Four political newcomers seek 7th District council seat. What to know about candidates

Four candidates are vying to represent District 7 on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council.

Frank Cannavo, Heather A. Hadi, Joseph Hale and William Matthew Housh are all running for the seat held by Preston Worley, who has served on the council since 2017 and announced in December he would not run again in the upcoming election.

The 7th District includes areas off Richmond Road and Athens-Boonesboro Road, including neighborhoods around Woodhill and Codell drives, Squires Road and Hays Boulevard. Concerns about development and affordable housing are at the top of most of the candidates’ lists of important issues.

The primary election is May 21 with early voting May 16-18. The top two vote-getters will appear on the ballot for the general election in November.

Frank Cannavo

Cannavo said he “started getting phone calls from people” about a possible run for council after he got involved in opposing a proposed development along Athens-Boonesboro Road.

“You can’t stop progress, but you don’t have to change the character of where you live,” he said. “Out here on this side of town, people are selling the horse farms off. People have assets. You can’t say to them, ‘You can’t sell your property.’

“One answer is to try to control how things get developed.”

Cannavo is a fan of “cluster development,” building buffer zones of green space “between clusters of buildings, between buildings and roads. ...trying to get the proper kind of housing that doesn’t overwhelm the geography.”

He noted that agriculture — and not just the horse industry — is a major economic driver in Fayette County. “We can’t just destroy that.”

He said he’s also concerned about gentrification and “maintaining good housing for people who rent.”

Cannavo said he’d like to “minimize as much as possible the conflict between the owner and the renter.”

He’s also interested in transportation, and while he said he’s “not being critical of Lextran,” he said “I’d like for us to help them find a solution.”

Cannavo is a former Army officer who had a varied career in business.

“The military definitely gave me a perspective on life. You can do just about anything you put your mind to” working together with others, he said. “If something’s got to be done, I’m willing to jump in the middle of it and try to get it done with other people.”

Before settling in Lexington, he said he lived in seven states and about 20 communities.

“I’ve been involved everywhere I’ve lived and seen what worked and what hasn’t worked,” he said. “The key is to get people involved. I think I could get people enthused and involved. ...I think I have some skills to get people to see what could be done.”

Cannavo has been active in the Lexington community.

He’s served as a Fayette County election officer since 2010, is on the board of directors of the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial, is active in Knights of the Columbus, has worked on five Habitat for Humanity builds and has volunteered more than 970 hours at the Kentucky Horse Park Breeds Barn.

He said he’s disheartened by the conflict he sees around him, including in local government.

“We have to find ways to work together to solve our problems together,” he said.

Heather A. Hadi

Concerns about the availability of affordable housing and encouraging growth and development are important issues for Hadi.

“Growth is good,” she said. “Housing costs have risen tremendously. It’s hard for people to stay in Lexington.”

Hadi said the city is “losing people” as they are pushed out into surrounding areas in search of more affordable housing, which in turn can create transportation problems.

“We can’t stay like this forever,” Hadi said. “We need to accept growth and change as long as it’s done to benefit the common Lexingtonian.”

She said the recent expansion of the urban service boundary is “something that we need to handle in a responsible, sustainable way.”

And Hadi said she’d like to see some changes that would “streamline” the process when it comes to development, so affordable housing could be built more quickly.

“It’s very difficult to get permits and get things through the planning commission,” she said. “We need to cut down some of those hoops that developers are going to have to jump through.”

If elected, Hadi said she’d also like to work on “making Lexington more accessible to the underserved” in terms of transportation and “walkability.”

Hadi, an immigration and family law attorney, said her father is from Iraq, and her mother was born in the United States but is of Iraqi descent.

Hadi grew up in Lexington and returned to the city after law school because she wanted to try to help immigrants, and she said being able to help those populations in a new capacity through the council is an exciting opportunity.

“I want to be able to help them on a totally different level,” Hadi said.

When asked about something voters might not know about her, Hadi shared that she used to box.

“I’m a fighter in the courtroom. I’m a fighter in the ring,” she said. “I’m not somebody to give up.”

And, she said, “I do want to fight for this community.”

As a young woman of color and a single mom who runs her own business, she said, “it’s nice when people can look at their city council and see themselves.”

Hadi said Lexington needs “a fresh set of eyes and a fresh perspective” on the council, and she said she loves the fact that the race is nonpartisan.

“We need a smarter government that doesn’t have their hands in political sides,” she said.

Joseph Hale

This is Hale’s second time running for a seat on the council.

Hale , who ran unsuccessfully against Worley in 2022, said he thinks his experience makes him “the most qualified candidate right now.”

“I have a lot of experience, first of all, in government,” said Hale, the IT coordinator for the Emergency Response and Preparedness Branch of the state’s Department for Public Health.

In that role, Hale said he worked with the command staff for the state’s COVID-19 response, which he said gives him a leg up on “being able to handle what to do when it gets tough for the whole state.”

Hale is also a pastor and runs a mentoring program for boys called Boys to Men. He taught for eight years at the College for Technical Education.

He said he understands the issues the city council is dealing with and wouldn’t be “blindsided with what’s going on in the city.”

Top of mind, he said, are affordable housing and public safety.

