The 9th District Urban Services District (USD) will have junk collection set-out on a select weekend in March, 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”.

The alerts system is a way to notify residents in advance that they must find alternate parking on street sweeping day. No parking is allowed on affected streets during street sweeping, and violators are subject to citation and/or towing.

Residents can subscribe to the alerts by going to www.louisvilleky.gov, entering their address in the MyLouisville box at the bottom of the page, and following the brief instructions for choosing text or email alerts. They are also able to subscribe to reminders for Project Pickup junk collection dates.

Subscribers are alerted one week in advance that street sweeping is scheduled for their general area. A second alert goes out the day before street sweeping to tell residents that their particular block is to be swept. The alerts are in addition to signs that are posted on affected streets on the business day preceding street sweeping.

Street cleaning is scheduled from March through November. During that time, curbed neighborhood streets are generally cleaned three times.

• Street cleaning signs are posted prior to 5 p.m. on the business day before sweeping occurs. They alert residents that there is No Parking between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on sweeping day.
• Sweeping is conducted each day on east/west streets only, or north/south streets only, to make it easier for residents to find alternate parking.
• Vehicles parked in No Parking areas are subject to citation and/or towing.
• Residents should not park in affected areas until after 5 p.m., even if it appears an area has been swept, as sweepers may return before that time.
• The No Parking zone covers both sides of the street, though signs may only be posted on one side.

The MyLouisville online tool also provides information on garbage and recycling collection dates, emergency services and political representation, in addition to the alerts.

The Crescent Hill neighborhood is wrapping up its effort to become a Green Living Certified Neighborhood – and needs your help. The program is a joint venture of Brightside and the Louisville Office of Sustainability. It educates citizens on how to live a sustainable lifestyle by recognizing neighborhoods that achieve predetermined criteria with a Green, Silver, Gold or Platinum certification. The certification levels are awarded through a points-based system. Points are obtained based on the percentage of neighborhood households that accomplish program criteria. More information about the program is here: https://louisvilleky.gov/government/brightside/green-living.

Many Crescent Hill residents  (and others throughout D9) take actions every day to live healthy and sustainable lifestyles, such as exercising regularly, planting trees, recycling, and eating local food, just to name a few.  These actions can help the neighborhood achieve a Green Living Certification.

If you live in Crescent Hill, please join your neighbors in helping Crescent Hill achieve this certification by taking the brief survey today!  The neighborhood will be submitting its results this month to get the neighborhood Green Living Certification.

Click here to take the online survey.  For a paper or phone survey, please contact the Crescent Hill Community Council’s Green Committee Chair Evie Wilkinson at evelynwilkinson@gmail.com or (859) 229-3486.

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. 

I was pleased to join a group in Clifton Saturday to start a 150 year neighborhood tradition when “The Clifton Tree” – a beautiful red oak - was dedicated at 131 North Vernon Avenue on the Clifton campus of Northeast Christian Church.  It’s designed to be a gathering place where neighbors, families, and friends can meet to take a family/group picture.  The tree will grow along with the people who use it for photos.

An example: A recently married couple in 2017 would take a picture of themselves at The Clifton Tree. When they have children, they can take a family picture of their growing family with the growing Clifton Tree. When the children start school, a family picture can be taken. When the children graduate from school, a family picture can be taken to show how much the family and tree have grown. When the children get married, they can gather at The Clifton Tree for a family picture. Another family picture can be taken when the grandchildren of the married couple from 2017 come into the world.  The Clifton Tree with its deep roots will stand tall as future generations of Clifton neighbors pass under its canopy. 

Thanks to the Clifton Community Council for the idea of The Clifton Tree – and for all it is doing to make D9 a better, more sustainable place to live, work and raise a family. 

Anyone who has driven along South Peterson Avenue off Grinstead Drive has felt and heard the distinctive rumble of driving over that Local Landmark brick road. Some of those bricks loosened of late, compromising the integrity of the road. So a crew from Metro Public Works’ East District Roads and Operations team sprang into action. They dug out the loose bricks along with the old sand and dirt beneath them. Then they reset the bricks in a sand and mortar mix. Good as new, so rumble on. For more about Historic Peterson Avenue check out its Wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Avenue_Hill. 

