Letters to the Editor:

Dear Editor:

Last month’s Old Louisville Newsletter, Councilman George Unseld took credit for spending $2300 of taxpayer money to replace the carpet in the Information Center in Central Park.

What was not mentioned was the reason the carpet needed to be replaced.  For the past two summers, Unseld has sponsored, again with tax dollars, a blues festival in Central Park. During both years, damage was done to the park grounds in the form of ruts from vehicles being driven onto the grass areas and grill leftovers, chicken bones and coals, being dumped on the ground and around the base of trees, among other problems.

This past summer, concert attendees, using the Info Center for a food station, burned holes in the carpet.  Seems to me that the people who did the damage should be paying for the new carpet. 

Last month’s article struck me as incomplete and I thought it important to share, with the neighborhood, the whole story, particularly since the taxpayers were footing both bills.

Rev Jim Oxyer

(1210 S Brook St Unit1)

Dear Rev. Oxyer:

Let me first correct your information. The Blues Festival was held in "October 2007 at Garvin and Oak Streets. Vehicular traffic was kept at a minimum during this event.

Central Park is one of the most magnificent properties in the City of Louisville.

It is a destination used by The Shakespeare Festival for many years whose attendees come from all over the city to appreciate the ultimate in literature and greatness of art.

For over 50 years, the St. James Art Show has been located in the Old Louisville neighborhood with Central Park as the flagship for this event, which draws over 250,000 people yearly in October.

Central Park is a destination for children, leisure walks, picnics, weddings, tennis and all sorts of celebrations by which our entire population benefits. It is truly a park for "the people".

I have funded the Music in Central Park Festival as I have also funded The Shakespeare Festival and St. James Art Show, Central Park Clean Ups and maintenance. I have been a participant in funding Friends of Central Park and I have successsfully received funding in the amount of over $300,000 for the tennis courts which will be refurbished once additional funds can be provided for lighting. I believe Central Park is a place for all people to relax and enjoy as other parks in our city are. I, by no means take Central Park "The Jewel of the Crown" for granted.

The Old Louisville Information Center carpet had 30 years of wear and tear and was in dire need of repair and/or replacement. My track record shows my support of the beauty of Central Park. I appreciate your concerns, welcome your contributions and invite you to serve on the Music Festival committee along with Metro Parks staff, Louisville Metro Police Department, residents and event organizers

Councilman George Unseld

Old Louisville: A Historical Perspective

By Mary Martin

Old Louisville Resident & Realtor

You are invited to participate in a neighborhood project: "Old Louisville: A Historical Perspective." The purpose of this effort is to gather information and resources about our architecture, people, events and changes in Old Louisville. Numerous efforts have been made to gather information by individuals and groups such as Steve Locke’s histories (see Old Louisville.com) or Larry Gettleman’s "1461 South Fourth Street" well documented review completed by Evelyn Rich in 1997. Norman Nezelkewicz, Stan Murrell and I have agreed to develop a framework to identify resources, gather information (histories, photos, research and books), and make this information available to our neighbors. Linda Ewen, Old Louisville Information Center staff person, has graciously agreed to receive the information at the Center between 1 and 5 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday. Just call first to make sure she is not out running an errand. She can be reached at 635-5244. Document files and jpegs (pictures) can be emailed to Linda at olnc@bellsouth.net

Everyone is invited to join our efforts to create this community databank focused on family histories as well as our historic properties. As the project develops, we expect to see a more formal relationship develop among the neighborhood associations, the Old Louisville Information Center, the Old Louisville Chamber of Commerce, the Conrad-Caldwell House, The Filson Historical Society, the University of Louisville, the Public Library and Metro Louisville government. If you have information or want to participate, let us know at 637-4000. We plan to share our progress through this Old Louisville Journal. Hope to hear from you soon!

