Issues

10-Point Plan to Fix Metro Government

1) Under the Thieneman plan, the Mayor is required to submit annual revenue and expense estimates, including money to be spent on capital projects. The Mayor must account for shortfalls and submit spending plans for any surplus.

2) Thieneman’s plan requires new accountability standards for Metro Government’s activities in real estate. It requires that LOCAL real estate firms be given the opportunity to properly market properties to be sold by the Government.

3) Thieneman advocates changes in the structure of the Metro Council, reducing the number of Council Districts from 26 to 20. His plan limits individual council members to three four-year terms.

4) With compensation of council members and their staffs out of control, Thieneman’s plan sets a limit of $26,000 in annual salary for members, and $50,000 in annual total compensation for each council members’ legislative aides.

Jobs and Economic Development

Louisville is a city with limitless potential. Since merger, our local leaders have failed to promote Louisville and seize the opportunities to make Louisville great.  We need a Leader with a courageous vision to grow the city, and better the lives of the people of Louisville Metro. 

Over the past decade, surrounding cities have gained jobs by the thousands, while Louisville has lost a net 2,200 jobs. We need a Leader who will put Louisville first. 

We have a lot to look forward to. We have wonderful companies like YUM Brands, Ford Motor Company, GE, and Humana to name a few who are the backbone of our wonderful community. We have the UPS international cargo hub. We have an award winning parks system, and a developing downtown. We have the resources to expand the companies already making Louisville great, and the tools to attract and grow businesses that can make Louisville better. 

Chris Thieneman will be a proactive Mayor who will bring jobs to Louisville and strengthen our local economy. Chris will attract good paying jobs that will improve the quality of life in Louisville. We will grow Louisville one job at a time. We can do it, but we have to work together. 

Chris Thieneman has a proven track record as a businessman and community leader. With courage and determination, Chris will grow Louisville jobs, and boost our local economy. 

The Thieneman Plan for Louisville includes:

Libraries

The whole time Chris led the group, “Support the Libraries, Not the Tax,” he was adamant that people knew he was in favor of growing the libraries. We can build new libraries without new taxes, and Chris’ plan for the libraries will do just that. 

We have to work smarter. We can have new, state of the art libraries with the abilities to accommodate the needs and demands of the community. Whether it is a child learning to read, or Dad continuing his education, Louisville’s libraries will be up to the challenge. 

Our libraries, like our parks, should be a shining example to the cities around us. The Thieneman Administration will make it a priority to build and maintain a state of the art and updated library system and we can do it without raising taxes. 
Here’s how.

1) Build our own, free-standing libraries where available. For example, in Valley Station, the city currently owns commercial property in the immediate vicinity of the current library branch. At the same time, the city of Louisville pays an out-of-town developer $23,000 a month rent, that is $276,000 per year in that one location. In a hypothetical, but completely realistic, situation, the city could build a $1 Million facility in Southwestern Jefferson County, completely mortgaged, and have it paid off in less than 10 years.

For our libraries, we have to consider the rent versus buy option. We cannot keep throwing money at a damaged and outdated system and expect it to fix itself. We must provide our people with the tools and resources to better the Louisville Free Public Library experience. 

2) The people of Louisville Metro do not have to bear the entire financial burden of improving the library system. We will create a position(s) within the LFPL dedicated to seeking out and/or establishing endowments for the Louisville library system. These endowments will allow the library to continually update their services and keep the circulation up to date and relevant.

While we cannot build a brand-new system overnight, we can begin making positive improvements immediately. 

It is with this ambition and belief in the future of Louisville that we make our library system a partner in a progressive effort to move Louisville forward. Programs like Read to Achieve and Library Champions encourage children to read and helps them build an appreciation for knowledge and education. We have to build on that encouragement.

With the help of neighborhood volunteers, we can provide afterschool tutoring for students who wish to excel in the classroom. We will continue the story time program. We can develop inexpensive and influential programs that will benefit library patrons and the surrounding community. 

