Join us on Tuesday, March 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana, 2115 Lexington Road, for our bi-monthly D9 Community Conversation. Ms. Angela Akridge, MSD’s Chief Engineer, will be our guest speaker to present the 20 Year Comprehensive Facility Plan for MSD. Please plan to join the discussion about public health and safety.

The draft of the “Critical Repair & Reinvestment Plan” and summaries are available for review and comment at any branch of the Louisville Free Public Library or MSD’s website at LouisvilleMSD.org/CriticalRepairPlan.

As with all D9 Community Conversations, discussion of any other subjects is welcome and I will be available to talk with constituents about any questions, comments or concerns.  Mark your calendar - and bring along a friend or neighbor. 

The Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition will offer a free Naloxone (also referred to by its brand name as Narcan®) training session, teaching people how to use medication to reverse the effects of overdose from heroin and other opioid drugs and prevent death. The free training is open to the general public including first responders and to the family and friends of those who use heroin or other opioid drugs. Free kits or prescriptions for Naloxone will be available after the training. The training will be held on Monday, March 27 at 6:30 p.m. at United Crescent Hill Ministries (UCHM), 150 S. State Street.

Naloxone is a medication called an “opioid antagonist” used to counter the effects of opioid overdose.  Naloxone is used in heroin and other opioid drug overdoses to counteract life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory system, allowing an overdose victim to breathe normally.

If you’ve been complaining about litter, here’s a chance to do something about it.

Please plan to join me and Legislative Assistant Kyle Ethridge on Saturday, April 8, for the D9 Spring Community Cleanup. In partnership with Brightside, we will be cleaning up Frankfort Avenue in preparation for the Frankfort Avenue Easter Parade. Volunteers should plan to meet at 8:30 a.m. for breakfast sandwiches, provided by the Clifton McDonald’s, and hot coffee, provided by Heine Brothers’ Coffee. The cleanup will officially begin at 9:00 a.m. beginning at the Frankfort and Keats public parking lot and fanning out along Frankfort Avenue. The District 9 office will provide bags, gloves, tools and t-shirts on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you would like to register your own neighborhood team through Brightside for the normally scheduled date – Saturday, April 15, please click here.

Louisville suffers from one of the country’s most significant urban heat islands. One of the strategies to combat it is “cool roofs”, which are designed to reflect more sunlight and absorb less heat than a standard roof.

The Louisville Metro Office of Sustainability is pleased to announce the launch of its Cool Roof Rebate Program, providing rebates to property owners of $1 per square foot of cool roof installed, with a goal of incentivizing at least 100,000 square feet of cool roofs. Buildings located in Metro Council Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14 and 15 are identified as high heat island areas based on the Urban Heat Management Study, and will receive at least 60% of the available funding. But funding is also available for D9 projects. Applications will be accepted beginning on March 20, 2017 and the program will continue until funds are depleted. More information is here: https://louisvilleky.gov/government/sustainability/incentives

To apply for rebates from the Office of Sustainability’s Cool Roof Rebate Program, applicants should complete the online application or email a completed application along with a completed W-9 to sustainability@louisvilleky.gov. The Office of Sustainability’s cool roof incentive funds are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications may be submitted before the project is completed, but funds will not be dispersed until project completion.

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. 

In response to the growing litter problem in Louisville, crews from the Solid Waste Division of Metro Public Works have been diverting their efforts from yard waste collection to litter cleanup.

Yard waste collection in the Urban Services District (former Louisville city limits) will resume the week of March 13. During the suspension period, citizens should not put yard waste out for collection. Any yard waste problems should be reported as usual to MetroCall at 311 or 574-5000.

This will allow Solid Waste to temporarily direct additional resources to the effort to clear our streets and roads, including interstate highways, of litter in advance of spring.

Once mowing season begins, litter abatement along the interstates in Louisville will be performed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet as it is every year. Metro crews will then focus solely on arterial and connector surface roads in the city.

The return of street sweeping season the week of March 13 brings with it the need for motorists to find alternate parking for the day their street is to be swept or risk being ticketed and towed. Residents can avoid that headache when they sign up to receive alerts that will let them know in advance when the sweepers are coming.

Subscribers to the street sweeping alert system get notified by email and/or text 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 next day.

Signup is easy. Just go to www.louisvilleky.gov, enter an address in the MyLouisville box at the bottom of the page, and follow the brief instructions. While there, you can also subscribe to reminders for Project Pickup junk collection dates.