Congratulations to D9 resident Paula Do!  A third-grade teacher at St. Francis of Assisi School in the Highlands, Do will receive the Father Joseph McGee Outstanding Catholic Educator Award at the Salute to Catholic School Alumni dinner on March 14.

Do has taught third grade at St. Francis of Assisi for 33 years. After attending St. James Church and School in Elizabethtown, Do earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Bellarmine University and later received a master’s in education from the University of Louisville. She described her instruction at Bellarmine as “rigorous” and said it laid a solid foundation for her career as an educator.

Interacting with students and “getting them excited about learning” is what Do said she enjoys the most about the classroom.

“I really like the kids. I never mind walking in the door. I always enjoy seeing them,” she said.

More about Paula Do and the award is in this article from The Record: http://therecordnewspaper.org/long-time-teacher-named-mcgee-winner/. Congratulations! 

Last Saturday, I woke to see three letters to the editor complaining about litter. It was great to then join a big group doing something about it. Thank you to everyone for coming out to support Sydney Blandford and Metro Parks by cleaning up the Beargrass Creek Greenway on Saturday. D9 residents, Metro Parks, AmeriCorps and Holy Cross High School families all came together to clean the area. Click here for photos from the event. 

Metro Public Works (MPW) Roads and Operations Division works year round patching potholes whenever they are reported. MPW encourages anyone who spots a pothole in Louisville to report it to MetroCall as quickly as possible. There are several ways to do it:

• Call 311 or 574-5000
• Email to metro.call@louisvilleky.gov
• Live Chat at www.louisvilleky.gov/metrocall
• Tweet @LouMetro311, OR
• Include #502pothole in any tweet

Whichever method you choose, make sure to be as specific with location information as you can. Don't assume someone else has reported it.

My office is partnering with the Louisville Asset Building Coalition (LABC) to provide FREE tax preparation services again in 2017. The service is FREE if you earned $55,000 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) or less in 2016 or if you qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Call the office today to see if you qualify and make your appointment! Appointments are available on Fridays (February 17, March 10, 24, and April 7, 14) between 9:15 a.m. – 3:00 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 $62,000 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.

AARP also offers free tax services at Clifton Christian Church, 131 Vernon Avenue, in D9 on Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. More information is available here or by calling 394-3433.

Several bills being considered by the Kentucky General Assembly would affect the way Metro Government is operated. House Bill 202 has many provisions. Here are some: (Read the entire bill by clicking here.)

• Governor will appoint individuals to fill vacancies of Council due to death, resignation or removal, currently Metro Council fills vacancies.
• Governor will fill Mayoral vacancies, currently Metro Council appoints.
• Mayor is limited to two terms beginning January 1, 2019, may not serve more than two consecutive terms, and is prohibited from running for election or being appointed Mayor for at least four years, currently term limits are three terms.
• Each Caucus (Democratic and Republican) shall hire a minimum of two staff persons, resulting in an unfunded mandate to Louisville Metro, currently Metro Council makes staffing decisions.

A similar bill has been introduced as Senate Bill 222 and may actually move quicker than HB 202. (Read SB 222 here.)

House Bill 246 (read the full bill here) would change the rules for solid waste in Louisville.  Currently, we make compost from yard waste, instead of sending it to the landfill.  The Frankfort legislation would reverse the ban on plastic bags for yard waste, even though yard waste in plastic bags cannot be composted.  House Bill 246 was approved in the House this week and it will now go to the Senate. 

I am very concerned about these bills - and any legislation that strikes at bedrock principles of local control.    

Here are ways to make your voice heard in Frankfort:

• Call or write your legislators to let them know your views on important issues.  (The link lets your locate your representatives and gives you contact information.)
• Call the toll-free legislative message line (1-800-372-7181) to leave a message for any legislator or group of legislators.  Be ready to say you support or oppose a bill, by number, and ask that your message be conveyed to the legislators and leadership in the House or Senate.