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As reported last week,
the Louisville Water Company’s Eastern Parkway Project is almost complete. Repair work will end in April, and restoration
will begin, continuing through June: sidewalk and curb repair; grading and
seeding of yards; tree replacement; and paving along Eastern Parkway, Willow
Avenue and Cherokee Parkway.
It is a little early yet
for congratulations but I’d be remiss not to commend Louisville Water for its
progress to date, and to thank you for your patience throughout the process. I’d also like to thank my lucky stars because
originally plans called for shutting down the intersection of Bardstown Road and
Eastern Parkway the first two weekends in January, with no traffic allowed to pass through in
either direction. This was my first week
in office, and I was dreading the prospect of traffic, snow and ice – talk
about a nightmare!
It never came to pass,
but I had planned to throw a block party and host a public screening of local
artist Ron Schildknecht’s homage to the old White Castle, My Porcelain Past, to help ease tensions around the situation. The idea was to turn a negative into a positive
and shine a light on what is an historic – and I think the most important –intersection
in District 8. The crossroads of
Bardstown and Eastern is not only a critical transportation node – and the only
junction in the Highlands where you can get pizza, burritos and ice cream – but it is where the Cherokee
Triangle, Bonnycastle, Deer Park and Tyler Park neighborhoods all come
together.
The intersection is a
reminder that despite our strong, separate neighborhood identities, our allegiances
must be to our neighboring neighborhoods,
as well, because traffic, development, crime and pollution know no boundaries. That means taking an interest in other
neighborhoods’ problems, sharing best practices, working together and combining
resources to achieve common goals. As we
put this mentality into practice within District 8, I’m reaching out to neighboring districts, as well.
In District 4, Councilwoman
Barbara Sexton-Smith and I are working together to ensure smart redevelopment of the Urban Government
Center – save the date April 17 (details coming soon). Barbara and I share representation of the
Original Highlands and Germantown neighborhoods. We are both committed to combatting food
insecurity; and we’re both passionate about the arts. Our districts meet at the intersection of
Baxter Avenue and E. Broadway – where Irish Hill, Cherokee Triangle, the Original Highlands and Phoenix Hill
come together – and we’ll continue to partner with neighbors there as this area
between Downtown and the Highlands keeps changing and growing.
District 8 shares a
special bond with District 9, which is represented by Councilman Bill Hollander. First and foremost, from a governing standpoint,
our two districts substantially comprise LMPD’s 5th Division Patrol, which means that we – and the neighborhoods we represent – have every reason to
collaborate on safety and security issues.
Additionally, Districts 8 and 9 share traffic safety concerns, as Lexington
Road is our common border. As the Lexington Road corridor – the gateway from
Crescent Hill to the Highlands (and on to the East Market District) – similarly
continues to change, Bill and I will work together to improve road conditions
and empower neighbors to create a vision for the area. The same is true of the Taylorsville Road
gateway to the Highlands, where Bill and I share representation of the Bowman
neighborhood. (We share Cherokee Gardens,
too.) Like the commercial corridors and
neighborhoods we represent, Bill and I have a lot in common policy-wise. Among both our top priorities are affordable
housing and replenishing Louisville’s urban tree canopy, two efforts we’re working
on together now.
District 8 shares
another heavily-travelled border – Newburg Road – with District 10,
represented by Councilman Pat Mulvihill. Pat and I share representation of the
Germantown neighborhood (along with CW Sexton-Smith). We also share an interest in improving the Bardstown
Road corridor south of the Watterson Expressway to Hikes Lane, where Pat
represents the City of West Buechel, and what goes on there directly impacts
the Upper Highlands. Pat and I are also
currently working together to expand trail connectivity between our districts, and
to fight littering citywide.
Finally, District 8 has
a fourth immediate neighbor in District 26, represented by Councilman Brent
Ackerson. Although our common Bon Air Avenue border bridging
the City of Wellington (D-26) and the Hawthorne neighborhood (D-8) is minimal,
Brent and I share representation of the Bowman neighborhood (with CM Hollander)
and the same concerns regarding Bardstown Road south of the Watterson, as Brent
represents the east side of the corridor.
There is a tremendous opportunity for CMs Ackerson, Mulvihill and I to
work together in this area because it is not only the gateway from Southeast
Louisville to the Upper Highlands, it is the Highlands’ point of departure for
the Parklands of Floyds Fork, the Bourbon Capital of the World and beyond.
There are 21 other
districts out there in the City of Louisville and sooner than later we all need
to become true partners in solving our hardest problems because this community
is at a crossroads. I know we can do it,
and it starts with a strong, united District 8.
Best Regards,
Councilman Brandon Coan
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