LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Abandoned cars filling up the LMPD impound lot in Butchertown are going nowhere and even more vehicles are piling up on the streets.
"Our residents are fed up. They don't want these cars. It attracts drug use, it attracts safety issues, walkability issues," Derrick Pedolzsky, chair of the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council, said Saturday afternoon.
During a Metro Council Public Works committee meeting this week, LMPD Major David Allen testified there is currently about 4,000 abandoned cars on the streets after a four month backlog. LMPD was instructed not to tow cars during the pandemic. With the impound lot now overflowing, there's nowhere for towed cars to go.
"At some point, something has to get done. This is something that's completely fixable and solvable. We have the means, the money's been set aside, we just have to get it done," Pedolzsky said.
The Old Louisville neighborhood council is trying to get the ball rolling, by starting a petition urging the city to buy a new impound lot. Started on Thursday, the petition now has nearly 200 supporters.
But, Pedolzsky said the OLNC had begun discussing the abandoned cars a few weeks before the committee hearing.
"If there's not enough room at the lot, it's just going to sit there and what we were finding in Old Louisville was we would report on 311 an abandoned car, tires out, bumpers hanging off, windows broken, and these are safety issues," Pedolzsky said.
On Tuesday, the council unanimously voted to address the issue by starting the petition, and now are urging others to sign it.
"We call on our mayor to try harder, do more, and solve this problem. Use the funds already allocated by the city council and purchase a new lot immediately. Help and work WITH the neighborhoods you claim to serve to clean up these cars, and together improve our cities streets," the petition states.
"It just creates a lot of problems and it just isn't being dealt with in a direct focused way," Pedolzsky said. "We don't have the lot in our neighborhood but were seeing the cars back up in our neighborhood, so we feel for any neighborhood."
Councilman Bill Hollander, (D-8), who's district houses the current lot, said in the committee hearing this week he agrees it's time to address the issue.
"Four months' delay has just created a really serious problem," Hollander said. "The number and the look of abandoned cars is just horrendous."
Facilities and Fleet Director Cathy Duncan told councilmembers this week the city has looked at 45-50 properties for a potential new lot. But, she said the $2 million the city has set aside hasn't landed the 15-acres needed yet.
"Unless we find locations to put that money to use on, then the money doesn't really do us any good and there has been a lot of 'not in my backyard with this,'" Hollander said.
Pedfolzsky said he understands why districts wouldn't want a tow lot in their neighborhood, but he said he'd even welcome it in District 6, for the added police security it would bring.
"That's going to be a hard spot to find. So we really just want the Mayor's Office to work with the city council and work with the neighborhood leaderships to identify a place to put this," he said.
He recommends the city look at the Kentucky Fairgrounds, or potentially partnering with private tow companies to begin tackling the issue.
"I just want to see those options explored. I feel like it's just kind of spinning its wheels. People are frustrated, they want to be heard and it needs to be tackled."
Pedolzsky said in conversations with city, LMPD, and council leadership, they have all been open to collaborating and finding a solution. He said he recognizes the police department is "stretched thin" and said there's a lot of issues "weighing down the Mayor's Office" as well.
"In the grand scheme of things, it's a start and I think it's already started the conversation within the walls of city government to maybe start moving forward on this," he said.
He said there were already 80 cars towed from the Old Louisville neighborhood on Friday, one day after the petition went live.
While the city still searches for solutions, Pedolzsky encourages anyone to sign the petition, which can be found here.
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