“Talk to Greg” Comes to Portland Neighborhood Minus The Mayor

The next “Talk to Greg” session with Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer is scheduled for Monday in the Portland neighborhood, but the mayor won’t be in attendance.The event will be held at Portland Elementary School, 3410 Northwestern Parkway at 6 p.m. to give residents an opportunity to bring their concerns and suggestions directly to Metro Government officials. Initially, the mayor's office would not comment on the reason for the mayor's absence, however, later confirmed in an interview that Fischer will be out of town on vacation. The mayor’s chief of staff, Ellen Hesen, will host the meeting in his absence along with his chief of community building and chief administrative officer."All the mayor’s leadership will be there. The mayor is taking a very much needed and very much deserved vacation with his family. So he will not be there, however, all his top leadership will be there and there will be plenty of people there for the citizens to interact with," says mayoral spokesman Chris Poynter.Councilwoman Cheri Bryant-Hamilton, D-5, represents the area. She regrets the mayor won't be there, but says constituents will likely address the Northwestern Parkway livability plan and vacant properties in the district."Mayor Fischer had a scheduling conflict and won’t be there, but we do know that he’s always open to coming to Portland, District 5 and the West End. We’ll know that we will have another opportunity to talk directly with him. The mayor’s working hard on behalf of the city," she says. "The city is always on his mind no matter where he is."