Mayor Greenberg on Last Week's WorldFest, Crime Reduction, and More

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is eight oh six here on a Friday morning
on news radio eight forty whas at is coffee and
company with you Kentucky ad his morning news and we
are now joined by Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, who joins
us via phone. Good morning, Mayor Greenberg. How we doing
on a Friday morning?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Doing really well? Nick? Getting ready for a big Cards
football game tonight last weekend was great. Excited about that
and love hearing the good news that you guys are
sharing with your listeners and that news update. You see
the great work of Louisville firefighters. You see the great
work of our infrastructure task Force that is cracking down
on copper wire thieves. We got a lot of great
I've got a great colleagues at Louisville Metro Government on

(00:35):
I'm really proud.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Of no doubt about it, and glad that we can
certainly share those stories. And one of the things that
I will admit I talked a little bit earlier this week,
I did not realize just quite how big and this
was from last weekend, the World Festus. I mean, I
knew that it had been taking place here in Louisville
for some years I didn't realize it's twenty years plus
that it's been going on, and it seems as if
this this year's event was really successful and there's already

(00:58):
a lot of excitement for next Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
This is one of our biggest events of the year.
And we've in the last couple of years since I've
been mayor, we've really worked to improved the quality of
the event, make sure it's safe and clean and fun,
and that the quality of the entertainment is better, that
the food is wonderful. And we just hit a home
run this year. I mean, we had record breaking crowds,
record breaking sales for all the local vendors, which is wonderful.

(01:23):
You know, it was a great event that brings together
people from all across our community, really all across the world,
and it really is great entertainment and food. I'll give
you this is the best stat Nick you'll I know
you'll like this one. I think you've enjoyed a beer
or two in your life.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Maybe Normally, normally.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
At a world Fest weekend they go through about forty
five to sixty kegs of beer. This year they went
through ninety kegs of beer. I think that's a good sign.
That there were a lot of people there that were
able to enjoy themselves. Some of the vendors said they
did as much sales in one day as they typically
do in a whole weekend. So it was a wonderful event.
And we're gonna keep We're gonna create, keep expanding this event.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
I'll tell you what. That much being sold meets people
were having a good time.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
I can confirm.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I'm not sure the weather could have been much better either, right,
I mean that's that's you never really know what you're
going to get when it comes to mother nature. But yeah,
it was beautiful. I went out for the first time,
perfect days. And to tell you what, the it really
just is a is a nice reminder of all the
different cultures that do exist in this city. And I
just think it's one of those things. It's hard to
really to know that, but this event, of course, really

(02:24):
is a nice I mean and having kids be able
to see that, I mean, I just think it. Yeah,
I will admit.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Toughest decision you're going to have when you go is
which place do you eat at? Because there are so
many good.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Options exactly exactly, no doubt about that, all right, So
talk to me a little bit about this big news
earlier this week where there is a two million dollars
South End loan and Incentive fund where business owners can apply,
obviously trying to get some new restaurants local businesses in
the Dixie Highway area. Tell us a little about that.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
That's right. You know, over twenty years ago, Jeffson County
and Louisville City government merged and that's what Louisville Metro
Government is. And for a long time, folks that live
in the South End have understandably felt like the city
government wasn't paying attention to them. And I've been working
incredibly hard every day to try to change that with
lots of attention on the South End to help support
the unique needs that they have in their neighborhoods, whether

(03:17):
it's improving the parks along the river, improving Jefferson Memorial Forest,
but also bringing business businesses to the South End. And
so in the last budget, I put in three million
dollars that is dedicated just for economic development in the
South End, and so the first two million dollars that
we're doing, we're going to be providing incentives to bring
new businesses along the Dixie Highway Corridor. I've heard time

(03:40):
and time again from friends in the South that you know,
they want more restaurants, they want more retail. So typically
we have a lot of incentives to bring manufacturing companies
and to bring lots of other industries. There aren't many
state and local incentives though, to bring restaurants in retail.
We created a new program just for this, to help
our friends in the South send Louisville to help them

(04:01):
revitalize their neighborhoods. Also, I want everyone in Louisville to
be a feel part of our city.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
I tell you what, the South End one of the
many things I love about the South End. In fact,
South End people, this is the best compliment I can
give you. You absolutely love and embrace that you are
from the South End. I know a lot of people
in Louisville are proud of the pockets of this city
that they come from. But as someone who didn't really
get out to that area a whole lot growing up,
I know a lot of people and you know, they're
proud to be from there, and I'm sure they're appreciative

(04:27):
of this. And I mean, look, we've already got a
lot of great restaurants in this city. If we can
add some more out there, it'd be even better for everybody.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's right. That's what working on. And Rachel and I
have made so many great friends in the South End
and just wonderful neighborhoods, wonderful people. It's a great part
of our city and we want to support it, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
All Right, So we've got another update here as far
as a significant reduction in crime that we're seeing here
in Louisville in twenty twenty five. And obviously these numbers
don't don't point to hey, everything's okay. Obviously, it's a
continued process to try to make this city safer, and
you've made it quite clear that's been a big emphasis
for you as the mayor here of Louisville. But these numbers,
I mean, it's encouraging. It's not something that personally I

(05:04):
think should be just ignored. It's a sign that we
are making progress here.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
That's exactly what I said. It's definitely a great sign
of progress. So, yeah, homicides and in other shootings are
down over thirty percent this year. Carjackings are down, really,
all violent crimes are down significantly this year, and that's
thanks to the incredibly hard work of a lot of people.
Of course, Chief Humphrey and the entire team at LMPD
are doing wonderful work. We've got our Office of Violence

(05:29):
Prevention that's out in the streets doing violence prevention work
to stop it from happening in the first place. You know.
Another really good sign is our LMPD recruiting classes are
up for the first time in years. There was a
long time that people didn't want to join LMPD. Now,
thanks to our new leadership and thanks to some other
things that we've done to strength to provide more paid

(05:50):
to our officers, really all first responders. We've also given
historic raises to our firefighters and our paramedics, but we're
paying them better, we're supporting them, we're providing good training,
and so our recruiting classes are really high. And we
need that because we need several hundred more LMPD officers
to be out on the street working to prevent crime
before it even happens. So we're going to keep doubling

(06:10):
down on the things that are working. We're going to
work on adding new things. Just earlier this week, the
Chief and I and some members of our team, along
with the Office of Violence Prevention. We're out walking door
to door in the Russell neighborhood around where that horrible
school bus stop shooting happened a couple weeks ago, just
to let people know we're there, that we're focused on
their neighborhood. Hear what they had to say if there

(06:31):
were other things we could do to help make their
community even safer, and so we're going to keep doing
things everything we can think of.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Last question for you, I know we've got Bourbon and
Beyond coming up next week, and Bourbon and Beyond lived
life continue to just become I mean, it's one of
those one of the many events we have here in
Louisville every year that brings so many people from across
the country and really across the world. I know, you
know Danny Wimmerwell, and we are certainly glad that he
brings those two festivals here. There are a lot of
fun and certainly does so much for this city. But

(06:57):
I'm curious, have you been able to meet some of
the acts that of course are here taken in the event,
And I would just love to know and maybe maybe
maybe it's something you could do for us this year.
I would love to hear people who come and perform
in Louisville what they think of Louisville. Right, I'm always
happy to hear folks who come in they don't really
have an expectation, or maybe their expectation is not great
and they realize, hey, this city, this city's pretty awesome.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, so everyone is blown away. I mean, well, you know,
some of the acts they're traveling a lot and so
they don't really get to experience a ton of Louisville,
and others do spend a significant amount of time here
and they get to, you know, they really have some
time to enjoy the city. So I think it just depends.
Different people have different experiences. But the ones I've talked
to have absolutely loved it here. They love the Bourbon

(07:40):
experiences that they just love the hospitality that they've gotten
from people. And that's what Louisville is all about. We
are a wonderful hospitality town. We get to practice every
year with the Derby and now Bourbon and Beyond and
Louder than Life have made September as big as a
tourism month for Louisville as May is with the Derby
and Derby Festival. It is huge. I mean, the impact

(08:01):
on our city cannot be understated. What Bourbon and Beyond
and Louder than Life. Do you know there's a new
location now. They just moved to a different part of
the fairgrounds. They're going to be in the parking lot
in front of Freedom Hall. There, Kentucky Kingdom is going
to be open during Louder than Life so you can
be able to ride a roller coaster and listen. It's
truly Danny is reinventing and improving those festivals every year.

(08:24):
These are going to be amazing unlike ever before, and
next year he'll continue to grow and find ways to
continue to make them better. So I can't wait for
the entire community to enjoy those next weekend. In the
following weekend, and we also have a new race. I've
got my mayors on race series to get people out
and enjoy the community through really some fun race and

(08:44):
walk at five k events. And we have a Bourbon
and Beyond five k where you can actually be able
to run through Kentucky Kingdom, run through the festival grounds,
run right in front of the stage with some music,
so that that's Saturday morning of Bourbon and Beyond. I
hope people join us at at the Fairgrounds for that
good stuff.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Creig Greenberg joining us here. Thank you so much for
your time. Enjoy the weekend, Craig, and we'll talk soon,
my friend.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Thanks, Nick, have a great weekend, everybody. All right.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
That's Louisville may Or Craig Greenberg. I tell you what,
Bourbon and Beyond has led to so many people having
a reason to come to Louisville that may not have
had a reason before. And that's good for the city
to bring people in and obviously they're going to support
our businesses. It's just good for the economy. But you know,
maybe this is just the world I live in, but
I like to think that they realize, hey, this place

(09:29):
is pretty awesome. I'm going to come back next year
for Bourbon to be on, or maybe I should come
back whenever I've got more time to take in the
Louisville Slugger Museum or the Muhammad Ali Center. So getting
events that bring people who would never come here for
any other reason is only a chance to make an
impression and you know, make your city look good and
potentially grow the city. So yeah, I can tell you firsthand.

(09:49):
In recent years specifically, these two festivals have just become
such a big, big thing, not just here locally, but
I mean it's you know again, there's people that come
from across the world, and that's good for us here
in the city of Louisville.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Doubt