Mildly Amusing
Where hearsay meets heresy. James Spragens hosts Mildly Amusing, a podcast of small-town stories, unfiltered conversations, and plenty of good fun.
Mildly Amusing
Episode 22: A Conversation with Mayoral Candidate Jasmine Hardin
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode of Mildly Amusing, host James Spragens sits down with Jasmine Hardin, candidate for Lebanon mayor. A Lebanon native, Jasmine shares her journey from Georgetown College to the University of Louisville School of Law, her career in legal ethics, and what inspired her to return home in 2019 to raise a family and invest in the community she loves.
Jasmine discusses her vision for Lebanon, including improving quality of life through more accessible parks, bike lanes, and welcoming third spaces. She also talks about expanding affordable housing opportunities, revitalizing downtown, modernizing city ordinances, and pursuing grants that can help move the community forward.
Hear how she's been meeting with local organizations, business owners, and residents to listen to their ideas, and learn more about her community survey and the public event on August 5 at the Lebanon Sports Complex, where she'll share the survey results and continue the conversation.
🎧 Whether you're interested in local government or simply curious about the future of Lebanon, this episode offers an in-depth look at one candidate's vision for the community.
This episode's song: Green Garden by Laura Mvula.
Welcome everyone. I'm James Spraggins, and this is mildly amusing. Um I'm gonna stop saying I'm excited about the guest. I say it every single time. So I'm just gonna say that today's guest is Jasmine Harden, uh a Lebanon girl who moved back a few years ago and she's a candidate for mayor. Uh I did not know she was a person dwelling on the earth until she uh uh threw her hat in the ring, and I met her the next day for coffee and have kept in touch with her, and um we finally got her to come in and talk to us, and very glad we did. It was a it was a good conversation. You're gonna learn a lot about her. Um and uh so anyway, but I also wanted to mention uh a couple of things. Um it's very exciting, Amy. The war's back on, apparently. The Iran War is back on. I read the you know, turned on the TV this morning, and yeah, so that's exciting. Um so um uh but also uh on a serious note, I wanted to mention a good friend of mine passed away a couple of nights ago. She had been having a little bit of trouble. Uh she was uh lived a very uh a very fulfilling 94 years. Uh but the last few years were probably not uh she wasn't living her best life. And anyway, I'm talking about Mary Lois Grundy. Um I've known her for a very long time, and she's very well known in the community. Um she was um married to uh Jimmy Grundy. They had the place out on Bravertsville Road. Uh you nobody no one ever met a kinder or more gracious lady, and um I would go visit her, and uh I almost felt like I was meeting uh visiting with a relative. And we used to joke about that because she grew up in Casey County on the Big South Fork, as did all my people, my Spraggins's and Ryanerson's, and they all knew each other and all that. And but she lived in Lebanon most of her life, um, and we're glad that she did. Uh I have one I always think about this, and I cringe every time. When Wendy and I got married, we paid for the wedding ourselves, and so we were just very cost conscious. And we didn't do the we had not been going to the United Presbyterian for very long. We weren't even actual actually members, but we were we were uh attending. Well, we didn't do the thing that most people do where you put the invitation in the bulletin and everybody in your church gets to go. We didn't do that because we're like, oh money, uh but uh the week or so before the wedding, uh Mary Lois Grundy knocks on my door with a with a wedding gift anyway. And um uh she was just that kind of person and always smiling, and I'm certainly gonna miss her. A whole lot of people are gonna miss her. So uh goodbye to my friend Mary Lois Grundy. Um I had another interesting thing happen. Um one of the things that I you know I think when I was starting this podcast is that that our media uh local media landscape has changed m in many most ways for the worse. But one of the things we miss, um, I miss is Channel 6 TV. And that was a venture started and operated for many years by Gary White. Um and you know, he put his heart and soul into that thing. And uh you can still go, he has a um uh a YouTube channel, and he's uploaded many, many, many uh stories they did, interviews they did, even commercials that they did. Well, I reached out to him uh a week or so ago and I said, I've been wanting to find when I had the restaurant Blues on Tap, I did some ads, and one of them um was a Christmas message from Blues on Tap, and and I was holding my uh my first son, he was about a year old, uh Henry, was in my arms, and I thought, oh, I'd love to see that again. Henry is will be starting his sophomore year at UK um very soon. And I thought, gosh, I'd love to see that again and show it to everybody. Well, he went to the so I reached out to Gary, happened to find his number. He said, Well, let me he said, I'm not sure. He said, I've got a lot of stuff with you already uploaded, but I'll look for that one. And a few days later he says, Hey, I found it, I've already uploaded it. And so he sent that and another blues on tap ad that we did. And so, what a nice guy. Lebanon misses you, Gary White. Thank you so much. Um anyway, so uh I hope you're gonna enjoy today's uh episode with a conversation with uh Jasmine Harden. We are recording at the in the dining room at here at Myrtledine. Uh the AC is not working at the library, and Jamie Collins very kindly allowed me to take the