The alerts are in addition to signs that are posted on affected streets prior to 5 p.m. on the business day before sweeping occurs. They inform residents that there is No Parking between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on sweeping day. Curbed neighborhood streets are generally cleaned three times between March and November.

For basic details for below case/s please visit http://www.louisvilleky.gov/PlanningDesign/.  Click on “Search Case Information” link on the left navigation bar.  Then select the “home” tab and select the type of case and enter the above case number.  For specific case information please call or email the listed case manager.  If you have any questions please contact Planning & Design directly at 574-6230.

Case No. 17VARIANCE1007
You are invited to attend a review for a Variance from the Land Development Code to allow a garage to encroach into the required side yard setback.
Subject Property: 3400 Grandview Avenue
Case Manager: Dante St. Germain (dante.st.germain@louisvilleky.gov)  
Meeting Type: Board of Zoning Adjustment
Date: Monday, March 20, 2017
Time: Meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue until all cases are heard
Location: 514 W. Liberty Street, 40202 

Case No. 17VARIANCE1008
You are invited to attend a review for Variances from the Land Development Code to allow a garage to encroach into the required side yard setback, and for a fence in the street side yard to exceed 42 inches in height.
Subject Property: 3947 Grandview Avenue
Case Manager: Dante St. Germain (dante.st.germain@louisvilleky.gov)  
Meeting Type: Board of Zoning Adjustment
Date: Monday, March 20, 2017
Time: Meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue until all cases are heard
Location: 514 W. Liberty Street, 40202

A BIG thank you to Kira Wicker and her family for attending the February 23, 2017, Metro Council meeting. Kira served as District 9’s page during the meeting, working to pass information between Councilmembers. Kira and her family live in Clifton Heights.

If you are interested in having your child or grandchild serve as a District 9 page for an upcoming Council meeting, please contact our office at 574-1109 or email Kyle Ethridge.

Professor Lisa H. Nicholson was honored on February 23, 2017, by the Metro Council at the 15th Annual Black History Month Program. Professor Nicholson lives in the Crescent Hill neighborhood.

Over the past 16 years, Professor Nicholson has established herself as a corporate law scholar, a highly acclaimed teacher, a concerned citizen and an engaged public intellectual. 

Professor Nicholson joined the law faculty at the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law in 2000 following seven years of combined securities and commercial litigation experience in New York.  Professor Nicholson's teaching and research interests continue to concentrate on issues related to corporate law and securities regulation, including the accountability of corporate actors for corporate wrongdoing and the professional responsibility of lawyers in these settings. Her work has appeared in numerous leading law journals.  The hallmark of  Professor Nicholson’s work is inclusion,  as she is deeply committed to breaking down barriers for her students and the displaced in our community and beyond.

Professor Nicholson has been involved in a number of community service initiatives, including working as a member of the Jefferson County Chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, a member of the Economic Justice Committee of KFTC’s Jefferson County Chapter and a volunteer and contributor to its Vision Smoketown Project. Professor Nicholson also was invited to become a member of the Police Initiatives WorkGroup, and subsequently an Implementation Team Member for Phase II of “Louisville's Blueprint for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative,” through the Metro Louisville Office of Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods.

Professor Nicholson’s teaching, scholarship and community service led to her nomination and receipt of UofL’s “Presidential Exemplary Multicultural Teaching Award.” This award, one of the University’s highest academic honors, was given in recognition of her emphasis on multicultural and global perspectives and inclusion.

Congratulations, Lisa!

Brightside is excited to announce that the employees of West Sixth, a Lexington based brewery, voted unanimously for Brightside to be the chosen charity for the Louisville market for the first quarter of 2017!

Through March 31st, every six pack of the Pay It Forward Cocoa Porter sold will give $0.50 to Brightside. West Sixth is also asking its distributors if they'll match that donation! Liquor Barn has also signed on to match the donation. For every six pack sold at Liquor Barn in Louisville, Brightside will receive $1.50 in total! 

Drink a West Sixth Pay It Forward Cocoa Porter and help Brightside! 

Metro Parks and Recreation is encouraging the public to start the golf season at one of Louisville’s nine municipal golf courses with a significant discount during March. Through the “Swing Into Spring” promotion, golfers can use the discount once at each course during March.

A link to the discount coupon can be found here. Those who have signed up for Metro Parks’ e-news service can also check their e-mail inbox for information on how to obtain the coupon.

The promotion can only be used after 12 p.m., Mondays through Fridays from March 1 through March 31. The discount includes greens fees for 18 holes plus the use of a cart for each player, 18 and older.  It is good for a one time use at each of the nine courses.   

The discounts for each course are as follows:

• $15: Cherokee, Bobby Nichols
• $16: Crescent Hill, Iroquois, Long Run, Shawnee, Sun Valley
• $17: Seneca, Charlie Vettiner 

Louisville Water Company recently dedicated a new Kentucky Historical Marker at Water Tower Park in D9. There is plenty of history to tell.

In 1860, Louisville Water customers would fill a glass with water and let it sit so the mud would settle to the bottom. (LWC has come a long way in 157 years!) When the company began in October 1860, taking water from the Ohio River for drinking water was better than drinking from a contaminated well, but Louisville Water’s product wasn’t quite pure. 

Chief Engineer Charles Hermany began advocating for treating the river water shortly after Louisville Water began delivering drinking water. Hermany’s “quest for pure water” first included building the Crescent Hill Reservoir so more of the mud in the river water could settle.

But his most important decision was to bring George Warren Fuller to Louisville to conduct a series of experiments on filters. Fuller’s work from 1895-1897 in Louisville was the foundation for the water treatment Louisville Water and others around the world use today.

A landmark experiment

Louisville Water constructed a laboratory and wooden shacks near the Louisville Water Tower. Four filter companies came to Louisville with their designs and took muddy Ohio River water and tried to “clean” it. Fuller watched over the experiments and scientists tested the water.

After two years, Fuller concluded that allowing the mud in the water to settle, using a chemical that brings particles together and then filtering the water with sand and gravel was the best solution. 

Fuller’s work sparked Chief Engineer Hermany to design the Crescent Hill Treatment Plant and in July of 1909, Louisville Water began filtering the drinking water. There was immediate benefit: first, the water was clear but more importantly, it was clean. Typhoid deaths dropped in the city from 71 deaths per 1,000 people to less than 45. When Louisville Water added chlorine to further clean the water in 1914, suddenly water-borne diseases from drinking water were not a public health concern in this city.

Lasting achievements

Fuller would go on to continue his research in other cities and would later be coined as the “father of sanitary engineering.” Hermany’s quest set Louisville Water on a path for quality and innovation that continues today. Louisville Water’s two treatment plants are ranked as two of the top 14 in North America and the company’s drinking water is so pure it has a trademarked name, Louisville pure tap®.

Louisville Water uses sand and coal to filter the water today and also uses natural filtration, pulling water from deep in the ground next to the Ohio River so that the sand and gravel in the earth can provide a pure source.

Of course, today’s customers don’t need to let a cup of water sit and settle before they drink it. Safe drinking water can easily be taken for granted. The Kentucky Historical Marker is a reminder of the importance of water to a community and how advancements in science improve public health. 

United Crescent Hill Ministries (UCHM) is a partnership of faith communities, businesses and individuals serving neighbors in Clifton, Clifton Heights, Butchertown and Crescent Hill with programs enriching their lives physically, mentally, spiritually and socially.

UCHM has created a new full time position to serve the needs of low-wealth individuals and families through emergency assistance and a youth program consisting of an after-school and summer camp. The organization has a long history in the community and is looking to create new energy for two of its programs. The position will direct, develop, oversee and implement the UCHM emergency assistance program and facilitate the coordination, development, resourcing, and implementation of programs for school-aged children and youth within the UCHM area.

For more information and to apply online, please click here.

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 (March 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.

The deadline to register your rental property has been extended to April 3, 2017. All property located in Louisville Metro and occupied or offered for occupancy in exchange for money or any other consideration must be registered with Louisville Metro Government. Failure to register is subject to a fine up to $100 per day per housing unit. Registration must include the rental unit street address along with current contact information of the owner and managing operator.

Registration requires an account with Develop Louisville. Visit, https://www.louisvilleky.gov/government/codes-regulations, to establish an account and access the registry, or to get detailed information and instructions on registry requirements.

My office is happy to assist District 9 residents that are experiencing issues with the registration process. Please contact my Legislative Assistant, Kyle Ethridge, by phone 574-3908 or email.