8.11: State Representatives Jared Bauman & Susan Witten + Mayor Craig Greenberg

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, from what we understand, mister Langford will be
before Judge Jessica Green today or.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
We've him an award or something.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
It's too officially.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Is she gonna give him the key to the city
or something initially.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Now officially revoke his parole or a shock probation.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Citizen of the Year award or you know.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
News radio eight forty whchance we're bought you by the
Kentucky Office of Highway Safety. Please buckle up and put
the phone down.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
I kind of like to come in on money to
have fun. That hasn't been the case today. We got
to be serious. If you don't know what events are
going on, you must be under a rock.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
There was a nineteen There was a criminal that was
let loose nineteen violent charges against him and then holds
a mother and her children hostage. There's also more brutality
along with that. I spoke with the husband and the father.
I'm not going to release any details unless they want
it out there, but absolutely terrified. This poor woman and

(01:03):
her children. They're probably scarred for life. Shouldn't have never happened.
This story comes complements of the decision of Judge Jessica
Green he had a fourteen year sentence. Fourteen year sentence,
and he's got a violent criminal history, but yet Judge

(01:24):
Jessica green Shock probating five months in. Thank god, Frankfurt
has put failsafes stop gaps in for this. It's called
the Safer Kentucky Act. The bad news is Safer Kentucky
Act was not in effect when he was sentenced. I
bring in two of the authors of the Safer Kentucky Act,

(01:46):
Jared Bauman to my left, and of course Susan Tyler
went in to my right. First of all, good morning
to you both.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
Good morning guys, good morning, pleasure.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
To be here. All right, to you first, Jason Jason, Sorry,
Jason Neimos was supposed to be here, but he's ghosting.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
He's got a doctor's appointments.

Speaker 5 (02:02):
Hopefully he'll call in.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Call in, Jason Nemus. If you're listening, we just texted
you hotlight, Jared Baum, and listen. This was an important
bill to you. And there was a lot of chatter
and a lot of bs trying to prevent this bill
from happening. Thank god, people with common sense in the
General Assembly, meaning the House members and sen had voted
to pass this through. Why was this bill so important

(02:25):
to you?

Speaker 6 (02:27):
Well, Dwight, thank you for having me on today and
thanks for the question. I'm deeply saddened by what happened
last week in our community, but events like that are
exactly why the General Assembly went to work on the
crime issue in our state, and more specifically for US
legislators from Louisville. We wanted to deliver for the people
who kept coming to the table and telling us that

(02:49):
crime is out of control. We're looking at the reports,
we're trending in the wrong direction. We have to do
something to get a hold of the violence issue in
our community. So we rolled up our sleeves and worked
very hard for well a year to deliver comprehensive criminal
justice reform, updating statutes that in some cases hadn't been
touched in over fifty years, to ensure that we hold criminals,

(03:11):
especially violent criminals, accountable, commiserate with their actions. So ensuring that,
for example, violent criminals, those that perpetrate violence against our
innocent neighbors are going to serve now eighty five percent
of their sentence if they're convicted of a violent felony.
This would have ensured that mister Langfort stayed behind bars

(03:32):
had he been sentenced prior or excuse me, post house
built five. But listen, the fact of the matter is
we shouldn't need House Built five to ensure that we
keep violent criminals behind bars. Our judges in Jefferson County
should be able to make common sense decisions as it
relates to releasing violent repeat offenders into our community, and

(03:53):
so they can no longer abdicate their responsibility to help
keep our community safe. We have three branches of government,
two of them are working really hard on this issue.
I'll tell you it is nothing short of extraordinary that
the General Assembly was able to deliver the Safer Kentucky
Act for our community. Nobody thought we could get that

(04:13):
bill done, all right, So that was extraordinary and it
is extraordinary. Make no mistake about it that we have
someone with the virtue and talent of mister Paul Humphrey
leading LMPD after the years of scandal that that department
has been through. So thank you, mister Humphrey for stepping
up and helping lead our community. So the law is
not the problem. Enforcement is not the problem. The judiciary

(04:35):
is the problem, period, and we have to get control of.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
This Susan, it happened in your district, people questioned, even
some news people that said the so called Safer Kentucky Act,
but this gives you a vindication, just to Tadbit, and
it's sad that it's in your district there's something like this.