equipment. And um and I I reckon she expects me to bring it back. We'll see. Um today's episode is sponsored by my good friend, a good friend of this podcast, Dennis George. Thank you very much, Dennis. We appreciate you. Uh, thank you all for tuning back in, and uh you're gonna enjoy this conversation. I just know it. Welcome back. I'm James Spraggins, and this is mildly amusing. My guest uh who has joined us in um oddly in the dining room at Myrtle Dean because the AC is still out at the Marion County Public Library, who kindly allowed me to take their equipment. Uh our our guest today is Jasmine Hardin. We've been working on scheduling this for a long time since you announced you were running for mayor. Jasmine Harden is um gonna tell us about herself, but briefly. She's uh she's a Lebanon girl and was away from here for a few years, but then moved back because she missed home, I reckon. And um she has this year decided to throw her hat in the ring for mayor. Um this will be the first time in almost 30 years that uh current mayor Gary Crenshaw will not appear on the ballot, and so it's opened things up. And um uh I got a couple of texts a few months ago from some friends of mine who were very excited to tell me Jasmine Harden is running for for mayor. I said, Well, that's really great. Who's Jasmine Harden? Um and uh she is not someone I knew existed and until she decided to so it's at least upped your exposure, you know, if nothing else. But uh we had coffee the next day, and um anyway, I'm no less excited that she is running. And um, Jasmine, thank you so much for being here. Tell us about yourself.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, James. Excited to be here. Uh Jasmine Harden. I, as James said, I grew up in Lebanon. I am a 2004 graduate of Marion County High School. Um, after high school, I left and went to Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky. So right outside of Lexington. Was there four years, majored in accounting with a minor in communication with the intent uh to go to law school and become a tax attorney? Um I took a year off.
SPEAKER_04A tax attorney.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04What's the difference in being a tax attorney and being a CBA?
SPEAKER_03Um you can, you know, litigate on tax issues, you know, work for the IRS and work on like the legal cases for those or you know, Department of Revenue.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03So a a bit different. It's the more legal aspect of, you know.
SPEAKER_04You're not, you know, counting beans, you're you're you're litigating on one side or the other of a tax case.
SPEAKER_03Of a tax case.
SPEAKER_04Okay. All right, sorry, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So took year off to work as an accountant, and um then actually after my first semester in law school, did an internship with the IRS and decided this is not where I want to be. So went to law school at U of L 2009 to 2012, graduated, took the bar, still have PTSD from that. No, I will not be barred in another state. Kentucky is it. That's the only bar exam I planned to take. And so graduated in 2012, passed the bar, and then started working in banking. Um, so 2012, when I graduated, you know, was after 2009, you know, financial issues. So, you know, banks were in trouble with, you know, foreclosures and all those different pieces. Yes, I was in the legal side of banking. So working uh with the bank on like foreclosures and bankruptcies and regulatory uh pieces, did that for four years, and then went into a law firm setting and worked at a law firm doing conflicts of interest and I was living in Louisville, Kentucky. So, you know, moved from Lebanon to Georgetown and then from Georgetown moved to Louisville. Uh, worked in Louisville for a year for a family business as an accountant, and then went to law school at U of L and then stayed in Louisville until 2019.
SPEAKER_04Your IRS you were still in Louisville. Yes. Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_03And so worked in downtown Louisville for that IRS branch and then also did a small stint internship at the Department of Revenue in Frankfurt. Um and, you know, after the banking, went into a law firm, loved the ass, and I was on the back side of the law firm, so more like general counsel side, not front side, you know, client billable attorney. Um, loved that work, you know, wasn't in court every day like I was um in banking, you know, with travel, had had two kids by that point, so wanted to, you know, get something that was a bit more flexible, um, enjoyed the law firm work, um, thought I wanted to do, you know, healthcare regulation, did that for a year at Humana, decided that was not for me, and then came back to a law firm setting, but on a different side as a consultant. Um, so what I in that was 2020. So uh 2020 started with the company that I'm with now.
SPEAKER_04Did COVID have anything to do with that? Um that you decided to no.
SPEAKER_03So I whenever I was at Humana, I was remote. Whenever I was in the law firm, I actually worked two to three days from home. So I've been working from home since 2016, at least two to three days a week. Um moving to the consulting at Humana, I worked from home full-time. Moving to consulting was more of a decision that I felt complacent in my position at, you know, the healthcare company wanted something a bit more challenging, and so then moved into the consulting side of things, which is where I am today and have been for over five years. Um, working as a consultant now for law firms in conflict of interest and you know, legal ethics. Uh, so my background with the law firm doing that, you know, internally for a law firm, now I do it externally on advising really, you know, people process technology and updating.
