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The annual program that helps prevent low income residents of Louisville from being disconnected from utility services begins Monday, Jan. 8, 2018.
LIHEAP, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, is administered by Louisville Metro Office of Resilience and Community Services. The Crisis Phase of LIHEAP will run from Jan. 8 – March 30, or until available funds have been expended, whichever comes first.
This year’s Crisis Program features expanded eligibility which allows residents receiving a current utility bill with a past due amount to apply, in addition to continuing to serve residents receiving a disconnect notice.
Residents wishing to apply must make an appointment utilizing the automated appointment system. Appointments can be scheduled by phone by calling 502-991-8391 or online atlouisvilleky.cascheduler.com. The toll-free service is currently open and is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Applicants must be Jefferson County residents with a household income at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty guidelines (e.g. for a household of four, the gross monthly income cannot exceed $2,665.00).
Applicants must also meet one of the following eligibility requirements:
- Disconnect notice from utility service provider, or
- Current bill with a past due amount, or
- Eviction notice if utilities are included in the rent, or
- Bulk fuel is within four days of running out; or
- Pre-paid electric services is within ten days of running out.
Applicants must provide the following documents.
- Proof of all household income for the preceding month (Food Stamp award letter, Social Security Award letter, pay stubs, or other proof of $0 income). Note: Zero Income forms are available at the LIHEAP offices or at 701 W. Ormsby Ave., Suite 201 or by clicking here.
- Social Security card(s) or (official documentation with Social Security Numbers) or Permanent Residence card (Green Card) for each member of the household; and
- Disconnect notice or a current bill with a past due amount; or
- Eviction notice if heating expenses are included in the rent. If heat is included in rent, clients must also provide a copy of the lease in addition to the eviction notice; or
- Statement from utility company that shows 10 days or less of service if participating in pre-paid electric service.
Individuals who are unable to apply for this program in person may send an authorized representative on their behalf with a signed, written, note including the applicant’s name, address, phone number, Social Security Number, and the name of the designated representative. The authorized representative must provide a picture ID to verify they are the person designated in the note. Residents who are homebound and who are unable to send a representative may call 502/780-7937.
LIHEAP applications will be completed at the time of the appointment at one of the six locations listed below.
- Northwest Neighborhood Place/Academy at Shawnee, 4018 W Market St., 40212
- South Central Neighborhood Place, 4255 Hazelwood Ave., 40215
- Neighborhood Place Ujima/Duvalle Education Center, 3610 Bohne Ave., 40211
- Neighborhood Place/Bridges of Hope, 1411 Algonquin Pkwy., 40210
- Newburg Community Center/East, 4810 Exeter Ave, 40218
- Southwest Government Center/Dixie Highway location. 7219 Dixie Highway, 40258
Callers who require more information can contact MetroCall 311 by simply dialing 311 or 574-5000, email metro.call@louisvilleky.gov, visit the website’s On Line Customer Service or Live Chat at www.louisvilleky.gov/metrocall, tweet @LouMetro311, or download the free Mobile 311 app from the website. Residents can also call Metro United Way’s 2-1-1 help referral service.
3As previously announced, the Louisville Parks and Recreation storage and maintenance barn at Joe Creason Park will be removed beginning the week of January 8.
The barn, which dates to November 1918, served as The Motor School Garage building for Camp Zachary Taylor during World War I. Although altered over time, the barn incorporates a distinctive wooden lattice truss structural system that spans 102 feet. Originally built as a temporary structure, the wood structural elements have deteriorated over time and have begun to shift and buckle, making the building structurally unsound and unsafe.
The 2017-18 capital budget approved by Metro Council includes funding to take down the Creason barn. The decision to remove the building is based on findings from engineering assessments that cite significant structural deficiencies in the now vacant facility.
Louisville Parks and Recreation continues to work closely with the Camp Zachary Taylor Historical Society and The Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure elements of the structure are documented, salvaged and repurposed to commemorate the barn’s history.
“While we are sad to see the structure removed, we are well aware of the current condition,” said Ken Maguire, president of the Camp Zachary Taylor Historical Society. “I’m happy to be working with Louisville Metro to preserve as much of the history as possible and creating a lifetime memorial to Camp Zachary Taylor for future generations.”
Design for the new maintenance facility will begin sometime in 2018.
The structural assessments obtained by the city may be viewed at https://louisvilleky.gov/government/parks/about-us.
Mayor Greg Fischer announced that he will deliver the 2018 State of the City address on Thursday, Jan. 4 at the new South Central Regional Library in Okolona.
The address is traditionally delivered to the Downtown Rotary Club at the start of the new year, in various locations.
The Rotary luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m. The address is free and open to the public. Those wishing to have lunch will be asked to pay $30. There also will be seating for those who wish to attend by not have lunch.
Attendees should register at http://www.IsMyRotaryClub.org/Register/index.cfm?EventID=77353553 no later than Jan. 1.
Last year, Mayor Fischer gave the State of the City at the Baxter Community Center one month after announcing that the Russell neighborhood would benefit from a $29.5 million HUD Choice Neighborhoods grant. In previous years, the State of the City has been give at the Southwest Regional Library, Churchill Downs and the African American Heritage Center.
A major project to improve safety along one of the city’s most traveled highways began a new phase today, as Mayor Greg Fischer and U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced the construction kickoff of the New Dixie Highway Project.
Upon completion in December 2019, the improved corridor will include safety improvements such as new medians, wider sidewalks and clearly marked crosswalks; efficiency improvements including responsive traffic signals linked by fiber optic cable; and the city’s first bus rapid transit system which will vastly improve bus travel times to and from downtown.
“The U.S. Department of Transportation’s $16.9 million TIGER grant is providing nearly half of the funding for the New Dixie Highway Project to greatly improve the Louisville area transportation network,” said Secretary Chao. “As a resident of Louisville, I have spent a lot of time driving Dixie Highway and am delighted to be part of this effort to improve the safety and efficiency of the city’s busiest traffic corridor.
The $35 million project will create a New Dixie Highway that’s safer for drivers and pedestrians, and will fuel transformation of a major economic corridor for southwest and west Louisville. The New Dixie Highway Project is the first major construction project under the Mayor’s MOVE Louisville initiative.
“We’re investing more money into improving Dixie Highway right now than any other corridor in the city,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “This road is a crucial connector for people to get to schools, to work, to health care, and most importantly, to get back home. This project will not only make Dixie safer for drivers, but it will make it more attractive for business owners, consumers and investors.”
Dixie Highway carries nearly 60,000 vehicles per day near its busiest intersections, which is a higher traffic count than some interstate stretches. Dixie Highway also suffers a fatality rate three times higher than comparable Kentucky roadways.
The project includes funding from federal, state and local sources, including a $16.9 million federal TIGER grant, $5.28 federal funds through KIPDA, $12 million in state funds, and $600,000 from Louisville Metro.
“It takes collaboration and support between city, state and federal partners to move a project of this size forward,” said KYTC Secretary Greg Thomas. “The upcoming construction, coupled with roadway improvements in recent years, will completely transform Dixie Highway into a safer, better-connected corridor.”
Mayor Fischer, Sec. Chao, KYTC Sec. Thomas, Congressman John Yarmuth, Metro Council members and other leaders celebrated the New Dixie Highway construction kickoff at the Kroger Marketplace, a $23 million grocery and retail superstore, at 4915 Dixie Highway. The location is appropriate, Mayor Fischer said, because the project builds on the renaissance already under way on the corridor, with tens of millions of dollars in private investments in new restaurants, retail businesses, housing and other developments.
Safety improvements lead the way
This month, MAC Construction began preparations for construction, including temporary lane shifts and utility location. Safety improvements will include new concrete medians designed to limit left turns between Crums Lane and Greenwood Road. Dedicated turn lanes will reduce the risk for head-on collisions. Pedestrians will enjoy new, more accommodating sidewalks that are eight feet wide in many areas, and better markings for crosswalks.
The city’s busiest transit corridor will also get the region’s first “bus rapid transit” line, including distinctive TARC buses and high-visibility shelters to help move thousands of people daily and better define the 14-mile corridor. More than 100 trees will be planted along the route, as well as native grasses and plants within the new landscaped medians.
Mayor Fischer thanked state legislators, Metro Council members and the KYTC for their commitment to improving safety and mobility along Dixie Highway, noting that without their work to secure state and local matching funds, the city would not have been able to leverage the federal grant to jump-start the project.