Speaker 7 (04:54):
It should remind everyone in my district is East End,
Jefferson County, up and down Herstborn Lane, Shelbyville Road. So
anyone that thinks for a second that this is a
zip code problem, that this that that these violent criminals
will not hesitate to go into your neighborhood to do this,

(05:17):
think again, because they are everywhere that they've been stealing
cars and in in every neighborhood for years and and
what happened on Friday just shows what they're capable of.

Speaker 5 (05:30):
So it is no surprise.

Speaker 7 (05:32):
It was no surprise that mister Langford would commit another crime.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Nobody should be shocked when you look at his record.
Nobody should be shocked that this piece of trash right.

Speaker 7 (05:42):
Releasing a career violent criminal five months into a fourteen
year sentence unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
And now how does that, how does that part of
the Safer Kentucky ACKs stop this? Like at what point
in that course she this would not have been he would.

Speaker 5 (05:59):
Have now assuming that the judges follow.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah. Yeah, that's another thing that's a precuration.

Speaker 7 (06:05):
It resolves it because it prevents judges from releasing a
violent criminal prior to him serving at least eighty five
percent of his sentence. There are certain things that are
considered violent crimes.

Speaker 6 (06:20):
Which was also updated sooner, which was also up safe
for Kentucky because it hadn't been touched because.

Speaker 7 (06:26):
I believe like kidnap was it kidnapp it? Robbery in
the second degree wasn't a violent crime before.

Speaker 6 (06:31):
House Bill follow even attempted murder.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Attempted murder was not car Jackie.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
I don't think there wasn't a statue for carjacks.

Speaker 5 (06:38):
It wasn't a statue for Carjackie.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
So this wouldn't have been on the table for Jessica
Green to give him shock probation. Like the prosecutor says,
you can't do that or could she have done it?
Anyway you're saying, if they use it, what do you
mean if they use it.

Speaker 7 (06:51):
As as a as a violent crime that that Housebill
five makes eighty five percent, she.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Would have to not premend sentencing.

Speaker 6 (07:02):
So eighty five percent is mandatory for anyone convicted of
a Class B felony in the state of Kentucky. They're
going to serve eighty five percent of their sentence behind bars.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
At minimum.

Speaker 6 (07:12):
These sentences typically carry ten year minimum, so we're talking
eight and a half years behind bars. So this individual,
this career criminal, would not have been out until at
least twenty thirty three. And so yeah, there's the impact, right,
because these folks are not in our communities to reoffend.
And there's a lot of love in House Bill five
to two. It's not all a big stick. So we've
got some provisions in there to help ensure that we

(07:34):
rehabilitate and rebuild people because, whether we like it or not,
ninety nine percent of the people that go into incarceration
come out and we have to help those people because
we want those people to be constructive members of our
community when they re enter. And so there's some love
in the Safer Kentucky Act as well.

Speaker 7 (07:51):
And it seems like our judges look at prison or
incarceration as completely rehabilitation, right. No, it is a penalty
for what you have done, not purely rehabilitation. And I
think that our judges it's toxic empathy. They seem to
care so much for the criminal that they don't even

(08:15):
think about the victim. Why I said that, it is
completely on its head. It is completely it has completely
gone upside down.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Why I said that earlier because and I promise you
this talking point will come out on this, whether it
be the Hall of Justice or the judge or another judge. Well,
we don't have a crystal ball, we would be my
point exactly. If you don't have a crystal ball, how
about Hall of Justice? How about counting Attorney's office? How
about judges just one time, one time, just once, try

(08:43):
being compassionate to the victim and the victim's family instead
of the violent offender's right. And I have no idea
why these lousy lula judges have such a love affair
when it comes to violent criminals. And I got to
ask this, and this is not feeling, This is fact
over feeling. It's I think it's the judicial races should

(09:08):
be partisan because every one of these judges are on
the Democrat ticket, every last one of them. What is
the answer to this? Should there be partisan judicial races
where you know, if you're voting, but then again with
the voting record of this city.

Speaker 7 (09:24):
I don't know, No, I just think if you looked
at I mean, to be a judge, you have to
be an attorney, and probably ninety percent of Louisville attorneys
or Democrats, and then they would have to leave their
law practice to be a judge. So any successful lawyer
is going to really it's going to be a struggle

(09:44):
to get them to leave their law practice behind to
be a judge.

Speaker 6 (09:49):
To just eliminate the licensing requirement, it's the only branch
of government where one exists. You don't need a license
to serve in the General Assembly, you don't need a
license to serve as governor, but you do need a
license to serve as a judge. That's not what we need,
because what we need is a common sense approach to
decision making here that clearly is not being applied. That's undeniable.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
How do we keep how do we make sure moving
forward that they're following House Bill.

Speaker 7 (10:13):
Fell And one thing that that Whip Nemus and Jared
and I were talking about is trying to initiate a
review of all Jefferson County early release decisions that has
been done to see if this is a pattern with
the judges, to.

Speaker 5 (10:29):
See how many are well.

Speaker 7 (10:31):
We have to see is this a one a one off,
or are there certain judges that are releasing violent criminals
consistently consistently. I think that you are sick and tired
of the lack of transparency and accountability in the judicial forum.

Speaker 5 (10:50):
They're sick of it.

Speaker 7 (10:51):
And this is just one example that everyone just kind
of gravitated to because it could have been this could
have happened to me. I was running errands. Yeah, I
mean you know, we run all of your wives, Ye,
your daughters, they are running errands in the morning on
Shelbyville Road.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, in schools.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
Horrific and frightening. And we should not be in fear.

Speaker 6 (11:14):
And that's right, and it is terrifying what's happened. But
I do not want our community to wake up every
day and live in fear, go through their daily lives
this way. That is a miserable way to be. And
I want our community to know that the General Assembly
hears you, and we have taken serious, bold action on crime,
especially violent crime, and those results are going to pull

(11:34):
through for years and decades to come. Unfortunately, in this case.
It happened under the wire of the Safer Kentucky Act.
But relief is coming. We have put in place measures
to ensure violent, repeat criminals are kept behind bars where
they belong.

Speaker 7 (11:50):
And I am proud of my vote yes for the
Safer Kentucky Act. Okay, that is not the case for
a lot of Louisville legislation.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
Okay, that was you stole my thunder. That was my
next question. I wanted to know because often common sense bills,
common sense votes go right down party lines. Is that
what happened with Louisville legislators on this one? Did a
go straight party line?

Speaker 7 (12:17):
We can call the bill you don't want to talk
about it, No, I'm happy to talk.

Speaker 5 (12:20):
Okay, we could.

Speaker 7 (12:21):
We can call the bill bipartisan because there was one
legislator in eastern Kentucky that's a Democrat that voted yes.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
There was one Democrat that voted for common sense when
it comes to court system, prosecutors and vio one.

Speaker 7 (12:34):
One hundred percent of the Democrats in Louisville voted no on.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
House unbelievable and pathetic. Let me ask you, Jared Bauman,
And by the way, our guests this morning are two
of the authors of the Safer Kentucky Act. Thank god
the General Assembly, the Senate, and the House I got
this passed. It was not an easy bill to get
passed into law, but they fought really hard and did it.
This particular this particular crime, this viole reoffender. This happened

(13:03):
in a pretty influential part of town, Oxmore East End.
Is this symptomatic of how Louisville has put out the
open for business. If you're a violent criminal, we have
a turnstyle for a haul of justice. Is this symptomatic
of this? Because I think it is well, Dwight, I
agree with you. I think it is as well.

