District 12 eNewsletter - February 14, 2024

Louisville Metro Government sent this bulletin at 02/14/2024 10:01 AM EST

Councilman Rick Blackwell

601 West Jefferson Street

(502) 574-1112

Email Rick

Heather Blazis

Legislative Assistant

(502) 574-1112

Email Heather

Visit the D12 Website

In this edition...

UPCOMING EVENTS
HEADLINES
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

UPCOMING EVENTS

Café LOUIE 2024

9:00 am - 10:00 am Saturday mornings

Attend Café LOUIE - an informal gathering of civic-minded individuals interested in meeting with their elected officials to discuss local issues at libraries all across town. Participants will be offered refreshments and conversation. The focus of these meetings is engagement through personal conversations, and they are open to the public.

Councilman Blackwell is scheduled to attend the February 17 event at the Southwest Regional Library, and March 16 at the Shively Library.

Harbor House of Louisville asks for your support of their new Intergenerational Life Center. This Center benefits the entire community by providing meaningful employment for many in our community, offering a safe place for loved ones; whether in the Child Enrichment Center, Before & After school programs, aging parent or guardian with disabilities engaging in stimulating activities during the day. Join them for their Beacon Ball on March 9. Click here for more information and tickets.

Join us for the Mill Creek Sweep!

Southwest Community Ministries works to be a helping hand to our community neighbors in crisis. You can support them by attending the Giving Back Gala. Click here for information and tickets. They are also always in need of volunteers and items for their food pantry.

HEADLINES

Metro Council Committee Summary

Last week Metro Council committees met and adopted several resolutions and ordinances and held a discussion on speed humps.

The Planning & Zoning Committee approved three changes to zonings along Griffiths Avenue, 8^th Street, and Buechel Avenue. The committee also adopted a resolution asking the Planning Commission to review the Land Development Code regarding homeless and crisis shelters. Finally, the committee adopted three resolutions initiating landmark reviews of Manual Stadium, Wheelman’s Bench, and Iroquois Amphitheater.

The Labor, Economic Development & Appropriations Committee approved several council district appropriations and infrastructure ordinances.

The Public Works Committee held a special discussion on speed humps with Public Works Director Jennifer Kern.

The Government Oversight/Audit & Appointments Committee approved appointments to the Civilian Review & Accountability Board, Commission for Persons with Disabilities, Commission on Public Art, Deputy Sheriff Merit Board, Redevelopment Authority, Tree Advisory Committee, and the Human Relations Commission Enforcement Board. The committee also authorized an investigation into the Louisville Metro Housing Authority.

The Equity & Community Affairs Committee approved resolutions accepting funding from the Kentucky Department for Public Health, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The committee also approved a contract to weekly test wastewater for pathogens.

The Public Safety Committee amended a law waiving all Metro tow lot fees associated with stolen vehicles. The committee also accepted funding from the U.S. Department of Justice and adopted a notification contract for Louisville Fire.

The Budget Committee adopted an ordinance amending previous ARP appropriations and Metro’s FY 2024 Operating Budget, by transferring allowable costs between the two.

Metro Council will meet again at 6:00pm on Thursday, February 15, 2024.

Click Here for More Information

TO PLACE YOUR NOMINATION:

Visit OSHN’s city website or Scan the QR Code above

Metro Impact Grant Applications Being Accepted for Social Services Programs

Louisville Metro Government (LMG) will begin accepting applications from local non-profit organizations for programs or activities that contribute to the city's social vitality. These grants, which are funded through the city’s General Fund, are awarded to non-governmental or "external” agencies for LMG fiscal year 2025 (July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025).

The Metro Impact Grants (MIG), formerly called External Agency Fund grants, are awarded annually to nonprofit organizations offering programs or services in Louisville/Jefferson County that align with the mayor’s strategic goals. The competitive grants are available for Social Services programs, administered by the Louisville Metro Office of Resilience and Community Services (RCS).

RCS encourages applicants to submit funding requests in line with each program’s needs. To assist agencies with decisions related to funding requests, RCS is providing the following historical information. In FY24, RCS received close to 90 applications with funding requests ranging from $2,000 to $250,000. Approximately 1/3 of requests were wholly or partially funded and most awarded programs received funding between $15,000 and $45,000.

