Wednesday, January 05, 2011

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.

13 comments:

  1. Right on, thanks for saying this........

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  2. And a hearty, "Amen" to that. Mom can't get off work Thursday, so hers is one of the many voices that won't be heard- but we're sending our letter just to get it on the record that we think this is a really bad idea.

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  3. Please let your mother know that at least two (2) guys will be there to represent the many who are trying to earn a living during this inconvenient hour.

    Thanks for sending your letter and for your support.

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  4. I, too, couldn't believe what I was reading when I opened The Southwest Dream Team's email. I don't live in Candlelight, and certainly support local businesses, but they were out of line. I hope folks boycott the SWDT. Thanks for writing this.

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  5. Where does david yates stand on this issue? Won't he be voting on this zoning change when it comes before metro council?

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  6. You know any development of nature is offensive to sombody. I lived on 3rd across from Miller Transportation for a few years. Their business never bothered us. We moved because we were raising children and were concerned about the cars on 3rd st and what would happen if one of our children...We ended up moving to Hardwood Forest which backs up Waverly park. You might think a park is a wonderful development to be adjacent to. I much prefered Miller Transportation. Miller Transportation's business is actually very quiet, as the park is until summer (we moved in the winter). In summer cars are always parked behind our house with their radios playing, strangers milling around, and people fishing or casing your property. My wife insisted we install a fence as she feared a perv might swipe a kid, and to stop people from continuosly asking to use the bathroom. I guess all I'm saying is I know Miller is a good neighbor, much better than a park.

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  7. Wow, so living next to a bus garage would be nicer than living next to a public park? How much is Miller paying you, hahahaha!!!

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  8. I'm with you on the park pervs. Hopefully they all go to Franfort with Jerry.

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  9. How stupid do you have to be to move into a house that backs up to a public space then bitch about people using the public space? That park was there before those houses and it will be there after they are all lost to foreclosure. Did you ever think maybe the people in the park didn't want to look at your house either? That place was ruined when they built those houses there.
    I hope Miller Transportation looses this case because that neighborhood has enough problems as it is. Whose district is this on the council?

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  10. The business is currently located in District 25 (David Yates) but the proposed expansion will move the business slightly to the east, making it a part of District 13 (Vicki Welch).

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  11. As per the rules, members of the council may not voice a position on the zoning issue prior to vote.

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  12. I wish I had known about this before the meeting. I'll try to spend some time looking into the matter.

    I live near where the compound is currently located, and if I were to look at it from Miller's POV, I can understand why they would wish to relocate. Third Street Road is narrow and barely navigable, and I can certainly understand the necessity for greater space.

    The new location would provide greater accessibility for Miller. On the other hand, the bright lights and potential noise could pose problems for Candlelight residents. I would look for plans by the developers to take into account issues presented to them by Candlelight residents. Without knowing too much at this point, I would hope for a peaceful settlement.

    As for what SWDT sent out, I haven't seen it, so it wouldn't be right to comment on it at this time.

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  13. I also meant to say that there needs to be solid plans for drainage issues as well.

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