My office is partnering with the Louisville Asset Building Coalition to provide FREE tax preparation services again in 2016. The service is FREE if you earned $55,000 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) or less in 2015 or if you quality for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Call the office today to see if you qualify and make your appointment! Appointments are available on four Fridays (Feb. 5, Feb. 19, Mar. 18 and Apr. 1) between 9:15 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Please call the office today to make an appointment. 

Urban parks sustain healthy communities and ecosystems.   We are blessed with many parks in District 9, including Champions, Seneca, Eva Bandman, Crescent Hill (home of the Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center), Beargrass Creek Greenway, Bingham, Breslin, Clifton, Eastover, Irish Hill, Kennedy Court and  Story Avenue.  (All Metro Parks are listed here:  https://louisvilleky.gov/government/parks/find-park).

I’ve been working on issues in many of them, from uneven surfaces on parts of the Seneca Park walking path to vandalism and the need for increased security in Bingham, where we will be adding cameras shortly. Among many other issues throughout D9, I’ve also heard your concerns about the state of the tennis courts in Seneca and Crescent Hill and we are working on improvements to Story Avenue Park (more about that soon).  

We have more needs than funds throughout our parks system – and a new director to begin addressing them.  Seve Ghose’s priorities include curbing theft, graffiti and vandalism,  and more marketing and programming.  Ghose also told a meeting of the Sustainability Committee, on which I serve, that he was working on a priority list to tackle the substantial deferred maintenance needs in our parks. 

You can read more about Ghose and his plans for our parks in this article by Melissa Chipman of Insider Louisville:  http://insiderlouisville.com/metro/social_good/metro-parks-director-seve-ghose-year-job/.  Let our office know your comments and suggestions on our D9 parks!

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. 

The Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness is offering free radon test kits while supplies last.  Radon is a colorless, odorless radioactive gas that is naturally found in soil and can enter the home through small cracks in the home’s foundation.  According to the National Academy of Sciences, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, causing between 15,000 and 22,000 lung cancer deaths each year. The entire state of Kentucky is at high risk for radon exposure with about 40 percent of homes estimated to have unsafe levels. If you smoke and your home has high radon levels, your risk of lung cancer is especially high. 

Click here if you live in Jefferson county and you want to request a free radon test kit. You can also order one by calling (502) 574-6650.

More information is here: A Citizens Guide to Radon: The Guide for Protecting Yourself and Your Family From Radon

This fiscal year, I have worked with Metro Public Works to repave many District 9 roads. All paving has been done based on road ratings, with the worst roads having priority. The following streets have been or are scheduled to be repaved when warmer weather returns.

Beals Branch Drive from Garden Drive to the dead end, Calvin, Cherokee Gardens Road from Beals Branch Drive to Pee Wee Reese Road, Cleveland Boulevard, Country Club Road, Drescher Bridge Avenue, Emerald Avenue, Flint Road, Garden Drive from Lexington Road to Beals Branch Drive, Lindsay Avenue, Meridian near St. Matthews, Mockingbird Valley Road, N. Hite from Brownsboro Road to Lindsay, Payne Street from Franck to dead end, Payne Street from Rubel Avenue to I-64 overpass, Pryor Avenue, Saunders Avenue, S. Ewing and Keats Avenue alley behind Walgreens, and S. Hite Avenue.

January is National Mentoring Month and we are featuring volunteer opportunities in Louisville. 

Every1Reads is a community-wide initiative designed to help JCPS students get to proficiency in literacy.  The initiative, which began in 2004, matches volunteers with students in schools and at Out-of-School Time (OST) Learning Place sites which provide academic and recreational opportunities for students before and after school and throughout the summer.

Community volunteers are critical to Every 1 Reads.  The volunteers work one-on-one with students for 30 minutes each week.  Connection with a caring community member, through reading, helps to foster resilience while building strong, confident readers.  Many times this connection to an adult is just what students need to help them move to proficiency.

There are so many students who could read so much better if someone just took the time to connect with them.  It only takes 30 minutes a week, and JCPS will  train you to get ready to meet your student. 

Get more information and sign up here: http://every1reads.jefferson.kyschools.us/

The 6th Annual Kentucky Regional Braille Challenge, hosted by The American Printing House for the Blind and The Kentucky School for the Blind, is on Thursday, February 18. The BRAILLE CHALLENGE® is a very special competition that motivates blind students all across the nation to improve their braille reading and writing literacy. Volunteers are needed to make this event a success. If you are interested in volunteering please click here to fill out a volunteer form. For more information about The Braille Challenge please visit: http://www.brailleinstitute.org/braille-challenge-homepage.html

The 2015 Bingham Fellows project, Café LOUIE, is pleased to announce a partnership with the Leadership Louisville Center, the Louisville Free Public Library, and the Friends of the Library to host the inaugural series of Café LOUIE meetings with Jefferson County legislators during the 2016 legislative session. Each meeting will feature one or two members of Louisville’s 28-member legislative delegation and will be held at library branches within or near their districts. The meetings will take place on Saturday mornings from 9 - 10:00 a.m., January until early April. The public is invited to attend and is encouraged to ask questions.

Café LOUIE, a series of informal meetings to facilitate better interaction between legislators and constituents, was identified as a need by the Leadership Louisville Center’s 2015 Bingham Fellows class. Working with legislators and the Louisville Free Public Library, the Bingham Fellows organized the Café LOUIE events.

The currently scheduled Café LOUIE dates for District 9 are:

• January 16 from 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. St. Matthews Eline Library, 3940 Grandview Avenue. Senator Julie Raque Adams and Representative Mary Lou Marzian.
• January 23 from 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Crescent Hill Library, 2762 Frankfort Avenue. Senator Morgan McGarvey.

The League of Women Voters is also sponsoring a “Meet and Greet” with local legislators in D9 on Monday, January 18. More on that in the calendar at the end of the newsletter.

You’re invited to attend an Orientation meeting held by MSD regarding the Lexington Road and Payne Street CSO basin on Tuesday, January 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana, 2115 Lexington Road. This meeting will provide information about the need for underground storage basins and offer an opportunity for input and comments. Storage basins are part of MSD’s larger endeavor to prevent sewage from overflowing into Louisville’s waterways. Planned basins throughout the City are designed to capture rainwater and sewage, which otherwise can overwhelm the sewer system during rain events and flow untreated into waterways. These basins retain the mixture of rainwater and sewage until the rain subsides and capacity is available, then will gradually release it back into the sewer system. At that point, the water is conveyed to a water quality treatment center, treated and returned to the local streams or the Ohio River.

We are always happy to hear from constituents.  To make meeting with us in person more convenient, we’ll be holding office hours at various places around District 9.  On Thursday, January 21, from 10:00 a.m. to Noon, we’ll be at United Crescent Hill Ministries (UCHM), 150 S. State Street. Please stop by with any questions or concerns. You can also call anytime at 574-1109 or email bill.hollander@louisvilleky.gov.