The 9th District and the Energy Pros are holding a One Stop Drop Responsible Recycling Event on Saturday, May 9th from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm at Louisville Water Tower Park, home of the WaterWorks Museum, 3005 River Road. This drive-thru event is FREE.  While sponsored by District 9, any citizen in Louisville may participate at this FREE event. Businesses may not drop off items at this event. We will be accepting a multitude of items to be reused or recycled. More information on what will be accepted will be included in an upcoming eNews.

We are looking for volunteers to help direct traffic and collect donations.  If you are interested in volunteering please call 574-1109 or email Kyle Ethridge. 

A year-long study shows that the city’s tree canopy has declined from 40 percent to 37 percent in eight years—the result of insect damage, ice storms, trees not being replaced and many other factors. The tree canopy in District 9 is at 33%, down 11% from 2004.

Mayor Greg Fischer urges citizens and businesses to provide input and ideas, through the end of May, on the Tree Canopy Study -- which can be downloaded at http://louisvilleky.gov/government/sustainability/tree-canopy-assessment. Input can be sent to communityforestry@louisvilleky.gov or submitted to the Sustain Louisville Facebook page. In addition to public comments, the city will hold a series of public meetings. The first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12, 6:30 p.m. at Louisville Metro Hall, 527 W. Jefferson St.

Citizen input will be combined with the results of the city’s ongoing Urban Heat Island study, which will help complement the canopy study and provide further data on the tree canopy decline. That will lead to a citywide tree strategy and a citywide annual tree planting goal that will be announced later this fall -- in time for the peak planting season.

A depleted tree canopy leads to higher energy bills for businesses and homes, and makes the city physically hotter, which exacerbates health issues especially for the sick and elderly. It also makes Louisville less desirable compared to cities with greater canopies – and it affects property values.

There are many things citizens can do today to help, including planting a tree then reporting it on Brightside’s tree tracker count at www.brightsideinc.org/louisville-tree-tracker. Look for more information soon on a new non-profit, Trees Louisville, which will be accepting donations for trees. You can also organize tree plantings for the annual Give A Day week of service, which is April 18-26. 

One way to minimize the amount of rainwater entering Louisville’s combined sewer system – and make Beargrass Creek and the Ohio River cleaner – is disconnecting downspouts from the system.    Diverting the rainwater from the sewer helps the environment.  Diverting it to a rain barrel, which collects  and stores rainwater from your roof,  is even better.

Phil Samuel of Clifton has six rain barrels at his house and he and his three neighbors have a dozen or so.   A rain barrel collects water and stores it for when you need it most -- during periods of drought -- to water plants or wash your car.  It provides an ample supply of free "soft water" to homeowners, containing no chlorine, lime or calcium making it ideal for gardens, flower pots, and car and window washing.  A rain barrel can save most homeowners about 1,300 gallons of water during the peak summer months. Saving water not only helps protect the environment, it saves you money and energy (decreased demand for treated tap water).

MSD offers residential customers a one-time incentive of $100 per downspout for disconnection from the sewer (whether into a rain barrel or not) but you must follow the procedures to take advantage of the incentive.    Residential customers should call MSD’s Customer Relations department – at (502) 587-0603 – or email CustomerRelations@LouisvilleMSD.org to learn about the procedures.

The Louisville Nature Center has rain barrels available for $74 each; or $69 each for two or more. The barrels come already assembled with a spigot, downspout adapter, and overflow spout. The assembly work was done by United Auto Worker volunteers and you can pick up your barrel at LNC, 3745 Illinois Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky 40213.  Call LNC at 458-1328 for more information.

We’d like to feature your sustainability story - a resident or business doing good things for the environment.  Riding the bus, bicycling, walking, gardening and more - our eNews will feature practices which can benefit all of us.  Send you story to Bill Hollander or Kyle Ethridge. 

Brightside is hosting its annual spring bulb sale until May 22, 2015. Bulbs will be shipped directly to you or you can order them as a gift – great idea for Mother’s Day. To order online please click here. To request a brochure please contact Brightside at 574-2613. Proceeds to benefit Brightside’s beautification programs. 

