Tyler Goad, 48, said he has seen a lot of energy poured into Owensboro’s downtown area over the last few years. He’s running for City Commissioner in the 2024 election to try to spread that energy to improve the rest of the city, including by being more welcoming to businesses.
Since downtown’s major redevelopment plan began, Goad said that several aspects of Owensboro have made the downtown area “a real jewel.” Yet, the rest of town is “in need of some transformation.”
“I think just about every part of the city has empty retail buildings and places that just need to be occupied by people running businesses. I’d like to see the City of Owensboro be more welcoming of businesses in every way imaginable,” he said.
His idea is to set up information sessions for people who are contemplating becoming an entrepreneur but don’t know where to start, or awarding tax credits.
Goad also said that the energy downtown has slowed down over time, and he wants to add something unique to the area.
“We don’t have a good grocery store [downtown], and I would love to be able to attract that kind of thing to complete that picture for people living downtown,” Goad said.
Noting there is minimal real estate to put a large grocery store, he said it would be more feasible to place it close by rather than in the downtown core.
Goad is new to the political sphere but cites his 21 years in the Navy as experience in a similar political landscape.
Prior to becoming the JROTC teacher at Daviess County High School, he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from the Naval Academy and Naval War College, respectively.
In between his studies, he spent time on the front lines making exercises and training in coordination with people from other nations. He said the program was a grassroots initiative that presented him with the chance to communicate with people who did not speak English.
Eventually, he shifted to intelligence, which allowed him to examine other countries and militaries apolitically to understand their frame of thought.
“[I’d] then bring that back to my team and insert that as a role into their planning efforts and figuring out how to make things work from a political process on down to the military process,” he said.
In his position at DCHS, Goad said he encourages the JROTC students to be connected with the community. He said it helps them develop life skills while also forming a better community.
With the community in mind, Goad stressed that his background would allow him to be open-minded when looking at ways to advance the city.
“I’m not going to look at it just one way,” he said. “I’m gonna look at it in five different ways and bring that and all the questions that ensue to make whatever product that we produce a better product.”
