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Oct. 28, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: On Oct. 17, Lexington City Council voted in favor of allowing Washington and Lee to creep further into our downtown area. Unfortunately, each incremental step Washington and Lee takes to reduce the supply of downtown space increases rents on private businesses and reduces affordable housing.
The vote, however, was split, with all three Council members with spouses employed by Washington and Lee voting yes, while the three without such a conflict voted no.
When I was on Council, we had strict ethics rules that would have prohibited every single one of those yes votes from participating whatsoever, as it would be impossible to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest when a party to an issue was the primary or a significant source of your household income. Were those rules still in place, the vote on Oct. 17 would have been a unanimous “no,” as the three conflicted members would have been required to recuse themselves.
However, those rules that protected the integrity of our local government seem to have changed. So, half our Council, assisted by a tie-breaking vote from our dear mayor, voted in favor of the provider of their source of household income instead of the interests of Lexington citizens - a disgraceful, embarrassing day for both the city of Lexington and Washington and Lee University. PATRICK RHAMEY Lexington
