Metro Government grant wrongfully used on Sex Offenders
City to Sue NexStep to Independence, Inc.
Louisville – In the summer of this year, Councilman Rick Blackwell (D-12) became aware that several apartments along Hackel Drive were housing registered sex offenders. Blackwell immediately asked the Jefferson County Attorney’s office to look into possible housing violations with these sex offenders. In late August it was discovered that NexStep to Independence, Inc had been given a $25,000 grant from the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government to be used for salaries, operating expenses and assistance to clients.
The financial assistance to clients was to be used for rent, personal items, utilities and transportation. Under the terms of the grant agreement potential clients for NexStep would be screened and could not have a prior history of violent crimes, a history of sexual offenses, or any psychiatric problems.
“NexStep is clearly violating the terms of their grant agreement,” says Blackwell. “It is my hope that when this money is returned these residents will have to find more appropriate places to live.”
In light of the grant violations, the County Attorney’s Office sent a letter to the NexStep program declaring all monies by returned by October 15th. To date, NexStep has not responded. “Since NexStep has not complied with our request, we filed a lawsuit against them last Friday,” said Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell.
“My office will continue to monitor this situation and we will make sure the grant money is returned to be used for its original intentions,” said Blackwell.
For more information, contact Councilman Blackwell’s office at 574-1112.
I just got off the phone with Bill Londrigan, President of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO. He once again stated his support for the Greater Louisville Building and Construction Trades Council's initiative to bring local jobs to local workers by pushing for a metro ordinance requiring contractors to hire local hands, and offered his help whenever it is needed.
As a Union Ironworker, I appreciate this idea greatly, because there is work in Jefferson County, and there is no reason why we should have out-of-towners doing it rather than experienced Louisville tradesmen. Part of this battle will depend on the kind of politicians we elect locally. Please vote tomorrow, and vote for those that support organized labor.
We live, work, play and pay taxes locally. We should be building our own bridges and buildings, too.
In today's C-J, there is an article that should disturb anyone that believes in the right to free assembly. Read it HERE.
I really believe that this will end up at the point where normal citizens will have to pony up some money in order to protest, peacefully gather or assemble in public in any other way. Although they will say you are still be free to assemble in public, you will probably have to pay a fee. If you cannot afford the fee, you cannot gather. This is crazy. The Mayor and his cops are charging charities "police fees". Something we already pay taxes for. How long before it will be applied to other groups of people? The ACLU filed a lawsuit last July on this type of nuttiness in New Jersey.
If we had some representation on the council, (am I really saying this?) someone would come out in a thoughtful way to remove and prohibit these types of fees on charities, interest groups or anyone else. I don't give a damn if other cities are doing it. Our city shouldn't. And it is an issue that a councilman from Southwest Louisville should grab and run with.
Contact the mayor, and tell him we do not want our constitutional rights to be taxed by the city. You can see him Monday,November 17 at the next Community Conversation at Pleasure Ridge Park High School. The meeting starts at 6:30pm. Or you may email the mayor HERE.
UPDATE: 5:00PM, 11/03/2008
Below is the message I sent Mayor Abramson this afternoon and his reply:
Mayor,
You must drop this stupid idea of making people pay for a police presence for their events.It will hurt charities and, I believe, will soon be expanded into making ANY groups that meet publicly pay for a cop that has to show up.This is ridiculous, like having people pay to use public parks.
Save what is left of your legacy.Drop this nonsense now, please.
REPLY
Dear Mr. Tucker,
Thanks for taking the time to write about the fees involved in community events like road races.This was not a decision we made lightly, as we understood that many community events would be affected.
We had been able to provide traffic control services for community events for a long time with little cost to the event organizers.
However, a number of factors have challenged our police department's ability to accommodate every event.
First, on any given weekend from early spring to the holiday season, there are at least two or three events that require police coordination (traffic control, crowd control, street closures and the like).Every officer that we assign to those details is either assigned there as part of a regular shift, which takes that officer away from other police work, or is an overtime assignment, which costs much more per hour.The number of requests we get for police coverage continues to grow, straining our resources further.
Many of these events are for several hundred to a couple thousand people.In the larger perspective, we have to balance the safety interests of the entire community of 700,000 residents with the needs of a road race that could involve 500 people.
Second, in every instance where event organizers have indicated they'll have trouble paying for the traffic service, our officers have offered to help find alternatives.The fees are not static; fewer major intersections blocked means fewer officers needed.We can work with organizers to find other routes to meet the needs of the event while not overwhelming city resources.
We remain committed to the Healthy Hometown Movement, and our police department is more than cooperative with organizers to help find ways to continue events that meet their budget needs.In these tight economic times, I am sure you can understand how critical it is that we spend taxpayer dollars wisely.
Thanks again for writing, and if I may be of service, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Doug Hawkins just put out yet another email on the tired, tired subject of the "bomb storage facility", and this time he is "Setting the Record Straight" by blaming Rick Blackwell. You see, Doug can't make friends or gain influence on the Council because his combative style annoys everyone, so he must blame others for his constant, disasterous failures.
It is obvious today that the Hawkins-Witten bund is turning to wax, as they rely on circus-style campaign tactics instead of issues. You can't blame them, really. They never had any ideas, relying instead on fear and ignorance of the issues, and mainly hoping that voters wouldn't ask for much during this election.
Voters are asking for leadership, vision and results. Hawkins/Witten cannot provide these. Only goofy emails and overblown hype, headline-chasing and reactionary buffoonery. These two clowns, through these past actions, have made us the laughingstock of the metro area. Remember what type of campaigns Doug and Dwight ran, and hold them accountable.
UPDATE: 11/03/2008 - 2:10PM
Doug has sent yet another email on "bomb-storage", this time claiming that he has helped to draft a State Senate Resolution with Dan Seum to prohibit this action. His constituents in the 25th District of Louisville Metro remain unimpressed, still looking for signs of life in his office. Wish us luck.....
