Responses from CKY's economic justice survey project

The central Kentucky chapter's economic justice work team has been surveying Lexington residents to get a sense of what they feel would make their communities better and how KFTC might be able to organize locally around economic justice concerns. The committee chose 13 precincts throughout the city to go door to door. They prioritized them by median income starting with the lowest income areas and working upward. So far they've surveyed folks in the Ohio-Walnut, Ayelsford and Fairlawn precincts.

Some of the questions on the survey are broad such as, "What do you think your community needs to make it better?" and "What do you look for in a good job?" Others get more specific about the cost of household utilities and whether they're registered to vote.

In Ohio-Walnut we heard a lot from folks about the problem of crime and the lack of positive activities for young people. One woman on Ohio St. talked about how terribly blessed she was that her 22-year-old son never got involved with drugs and crime because it seems like most of the young people in the neighborhood do. In the Ayelsford precinct, which is predominantly made up of UK students, we heard a lot of complaints about absentee landlords and run-down rental property. Last Sunday we walked the Fairlawn precinct which is off of N. Limestone near La Roca United Methodist Church and folks had a lot of complaints about people driving dangerously around kids and flying down the street at 50+ mph.

In addition to these (likely not so) unique problems, just about everyone we've surveyed so far regardless of which neighborhood they're in is struggling with extremely high utility bills (i.e. $500 per month electric and gas, $300 water bills) and feel like it's nearly impossible to gain access to the few good paying jobs that are left. Also, interestingly enough, when we asked people what they felt the role of city government was most folks seemed like they either weren't exactly sure but whatever it was it didn't seem to happening. One lady in the Fairlawn precinct told us that she'd voted for most of her life but three years ago stopped because she felt like politicians were out for themselves and for wealthy people and didn't have her or her family's interests in mind.

The work team plans to get together in the next couple of weeks to discuss their findings and to schedule their next walking days. If you're interested in participating, please contact the local organizer, Ondine Quinn, at 859-276-0563 or [email protected]