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The Metro Council’s Government Accountability and Oversight Committee just approved the so-called Audit Ordinance, which calls for contractors who use certain amounts of city money to say how the money was spent. The legislation is partially a reaction to Cordish’s refusal to disclose how it spent about $900 thousand in city money to renovate the bowling alley in 4th Street Live. Cordish calls the information proprietary and says it can’t reveal documents that might hurt its competitiveness.
The legislation now goes to the full council.
The C-J has posted three quick blurbs about Metro Council members holding public events.
First you can wake up with 12th District Councilman Rick Blackwell, who has invited his constituents to coffee.
Then you can have lunch with Council President and mayoral candidate David Tandy, who is sponsoring the Willie B. Bright community barbecue.
That night you can head over to Hill Street Missionary Baptist Church for 3rd District Democrat Mary Woolridge’s town hall meeting.
Here’s what we reported on today:
The infamous sagging pants resolution is on the consent calendar for tonight’s Metro Council meeting. The calendar typically passes without any discussion.
The resolution would discourage citizens from wearing low-hanging pants–it doesn’t enforce the request with fines or any other punishment for sagging slacks. The resolution could be pulled from the calendar and discussed separately, but that seems unlikely, as its supporters want to get it passed and detractors probably don’t think it’s worth the time and effort to fight the resolution, since it doesn’t have any enforcement attached to it.
Here’s what we reported on today:
- Council Committee Grills Meloche Over Flood Evacuation
- Tyler Allen Files Paperwork For Mayoral Bid
- Some City Expenditures Posted Online
- Sheehan Speaks on State of Affairs
- Fire Department Adds Four ‘Pumper’ Trucks
- County GOP Chair Steps Down
Sorry, nothing about the new iPods.
Here’s the roundup, Yarmuth town hall included. It’s late, and we’ll be a little bit late with the posts tomorrow.
Here’s what we reported on today:
- Yarmuth Town Hall Draws Capacity Crowd
- In Depth: Lawmaker Wants To Remove “Dueling Clause” From Oath
- State Fair Attendance Up Six Percent
- Wllliams: Beshear Is “The Slot Machine Governor”
- Foul Play Possible In KEC Barn Fire
- Committee Passes Anti-Sagging Resolution
- Lexington Considering Garbage Fee Cuts
- Proposed KIPDA Move Draws Fire
Belt sales will skyrocket. The sagging pants resolution unanimously passed the Metro Council’s Community Affairs committee.
It’ll now go before the full council. We’ll have a story on WFPL soon.
What was the role of lobbying with this resolution? Is the Metro Council in the pocket of “Big suspender?”
The infamous nonbinding resolution that would politely ask you to pull up your pants is back before the Metro Council’s Community Affairs committee today. Will it be passed? Will it be tabled again? Will it be given teeth and be amended to actually restrict and punish pants-sagging? A Florida court shot down a similar law, so if the latter happens, it probably won’t last. We’ll keep you posted.
After yesterday’s flood committee meeting I had a conversation with a couple MSD officials.
MSD says no sewer system infrastructure malfunctioned on August 4th, but Chief Engineer Mark Johnson says the infrastructure under west and southwest Louisville may not have been up to par.
“These sewers were built from the 1800s to 1953 and I really can’t speak about what planning was done and what engineering went into sizing those sewers back then, but it’s obvious they didn’t realize we were going to have as dense a community in the urban areas as we have today.”
When the sewers were built, many houses didn’t have paved driveways, patios, sheds and other amenities that block water from seeping into the ground. Instead, these improvements push water into the sewers and cause overflows during heavy rains. The people who spoke at yesterday’s meeting say they’ve had water in their homes before August 4th, and it doesn’t take record rainfall to flood their houses.
Many neighborhoods outgrew the sewer system and the system wasn’t improved enough to match the growth.
MSD is working on a study that could lead to federal grant funds coming to Louisville. The money would be spent buying houses in flood-prone areas and replacing them with green space that will hold water in storms. The district is also considering upgrades to the sewer in some areas to prevent persistent flooding.
There are two important things to pick up here. First is the fact that even with improvements, it’d be difficult for any combined sewer system to handle a storm like August 4. Second is that the neighborhoods grew in small increments, so it didn’t look like there would be any sewer problems until those increments were added up on the 4th. It’s not entirely possible or helpful to blame people for improving their homes or MSD for not realizing what was happening over the last 60 years.
You could say MSD dropped the ball (plenty of folks at the meeting did) and you could say that a city’s desire to grow can’t compete with nature. You could say both of those things, but you’d be missing the point.
The problems with the sewer system seem to be problems of unsustainable growth. Infrastructure isn’t permanent; it needs constant maintenance and improvement. This only becomes more apparent as a city grows. Sewers built before the depression can’t handle a modern neighborhood’s waste or the weather events of a changing climate. Streets built for horse-drawn wagons may be charming and look great in parts of Europe, but they’re not practical for moving thousands of cars through a city. (I’m not against historical preservation, but it also needs to be sustainable.)
Sustainable development could mean making sure infrastructure is solid and efficient, then limiting how it’s used. This could be politically unpopular because it requires money to be spent and laws to be changed. But at least then you won’t have to go back in a few decades and tear down houses because the city grew too fast.
I want to clarify that none of this is a knock on MSD or Louisvillians. August 4th was a record storm and I don’t think there are any sinister intentions behind not upgrading the sewer. Money is tight and it’s hard to tell what needs to be done until it’s too late. As Councilman Tom Owen said after the committee meeting, Never before have the vulnerabilities of a combined sewer system been so exposed.
Here’s what we reported on today:
