8th District Metro Council Campaign Platform #nothingbutnett
Platform for Corey Nett – 8th District Metro Council
(Bulleted points directly below. Please see the following paragraphs for a more detailed explanation of each idea).
- Continue Mayor’s Fischer’s goal of making Louisville the most compassionate city in the country.
- Introduce the Bill of Rights for Differently-Abled Citizens
- Study the possibility of building a passenger train from Louisville to Cincinnati or Indianapolis.
- Modernize infrastructure like water mains and utility lines.
- Continue Tom Owen’s talks around the neighborhood and expand into schools.
- Make sure transportation is accessible to all.
- The creation of a small loan program to help people manage massive home repairs.
- An overhaul of the payday loan system
- A study that analyzes the disparity in gas prices within the city limits.
- Make Louisville the Convention Capital of the South-Eastern Region
- Drug and Crime Reform
- Be advocates for the best education possible.
1. I am running to make this city the most inclusive and accessible city in the country. In April of 2012 Louisville was named the world’s number one city of compassion by the Compassionate Action Network International Institution. This has become one of Mayor Fischer’s main goals during his tenure. I want to expand upon that goal. I don’t believe a city can be a compassionate city without having all of its citizens able to participate in all the aspects of city life and the economy. One initiative that I would propose if I am elected is that I would create an award for businesses that goes above and beyond helping their customers that might be differently abled, by awarding their efforts. That will give them recognition and it will demonstrate to other businesses that just because someone might be differently abled, as long as you show them respect, they might frequent a business more. I would also give awards for accessibility of that business. Speaking about accessibility, we need an effort to allow business that are not accessible right now and make them more accessible, and we can look into giving tax incentives to businesses that may need to build a ramp or widen a door
2. Introduce and enact the Bill of Rights for Differently-Abled Citizens (see previous blog).
3. We need to study and explore the prospect of getting a passenger train connected from Cincinnati or Indianapolis to Louisville. That will give us alternative travel to the rest of the nation.
4. Look into modernizing our infrastructure like water mains, and all phone and electric lines. Why are all the utilities underground in the government and business district downtown? Hospitals and malls also have underground utilities. Why is it good for them and not the rest of Louisville? How much does it cost LG&E to repair power lines and utility poles every year that are damaged from storms? Wouldn’t putting them underground alleviate that problem? When the power is out, how much food goes bad? What if someone is on a medical device at home, what happens to them? We need a study to modernize all infrastructure. With that, we need to keep our sidewalks walk-able. There are too many sidewalks in Louisville that are in a state of disrepair. I would also propose that when possible, every major road have at least one sidewalk. Preston Highway, for example. There are many of miles without a sidewalk. A road without a sidewalk makes it very dangerous for someone in a chair, or anyone for that matter, to get around the city. The sidewalk should not be interrupted in sections.
5. I would continue Tom’s monthly talks around the neighborhood. I would also add schools into that conversation. I think it is important for our elected officials to go into schools and talk about participating in the democratic process. Study shows that 18 to 24 year old individuals that vote in the first two elections they are eligible, are more likely to be a lifelong voter. In our last governor’s election the voting rate was around 30% and that is embarrassing for a democracy.
6. We need to work to ensure that all transportation systems meet the needs of all our citizens. They need to be reliable and accessible to all. Here is my cab proposal:
A cab company must be mandated to have wheelchair accessible vans available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It is entirely unfair that someone who can walk can call a cab at any time of the day or night, but someone in a wheelchair is regulated to only certain times of the day. Generally, the latest running time is 7 p.m.
In a city that does not have a 24/7 bus system, cabs become all the more important for late night transportation. After 7 p.m., TARC starts slowing down its runs and stops running completely after midnight. I know it makes sense for most routes to stop running at a certain time, but for routes like the 17, the 23 and the St. Mathews and Frankfort Avenue areas where the nightlife does not end at midnight, this does not make sense. I know it may not seem economical, but the differently-abled community needs a way to experience the nightlife like every other citizen. If TARC would ever go to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on a few of its main routes, people who need transportation at those times wouldn’t mind if the fare after midnight went up to $5. It is cheaper than a cab or a DUI. If TARC cannot go 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, then the only other option to make the city’s nightlife accessible to everyone is by cab.
I understand that taxi drivers are independent contractors, and therefore make their own hours. However, a cab company is given a franchise from the city. I believe that when a cab company franchise is up for renewal, the city should mandate that companies have wheelchair accessible vans running 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I would like to propose something like this.
-For a cab company with 50 cabs or over, they must have two-wheelchair vans and one must be 24/7.
- For a cab company with a 100 cabs or over, they must have 4 wheelchair vans and 2 must be available 24/7.
-For a cab company with 150 cabs or over, they must have 6 wheelchair vans and 4 must be available 24/7.
In the pursuit of fairness and equality for every one of our citizens, I feel it is not that unrealistic to mandate that a percentage of a cab company’s fleet has to be accessible. I have talked with a medical supplier, and I was informed that it only cost $3,000-$5,000 to retrofit a van with a ramp or lift.
If a cab company feels like the cost of retrofitting a few of its vehicles causes an undue burden on them, then the city could offer some sort of tax incentive.
After researching Nashville, cab drivers are willing to work with a scheduled visit and plan. Indianapolis and Charlotte only run till 4 pm Monday through Friday.