SPEAKER_04With all these shifting gears, you're always moving into another thing. It's like you must there must be a steep learning curve, like uh the banking side, the tax side, and then ethics. I mean, did you have to go back and get any more training or was it on-the-job training as you were making these moves?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so there all my positions were in the compliance and regulatory space, but yes, had to do on-the-job training, did some professional development training, uh, on the legal side, you know, focused my continuing education around ethics and you know, compliance and those pieces. The position I have now is more, you know, professional development in like the legal and legal ethics spaces. Um but working with clients to improve their, you know, conflicts of interest and ethics programs at law firms.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03Um, so interesting to me, maybe not, you know, the most interesting conversation, like you said, you know, may put you to sleep if you know I talk about legal ethics for too much, but do get, you know, excited about that space. And it's a it's a change management position and so can kind of relate it to a mayorial position in, you know, the law firms are doing things that they've always done. You know, they've done it for 30 or 40 years, it's always worked. And so then I come in as a change agent and I'm like, well, we're going to, you know, automate and redu, you know, remove these manual efforts and put you into a new technology that can, you know, expedite this process and improve the firm. So love what I'm doing now. I work from home full-time, and in 2020 or 2019, I was still at Humana, but decided to move back to Lebanon because my oldest daughter was about to start kindergarten. And so you just really started evaluating community and people, commute, you know, had something to do with it. I was pregnant with my third uh child at that point, and it was just like, what does the future look like? And is this how where and how I want to raise my children?
SPEAKER_04Had that been something in the back of your head for a while that you wanted to maybe end up back home?
SPEAKER_03No. Uh, you know, whenever you graduate in two, you know, whenever I graduated high school, it was I want to get away as far as pop, you know, as I cannot believe, you know, I do not want to stay here, it's too small. You know, I want to branch out and do something, you know, different and you know, travel and live somewhere out of state. And then it was like, okay, I went to college in Kentucky, I went to law school in Kentucky, and it was like, okay, I really love Kentucky. And then you have that, I anyway, had a mindset shift whenever I had children and was like, okay, this is great and all, but I loved my you know childhood. I loved where I grew up. You know, I'm still friends for decades with the people that I grew up with. And it was, you know, the more people I talked to or met in the city, they just they didn't have that connection or maybe didn't have that community piece or, you know, a village or a neighbor that they could call to help. And I was like, okay, this is what I want for my children. And so that's when really it was probably in February or March when we started looking at schools and you know, evaluating where she was going to go to kindergarten. And then by April of 2019, we had a contract on a house here.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03So it was not necessarily a rush decision, but you know, I had friends that were like, Are you crazy? What are you going to do? Uh, my daughter was even like, Is there a Target or a Starbucks in Lebanon? Like, what in my? And I was like, We have a coffee, coffee job. Yeah. And so, but one of the best decisions that we've made for, you know, our family and ourselves was moving back here seven years ago.
SPEAKER_04Tell me about your husband. He was obviously okay with this move. Who is he? Where is he from?
SPEAKER_03Yes, so um, he's okay with this move now. Maybe he thought it was a crazy idea at the time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But it was he what he he traveled regionally at that point for um a cell phone company, and so he was like a regional director. So he was driving every day anyway, so it didn't really matter where his starting point was.
SPEAKER_04Base of operations.
SPEAKER_03Uh, took a bit of convincing, but took him to a uh maker's mark. That's when they had they had some sort of festival or uh thing back in 2019. So I took him there, maybe gave him a couple of shots of bourbon, don't know. And then at later that evening, we were sitting in the house. Yes, we were sitting at a friend's house um that night, actually in the neighborhood that we, you know, were planning that we planned to move into, and he said, Oh, I could live here. And so that's all he needed to say. And I was like, Great, called a realtor the next day and was like, You said you could live here, let's make it happen. Right. And so just put the plan in place, went and viewed a house like that next week, and then had a contract after he made that statement two weeks later on a home.
SPEAKER_04You don't give him a chance to change his mind.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, right. I'm like, you said this. I don't know if you were under you know the influence, but we're gonna run with it.
SPEAKER_04Wendy and I have all often uh thought, we don't know how people raise kids without having a big network around to call at the last minute. I'm stuck here doing this, I gotta take this one to the doctor. Can you go pick up so-and-so from the school or whatever? I don't know how in the world. We were very lucky. My parents lived uh just right up the street. Wendy has got 10,000 cousins, aunts, and uncles around here. And uh yeah, I don't know how you do it. And then there's so there's that, you were coming back to a network that you knew, but also it's a cheaper place to live than where you are. So anyway, so it made a lot of sense. Yeah, yeah. I want to get to this, we can get to this later, but one thing I've often thought is that um a challenge Lebanon has, uh its population maybe has grown a little bit, but it seems like over the it's been pretty much stagnant. Um the city would like to grow its population, I would assume. Um, but it's a challenge. Even though we have the equivalent of Lebanon's population flow in and out uh every day to work at our factories, they still go out, they go back home. Um and so I've often wondered what the city could do to make it attractive. First of all, the low-hanging fruit are the people who were born and raised here, who maybe still have family here, who maybe have um aging parents who need care. And so they're like, Well, I would move home if Lebanon enabled me to apply my trade and do what I've been doing. And so I'm sure you've thought a lot about those kind of things that like, well, I don't know, and I don't have any answers, but uh I've often thought maybe the city should like set up a table at every class reunion and just say, We're here right here. Give me 10 minutes, I'll buy you a drink at the park, whatever, and tell me like what do you do? Would you ever consider moving back? What are the obstacles to moving back? You know, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_03Yes, absolutely. And have thought about this, have talked to some current college students and just you know asked questions. What would entice you to move back to Lebanon? What do you need from the city in order to move back here? You know, even talked to you know, small businesses and those pieces, like what positions are you hiring? And a lot of the things that I've you know thought about and then you know got confirmation or you know, talked to, you know, like I said, the college students and these people is one, we do not have the housing available. Um, so it, you know, affordable housing for, you know, this is my first job. I need to have, you know, a home available and you know, not necessarily a single family home that's 300,000, you know, I need a town home that's 150,000. So having the housing available, having, you know, space for them to work in, and then also having, you know, the jobs available. Uh, with the housing, actually met with Terry Thomas yesterday at the Career and Development Center. And she has reporting where, like you said, 5,000 people are leaving Lebanon, 5,000 people are coming into Lebanon every day. Those people that are leaving, you know, they're spending money elsewhere, you know, they're not, they're going home after they work. We're around 950 homes short for workforce housing.