For the Social Services funding program, qualified nonprofits committed to providing services that achieve meaningful outcomes for low-income Louisvillians in the following key areas are encouraged to apply:

Decreasing homelessness;
Increasing household financial stability;
Increasing access to services and resources for a targeted population.

Key Information

The application guidelines for Metro Impact Grants (MIG) may be viewed for reference here.

Click this link for the application: SurveyMonkey

There will be no required orientation this year. They will offer office hours on:

Thursday, February 15, 2024, 2:00pm - 4:00pm WebEx Link

The deadline to apply is Friday, March 1, 2024, 5:00pm.

Louisville Metro Government employs a competitive granting strategy and strives to award funding to agencies that demonstrate measurable positive impact in the community and are good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Successful grantees will be required to report on their success in meeting goals, outcomes and how the taxpayer dollars are spent.

Please email all questions to metrocompliance@louisvilleky.gov

Traffic Light at East Pages & 3rd street Road

Constituents have raised the concern over the light at East Pages and 3rd Street Road skipping cycles. Public Works completed a field review of the signal operations last week. The existing detection was working, however the detection zone covering the approach from the gas station is not large enough to pick up vehicles exiting from the gas station at the signal. As an interim solution, they placed that approach on recall, meaning the signal will provide some amount of green time to that approach during every signal cycle. They issued a work order to replace the existing detection with video detection, allowing them to increase the zone size and vary its location to capture all vehicles attempting to use the signal from the entrance.

The Louisville Metro Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods (OSHN) is the backbone of the city’s effort to address the root causes of gun violence and then build sustainable solutions. This work requires the adoption of innovative strategies and approaches that extend beyond traditional law enforcement to shift social norms and that activates the community to help prevent shootings and violence. Through partnerships and collaboration, we intervene with those involved or impacted by gun violence and promote community and youth-led solutions to foster safer neighborhoods.

GOALS OF METRO IMPACT GRANT PROGRAM

Our goal is to maximize the impact of funding on violence reduction and youth development while fostering a sense of community ownership and collaboration.

METRO IMPACT GRANTS FOCUS ON YOUTH

OSHN Impact grants will be awarded to organizations to address violence and promote youth development in one of the following areas:

Primary Prevention involves programs and strategies designed for the general youth population and seeks to reduce the factors that put people at risk for experiencing violence.

Secondary Prevention reduces the risk factors among youth who are vulnerable to being involved in serious violence and crime. These services are reserved for young people who are less likely to engage in primary prevention programs.

Intervention involves strategies and programs which directly engage young people who are at the highest risk of being victims or perpetrators of violence. Effective programs must support crime desistance and disengagement.

Victim Support to address direct and secondary exposure to gun violence.

Metro Impact Grants are open to non-profit organizations in good standing with the Metro Louisville Revenue Commission and the Secretary of State. We encourage organizations in the same neighborhoods to partner with each other. Building partnerships within communities can lead to more inclusive and impactful initiatives and can contribute to meaningful and sustainable collaborations.

Application Deadline: March 1, 2024

For more information on the Metro Impact Grant process and to access the application, visit the site below:

OSHN FY25 Youth Services Grants

The Louisville Free Public Library celebrates Black History Month with programs throughout February

This February, the Louisville Free Public Library (LFPL) is offering more than fifty free programs in celebration of Black History Month. Programs include book discussions, film screenings, history talks, storytimes, art activities, and more, designed to inform, inspire, and engage audiences of all ages.

At libraries around the city, a number of authors, professors, local experts, and performers will explore aspects of Black history often overlooked. The Main Library welcomes Peabody Award-winning journalist Michele Norris to discuss her newest book Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity on Friday, February 16 (7 p.m.). Her book draws on a narrative archive Norris founded using a simple prompt for people to reflect on race in only six words – a prompt that was answered by more than half a million people. This free event is presented by Carmichael’s Bookstore will feature Norris in-conversation with former Kentucky State Representative Charles Booker. Register online at www.LFPL.org/Authors, or call (502) 574-1623.

