Current Initiatives

Economic Development - whether it is Fortune 500 companies or neighborhood groceries, Mayor Jerry Abramson is committed to attracting and retaining jobs and expanding economic opportunities for Louisville.  Recent efforts and initiatives include:
  • Museum Plaza, a 62-story tower that will house a contemporary arts center, condos, offices and the University of Louisville's Graduate School of Business.
  • Downtown Arena Project, a 22,000-seat facility that will offer sweeping views of the Ohio River and will showcase University of Louisville basketball.
  • $1billion expansion of the UPS WorldPort cargo hub, creating 5,000 new jobs
  • Humana's expansion of 1,100 new jobs
  • Ensuring new investment at Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant and Louisville Assembly Plant to preserve 5,000 existing jobs 
  • Creating hundreds of new jobs through multiple investments in West Louisville
  • Developing new and emerging bioscience and technology companies through the MetaCyte Business Lab
  • Expanding neighborhood commercial services through the COOL Program (Corridors of Opportunity in Louisville)
  • Nurturing Louisville's fastest-growing companies through the Mayor's High-Impact Program
  • Funding Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce, to function as Louisville's economic-development arm
City of Parks - a visionary and aggressive expansion of Louisville's park system, adding thousands of acres of greenspace, the 100-mile "Louisville Loop" paved trail encircling the city, and improvement projects at hundreds of existing parks all over town. It is one of the largest city parks expansion projects in America.

Downtown Development - with more than $2.5 billion in investment and development underway and more than 65,000 workers every day, downtown is Louisville's economic hub.  Mayor Abramson has set an aggressive agenda for continuing downtown's 21-year renaissance. Recent highlights include the multi-purpose arena, $150 million in new development surrounding Louisville Slugger Field, the proposed Iron Quarter development, a nearly half-billion proposed expansion of the Fourth Street entertainment district, the soon-to-be-opened public plaza at the Muhammad Ali Center and exponential growth of downtown housing.

Public Safety - Mayor Abramson is keeping Louisville safe by equipping and deploying first responders in ways that best serve today's needs and neighborhoods.
  • Police - Following the merger of city and county departments to create the Louisville Metro Police Department, the mayor has secured funding to put more police officers on the streets, with new tools, expanded training and stronger community relationships.
  • Fire - After extensive input from citizens and firefighters, the mayor has proposed a "21st Century Fire" plan - a long-range, multi-million-dollar initiative to modernize the Louisville Fire Department, improve response times and enhance service across the urban-services district. Ground has been broken for two new fire stations serving the Portland and Clifton/Crescent Hill/Butchertown neighborhoods. 
  • EMS - Separate emergency-medical services functions have merged into Louisville Metro EMS, a medically focused and data-driven agency that ensures the nearest ambulances are dispatched to help waiting patients no matter where they are in the community. A new deployment plan is putting more medical professionals in more vehicles on the streets of the community than ever before.
MetroSafe - a $71 million initiative, MetroSafe connects police, fire, EMS and other first responders on a single communications network. Phase 1 opened in September 2005 bringing emergency dispatchers together in a combined communications center with the capability of connecting with emergency agencies in 20 surrounding jurisdictions, both in Kentucky and Indiana.  The second phase, completed in 2006, put all call takers and dispatchers on the same computer system for the first time, allowing better emergency coordination and speeding response times by eliminating call transfers.

The third phase of MetroSafe, now in development, includes a state-of-the-art radio transmission system and new communications and emergency-operations center at the site of the former Federal Reserve Building downtown.

Education – Mayor Abramson is committed to moving Louisville to the top tier among peer cities by helping increase the number of high school graduates and the number of people with GEDs, technical certificates, Associate and Bachelor’s Degrees. Improving educational attainment, and readying young people for success in life and the workplace, means better preparing children to learn and improving education opportunities at all levels. Efforts include:

  • Kindergarten Countdown – Success By 6, public and parochial schools, and other community partners host summer events for in-coming kindergarteners, including the annual Mayor’s Kindergarten Countdown Fair.
  • Mayor’s Top Reading School Awards of Excellence – in support of Every 1 Reads, the Mayor recognizes schools showing the most progress on reading scores or having the fewest novice readers.
  • Community Schools – 8 schools open to people of all ages from the time school dismisses until 9 pm for recreation, homework help and other activities.
  • Louisville Education and Employment Partnership (LEEP) – counselors at public middle and high schools assist at-risk students to stay in school, graduate, and make successful transitions to employment, military service and/or post-secondary education.
  • Graduate Greater Louisville – a new, multi-phased collaboration with post secondary institutions and business to increase the numbers of students who complete high school and postsecondary credentials.
  • Metropolitan College – a partnership with United Parcel Service (UPS) and other employers to provide participating students part-time employment in exchange for a free college education.
  • Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U. Center) – a one-stop center where any young person 16-21 years old can get information about jobs, education and careers.

Project DRI - one of the mayor's first initiatives following merger, Project DRI (Drainage Response Initiative) is a $122 million plan to solve drainage issues in neighborhoods across Louisville.  The first two phases of this initiative - totalling more than $86 million for nearly 800 capital projects and drainage-maintenance improvements - were completed in January, 2007. Phase 3 work is currently underway. 

Housing - Mayor Abramson commissioned the development of a Comprehensive Housing Strategy to ensure that neighborhoods throughout the city provide housing of all styles and price points - with access to services, employment and public amenities. The strategy will guide ongoing efforts to ensure a place for everyone, at every stage of life, in our hometown. Key housing initiatives include creating from the ground up a new mixed-income neighborhood - Liberty Green - in place of former a barracks-style public-housing project.

Healthy Hometown - the mayor wants Louisville to be the one of the healthiest and fittest cities in the country. The Mayor's Healthy Hometown Movement encourages residents to be more active and make healthier food choices. The Healthy Hometown Movement was recently cited as a major reason for Louisville being named "America's Most Livable Large City" by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Government Accessibility - Mayor Abramson is focused on connecting our citizens with their government through a number of initiatives:
  • LouisvilleKy.gov - Louisville's new and improved "official" website puts more information and services online than ever before. LouisvilleKy.gov was recently ranked the nation's third-best city website by the Center for Digital Government in their annual "Best of the Web" competition.
  • MetroCall 311 - now community wide and 24/7, MetroCall 311 is the non-emergency number to call when you've got a concern, question or idea for Metro Government.
  • Community Conversations - every month (except December) Mayor Abramson, department directors and Metro Council members meet directly with residents to answer questions and listen to concerns and ideas.  The Mayor's Community Conversations generally are the third Monday of every month at rotating locations across the community.
  • MetroTV - Louisville's government television channel, MetroTV (Insight Cable Channel 25) provides award-winning programs and features, coverage of news conferences, Metro Council meetings, special events and more.