Businessman vs. businessman: How Dieruf and Greenberg stack up in Louisville mayor race

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When it comes to Louisville's mayor, it apparently takes a businessman to replace a businessman.

Former businessman-turned-mayor Greg Fischer will be succeeded in the November general election by Republican Bill Dieruf or Democrat Craig Greenberg, both of whom cruised to primary race victories Tuesday.

And like Fischer, both come from business backgrounds.

Dieruf, 66, who has been mayor of Jeffersontown since 2010, managed his family’s long-running hardware business before getting into politics.

Leading Jeffersontown through a tragedy with a deadly Kroger shooting at a community store, Dieruf has highlighted how the suburban city under his watch has been family-friendly, safe and attractive to business, citing the Bluegrass Commerce Park that features more than 800 companies.

While citing his leadership of the community of 28,000 residents, Dieruf also touts his service as the past president of both the Jefferson County League of Cities and Kentucky League of Cities, as well as his connections with lawmakers in Frankfort.

'We're not going to go away': Black Louisville mayor candidates who lost are frustrated but undeterred

Greenberg, 48, boasts business and development experience of his own. The Harvard Law School graduate is the former CEO of 21c Museum Hotels and a co-owner of Ohio Valley Wrestling. He also has served on the University of Louisville Board of Trustees and on nonprofit boards.

He says he has spent his career "revitalizing urban cities through innovative real estate projects and businesses," with "experience in private equity and public company transactions, real estate deals, complicated financing structures and building a company from concept to over 1,000 employees at 10 locations."

2022 Kentucky primary election: 5 takeaways from Tuesday

But his involvement with tax increment financing districts around the country has drawn scrutiny from those opposed to a new taxing district in Louisville’s West End, which opponents have attacked as thinly veiled gentrification.

Greenberg has also emphasized his stand on bringing down Louisville's rampant gun violence after he and four campaign members were nearly shot in their Butchertown office on Valentine's Day.

Louisville Metro Council primary: Close calls, new names in local races

If Dieruf wins in November, he will become the first Republican mayor to lead Louisville since Kenneth Schmied took office in 1965.

That won't be easy in a county where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 359,901 to 204,394, according to the county clerk’s office. 

Dieruf has pitched himself as the “mayor for everybody" who attracts voters from both major parties, while Greenberg has pledged to create a “safer, stronger Louisville.”

Here are just a few of the issues Greenberg and Dieruf have focused on and where they are alike and different.

Funding the police

Both candidates have said public safety is their top priority. 

Dieruf and Greenberg have rejected talks of “defunding the police” and each indicated support for hiring more Louisville Metro Police officers to combat staffing shortages and violent crime in a city that suffered record homicide levels in 2021 and 2020. 

Both men have also said they would push for “community” policing to improve relationships with residents, support the Group Violence Intervention initiative and aim to help rather than punish those struggling with addiction.

Greenberg has said his “all in” public safety plan would “significantly” increase the monetary reward given to members of the public who provide information leading to convictions in homicide cases.

Dieruf has said he would bring Jeffersontown Police Chief Rick Sanders with him to Metro Hall “in a yet-to-be-determined capacity,” touting the chief’s past experience fighting traffickers and gangs with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and leading Kentucky State Police.

The Jeffersontown Police Department has joined other suburban agencies in poaching some LMPD officers in recent years because of better pay and fewer controversies than the Louisville’s department.

Dieruf has also emphasized his main difference from his opponents: He has experience as a mayor. Greenberg does not.

That was reflected on his campaign website, “having a plan does not come close to having the know-how, connections and successful experience Chief Sanders and I have to address the public safety challenges facing Louisville Metro.”

Education in Louisville

The city’s education system has received plenty of attention during the pandemic from local residents and state lawmakers in Frankfort, especially as Jefferson County Public Schools could make big changes to its student assignment plan.