Just because other cities of similar size do not do this, it does not mean we have to follow their lead. We can begin to fulfill this promise of our mayor and become a city of the future. In fulfilling that promise we can start emulating a city of inclusion, and not seclusion. By doing this we can become a model for our country where all citizens have the right and opportunity to be fully integrated in all that this great city has to offer.
7. The city needs to start a small loan for people who need a little help with their home improvements. This will help the houses retain their value and help the neighborhood and community by not having houses falling into disrepair. I believe these loans should be small, no more than $5,000, with an interest rate around 2%. We want to help our constituents, not make money off of them. Property taxes are another issue. I met an older woman that is going to have to move out of her house because her property taxes went up. She told me if she knew they were going up and had some time to come up with the money, she could have, but they did not give her the time needed. In this case, a small loan might allow her keep her house. I believe that when possible we should help people stay in their house, especially if they have lived there for 20 or 30 years.
8. Something needs to be done about the scourge called the pay day loan system. The pay day loan companies and the lending companies that prey upon the poor and people without the best credit is an embarrassment. I would propose a cap on any pay day loan to be no more than 8% - 10%, and make it illegal to charge 22% - 30%, like they do now. That is not just immoral, it is criminal in my opinion. They are preying on people that are in need and may just need a hand up, but are getting into even more in debt.
9. I would like to see a study of gas prices in Louisville. On any given day you can find gas ranging from 10 to 20 cents difference a station. I used to hear that the difference was based on the location and the rent the station pays. In my opinion that is an old argument and one that obviously does not hold water. I have been to gas stations, right across the street from each other, some that are even the same gas company, having different gas prices, approximately a 6 cent difference. I have also seen a gas station down the road from another one, not even a half mile, and it was a 10 cent difference. I think our people deserve better than being gouged at the pump. Gas is a major expense for everyone. If gas prices remain high for no legitimate reason, it hurts the economy because people will not spend that money on other commodities. I propose that we cap the difference from the lowest station, to no more than 5 to 8 cents, city wide.
10. Besides my main message of having the most accessible and inclusive Louisville we can have, I believe that the bars should not close any earlier than 4 am. One reason is because it will hurt the economy in many ways. What about the people that work in restaurants and at other service jobs who get off at one or two in the morning; don’t they deserve to be able to go have a nightcap? I believe Louisville is the perfect city to be the convention capital of the South-Eastern region. Making Louisville the convention capitol would help every aspect of our economy, from our night life, to our amazing array of restaurants. In order to make this happen, we need to do two things. 1. The bars have to stay open until 4 am. 2. We need to do whatever we can to get 20-25 thousand more hotel rooms close to the heart of downtown. We just lost the FFA convention because of lack of room. Now I know that particular convention did not help our bars and night life as much as others, but it did bring in the dollars for restaurants and museums. Unfortunately, after many years of coming here, they decided to move it to Indianapolis based on the lack of hotel rooms in the downtown area. If I am elected, I am going to oppose any type of ordinance that might curtail the night life in this city, especially the Bardstown road and Baxter corridor.
11. With what we have seen in the last year, the numbers of gun homicides rose to a 10 year high. We need to do a number of things to combat it. One way to combat this is to allow community policing in all areas of the city. Police should get out of the cars, walk the neighborhood and get to know the business owners and the residents. This way, they are less likely to be seen as an adversary, and instead part of the community. The second thing that should be done is that we should advocate on the city and state levels to get rid of minimum sentencing. It is a bad policy. It takes the power away from the judge that is hearing the case and it also does not take into account any mitigating circumstances that a judge might take into account. Even though I am mostly opposed to mandatory minimum sentences, there are certain types of crimes where a mandatory minimum might be appropriate. I think any kind of crime in which a gun is used, should get double or triple the time. Crime, like rape and child molestation should carry a mandatory sentence of 20 -25 years without the possibility of parole. I also believe this should apply to murder. Right now you can get locked up over a drug charge for longer than any of the heinous crimes I mentioned above, and I don’t agree with that. The third thing we need to do is whatever we can to get illegal guns off the street. This may involve looking into a gun buyback program, and other programs that could apply to gun control. The NRA is pressuring local police departments to sell the guns that they confiscate off the street. I am 100% opposed to that. I think all guns which are confiscated in arrests and after done with being used as evidence, should be handled in one of two ways: they can be re-purposed as police weapons, if possible, and if not possible, they should be melted down and the city would be able to receive the money for scrap metal. In under no uncertain terms should we be putting them back on the street. We should also do away with shock probation for violent offenders. Lastly, we need to continue the movement towards rehabilitation, as opposed to incarceration, and possibly increase those efforts. Experience shows that most drug users are most likely not going to come out of rehab for the first time and stay clean. It can take up to 7 or 8 times for someone to really become clean. I think our focus for non-violent offenders should be in getting them the help that they need, which hopefully helps them to become a productive member of society. Doesn’t that make more sense than spending 30 – 40 thousand dollars a year on incarceration?
12. I know the council does not have much say on education, but we can be advocates for stronger and better schools.
13. We need to commission a study on the 9th street divide. If we ever were to become a truly compassionate city we need to do everything in our power to unite the city and not have any dividing lines.
14. We need to expand our recycling program and also look into alternative energy. We could give a tax incentive to business and residents who try to go green. One of Louisville's goals should be to become one of the cleanest and greenest cities in America.