The General Assembly convened this week for its 2022 session. What happens in Frankfort has a major impact in Louisville and I urge everyone to keep up to date - and make your voices heard. Louisville Metro has a series of issues it hopes will be addressed this year, including critical steps to improve public safety. Read more about them here.
There are two ways to contact your legislators in Frankfort. Enter your address at this website and then click at the location icon on the map to get legislator and district information for that location.
If you would like to call and leave a message for your legislator, please call the Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181.
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Louisville Metro’s Department of Public Works is experiencing a drastic staffing shortage due to the COVID-19 surge, especially in the Waste Collection division. Effective Monday, January 3, 2022, regular yard waste collection in Louisville’s Urban Services District will be suspended until further notice.
Christmas trees already at curbs are being collected by crews. The Christmas tree drop-off sites remain open and are now accepting all yard waste that is in compliance with curbside guidelines. Shawnee Park has been added as a drop-off location. Details below:
Christmas Tree & Yard Waste Drop-Off Locations & Hours
- East District Recycling Center, 595 N. Hubbards Lane
- Public Works Yard, 10500 Lower River Road (enter from Bethany Lane)
- Waste Reduction Center, 636 Meriwether Avenue
- Shawnee Park, 230 Southwestern Parkway (Athletic Complex)
Open Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Waste Reduction Center closes at 3 p.m. on Saturdays)
All locations will be closed Saturday, January 15.
The Hubbards Lane site will instantly recycle Christmas trees into mulch that will be offered back to citizens for home use. Those wishing to receive mulch must bring an appropriate container in which to carry it. All lights and ornaments should be removed from trees before they are dropped off. Yard waste must be in compliance with curbside guidelines.
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Beginning this month, Solid Waste Management Services recycling crews in Louisville’s Urban Service Districts (USD) will not collect recycling from the old 18-gallon orange bins. If you recycle and do not have a recycling cart, request one today from Metro311 at 574-5000. (This applies to residents with city waste collection services only.) To place a request online, visit Louisvilleky.gov/311.
Residents who have already made a request but have not received a cart may contact Public Works. Include the address in the form submission.
Recycling is now every other week. If your recycling day is Friday, as is true in most of the D9 portion of the USD, these are recycling days:
- Friday, January 14
- Friday, January 28
- Friday, February 11
- Friday, February 25
- Friday, March 11
There will be no residential garbage and recycling collection on Monday, January 17 in the Urban Services District (USD) (former Louisville city limits) in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Residents who normally have garbage/recycling collection on Monday will have service instead on Tuesday, January 18, and collections for the rest of the week will be delayed one day. That means most D9 addresses in the USD will have garbage collection on Wednesday, January 19. (USD residents can find regular collection days by entering your address here, and selecting “Address Lookup”).
Collections in St. Matthews will follow the regular schedule, with no delays. Residents in other areas normally serviced by private waste haulers should check with those companies for holiday collection schedules.
Louisville Metro offices, including the D9 office, will be closed on Monday, January 17.
On January 4, work on Louisville Water’s Frankfort Avenue Main Replacement Project moved to Stilz Avenue. The contractor has two crews working. One crew is working on Stilz Avenue, requiring the closure of Stilz between Frankfort Avenue and Grinstead Drive until April.
The second crew is completing the main installation and tie-ins on Frankfort Avenue. One east-bound lane on Frankfort Avenue will remain open. Frankfort Avenue businesses also remain open – please visit them!
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Hillcrest and Reservoir Avenues reopened right before the holidays. Southbound motorists on Hillcrest are only able to turn left onto Frankfort Avenue. Frankfort Avenue is still reduced to one eastbound lane.
More information from Louisville Water is here.
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On Wednesday, January 19, at 10:00 a.m., I’ll be available in-person at United Crescent Hill Ministries, 150 South State Street in the Clifton neighborhood, or virtually through Facebook during a regularly scheduled “Meet with Bill”. Attendees may submit questions ahead of time to Kyle Ethridge, or you can ask questions live during the meeting through Facebook comments.
The meeting format will begin with a welcome and update on Metro and D9 issues. I will then open the meeting for questions and comments.
As always, you can contact me anytime using this link.
We publish this newsletter every other week, with the next edition scheduled for January 20. For more regular updates, follow the D9 blog, "Councilman Bill Hollander" Facebook page and the @BillHollander Twitter feed.
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Over the holidays, COVID-19 reemerged with a vengeance in Louisville Metro due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Yesterday, the Louisville Metro Health Department reported a record positivity rate of over 28% and astronomical case numbers in our region, like much of the state and the rest of the U.S. While science is continuing to show this variant is substantially milder and causing less severe illness than previous variants, it still poses a threat to health, particularly for unvaccinated people, and a major threat to disrupting our economy, services and businesses. For example, earlier this week, TARC noted driver shortages and encouraged TARC3 customers to book essential trips only.
