My Wish List for 2011

Now that the new year has arrived here is my wish list of things that I would like to see in Louisville.

1. I would like to see some sort of plan put in place for the revitalization of the West End. A good plan that addresses the needs of residents and has policies in place to rebuild neighborhoods and mom and pop businesses. Not the plan that calls for large portions of the West End to be demolished and turned into a business park or a light industrial wasteland.  That's part A. Part B would be to see some sort of government follow through. Louisville did a great job planning, designing, and building Park Duvalle. Then they dropped the ball when it came to small business attraction for the development. The city took forever to relocate businesses (causing one business to go out of business because the city took so long), and to get the grocery store that was promised when the development was first planned. When Park Duvalle finally got a grocery store it was a Save-a-lot. Not a Kroger, a Valumart, or even a Pic Pac. You build a middle class development and all you can get is Save-a-lot. We can do better. 

2. I want to see the city get serious about business development. Not just business attraction, but development. There is a lot of talent here in town, but it needs help. 

3. Stop the Bridges Project! This is a joke. We already have enough money to build the East End bridge. Build the East End bridge and spend the other $3.7 billion on something else. Why do we need to pay at least $3 in tolls when the states own study says the East End bridge would solve over 90% of our traffic congestion? The Bridges Authority has talked about tolling all existing bridges and Spaghetti Junction. That's just insane and a supreme waste of money. There are much better plans out there that would be much cheaper. Every other city in the country is trying to tear down expressways as they pass through downtown or our near their waterfronts. We want to cover our waterfront with even more concrete. That's just insane. What's even crazier is that traffic is declining not increasing. We need to stop this now!

4. Take the transportation money from the bridges fiasco and give us a modern mass transit system. 

5. Invest in our neighborhoods. Louisville is a city of neighborhoods, but in the past 8 years we haven't invested in them. If we are going to compete with our peer cities then we have invest in one of our greatest strength, our neighborhoods. 

6. Find a way to physically reconnect West Louisville to the rest of Louisville. Currently I-64 as it passes downtown and 9th street act like barriers. 

7. Get serious about the education of black kids in Louisville. The graduation rates of black kids in JCPS is a joke. Especially black males. We can do better. We have to do better.

I could go on and on, but I'm not. I feel that this is a good place to start. If we can just start on the things listed on this list I feel that Louisville can make great strides. 

A Streetcar Named Desire

I've been a long time advocate for modern mass transit in Louisville. I feel that having a robust mass transit system will not only help to spur economic development and investment along the transit corridors, but if planned correctly, could be used as a tool for economic re-development in some of Louisville's most impoverished areas.

Light rail has already proven to be a driver a growth.  Dallas started building it's light rail in 1996. in 5 years the 45 mile line has generated over $3.3 billion in private investment, 32,000 jobs, and 39-53% great growth in property value than elsewhere in the city (link). Rail has also been used as an re-development tool for some of the nations poorest areas. Portland's street car line has generated 7,200 housing units and 4.6 million square feet of commercial development in the Pearl District, which was once a blighted industrial part of town(link). I could go on and on.

When Louisville does decided to build a modern mass transit system I want it to be a world class system that benefits the entire city and region.  In order to do this we should plan an entire, cohesive system, that includes a street car line, a light rail line, and bus service. We will have to build one line at a time, but we should present it as a whole system. People need to see where we are going and how this system will benefit them.

We are in an unique position where we can be one of the first movers with respects to modern mass transit in the region. If we are Possibility City we need to make mass transit possible. 

 

Why Me?

I thought I would use my first blog post to explain why I decided to start a new blog. I currently write the Russell Neighborhood blog. That is a blog primarily focused on the Russell Neighborhood and is actually sponsored by C.A.R.R, the Concerned Association of Russell Residents. As you can imagine it has a somewhat narrow focus. I wanted an avenue where I could share a wider range of thoughts and ideas. Hence, the Urban Louisville blog.

There are a ton of blogs about Louisville, but unlike most of them, this will have a heavy focus on West Louisville. To my knowledge, the only other blog that has a focus on West Louisville (or Black folks in general) is the Russell Neighborhood blog. I wanted to write this blog, because somebody has to articulate the hopes, dreams, fears, problems, and solutions of the residents west of 9th street and to connect our struggle to that of the larger community. I also wanted to write this blog, because I have much that I want to share. I want to comment on things that not only affect my little part of Louisville, but all over, and this is the perfect vehicle.

So, on this Christmas morning, I hope you enjoy my little gift to you.