Our libraries can be pathway to a better life for many people in Louisville. Together, we can make the Louisville Free Public Library a shining star in our community.

Public Safety

To increase the standard of living for the people of Louisville, we have to insure that the men and women of our fire and police departments have the resources needed to respond to emergencies. 

Instead of reinventing the wheel, we need to find a smarter, more effective way to give our men and women in uniform the tools they need to protect us. 

Since merger, several progressive moves have been made to improve our city’s police force. However, there are areas that can be approved. 

I propose the creation of a Physical Assault Squad.  Sometimes the classification of a crime is a thin line muddled in intent and outcome. The Physical Assault Squad will be a centralized effort, under one commander, to investigate and prevent assaults in Louisville. Our current system handles all assaults at the division level, with little information sharing with other divisions across the city. Combining these efforts into a central location will enable detectives to analyze information across the city, see trends, and prevent future assault cases. 

Also, we will create the Narcotics Division. We have lost traction due to decentralization of narcotics investigation. Divisions are overwhelmed because they are only able to track activities within their respective area. A central, Narcotics Division will allow for problem areas to be targeted and addressed as a county issue, where patterns can be recognized and networks disrupted. This is not an out of sight out of mind issue.  We will clean up our city. Giving our officers the knowledge they need and our narcotic investigators the tools to eliminate this plague is one of the first steps in taking back our streets. 

Our officers are now outfitted with Mobile Data Terminals that allow them to collect information and submit it immediately. Due to budgetary cuts, much of that information goes unanalyzed. Our current analyst is overwhelmed and overworked. 

This problem is 2 fold problem and requires an immediate solution. Instead of purchasing systems not designed for Louisville, we have to develop a Records Management System to meet the specific needs of Louisville Metro. With all of that information submitted and unanalyzed, we need to hire a sufficient number of analysts to process this information, build models from criminal patterns that enable officers to forecast and prevent future criminal activity. A properly staffed Information Technology department and the proper analytical ability, Louisville Metro police will be better informed and prepared to meet the challenges of the community. Centralized intelligence will benefit all of Louisville Metro. 

We must also take preventative measures to discourage crime and provide our community the safest possible living environment. 

We will implement the use of Police Observation Devices (PODs) in high crime areas. These devices have been used with great success by other cities in the region. The PODs that would be used will have the ability to monitor high risk areas, alert officers when a gun is fired, and provide more data for officers to analyze in an effort to prevent future crime. PODs will not replace police presence; it will increase the ability of officers to monitor high-risk neighborhoods. As crime moves, so will the PODs. 

A trained technician will monitor the PODs at all times. 

With the addition of POD technicians and data analysts, we are creating jobs and strengthening the impact of the LMPD. 

Another technology I believe will be instrumental in bettering the quality of life in Louisville will be the installation of Automated Speed Enforcement Devices. I will lobby Frankfort to increase the speed limit to 65 mph in the area between the Gene Snyder and Crittenden Drive, and evaluate other speed limits on major roadways. As part of this speed increase, Automated Speed Enforcement Devices will be put into place to digitally capture and cite speeders at 11 mph over the speed limit. No points will be deducted from the driver’s license, and the penalty will be a flat fee. 

This step will maintain the flow of traffic, reduce speed related accidents in high volume areas, and allow our officers to focus their attention to more important matters. 

I support the Louisville Metro Police Officers being allowed take-home cars with no financial penalty to the officer. Take-home vehicles are better maintained and cared for, and the obvious police presence is beneficial to the surrounding community. 

We need to maintain our air unit. As the 16th largest city in the nation, it is unfathomable that a news station helicopter should be responsible to provide our officers with air support, as has happened recently. We do not have to buy the most expensive helicopter, we can maintain an active air fleet in a fiscally responsible manner and give our men and women on the ground the air support needed to protect this city. 

