Mr. Mayor, if public safety is truly your top priority, then please sit down and listen to those who provide it...
Courtesy: The Courier-Journal
Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson said yesterday that public safety will be his priority this year, while also focusing on improving parks and affordable housing.
In his State of the City address to the Downtown Rotary Club at the Galt House, Abramson said metro government already has made a large investment in keeping residents safe.
The city, he said, has committed more money than ever to police; hired civilians to put more officers on street duty; improved police training; invested in new equipment, such as Tasers; and expanded community-based programs involving police and citizens.
He also pledged to consolidate all emergency medical services this year and implement by next year the MetroSafe system that will standardize emergency communications.
Abramson said he wants to develop a master plan for Metro Parks improvements and to make Louisville more "bike-friendly," in part by completing a bike path from far southwestern Jefferson County along the floodwall to the RiverWalk. The bike plan eventually would link with paths in Oldham County and across the old K&I Bridge from Portland to Southern Indiana.
Abramson said housing initiatives, including new housing for Newburg and Portland and the rebuilding of the Clarksdale public housing project, will continue.
He cautioned that the return on taxpayer investments in housing, economic development, education, neighborhoods and downtown might be long term, but urged residents to "hang in there."
He said Louisville is seeing the full benefit of investments dating to the late 1980s, including Waterfront Park, airport expansion and the UPS hub.
New Metro Council President Barbara Shanklin, D-2nd District, was one of four council members to hear the speech and had high praise for Abramson's remarks.
She said that the mayor outlined his goals clearly and that the council shares many of them.
Among the several hundred people attending was businessman Bill Stone, a former Jefferson County Republican chairman, who said he thought Abramson made an "excellent, comprehensive presentation."