Speaker 6 (13:23):
I think we see something that kind of dovetails into
what we saw in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago.
I mean, it's just there's chaos in a lot of
our urban areas around the country with violence and criminal activity.
And again that that was the reason that was the
impetus for House Bill five. Judges releasing people early was
part of that impetus as well. We shouldn't have to

(13:45):
put these types of controls in place, but we did.
There were a number of other provisions in the Safer
Kentuchiac not just around the class be violent crimes, but
some other crimes where folks will not be eligible for
any type of early release due to this of those crimes.
And so we're sending the signal very clearly to criminals
in the state of Kentucky, if you come here to

(14:07):
do your business, you will be held to account to
the highest levels possible.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
The victims, and I'd like to show some light on them,
as in, get them help in some way because they
have now a lifetime sentence of therapy, and or these
poor kids that were terrorized by this individual. Also, I'd
like to show some light on the police officers and
the employees of the bank that saw what was happening

(14:35):
and took action. That takes a lot of guts for
citizens like that to step up when they see something,
and they from what we understand, we do not know
the entire story of what went down with the bank
from a caller that knew said a manager had stepped in,
bravely stepped in. I want to put some light on
them too.

Speaker 7 (14:53):
I haven't heard all the details. I hope that if
they're comfortable enough to do that, I think that again,
sunlight is the best disinfectant if we can hear about
what happened, and sometimes, as Dwight eluded, some of the
details of this story are even more horrific than we
even know. And it it doesn't need any more, uh,
you know, any any.

Speaker 5 (15:14):
Worse because it's awful. It is awful, but you know.

Speaker 7 (15:18):
And another thing, with House Bill five, we have gotten
great feedback from the Mayor's office, from law enforcement, thanking
us to give them the tools to use because there
were a lot of things that they just couldn't they
couldn't do if it wasn't in statute, and so they
are grateful. So I think that, you know, I'm glad

(15:40):
that that. You know, I hated that this happened. But
this is a perfect example of why Housebull five, the
Safer kentuck Yak, was needed, and it continues to to.

Speaker 5 (15:52):
Keep us safer.

Speaker 7 (15:53):
Uh you know, hopefully, you know, the next time this happens,
that he won't get he won't get out.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
They are two of the authors of the Safer Kentucky Ak.
Thank god that their bill made it into law. It
was a difficult fight. I was there with it, following
it every single day. Thank god it got through. No
thanks to the Louis of Democrats. All of them voted
against this common piece, common sense piece of legislation. Susan Whitten,

(16:22):
Jared Barman, both of you, I say God bless and
thank you. Keep doing it, keep fighting for the good job.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
Right all right, thanks for having to.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Lock my friend, who won't you take away you radar?

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Jakraft is a great family and they have been running
Aqua loots since the beginning called eight eight two oh
nine to six ozero. If you need basement waterproofing, crawl
space reconditioning, the big deal is the raid on mitigation.
They'll come over to the house and drop little censor
in your basement or wherever your bottom floor is, and
they'll measure for a couple days, come back and say, yeah,

(16:53):
you've got a radon issue.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
If not, they walk away.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
And if you do have an issue, they'll install a
raidon mitigationation system, which is pretty darn simple and more
more affordable than you think. Aqua lock dot com or
eighty two nine six zero plus subpumps is something that
they do also Aqua Lock.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Hey, let me ask you a question, how terrified are
you when you have to get work done on your
vehicle A you're scared to gett ripped off. You don't
have to be scared of getting ripped off when you
go to Tony's breaking alignment. Much more than just breaks
in alignment. They do just about anything to just about
any vehicle. I had my air conditioning revived last There's
been three weeks, and now I feel like a piece

(17:33):
of iceberg Lettuce. I'm crisp and cool all day long.
But listen to this. They back up every single They
back up every single job with not a warranty, but
a three year, thirty six thousand mile warranty. You're gonna
love them. Tony's breaking alignment. Put your mind at rest.
Go with the best, and that's Tony's break in alignment.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
Don't forget the mayor at eleven thirty six this morning
and keep.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
It locked right. Update on that eleven thirty six eighteen.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Thank you for being specific. News Radio eight forty whas.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
All right.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
News Radio eight forty whs about ten minutes away from
the mayor. He's gonna come on. I'm sure he's gonna
start with the new Ford initiative that are going to
do a new line of electric cars. So we'll talk
about that just for a second, and of course we'll
ask him about this newest. What we've been talking about
all morning long was this crime that happened on Friday

