Tagged: Louisville Metro Councilman David James

A Kentucky lawmaker is questioning if African-Americans should continue to patronize Fourth Street Live in the wake of a former University of Louisville basketball player’s arrest.

As WFPL reported this week, 38-year-old Jason Osborne was arrested by Metro Police on Sunday outside of Sully's restaurant. He has been charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest, and a hearing is scheduled for May 24.

Osborne is a former Mr. Basketball who played for the Louisville Cardinals in the early 1990s.

Several African-American elected officials from the Metro Council and General Assembly were present at Osborne’s arraignment, and at least one lawmaker is now telling black residents to avoid the entertainment district until these mattes are settled.

"All of us have received complaints of perceived harassment and disrespect at Fourth Street Live. I might go down for lunch during the day, but I don’t go down there after 5 o’clock. You run a risk," says state Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville. "The record is clear and my mama told me where there’s smoke there is fire. There’s a whole lot of smoke coming out of Fourth Street Live as it relates to African-Americans."

The Boy Scouts of America is forming a partnership with Louisville Metro Government for a new after school pilot program to help at-risk youth and teach them needed skills to deal with drugs and violence.

Mayor Greg Fischer and other city officials unveiled the NOVA Center on Monday, which will involve the Boy Scouts, Jefferson County Public Schools and Metro Parks in the California neighborhood.

It will take in more than three dozen student from Wheatley Elementary, who will be recommended from the schools' family resource center. NOVA will offer math and science tutoring, as well as life skills and mentoring on how to avoid alcohol, drug abuse and bullying.

Fischer says the task of combating violence starts with the youngest children, but it won’t be successful unless everyone participates.

"And so the Boy Scouts stepping up here should really be applauded. It’s a way they’re going to be directly affecting the lives of these kids one student at a time. And whether you look at 55,000 degrees or 15,000 degrees, people often say ‘how can you get it done?’ And I give them the same answer: you get it done one student at a time. It’s not easy," he says.

Dozens of residents and community activists filled City Hall on Thursday to urge the Louisville Metro Council to boost funding for affordable housing, but an ordinance seeking to pay for the initiative is losing support.

Several people spoke in favor of legislation that seeks to put nearly $10 million into the fund by increasing the city's tax on insurance premiums by one percentage point.

Affordable housing advocates who testified before the council spoke of skyrocketing rent and mortgage costs, the high number of homeless public school children and the need for new units.

"We can’t let school kids continue to be homeless, and let this problem go unsolved. So there are people who are in agreement that we need to do something and figure out how to fund the trust fund, and work together to figure out how to do that," Rachel Hurst, executive director of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund told WFPL.

But the prospects are grim now that a majority on the council have said they do not support the proposal.

Council President Jim King, D-10, and Councilman David Yates, D-24, have both said they will not vote for the ordinance. And after two of the original seven co-sponsors withdrew their support this week, another supporter—Councilman Brent Ackerson, D-26—announced he is also backing off the bill.

Louisville Democrat David James and Republican Ken Fleming don’t always agree as leaders of their respective caucuses, but the two Metro Council members hope city lawmakers tackle a number of issues this year.

Among them is the new spending plan for the city. Mayor Greg Fischer says the local economy is bouncing back from the recession, but Metro Government still faces a $13 million budget shortfall.

Both parties hope the budget process is transparent, and James and Fleming agree that public dollars for city services are running thin and need to be spent wisely.