It snowed again this week, reminding us that winter is not over.  With that in mind here’s some information about winter road treatment in Louisville Metro. Snow and ice removal in Louisville is performed by the Metro Snow Team of about 300 people led by the Department of Public Works, assisted by Metro Parks, the Department of Codes & Regulations, and the Metro Fleet Division in partnership with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.  The tool box the snow team uses includes pretreatment of the roads with brine, spreading salt, and plowing away snow. Brine—a special saltwater mixture—reduces the ability of snow to bind to road surfaces if it is applied in advance of the snow’s arrival, although it is not used if the snow event begins as rain.

The team treats 1,125 miles of roads using about 160 pieces of equipment. Because the team can only cover two lanes at a time per truck, and some roads have more than two lanes, crews travel 2,700 miles to treat the roads. The team divides those miles into 110 routes to systematically clear snow and ice across the city. A full salt and plow sequence takes about 12 hours.

Salt and Plowing

Salt, with its sodium chloride, reduces the freezing point of liquid water below the usual 32 degrees and creates a melting effect on snow and ice to prevent it from bonding to the asphalt. After that initial salting, weather conditions and forecasts are evaluated and the next course of action is decided. Brining and/or salting are often enough to melt away snows of less than three inches without the need to plow. Running plows across lightly covered roads causes unnecessary wear and tear on both roads and plows.

Which roads are included?

The 110 routes in the Snow & Ice Removal Plan are focused on roads that carry the most traffic or are critical to connecting people to large employment areas, schools and hospitals. These are classified as Arterial roads and Collector roads.

Arterial roads, the major commuting paths through the city, are the top priority. Next on the list are collector roads, the major streets that crisscross between arterial roads and feed traffic to them. The third classification is neighborhood, or local, roads. These are the mostly residential roads that feed traffic onto collector roads which in turn feed vehicles onto arterial roads.

Local roads are not included in the regular snow routes. They are considered for treatment only in the rare case of a declared citywide emergency, and only after the arterial and collector roads have been fully treated. Including Louisville Metro neighborhood roads would increase treatment from 2,700 miles up to 4,500 miles, a number that present levels of equipment and personnel could not handle.

We wish every street in Louisville Metro could be treated but unfortunately that is not currently possible.

As part of its “Sustain Louisville” sustainability plan, Louisville Metro has an ambitious goal of diverting 90% of solid waste from the landfill by 2042.  (More on the entire plan here: https://louisvilleky.gov/government/sustain-louisville/overview.)    To meet the landfill diversion goal, everyone will need to be involved.  You can help at a meeting next week. 

The meeting is the first step in a community-wide effort to design a strategy to help cut down on the use of landfills by reusing goods and materials as much as possible. Anyone with an interest is invited to take part next week in the kickoff meeting of the Reuse Collective Impact Committee.

You can join an invited list of businesses and others that often dispose of potentially reusable items, and those known to rescue items from the scrap heap, in the kickoff meeting. The session will be held February 16 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 at Metro United Way, 334 East Broadway.

The shared ideas of attendees will form the foundation of the Louisville Reuse Collective Impact Committee that will go on to create the city’s reuse strategy.  Collective Impact refers to the ability of people who represent different parts of the community to work together and to solve a common challenge more effectively than they could if they worked separately.

The Reuse Committee will create its own schedule while devising community-wide systematic ways to get materials from those who need to dispose of them into the hands of those who would reuse them, and create a culture of reuse by households and individuals.

Join the group on Tuesday, February 16! 

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. 

My office is partnering with the Louisville Asset Building Coalition (LABC) 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. 19, Mar. 18 and Apr. 1) between 9:15 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Please call the office at 574-3908 to make an appointment. 

Do you instead file your own taxes? Through the LABC website there are two options to self-file online. The “Turbo Tax Freedom Edition” is available if you have $31,000 or less in income. The software has a well-designed interview process that guides you through the process of making decisions about your filing status, inputting your income and making decisions about deductions and tax credits for which you may qualify. The other option is “My Free Taxes”, which is available if you make $60,000 or less. This program is developed by H&R Block and uses an interview process. Please visit, http://labcservices.org/index.php/free-tax-filing-at-labc-services, for more information.