(18:30):
where this individual should not have been on the streets.
So just a couple of minutes away BK Plumbing Supply.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Oh wait a minute, he listen to this. It's getting up,
it's getting out of control. So I called John Bergen.
Oh no, I said, I gotta get one of these toilets. Yeah,
so he's coming over, get me the prize. Yeah, And
then dawned on me. Yeah, what are you doing, dude?
You're a married man. You got super duper good looking
John Bergen coming over to know, Yeah, in the henhouse.

(18:57):
So now I got to pay to have my wife
go out of town to like Vegas and ties with that.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Right, that's right, because a trip to Vegas is a
lot safer than Heaven. John, Are you kidding?

Speaker 3 (19:07):
That's right?

Speaker 1 (19:08):
So what you got to do is get a hold
of John and get the toilet I have. Everyone is
talking about it. This is the Toto Nexus toilet.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
If you call hang on one second, that's him texting out,
uh no, John, bargain, get me the one that's better
than Tony's.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
Thanks okay, thank you, it's not possible four nine hundred.
Call that number, ask for John and he will take
care of you. Just say I want Venetti's toilet. This
thing is a wash lit bidet system, the whole toilet seat.
He will arrange for the electrician and the plumber to
be there the exact same day.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
That's right. This thing is so fancy. A heated seat.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
The lights come on underneath it, the seat comes up automatically,
no more arguing about that, and then it closes back
down after you use it. And of course the water
is heated for the bidet. There's two different types of streams,
and there's an air dryer after you're finished. This thing
is unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
Hey my toilet, Just stab Hey.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
BK plumbingsupply dot com or four nine nine fifty nine hundred.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
I love John Bergen enough said back.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
After this news radio eight forty WHS Lawyer Clapton, all right,
welcome back news radio eight forty w h as Tony
dwich Chio brought you by the Kentucky Office of Highway
Safety Mayor Greenberg.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
How are you, sir?

Speaker 4 (20:23):
I'm doing great. I apologize for not being in the
studio this morning. But I've got two billion reasons why
I will on my way back. No, no, no, the Louisville
Assembly Plant.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
No, no reasons or excuses. And mister Merrick, quite frank
quite frankly, you know you can say you're sorry. You're
still getting a bad YELP review from us Ford.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Look, Alls, I drive is Fords. They I've always driven
driven forwards. We make them here, we buy them here.
It's part of the family circle here in Louisville. And
I understand that Ford has made another commitment here to Louisville.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
That's right. I would give you that announcement from the
Ford I'm driving in right now. Yes, they are going
to invest two billion dollars to totally redo the Louisville
Assembly plant, securing twenty two hundred local jobs, and they're
going to build their first ever They've got a new
electric vehicle universal platform. So just like the medal Ta
one hundred and twenty two years ago was a universal

(21:20):
platform for lots of different models, same thing with a
thirty thousand dollars truck is going to be built at
the Louisville Assembly Plant. They did it by cutting out
lots of parts, amazing technology and design, and so another
reason Louisville's innovating right here. Combine that with what Ge
Appliance Park is doing with their new washer and dryer
in one unit over there, and we are truly a

(21:43):
leader in advanced manufacturing. And I'm so excited about our
future and want to thank you everyone for Ford.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Got to get off the softballs for a second, mister
Mary Greenberg, I want to talk to you about what
we what went down on Friday in our beautiful city, Louisville, Kentucky.
If you ask me, We've got a problem, a major
problem with many of our judges in the Hall of Justice.
When you have a violent offender nineteen violent crimes on
his record, you get shocked out five months into a

(22:09):
fourteen year sentence. He then takes a machete and terrorizes
an innocent woman and her children. I want your thoughts
on this and what can be done on the local
branch to prevent this. Something has to be done. I
think the city of Louisville. If you look on social media,
ninety eight percent of us are fed the blank up.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
Yep. No, I understand the frustration. When I learned about
this myself. I was really really upset. I was horrified.
I was disappointed, all the same emotions that you and
those ninety eight percent of the people had, Dwight, I
shared the same things. I'll give you my comments in
one second. Let me just first sure talk about the positive.

