Councilmembers Reno-Weber and Owen announce new ABC initiative after community public safety meeting
Louisville (August 8, 2023) – More than 300 community members attended a community meeting on August 6, 2023, by Councilmembers Ben Reno-Weber (D-8) and Andrew Owen (D-9) to address recent gun violence on Bardstown Road and on Frankfort Avenue.
Several Metro Government Departments including LMPD, Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC), Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods (OSHN), and Group Violence Interrupters attended the meeting to provide the public with an update on what’s being done to keep the community safe.
“Thank you for attending Sunday’s meeting, and making your voices heard. Public safety concerns are clearly at the forefront of the community’s minds, and we are acting quickly on several new initiatives to aid in addressing violence. These are concrete steps to translate words into direct policy changes that we believe will have an immediate impact,” said Councilman Reno-Weber.
As a direct result of community input, the Director of ABC announced a new zero tolerance policy on restaurant and bar noise violations in Jefferson County. In the next few weeks, ABC will be reaching out to all restaurants and bars to notify them of this policy change. This will allow businesses to take the appropriate steps to educate their staff before the policy goes into effect. At that point, officers will issue a $2,500 fine for the first offence. This new policy replaces the previous policy of issuing warnings for offending establishments.
LMPD also indicated that they will potentially be unveiling a new program in the next few weeks targeting violence reduction and de-escalation.
“A significant amount of the crime and violence we are seeing today is a direct result of cuts we made to youth engagement and other social programs back in 2019. I am pleased the Administration and the Metro Council were able to reinvest in many of those same programs in this year’s annual budget. Those investments will pay dividends, but mostly in the long term. In the short term we are going to need our community partners and all metro agencies to use every tool we have at our disposal address the urgent needs of today,” said Councilman Owen.
What can you do to get involved?
OSHN focuses their efforts on neighborhoods and depends on citizen involvement to know what’s best. There are multiple avenues for citizen involvement and inclusion.
- The YES! Youth Engagement Services Division is developing a youth board in each district and need youth to apply. Just email [email protected] to obtain an application.
- The Metro Youth Cabinet is now recruiting members. The only requirements are to be a Louisville resident, aged 16-24, and someone interested in working on issues important to them and the community at-large: violence, homelessness, social equity, etc. Please email [email protected] for an application.
- Join the community violence prevention teams. Email [email protected] for more information.
- Hosting sites for Networking Nights and Ambassador trainings. Please contact [email protected].
- Trauma Resilient Communities Division (TRC) will be starting a citizen advisory board soon and will need one volunteer representative from each district. Please contact [email protected] for more information.
Councilmembers Reno-Weber and Owen are set to unveil additional initiatives aimed at addressing gun violence in the coming weeks.
If you missed the meeting, you may watch on Facebook through Councilman Ben Reno-Weber’s page at www.facebook.com/CouncilmanBenRenoWeber. A direct link to the meeting is available here: https://fb.watch/mgQrb0-ILF/.
If you have any additional questions, please contact Councilman Reno-Weber’s office at 502-574-1108 or Councilman Andrew Owen’s office at 502-574-1109.
