The deadline for registering to vote in Kentucky before the May Primary Election is rapidly approaching and it’s easier than ever to do so.

April 23 is the last day to register to vote in the May 22 election. Kentuckians can now register to vote, and check and update their registrations online, at this website.  

Voters who will be outside Jefferson County on Election Day are among those who can vote absentee.  More information about voting absentee, both by mail and in-house, is here.

If you qualify to vote by absentee ballot, you can do that at the Jefferson County Clerk’s Election Center, which has moved to 701 West Ormsby Avenue, Suite 301, beginning on April 9. In-house absentee voting is available for qualified individuals on Monday through Friday from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, and on Saturday, May 12 and Saturday, May 19 from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. 

Exercise your right to register and vote this spring!  

Nancy’s Bagel Grounds, a mainstay on Frankfort Avenue, has moved but will soon reopen in D9.

The original store on the Avenue closed on March 31.  A “pop-up” shop has opened at 

104 West Main Street, while construction continues at the new location at the corner of Payne and Spring Streets.  That site, shown here, is the former location of Willingers Beer Depot. 

The hope is for Nancy’s Payne Street Bakehouse to be open by the last week in April. 

Louisville Parks and Recreation is providing two more opportunities this week for those seeking a part or full-time job with the city’s largest “health club”.

Job seekers are encouraged to dress professionally and bring a copy of their resume, if possible. The job fairs and locations are as follows:

• Iroquois Amphitheater, 1080 Amphitheater Road, 40214 Thursday, April 5, 9 a.m. – noon
• Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center, 201 Reservoir Avenue, 40206 Friday, April 6, 1-4 p.m. 

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

Please plan to join me on Saturday, April 14, for the D9 Spring Community Cleanup. In partnership with Brightside, we will be cleaning in the Clifton Heights neighborhood. Volunteers should plan to meet at 8:30 a.m. on Lindsay Avenue near Brownsboro Road for breakfast sandwiches, provided by the Clifton McDonald’s, and hot coffee, provided by Heine Brothers’ Coffee. The cleanup will officially start at 9:00 a.m. and fan out in the neighborhood. The District 9 office will provide bags, gloves, tools and t-shirts on a first-come, first-served basis. Questions, please contact the office at 574-1109.

Please save the date and join us!

Louisville will celebrate Earth Week in a variety of ways, including tree plantings and tree give-aways (see the Sustainability Story below). 

Louisvillians can also show support for a sustainable future at Earth Walk on Saturday, April 21, from 9:00 a.m. to Noon at Iroquois Park.  The event benefits many of the dozens of civic groups who are working hard to protect the health and environment of Louisville citizens in many different ways.  

We’ll have much more about Earth Week activities in future editions of the eNews.  But save the date, mark your calendars and put together a walking team for the event. 

More information is here: https://louisvilleearthwalk.org/. 

We need your help to fill our City’s potholes. Report them 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, www.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.

One of my favorite activities as your Councilman was touring Beargrass Creek by canoe.  It’s a whole different view of District 9 and it will open your eyes to what we have done to the creek, as well as efforts to restore it. I am happy to say that Beargrass Creek canoe tours sponsored by the Waterfront Botanical Gardens are back after a winter break.  

The trips are a three-hour tour of Beargrass Creek, starting near where it flows into the Ohio River, with tour guide David Wicks. Dress comfortably for outdoor activity. Waterproof shoes are recommended, but not mandatory. Bring water and sunscreen. This is a low difficulty level event and is suitable for ages 10 and up. There is a limit of twelve people per excursion. The charge is $15 per trip. 

An April 19 tour has sold out but trips are also scheduled on the following dates:

• May 12
• June 6
• June 23
• August 18
• September 5
• September 24

For tickets, click here.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 21 from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at the Louisville Nature Center, 3745 Illinois Avenue, for an Arbor Day tree give-away presented by the Jefferson County Master Gardeners.

Master Gardeners will distribute 1000 bare-root trees. They will also be available to provide information about the trees and help select the right tree for the right location.

Varieties of trees available include: white dogwood, redbud, pawpaw, loblobby pine, blue spruce, red maple, persimmon, blackgum and sugar maple. Limit three trees per family. Come early for the best selection!

Questions, please contact jcmgaevents@gmail.com.

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. 

This year’s Give A Day week is set for April 14-22, although many projects will be under way earlier, to avoid conflicts with Thunder over Louisville at the end of the week. Give A Day is an official Kentucky Derby Festival event, and kicks off the festival season.

Give a Day started in 2011 as a one-day call to serve others. Last year’s Give A Day Week of Service produced a world-record 180,000 volunteers and acts of compassion. Mayor Fischer says this year’s goal is to top that, with even more volunteers, donations and other good deeds.

The ultimate goal, he said, is to see compassion spread, and Mayor Fischer has pointed to the OGO JAR project being spearheaded by Global Game Changers Student Empowerment Program in collaboration with Lead2Feed Student Leadership Program. This year, all 130,000+ K-12 students enrolled in JCPS, Archdiocese of Louisville and independent and private schools will be invited to participate in this project, which encourages students and educators to create and sustain a culture of kindness, recognition and gratitude. More information on Global Game Changers is here.

Individuals or groups wanting to find a project for Give A Day week are encouraged to visit www.mygiveaday.com, where projects and needs submitted by local non-profit agencies and other groups are listed. You can also record your acts of compassion at the site. 

Kentucky Shakespeare is proud to announce the 2018 Shakespeare in the Parks tour. Their six-actor, eighty-minute production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream will tour to 25 Kentuckiana locations this spring, bringing free Shakespeare to local neighborhoods April 7-May 19, 2018.  

The production is directed by Amy Attaway, Kentucky Shakespeare’s Associate Artistic Director, and features an ensemble cast of six professional actors: Shaleen Cholera as Lysander, Tamara Dearing as Titania, Charity Means as Hermia, Colin Nesmith as Oberon, Neill Robertson as Demetrius, and Sabrina Spalding as Helena. All of the actors also play other multiple roles in the production. The production features costumes by Donna Lawrence-Downs, sound design by Laura Ellis, and set design by Hannah Allgeier, with Racheal Luther as the stage manager.

Audience members are invited to bring their own chairs, blankets, and picnics for this free, family-friendly community event.

Dates, Places and Times of the productions in or near District 9 are as follows:

• Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. at Community Park, St. Matthews, 310 Ten Pin Lane, Louisville, KY 40207. Rain Space: Waggener Traditional High School.
• Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. at Carrie Gaulbert Cox Park, 3730 River Road, Louisville, KY 40207. Rain Space: TBD.
• Saturday, May 19, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. at Story Avenue Park, 1519 Story Ave, Louisville, KY 40206. Rain Space: Crescent Hill Methodist Church.

For more information about Kentucky Shakespeare visit www.kyshakespeare.com.