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.
