LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Business owners on Bardstown Road and those who live near the busy thoroughfare say they’re fed up with panhandling, car break-ins, drug abuse and other crimes in the Highlands.
The owner of Derby City Chop Shop shared a video with WDRB News that showed a person getting carried out of the building next door to the barbershop in a stretcher at 5:42 a.m.
He said the building is usually crowded all night long with people who abuse drugs.
“This happens all the time in these alleys behind our businesses,” said Dallas McGarity, owner of The Fat Lamb on Bardstown Road.
Neighbors on Bardstown Road are fed up with drug abuse & other crime in the Highlands. A biz owner shared this video from security camera. A person is being carried out of what he says is a know drug house. pic.twitter.com/AqM21CWjds
— Jessica Bard (@JessBardReports) September 23, 2019
Neighbors and local business owners called a two-hour meeting Monday with Mayor Greg Fischer, District 8 Metro Councilman Brandon Coan and the Louisville Metro Police Department.
LMPD said property crime is actually down 19%, and violent crime is down 12.5% in the Highlands.
“If we are not doing it the right way, vote us out and get somebody else in there that can take a crack at it,” Fischer said.
But Fischer and Coan agree statistics don’t mean much when people don’t feel safe in their own homes and businesses.
Neighbors and local business owners called a two-hour meeting Monday with Mayor Greg Fischer, District 8 Metro Councilman Brandon Coan and the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Some people described owning their own businesses on the road as “scary.”
“Crime can be going down and the corridor can be deteriorating at the same time,” Coan said.
Local officials said they're addressing safety on Bardstown Road by doing traffic studies. They’re looking to learn how to make Bardstown Road function less like a highway.
They're beefing up code enforcement to clean up trash and rundown buildings.
Local business owners have their own solutions.
McGarity is a celebrity chef who doubles as a street sweeper and security guard outside his restaurant.
“If everyone tries to improve the area and make sure everything’s clean organized and looks beautiful, it's going to get rid of some of the stipulation of it being a high-crime neighborhood,” he said.
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