(KMN) Mayor Greenberg on the Government Shutdown, New Parks in Louisville, and More

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's here on
News Radio eight forty whas getting the eight o'clock hour started.
Appreciate you hanging out with us, starting your Friday with us.
We also appreciate Mayor Craig Greenberg who joins us. Now
I'll start, Hey, Nick, is.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It okay if I'm fueled by diet coke instead of
coffee on this morning and every morning?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Of course? And I'll let you know they've got plenty
of diet coke at the miny Thornton's locations in Kentucky,
and so that they do.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I've bought many a twenty On's dide coke at the
Thornton's locations.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Indeed, I love to hear it, love to hear. So
we're collectively fueled by Thornton's good stuff. So we'll start
with the government shut down. The impact here in Louisville.
I think a lot of folks who are just living
day to day, worried about their livelihood, their responsibilities, their jobs,
their children and whatnot. They don't really think about this
stuff until it potentially impacts them. Public services here in

(00:50):
Louisville could potentially be delayed halted, depending upon how long
this lasts.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Right, well, let me be clear about a few things here, Nick,
because while first of all, I don't think this shutdown
is at all necessary, and I think Washington, DC right
now is playing politics with people's lives because healthcare services,
food for seniors are all at risk in this government shutsdown,
which is totally unnecessary. So I hope they get this

(01:17):
resolved asap. Let me talk about a few things first
and foremost, here in Louisville, our local government is fully open,
we will stay open, and we are working hard to
make sure we address the impacts on this federal government
shutdown of anyone in Louisville. Your trash is still being
collected every day. Police officers, firefighters, ems all responding to calls.

(01:38):
Parks and libraries all fully open. So locally, our government
is open and will stay open. We are not shutting down. Secondly,
my team and I are looking for everything that we
can do to help support people who are impacted by this.
For example, people who might be laid off, even if
it's just a temporary layoff during the shutdown, might have

(02:00):
difficulty if this goes on, paying their LGNE, their water,
their MSD bills. We're working with all of those organizations
right now for some relief on timing of payment so
that no one's water gets shut down or electricity gets
turned off if they've been furloughed as a result of
the government shut down. And then there are people like seniors.

(02:20):
We have nine hundred seniors in our community whose last
food delivery was this week because of the cuts in
federal funding that we need to get restored, and so
we're looking vocally to see if there's a way that
we can help do that so that nine hundred seniors
who get meals delivered to them every week continue with
those deliveries. Nick, guys want to be very clear that

(02:40):
our city government is open, will stay open, and when
Washington shuts down, the federal government will stand up here
in Louisville.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
So whenever the shutdown does come to an end, is
it a rapid process as far as just getting everything
back up and running, because again, depending upon how long
it lasts, I mean, we could get to a point
and I don't know for there, just you did mention
something that is pretty urge. And as far as running
out of food for the folks who really need it,
but I guess if you're somebody that that is waiting

(03:07):
for that that that that that green light essentially that
things are back up and running, is there typically a
process that could you know, that could make it. You know,
they could delay.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
It, you know, every time it's it's different when this
has happened, and the longer it goes, the harder it
is to restart things. But in the past, the federal
government has been pretty quick about getting things restarted. Our
hope is that nobody has to go without needed services
at the federal level for too long. And I really
call on the President and Congress to work this out
to protect people's lives, to protect you know, to deal

(03:37):
with the healthcare crisis we have in this community as well,
in this time of rising costs for so many families.
We don't need the government federal government shut down. We
need to get that resolve.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Mary Greenberg's our guess, joining us here on news radio
eight forty w h As I know, Chief Humphrey has
has been the chief longer than just one year, but
I guess the official no longer interim tag it's been
a year now and he said something recent that I thought,
really it's a good way to quickly kind of summarize
the mindset of no finish line. Right You're going to
acknowledge crime statistics that are down because the community needs

(04:09):
and deserves to hear that. But also I think it
can only help build morale within the Louisville Metro Police Department.
But again, there's never going to be a scenario where
everything's done. You know, our work is done here, We're
just going to move on. What would you say from
your position as the mayor here, it just seems like
there's a lot there's there's there's good energy right now
within LMPD, And obviously I think that starts with leadership.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
It definitely does, And I'm thrilled with the fact with
Chief Humpany's leadership. I'm incredibly excited that I appointed him.
When I did, first his interim and then in permanent chief,
that was the year anniversary that we were celebrating of
his being you know, permanent on the job for a
year with his whole executive leadership team, and they are
we work closely together every day on making this city safer.

(04:54):
And he talked about what that progress has been like.
He said, there is no finish line, even though we're
making incredibly positive progress, we're not going to celebrate because
there's so much more work to do, and that's what
LMPD is focused on. The recruiting classes are getting bigger,
We're supporting the officers across the community in so many
different ways. We've provided historic raises and so I'm incredibly

(05:17):
proud of the partnership that we had a Chief Humphrey
and I have, and I'm incredibly proud of the work
that the LMPD officers are doing under his leadership. We
have a Safe Louisville Plan that also goes far beyond
policing on ways that we're working to reduce violent crime
in this community. It's working. We've got to keep doing more.
We've got to do it faster. That's what the city
expects and that's what Chief Humphrey and I are working

