After watching things unfold as a citizen for the last year, 56-year-old Jeff Sanford is hoping to regain a seat on the Owensboro City Commission. Pointing specifically to Churchill Downs abandoning plans at the former Towne Square Mall, Sanford said the City needs to start developing land ahead of the next big project to prevent a major deal from falling through again.
“If you don’t have anything on the shelf to sell anybody, you can’t sell anybody anything, so you’ve got to have space,” Sanford said. “We have to have some kind of industrial park, whether through the City of Owensboro or Owensboro-Daviess County government, or it could be regional.”
Sanford said there is land to be developed, but the City needs to be proactive to acquire such property.
While the Churchill Downs project is still underway in the county, Sanford said it’s a big loss for South Frederica, an area he thinks could’ve benefited from the land use.
“Not only does it hurt our taxpayers and the tax revenue, but it hurts all the other businesses in that area, and I really thought that would have been a massive jolt to south Frederica [Street],” he said.
One of the things he wishes to accomplish is developing the next generation of City leaders so they are prepared for the generational shift. He said that would be beneficial to the City both economically and for its longevity.
“We’ve done all the things with downtown. We’re still doing some things in the Northwest neighborhood rebuilding all that area. The last component of all of it was to attract people to come here, and that’s where we’ve landed now. Now it’s time to attract industry to come here,” Sanford said.
Sanford last held a City Commission seat at the end of 2022. He was part of the early discussions on some major projects such as the indoor sports facility, something he is still passionate about seeing come to fruition.
One of the other areas Sanford wants to address is homelessness in the city. Sanford said that the city is in a precarious position where services are great, and because of that, there is an overpopulation of individuals who are homeless in the area.
He cited his time volunteering at different shelters and as a Commissioner in the past as his exposure to the severity of the situation.
“Some of them take advantage of the shelter and it eats up resources from the people who really need the help,” he said. “It’s a tough one. You want to help everybody and you want to think that they’re going to do the right thing, but I know personally, I’ve helped people who don’t end up doing the right thing.”
Sanford has previously served a total of 5 terms as City Commissioner.
