Louisville Water Company made great progress on Grinstead Drive this week, following a major water main break early on June 18. The site was cleared for installation of a new pipe last week and was ready when the pipe arrived on Monday.    Grinstead was opened for local access between I-64 and Kennedy on Tuesday but remained closed between Kennedy and Stilz.  As of press time, Louisville Water hopes to have the new pipe installed by Friday and then will work quickly to reopen Grinstead Drive to through traffic over the weekend. The priority is to pave and open the roadway.  They will return later to repair sidewalks and finishing restoring the area around the water main break.   The parking lot for the Seminary apartments was paved on Wednesday.

The community will notice Louisville Water working along Grinstead Drive to Glenmary over the weekend and in to next week.  Working with an engineering partner, they are doing a robotic inspection of the 60-inch main. This will not impact water service and it will not impact traffic on Grinstead Drive.  They plan to do a temporary road closure on Glenmary Thursday, June 24 through Monday, June 29, in Council District 8.

The broken pipe was 60-inches in diameter and made of pre-stressed concrete.  It was installed in 1987.  Repairs are expected to cost nearly $1 Million. 

The main break forced a precautionary boil water advisory for nearly all of District 9 – and many adjacent areas.  The advisory was lifted early Friday morning.  The advisory was issued for the area where pressure dropped and it took engineers some time to determine that area.  A precautionary advisory is different from a "do not drink" order, which Louisville Water says would have been issued immediately had any known health risk existed.  In the Grinstead precautionary advisory, there was no known contaminant at any time and no known health risk.  

The road markings and bike lanes installed last year will, of course, be reinstalled.  In the meantime, be careful in the area.  

Did you miss the notification for the recent precautionary boil water advisory for most of District 9? If so, please consider signing up for the CodeRed alert system to be notified by your local emergency response team in the event of an emergency or for critical community alerts like evacuation notices, bio-terrorism alerts, boil water notices and more. To sign up, you may visit http://www.louisvilleky.gov/EMA/, scroll to the middle of the page and click “emergency alerts – sign up for CodeRed”. If you don’t have access to a computer, please call my office at 574-1109 and we will assist you with the process.

After a month of work, Metro Council is set to pass a budget tonight.  It includes much more money for paving than in previous years and will allow repaving of more streets in District 9.   While the paving schedule is still being finalized, some streets in Clifton, Clifton Heights, Crescent Hill and the Lexington Road Preservation Area will be on the list for repaving this year.  Major roads will also be re-rated, so that Metro's future paving schedule will address the most critical needs first.  

The budget also includes $300,000 for a new filter system at the Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center, funds to build an access road to serve Reservoir Park and Village Manor when rail cars block the streets to those areas and an appropriation to TARC to continue trolley service for the FAT Friday Trolley Hops on Frankfort Avenue. 

In important community-wide activities, the budget makes an historic investment in affordable housing and provides money for body cameras for all LMPD officers.  Funding is also included for additional sections of the Louisville Loop, $400,000 for bicycle lanes and facilities, and sidewalk repair. 

The budget includes no tax increases. 

We'll have more on it in coming weeks.  Let me know what you think!

Last week, our eNews featured a Crescent Hill house and its solar panels.  The house here is on William Street in Clifton.  Mark Frazar installed twelve solar panels on his house in December.  He hopes to generate 50% of his electricity use from the panels over the course of the year.

Mark installed the panels for both environmental and financial reasons.  One way he is benefitting is net metering.  Pursuant to state law, if an LG&E customer generates more electricity than a home or business uses, the excess electricity can be fed through the customer’s meter and onto the electric grid and  LG&E applies a credit toward future power needs. https://lge-ku.com/customer-service/ways-manage-your-bill/net-metering   Mark received a credit in the month of May.  He also received federal and state tax credits and he hopes to recoup his investment in ten-twelve years. 

Mark’s solar panels were installed by a Butchertown-based company, RegenEn Solar. Its website is here: http://regenensolar.com

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 your story to Bill Hollander or Kyle Ethridge. 

For more than 30 years, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program has helped pregnant women, new mothers and young children eat well, learn about nutrition and stay healthy. WIC provides services to pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, as well as children under the age of 5. All WIC services are free to those who qualify.

WIC offers:

• Helpful nutrition information
• Breastfeeding education, assistance, and breast pumps
• Nutritious foods
• Referrals to other health and medical services

Who qualifies?

• Pregnant women
• Women who are breastfeeding a baby up to 1 year of age
• Women who have had a baby in the past six months
• Parents, step-parents, guardians, and foster parents of infants and children under the age of 5.
• U.S. citizenship is not a requirement for eligibility.

Please see the income guidelines below.  If you know of any Metro Louisville resident who may qualify, please get them connected to WIC by calling 574-6676.     

