West Broadway Cruising...Time To Stop The Madness

"The monetary cost for this out of control, Non-derby sanctioned event"

- Oh but it IS a derby sanctioned event!! It is the 'west louisville family fun fest', and it is an OFFICIAL ky derby festival event.

'They are just looking to have a good time' -so...'a good time' means breaking almost every KRS and city ordinance on the books?

I got sick from inhaling all the marijuana smoke coming from the walkers and the cars as they went by me. I don't remember anybody smoking dope and shooting each other at the mini marathon, or the balloon glow, or the run for the rose... or any other 'family fun fest'.

Enough is enough. Time to stand up Jer and do the right thing.

Mayor for Life has decided he will look into it and talk to merchants. council people and the public and get back with an answer within 6 months. BALONEY we all know he is buying time so it will all blow over and be old news. Same CRAP different day with him. Jerry you spineless thing u need to listen to your police chief and shut down the cruising and the other crap on Broadway before it turns into a riot and you can't control it. Let the PUNKS and OUTLAWS from other states find them a new place to gather or MAYOR do you think it is alright.? If nothing is done you can bet this will be a hot issue when u run again. If I were on the police dept I would refuse to work that area during the Derby.

what I don't understand is why the "REAL" calls for service for the cruising have not been posted or given to the news agencies. They keep on reporting only one death and 3 to 6 shootings. HELL the trouble actually started on thursday night after the parade. A man got shot in his car not to far from broadway and another man was killed. OH I FORGOT if it didnot happen on broadway it doesn't count. Check with university hospital and the other hospitals on how many shooting, stabbing and assault victims they saw during this event. It is the only derby event that someone will die at every year and it is sanctioned.

Metro goverment needs to put an end to this just as other communities have done. Get the State Police to assist us next year and put this to an end before one of our own is killed due to the long hours, lack of manpower and just stupidity of the goverment to allow this to happen.

What about all the gang rapes that were investigated in the west end this weekend? How come they're failing to mention those?

An open letter to Mayor Abramson:

I am not a police officer but I for work for the city.

I'd like to share with you an experience I had this weekend with the so called West Broadway Cruising.

The early hours of Sunday morning working my THIRD 16 hour day I went to get coffee at the Shell Gas Station at First and Jefferson. I'm thinking the cruising is over on Broadway; surely I'll be able to grab some coffee with no problem. I was mistaken.

When I got to the gas station, it was filled with cars. I didn't see how bad it was until I had already started to turn in. I couldn't get out and it was bumper to bumper. The music was so loud my entire car vibrated. People were looking inside my car and at me; made me feel intimidated. I called where I work to let them know where I was and that I'd be longer than I expected. Roughly a minute after I get off the phone, Officers from LMPD, Corrections and JCSO are clearing the lot. As this is happening a man from the SUV parked beside me HITS my driver side window with his fist, scaring me to death. When I turned to look he screamed at me, "F...ing B..ch!!" I can only assume he thought *I* was the one that called the police to ruin his "family fun" at the GAS STATION.

The officers were on the other side of the parking lot. There was no way to get their attention and I sure wasn't going to get out my car. I was not going to end up shot or stabbed like others this past weekend. I stayed in my car hoping they would just leave and they did. Donâ??t you dare say the officers should have done something. How can they???? Spread thin and working more hours than any person should in such a short amount of time is ridiculous. Staff shortages play a major roll in that; however that is a different topic all together.

Thanks to the â??party goerâ?, my window can't be opened. I guess that overtime money I made can pay for that. Thanks.

Hear me when I say this Mayor. The cruising on Broadway is NOT a family event. Are you trying to tell me that Family Events start in the early afternoon and continue to the early morning hours; 4:30 AM to be exact? Do they happen at gas stations? People hanging out of their cars, drinking and yelling is a family event? Destroying property, hurting people and taking lives is what you get with this so called event.

If you let this continue, we can expect Cruising on Broadway to turn into Devilâ??s Night like they have in Detroit.

Perhaps this has already happened.