To keep our economy running, Greater Louisville Inc. this week recommended a few things residents and businesses can do to help curb the spread and mitigate impacts to our economy:
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Resume mask-wearing in indoor settings. Public health experts urge everyone to upgrade from cloth masks to surgical masks and claim Kn95 and N95 masks are superior at filtering out Omicron.
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Encourage vaccinations and boosters. Science shows that while more breakthrough cases are occurring with Omicron, the vaccines are still excellent at preventing severe illness and death. If you have not already, get vaccinated and if you’re eligible do not delay getting a booster. As business leaders, we encourage you to also work with your staff to ensure they are vaccinated and boosted. Find vaccine and booster shots.
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Get tested if you have symptoms or a known exposure. While demand for tests has escalated, many sites still have same day appointments or no appointment requirements. The CDC recommends testing 3-5 days after an exposure or at the onset of symptoms. Find testing sites in Louisville here.
We continue to work on getting abandoned vehicles off our streets and highways. Louisville Metro has filed development plans with Metro Government’s Planning and Design Services to create a new auction lot for the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD). The 5.32-acre site, located at 3502 7th Street Road, is owned by Metro Government and is currently undeveloped. The site will alleviate crowding at LMPD’s impound lot on Frankfort Avenue and create the opportunity to get more abandoned vehicles off streets.
The city plans to add features to beautify and mitigate any visual or security concerns at the auction lot, including lighting and screened fencing, planting trees and shrubs, and round-the-clock security. The site, about a four-minute drive from the Central Business District, is bordered by two businesses, a vacant lot, and residential property to the west that is buffered by train tracks and greenery.
More than 140 abandoned or wrecked vehicles are waiting to be towed from roadways. LMPD will start towing those vehicles to the new auction lot and then focus on transferring other vehicles there from the existing impound lot.
Following a competitive bid process, the city awarded the auctioneer contract to Auctions ASAP. The new lot will allow for in-person auctions that would be held twice a month, and typically announced five to seven days in advance.
In another effort to reduce the number of vehicles at the impound lot, Mayor Fischer has signed an ordinance I sponsored giving the city’s Director of Public Works the ability to declare an amnesty period, not to exceed 30 days, in which all towing and storage fees are waived for those picking up their vehicles from the impound lot. The ordinance, passed by Council on December 16, is designed to eliminate a financial barrier that may be contributing to the impound lot crowding.
The auction lot development plan will next undergo a Community Facility Review by Metro Government’s Planning and Design Services staff. A public meeting of the Development Review Committee to review the plan has been scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, at 1 p.m. Residents can attend the meeting in-person at the Old Jail (514 W. Liberty St.) or virtually. Details will be available at https://louisvilleky.gov/government/planning-design/upcoming-public-meetings.
Once approved, work on the property would begin immediately.
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The Center for Neighborhoods is accepting applications for the Spring Lucille Leggett Neighborhood Institute, which will run every Thursday from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Center for Neighborhoods, 1126 Berry Blvd, for twelve weeks.
This is a no cost, leadership education program designed to equip neighborhood leaders with skills and resources needed to initiate positive change in the community. Dinner is provided.
The deadline to apply is Monday, January 17, and classes will officially begin on Thursday, January 27.
For more information and to apply, please click here.
Café LOUIE is back in 2022 to connect citizens to their elected representatives. From 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. each Saturday morning from January 15 through March 26, participants can join in-person. Elected officials will be given a brief time for prepared remarks and to answer a few pre-selected questions submitted by attendees. The focus of these meetings is engagement through personal conversations. Every Café LOUIE is open to the public. I will be participating at events on February 26 and March 26. More information will be posted online at https://www.facebook.com/CafeLOUIE/.
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For the past several years (with a year off because of the pandemic), the District 9 office has hosted a tax preparation site at United Crescent Hill Ministries (UCHM), offering free tax preparation to individuals and families under a certain income bracket. Each year the site depends on volunteers to help prepare taxes and greet clients. We have a few dedicated volunteers that help us out every year, but we need more! We hope you’ll consider joining the team!
If you are interested in volunteering for the 2021 tax season (January-April 2022) please email volunteer@labcservices.org. Make sure you indicate you would like to volunteer at the UCHM site. Volunteers are needed to help prepare taxes AND greet clients. If interested in volunteering, please sign up by completing this Volunteer Application.
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Improving public safety in Louisville is everyone’s job and here’s another way for you to get involved.
The Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods (OSHN) will host a networking night on Tuesday, January 25 from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at the Louisville Free Public Library, 301 York Street. Come share, connect, learn and make a difference.
This event will feature guests from Big Brothers Big Sisters, Interfaith Paths to Peace, representatives from OSHN’s Community Mobilization Initiative and Capacity Building Fellowship, and Kentuckiana Works. This is a great opportunity to get plugged into violence prevention work, learn about resources, and meet others working towards a better Louisville. Food and refreshments will be served.
