Earlier this year, the federal government approved the American Rescue Plan Act, designed to help the country recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Among many other things, it included significant resources for cities and counties. Louisville Metro’s share was $388 Million.

Earlier this week, we announced another step along the way of making historic investments in Louisville’s future.  After the first round of ARP appropriations in June, centering on public health, eviction prevention and utility assistance, Metro Council went to work on the best way to use these funds to address Louisville’s needs.

The Budget Committee, which I chair, heard from Chairman John Yarmuth, the sponsor of the American Rescue Plan Act. During what is normally a break after passage of Metro’s budget, we held public listening sessions around the county. In those and an online form, we received hundreds of suggestions.

In August, we unanimously approved a resolution, setting priority areas for the funds. Work groups, each of which involved multiple Council members of both parties and members of the administration, went to work sharing information and discussing funding options. I’ve participated in around twenty such meetings in the last few weeks.

This week, I was one of the sponsors of an ordinance and a resolution to spend ARP funds in the following areas:

• Homelessness & Affordable Housing: $100 Million              (including HOME ARP funds)
• Public Safety: $78 Million
• Premium Pay for Essential Public Employees: $28.3 Million
• Public Health: $27.6 Million

More details about the proposals are here.

The ordinance will be discussed in the Budget Committee next week and we hope to put more of this remarkable federal funding to work very soon.

This Saturday, October 30, Olmsted Parks Conservancy is hosting a West Sixth Beer Garden in Seneca Park from 5:00-9:00 p.m. Bring your blankets, your chairs, your family and pups for the event. There will be food trucks, music, lawn games, family-friendly activities and a vaccine clinic. For more information, please visit www.olmstedparks.org/events/event/beer-garden-at-seneca-park.

TreesLouisville will host a free tree giveaway on Saturday, October 30 from 9:00 a.m. to Noon at Shawnee Park, (participants should look for the signs that will direct them to the location). 450 trees are available in the following species: Persimmon, Black Walnut, Shellbark Hickory, Willow Oak, Shumard Oak, Bur Oak, Nuttall Oak.

Trees are limited to two per household. Residents must provide a Louisville Metro zip code to qualify. Trees will be handed out on a first come, first served basis. This is a drive through tree giveaway. However, if participants do not have access to a car, they are welcome to walk up to the giveaway area.

Trees come in a 1 gallon container, which means they do not require large shovels to be planted. TreesLouisville will provide instructions on planting as well as tree care tips and tree attributes. They will also be selling water wells for $15 each- CASH ONLY. Wells are designed to hold water and protect the tree against lawn mowers and weed eaters. 

For any additional questions please visit https://www.facebook.com/treeslouisville.

A BIG thank you to everyone who joined me last Saturday to help beautify District 9. We had a great turnout and residents and business owners worked together along Frankfort Avenue and on other neighborhood streets. Volunteers also worked to clear sidewalks of tree obstructions and trim other areas along Frankfort Avenue. To view photos from the event, please click here.

If you missed this cleanup, but would like to organize your own event, please click here to register and obtain supplies from Brightside.

Annual Jack O’ Lantern Spectacular runs through Sunday, October 31 at Iroquois Park, 1080 Amphitheater Road. 5,000 artistically-carved pumpkins line a ¼ mile trail and illuminate an organic art gallery. For tickets and more information, please click here.

Ghost Stories by the Fire on Friday, October 29, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center, 201 Reservoir Avenue. No registration is required and children must be accompanied by an adult 18 or older. Questions, please call 574-1498.

Free Trunk or Treat on Sunday, October 31, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. in the Clifton Baptist Church parking lot, 1947 Frankfort Avenue. Join in for live music, hot chocolate, warm donuts, candy, an inflatable slide, games, balloon animals, face painting, crafts, and more! No registration is required and children must be accompanied by an adult 18 or older. Questions, please contact info@cliftonbaptist.org.

The Center for Neighborhoods is hosting its annual summit on Saturday, November 6, from 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the Louisville Urban League Sports and Learning Complex, 3000 West Market Street. The focus for this year’s summit is Healing Our Communities: Working Toward Positive Change.

The Summit aims to bring Louisville neighbors together for a day of learning about neighborhood activism. The day includes a keynote address, local neighborhood leader awards and workshops focused on neighborhood improvement and social justice.

As in previous years, District 9 has provided scholarship funds for nine District 9 residents to attend the event free of charge. The scholarships will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are interested in obtaining a scholarship, please email my Legislative Assistant, Kyle Ethridge, with your address, phone and email address. My office will then provide you with the discount code for registration.

Registration is $25 for each participant, and you can register online here.

Set a reminder for Sunday, November 7 at 2:00 a.m. to turn your clocks back as daylight saving time ends. The sun will rise a little earlier and you’ll “gain” one hour of sleep.

It’s a good time to check your smoke detectors. For the last few years I’ve also used the time change to ask residents to check street lights in their area. We rely on residents to report any outages and a street light won’t get repaired unless someone reports it. You can do that here.

CSX Railroad has delayed the railroad crossing work scheduled for many D9 crossings until November. No firm dates have been determined at this time.

The following crossings will be affected and closed once the work is rescheduled. We will post new dates in the eNews, or on the District 9 Blog and our social media pages, depending on when information is received.

All but the last two crossings are near Frankfort Avenue. 

• Jane Street
• Keats Avenue
• Ewing Avenue
• Hite Avenue
• Birchwood Avenue
  
  
• Clover Lane at Westport Road
• Hubbards Lane

The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) shares a weekly update. This week the update includes a message from Chief Erika Shields, a case highlight (this week LMPD is attempting to identify a suspect in a case), a report from the Service Center, LMPD’s centralized hub for contact with the public, an arrest of the week and a spotlight on the LMPD River Unit. To read a copy of the October 24 edition, please click here. The weekly updates are also shared on LMPD’s Facebook page.

In a time when small businesses are able to see the light of survival as we make our way out of COVID’s economic impact, access to small business support and resources is critical. Louisville Forward’s Small Business Development team is here to connect small business owners with the tools and resources needed to help create sustainability in the long term as well as solutions for today’s challenges. Strategic planning, one-on-one coaching, educational workshops and financial programs are some of the resources available at no cost. To inquire about resources for your business, please click HERE. You can see the breadth of services HERE.

We publish this newsletter every other week, with the next edition scheduled for November 11. For up-to-date announcements between newsletters, we update our blog, Facebook page and Twitter feed. You can access the blog here, and, if you wish, sign up for blog updates by email at that site (they are relatively rare, so we don’t overload mailboxes). You can also like the “Councilman Bill Hollander” Facebook page and follow “Bill Hollander” on Twitter.