I think all of the ofcs that did not work the actual broadway detail should report how many arrests they made so we can get a more accurate account of how many problems we had. I know my partner and I made around 25-30 arrests and cited countless others that would have been arrested on a slower night. We took 4 guns off the street and made numerous dope arrests. I personally saw atleast 12 other guns taken away from thugs this weekend. This "Derby Event" is nothing more than an opportunity for out of town THUGS to come to our town and destroy our quality of life. This event is out of control. Most people we dealt with were from out of town and they acted as if we had no right to question why they were breaking the law.

Everyone please report how many arrests you made and how many guns you confiscated. Lets see how bad it REALLY was.

2d

I am honestly curious how anyone like chris 2stupid can say the cruising is a good tradition and needs to be continued. If he considers public drug use, rape, assault, property destruction, and loud noise that infringes on other peoples rights to be fun then I would hate to see one of his family reunions. Some people say there isn't diversity in the music performances, parade entries and other activities so they use the cruising to celebrate Derby. Well, if this is the case, let them pay for something different and legal, don't expect everyone else to provide them with entertainment and look the other way when they decide to do anything wrong. Whoops, that would mean they would have to commit some of their precious personal time and and their own money do something productive. This pathetic public display of rebelion needs to be stopped.......War Wagon

There are a couple of points I would like to make:

First, within the last month various media channels had special news reports on shop owners in malls selling couterfeit purses and other merchandise. The shop owners were ridiculed, put on camera and asked why they were selling these items. Now, last weekend starting with Thursday, some of the venders on Broadway were on camera boasting about their counterfeit items. Even the patrons walking around thought it was great that they could buy these "fake" items. So why was it ok for the venders of West Broadway to sell counterfeit items and the shop owners in the malls and West Broadway businesses that are here local putting into our economy everyday scrutinized for doing the same thing. Permits were granted and signed by officials of our community to allow this counterfeiting to happen in the first place which had promoted hidden and obvious crime issues resulting in murders. Look in the past five to eight years remember we had a homicide occur on Broadway at a car wash were there was a serious wound inflicted to the victims head on a lot which was crowded with Derby revelers and when police came to investigate absolutely no one seen a thing. So this is not something that just happened this year. We have had numerous shootings on Broadway, during Derby activities and multiple violent crimes. This year just happened to be the year were we had a murder on Broadway but there were other murders and serious violent crimes surrounding the area of Broadway.Our commuinty is pushing the philosophy of C. O.P. but whenever a crime occurs, those who police do not get the involvement of the community. Blame is always placed on mental illness, childhood illness or the "Police". We ALL need to unite as a community to resolve this conflict before it gets out of hand and results in a civil disturbance that may cost us billions of dollars and a great deal of embarrassment. Seems like the only time the murder and serious crimes were mention was Sunday evening when a majority of the visitors were preparing to leave town. Why is that? Could it be that economic issues concerning Derby weighs heavier in the minds of our leaders than the human issues?

Secondly, the Westend supporters of cruising wants this to continue. But is there not presently an ordinance that makes cruising a violation of the law? If we do have an ordinance on cruising does it make an exception for Derby events? Or are we making our own exceptions? Not only is there an issue with cruising on Broadway, that last the entire summer on weekends, but there is cruising on Preston Hwy in Okolona and Dixie Hwy. Which has taxpayers having to pay overtime to law enforcement to handle the various issues that are associated with cruising and any violent crimes that come with it. As you can see I am not trying to make this a racial issue (althought there will be those in the community who will)this is in fact, a citizen taxpayers issue.

"Police are instructed to overlook minor criminal activity, activity that would get you arrested on any other day or in any other part of town."

How can the local public officials tell the police to NOT enforce STATE LAWS. I can understand local ordinances, but not the laws of a higher authority. For that matter, I would consider laws not being enforced as a violation of the Civil and Constitutional Rights of law abiding citizens. Maybe those of us in the community could band together and present this as such to the state and federal authorities. Maybe even prosecute said officials for conspiracy or for violation of civil rights under color of authority? Anyone have any suggestions on how this could get started?

