Yard waste pickup has resumed in Louisville Metro’s Urban Services District (the former City of Louisville).

The service has been on a seasonal suspension since early January, because yard waste collection volumes are very low in the winter months. The suspension allowed Metro Public Works (MPW) to direct additional resources to other efforts, including clearing our streets and roads of litter in advance of spring, along with other solid waste activities.

I have asked that there be more notice before any suspension next year and have been assured that will happen. 

Now that the suspension is over, it’s time to put out any yard waste that has accumulated over the winter. Remember that yard waste cannot be placed in plastic bags.  Full guidelines are here.

In the USD, yard waste is collected the same day as recycling.  Most of District 9 has service on Friday.  Click here to check the day for all services at your address, (type S or N, with no period, for north or south).  

Louisville Metro’s Pothole Blitz 2018 is officially underway. Metro Public Works crews are moving across the city in a grid pattern in the annual concentrated effort to patch potholes created by the repeated freeze-thaw cycles of winter. The end of winter blitz is in addition to year round patching of potholes reported by citizens.

Citizens can help in the blitz by reporting potholes to MetroCall in one of three easy ways. Those using the social network Twitter can use the hashtag #502pothole. Include the hashtag along with the address or nearest intersection of the pothole location in any tweet and MetroCall will get the message.

There’s also a pothole reporting form at the top of the city website, Louisvilleky.gov. Click on the “Report a pothole” link, put in the location information and press send. Of course, citizens may also call MetroCall at 311 or 574-5000. The #502pothole hashtag and the online form offer the advantage of avoiding the potential for having to wait on hold on the telephone.

Public Works patches potholes on Metro Government maintained roads. Potholes on interstate highways should be reported to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet at 1-800-Patchit.

Mayor Greg Fischer joined with U of L Football Coach Bobby Petrino to announce plans for a special flood relief fund to help aid families who have been hit hard by the flooding.  

The fund was created with a $100,000 donation from Bobby and Becky Petrino and the Petrino Family Foundation, as part of its #LoveLouisville campaign, and will go to families displaced by the flood, as well as to help people cover some of their clean-up and recovery costs.

Households that meet income eligibility requirements and other criteria can get up to $1,000 to cover emergency expenses caused by the flooding. 

In order to qualify, applicants must be Jefferson County residents with a household income at or below 80 percent of Area Media Income (AMI) and must have been living in their home as a primary residence at the time of the flood.  

The funds can be used to cover the first month’s rent and deposits up to $1,000 for displaced families who are in need of a new or temporary residence.  Funds may also be used to purchase cleaning, household or other emergency supplies. 

Residents who want to apply can contact MetroCall 311 by simply dialing 311 or 574-5000, email metro.call@louisvilleky.gov, visit the website’s On Line Customer Service or Live Chat at www.louisvilleky.gov/metrocall, tweet @LouMetro311, or download the free Mobile 311 app from the website.

Be prepared to leave your name, address, phone number, email address and what type of assistance is needed. 

Within 48-72 hours, a staff person with Neighborhood Place will contact all applicants.  Applicants will be served on a first-come, first-served basis. 

To read more information click here. The city has also applied for assistance from the state and Federal Emergency Management Agency to help recoup the millions of dollars in damages and response and recovery costs.

The League of Women Voters (LWV) invites you to attend the Dinner and Democracy meeting on Monday, March 19 to discuss Reconciliation: White and Black Women Work for Voting Rights featuring Dr. Randolph Hollingsworth of the University of Kentucky, interviewed by Metro Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton. Dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. (no reservations are required and donations are accepted) and the program begins at 6:00 p.m. at the Lang House, 115 S. Ewing Avenue. Questions, please call 895-5218 or email info@lwvlouisville.org.

You are invited to attend a neighborhood meeting to present neighbors with a proposed conditional use permit (CUP) to allow a memorial garden at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 330 N. Hubbards Lane. The developer has filed a pre-application with Planning & Design Services. Representatives of the developer would like to show and explain the proposal to neighbors and hear thoughts, issues and concerns.