(22:53):
And the positive is so quickly LMPD working in partnerships
in that case with Saint Matthew's, we caught the guy.
And we also, just like we did with the guy
who whipped out a gun and fired shots at a
school bus stop the day before Rob, we want to
thank all of our first responders and police officers for
working so incredibly hard to find the people that are

(23:15):
committing these horrible crimes. It's totally unacceptable.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
I got to step on you. In one second. I
want to throw a shout out to Linden as well.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
Yes, and Linden, thank you, thank you. I'm sorry for
overlooking them so on this issue with the judges, I
am very frustrated. I've been talking about this for a while,
and what I think we need is we need a
little bit more transparency, because when you have police officers
that are doing their job to prevent violent crime from
happening and then catching the ones that have been responsible.
When you are doing some very dangerous violent crime, your

(23:45):
punishment needs to be measured in years, not months. And
so what we're we're working on right now, We're working
with the Police Foundation, We're working with a group of
civic volunteers. We're working with several others across the state.
We're looking at some programs. In Atlanta, they've got this
Repeat Offenders Initiative where just to provide transparency about when

(24:06):
judges make decisions. Just like when I make decisions, everybody
knows what they are. When Metro Council votes, everybody knows
where they stand right long or indifferent. Let people decide.
I think bring some transparency to the judiciary will be
incredibly helpful for our entire city. Yeah. I think it'll
make us safer too.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
So many police officers have told us off the record,
you know, it's so frustrating to work so hard to
put somebody and get somebody charged for being a bad guy,
and then them smiling at them as they leave the
courtroom out right, So, because these police officers show up
at these.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
Hearings and when the judges lay it down, I think
that is. It's a morale issue with police mayor.

Speaker 4 (24:52):
It absolutely is. I've talked to them directly about this.
They get frustrated they're doing their job. And that's the
one thing about our judicial process is you know, there
are lots of different entities that are involved. Of course,
I can't control what the judiciary does, but I can
be allowed a strong advocate for transparency, for helping us
out to reduce the amount of violent crime and holding

(25:13):
people accountable that commit them. And I've been talking about
that and that volume is going to be raised significantly
after last week.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
I would like to if you guys could at Arrol's
office put some light on the bank employees that saw
what was happening and went out of their way to
take risks to try to protect this family.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
I would like to know.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
We're hearing rumors about what happened with the bank manager
and the rest of these guys. So if you could
get to the bottom of that and shine some light
on good citizens stepping up when they didn't have to.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
Yes, I will get to the bottom of that today
again this morning. I've been at it forward, so I'm
just getting into the office right now and have a
meeting with my team here in twenty minutes. And that's
going to be one of the questions I asked. I
do want to shine a light on the good Samaritans,
you know, you see that happen time time again in Louisville,
and that's yet another example, and we'll find the right
way to recognize them as soon as possible.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yeah, just to reiterate the Ford situation. So they're redoing
the entire line and basically what you're describing is it's
the same I guess chassis and all that, and then
they'll be able to put different cars on that chassis.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Is that what I'm hearing.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
That's right. It's gonna be electric, all electric, And in
Louisville we're going to be building the pickup truck version
of it, and other places may have different versions of it.
But there's been a lot of new engineering for three years,
they've been working in a team and so they're hoping
this revolutionizes the auto industry, just as the Model TED did.
And it's all starting right here in Louisville. So that's exciting.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
It's all Marreic Greenberg joins us as our guest, I
want to shift gears. For years and years and years
and years, my beloved South End, the tax dollars would
leave the South in and they would go to other places.
Two thousand and eight, you ran for a Metro Council
to try and help correct this. The past mayors they