Home Sweet Home

Major construction is complete and finishing touches are being done so the new cottages will be ready for the kids to move into in July. Everyone is invited for the ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the cottages on Thursday, July 9th at 10:00am. Following the ceremony, cake and coffee will be served and tours of the new cottages will be available until noon. If you plan to attend the ribbon cutting, please RSVP no later than July 1st by calling Sally Walko at 502-893-0421 or via email at sallyw@sjkids.org.

Furniture and major appliances are in place, but they are still in need of smaller items to make the cottages feel more home-like for the kids. If you would like to help, please visit one of the online registries at Target.com, Amazon.com or Kohls.com. Find the list by searching for “Saint Joseph”.

Picnic Volunteers Needed

There are lots of volunteer opportunities available for individuals and groups of all ages and sizes during the Picnic on August 7th and 8th, as well as set-up and break-down the weeks before and after Picnic. To volunteer, please use the link below to view and sign up for available volunteer shifts. If you have any questions, please contact kateb@sjkids.org. Click here to sign up for volunteer shifts.

Plan to attend the Crescent Hill Old Fashioned Fourth of July Celebration on Friday, July 3 and Saturday, July 4. Enjoy free trolley service from 1:00 – 10:00 p.m. on both days along a marked route and from free parking in Seminary Court off Grinstead Drive. It all starts at 10 a.m. with opening ceremonies. Then you may enjoy dozens of artist booths for a unique and hand-crafted item, spin the wheel at the cake/prize booth from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. each day or enjoy a variety of food and treats, before settling in to enjoy great musical performances that begin at 1:00 p.m. each day and run until 10:00 p.m., with amazing FIREWORKS Saturday from 10 to 11 pm!

For a complete schedule and more information about the music, free trolley and parking, children’s fun and all of the family-friendly activities or to register to volunteer, go to www.crescenthill.us.

Volunteers are needed to make the event another success! Over 200 volunteers are needed. Can you donate 3 hours of your time? If yes, please click here to sign up for a shift or two. You may also sign up by calling 262-5284 or emailing melissa.mershon@gmail.com.

The Council needs donated cakes and prizes for their cake booth. You can donate money through PayPal @ Crescenthill.us, you could call or stop at Bussman's to buy a cake or cookies, you could go to Krogers and buy a gift card or you could even donate cash or make a cake! They will be happy to pick up the cakes, cards or money. If you would like to volunteer or make a donation of any kind, please contact Joyce Cossavella at 502-216-1014.

House Bill 315 requires that children younger than 8 and between 40 and 57 inches tall be secured in a booster seat. The bill requires law enforcement officers to issue citations with a $30 fine with no court costs. In addition, violators will have the option to purchase a booster seat instead of paying the fine.

Boosters are intended to lift the child up off the vehicle seat to improve the fit of the adult lap and shoulder seatbelt. The lap portion of the belt should fit low on the hips or high on the thighs and the shoulder portion of the belt should be snug across the collarbone. An improper fit of the adult safety belt can cause the lap belt to ride up over the stomach and the shoulder belt to cut across the neck, potentially exposing the child to serious abdominal or neck injury.

According to Partners for Child Passenger Safety, more than 90% of 4 to 8-year-old children who were seriously injured in a crash were not restrained in a booster seat.

What are Kentucky's Child Seat Laws?

Any child under 40 inches tall must be in a child and/or infant seat.
Any child, who is under seven years of age and is between 40 and 50 inches tall, must be in a booster seat.
All children over seven years of age or over 50 inches tall must be secured in a seat belt.

Has Your Child's Car Seat Been Recalled?

If you would like to check on your child's car seat, follow these steps:

Locate the manufacturer's name, date and model number on your car seat
Go to www.carseat.org
Click on the 'Recalls' link
Click 'View' to see the recalled carseat list

The Fourth of July Holiday falls on a Saturday this year. In observance of the holiday, the Waste Reduction Center on Meriwether Avenue, the four Staffed Recycling Centers and the Haz Bin hazardous materials drop off site will all be closed on Saturday July 4. Unstaffed Recycling Centers will not be affected by the holiday and will be available on their regular schedules. Garbage, recycling and yard waste collections will also occur on the regular schedule through the holiday week with no delays.

Metro Parks is offering an affordable family golf special for the upcoming Independence Day Weekend. For only $20, a family of up to four members can play nine holes at any Metro Parks course. The $20 includes greens and cart fees, and families can take advantage of the deal after 4:30 p.m. on three days: Friday, July 3, Saturday, July 4 and Sunday, July 5.

Families are encouraged to call in advance to book a tee time at the golf course of their choice. For more information, visit http://www.louisvilleky.gov/MetroParks/golf.