LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Mayor Greg Fischer sat down with WDRB News on Friday to talk about everything from rising coronavirus cases to continuing protests and anger over Breonna Taylor's death.
Q: Protesters converged on a ribbon-cutting event in the Portland neighborhood Friday to confront Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. About 100 protesters — some wearing "Black Lives Matter" shirts — started chanting and yelling at Fischer as he arrived to speak at the opening of a low-income apartment complex called The Montgomery at the intersection of 25th and Montgomery streets.
You tried to have a conversation with the protesters. Then as you tried to leave they surrounded your car. What was going through your mind as this happened? Did it take you by surprise at this ribbon cutting and what was going through your mind as this evolved?
A: The protests was not part of the run of the show. I can tell you that. No, it's a great announcement, $2.8 million new affordable housing in the Portland neighborhood of West Louisville. So it's exactly the kind of thing that West Louisville and Portland has been asking for more of, investment in the neighborhood so that people can stay and live in the neighborhood have a nice new place to live like everybody else does. And the people of west Louisville deserve that just like people in east and south Louisville. Our Affordable Housing Trust Fund has been a big part of making this happen. So we're going to continue to invest in West Louisville and give them the kind of amenities that they deserve like everybody else.
Q: Would you consider this a peaceful protest? I watched the video. People were screaming obscenities in your face, calling for you to be fired, beating on your cars. You tried to leave. Would you consider this a peaceful protest? There were no arrest today.
A: There were high emotions. Nobody was really beating on the car. And look, … I understand why emotions are high in the city. And there's been, you know, centuries of racial injustice that are boiling over in our city, in 2,000 cities … in the country right now. So people have the right to do peaceful protests. This was disruptive, but they were there to make a point. They made a point. I think the key point should be, though, is that we have got to be dedicated to continue to invest in all parts of our town, particularly those that have been disinvested, in and this is the type of project that we should celebrate that took place today. Low-income, affordable housing for seniors and other folks.
Q: Part of what they were angry about today is the claims from attorneys for Breonna Taylor's family that drug raids that took place the night she was killed were connected to a city effort to revitalize the Russell neighborhood specifically a home where Taylor's ex-boyfriend was arrested. You have denied those claims. Metro council members are demanding that all documents related to the Breonna Taylor case, including about this claim that the Russell revitalization project are turned over to them. Do you plan to do that and how confident are you that nothing will turn up that shows a connection in those documents?
A: A hundred and ten percent. … When I when I heard that, I mean I was dumbfounded, Elizabet. Like who could have thought something like this up? So Elliott Avenue is a home with lots of vacant and abandoned properties. There's criminal activity taking place there as well as was evidenced by the search warrant that … was a valid search warrant and had valid criminal activity taking place behind it. So people in every city in every street deserve to be able to sit on their front porch and not have to be worried about drug activity or criminal activity on their street. So that's what that search warrant was about, as part of our place based investigation by LMPD. And as far as the materials, any material, it belongs to the people of Louisville, OK. So unless the attorney general or the FBI have told us to not share documents, because it's part of a criminal investigation, everything, of course will be shared out there, but I'm not going to do anything to impede a potential criminal investigation.
Q: Let's talk a little bit about the protests that started at the end of May. I posed the question to our viewers on Facebook to share some questions and concerns they wanted to ask you with me. So I want to share some of those with you. And I'm personally hearing from police officers in our community who say they're not being allowed to do their job. They don't feel supported right now, and people in the communities who are seeing some of the mobile protests come through all parts of Louisville. How would you address police concerns that they're not being supported right now and citizens’ concerns that they don't feel safe because of that?
A: People definitely are concerned about protests when they get loud or potentially get violent, whether it's downtown, the caravans, people have a right to caravan by the Constitution. Now, when they break the law, that's when LMPD can enforce the law. So what LMPD knows is they are empowered to take action to enforce the law. If in their decision, they need to try to de-escalate, which we always try to do first, but if they think that is a better strategy, then they're empowered to make that decision.
Q: Downtown is a very different place than it was just a few months ago. It all started with COVID and the civil unrest, and people are concerned about what the future holds for downtown Louisville, so many businesses and offices are still boarded up. Is there a plan to help Louisville get back to where it was, before COVID, before the civil unrest? And what will be done to help the businesses who were damaged during the vandalism, and that night of protests in late May?