In the coming years, we will have to address the need of a police training facility. Our officers can no longer conduct adequate driver’s training in the parking lot of Cardinal Stadium. Since the mayor and local councilman sold the Southfield training facility, our officers do not have facilities suitable for drive training or rifle qualifying. Our men and women in uniform are going to Southern Indiana to train. We will have to build a facility here in Louisville Metro, and now is the time to start discussing where.

Fire Department

First and foremost, I do not support the merging of City and Urban fire departments. This is a money grab by the current mayor in an effort to support his spending addiction. These fire departments operate as independent taxing districts and are supported by the communities in which they serve. The people in Highview, Fern Creek, and others understand their needs more than a bureaucrat downtown. Although the concept seems unifying, in the long run, contention and distribution of funding will prove to be the downfall of such a merger. 

We have to reevaluate the emergency needs of the city. We have closed several firehouses due to budget cutbacks, but that has increased response times and provided an additional strain on our fire and EMS responders.  We have to find smart solutions. If we want to grow our city, we cannot cut the budgets of our fire and EMS and expect them to provide faster response times with fewer resources. They do a great job, but Metro Government must provide the pay, staffing, and resources needed to meet the growing demands of our city.

Transparency

The mayor of Louisville is more powerful than the Governor of Kentucky when it comes to making the budget. The mayor does not have a check in the system to balance his authority. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. 

I have been pushing hard for Senate Bill 80. SB-80 requires the mayor to be open about the budget making process. It requires Metro Council input and approval. The people of Louisville would know where their money is being spent and why. 

I have signed the petition to support Senate Bill 80 for budget transparency. I invite all candidates for mayor to sign the petition or simply explain to the people why they won’t.

When the mayor told the police they were broke, officers asked to see the books, and the mayor said no. We need accountability and transparency in Metro government. 

As your mayor, I will be completely open and accountable to the people of Louisville. 

We will bring the police, firefighters, and the Metro Council to the table when we make the budget. Allowing everyone see the books, to know the revenue forecast, and have a seat at the table will insure that each department has the resources it needs to operate effectively. 

We will audit metro government. We will find and eliminate wasteful spending. But most importantly, the people of Louisville will know where and why tax dollars are spent. 

I’m not asking for a revolutionary transformation of government, I’m simply providing a commonsense solution to a problem that should have never existed.

Bridges

In Louisville, finding a way across the Ohio River has been a point of debate since the 1830s. Today, we have two major interstate bridges connecting Louisville to southern Indiana. However, with our growing population and expansion into the county, our bridge needs have increased without any action to solve the problem. Our newest bridge, The Kennedy Bridge (where Interstate 65 crosses the Ohio River), was completed in 1963.  Forty-seven years later, we are still trying to find a way across the river. 

For Louisville to grow, we must build a bridge in Eastern Jefferson County. The absence of this bridge is costing Louisville jobs and revenue. The cost of this project has grown exponentially since debate began. We must complete this project and move our community forward. 

There are concerns about the amount of traffic generated around the Kennedy Interchange (Spaghetti Junction) and proposals have been made for complicated, time-consuming, and expensive transformation projects that could only worsen the problem. 

We have to think outside of the box. Instead of building 2 interstate bridges, we should look at the possible benefits of 3 strategically placed local access bridges connecting Louisville to Southern Indiana to accompany the one interstate bridge. Local access bridges will alleviate much of the commuting traffic congestion from the interstates and interchanges around the major interstate bridges, at a fraction of the cost. 

Louisville is the largest city in the state, yet has the same number of Ohio River crossing bridges as Owensboro and Henderson, Kentucky. Owensboro completed the William Natcher local access bridge for $70 Million ($40 Million in Federal funds, and $30 Million from the State) and was completed in less than 8 years. We can do that in Louisville. 

Instead of spending $4.2 Billion on two interstate bridges, lets take a look at other, more cost effective and efficient possibilities. For Louisville to grow, we must build bridges.