Mayor Fischer ignored community needs for Urban Government Center renovation | Opinion

Affordable housing. Smart growth. Community inclusion. Transparency.

These concepts govern the rhetoric many Louisville politicians, officials and developers espouse about development in the city. After all, Louisville is experiencing a major affordable housing shortage, gentrification is rampant and rising cost of living remains a huge barrier for Louisville families. These are big problems and Mayor Greg Fischer knows so.

That said, you would expect Mayor Fischer would use the influence he has over certain development projects to ensure they help mitigate problems concerning housing, health and poverty.

Paristown Preservation Trust: Louisville picks a developer (again) to renovate long-closed Urban Government Center

Unfortunately, when it came to the redevelopment of the former Urban Government Center, Mayor Fischer made a questionable choice in awarding the contract to the Paristown Preservation Trust. The awarding of that contract writes another chapter in the city’s complacency with the housing shortage, gentrification and virtually ignoring community feedback.

When I say “city,” I do not criticize the diligent employees at Metro who want to see their city step in the right direction. They did create a criterion for scoring proposals to redevelop the site. However, Mayor Fischer awarded the contract to the project that scored 62 out of 110 points.

That’s a 56% on a test, or to students like me, a failing grade. Mayor Fischer did not ask for a revised plan that scores higher, just as a teacher would have me make up my test. He accepted the proposal as is, and construction will begin as soon as the PPT gets its tax increment financing (TIF) district.

The PPT was not the first firm to win the contract. Another proposal by the Underhill Group scored 84.5 points. The project would see the construction of affordable student and senior housing. As a college student, I can say that many of us could have used those affordable housing rates. The plan specifically addressed the ills of gentrification and even mentioned how redlining policies have affected the city. There was to be a grocery store, green space and the project planned to reuse buildings on site. The community was “thrilled” with this proposal.

So why didn’t Mayor Fischer award this project? Simply put, the Underhill Group requested $15 million from the city’s chest of hundreds of millions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act. But the weird thing is that Mayor Fischer refused to give the Underhill Group $15 million, but committed to creating a TIF district to reimburse the PPT up to $15 million in new taxes generated. The Underhill Group was already building a lot of affordable housing, so why couldn’t Mayor Fischer work out a similar deal for the better proposal?

In case you were wondering what the plan from the PPT is, while it does have some positives, the PPT mostly sells a dream. The proposal makes tacky references to Paris and puts an emphasis on “artfully creating place.” It makes references to places to eat and places to shop, but it is clear with the businesses planning to lease the new spaces that low-income families will not be able to afford what they provide. Adding salt to the wounds, the PPT will build 125 hotel rooms (instead of housing), solidifying this development’s “place” as a quasi-tourist attraction. This plan does not seem to care much for crafting “Louisville,” only recreating Paris (and creating profit for investors).

It is clear why this plan scored very lowly in the “community benefits” section of Louisville Forward’s criterion.

Opintion: Paristown, Germantown residents got a lump of coal for Christmas. Gentrification

The awarding of the contract to the PPT is another example of a Louisville Mayor virtually ignoring the community when it comes to major projects despite claiming the community played a part in decisions.

The city ignored a sensible call by the community to turn the UGC into an urban forest to combat the urban heat island effect, which Metro itself has found to be one of the worst in the US.

In another case, sensible arguments from the community against One Park were ignored. It won’t be long until one of the city’s tallest buildings sticks out next to Cherokee Park like a sore thumb, and the roads become even more packed.

Over a decade ago, the city and state ignored calls to reopen Louisville’s waterfront, which would have made downtown much more people-friendly and a place small businesses could thrive. The governments chose to, instead, demolish part of a historic district for a bridge Louisvillians try their best to avoid.

The city needs to do better. For a site the city itself owns, there are no excuses. Mayor Fischer has shown that, even when Metro has so much influence over development plans, the plan that is counter-productive to Metro’s own goals wins. Louisville Forward did not devise a selection criterion and spend hours conducting forums for no reason. Mayor Fischer and his successor, whoever that will be, should respect their government’s processes and place value in community feedback.

Colby Edwards is a student at the University of Louisville. He studies political science and urban studies.

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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Fischer ignored community needs for Urban Government Center | Opinion