LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- From gun violence to COVID-19 to workers returning to downtown Louisville, Mayor Greg Fischer knows it's been a tumultuous year. In his year-end interview Thursday, he said the first thing he does when he wakes up is looks at gun violence and COVID-19 data.
"We've had year-over-year improvements with gun homicides here with last four months or so," he said, adding that it isn't enough.
Fischer said the gun violence in the city haunts him every day.
"We address the challenges we have," he said. "We work really hard, develop good plans, work with the resources we have in the community."
Fischer said the rising violence has been the No. 1 focus since day one.
"It's been very frustrating, this last year-and-a-half in particular, both here in Louisville and most every big city," he said. "I'm hopeful now that we have resources — because of American Rescue Plan dollars and some other federal dollars — that we'll see whether our increased investments in public safety, in particular, reduction of gun violence is going to work in 2022."
And all that unfolded alongside a global pandemic that brought the city to a half.
"We've lost almost 1,800 people to the virus," Fischer said. "Just as you think things might be getting better, a new variant comes along."
He said the city will follow the numbers on a daily basis and work with Gov. Andy Beshear and the city's business community to assess the situation.
"We're going to watch it and just see how it moves," he said. "If it gets totally out of control, we're going to have to take some measures on it."
While convention and tourism business is back in downtown Louisville, what's not is the workers. Fischer said it's now estimated more than 21,000 workers come downtown during the week. That's down from 70,000 before the pandemic.
"Mid-January was going to be the date Humana was going to come back, then omicron comes, and so they understandably are changing that date," Fischer said. "To their credit, they're concerned about how that's impacting downtown as well."
Fischer said he continues to speak with large companies and business owners about the importance of returning to work downtown and what that'll mean for the economy.
As far as COVID-19, Fischer said he and his team continue to urge people to get vaccinated and get a booster shot.
"Just think back to early in the year when thousands of volunteers came together to see that more than 100,000 of their neighbors got COVID-19 vaccines through our LouVax mass vaccination site," he said. "This unprecedented, tremendous public health response paved the way for our return to economic progress.”
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