(05:38):
on every day.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
It was a big week for parks and libraries here
in town. I think for those who haven't checked out,
especially parks, I think there's a lot of parks that
maybe some folks just don't even realize are there, and
they're new and they're awesome. Tell us a little bit
about these new parks and what people should know about them.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Well, we opened actually two new brand new parks we've
officially opened this week. It was a great week for parks.
The first was the new Walnut Street Park that's just
just west about I'd say that's not about twelve Street
and on Walnut Street there over in the west end,
right just to the west of downtown. A great new
football field that the Cincinnati Bengals and the NFL Foundation

(06:16):
helped contribute towards the city. I spearheaded a lot of
the funds that are invested in that partnership with Louisville
Metro Housing. And it's also it's the first pickleball courts
that we've built west of Ninth Street. We're going to
build a lot more. These are the first who have opened,
and I'm credibly proud of that. And it's beautiful playground,
a spray ground, great shade bathroom. So I encourage people

(06:37):
to check out the new Walnut Street Park. And then
also the city contributed some funds to a new public
park right outside of the Speed Museum. They now have
an art park right there on as really as part
of u of L's campus. UFL students, the public can
enjoy it. They've got great art, great landscape, and a
great place for respite. So those were two new parks

(06:58):
that we opened up this week. We're going to continue
to invest in parks all across the community. I encourage
people to check out a new park this weekend with
if you're not going to the UFL game UFL football game,
go check out a park somewhere that you haven't been
to before. We've got so many amazing ones across the city.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
And some other things I think to keep in mind
this weekend. I will admit I've been in Louisville, the
area of my whole life, don't ever plan to leave,
and I'd never until last year experienced the Saint James
Court Arts and it is I mean just the visual
of it just it's beautiful, and I knew of it,
I just hadn't experienced it yet. It's one of the
many things that I wish I would have done sooner.

(07:33):
And this, of course isn't going to bring the type
of crowd that we had earlier last month with the
big music festivals, but there are people that make this
a priority to come to it, and it's been going
on for I believe nearly seventy years now.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
This is exactly right, Nick. I mean, this does draw
people from all across the country and world, just like
Bourbon and Beyond and Louder Than Life did. It's amazing
for the old Louisville community. It's amazing for our entire city.
We also have a relatively new art festival that also
has sprouted up at the same time called Afro as
an Artist. That's the Newton Health and Learning Facility in

(08:04):
the West End. That's a really great new festival that's
synergistic with what goes on at Saint James. But when
you think about a couple of weeks ago, we had
Louder than Life in a UFL football game the same day,
it's sort of a similar dynamic both Saint James Art
Festival and the nearby UFL football game going on at
the same time. So it's going to be a great
weekend for our entire city. Once again, so much to do.

(08:26):
We're gonna pull this one out too. UVA is coming
off a big win last weekend and we'll put them
back into their place.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, it's nice to have a game with some real
value there. You got a ranked team coming to town.
They've got the momentum, and it would be a nice
win to get Louisville in the top twenty five. And
of course you got set. You get set for the
big Miami matchup the following week, so hopefully they can
they can pick up where they left off with the
second half performance against Pittsburgh. I do you have one
more one more question for you, just because I'm curious here. Sure,

(08:54):
I've really enjoyed just just reading about how we are
cracking down here in Louisville on those who are copper
wire thieves. And again, I guess you wouldn't be able
to answer this, but to me, it seems like we
may be setting the example of how you can crack
down on this because we've had some really, really good
results and I've never had any clue just how much this.
You know, when people do this, it's not just them

(09:17):
going to depont it and make some money. I mean,
it's cracking down on it and stopping it is helping
this city as a whole, more so than I ever realized.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yes, we put together a task force because when I
learned about the extent of this issue when I first
became mayor, it was incredibly frustrating. It's really dangerous for
the community. You know, the street lights are out as
a result, on the highways, on other roads are telecommission
Telecommunications infrastructure is at risk as a result of this.

(09:45):
So we put together a task force with folks from
the private sector like AT and T, Spectrum and LG
and E. We also the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and then
of course Louisville Metro government led this initiative, working and
working with LMPD and ABC. People don't know this, but
ABC they're used to them dealing with bars and stuff.
They're very involved in this. We have a great task

(10:05):
for us and we've been getting results. We've been making
a lot of arrest. We've caught people in action that
we've been able to arrest in the process of stealing
copper wire. We've also done other investigations that have led
to arrest and we're going to keep finding those responsible
to put an end to this. It's dangerous and it's
got to stop, and it's hurt in our city.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Good stuff, Mayor Greenberg. As always, we appreciate your time.
We know you're a very busy man, so again, thank
you for that.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
In Joe my pleasure. Nick, I'll leave you with one
last thing here. I'm right in forty five minutes. I'm
getting ready. I know in the top of the hour
you were talking about Sheriff Aubrey's funeral yesterday. Over the
past couple of weeks we lost two great public servants,
and Bobby Holsquaw who was the longtime county clerk, and
then Sheriff Aubrey, who was laid to rest yesterday, the
longtime sheriff. At nine o'clock this morning, I'll be announcing

(10:54):
new appointments for both of those positions, which is my
responsibility under Kentucky law. So I'll be making those announce
months here just in about forty five minutes.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Nine o'clock. Looking forward to it. Thank you as always,
Mary Greenberg, take care and Nick, have a great weekend.
That's Mary Craig Greenberg, so again, coming to at nine o'clock.
Those are the announcements. We knew there was leadership announcements
set as far as what that is. Now we know
what they're going to be about, as far as what
it pertains to, and now we wait