Louisville Republicans released a “progress report” Tuesday evaluating their progress in implementing a series of public safety reforms.
Metro Council Republicans say they completed six of their 17 initiatives last year, including passing an anti-human trafficking ordinance aimed at massage parlors and a resolution calling on the state to speed up construction of a new juvenile detention center in Jefferson County. All their other initiatives are either “started” or “underway,” according to the scorecard. Since Republicans have just under half the seats on Metro Council, all of their proposed legislation has passed with some support from Democrats.
District 19 Council Member Anthony Piagentini, who heads the Republican caucus, said they’ve also had a good working relationship with Mayor Craig Greenberg, a Democrat.
“He made public safety a top tenet of his campaign, as well,” Piagentini said. “We’d like to see things accelerated a little bit more than the pace we’re at currently, but so far, generally speaking, we’ve had a very good relationship with the mayor’s office.”
Piagentini said the Safer Louisville plan is meant to complement and expand on Greenberg’s crime reduction strategy, “Safe Louisville.”
At Tuesday’s press conference, Republicans also offered a glimpse at their priorities for the coming year.
They plan to push for funding to be allocated to the initial planning phase for a new jail in Louisville. Republicans say actually building the jail — estimated to cost up to half a billion dollars, according to a recent report — will take years.
Republicans hope to introduce legislation this year criminalizing panhandling, or streetside solicitation, as well as enhanced penalties for the illegal use of ATVs on public property.
They also added two new proposals to the Safer Louisville plan.
Council members intend to review zoning and licensing requirements for unattended donation bins, which they say have been popping up on private property and parking lots across Louisville Metro without approval. Republicans say these donation bins are not licensed and are often placed without the consent of the property owner.
District 24 Council Member Ginny Mulvey-Woolridge warned residents to avoid using donation boxes, which may not even be associated with a legitimate charity, until “we can get this under control.”
“If you look at the side of them and the painting of them, they may not have a phone number, you’re not going to see the license actually on the bin and you’ll see a lot of misspelling on them,” she said. “‘Donation’ is misspelled. You may see that the company is misspelled. Please be cognizant of what you’re doing."
Under local law, anyone who wants to put out a donation bin must pay a $200 annual license plus a $50-per-bin application fee.
Republican caucus members say they’re also interested in reviewing any proposed changes to local ordinances that come out of the Organize Retail Crime Task Force led by the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office.