Local Black History is also front and center this year. On Tuesday, February 20 (6:30 p.m.) at the Main Library, UofL English professor Dr. David Anderson will examine the social contributions and literary legacies of three prominent Black educators in Louisville at the beginning of the twentieth century: Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr., Nannie Helen Burroughs, and George Marion McClellan. Register online at www.LFPL.org/MyLibraryU.

At South Central, Chautauqua performer Elizabeth Lawson will bring Charlotte Dupuy, the enslaved woman who sued Henry Clay for freedom, to life (Saturday, February 17, 2 p.m.).

Get moving in the Library with a special concert with The Ron Jones Quartet who will bring the music of Julian “Cannonball” Adderley to the Shawnee Library (Saturday, February 24, 1 p.m.).

February also marks the return of the Black History Month Film Series. Presented in partnership with UofL Health Sciences Center Office of Diversity and Inclusion, with support from Louisville Public Media and Lean Into Louisville, the series is held every Sunday in February at the Main Library and features thought-provoking and award-winning films, followed by discussions with university professors and local experts. The 2024 lineup features the film Maya Angelou – And Still I Rise, a double-bill of documentaries looking at Black health, The Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution and The Deadliest Disease in America, the new biographical drama Rustin, and the blockbuster hit Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. To register for this free series, visit www.LFPL.org/BHFilms. Teen Librarians have also programed a series of Black History films curated just for teens ages 13-19, screening every Wednesday night in the Teen Underground at the Main Library.

Black History Month at the Library has something for all ages, with special storytimes, craft sessions, and showcases for children and teens as well. Cartoonist Randy Gray gives a lesson on visual storytelling and how to make a comic book for kids in grades 3-6 (Monday, February 19, 2 p.m., register at [502] 964-3515).

For the complete list of LFPL’s Black History Month programs, please visit www.LFPL.org/BlackHistory.

Louisville Free Public Library’s 2024 Authors Series features bestsellers, NPR alums, a debut author… and Barbie!

Louisville Free Public Library is bringing six nationally renowned authors to the Main Library this season. The lineup features new fiction from two New York Times bestsellers, along with nonfiction from four award-winning journalists on topics as varied as race relations in America, the secret history of Barbie, the industry behind climbing Mt. Everest, and business advice for women.

Carmichael's Bookstore presents award-winning journalist and author Michele Norris in conversation with Charles Booker

Friday, February 16, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) • Main Library

Peabody Award-winning journalist Michele Norris will discuss her new book Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity in conversation with community leader Charles Booker. Former longtime co-host of NPR’s All Things Considered, Michele Norris is the founding director of The Race Card Project, a narrative archive that asks people around the world to share their reflections on identity—in just six words. In the twelve years since Norris first posed that question, over half a million people have submitted their stories. In this powerful book, she compiles those reflections and offers an honest, if sometimes uncomfortable, conversation about race and identity, permitting us to eavesdrop on deep-seated thoughts, private discussions, and long submerged memories.

Carmichael's Bookstore presents New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Makkai in conversation with Katy Yocom

Monday, February 26, 7 p.m. • Main Library

Award-winning author Rebecca Makkai will be joined onstage by Louisville writer Katy Yocom for a discussion of her New York Times bestselling mystery novel I Have Some Questions for You. Named a best book of 2023 by People, USA Today, and Real Simple, Makkai’s latest literary mystery follows the story of a podcaster who revisits the role she played in a flawed investigation from her past. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, Rebecca Makkai teaches at Northwestern University, and is the Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. Her 2018 book The Great Believers was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and was named one of the Ten Best Books of the year by the New York Times.

The Craig Buthod Author Series presents NPR correspondent Stacey Vanek Smith

Thursday, March 14, 7 p.m. • Main Library

From the NPR host of The Indicator and correspondent for Planet Money, Stacey Vanek Smith, Machiavelli for Women is a modern guide to how women can apply the principles of 16th-century philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli and Renaissance politics to their work lives to finally shatter the glass ceiling. With charm and wit, Smith uses Machiavelli’s book The Prince as a guide to demonstrate how women can unapologetically take and maintain power in careers where they have long been cast as second-best.