The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 21st at 7:00 p.m. at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 330 N. Hubbards Lane.

If you cannot attend the meeting, but have questions or concerns, please call John Talbott (Bardenwerper, Talbott & Roberts, PLLC) at 426-6688.

My office is partnering with the Louisville Asset Building Coalition (LABC) to provide FREE tax preparation services again in 2018. The service is FREE if you earned $64,000 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) or less in 2017 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 every Friday through the end of tax season between 9:15 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at United Crescent Hill Ministries, 150 S. State Street, in Clifton. Please call the office at 574-3908 to make an appointment and please share this with anyone you think may be eligible. Click here to view brochure.

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 $33,000 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 $64,000 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.

The Crescent Hill Green Committee is hosting a neighborhood cleanup.  Please join them on Saturday, March 24th, from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m., to help get Frankfort Ave looking great for the Easter Parade. Volunteers will meet at the corner of Ewing and Frankfort Avenues, and work toward Stilz Avenue.  They will have trash grabbers, shovels, gloves, and bags, but feel free to bring your own as well. Join the fun and help beautify the neighborhood!

The Frankfort Avenue Business Association (FABA) and the Clifton and Crescent Hill Community Councils would like to invite you, your family and friends to participate in the 26th Annual Frankfort Avenue Easter Parade. Enjoy the Shriners, antique cars, homemade family floats, Hwang’s Martial Arts, talking police car, mounted sheriff’s posse, candy and much more!

The parade is scheduled for Saturday, March 31 on Frankfort Avenue from Stilz to Pope Street. To participate, register at St. Mark’s parking lot, 2822 Frankfort Avenue, by 11:00 a.m. The parade will leave at approximately 11:30-11:45 a.m. If you have any questions, please call Michaelle Warner at 419-6159 or email michaelle.warner1@gmail.com. 

Due to the expansion of the Library and the renovation of City Hall, the regular Baby, Toddler and Preschool storytimes have moved to the St. Matthews Community Center, 310 Ten Pen Lane, to provide more convenient and safer parking. For days and times of all Storytimes, check the Library webpages at www.lfpl.org/branches/stmatthews.htm.

The St. Matthews Area Ministries (St. MAM) is collecting donations to provide Easter Dinner baskets to the St. MAM families. To participate, purchase the following items from your local grocery store. When you have purchased the entire food basket, put the items in a reusable grocery bag and tape this list on it so St. MAM knows it’s a complete basket.

In a Re-Usable Bag:

• 1 bag of potatoes
• 1 bag of apples
• 2 cans of green beans
• 2 cans of carrots
• Rolls (non-frozen)
• Box of cake mix with icing OR Easter cookies

Please bring the food baskets to St. MAM, 201 Biltmore Road, inside Beechwood Baptist Church – entrance near the playground – on Monday, March 26 between 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Baskets will be distributed on March 27.

Also, consider making a donation to help cover the cost of Easter hams, $20 each. Please contact Sarah Banks at 893-0205 or email sarahbanks@stmam.com. 

The Crescent Hill Water Treatment Plant is the largest in Kentucky and handles the majority of Louisville Water’s daily production of 121 million gallons of drinking water to over 850,000 people.

Louisville Water has two electrical feeds for operation of the treatment plant and the pumping station but the company needs a standby generator in case of an emergency where the plant loses electrical power.

The standby generator project includes a two-story building in the northwest corner of Louisville Water’s property near Frankfort and Stilz Avenues. The standby generators will be located inside the building. To accommodate deliveries of diesel fuel, Louisville Water will minimally widen the current entrance to the facility at 3004 Frankfort Avenue and will add a gate-controlled exit only from the plant onto Frankfort Avenue at the Hillcrest traffic light.

Louisville Water added standby generators at its smaller plant, the B.E. Payne Plant in 2005.

To read more information about the Standby Generator Project, please click here.