SPEAKER_04Really?
SPEAKER_03Yes. So almost 1,000 homes short for housing that if we had available, it could reduce that those that are commuting out after they work here. They're coming into work, but they're not able to find housing. Talked to a small business owner that has over 40 employees. She went around with, you know, one of her employees to look for housing here, and she ended up buying a home in Camelsville or Taylor County, drives in every day because she couldn't find a home within her price point.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03So how the city can work on that, you know, try, you know, read a couple of different books, listening to some podcasts, you know, reading different articles, and how other cities have tried to, you know, reverse this is with planning and zoning and you know, creating that, you know, right now, like in my neighborhood, I cannot have an additional dwelling unit. It's not allowed. Like different places, you can't have an additional dwelling unit. So if you allow those ADUs to be built in the back of a property, maybe it's a one-bed, one bath, you could rent that for $700 a month, or you know, things like that. Or you could zone instead of single family, you could zone for, you know, one to four, you know. So then you have four plexus or duplexes on specifics.
SPEAKER_04And we're seeing some of that as a place being built like on North Street right here. We're seeing some of that, but there's nothing.
SPEAKER_03But how the city can help is with planning and zoning. And then there are also different grants and things that are available. I'm still learning more about this on the grants that you can get where the city could go in and level a home, you know, prep the ground for that developer to come in and then build that forplex or build, you know, those townhomes. Because you have potentially a lot of small developers here, but they may not have that initial, they have the money to do the duplex. They don't have that, you know, 30. 50,000 to clear the land and do all those pieces, but grants available to cities to be able to do that. So workforce housing, you know, affordable housing is really what we, you know, one of the platforms that I want to stand on and how the city can help in that way. Another way I think this city could help that I've, you know, read about other cities doing, uh, which I think I talked to you about before, is having like an internet cafe or some sort of like internet available where professionals, I work from home every day, I've met several people that live here that work from home. And then us being able to market, hey, we have this building available. You can come rent an office, you know, a couple of days a week, and then you know, that's money back to the city, but then you can work from this space.
SPEAKER_04And because working from home works for a lot of people, but there are a lot of distractions at home.
SPEAKER_03There are.
SPEAKER_04And if you can at least drive five minutes to a place, and I do see some people using the workspaces at the library.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I've used those multiple times.
SPEAKER_04But yeah, I think it's a good idea.
SPEAKER_03And you know, even the coffee shop just to get that human interaction. Yes, I'm on Zoom calls and team calls all day, but to actually, you know, see a person in the flesh is helpful. And so having some sort of space to, you know, have available because my company will, you know, rent out a space for me to go so many days a week. So the, you know, looking at the city, do we have any of those types of buildings available? Can we, you know, convert a space into those types of internet cafes or, you know, we work type spaces, you know, that they have in cities that I can go rent. And then that's attractive for people that live in other cities. Okay, there's a lower cost of living in this area. I have I work from home, but I can also go into this space and have some sort of interaction with people, you know, in at the water cooler, or you know, just to build it and then being able to market it to people living in, you know, other high cost areas.
SPEAKER_04Do you see many municipalities doing this? Do you do you see examples of a city like Lebanon or Danville or something that, okay, the private market's not doing this, but we know we need it, and then they go and like find the structure that's uh that's per perhaps available and turn it into this?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I haven't read about cities in Kentucky, like the one that I'm thinking about was I can't think of the name, like a city in um Oregon where the city had done this, and what they did is provided Wi-Fi um in the downtown area, and then in this in a specific building that they had, and you know, piloted it to see if people would come use the space. Okay. So not in Kentucky specifically or you know, a smaller area, but I have seen it from cities and other states.
SPEAKER_04Right. We've uh I have projected us a little further than I meant to at this point in the conversation, but um what um what made you decide to run? Had you been thinking about this for a while? Why did you decide to do this?