A: Yeah, no, absolutely. There's multiple plans. Last week, we announced a $21 million grant fund for small businesses. So if people aren't aware of that, I encourage them to go to LouisvilleKY. gov. Because right now, … the plan for a business is just ... get through this. I mean, COVID is still amongst us, right? So we got to get through COVID. We got to get through the other side of the protest. Again, these are happening when I talk to the city of Nashville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, same thing in this region, same thing all over our country, but it is tough if you're a small business person right now. So that is the purpose of those grants so they can survive to get to the other side of this.
Q: Let's talk about the Breonna Taylor case. Specifically has this city turned over all the documents to the attorney general's office which he has said he needs before he can make a determination during that investigation as to whether there could be charges against the officers involved in the raid at her home.
A: It's been over two months now, since the file was given to the attorney general, it was 95% complete at the time. I said, give everything to him now that we have so that they can get started. I mean, we're talking about thousands of pages of evidence here. So the only involvement that LMPD would have with the attorney general's office right now is that they're requesting more information, which of course, we would over to them.
Q: So has that 5% that's remaining been turned over?
A: Yeah, our work has been done. … But then if they have more information, they can ask that and obviously, we would produce it.Â
Q: Any kind of a timeframe for when there might be a decision and will the city be given a heads up before Daniel Cameron makes an announcement as to the investigation?
A: It's certainly … our desire that the attorney general does that. I mean, that's a question for him, obviously, in terms of what his plan is on that, but we need a heads up for a city … and then I think, too, we want to be asking, how is the city going to respond? We need to show the country how a city responds to a tragedy and make something good come out of that. I mean, I'm hopeful at the end of all the protests, because I believe in the basic backing behind the protest to have a more just society, a society with more opportunities. That's the kind of city that we need to create here. … And I hope out of this tragedy, that's what's going to happen.
Q: Before we get to COVID. I want to ask you where the search for a new police chief stands at this point.
A: We've had incredible input over 9,000 people from the community have given us their ideas with the online survey and phone-ins that we've had. So lots of feedback on that. PERF, the police executive research forum is running that. We're also doing our listening sessions with the city to make sure we have the right job description. So it's well underway.
Q: You have the latest COVID-19 cases for Louisville and several new deaths. Can you share the number of new cases and deaths with us today?
A: Unfortunately, three new deaths today so we’re at 222 since the pandemic came upon us. … Around 60 new cases here today, but I really want to emphasize to everybody with a mask order in place. Our fate is in our own hands or in our own face, if you will, people just wear face coverings because we see how effective these are. We … were really responsible with the state in our city going safe at home early on this. And so you've seen the crisis that's happening in the states that did not do that. And we just got to make sure that COVID freight train doesn't come to our city. So I'm very happy that we've got the facemask regulation now.
Q: Some people are resisting wearing the masks. The governor said it's up to the health departments to enforce this. What's the plan in Louisville? How will this be enforced? And what will happen to those caught not wearing them?
A: I think, you know, we got to try to get away from this gotcha thing. It's like it's the right thing to do. Okay, just like putting the seatbelt on. And you know, when you feel like how are you gonna force this? Like, can people just do the right thing and put a face mask on so that you're protecting people around you and protecting yourself? So the public health department, we will ask people to put face masks on just like the police department will as well. Remember this is … businesses This is people out in public. So let's not get into this kind of childish, how are we going to punish people? Let's just emphasize, please do the right thing. Take care of yourself Take care of other people.
Q: As schools are still weighing how to proceed with a new school year set to start in just weeks. Do you feel schools should reopen in-person learning this fall?
A: I think it's gonna be a gametime decision. I mean, you can see how this virus can change the city in five days literally going from where you're under control, and then boom, it's out of control. So, you know, ... is there a pathway to that, yes. Now we've got to worry about the teachers and the staff members in addition to the students as well. So when we're going through a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, you know, it's easy to understand why these decisions are so difficult, and it's easy to decide. People just want to be over with COVID. I hear that all the time. I want to be over with COVID but until the vaccine comes we're going to have to learn how to live with this virus, and wearing facemasks is a big part of that.
Q: Do you foresee any strict measures having to be put back into place in Louisville? Do you have a plan to take any further action at this point?
A: If our numbers really start spiking, we're gonna have to do something. Now what we've seen in the past couple of weeks is an increase in the 20 to 44 white demographic group that also happened to coincide with the opening of bars. And what we've learned from Florida and Texas was, you know, massive spread took place in the bars. Now they opened, they closed much later than us. They opened much sooner than us as well. So let's learn from what they've done down there.
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