Going Green
By Gary Kleier

If you did not have the opportunity to read last month’s article, let me introduce you to Going Green. Old Louisville can easily be the "Greenest" neighborhood in Louisville, and there are many who want to move in that direction. However, it takes more than a desire; it takes knowledge and information. Going Green will try to provide information, articles, tips and links that will help. (See below for contact info.)

Logic would lead you to believe that it is greener to use local products, and following that, closer is greener than farther away. That is one-dimensional thinking. Consider this: Recently I received an e-mail arguing that, because of the distance to Europe, the "green" thing to do is to drink California wines instead. If European wines are your thing, do not despair. As it turns out, living in Louisville puts you in a unique position. Container ships transport wines from Europe to the east coast, and this is very energy efficient. California wines, on the other hand, are transported eastward by truck. When balancing the energy requirements, including the trucking of European wines westward from the east coast, the line that represents equal energy cost runs right through Louisville. Therefore, if you are trying to decide between a French wine and a California wine, being "green" does not enter the equation.

Evaluating green is not always simple. However, here is one that is.

A significant portion of the tilapia served in Louisville restaurants is flown in daily from China and Southeast Asia, over 10,000 miles away. Unlike container ships, cargo aircraft are not an efficient method of transportation and are a serious source of pollution. If your favorite restaurant cannot tell you where your tilapia comes from, you might just pass on it and suggest they investigate farm-raised fish.

Now consider this. China is a major producer of pollution from coal fired electrical generation, and is over 10,000 miles away. Can any company that out sources production to China consider itself green? Moreover, if we are to be green consumers, should we be buying from them?

If you now think I am China bashing, consider this. Our federal government and many of our largest corporations oppose most initiatives designed to reduce greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution. In addition, our local government is not any better. If you really want to be environmentally sensitive, direct your efforts at our own governments, industry and retail establishments.

Finally, last month I gave you a Netscape e-mail address for contacting us only to find out that Netscape may soon disappear. So here is the new address for Going Green:  OLGoingGreen@gmail.com. 

 

The cans installed on West St. Catherine are the latest in the series designed by Old Louisville resident Ken Herndon.  Ken retooled his original design in the Central Business District for Old Louisville 3 years ago.  Since then, almost 50 of the new cans have been installed and the downtown prototype has been adopted in several neighborhoods throughout the city.

Funding for the cans on West St. Catherine was provided by Councilman George Unseld.

Basement Backflow Prevention Program

In some older parts of MSD’s service area, water from combined sanitary and storm sewers backs up into basements during heavy rains.

In 1994, MSD started a program to help owners of some of these homes to install backflow prevention devices at MSD’s expense.  For the first few years, MSD offered the program to about 450 property owners per month.  After the March 1997 flood, MSD began offering it to any residential sanitary sewer customer reporting a backup and notified customers in areas where backups were reported that they were eligible for the program. The program continues to be available to all MSD customers experiencing sewer backup.

The two most common installations are a sump pump or a backwater and ball valve. The following are brief descriptions of how these installations work.

Sump Pump Installation

If there is a floor drain in the basement but no toilet or shower, a sump pump will be installed. Most likely the floor drain is connected to the main sewer in the street. Therefore, the floor drain is the first place the main sewer could back up into the basement. The sump pump installation consists of capping the existing floor drain, installing a sump pump, and then installing a new floor drain that will be connected to the sump pump. By capping the existing floor drain the main sewer can no longer back up into the basement. The new floor drain runs into the new sump pump that discharges outside. Usually only a small amount of clean water runs into the floor drain so the amount of water discharged by the sump will be small also.

Backwater and Ball Valve Installation

If there is a toilet and/or shower in the basement a backwater valve and a ball valve will be installed. The valve installation consists of placing a backwater and ball valve in the basement between the toilet and floor drain and the main sewer in the street. If the main sewer backs up into the house the backwater and ball valve will prevent the water from getting to an outlet (the toilet, shower or floor drain) and causing basement flooding.