SPEAKER_03Yes, so I had been thinking about doing some sort of public service for a while. And it wasn't, you know, this one event happened and I was like, absolutely, I'm going to run for mayor. I think it was just small incremental events that kind of led up to, okay, why not me? And it was, you know, I wanted to, I think as a mayor or as a local, you know, representative, you can make such an impact on your community. And so I was just seeing things, you know, I wanted to move back here to raise my family. You know, I like X or this neighborhood or, you know, these youth activities. And whenever you see, you know, state government or federal government, it's really about those federal policies. And everything is, you know, red and blue, or you know, left and right. And locally, it's just it's people over politics. It's like, how can I help the people? And so I've always wanted to be in public service and help the people. And so this position came up, and it was like, okay, why not me? Like, I want to make an impact. I want to leave a legacy being local government and going from really ground-up politics is where you make the difference. And I want to make the difference where I live and not, you know, necessarily globally. And so it's like, how can I impact the most people in this community? And it's like, okay, running for mayor is going to do that, to be able to, you know, revamp the city and help the people here in this community rather than you know worrying about, you know, state or federal politics.
SPEAKER_04Some of the things you've mentioned uh just now and and in previous conversation is quality of life seems to be very important to you. You're thinking about amenities like places to walk, things like that. We have a fantastic park, I think.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_04Especially for a town our size. I don't know if it's equal anywhere. Um talk about some of the quality of life things you'd like to tackle. Um, does this like relating to downtown as a place to go and for people to go and meet? Talk about that a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Yes, so lots of big ideas. I do understand, you know, the term is four years, but you know, being able to create these ideas for then us to prioritize and you know, hopefully implement. Um some of those are around, and like you said, we do have a great park. I think it's over 100 acres.
SPEAKER_02106 acres or something like that.
SPEAKER_03And we have, you know, so many people coming in even to use those facilities, but want to make the park more accessible. So as far as a people aspect of that, we do not have sidewalks in you know all areas leading to the park. So if you drive on, I believe it's Metz Drive from you know Wendy's to the park, one of like the main thoroughways through town, there's no sidewalk there.
SPEAKER_04So it's from your neighborhood, you got to walk in the street to people's yards.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I have to drive you know a quarter of a mile to the park. And so it's like, how can we make the park more available to the community? We need a sidewalk. Or maybe here we need, you know, a bike lane. Sidewalks can get more political than you think because it's, you know, on someone's yard and you know, those pieces and people walking by. But at the end of the day, it's always what's best for the community. So sidewalks is um one of those, creating those sidewalks. The other piece, I mean, downtown revitalization is its its own thing. Uh, but as far as you know, community aspect and you know, creating things for people, putting benches or putting different green spaces in downtown to have it available for people to sit and chat. Um, really uh, you know, creating these, they're called third spaces. Like people have home, they have work. What is their third space? If it's the park, let us be able to get them a sidewalk to the park. If it's a bench downtown, we may need a sidewalk to get there, but let's have that area, a couple of benches where people can sit and chat with their neighbors, you know, people passing by, maybe they want to sit out there for lunch, but having that available, and so then people build that community. And many generations ago, you know, they had that, they had that available to them, or they went to different places, or people are sitting on their front porch. Um so creating that type of space in the community, and then, you know, we've already invested in the arts here with Center Square, but making that more available to all demographics in the community. Um, you know, they get grants, but seeing if there are more grants where they can give, you know, scholarships to different, you know, students to be able to attend events and be there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah, that's the other thing. Um, I do hear people say sometimes there's nothing for kids to do, but I'm like, what are you talking about? We got the park, but then Kentucky's uh classic arts offers so much if they're not they don't want to be a football player, but there's other things they want. It's I think it's great. Um speaking of downtown revitalization, I think you've had some conversations as have I with um some folks are trying to jumpstart restart our Main Street program.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_04Um have you like Denise Thomas, I know, is very involved in that, and she came and spoke to our preservation group about that recently. Um what's your understanding of what they're wanting to do and how would city how would city government uh take a part in that?
SPEAKER_03Yes, so had a great conversation with Denise Thomas about that exactly. Also have met, you know, with Brooklyn for economic development and just you know a couple of different small business owners that are downtown. But the main barrier right now for them being able to get off the ground with downtown revitalization is they need to map the downtown area, like what does downtown actually consist of? It's not just Main Street, you know, it's a couple of blocks on each side. So they're mapping the downtown, and then the biggest barrier is hiring a downtown, it's called a Main Street coordinator. I believe is what the position is and how the city can help with that is hiring that main street coordinator.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03Um, so one of my top priorities, if elected, um, is hire, you know, interviewing and hiring and working with those different teams, because I think it's a collaboration of economic development and the chamber and you know, tourism and you know, the downtown, they have a steering committee working with them to hire the right person to get a plan in place to really revitalize the downtown area. If we hire that main street coordinator, then that opens up grants for the city to be able to get to you know host events or update buildings, you know, paint buildings, update sidewalks, hang signs, so many different things that we can get grants for, but we have to have that person in place and the downtown mapped in order to apply for those grants.
SPEAKER_04Right, right. Um it's been a challenge for a while. We have some things, some people, some very heroic business people trying to make a go of downtown. It's a big, big challenge. And even so, if go to Barkstown on a on a Wednesday afternoon, it's busier than Lebanon's downtown on a Saturday afternoon. There's just, I don't know what you gotta do. Um, what when you talk to some of the local downtown businesses, what are what are some of the specific challenges they tell you about?
