LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Shively community leaders opposed a new auction lot announced by Louisville Metro Government Tuesday, Dec. 28.
In a release Dec. 29, Mayor Beverly Chester-Burton said it will negatively impact community appeal, decrease market value, impact future business opportunities, congest traffic and create environmental hazards.
"Shively is not the right location," Chester-Burton said.
The lot at 3502 7th Street Road is currently neighbored by an adult book store, strip clubs and a used car lot.
WHAS11 News asked Chester-Burton how that informed her concern. She said, "Yes, which is why we don't need anything else that is going to be a negative impact."
She said Mayor Fischer called her hours before the announcement and she wished she had been consulted earlier.
District 3 Metro Councilwoman Keisha Dorsey agreed that more community members should have been involved.
Dorsey also asked, "Why aren't we using this for positive economic development in a low-income black and brown community?"
Dorsey tied the move to systemic mistreatment of black communities in Louisville. "It is unfair and it is unjust that decisions were made at this level and at the magnitude, with impacts that it will have, without consulting and consideration," Dorsey said.
There will be an opportunity for public comment on Jan. 19 at 1 p.m. downtown, though Dorsey noted the time may be difficult for residents.
Taylor Berry Neighborhood Association President Christine Schneider said she's already starting to hear from neighbors. "Somebody made the comment they said, 'How about we put it in the mayor's neighborhood and see what he thinks,'" she said.
She was surprised by the announcement Tuesday which she signaled was a move in the wrong direction for her community.
"If you look behind that stuff on the seventh street, those are neighborhoods back there, families and elderly people," Schneider said.
WHAS11 News reached out to the mayor's office for a response but they deferred back to the original press release, which described a search of nearly a dozen sites to relocate the impound lot.
However, it said none of them worked out.
Mayor Fischer called this separate auction lot an innovative solution.
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