This is only a brief description of installation types. All homes are different and individual installations vary. To find out more, call MSD Customer Service at 587-0603 and request a Basement Backflow Prevention Program information packet.

For more information, please contact:  Martin Schindler

Editor’s Note: I am a recent recipient of this program and hope to never have a flooded basement again! The work was completed in 3 days and hardly made a mess! MSD will give you a list of approved companies to get bids from. AND IT REALLY IS FREE!

This is a photograph that I took at the intersection of 3rd St. & Burnett Ave. during the St. James Art Show, which clearly shows why we need to enforce the existing sections of "603 KAR 5:250" - to disallow truck traffic though our neighborhood because intersections are insufficient.

This particular truck got ‘wedged’ in the intersection and was unable to move after becoming ‘blocked in’ on all sides. It is not uncommon to see a similar type thing happen on our already crowded streets everyday in Old Louisville.

john paul
1235 S 6th St
Louisville KY 40203

Editor’s Note: Dear Old Louisville Residents-The Old LouisvilleNeighborhood Council (OLNC) has a Property Improvement Committee(PIC). Committee member Jessica McCarty has formed a PIC subcommittee that is studying thru-truck traffic problems in Old Louisville. Any information and feedback is welcome here at the Old Louisville Information Center (OLIC). It is the interest and concern of Old Louisville residents that continues to make this a great place to live!

If you have a special concern, or see a problem that needs fixing, please contact me here at the Old Louisville Information Center in Central Park. Phone (502) 635-5244; email: olnc@bellsouth.net

Or better yet, volunteer on one of the OLNC or OLIC committees. The OLNC meets here at the center (1340 S. 4th St., enter off Magnolia Avenue at the Police substation entrance) every 4th Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. Meetings are open to the public and attendance is encouraged. Fourteen Old Louisville neighborhood associations send representatives to the meetings each month. Any resident of Old Louisville (owner or renter) is encouraged to get involved. There are two special informational programs that will be held at the OLNC meetings in March and April. Please see the information on page 1.

Ken Herndon Your neighbor. Your realtor. Mulloy Properties 817-2766

SAINT JAMES COURT ART SHOW POSTER COMPETITION
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

CONTACT: Marguerite Esrock, Director 
Phone: 502/635-1842 / E-mail: mesrock@stjamescourtartshow.com
Web site: www.stjamescourtartshow.com                      

The 52nd annual St. James Court Art Show announces the public poster design competition for the 2008 show, scheduled October 3, 4 & 5, in historic Old Louisville. The competition winner will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize.

 Entries must be original designs and include the name "Saint James Court Art Show", the year "2008" and "52nd Annual".  Limited and open edition publications (250 pieces each) of the poster design will be produced by the St. James Court Art Show, which will own the design and related artwork. The winning image will also be sold in shirt/sweatshirt form at the 2008 show.

 The fee to enter the competition is $20.00. The deadline for entry is 4:00pm, June 1, 2008.

 An information/entry form including specifics of the competition is available in WORD .doc format, as is a jpeg file of the 2007 poster image. Either of these can be e-mailed to you at your request.

 Entry forms can be downloaded and past posters can be viewed at www.stjamescourtartshow.com/pressroom.asp   Interested parties needing additional information should contact the Art Show office by e-mail at mesrock@stjamescourtartshow.com; by phone at (502) 635-1842; or by regular mail at P.O. Box 3804, Louisville, KY 40201.

 The St. James Court Art Show is ranked the number one fine art and craft show in the country by Sunshine Artist magazine, (September 2007) America’s premier show and festival publication. It is held annually during the first weekend of October.

March 2008

Submit Journal contributions to the Editor:
Old Louisville Information Center
1340 S. Fourth St., Louisville, KY 40208.
Phone: (502) 635-5244
E-mail: olnc@bellsouth.net
Advertising rates available upon request.
Please submit “Letters to the Editor” to the above address.
The 15th of each month is deadline for submission of all ads and articles.

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