SPEAKER_03Um they mention that there's not a consistency of hours among the businesses there. So, like if they if their business is open on Monday and others are not, then there's not as much attraction because that person can't hit they want to go to all the businesses. They want to hit all the stops on one day. Um the others for them are, you know, how are they marketing their business? You know, can they get other organizations to help them market and get the word out about their business? You know, they may have been there for so many years and they just don't know how to reach specific, you know, people and groups. And then the others, unfortunately, they just don't think that our community wants to support small businesses and they take their dollars out of town.
SPEAKER_04I hear that all the time.
SPEAKER_03And so even our people here, they're like they want to go to Bargetown or they want to go to Danville or they want to go to Louisville on the weekends, and they do not want to spend the money here. So I, you know, part of that is you know downtown revitalization, but we also have to put the spirit or the energy, and you know, I think we used to call ourselves the heart of Kentucky. We need to put the heart back into the heart of Kentucky and that community really bring that energy to the community to say, hey, support these small businesses, you know, support local. You know, it's I think that's a you know global saying, but that's what we need you to do is that support the people here, they can create jobs here, you know, they give back, they support the youth, you know, sports teams, they support the arts. Like if you look on the art center, it's all local businesses that have supported. If you look on the back of these kids' jerseys, it's local businesses, you know, in the park, the signs. It's like so let's support them because they are supporting us. And so that's the biggest thing is really getting the community support. And it's not only the businesses, you know, that are downtown on Main Street, it's you know, Walmart to Kroger, like all the businesses that are spread from those areas, because I've heard from you know others as well outside of that main um Main Street corridor that need the local support.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Uh it's so funny when I was growing up, and up until um, you know, the dot-com bubble bursting and the housing crisis in 08, up until then, Lebanon was the place to go. Um and um in the up until you know, all through the 90s, um on a Friday night, it was four or five deep waiting for a table at the bar at at Hennings. Yeah. Um and gradual part of it, frankly, was because we were the only wet town for a long ways, you know. And so we were pulling people from Green County, Taylor County, Casey County, uh, even Danville, but they've all gone wet, so we've lost that that distinction anyway. But um, and so I don't know what and at the time I thought, well, I think Lebanon local people are supporting the businesses, but I don't know. I hear people talk about going to Barn, and I do too. I'm I'm guilty too. If we have people from out of town, I'm frankly right now not gonna probably think first about going to downtown Lebanon. I'm gonna go to Barstown or Danville or I might take them out to lunch at Maker's Mark or something like that. But I really don't know. It's a chicken and egg thing, and I don't know how you you get people to make it.
SPEAKER_03And I think it's I think another thing is bringing the community together. And if you know that small business owner or you've met them or had a conversation with them, then maybe you're more likely to, you know, frequent their establishment because you're like, oh, I know X, I want to go support them. So, you know, getting out and being able to meet them in different events and not, you know, at their business. So can the city create different events for you to meet these business owners and then you build that relationship where okay, I want to go support them. I think it all comes back to people and you know, getting the people together and then saying, okay, I want to support them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And I think you're right to um a Main Street director could help kind of consolidate and organize so that okay, I'm downtown. Well, this restaurant's not open. This shop or or the restaurant's open, but the shop's not open, or only one shop's open at the same time. I don't know. People do want to they want to walk up and down and go to a bunch of places, not just not just one or two.
SPEAKER_03Yes, exactly.
SPEAKER_04Um so what are some other things you think that you can't do everything. Uh but what are some challenges you think, you know, this could be um this could go on my list for the first four years? What are some other things that you're thinking like, well, this is something I think that is, you know, needed, but also a realistic goal, like that I can put on my list for the first term. Yes, first of many.
SPEAKER_03Hopefully. So downtown revitalization, you know, workforce housing, uh, which goes with planning and zoning. Another piece is uh looking at our ordinances. Some of our ordinances are 30 or 40 years old. Um, so updating those um to you know clean up housing and you know, have certain buildings that are built. Maybe they have to be a certain paint color, maybe they can't be in, you know, this area of town. So looking at the different ordinances and updating those just to bring them to the future and to modernize those. A another piece, and you know, I have a survey out there right now, so I'll do a plug for that. It's open until the end of July, and it's on my Facebook page, and then one of uh one of the main uh things that people have even responded is out downtown revitalization was number one, and then youth activities, you know, as you said, was number two. So, you know, looking at, you know, we do have these events at the park, we have Kentucky Classic Arts, um, we have, you know, the Marion County Sports Complex. So seeing, you know, and even doing a survey, okay, you're looking for things for youth, what are we looking for? And seeing how the city can support that or support an organization that can create uh different activities for youth. Um, maybe it's uh more of a family event, you know, some cities have food truck Fridays on you know, Fridays in the summer, and so we do concerts at Kentucky Classic Arts and we block off Main Street for ham days. Can we block off Main Street once a month in the summer? I love it, and have a family event, you know, family-friendly music, have food trucks, and just it's not this huge organized, you know, multiple months of planning event. It's small event, youth can come, family can come, and have different activities there. So youth activities and trying to think of different ways to involve youth, but also to involve um families as well.
