Ew, gross, no. link to ‘Lexington KY police start using Fusus camera software | Lexington Herald Leader’

J’aime bien la ville où j’habite, mais c’est fort dommage qu’il n’y ait pas d’Alliance Française ici.

One of kiddo’s favorite podcasts is the delightful Forever Ago, each episode of which dives into the history of something specific, such as the weekend, Black cowboys, etc. Kiddo often listens to podcasts in the morning while waiting for (or eating) breakfast, and on Saturday morning, knowing that we were visiting Lexington Pride later that day, she pulled up the episode on the history of the rainbow Pride flag. With that history fresh in our minds, I noticed something different about the rainbow flags that fly in downtown Lexington during hte month of June: Lexington does not fly the common six-stripe rainbow flag.

J’ai appris cette semaine que les transports publics de ma ville sont soutenus par la RATP, ce qui m’étonne pas mal.

I have written council representatives about this more than anything else, and yet I suspect that it will go through again without a fuss. This isn’t the worst form of surveillance, but it is still surveillance, pure and simple. link to ‘Lexington, Ky Mayor wants to expand license plate cameras | Lexington Herald Leader’

What a dumb allegation. Just makes me want to vote for Wu even more. link to ‘Asian American council candidate fights Communist rumors | Lexington Herald Leader’

Speaking personally, I’d be happy to pay extra taxes to better support our local schools. link to ‘Fayette board asks which option for local revenue citizens prefer | Lexington Herald Leader’

Looks like a fun local gaming pub. link to ‘Jefferson St: Villain themed bar, restaurant, game club open | Lexington Herald Leader’

I want to be more involved with and aware of what the FCPS school board is up to—livestreaming seems like a good idea to me. link to ‘Fayette school board members ask to stream meetings online | Lexington Herald Leader’

These numbers sound great, but what cost are we paying? I’m not talking about the $70,000, I’m talking about the hard to quantify costs of surveillance—which, as the ACLU of KY points out, are likely to disproportionately target communities of color. Except we can’t know that because the city won’t tell us where the cameras are. link to ‘Lexington KY looking to address more crime, safety issues | Lexington Herald Leader’

I haven’t read Limón’s poetry (I don’t read much poetry at all), but I’ll have to change that. Happy for some Kentucky and Lexington representation in this way. link to ‘Lexington, KY writer Ada Limón is the next US poet laureate | Lexington Herald Leader’

When I made the decision to join Community of Christ, it wasn’t (just) because this was a denomination that aligned with my current religious and social values, but because I knew it would be a denomination that pushed me to improve my current religious and social values. I know that I have room to grow in being a better person and in making the world a better place, and I felt that Community of Christ is a denomination that would not only show me grace for who I was but also walk with me as I tried to grow in these ways.

The title of this post is a bit misleading. My wife and I aren’t really big on “Parent’s Day” celebrations: Years of Latter-day Saint “all women are mothers” (read: motherhood is the most important part of womanhood) Sunday services grated on us during our years of infertility, and even now that we are parents (and aren’t practicing Latter-day Saints—though my current denomination certainly isn’t immune from a cringeworthy celebration of parents either), it’s just not a thing we do.

Most of this budget sounds great, but why are we budgeting for 75 more ALPRs when we haven’t even finished the trial of the current ones yet? Not to mention that the trial is unlikely to evaluate ethics, only “effectiveness.” link to ‘Gorton unveils $460 million Lexington budget | Lexington Herald Leader’

There are a few yellow flags in this article for me. Quick and efficient sounds good, but are those the most important values in policing? What values do they stand in tension with? It’s great that there are policies against using a ALPR database for personal reasons, but these policies regularly get violated. No, these aren’t videosurveillance cameras, but that doesn’t make them harmless. link to ‘New Flock security cameras being installed in Lexington by end of May | Lexington Herald Leader’

Hooray for additional bike infrastructure! link to ‘Lexington gets $2.9 million for two shared use trails | Lexington Herald Leader’

Proud of Lexington for hosting this. Also wondering if I should check the Lexington groups on Gab to see if the local far-right is cranky about it. link to ‘Lexington KY peace vigil for Ukraine set for Wednesday | Lexington Herald Leader’

City council member responded to my concerned email by basically telling me I should have spoken up before the vote happened. Feels harsh but fair—want to do better about showing up and speaking up.

We should all be concerned about this. Describing this as “high tech” in the first line of the story fetishizes surveillance. It’s gross. link to ‘Lexington KY police test license plate cameras to solve crime | Lexington Herald Leader’

Good for these students. link to ‘Lexington students oppose anti-CRT legislation at rally | Lexington Herald Leader’

Wish I had commuted earlier today to see this; when I biked past, there were only KU folks, no protestors. ALSO: “protesters might be abetting murderers by taking up police time” is not a good look. link to ‘KU reaches compromise with Lexington tree-cutting protesters | Lexington Herald Leader’

School buses are the most common form of public transit around here, and we still can’t do that right. link to ‘Fayette schools considers spending $440,00 for outside drivers | Lexington Herald Leader’

Good news for Lexington! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 link to ‘Lexington KY gets ‘perfect score’ for LGBTQ protections | Lexington Herald Leader’

This sounds like a great place for a family bike ride! link to ‘Lexington opens key pedestrian bridge over Man O’ War | Lexington Herald Leader’

Lexington has a sister city in Normandy, so I’m currently applying to our sister cities organization in the hopes it will provide opportunities to keep up my French. 😊🇫🇷