Commentary on Miller Transportation's zoning hearing in Southwest Louisville

After careful thought and consideration, I would like to share with you my opinion on the proposed relocation and expansion of Miller Transportation's current facility in District 25, Southwest Louisville to a wooded area adjacent to the entrance of the Candlelight Neighborhood in District 13, also in Southwest Louisville. The more I think on the subject, the more angry I become. I don't do this very often, if ever, but there may will be profanity below. You have been warned.

Begin rant:

First, as you are all aware, the hearing that will be held before the Metro Planning Commission will occur this Thursday at 1PM at the Old Jail Building downtown. This time of day for which the hearing is scheduled is outrageous and unacceptable. 1PM is a time when most affected residents would be at work, and the lawyers who want to ram this project through on behalf of Miller Transportation do not want your participation. Without you there, it will be much easier to do a quick hand-job on the commission. This allows Miller Transportation to say, "See? No one even bothered to speak against it." The commission, after listening to Miller's high-priced attorneys clear their fucking throats for 15 minutes, will grant the request if residents don't come out in droves and act like savages.

Second,  I feel it is necessary to have an open, public forum for residents FIRST to air concerns and open a dialogue with the business owners that allows everyone to speak. The fact that Miller did not reach out to residents and seek their approval FIRST speaks to how seriously the company takes its responsibility to the community. Only after some type of forum is held should any hearing be scheduled, and residents should have some type of input on the time of the hearing. These are our neighborhoods, not a never-ending supply of cheap land for you to exploit.

Third, while we in Southwest Louisville appreciate the efforts of all local businesses and want them to succeed, sooner or later you people are going to have to come to grips with the fact that WE LIVE HERE, and your profit margins and your competitiveness and your part-time driving jobs and your idle threat to move out of town do not mean much to us if the way you plan to conduct your operations lowers our "quality of life". Good riddance.

Fourth, the environmental impact of such a business needs to be fully and thoroughly studied before any type of hearing is held on the matter. Creating a parking lot with over 200 spaces by paving over a wooded area does not do much to improve existing drainage issues in the area, bus exhaust isn't fun to breathe and lighting up a residential neighborhood at night does not improve "quality of life".

Fifth, the Southwest Dream Team's effort to encourage a letter-writing campaign on behalf of a bunch of millionaires is nothing more than corrupt communication and is one of the most misguided, destructive and disgusting things I have witnessed in a long time, and I have seen some pretty silly shit out here. What started as a noble effort to include everyone at the table to gain influence for our area has been ruined by the insatiable greed and stupidity of local business associations that exist only to serve the interests of a few fellow back-scratchers. And listen you insensitive assholes, you don't go around calling all concerned residents "a few nay-sayers". That takes balls. Those pesky "nay-sayers" are worried about their plummeting home values, something your flimsy organization should be trying to improve. Has anyone on the Dream Team ever considered what it would be like to try to sell a house - the value of which has already been depressed by the economy- right next to a huge bus maintenance facility that runs high pressure sodium lights all night long?

Lastly, the attempts by all sides to cockblock residents participation should backfire. I sure hope it does. And I hope the good people living in the Candlelight Neighborhood, a neighborhood consisting of several hundred modest homes as well as Lassiter Middle School, have the grit and ability to show up Thursday at 1PM to send a strong message to and make an example out of Miller Transportation and the once-proud Southwest Dream Team.

As stated previously, all email and letter correspondence either in favor of or against this project should to be sent to the attorney at the following email address: chashburner@wyattfirm.com. Email and letters should be addressed to: The Louisville Metro Planning Commission; Chief Rich Carlson, chair- c/o Cliff Ashburner, attorney.

End Rant.