LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A new team is taking on the task of revitalizing downtown Louisville.
The Downtown Revitalization Team had its first meeting Monday afternoon to brainstorm ideas to help jump-start downtown again, but changes are already underway.
Mayor Greg Fischer announced the creation of the revitalization team last month as the local tourism and hospitality industries took a vicious blow to the momentum it was building before the coronavirus pandemic hit. About two-thirds of the city's 65,000 hospitality workers are out of a job, a lot of which is centralized around the downtown core.
The team, a group of 67 city, business and community leaders, is tasked with prioritizing plans to kick-start downtown quickly. The main topics they plan to address include litter, safety, graffiti, homelessness and bringing office workers back.
One of the topics that came up in the group's first meeting was how to address homelessness. On Monday afternoon, the city started cleaning out the camp in Jefferson Square Park.
The city has already committed to boosting downtown police patrols and an additional $1 million to addressing homelessness, something that started before the revitalization group came together.
Vincent James, chief of community building, said the group has been working with the homeless population to figure out how to best transition them into temporary shelter and eventually into permanent shelter.
"One of the things we've been able to do is take 13 individuals that have been living in the park that started an encampment," James said. "So we have been working with them to get assessments. So they have been assessed, and now, they're getting temporary housing in terms of shelter."
The groups intend to have a plan in place by May that will address all topics so that they can put it to work before the end of the year.
As for Jefferson Square Park, tents were removed Monday, and the park will be cleaned Tuesday.
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