage of business from smokers and the cost of installing the enclosure.
I have since changed my position as I have perused the summary section of the 2006 Surgeon General's report on secondhand smoke and also have attended a recent seminar on the dangers of secondhand smoke. While it is a fact that smokers are likely to live 13-14 years LESS than nonsmokers and that is certainly their choice, it is not fair to nonsmokers to be forced into a secondhand smoking environment.
There is an alternative to a smoking cessation ordinance that will be on the market in about two months, according to a guest on the E.D. Hill show on Fox on May 15, 2008. The item has the appearance of an artificial cigarette. The nicotine filler turns the nicotine into a vapor for inhaling, just as if it were a real cigarette. It will cost approximately $90, then each nicotine refill will be around $14. Over the course of a year, the total package will cost the smoker less than the cost of cigarettes.
6. What do you consider to be the general public's top priorities or worries about Bowling Green, and how should they be addressed?
The general public in Bowling Green seems to want better and smoother roadways, an answer to traffic congestion, safe environments in terms of police and fire protection, excellent and well-managed parks, and customer service from all of their local government departments. The city has the potential for all of these things. Morale must be raised in the city workers, as happy workers make good service providers that are concerned about their citizen/clients. This can be accomplished by good role modeling and good leadership beginning with the elected officials.
Citizens pay taxes and they want the most efficient and effective bang for their buck. Many of the citizens really want to express their opinions about the financial health of local governments.
1. Jerry, are they going to bankrupt the city before you can get into office?
2. Jerry, why do they allow street cuts in area roads and alleys that have just been resurfaced, then seem not to make the agency responsible put it back like it was?
3. Jerry, why can't they coordinate projects that involve street cuts with repaving plans?
4. Jerry, why would they have a $25 million bond issue for a Class A baseball team? I would rather they use it to fix these miserable roads!
5. Jerry, they are not going to stop the smoking in my restaurant, are they?
6. Jerry, if we elect you, are you going to be the mayor of just downtown like it is now; or will you be the mayor of the entire city?
7. Jerry, will you see that those traffic lights on Scottsville Road are synchronized?
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