Rent, Hale said, is “getting outrageous,” with people often spending more than 50% of their income on housing.

Hale said he’s interested in finding solutions that are “fair for both sides.”

“It has to be fair for the owner and the one that’s renting,” he said.

He said the rate of homelessness in Lexington also needs to be addressed.

Hale said public safety issues would also be a priority for him: “We want it to be safe in all of District 7, not just in certain areas, and actually in all of Lexington.”

“It starts with community,” he said.

Hale said he’d also like to tackle some traffic concerns in the district, such as a bottleneck that develops on Richmond Road near Jacobson Park during rush hour every afternoon and a speed limit that he said is “dangerous and unsafe” on the Todds Road end of Hays Boulevard near a newly-constructed apartment complex.

“I’m willing to take notes,” he said, and bring issue of importance to people in District 7 to the council.

Asked to share a fun or interesting fact about himself, Hale said he did stand-up comedy for several years, so public speaking comes naturally.

He said he hopes the voters of the district will “study and learn about the people that you are going to be voting for.”

“These positions in our city ... are the positions that will affect you personally,” Hale said. “Choose your candidates wisely.”

William Matthew Housh

Housh has helped other candidates with their campaigns in the past, and he said he was inspired to run for council himself on the suggestion of his niece, a student at Lexington Catholic.

“She said, ‘Uncle Matt, you would be good at that,’” Housh said.

Housh works as a clerk for city government and has past experience as a mail carrier and a claims representative who helped injured postal workers trying to get government compensation. Housh also unsuccessfully ran for county judge executive in 2014, he said.

He said he’s particularly interested in working on public safety issues and affordable housing.

“Public safety would be my primary focus,” Housh said, adding that the police department is understaffed, and “the city goes through a tremendous process to try to find those people.”

He believes “a lot more coordination could happen” between the Lexington Police Department and the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.

On the affordable housing front, Housh said he’d like to “try to promote more ease of use when people come to try to get building permits,” since he said dealing with city government now can be a “cumbersome process.”

He said his experience working in city government gives him a leg up on understanding the process of how government works.

“I know everybody,” he said. “I’m an excellent listener. ...I’m honest and direct, and I’ll always do my best for our city.”

“I have no desire to go up in politics,” he said. “I just want to help my neighborhood out.”

As a member of the council, Housh would see himself as “facilitator of what the neighborhood needs and what the city can provide.”

He said he’d be “facilitating fresh ideas,” such as an idea he has for how Lexington could keep city hall where it is now by using space currently taken up by the neighboring parking garage.

And he said he’d like to do something to speed up the interchange in the area of Alumni Drive and New Circle Road.

He said the wheels of progress sometimes turn slowly in Lexington, and he’d like to see that improve.

“Things in our city sometimes take 20 to 30 years to come to fruition,” Housh said.

Housh said he’s civically involved already, volunteering with the Lexington Humane Society and on environmental projects through organizations like the Sierra Club and The Arboretum.

“I’m also a strong proponent of our arts,” he said. “I’m very much interested in science and technology.”

Frank Cannavo

Age: 75

Direct family: Spouse, Evelyn Sue Cannavo

Job experience: U.S. Army Officer – Field Artillery, Airborne and Ranger Qualified. Vietnam 1971-72 with 173rd Airborne Brigade and 101st Airborne Division. Stateside 1972-75 with 82nd Airborne Division. Past experience as administrative officer at Fayetteville (N.C.) State University; product specialist, marketing supervisor and strategy manager at Texas Instruments Control Products Division; sales and marketing manager for Peerless Radio Co. in Pompano Beach, Fla.; total of 37 years in various roles at companies creating and manufacturing products for the aircraft industry. Facilities coordinator for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, 2016-2020.

Education: United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., B.S. in general engineering; North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., M. Ed. in adult and community college.

Other offices held: No elected public offices.

Heather A. Hadi

Age: 35

Direct family: Daughter Layla Cupps, son Liam Cupps, mother Nawal Hadi and father Ray Hadi

Job experience: Local immigration and family attorney in Lexington since 2013, when she opened her own firm. Has been a small business owner since.

Education: Graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in 2006, UK with bachelors in communications in 2010 and St. Thomas School of Law (Miami Florida) with a Juris Doctorate in 2013.

Other offices held: No elected public offices.

Joseph Hale

Age: 44

Direct family: Hale Family

Job experience: IT Coordinator for Kentucky Department for Public Health - Emergency Response and Preparedness Branch

Education: Graduate of Sullivan University

Other offices held: No elected public offices.

William Matthew Housh

Age: 59

Direct family: Six older siblings: Michael Housh, John Housh, Kevin Housh, Kathleen Jones, Julie Housh and Mary Housh

Job experience: Honorable discharge from U.S. Navy, where he was assigned to the Nuclear Field Program. Past employment with U.S. Census Bureau as field director responsible for counting homeless individuals in seven Central Kentucky counties, including Fayette, and former USPS mail carrier in Garrard County. Has worked as a federal claims representative with Harris Federal Law Firm. Employed as a clerk for the City of Lexington since 2012.

Education: Previously attended Lexington Community College and Kentucky State University

Other offices held: No elected public offices.