Networking nights are an opportunity to get to know the change-agents doing great work in Louisville. Each Networking Night, OSHN will be joined by a community partner to share volunteer opportunities and important resources. Food and refreshments will be provided. Registration is requested. Click here to register.
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Anything that makes sounds, lights up, or turns on without being plugged in contains a battery. Batteries contain toxic metals, such as lead, cadmium, and lithium that can be released into the environment when disposed of the wrong way.
All types of batteries, especially lithium, or Li-ion, also hold a small amount of charge, called a “residual” charge, after they are no longer strong enough to run a camera, toy, or other product. The residual charge or energy may be released as heat or fire if batteries are damaged or punctured. Batteries should always be stored so that the terminals (or + and – ends) are not touching each other or any type of metal. Store them in their original packaging which is designed to keep terminals separated.
Batteries placed in your curbside recycling bins won’t be recycled. They can’t be picked out by the staff and equipment designed to sort large volumes of paper, glass, metal, and plastic.
Batteries that are damaged by compactor trucks or recycling facility equipment may catch all of the recyclables on fire! Fires caused by lithium and other batteries have resulted in the damage or complete destruction of recycling facilities.
Your batteries will be safely recycled if you take them to our Household Hazardous Waste facility (Haz Bin), located at 7501 Grade Lane, or to a store that collects batteries for recycling. (Alkaline batteries are environmentally safe for the trash, but they are accepted for recycling at the HazBin.)
If you have batteries to dispose, check out this step by step guide.
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For basic details for all of below case/s, please visit https://aca-louisville.accela.com/LJCMG/Welcome.aspx?. Click on the “Planning” tab. Then enter either the case number in the “record number” box or the address.
You can also click on the notice below to go to the application page.
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. 21-VARIANCE-0163
Variance to allow a primary structure to encroach into the required rear yard and side yard setbacks.
Subject Property: 1120 Payne Street
Case Manager: Heather Pollock (Heather.Pollock@louisvilleky.gov)
Meeting Date: Monday, January 10, 2022
Location: Online at https://louisvilleky.gov/government/planning-design/upcoming-public-meetings.
Below are some Ninth District calendar events! To view a full listing of events, please visit the District 9 Blog at http://district9news.wordpress.com/. If you would like to submit events to be considered for the blog calendar please email Kyle Ethridge or call 574-1109.
Thursday, January 6: Crescent Hill Community Council Board Meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the Peterson-Dumesnil House, 301 S. Peterson Avenue.
Saturday, January 8: Crescent Hill Library, 2762 Frankfort Avenue, will host Saturday morning book discussion at 10:30 a.m. Plan to discuss Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Fankl. Copies of this book are available at the Crescent Hill Library circulation desk. There are a limited number of digital copies of this book available for download from the library's website. Questions, please contact the branch at 574-1793.
Tuesday, January 11: Clifton Community Council board of directors meeting at 6:00 p.m. This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. To obtain a meeting link, please email michael.oleary@twc.com.
Tuesday, January 11: Crescent Hill Library, 2762 Frankfort Avenue, will host Crescent Hill Friends of the Library meeting at 7:00 p.m. Join the Friends group and find out how you can support your Library. Questions, please contact the branch at 574-1793.
Thursday, January 13: St. Matthews Library, 3940 Grandview Avenue, will host an early bird book discussion at 2:00 p.m. Plan to discuss My Antonio by Willa Cather. Questions, please contact the branch at 574-1771.
Monday, January 17: Metro Government Holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) - the collection of garbage, recycling, or yard waste is delayed by one day in the Urban Services District (former Louisville city limits).
Tuesday, January 18: St. Matthews Library, 3940 Grandview Avenue, will host a Friends of the Library meeting at 10:00 a.m. Join the Friends and learn how to support the Library. Questions, please contact the branch at 574-1771.
Tuesday, January 18: St. Matthews Library, 3940 Grandview Avenue, will host a movie discussion group of the French classic Rififi at 2:00 p.m. Questions, please contact the branch at 574-1771.
Tuesday, January 18: St. Matthews Library, 3940 Grandview Avenue, will host a night owls book discussion group on Anxious People by Fredrik Backman at 6:30 p.m. Questions, please contact the branch at 574-1771.
Tuesday, January 18: Clifton Heights Community Council Quarterly meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the Mellwood Arts Center, 1860 Mellwood Avenue, in the lobby. Meeting is open to the public.
Wednesday, January 19: "Meet with Bill" from 10:00 a.m. - Noon at United Crescent Hill Ministries, 150 S. State Street. Please stop by with any questions or concerns. You can also call anytime at 574-1109 or email me.
Wednesday, January 19: Frankfort Avenue Business Association (FABA) monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. Location will be posted online at https://faba.wildapricot.org/.
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