The next D9 Community Conversation is scheduled for Tuesday, August 23, at the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana Troop House, 2115 Lexington Road, at 6:30 p.m.

Please join me in welcoming my special guest, Major Jason Grissom, back to LMPD’s 5^th Division. The Office of Advanced Planning and Sustainability will also join us to provide a brief overview of the Clifton and Crescent Hill Area Plan process and how to get involved.

I’ll also have a brief update on Metro and D9 issues and initiatives and, as always with D9 Community Conversations, I’ll be available for discussion of anything on your mind.

If you prefer to watch virtually, you can tune in live on the Councilman Bill Hollander Facebook page. You can submit questions ahead of time to my Legislative Assistant, Kyle Ethridge.

Please mark your calendar and join me – and bring along a friend or neighbor!

We need your help to improve Clifton and Crescent Hill!

Last year, the Clifton Community Council and Crescent Hill Community Council expressed interest in updating their respective neighborhood plans. In a partnership with Louisville Forward, District 9 allocated $40,000 in Neighborhood Development Funds towards the total cost to update the plans. This spring, the Taylor Siefker Williams Design Group was selected as the consultant for the project. The Advisory Group held its first meeting a few weeks ago, and now is the time for community involvement!

CycLOUvia, Louisville’s annual open streets initiative, will transform a section of Frankfort Avenue into a paved park where people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds can walk, bike, skate, or dance in spaces normally reserved for cars. The street will be closed to motorized traffic from Pope Street to Stilz Avenue, with an opening for cross traffic at Ewing Avenue, from 2:00 to 6:00 pm on Sunday, August 28.  

While promoting healthy lifestyles and alternative modes of transportation, CycLOUvia will create a vibrant economic opportunity for businesses. Commercial establishments with frontage along the corridor are encouraged to open their businesses and engage the sidewalk during the event.

We’re using District 9 funds to open the Crescent Hill Library during the event.

Come out and play on Sunday, August 28 from 2:00 to 6:00 pm!

Frankfort Avenue reopened to eastbound and westbound traffic on August 11, for the first time in almost one year.  Sections of the street have been closed for a major Louisville Water Company project.  The reopening has already reduced traffic on some neighboring streets and allowed for traffic light changes on Lexington Road.

Things are not quite back to normal at the site.  The road has not yet been completely resurfaced and only one lane is open each way. Sidewalk work is still being completed and entrances to Frankfort at both Reservoir and Pennsylvania Avenues remain closed.  All of that should be taken care of in the coming weeks, with complete restoration in October.

Steeped in history and standing 185 feet tall, the Louisville Water Tower is an iconic landmark along the Ohio River. Though no longer operational for today’s water production, the tower was built in 1860 for the original water works. The tower encloses a standpipe that helped control the force of giant steam engines that pulled water from the Ohio River for Louisville Water’s operations.

Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971, the Louisville Water Tower will undergo a large restoration this year. Crews have installed scaffolding to enclose the tower for an eight-month project that includes:

• Replacing metal portions on the exterior with zinc to prevent the metals from destroying one another
• Fixing moisture buildup inside the tower with a ventilation system
• Removing decayed wood on the balustrade and recreating it to match its appearance
• Repainting the tower

The project follows an investigation by Louisville firm K. Norman Berry Associates Architects that included lab analysis of the tower’s materials and archival research. Restoring the tower is the second phase of this project. The first part was removing the 10 statues that sit on the balustrade. The statues were removed in late 2020 and are being restored at an architectural entity in Washington, D.C.

Please visit, https://louisvillewater.com/newsroom/restoration-project-underway-preserve-historic-louisville-water-tower, to read more information.

United Crescent Hill Ministries:

The food pantry shelves at United Crescent Hill Ministries are looking bare. Please consider donating to UCHM to help stock the shelves. They need the following items:

• Canned goods (vegetables, soups and meat)
• Bread and produce
• Personal items- toothpaste & brushes, floss, deodorant, shampoo/conditioner, sanitary items 
• Diapers & formula
• Toilet paper and paper towels
• Laundry soap
• Dog/Cat Food: small bags or divided up in zip lock bags
• PLASTIC BAGS!

