Mayor Jim Gray invites Lexington citizens to join him in a Social Media Town Hall conversation on Facebook and Twitter, Wednesday, July 25 (11:30 am to 1:30 p.m.and 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.) Join the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #lexideas or on Facebook.
He’s come a long way.
Jim Gray first began tweeting on May 19, 2009, live from the Chamber’s leadership visit to Madison, Wisconsin, while he was Vice Mayor, running for Mayor. In the years leading up to that, Fayetteville, Arkansas and Cleveland far outpaced Lexington in their social media efforts.
Gray’s mayoral campaign was widely advanced via social media, chronicled live via twitter, at the LFUCG council meeting on May 5, 2009 when developer Dudley Webb challenged then Vice Mayor Gray’s assertions that the developers had not been forthcoming with the city, the LFUCG, or the Courthouse Area Design Review Board about the CentrePointe project — disputing Gray’s suggestion that the city had been “hoodwinked.” ( See also, Jim Gray admits he didn’t have a crystal ball, just an ability to read a newspaper.)
(Yard signs were still the last word in viral media when Jim Gray first ran for Mayor in 2002.)
Of the current initiative (#MayorsChallenge is the twitter hashtag), Gray says, “It’s all part of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Challenge. Through Bloomberg’s foundation, he’s searching for innovative local solutions to national problems. Bloomberg created the Mayors Challenge to celebrate creative problem solving and innovation that’s happening in cities from coast to coast.” (Newark Mayor Cory Booker is the ultimate twitter transparency/slash/crimefighter Mayor, pausing occasionally to haul constituents out of burning buildings and whatnot.)
The best five “greatest potential” ideas from cities across America will win funding from Bloomberg, along with national recognition. One project will win $5 million. Four others will win $1 million each.
Submit ideas by August 1 through the city’s “What is your $5 million idea?” link http://www.lexingtonky.gov. Or use the online application form and mail your idea to Mayors Challenge, City Hall, 200 E. Main St., Lexington, KY, 40507.
Ace readers may cc Ace on their $5million dollar ideas via twitter. Use hashtag #WhatLexNeeds.
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