Summer Stuff in River City

Let’s declare that summer is officially on. Yesterday was the last day of school, the news is full of stories about idiots leaving their kids in hot cars, and there’s all sorts of stuff to do in our little city of possibilities. And it’s the weekend to be nice to those firemen collecting money for the Crusade for Children.

Last night, I was a guest at the Kentucky Country Day graduation ceremony. The student speakers in the 81-member class were incredibly talented, and the keynote by Tori Murden McClure was inspiring, and funny. She provided a list of things not true about graduation, the main one being this these were the best years of your life. The only people who think that high school years were the most fun are still re-living their football exploits, she joked.

I’ve been paying attention to this stuff.  . .

James Leads on Furloughs: The other day Jim King put out a news release saying that he wanted to know how many council members and their staffs would participate in voluntary one-week furloughs as part of the city’s efforts to help balance the budget. Members get $816 a week in salary, and most of their aides get more than that. David James, in Old Louisville, showed some leadership by declaring he AND his aide would do so.  I think we’re about to see which members of the council are really in it for public service, and which ones are in office for the money.

Johns vs. Hargens: JCPS has narrowed its superintendent search to two candidates. From what I’ve read, Christine Johns of Michigan and Donna Hargens of North Carolina have similar qualifications and the board says it would be happy with either. But expect both to have a tough week meeting with interested parties next week — when they will have to walk a tightrope on the ONE key issue in JCPS — balancing the need for diversity with academic achievement, the twin goals that are mutually exclusive and brought down Sheldon Berman.

A Win for NO: This week’s announcement that backers of the Ohio River Bridges Project have come up with a way to do the project and save $1.2 billion prompted the “Say NO to Bridge Tolls” group to declare victory, even though tolls are still part of the funding plan for the spans. Shawn Reilly: “With the reduced cost estimates for the project we are calling on Governor Beshear and Mayor Fischer to prioritize this project in the Kentucky Transportation Department’s budget and to fully fund the project with out the need for tolls on the I-65 corridor.” They’ve got some public meetings scheduled for late June.

LEO’s Smart Move: There’s a new columnist at LEO – Steve Shaw. He’s one of the smart guys around here, and includes a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” reference in this week’s paper. Good stuff.

Mayor Cleans Up: Today the Mayor is announcing that he’s secured federal funding to clean up flood debris in Harrods Creek.

Cabo, Cabo, Cabo: It ought to be good and hot for the annual Cabo Wabo spring fling at Bowman Field Saturday. This time it benefits Blessings in a Backpack. The band is 8-inch Elvis. It’ll cost you $12 to get in.

We’re Riding to 33rd: A new national survey puts Kentucky 33rd on a list of bike-friendly states.  That’s a D according to the League of American Bicyclists.  Washington was #1, West Virginia was last. The survey gave Kentucky F’s in infrastructure and evaluation and planning.

On WAVE, this art gallery owner had the quote of the day

Beautiful Night for Baseball: And it’s Fireworks after the game at Slugger Field, as the Bats take on Columbus.  Before the game, ride the First Friday Trolley down Main Street.

Quote of the Day: “We’ve got a lot of cool people out here. We’re not all just a bunch of rednecks.”  From Deborah Koch, in a WAVE-TV story about the opening of an art gallery on Dixie Highway.