Cultural critic, investigative journalist, and first-generation Barbie owner M.G. Lord

Friday, April 12, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) • Main Library

Professor M.G. Lord’s book Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, uncovers the surprising story behind Barbie's smash success. In telling Barbie’s fascinating story, cultural critic and investigative journalist M.G. Lord—herself a first-generation Barbie owner—has written a provocative, zany, occasionally shocking book that will change how you look at the doll and the world. Lord is a professor at the University of Southern California and co-host of the podcast L.A. Made: The Barbie Tapes. She is also author of the family memoir Astro Turf, a cultural history of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the basis for L.A. Made: Blood, Sweat and Rockets, her 12-part podcast.

The Craig Buthod Author Series presents award-winning writer and journalist

Will Cockrell in conversation with Dr. Tori Murden McClure

Tuesday, April 23, 7 p.m. • Main Library

Will Cockrell has spent more than twenty years as a senior editor, writer, and consultant for national magazines including Men’s Journal, Outside, Men’s Fitness, and GQ. A former outdoor guide, Cockrell has covered Everest throughout his career. His debut book, Everest, Inc., is a vivid and authoritative adventure history chronicling one of the least likely industries on Earth. Featuring original interviews with mountain guides and climbers, Everest, Inc. tells the story of the entrepreneurs who paired raw courage and naked ambition with a new style of expedition planning. Many of them are still living and climbing today, and ninety percent of the people now on Everest are clients or employees of guided expeditions. Cockrell will be in conversation with adventurer, author, educator and Louisville legend Dr. Tori Murden McClure.

The Craig Buthod Author Series presents New York Times bestseller Craig Johnson

Thursday, May 16, 7 p.m. • Main Library

LFPL welcomes back Craig Johnson, bestselling author of the Walt Longmire mystery novel series, which is the basis for the hit Netflix original drama Longmire. Johnson comes to Louisville from his home in Ucross, Wyoming, population 26. The Longmire Defense, the 19^th title in the series, finds Walt Longmire struggling with his family history in Bighorn Mountains when he uncovers a cold case that hits very close to home and forces him to put his life on the line.

Book signings follow all author talks, with books available for purchase from Carmichael’s Bookstore. All Authors Series events are FREE, but registration is requested at www.LFPL.org/Authors or by calling (502) 574-1644.

Potholes! What to do?

Potholes are showing up everywhere! Why is that and how do they get fixed?

Potholes are caused by water seeping into the cracks of asphalt. This is caused by water getting into surface cracks caused by a weakened asphalt. Winter in the Metro Louisville area can be brutal with the constant amount of rain and snow that we have in the area. If the asphalt is already weakened, then the pothole is inevitable. Potholes are hard on our cars!

The good news? This is one of the easiest things to get fixed! How do you do that?

Report it! Be sure to give the exact location.

Report it by calling Metro311 or 574-5000 or complete a form online here.
You can also report by using the Metro Call App! The link to download the app can be found here.
You may also give our office a call at 502-574-1112 or email Heather.Blazis@louisvilleky.gov and we will submit it for you.

Don’t forget to write down and keep the 311 case number when you call. That gives us a way to track the process.

We have requested several pothole repairs in the last year and Public Works has done an amazing job of getting them fixed. Let’s make sure we continue to do that! Report it as soon as you see it! Let’s get them scheduled! Working together we will make sure that we take care of these as quickly as possible!

To report a pothole on an interstate in Jefferson County, go to the “contact us” dropdown menu and select “report a hazard” on KYTC’s website http://transportation.ky.gov or click here.

23-LANDSCAPE-0203

Project Location: 7299 Dixie Highway

Project Description: Scooter's Coffee #1593. A landscape plan for a Coffee Kiosk.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

LMPD IS LOOKING FOR CANDIDATES

WHO WANTS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

LMPDJobs.com

Below please find MSD's recently posted positions.

For position descriptions, pay information, and to apply please visit their website: http://www.louisvillemsd.org/Careers

Buyer II
GIS Analyst I/II/III/Sr.
Collections System Supervisor (Maintenance Supervisor)
Network Engineer II/III
Facilities Maintenance Technician
Health & Safety Program Manager
Maintenance Mechanic I/II/III

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