The next Community Conversation is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21 in St. Matthews Council Chambers, 3940 Grandview Avenue. Dustin Strong, Branch Manager of the St. Matthews Eline Library, will be present to report on library activities and to hear your comments and suggestions. We also want to hear from you on any topics, an unscripted, open conversation about your vision for D9 and the City. Please mark your calendar and join us – and bring along a friend or neighbor!

The coming of April will bring a variety of markings on the roads in spring colors--red, yellow, orange, blue and green--as paving season gets underway. Those color coded markings on sidewalks and roadways will be the first visible sign of most paving work. Red will mark the location of electrical lines, yellow will mark gas lines, orange for communication lines, blue for water, and green for sewer lines.

Then will come prep work such as curb replacements followed by removal of old pavement or cutting edges into pavement that will be paved over. Finally the main paving gets done, followed by new striping and other road markings.

Pavement season is an additional reason to be aware of what to do when traveling through work zones. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet recorded 791 crashes in highway construction and maintenance work zones last year. Three people died and 173 were injured. Here's a list of work zone safety tips aimed at driving those numbers down:

1. Put away cellphones and other distractions
2. Slow down
3. Don't tailgate
4. Maintain a safe distance from workers and equipment
5. Expect the unexpected
6. Obey road crew flag signals
7. Allow more travel time if your route includes a work zone
8. Be patient

You don’t have to take that plastic bottle home to be recycled anymore. Almost all of the litter baskets in the Urban Services District, beginning April 6, 2015 will be taken to a recycling center. We've determined that almost everything that gets put in them can be recycled. Our Solid Waste Division and QRS Recycling will divert the material from the landfill so it can be turned into new products. Citizens may continue dropping in all the things they have in the past. We'll handle the sorting.

For the time being, the black cans with the mushroom shaped caps will not go to recycling, but we expect to be able to add them by the end of the year.

Submitted by Angela Kessans 

I was recently contacted by a constituent regarding illegal parking in fire lanes and in no parking areas. As a reminder a fire lane is a permanent passageway developed to allow the passage of fire apparatus through congested areas. Fire lanes are marked with signs or markings on the roadway. It is illegal to stop a vehicle for parking or loading or unloading in parking lanes. If your vehicle is illegally parked in a fire lane you run the risk or being fined or having your vehicle pushed aside by a fire apparatus during an emergency.

As another reminder, it is also illegal to park in “no parking” zones or within 30’ of an intersection, even if “no parking” signs are not present. When vehicles park too close to intersections it limits the driver’s viability and could cause accidents. We have received a number of calls recently regarding illegally parked vehicles on Frankfort Avenue and adjoining streets. Thank you for being mindful of others while you park in the District!

Brightside is excited to announce that they are working toward getting their first Green Living Neighborhoods Certified this spring and wanted to let everyone know that they are encouraging any interested neighborhoods to sign up to begin the certification process! By participating in a tiered neighborhood certification program, Louisville’s neighborhoods will receive recognition for activities such as reducing the amount of waste sent to the landfill, managing storm water on-site, conserving energy and growing produce.

The over-arching goal of the program is to offer ideas and simple steps individuals can take to incorporate sustainable living choices into everyday life and to recognize them for their neighborhood’s collective efforts.

If you are interested in learning more about the program or starting the certification process please visit their website at www.brightsideinc.org/green-living.  Registration is open now!

Courier-Journal article by Martha Elson, melson@courier-journal.com

United Crescent Hill Ministries is at a crossroads, and so is its longtime executive director Sue Gentry.

As the ministries wraps up its 40th year, its expanded board of directors hopes to add new programs and services at the agency's headquarters, 150 State St. off Frankfort Avenue in Clifton. Gentry, 68, its leader for 36 years, anticipates retiring from her full-time position there this summer and embarking on a new course, too.

Gentry still wants to be involved in ministries work and already has started working part-time as an administrative assistant at Central Louisville Community Ministries, Fourth and York streets, in First Unitarian Church.

She also will be grand marshal of the Frankfort Avenue Business Association's annual Frankfort Avenue Easter Parade April 4, which begins 11:45 a.m. in front of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 2822 Frankfort. To read the entire article click here.

(Photo: By Pat McDonogh, The Courier-Journal)