SPEAKER_04Um, I understand that when you you really hit the ground running on this, and you have obviously been intentional about going out and meeting people and talking to them. Um I think you cast a wide net and you said, hey, if you want to, if you would like my ear for a time, let me know. I'll be there in 20 minutes or something like that. Like what um what how has that gone? Um what are some of the interesting things that you've learned that maybe you hadn't thought about?
SPEAKER_03Yes, so I did set a couple of boundaries. I can't be there in 20 minutes, but I did say, you know, I'm available to chat. So I've received, you know, several messages on uh Facebook. Also put, you know, have phone number and email out there for people to reach me on. I have a list and I'm just going from the top down. So if I haven't reached out to you yet, I have not forgotten you. Yes, you are on my Excel spreadsheet of the next person to contact. And honestly, that's gone very well because I think people just want an avenue or you know, a place to reach out to and you know, voice their grievances or even say what they think is going well.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03So I've talked, you know, outside of city administration, like these are just community members. So I've talked to, you know, business owners and developers and you know, some people that just have want a street light on their street because you know they are having you know higher call-ins to the police department and you know, talking with people that like, yes, youth activities are great, but there's also lots of 55 plus in the community that want to have things available for them. So that's gone really well. And honestly, I was shocked at how many people, you know, reached out and wanted to um speak up or just give feedback um on what they want to see from the city because I, you know, it's it's a local government position. And if I do not hear from the people, then it's going to be my ideas plus you know the other city administrator ideas, and that's what we're going to implement. And if you know we need new and fresh ideas, so give us that feedback. And if we can implement or if you know it does impact a large group of people, let's work to see how we can prioritize it. So in consulting, I always say, okay, 80-20 rule. If it affects 80% of the firm, we'll move forward with it. If it only affects 20, we're gonna have to table that for phase two because the the cost doesn't, you know, we don't get the benefit from you know what it's going to cost or how it's going to move forward. So it's not where I'm getting this feedback and I'm gonna say, yes, absolutely, we're doing everything. No, okay, I got this feedback from you. Let me voice it out or you know, talk with others about it and see, okay, does this impact most of our community? If so, okay, let's think of solutions and then not only solutions, because people love pointing out problems. They not they do not always give a solution. And if they do, okay, can you give me some ways that we can implement it? Like how can we act on it? So we get stuck in that analysis-paralysis phase of here's the solution or possible solutions, let's implement these issues. So getting that feedback has been great. Looking at, okay, does it impact or could it impact 80% or more of the community? If so, okay, we're we want to stand on that, and then that's when we have to prioritize things. Okay, what can get done? How long is it going to take? What do we need? What usually it's funding, what money do we need for that? So have a list of that as well. Um, you know, of those items, even you know, use some of that feedback, put some of those items into my survey so that people could um vote on those to see, okay, is this actually affecting the community? And then just kind of waiting and see, okay, how can we move forward with those?
SPEAKER_04So your survey you said is on your Facebook page.
SPEAKER_03So if you just go to Facebook and look for Jasmine Harden for mayor, yes, it's a Google form, and you can click into it. It is 100% anonymous. I do not know who said what. Um so uh which is also great because I've gotten great, honest, and transparent feedback on that uh because it's not tied to anyone's name. Um so yeah, it's been I've had over 106 responses as of this. Morning.
SPEAKER_04I think that's a lot.
SPEAKER_03Yes, that is.
SPEAKER_04That's pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_03Yes. So if you say we have what six to seven thousand people in the city getting a response from over 100 is pretty great for you know this type of survey whenever people I think people just want to be heard at a certain point.
SPEAKER_04And is that the best way to reach out to you just to go to that Facebook page and then send a message to you through that?
SPEAKER_03Yes. So you can send a bit message through my Facebook page. It also has my email on that page, which is Jasmine Harden for Mayor at Gmail. And then it has a phone number that you can reach me as well.