A copy of a book published by Louis Braille has been added to the collection of the Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind (APH).  The book, published in France in 1829, is titled Procédé pour écrire les paroles, la musique et le plain-chant au moyen de point, or Method for Writing Words, Music, and Plainsong in Dots. Only six known copies of the book exist world-wide. Two of them are in the United States and one of these is now in Louisville.  Valued at $95,000, the Museum’s copy is the only one that will be on display for the public.

The book is significant because it was the first explanation of the braille code, the system that forms the foundation for literacy for those who are blind. This new code made it possible for blind people to not only read but to write. Today, the braille code is used by millions of people the world over. .

Beginning February 12, the book will be on display during the museum’s regular hours: 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., Monday- Friday and 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.  It will remain there until the end of March when it will be temporarily withdrawn for a few weeks while its permanent installation is under construction.  When finished, the area of the museum devoted to early education for those who are blind will re-open. The new book will take its place of honor near another gem already in the museum collection, An Essay on the Education of the Blind, published in 1786 (the first raised-letter book designed for blind students).

The American Printing House for the Blind is located at 1839 Frankfort Avenue.

The Coalition for the Homeless, its partner agencies, and hundreds of compassionate volunteers of all ages will participate in the second public awareness campaign called "Take A Stand" (#TakeAStandLou) on Thursday, February 18 at 4:30pm. Participants will stand outside and hold up signs at locations around the city with the goal of increasing awareness and encouraging citizens to take a stand to end homelessness in Louisville, and to share their messages on social media.

Ways for Louisvillians to participate in the 2016 #TakeAStandLou campaign on February 18 include:

• Go to www.louhomeless.org to sign up as a volunteer to hold a sign for just 30-45 minutes on 2/18 near your workplace, home, or neighborhood.
•  Visit the Coalition's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LouHomeless) to join and share the #TakeAStandLou event.
• Write one of the Coalition's messages on a piece of paper, then share it on Facebook and on Twitter in public posts using the hashtag #TakeAStandLou to spread awareness about homelessness in Louisville. You can also write a message about how you or your organization specifically is taking a stand for our homeless neighbors
• Join the Coalition for the Homeless' Five Bucks A Month Club to get one person off of the streets and into shelter for one night each month during extreme weather.
• If you are a landlord interested in renting to homeless veterans, click here to reach out to John Miles with Metro Louisville to learn more about how you can help.

For more information, visit www.louhomeless.org, or attend the February 16 kick-off event at 5:00 p.m. at the Clifton Center, 2110 Payne Street.

The 9th District Urban Services District (USD) will have junk collection set-out on a select weekend in February, depending on your address.  You may begin setting out your junk Friday afternoon prior to your junk pick-up week and must have it all out by Monday at 6:00 AM.  For your specific junk set-out weekend please visit http://www.louisvilleky.gov/government/metro-council-district-9 and scroll to the bottom of the page to “MyLouisville” and enter your address, call the office at 574-1109, or email Kyle Ethridge.  For collection guidelines please visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/public-works/services/junk-and-bulk-trash-disposal. You may now sign up for junk set out reminders by email and text under “MyLouisville”.

After a postponement due to snow, Café LOUIE, a Bingham Fellows project, is bringing Sen. Morgan McGarvey and Rep. Mary Lou Marzian to the Crescent Hill Library, 2762 Frankfort Avenue on Saturday, February 20, at 9:00 a.m., to meet the public and learn about the on-going session of the Kentucky General Assembly. It’s one of a series of meetings with legislators being held around Jefferson County. 

Each of the Café LOUIE meetings features one or two members of Louisville’s 28-member legislative delegation at library branches within or near their districts. The meetings 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.

Here’s the complete Café LOUIE schedule. 

Plan to attend the second Chenoweth Lane Public Meeting on Monday, February 29 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at Broadway Baptist Church, 4000 Brownsboro Road, 40207. This meeting is to get input from the public on potential changes to Chenoweth Lane between Shelbyville Road and Brownsboro Road. Representatives from the KY Transportation Cabinet and their consultants will be available to answer questions. 

State officials have announced the proposed 3-lane widening of Chenoweth Lane will no longer be considered, a decision I supported. Other alternatives are still being considered and will be presented at this public meeting. Some changes suggested include drainage, pedestrian and bicycle facilities. 

Written and oral comments will be accepted during the meeting. Written comments will be accepted at the District Five Office, Attn: Judi Hickerson, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, 8310 Westport Road, Louisville, KY 40242.