How does the media get the numbers of only 4 shootings?? there were 13!!! YES 13 shootings, and 4 deaths!!! On Broadway!!

A relative of one of the people killed in the West End during the Broadway fiasco was entirely correct when she told Channel 11 that the police should have been patrolling the streets instead of everyone watching Broadway. The Abramson administration has written off policing in the west end because they don't think the people there want or like police doing anything. They view people like Louis Coleman as the voice of the West End. All they care about are guarding their special events and keeping the big mouths quiet. The Abramson administration has succeeded in giving Louisville all of the big city problems. Too bad they've failed miserably to get any jobs here. Jerry, time for you to retire and go roam the parks for boyfriends.

It is actually worse than that. The very adminstration that makes its officers take diversity classes and accuses its officers of racial profiling actually believes that this is just how black people behave. Two years ago the major over a prodominately black in the south central metro area was informed of a pattern of criminal activity that indicated that violent crime would increase dramactically. Officers, detectives and sergeants repeated sounded the alarm and told him something must be done. His reply, "Thats just how those people are." The shootings and murders increased. The major responded by blaming his subordinates and then forming a task force. The chief was informed of what happened, but the major is still a major. Now we see the same thing with West Broadway cruising. Lt. Col. Turner, who approved last week-ends plan and was the on scene commander and has a past history of letting people get hurt a big events like Thunder, is still a Lt. Col. Why? How can this man still show his face? Has he no shame? What about the accountability Chief White has promised for those who don't get the job done?

The truth is that as long as its only poor blacks being killed, the Mayor and his business partners don't care. And if the Mayor doesn't care, Hamilton and White won't care. Don't let a press conference about a six month study about maybe doing something fool you.

There are two reason the Mayor is talking about shutting down West Broadway Cruising.

One, business was way down at Fourth Street Live. The investers were very upset when they didn't make what they thought they would. People were either scared to come downtown, or they couldn't get through traffic. The mayor has to reassure his business partners and others that helped get him elected. He did this before when he used the police and metro inspections to harass the Bardstown Road and Baxter Ave bars and chase their patrons down to Fourth Street.

Two, the Mayor knew that this would be a political hot potato and that his opponent in next years election would use this against him. He is just trying to slow Kelly Downard's momentum. The mayor beleives that if he shuts down West Broadway, he will lose the west end vote, so cruising will not end. Next year officers will be told to enforce laws, but will be punished if they have to use force to make an arrest. He will try and use allegations of police abuse at next years west broadway cruising to bring back all those disafected democrats who are willing to vote republican for a change. And at the same time he will try and win votes by saying he's tough on crime. We need to be aware of these and other games Abramson is playing and have a plan to counter.

The citizens of Metro Louisville deserve better than what they are getting from Abramson. Its time to boot him out.

I wholeheartedly agree with NoBoomers, IT'S THE NOISE! Noise is the language of the thugs and the hooligans. Quiet the noise and you quiet the crime. Look, either we accept the proposition that we desire an orderly and civil place to work, study, pray, play, raise our families etc. or we are lost as a society. It's Lord of the Flies redux.

Those who can't conform to the basic rules of the social contract, based on mutual respect, do not deserve a place in that society. They deserve to be caged, like rabid dogs. Get the loud cars OFF the streets of Louisville and you will see a precipitous decline in street crime.

Punish the noise terrorists by imposing a $500 fine fpr the first noise offense, $1000 for the second offense. In San Diego the peace officer is given full discretion to remove the offending noise equipment ON THE SPOT or impound the vehicle if he cannot easily remove it.

We need to restore law and order to Louisville. Ending noise terrorism is the most cost-effective way to do this.

My two cents.

Drake

Let's make a plan. Next year we will divert the traffic from Broadway onto Fourth Street. Right thru the middle of all the bars, it shouldn't be a problem because according to the politicians it is just wholesome family fun, right! If that doesn't work we will divert it in to the Mayor's neighborhood. If he wants this crap to continue because he is araid of losing votes then let's put it in his front yard.

