LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Looking for a solution born out of a longstanding issue, dozens gathered inside the Southwest Library for the launch of the Louisville Watchdog Alliance.
"This group grew out of frustration with the planning and design process and seeing how broken it is," Tina Burnell with the alliance said. "So this is a citizen led group, trying to educate other citizens on how to participate in planning, design, how to interact and communicate with our metro council people and to advocate for accountability and transparency."
The goal is to educate everyday Louisvillians on how our government works, from Metro Council races to 311 and design and zoning processes.
"We see a lot of unrestrained development going on in our community, we see affordable housing being used to push a lot of projects through that aren't being well thought out and considering the future," Burnell said.
Burnell said while things may appear broken to some, this work here will lead to a future where power is concentrated within the people and not government.
"The important thing is that we're not going to stay there, we want to use that experience to to bring about some positive change," Burnell said.
During the hours long event, dozens of attendees asked questions to shape a better understanding of how to effectively participate in governmental processes.
As one of its first public meetings drew to a close Burnell said the Watchdog Alliance is already making an impact.
"We have successfully fought a couple of developments and a bait and switch things that we think are not appropriate and not fair to the community that has been met with a lawsuit from a developer," Burnell said. "But we hope to to get citizens in this community a fair shake in the process. Our voices should matter."
For more information on the Louisville Watchdog Alliance, you can visit its Facebook page here.
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