(27:05):
didn't give a damn about the South End, or at
least their actions dictated that. I've commented, do you several
times about the South End? You're out in the South End,
You're working to try and make the South End better.
I say thank you for that. Can you talk about
some of the things I know of some of the
things that we can talk about on the way, But
can you talk about some of the things that we

(27:25):
can talk about that you're doing for the South End,
because it's about damn time the South End got recognized.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
Yep. I could not agree with you more, Dwight. And
I'm excited and I love my time in the set
the South End and working with elected officials there, community leaders.
It's great, neighborhoods there there regularly and so here are
some of the things that we're doing. In the last budget,
we just passed three million dollars for a new South
End Business Development Fund because when you look around the city,
different parts of our city have different needs. I continue

(27:54):
to hear from people who live in South Louisville. We
want more restaurants, we want more retail, X, Y or
Z there. And so now we have new funds that
were in my budget that the Metro Council approved to
use his incentives. Normally, if someone's bringing a restaurant one off,
we don't provide incentives for that, but the South Ends unique,
that's what they're looking for in those neighborhoods, and so

(28:16):
we're going to help bring more retail and restaurants to
South Louisville.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
We're also go ahead, no, go go ahead, I'm sorry,
I thought you were finished.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
We're also focused on parks. So we've just opened the
new Tom Wallace Recreational Area, an amazing beautiful park. We're
getting ready to totally redo Jefferson Memorial Forest. We've got
great parks along the River that we've invested in Riverview
and others. So the parks are getting a whole lot
of attention from us as well. And then also public safety.
We know we need more officers in South End, and

(28:46):
so what we're doing when it comes to public safety. One,
we just allocated money in the last budget. We need
a new first responder training facility so that we have
all of our training for our police, not just LMPD,
but the other police departments in Jefferson County, even for
five at ems. We're going to locate that in Southwest Louisville.
We're looking at a piece of property right now to
buy that and then hopefully in partnership with the state

(29:08):
to build that over the coming years. And you know,
the one thing that we're also working on. I do
hear from people who live in the South End that
we need to continue to focus on individuals who are
homeless in the South End. We've been very focused on
all parts of the city. We've made great strides in
downtown and other neighborhoods. We've made good strides in the
South End too, but we know we need to do

(29:28):
more and so working to help those in South Louisville
that are homeless get more services and shelter so they're
not living on the street and doing things that we
don't want them doing. That's what we're going to be
focused then on in the coming months as well.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Well on behalf of me. I want to say thank
you for finally giving the South Side some recognition that
they will always have my heart. But I want to
also bring up you mentioned parks. You and I were
actually in an event together out at Airquois Amphitheater and
what a great job they're doing, Doris, Randy Bolten, all
the crew work at air Quois Amphitheater. There's some exciting

(30:03):
stuff going on out there, Mayor green.

Speaker 4 (30:05):
Burton, there is. I mean, first of all, Urqoi Park
is one of the gems of the city. We're building
a new playground there as well, which I'm really excited about,
and just ran there two weeks ago. But Irquoi Amphitheater
is great. It just wasn't really being utilized well. It
wasn't programmed well, they weren't bringing acts that people really enjoyed.
And so we partnered with Danny Wimmer Presents and their

(30:26):
team and they've done a great job improving the quality
of the events that are coming through of the entertainment
in all sorts of different ways. We've improved the quality
of the facility as well, and so more people are coming,
which should be great for I know there have been
a couple of different restaurants across the street in colonial
gardens that should be. It's a wonderful development that should
be thriving. And is the more we have events down there,

(30:48):
the more that will happen. So I'm excited about the
future as well. Maybe we'll bring in some more yacht
rock music.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
Yeah, yeah, you enjoy that. Yeah?

Speaker 3 (30:56):
Do we have to all right? Sorely?

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Does common sense come into play and actually get enacted?
You know, the the River Road MSD project did not
sort of talk.