Bus rapid transit will help move people to work, home
Fueled by a $16.9 million federal TIGER grant, the New Dixie Highway project will include a new bus rapid transit line along Dixie Highway from around the Gene Snyder Freeway to Broadway, and connect to the downtown business district. It will include specially designed vehicles and bus stations that will reduce travel times for riders and increase reliability along Louisville’s most used public-transit corridor.
“This strategic investment in a proven transportation solution will help transit users get to work, to stores and back home faster and more reliably than today,” Yarmuth said. “That’s important for working families, employers and our regional economy.”
With more than 30 distinctively branded bus shelters, new buses and sidewalk improvements, the New Dixie Highway project will also help transform the look and feel of the corridor.
Multiple improvements on Dixie are already underway or completed
Overall, more than $50 million has been invested in Dixie Highway in a series of projects over the past two years. The total investment of federal, state and local dollars includes:
- $14.5 million in pavement replacement and resurfacing underway along a five-mile segment from Stonegate Manor Drive to Greenwood Road
- $2.5 million in resurfacing work completed this summer – a two-mile section from Algonquin Parkway to Maple Street (31W) and a six-mile section from the Jefferson/Hardin county line to Stonegate Manor Drive
- $2.5 million project to clean and repaint the Dixie Highway overpass at the Watterson Expressway completed last year
- $800,000 project completed this fall to add a new sidewalk along the east side of Dixie, and straighten ramp and add a signal at the westbound I-264 Shively exit
Open house meetings planned for early 2018
Citizens will get a chance to learn more about the planned improvements at an open house meeting in early 2018. Citizens can also get more information through the project website (www.TheNewDixieHighway.com) and social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter.
Follow progress on the New Dixie Highway at TheNewDixieHighway.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @NewDixieHighway.
Don’t throw away that old television, computers or other electronic device that’s you just replaced. Let Metro Public Works recycle those newly obsolete devices instead.
Free post-holiday electronics drop-off service is available at our Waste Reduction Center at 636 Meriwether Avenue. Drop-off will be available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on these three Saturdays: January 6, January 13 and January 20.
The special holiday promotion is in addition to our regular year round electronics recycling program. Details on the regular program are available on our website at https://louisvilleky.gov/recycling.
Mayor Greg Fischer cut the ribbon for the grand opening of a new Metro Public Works Operations Center designed to improve efficiency by centralizing operations from three separate locations into one site.
The Operations Center, at 3507 Newburg Road, replaces an outdated Central District facility of the Roads and Operations Division of Public Works; brings the Signs & Markings team together on one floor; and brings Electrical Maintenance storage, which was split in three locations, into a single site.
Critical daily functions, such as road and traffic signal maintenance, fabrication and installation of all traffic signs and road markings, along with snow removal, are performed or supported at the Operations Center, which will also function as the Public Works Emergency Command Center during major incidents.
Creation of the $4.5 million Operations Center is part of Mayor Fischer’s overall facilities needs planning, which also calls for using the old Central District site for construction of a new Louisville Metro Animal Services’ Care Center to replace an outdated center on Manslick Road. Plans for the new animal care facility, which will be next to the city’s Animal House Adoption Center, are still under development.
Mayor Fischer said, “Coordinating development of these facilities shows how we can leverage existing resources to create more efficient services for citizens and better working conditions for city employees.”
The six-acre Operations Center complex includes a 14,400-square-foot operations building, a 10,920-square-foot storage building, an open storage yard, and a salt dome that can house 5,000 tons of road salt — a 67 percent increase over the 3,000-ton dome of the old facility. Salt also can be loaded into the dome from the top via an automatic conveyor system that is much more efficient than the old system of using multiple truck runs to dump salt on the floor.
Electrical power to the complex is backed up by an external generator. There is also above ground diesel fuel storage for emergency use. The truck standby parking area includes a plug-in rail to warm diesel engines for more efficient cold weather operation.
The 2018 Louisville Parks and Recreation Golf Discount Book is now on sale at all Parks and Recreation golf courses, and makes a perfect holiday gift for the golfer in the family regardless of experience level.
The $25 gift provides more than $2,000 worth of dollars in savings throughout the year and is on sale at all nine public golf courses and the Parks Administration Building at Joe Creason Park.
Through the discount book, players can receive reduced greens fees, prices on pro shop merchandise, lessons and more.
For more information on the discount book, call (502) 574-6454 or call or visit your nearby Parks and Recreation golf course.