LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg stopped by WDRB Mornings Thursday for an update on several major issues, including the possibility that Ford workers could join an expanded United Auto Workers strike. 

With Ford workers in Louisville planning a rally Thursday night to support the UAW strike, it's possible union leaders could expand the strike to include workers at the state's two plants in Louisville. 

"I'm really rooting for a win-win solution to avoid any further strikes anywhere in the country," Greenberg said. "I'd love to see a solution that is great for our hard-working union workers and is also great for Ford. Ford is such an important company here in Louisville, they're such an important corporate citizen. They do so much, they employ so many people. And we are proud to have them. 

"At the same time, I'm a strong supporter of all the hard working men and women of the UAW, and organized labor in general. They are so important to our economy. They deserve fair wages, good benefits, safe working conditions. I sent a letter to the Ford CEO recently, saying just that, letting him know how important Ford is to our city, and at the same time encouraging a win-win solution to all of the hard-working UAW members, who I strongly support."

JCPS is more than a month into the school year and its ongoing transportation issues have made national headlines, and Greenberg said progress is being made to solve those issues. 

"We've had good conversations with Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio, as well as with the school board members," Greenberg said. "And if the city is able to help in any way, we want to be able to help. Right now what I think the best thing that can happen is when the general assembly convenes next January is that they support raises for teachers and to fully pay bus drivers as well, fair, good wages.

"We need more bus drivers, we need more teachers, and that would be the thing that could help solve these issues the most. Let's support public education in Louisville, in Kentucky, by giving teachers raises, giving bus drivers raises, and making sure we have a big enough team to serve our growing population of students, because public education is such a critical key to success."

Another critical key to the city's success involves public housing. The Director of Louisville Metro Housing Authority recently submitted her resignation after investigations into poor living conditions at Dosker Manor, an apartment complex for senior citizens and the disabled. 

The mayor said a search for a replacement is underway. 

"So we are actively searching right now, we are looking across the country as well as locally, for the best person to lead the Louisville Metro Housing Authority moving forward. There are certainly challenges. We need to ensure that everyone that's living in housing in Louisville, whether it's owned by a private landlord, or even more importantly when it's owned by a public agency like LMHA, that it's not just affordable but that it's safe and high quality, and we're not living up to that standard right now.

"We can and we will do better in our existing LMHA units. And also we need to think about the future. We need thousands and thousands of more units of affordable housing, across our entire city. So we're working on a plan right now that we'll be coming out with in a few weeks that will detail how we'll make that happen. But we want our new LMHA executive director to be able to help us build even more high-quality, affordable, safe housing for people across the city.

"Because that's the foundation for everything else. That's the foundation for a strong family, to be able to have a good job, to be able to ensure that your kids have a place to come home after school, to do their homework and be safe and prepare for the next day." 

Greenberg had high praise for LMPD's new police chief. 

"Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel is doing an amazing job," Greenberg said. "One of the things that she and I have started doing since she became the permanent chief is we're going around the entire department to meet with all eight divisions at their roll calls. So just yesterday, in the early morning, we started with the Division 4 roll call, and we ended the evening late at night with their evening roll call. We're not saying much, we're doing a lot of listening."

And the mayor will be doing some listening on Thursday when he heads to the the 4-day Louder Than Life festival at the Kentucky Expo Center -- however, he has no plans to take the stage.

"Louder Than Life is such a huge annual event here. It is the largest rock, heavy metal concert festival in the entire country every year," Greenberg said. He added that he has no plans to appear on stage. He'll also refrain from singing along, because his wife specifically asked him not to after he tried during a Bruno Mars song during Bourbon & Beyond. 

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