LRAD's efforts to attract more and better air service to the Louisville market is essential for the area's future economic growth and development. The recent announcement of new nonstop service from SDF to Los Angeles is a move in the right direction and hopefully a sign of things to come.
For far too long Louisville and its leadership have been complacent to the point of lethargy when it comes to developing new air service and the business growth that is a result of it.
The citizens of Louisville Metro and Kentucky have had to suffer long flights and overpriced fares to get to major business centers on the West Coast. This while our neighboring peer cities have seen far more rapid growth and wages related to their success at attracting new nonstop service to the West Coast and international business centers.
Nashville and Indy, which were of similar size to Louisville just 20 years ago, have grown into vibrant regional hubs with high-paying jobs and national and international exposure through major league sports and the tourism/business travelers that both hosts with numerous flights to financial and cultural centers around the world, including Nashville's recently inaugurated London service on British Airways, and Indy's Paris service.
Louisville International has world-class infrastructure thanks in part to the presence of UPS and the funding secured by the late Sen.Wendell Ford, Jerry Abramson, Mitch McConnell, and secretary of transportation Elaine Chao.
If Louisville and Kentucky want to be competitive in the 21st century, they must focus on attracting and nurturing the nonstop air service that businesses require.
Jefferson County and surrounding counties have approximately 700,000 residents and the greater MSA including Indiana has over 1,300,000 residents.
One of the main obstacles to substantial growth is our poor air service. It is difficult to go to most major cities without a stop in another city. If there are straight flights to some destinations, often the time of the flight is not convenient. It is too bad that the residents have to drive to Nashville or Cincinnati in order to fly.
I agree fully with the Mayor and Metro Council members that Louisville must enact stronger laws against hate crimes. Our entire community is grieving the loss of Maurice Stallard and Vickie Lee Jones at the horrible Jeffersonville Kroger shooting that occurred recently.
I assume Mayor Greg Fischer meant action against stronger hate crimes. I think there are so many components to the hate and rage that it will take a multipart and expensive front to change these actions.
I think hate thinking starts with our children when they see parents and friends and shows on TV demonstrating hate, even if the writers think it is cute or funny.
If children were in classes and play yards with all walks of life, in a kind and sensitive way, we can show that all humans are basically the same — no matter the differences they see every day.
Start with the kids, then provide education for the adults and mental health services to those who need it. All of us need to drop the "no consequences" reactions we have toward misbehavior in anyone.
I've listened to a lot of lectures the past couple of days on civility from both sides of the political aisle and am unmoved by the passionate finger-pointing, no matter how well-intentioned.
The criticism of others may make us feel better in the short run but it doesn't seem to improve things in the longer run. I keep thinking back on a college class several decades ago.
He raised his hand and slowly, one by one, every student in the class — of every color and nationality — raised his or her hand.
I didn't want to raise my hand. My grandfather had sponsored and championed Kentucky's Civil Rights Act, for goodness sake. But I had to admit my self-serving resistance didn't ring entirely true to me and I raised my hand.
There we all were, hands raised, admitting we each had our own personal biases against one another based on race, just before we began discussing the racial injustices that led to the Civil Rights Act. It was a refreshing and humbling exercise that led to a more honest and respectful discussion on a very sensitive and difficult topic.
Today, listening to all the overheated rhetoric from both sides about political biases (seeing political opponents as personal enemies who are dispensable or deplorable — in short, who are less valuable as people), kept taking me back to that class.
And what if once hands were raised, figuratively speaking, we each challenged ourselves not to blame anyone or anything else until we were able honestly to put our own hand down? It would get quiet for a while and we'd probably be far more humble and respectful when we tried to discuss this sensitive and difficult topic.