Tuesday News

- Earlier this month at the UAW National Ford Council Meeting, UAW Vice President Bob King vowed to strike the Ford Motor Company over product commitments for the Louisville Assembly and Michigan Truck plants if the company does not make good on its promise of new work. The new product commitments for the plants were negotiated and approved by the membership as per the 2007 and 2009 contracts. Ford is still building the Explorer at the Louisville Assembly Plant on Fern Valley Road and is expected to wrap up production of that vehicle in November. As of this writing, Ford has not officially announced any future product for Louisville Assembly, although media speculation has been mainly focused on the Kuga crossover vehicle currently built for Europeans.

- Just one month after the introduction of the federally-funded "Energy Star" appliance rebate program, the state has announced the $4 million has been spent. [Business First]

- There's another huge retail development going up in Fern Creek at the Bardstown Road/Gene Snyder interchange. The development will be nearly 400,000 square feet on 43.5 acres and will include "a big-box retailer, movie theaters, restaurants, a coffee house and clothing and electronics retailers." Meanwhile, folks in Southwest Louisville continue to wish for a big-box retailer, movie theaters, restaurants, a coffee house and clothing and electronics retailers.

Dream Team Hosting Mayoral Primary Winners

News from the Southwest Dream Team:

We have scheduled the next Southwest Dream Team meeting. It will be held on Wednesay June 2nd at 5p.m. The meeting will be held at the Southwest Center 8009 Terry Rd. The Southwest Center is at the corner of Terry and Paradise Ln and the doors to the rental hall are around the back of the building. Our guest speaker will be Greg Fischer, recently the winner of the Democratic Primary for Mayor of Louisville. It will be our opportunity to ask Mr. Fischer questions about what type of Mayor he will be and how we can get our hopes and dreams for the South End and Southwest Louisville to the next administration. We will be holding another meeting, featuring the Republican Primary winner, Councilman Hal Heiner in the next few weeks.
Please plan on attending this important meeting and prepare to ask questions of someone who could become the next Mayor of Louisville. We look forward to having a very well attended meeting and we will have some information on what else the Dream Team has in store. Don't miss it.

MSD Seeks to Jack Up Rates Again

According to an article today's Courier-Journal, the Metropolitan Sewer District board has unanimously approved a proposal to raise rates by 6.5%. The paper, as is its usual custom, compares sewer rates with other cities in an effort to "sell" the idea that our rates are low.

You can write the MSD board of directors at this address: P.O. Box 740011, Louisville, Ky, 40201-7411

Public Hearing Set For Cane Run Ash Dump

On Tuesday, May 25, the Kentucky Division of Waste Management will conduct a public hearing on LG&E's request to build a toxic coal ash landfill at the Cane Run power plant. The hearing will take place at 7pm at Conway Middle School.

From the Courier-Journal:

The proposed 60-acre, $54 million dump would eventually extend as high as a 14-story building in an area now largely occupied by transmission lines.

The complete Courier Journal story is HERE.
More detailed information on the dump and the hearing can be found HERE.

Meet The New Boss...Same As The Old Boss

Louisvillians said to suffer from "Abramson Fatigue" elect Fischer, Heiner; Get Fooled Again.

The majority of primary voters that bothered to show up at their polling places today made themselves clear: "More of the same, please." So much for that "voter anger" the media was peddling.  Here are the results for Mayor and Southwest Louisville council primaries. There will be additional analysis when the numbers by precinct are available.

- Hal Heiner and Greg Fischer are the two party's mayoral candidates for November.  Burrel Farnsley finished last. That means no bars open 24/7.  And an ocean of concrete poured downtown for a 23-lane superhighway. And a couple of bridges. And an Abramson clone in Greg "Ice, Ice, Baby" Fischer. Because that's what the old-money Louisville elites want. This should help put an end to all this talk about Louisville and that pesky "positive future" nonsense. Are you ready for four (4) more years? I hope so.

- John Brewer beat Ed Springston like a 10-cent hooker in the 28th District State House Republican Primary. I do not know John Brewer and I have never met him, but a man I spoke with this evening told me he thought John was "about as sharp as a sack of wet mice." Interesting.

- Robert Thrasher's message went over like a fart in church as Doug Hawkins whipped the good Doctor and will face David Yates in November for the 25th Metro Council District seat.

- Vicki Aubrey Welch turned back negative robo-calls and handbills from you-know-who as she beat Larry Roger Price like a gong in the 13th Metro Council District primary.

All Jefferson County results can be seen by clicking HERE, courtesy of the folks at the once-proud Courier Journal.

Thanks for making The Valley Report a part of your day.  The site has, over the last few weeks, registered some pretty hot stats for such a low-rent operation. How hot? Hotter than a three-peckered billy goat. It's so hot around here, I might have to invent an ice machine to cool it off.

Keep the faith, people.

2010 Primary - News of the Weird

It has been a strange and exciting primary election season.  I hope you took the time to vote today.  Until the results come in I thought it might be fun to list some of the more bizarre tales surrounding the campaigns for Louisville mayor.

- Greg Fischer invents ice machine. Maybe. 

- Chris Thieneman exchanges yard work for votes.

- Greg Fischer's son steals Jim King signs.

- Connie Marshall is being followed by the FBI.

Feel free to add to this list.