Items may be dropped off at UCHM, 150 S. State Street, durning normal business hours. If you have any questions, please contact (502) 893-0346.

St. Matthews Area Ministries:

St. Matthews Area Ministries keeps a current Wish List of items for its pantry on Amazon. This makes it easy for St. MAM to communicate its ever-changing needs, and for you to assist St. MAM in any way you can.

You can access the current Wish List and donate here.

Planning and Design Services would like to build a middle housing neighborhood with you! At this workshop, participants will work together in small groups to build a middle housing neighborhood using Lego bricks. The bricks represent different types of housing, including detached homes, duplexes, and cottage courts. A park, bus stop, and neighborhood services are also included to help build out your neighborhood.

Plan to attend an upcoming workshop: 

• August 24, 2022, at 6 PM at the Shawnee Library – Community Meeting Room, 3912 W. Broadway, 40211
• August 30, 2022, at 6 PM at the Crescent Hill Library – Community Room, 2762 Frankfort Avenue, 40206
• September 7, 2022, at 6 PM at the Newburg Library – Community Meeting Room, 4800 Exeter Avenue, 40218
• September 13, 2022, at 6 PM at the Iroquois Library – Community Meeting Room, 601 W. Woodlawn Avenue, 40215

Click here to view the flyer for the workshop. The workshop is being offered as part of the ongoing Land Development Code Reform. For more information and to view a map of events and meetings, please visit https://louisvilleky.gov/ldcreform.  

Pop-Up Drop-Offs are free recycling and large item disposal events for residents of Jefferson County. Through a partnership between the Department of Public Works, the Waste Management District, and Metro Council, these events are held monthly, March through November, at various locations.

The August event is scheduled for Saturday, August 27, from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at Eastern High School, 12400 Old Shelbyville Road.

Residents can have documents shredded, recycle electronics, tires, and scrap metal, dispose of prescription medication and bulky items, and compost yard debris. Items must be separated into those various categories for easy off-loading at each area. Limitations and guidelines are found at Louisvilleky.gov/PopUps. 

Future events will be announced and are posted on the Recycle Coach app calendar.

You can also recycle up to three electronic devices, up to four tires, and dispose of up to three large household items for free, year-round at the Waste Reduction Center at 636 Meriwether Avenue. 

Watch this video to learn more about the Pop-Up Drop-Off events! 

Students are back in school and the Louisville Free Public Library is excited to announce another free resource to help students in the community succeed! Brainfuse HelpNow is an online tutoring service offering access to virtual one-on-one tutoring in a range of subjects for K-12 students seven days a week. Students can chat with tutors in real-time (2-11 p.m.), get help with math problems, have papers reviewed using Brainfuse’s Writing Lab, discuss practice test results, and more. HelpNow even offers live FAFSA help and online practice tests.

Brainfuse employs more than 3,000 tutors—most are retired teachers or graduate students, and all have a minimum of a 4-year degree (97% have masters degrees). To access HelpNow, simply visit LFPL.org/HomeworkHelpNow.

Need access to a computer or internet? Stop by any of the 17 area library locations today, including the Crescent Hill Library and the St. Matthews Library in District 9.   HelpNow and all of the Library’s Homework Help resources are free with a valid library card. To learn more, click on Homework Help on the teens or kids pages of LFPL.org. For more information, call (502) 574-1611.

An application to demolish the Nelson Distillery Warehouse and construct a new mixed used building at the site will be considered by the Individual Landmarks Architectural Review Committee on Wednesday,  August 24, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. at 444 S. 5th Street, Room 101.  Members of the public can speak at the hearing or submit comments in advance by emailing the case manager Brad Fister (Bradley.fister@louisvilleky.gov) by NOON on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.

The warehouse, located at the corner of Payne Street and Lexington Road in Irish Hill, is a Louisville Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  The application to be reviewed this month calls for the leveling the warehouse and construction of a mixed-use building, part of a larger multi-family redevelopment of the Distillery Commons complex – a $75 million investment in total.  Missouri-based developer Bamboo Equity Partners is asking the city to allow the demolition, arguing its uses are limited and there’s no financially viable path forward to rehab the old rickhouse.

More information is in this WDRB report.