Metro Council Cracking Down On Nuisances

On Thursday night, The Louisville Metro Council will review and then vote on proposed changes to the city’s public nuisance ordinance. The changes are sponsored by Councilman Steve Magre (D-10) and are designed to curtail criminal activity at problem hotels and motels in Metro Louisville.  And the President of the Bon Air Neighborhood Association has come out in praise of the work done on the ordinance.

 “My time on the Metro Council is growing short and I want to thank the people of the Bon Air Neighborhood and those who live along Sumner Avenue for helping us get to this point,” says Magre. “”It is important to note that after action by the Council, this ordinance must be enforced and it becomes important that the city and the neighborhoods work together to achieve a safer community.”

Magre’s office has released this letter from Patrick Carrico, President of Bon Air Neighborhood Association, stressing the importance of the ordinance:

Bardstown Road from Goldsmith Lane to Bashford Manor Lane separates the Bon Air and Bashford Manor neighborhoods. It separates Louisville Metro District 10 from District 26. It separates the Bon Air Neighborhood Association from the Bashford Manor and the Brown Suburban Neighborhood Associations.

Despite all that separates the residents of these fine neighborhoods, we are united in our support for the revised Metro Louisville Nuisance Ordinance (O-293-15). This ordinance will close a giant loophole which has allowed the Economy Inn to become a haven for crime and a costly consumer of city services.

In 2014, the Louisville Metro Police made over 1,300 trips to the Economy Inn for reasons that include assault, drug activity, criminal mischief, and robbery. In June of this year, police responded to an attempted murder. The current nuisance ordinance does not give police or the city the tools they need to address crime hotspots at hotels in this city.

The residents of Bon Air, Bashford Manor, and the Brown Suburban are pleased to have an advocate on the Metro Council in Councilman Steve Magre, however, it is important for us, as residents and citizens of Metro Louisville, to point out that Councilman Magre has been SERVING his constituents and acting ON OUR BEHALF. It is the people of district 10 and 26 that have led the fight to address rampant criminal activity at local businesses.

The residents that live near this stretch of Bardstown Road have watched on as home values have declined and the reputation of our working class neighborhoods have been dragged through the mud due, in part, to the reputation for rampant criminal activity at the Economy Inn. We thank Councilman Magre and his staff for their generous support.

We have watched, with great interest, the swift and serious action taken by the city in response to a bar in the Highlands that has become an issue for residents in recent months. We hope that the city will take JUST AS SERIOUSLY the concerns of Bon Air, Bashford Manor, and the Brown Suburban when it comes to a business that has been an issue to residents FOR YEARS.

For the long term residents of the Economy Inn, we are committed to working with city services, the Metro Council, and the Mayor's office to find safe, clean, and permanent housing for those who may be affected by the new nuisance ordinance and the pending Health Department review of failed inspections.

Patrick Carrico, President

Bon Air Neighborhood Association