SPEAKER_04The sense I've gotten over the years is that and this is not a criticism of anyone who has stuck their necks out and and actually done uh gotten the done the dirty work that most of us didn't want to do, but uh that leadership has been longstanding and entrenched. And like and that um and that more and more decisions were made in a closed loop, if that makes sense, if that makes any sense. And I wonder if you're my sense is people are excited that they know that not just for mayor, but there's a lot of uh positions that are that are wide open and people seem for whatever reason like, okay, now I'm gonna I'm gonna throw my hat in the ring or whatever, and there's more opportunities to uh get in the ear of some folks. Do you find that people are like, well, thank goodness you're running? Uh I think you will have an open mind, and like are people kind of like relieved, excited, you know, in that way?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean people seem to be very positive. I you know, we have to take that, you know, some decisions do have to be made behind closed doors, some things do have to be kept, you know, private or confidential. Um, you know, other things the community can weigh in on or you know, give ideas on. I think the difference has shifted in that technology, has made things more available and you know, people putting information out there, like with my Facebook page, people have been very receptive to it and open and you know, giving that feedback or you know, responding to the survey because we have the technique technology and platforms available for me to be able to push information out to others so quickly. And so we didn't necessarily have that in the past, or you know, people aren't using social media in that way, and so now we're able to use that, and so that's why I think we can get that communication out there and get people to respond in a different way, and then it also goes to, you know, as far as the city, you know, modernizing it in that way so that we can blast out information, you know, to in in reason that's available that we can send out to the community. Um, that's my you know, ethics and conflicts background coming out, um, that we can make available as quickly as possible. So is it, you know, do we need, you know, a social media person? Do we need a website person? Because right now it's more of this person is doing it and has X number of responsibilities. Do we need someone dedicated to that because the community does want to have the information available to them fairly quickly? Um we have new, you know, news sources that are out right now, um, you know, GNG on demand. I mean, they blast things out very quickly now that we didn't have available before. Um so I think we just have more technology and information available because of different platforms and you know, social media being one of those main ones. So then it's just looking at the city. How can we modernize and so that we can communicate with the community in in reason?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Um uh how's the campaign going and what are some of the ways that you are campaigning? I would assume it will change as we get closer and closer and closer to November. But how's it going and what kind of things are you doing and gonna do?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so it's going very well. Um as of now, I'm posting weekly on my Facebook page, just you know, talking about different things that I've seen in the city or my different platforms and elaborating on those a bit more, uh hosting events, uh, working on hosting, you know, monthly events up until the election in July. Uh so in June, I had a coffee, you know, had several people attend that just to talk, you know, answer any questions that they had, uh, met at you know school grounds, went through questions, you know, grabbed coffee, uh, pretty, you know, informal, just having a conversation with the community and just you know putting myself out there. In July, this is where I'm meeting with more of the um city employees and calling and meeting with individuals. So July, I'm using it more to focus on these individual meetings, hence why I'm here at this podcast today. You know, getting lots of those things scheduled and phone calls scheduled this month, and then August. I have an event August 5th at the sports complex. So similar to the coffee, but rented a basketball court and then a um room so parents can come in the room planning on having the survey results there so that everyone can see, okay, this is how What's the date of that? August 5th, 5 30 to 7 at the sports complex. Room 3, court three.
SPEAKER_04Uh-huh. Okay. That's a great idea.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and so the kids can go in, you know, play in the gym. Parents can come in or bring their kids in, you know, to the room as well, just to, you know, see the survey results, have a conversation with me, planning on doing, you know, pizza and drinks because it is during dinner time, um, and just putting myself out there again just to meet the community and get feedback. Haven't planned an event for September yet. I'm sure it'll be somewhere around Hamdays, and then we'll plan, you know, some final events for October leading up to the race. So just trying to get out there and say, hey, I'm running for mayor. What do you want to have a conversation about? Here are my platforms. How does that fit into what you want? And then also try, like I said, getting that feedback. Does this affect so much of the city? Maybe I need to tweak one of my you know, four platforms, or maybe I need to expand on it. Because at the end of the day, everything, you know, my decisions are always geared to does it benefit the city? Right. That means yeah. So just yeah. So the campaign's going well. Have ordered signs from Newcomb Graphics. I've already got those, they're in my garage, you know, ready to go whenever the time is allowed. Um, you know.
SPEAKER_04All right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um, and your husband's uh was there any um uh convincing curve that had curve that had to be overcome uh with him, or was he pretty much good with this?
SPEAKER_03Yes, he was absolutely 100% behind me. He's very supportive, has always been very supportive, and he is, you know, his question was like, absolutely, you know, why not you? Like I think you absolutely could do this, you have great ideas. So it was never a question, it was more of him questioning me like, are you going to go file or when are you going to file? Like, this is what you want to do, do it. Right. Right. So I'm more of a private person, like, I don't want to put myself out there, and you know, but he was 100% supportive of it.
SPEAKER_04Well, that helps. I guess I would have been shocked if you had said anything else, but uh it does help. He is He's not liking it, and our our divorce is final in October.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, so he's been at you know as many as events as he can be. Uh, of course, he has you know men's league at the country club on Wednesday, so he gets you know hounded with questions.
SPEAKER_04Some commitments are inviolable.
SPEAKER_03Yes. He's he's the grocery shopper at the house, and he's like, I'm not sure I can go to Kroger now. Like after I've filed, he's like, people may stop me in the aisles and I do not know who they are.
SPEAKER_04Right. Um the tobacco and sunglasses. Well, Jasmine, uh, thank you so much for coming on. I'm glad we finally got around to this. I'm excited to see how your campaign goes and um wish you the very best of luck.
SPEAKER_03Thanks very much.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. Uh, and thank you all for listening. Uh, this uh this particular episode uh is sponsored by my good friend and the friend of this show, Dennis George. Uh we uh thank him very much. Uh join us again. We'll have more podcasts a coming.
SPEAKER_00Not everyone needs a full-time or even part-time assistant. Sometimes you need help for a few hours, for a week, or once in a blue moon. That's where I come in. I'm your personal assistant for both creative and organizational support. Hi, I'm Amy Osborne of Main Assist.
SPEAKER_02Local, reliable, and here when you need me to be a little bit more.