Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg talks crime prevention, reviving downtown and affordable housing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A day after Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg presented his State of the City address, he appeared on WDRB Mornings to discuss the strategies in place to overcome the challenges the city is facing.

Following up on his statements in the address that the city is strong with a reduction in violent crime in the first month of the year compared to last year, the mayor detailed some of the steps being taken to continue that trend, and what still needs to happen.

"We are headed in the right direction," Greenberg said. "But there is still a lot of work to be done. Homicides, non-fatal shootings, carjackings are all down. But any one of those crimes is one too many. So that's why we're going to continue to work with a sense of urgency every day."

The mayor praised Louisville Metro Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, saying she is doing a wonderful job.

"We continue to recruit more officers, focus on community policing," Greenberg said. "We have focus groups of people who are working on reducing the amount of non-fatal shootings, resolving homicides.

"But we're also doing more than just policing. We have a new initiative that we just expanded this week, where if you call 911 and you have a mental health emergency, you're able to get someone from Seven Counties to provide you with services. That helps the person in need, and it also frees up our police to focus on violent crime."

The mayor also mentioned the city's group violence intervention programs, which he described as "an effort to address people that are most at risk of becoming shooters or victims of shootings, and help provide them with a new path on life. We're also continuing to invest in our parks and community centers to give kids and young adults more opportunities to succeed and join up with people that are pursuing great things in life."

Greenberg said more than a billion dollars is being invested in Louisville by businesses and entrepreneurs.

"One of the ones I highlighted yesterday was the largest investment in over 20 years in west Louisville — Stellar Snacks — which makes some amazing pretzels. I enjoy the product a lot myself. They're going to be creating about 350 jobs in the coming years in west Louisville with a $137 million investment. And that's just one of many, and we have a lot more still to come."

One challenge the city is facing is overcoming some people's perceptions that the downtown area isn't safe.

"Downtown is certainly one of our focus areas, and one of the reasons is is that is the neighborhood that connects every neighborhood in our city," Greenberg said. "It's the heart of our city. People work in downtown, they visit downtown for all sorts of reasons. Whether you live in Louisville or come to Louisville from around the country."

The mayor mentioned the plans to "reinvent the Belvedere," which is now 50 years old. He said the goal is to "create a world-class destination right here in Louisville, on the Ohio river that people are going to want to come to from all across the city and world."

Plans are also continuing to reimagine Fourth Street between Main and Liberty with a focus on safety improvements by adding more light and cameras.

The mayor was asked to comment on a bill recently filed by two Kentucky lawmakers to require a Kentucky State Police post in Louisville.

"That's not something that I'm focused on right now," Greenberg said. "Here's what I'm focused on: first of all let me say we have a great partnership with Kentucky State Police. There's many ways that LMPD and KSP work together.... When we work on big events like the Derby, the PGA championship and others we have a great collaboration between Kentucky State Police and LMPD. We work with each other on training opportunities and more."

Greenberg said KSP and LMPD are in the same boat, with both facing severe staffing shortages.

"One of the things I mentioned yesterday in my State of the City yesterday is join us," Greenberg said. "If you are out there, and you are from any part of the city, from any background -- an educator, a social worker, former military, another police department -- and you want to be a part of the solution, join LMPD. We are raising the pay, we're improving benefits, we are supporting our officers. We want people who want to make difference."

The mayor said affordable housing continues to be a top priority, but the city needs help from the state to help build or renovate 15,000 homes over the coming years.

"One of the things that we need is we need some help from our state legislature ... we need their help to change some state laws to provide more to the Louisville Affordable Housing trust fund to create a statewide low income housing tax credit," Greenberg said. "And we'll also be working with our colleagues at Metro Council over the coming month on local zoning ordinances that make it easier and more supportive to build affordable housing across the entire community. Because we need affordable, safe high-quality housing in every neighborhood in Louisville."

It's a long-term goal, but the mayor said the city is well on its way to achieving it.

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Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg talks crime prevention, reviving downtown and affordable housing