After listening to some speakers last night, I've come to the conclussion that we have some real idiots walking the face of this fine, green Earth and that they are just wasting air. One kept saying that cruising is just an emotional outlet that the cruisers deserve, another said they didn't have anything else to do and the cruising was a way for them to get together without causing any serious problems. When asked why they "deserved" an emotional outlet, idiot #1 replied there wasn't anything else for them to do without spending a lot of money. When I asked how much they spent on gas, drugs, sound systems and booze and was told I was just trying to find ways to make the cruisers look bad. Of course I told him I didn't need to make them look bad, they did that all by themselves. Idiot #2 interupted real quick and asked why I was against the cruising so much, he again said they didn't cause any serious problems. The gentleman with me asked what #2 considered "serious problems" when murder, assault with deadly weapons, simple assault, open drug sales, intimidation, destruction of property all took place. That kind of flustered both speakers and everyone standing around listening started laughing at them. We just watched them both while they talked to each other and kept saying we just didn't understand and talking about how we kept "trying to oppress the people of the west end." I was ********** off enough by then and told him I do understand, I work with Boy Scouts, my wife works with a Girl Scout troop and we have seen people inviting youth all over to join and are told they have no interest in doing things like that. A lady sitting with us told them she was with Girl Scouts and had been told the same thing. Others brought up activities like little league and soccer that are always recruiting and were told that didn't interest people everywhere. I'm very hard headed and it took awhile but I finally realized that no matter what we said, both idiots were closed to any suggestions and I got fed up and left. I noticed that almost everyone else did, too.......War Wagon

What the FOP needs is to broadcast it's own TV show on public access. Get some volunteer civilians and retirees to help with the show, and have them tape all the lawlessness and report on the idiocy going on in the courts, City Hall, and Headquarters. Have a 30-minute segment every week and show it every day right after the evening news is over on cable public access, and stream it from the web. The FOP has to get its message out to the people about how poorly this Mayor has served the City, and how his private business deals have led to the LMPD being a glorified security guard service, while murderers, drug dealers, rapists and armed robbers roam the streets.

When is the last time LMPD/LPD really looked at how they are handling the situation? I see "tweaking" of the plan every year, and every year, it keeps getting worse.

Why wasn't Metro Corrections out there, for example? If they need force multipliers - use what you have? At the least, have them picking up prisoners, to free up officers to make arrests, staffing a holding facility. The arrests are there to be made ... I assume the National Guard isn't there any more because of the Iraq war.

Why are the deputy sheriffs out there any more? LMPD is letting deputies come to their ins-service, what are they getting in exchange? They took money that the City thought was owed to them - and they are giving the sheriff's office even more by allowing them to attend classes with them - when the SO does have an option ....

I live in Middletown, and there are NO DERBY EVENTS for me in the east end! I propose, nay, I DEMAND- Shelbyville road is to be closed from Blakenbaker to I-265, I have a vendor's market set up in the street, a stage with live bands on it, and I MUST be allowed to smoke weed or do meth (my choice), drink, and drive up and down Shelbyville road. I also MUST be allowed to walk on the street drinking from an open alcohol container, being obviously drunk, and I MUST be able to do all this WITHOUT reprisal from the police!! This is MY RIGHT! I should have something to do for derby, too!

The only way to "end the madness" is to remove the mayor who is a big part of he problem, and not part of the solution.

The fact that Abramson allowed hooligans to flaunt the laws is easily an impeachable offense.

To those who are schooled in local law, how can a mayor, guilty of gross negligence and malfeasance of office, be removed by citizens? Let's start the process.

What Abramson fears most is the rest of the nation finding out the truth, that he is a disaster for Louisville and has opened up the gates of hell in our city. A citizens' movement to get rid of this destructive leech will go quite far in changing things around here.

Senson

Has anyone heard what grade we got this year for the Cruising Festival? Just wondering.

So it is truely a "community event" lets start the cruising on west Broadway, go thru downtown onto River Road to the east end. Once at the east end they can jump on the expressway to go back to the west side to start over. I think this tradition needs to be experienced by everyone as we one since the merger. Then next year, after everyone from renters to million $$$ houses, we can talk about what we need to do.