Greenberg, who graduated from Ballard High School, has pledged on his website to create a Louisville Department of Education “to enhance collaboration among our city’s pre-K to post-secondary education institutions, including Jefferson County Public Schools, JCTC, University of Louisville, Simmons College of Kentucky, Evolve 502 and other partners.”

Dieruf, who graduated from the private St. Xavier High School, has already critiqued Greenberg’s plan, stating “education needs collaboration, not bureaucracy.”

High school sports: Will JCPS schools boycott some private schools if 'open recruitment' persists?

“In fact, our teachers have so much red tape and paperwork to deal with already I do not believe there needs to be another layer of bureaucracy with Metro Government adding a Louisville Department of Education,” Dieruf wrote on his campaign website.

Greenberg has said he would advocate for universal preschool, affordable high-speed internet in all neighborhoods, expanded workforce development programs and “full state funding” of public schools.

Dieruf has expressed support for the Academies of Louisville program from JCPS that exposes students to career pathways. He says on his website he supports “pre-preschool education,” or preparing young learners for success before preschool, especially to tackle a racial and socioeconomic achievement gap that he said becomes clearer by elementary school.

“Whether it’s early childhood education programs offered by Jefferson County Public Schools or preschool programs operated by faith-based and community organizations, all efforts to benefit early learners deserve our attention and support,” Dieruf’s website says.

Dieruf also said he is a “big believer in having school resource officers in the schools.”

“I witnessed firsthand how it can work well."

Boosting the Derby City's economy

It comes as no surprise that shoring up Louisville's economy is another stated priority for both of the candidates, given their business experience.

While Dieruf mentioned the importance of attracting a large corporation like Ford to the region, he also has highlighted the need to support small businesses, Black-owned firms and entrepreneurs, while mentioning his experience operating a hardware store.

And Dieruf expresses a goal of helping Louisville get ahead of peer cities such as Nashville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati when it comes to rankings of best places to start a business.

Dieruf also highlights his desire to bring a "JOBS incentive program" to Louisville similar to Jeffersontown, which has given employers tax rebates in exchange for job creation.

Kentucky unemployment: In 2 years, state's jobless rate goes from historic high to record low

Greenberg similarly has mentioned a desire to help entrepreneurs and local businesses. His website brings up an additional goal of expanding the city's youth jobs program, SummerWorks, to a year-round initiative and upping the number of programs in the Office of Globalization to help new residents from other countries settle in Louisville.

Greenberg has also called for improved public transportation to help employees and create "high-density corridors of opportunity."

Both men agree on a desire to revitalize downtown Louisville by making it friendlier to pedestrians through more green space.

Louisville's housing needs

How to tackle the affordable housing shortage in Louisville — one study has found the city needs more than 30,000 new units to close the gap for low-income families — has come up throughout the campaign.

Greenberg has said he would build “at least 15,000 more affordable housing units throughout our city, with a focus on building homes near jobs.”

His website also lists focusing on homeownership in “historically redlined communities,” developing new housing on vacant or abandoned lots, helping homeless residents and placing them near support services and creating more “dense and in-fill mixed-income housing to add more residents to Louisville’s urban core.”

As part of a series of questions the mayoral candidates answered from The Courier Journal earlier this year, Dieruf said new affordable housing units should get located across Jefferson County, “yet those locations should be carefully chosen.”

“It is important that apartments be built close to bus lines and service businesses and government offices,” Dieruf wrote. “… Having people reside in all parts of our community will enable them to live closer to workplaces, which should prove to be a boon to workforce development in all parts of Louisville Metro.”

Dieruf’s campaign website also mentions Ford’s plan to build twin electric vehicle battery plants south of Louisville in Hardin County and the need to house “the thousands of employees who will work at the battery production plants and ancillary businesses.”

“Many of them will want to live in a metropolitan area that can provide a wide price range of housing, parks, recreational activities, entertainment, dining and arts offerings that Louisville has,” Dieruf wrote on his website. “But we will need to have a focused effort to attract these families to our community.”

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville mayor race 2022: Bill Dieruf, Craig Greenberg differences