Speaker 4 (31:09):
To we're touching on all the topics.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, no, kid, Well here day the barrel, Well, you know,
rarely does it happen. Well, you know Kentucky Highway Association
obviously they had their project with the VA and weren't
really in communication with MSD about their construction. But MSD
has decided we're going to put a pause on it
because it really.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Kind of locks up that entire area.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
If they don't, were you part of that process or
was just this just MSD saying okay, we'll put a
pause on this to help some businesses down a river
road and help with the traffic, because if you try
to avoid the cluster that is Brownsboro now you can't
do that on River Road and Blanket Baker and all
the rest of it. So was you were you part
of that or was that just MSD going.

Speaker 4 (31:52):
Okay, let me let me, let me correct a couple
of things right there, and just just everybody knows what's
what's going on. I've been incredibly The project is not MSD,
it's the water company.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Right, yeah, I'm right all.

Speaker 4 (32:04):
The way to the water treatment plant and Prospect. And
the good news is they are way ahead of schedule,
and so I've been pushing. They're now communicating better. They're
going to be opened to Lime Kiln Lane, and my
goal is to get them to Wolfpen Branch as quick
as possible, so you really relieve some of that pressure
from the water. Sent in forty two interchange for anyone
coming from Prospect, they'll have River Road back open. What

(32:27):
this temporary pause is, it's actually about the Iron Man,
which is coming to town, and so we're giving it
a little bit longer with some of the pause as well.
So as those things combined, but we've been using to
get to push on making more progress quickly. Kentucky Transportation
Cabinet is doing the project at the water sent in

(32:48):
forty two. We've been pushing hard. We need relief there,
we need better signage, we need and so what's going
to happen is they're improving the signaling right there. There
are better ways to do all the traffic lights to
keep traffic flowing. If we need to put people out there,
we'll put people out there to guide traffic at certain
times the day now that school's going on. And also
as you go towards downtown away from the intersection, they're

(33:11):
doing some boxes on the pavement so that people can
get in and out of some of those side streets better.
But it's going to be a challenge. I'm disappointed that
there wasn't better communication and coordination on neither one of
these projects was the city, But that doesn't mean we
can't get involved and try to help. That's my job
and that's what I'm trying to do.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Now. He's got me depressed because because he's got to
bring it up the iron man, this was gonna be
my year and the term Achilles attendant. There you go, Achilles,
there you go.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Hey, the state fairs were last thing. State fairs coming
up this week? Am I going are we going to
see you out there milking a cow or something fun
like that.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
You will absolutely see me out there, I'm not sure
about the milking cow. Will be out there to kick
it off on Thursday at the Commodities Breakfast as well.
I'll be out there for the hand breakfast. There's always
a lot of fun. Hopefully my boys will want to
check it out too, so Rachel and I will hopefully
take out there for a little bit.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
I love it.

Speaker 4 (34:05):
It's a great event. And then then right after that
we're getting ready for Bourbon and Beyond and Lauder.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
And they redid the whole situation including Kentucky Kingdom, and
I think using the entire fair grounds for this event
is a no brainer and it will change the entire
experience coming up this year.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
So, uh, Danny Wimmer doing it again.

Speaker 4 (34:28):
Yeah, they're doing a great job. It's getting bigger and
better and I'm really excited about that. And you know,
but as you said as we started the conversation, it
all starts with public safety, and we're going to keep
focused on that and we'll make sure that we've got
other partners at every level of the system involved too,
to help us with that.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
All right, Mayor, thank you for your time. We'll talk
to you soon. Tell Rachel we said hi.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
Yeah, I definitely will, and next time you'll see me
in person.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Okay, they guys, awesome, Right there you go.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
I think him milk and a cow would be something
that we all want.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
To I think it's presidential in a pair of overalls,
straw coming out a little pair.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Of oshkosh, my gosh overalls. All right, man, we'll see
you tomorrow. John Alden, great job, go home, take care
of Daisy. For Dwight Whitning and Tony Vannetti. We'll see
you later on news radio. Waight forty wh s.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
I love you, Ma,