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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
We have had one of the most snowy and rainy winters on record. The result is it has exposed issues with our existing snow route plan. I do want to differentiate between the hard work our Public Works team did to clear some of these record snows and the weaknesses in our plan. Our Public Works teams valiantly worked overnight for days at a stretch to get our roads back into shape. Where there were opportunities to improve things in my district, they were responsive to my requests. The problem is our current plan was clearly designed decades ago and doesn’t follow how traffic flows in 2025. The chair of the Public Works committee on Metro Council has already scheduled 3 hearings throughout this year to identify the issues, create a plan to fix them, and have them implemented by next year. I do believe that we can take the resources we have and be more efficient with them to ensure we are plowing the areas with the highest traffic first, etc.
This, of course, leads to a conversation on potholes. Tis the season for potholes and due to this weather, they are everywhere. First, I must continue to ask that you help us by reporting them as quickly as you can. You can report online, use X (former Twitter), or call 311. The following link has all of these reporting mechanisms outlined: Report a Pothole or other city services issue | LouisvilleKY.gov. Don’t assume someone else has done it. Please report all potholes. From there, public works will ‘cold patch’ them which is to say that they will put a temporary fix in until the weather can sustain more permanent fixes. Then, come Spring, the city embarks on the process of permanently fixing the potholes across the city. If you have cases where you have reported and after 3 days the pothole is not fixed, please let me office know and we will do our best to stay on top of this issue.
Mayor Greenberg recently publicly requested that the EPA rescind the reformulated gas standard in the greater Louisville area. I am elated that he has jumped on board this effort but I want to give credit where it is due. This issue has been fought for over 2 decades by many people including the original District 19 Councilman Hal Heiner to me just recently. In addition, many of our local state Senators and Representatives have fought this battle and brought attention to this issue for many years. I want to thank everyone who highlighted this issue over the years and I welcome the Mayor’s recent support. Reformulated gas has not shown any demonstrable difference in air quality for decades and I am glad we may finally be rid of this waste of taxpayer dollars through the higher gas prices we pay locally.
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