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We are excited to open the applications for the District 6 Advisory Council! Our vision includes constituents from across the district meeting with our office to discuss issues in their corner of District 6, as well as a central council. We will need a lot of volunteers to make this work so please get involved!
You can apply here and our office will contact you soon.
We had a tremendous response and a lot of kind words from our constituents about the revival of the newsletter. We want to keep that momentum going so please continue to share with your neighbors and family! Here's the signup link again:
https://louisvilleky.gov/government/metro-council-district-6/subscribe-stay-informed
Update from the Louisville Water Company
 The next phase of the Louisville Water Company's Oak Street project begins this week. The intersection at Oak and Brook Street is expected to be closed for 5-6 weeks while LWC replaces a 130-year old water main. Please consult this map for detours and local access.
More information can be found here: https://louisvillewater.com/oakstreetproject/
Belvedere Community Engagement Sessions
 The city is looking to reshape the Belvedere and wants your input to shape its future! Share your ideas at one of the upcoming community engagement sessions. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/o/louisville-metro-government-office-of-the-mayor-104547689601
Inclement Weather Warming Centers
 A Night of Remembrance for Victims of Gun Violence
 Algonquin Anti-Violence Coalition
Algonquin AVC meets January 21 at 5:30pm. Location: Lampkins CME Chapel Church, 2738 Algonquin Pkwy.
Germantown-Paristown Neighborhood Association
GPNA has public meetings on the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:00 PM at the Hope Mills Building, located at 1000 Swan Street.
Limerick Neighborhood Association
Meetings on the third Wednesday of the every month at 7:00 PM Location: Noble Funk Brewery - 922. S. 2nd St.
Meriwether-Fort Hill Neighborhood Association
Monthly Meetings held at The Bard's Town - 511 E Burnett Ave at 6:30 p.m. on the 2nd Wednesday
Old Louisville Neighborhood Council
OLNC meets on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 7pm. Location: the Historic Old Louisville Visitors Center (1340 S 4th Street)
Paristown Pointe Neighborhood Association
Board of Directors elections are on January 27 at 6 PM at The Cafe on the third floor
Shelby Park Neighborhood Association
SPNA members meet most months on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. Location: Shelby Park Community Center (600 E. Oak Street)
Taylor Berry Neighborhood Association
Meetings held on the 1st Tuesday of the month (except August) at 6 pm at the South Louisville Community Center (2911 Taylor Boulevard).
We would like to include every D6 neighborhood association with public meetings in our newsletter so people can get involved. If your association is not listed and wants to be, please send this information to our office and we will make sure you are included.
Our office now has an Instagram which we will use for occasional updates. Follow us at @councilmanjplyninger
I have received my committee assignments! I’d like to provide an overview of the committees I’ll be serving on, a little background on the committees of the Metro Council and the process of how their membership are determined. I’d also like to share for transparency the reasoning behind the committee requests I made, as well as a decision I made to accept a request to swap one of the committees I was originally assigned to and why.
I will be serving on the following committees:
The Ad-Hoc Committee on Efficiencies of Boards and Commissions, a new committee this term which will be tasked to conduct a comprehensive review of all Metro Government Boards and Commissions, assessing their purpose, identifying conflicts of interest, and recommending new legislation to ensure compliance. The Ad-Hoc Committee will meet every other Wednesday at 5:00 PM.
Budget, which holds hearings in May & June to review the proposed budget, and author the amendments. The Budget Committee also reviews all budget amendments made during the fiscal year. This committee will meet every other Tuesday at 4:30 PM
Government Oversight, Audit & Appointments, which reviews Mayoral appointments to the various boards & commissions, has direct investigative oversight of governmental departments in the Mayor’s administration & quasi-governmental agencies like TARC, PARC & MSD, and guides the Internal Auditor to study departments and the processes of Metro Government. By the Kentucky statutes that created Louisville Metro Government in merger, this committee is required to exist and has subpoena power.
Parks & Sustainability, which approves Federal & State grants improving Metro Parks and has oversight of Metro Parks (which includes our Community Centers).
While every member of the Metro Council has the right to speak at every committee meeting, we only make motions and vote on the ones we’ve been assigned to. When the Council reorganizes following an election, the Council elects a member to serve as President. The President decides which committees there will be, how many members of the council will serve on each committee, and appoints new committee chairs and vice-chairs. Members of the Metro Council make requests of which committees they’d like to serve on to the Majority and Minority Caucus Chairs for the members of their respective caucuses.
I was asked to request three committees, so I asked for Budget; Equity, Community Affairs, Housing, Health, & Education; and Parks & Sustainability. I also let Majority Caucus Leader Councilwoman Tammy Hawkins (D1) know that I was willing to be on a fourth committee as I am serving District 6 full time. I was originally assigned to the Ad-Hoc Committee on Boards; Appropriations; Budget; and Parks & Sustainability, but I was asked by Councilwoman Dr. Barbara Shanklin (D2) if I would be willing to trade Appropriations for Government Oversight, Audits & Appointments, which I agreed to.
I requested Budget because I made it clear when I campaigned for this seat that I believe many of the problems we face as a city stem from our annual budget and what does and does not receive funding. The budget, as I frequently point out, is a moral and political document that is an annual test of our priorities and principles as a city. I believe our city fails that test every year by inadequately funding public services essential to the working class like the Louisville Public Library & TARC and critical social services like public wellness and addiction counseling and treatment. Our budgets have badly neglected the things we know actually address the root causes of crime and violence like youth services, while more than doubling what we spend on policing and incarceration since merger—a policy which after more than twenty years has failed to produce a safer city.
I requested Equity, Community Affairs, Housing, Health & Education because many of the issues that District 6 residents told me they are most concerned about relate to this committee. Our District has many needs around housing, including a pressing need for affordable housing. A majority of the people I represent in our District are renters, and we need much stronger protections and support for tenants, especially as the eviction rate in District 6 is alarmingly high. We also have a lot of needs relating to equity and health, chiefly the fact that the majority of our District is a food desert without access to fresh food. I was disappointed to not receive an assignment to this committee, but I will still pursue legislation to meet the needs of the working class people of our District and throughout Louisville that will originate from this committee.
I requested Parks & Sustainability primarily because of my well-known interest in protecting and preserving the environment. We need to make sure that the city of Louisville is doing everything we can to halt and reverse climate change. A priority I have this term is to begin exploring the people of Louisville taking democratic control of LG&E. This is a process that is outlined in state law, but it will take a lot of organizing work over a number of years to become a reality. This needed change won’t come tomorrow, so we must begin as soon as we can. Besides my love for our parks in District 6 and across the city, I also believe we have a critical need to expand the youth and senior services at our community centers.
Finally, Councilwoman Dr. Shanklin requested I trade Appropriations for Government Oversight, Audits & Appointments for scheduling reasons, and I was happy to accommodate her. I agreed because it was not a scheduling problem for me, and Government Oversight, Audits & Appointments is one with a broad mandate to oversee the operations of Metro Government and to protect the public interest.
As I mentioned above, these committee assignment requests are made to the Majority and Minority Caucus Chairs. By law, the Majority and Minority Caucuses are defined as the two largest political parties represented on Metro Council, which today are the Democratic and Republican Parties. While the law allows for more political party caucuses, only the two largest can hire staff and have legal right to participation in committee assignment. With non-partisan elections for Louisville Metro Council and Mayor going forward, how this sorting will work for the next class of new councilmembers is unclear.
Solidarity,
Councilman JP Lyninger
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