Friends & Neighbors,
Like many of you, I wondered how much the assumed frontrunners in Louisville’s 2022 Mayoral race really understand about this community? For over 20 years, I've advocated metro-wide re: unsustainable development, public transportation, JCPS issues, neighborhood plans, climate change & pollution, LMPD scandals and abuse, TARC, preservation, governmental transparency/accoun
tability and more. I've supported neighbors, East, West and South who followed the rules to address all of the above. Repeatedly, the policies designed to protect us aren't honored. Repeatedly, the “process” delivers this message, loud and clear:
“What the powerful want matters more than the community’s quality of life, health or future.”
THIS IS NOT GOOD GOVERNMENT. Defeated, we have few choices: Hire an attorney we can ill-afford or go home to lick our wounds. Most are forced to the latter. To be fair to the "frontrunners" in this year Mayoral race, have either not been in those rooms with us OR were on the opposite side. How can they possibly comprehend the sorrow and the sense of resignation that results? How can they possibly understand what can and must change? This hopelessness that currently grips Louisville is real and has deep roots. Long before the media exposed the public corruption crippling our city, friends who've come & gone asked, "How can you stay?" Decades before the DOJ investigated LMPD, my late mother advised, “Move out of this town.” Currently, not a week passes that someone, young or old, doesn’t say: “I give up. I'm moving.”
To say “It’s happening everywhere” may be true, but the question is, ``What are we, in Louisville KY, doing to stop the continued harm to our city and its future? First, let's openly admit an elite few not only use their influence to advance their agenda, they do so at OUR expense!
~Thousands in consultants' fees wasted: “Recommendations'' sit on shelves, while all they’ve evaluated– air quality, LMPD, public transportation, etc. get worse.
~Millions in “corporate welfare”: Tax breaks, backroom land deals, demolition by neglect, etc. force the public, without our knowledge & consent, to subsidize the unsustainable redesign of our community.
~Millions lost in lawsuits: Government-enabled land use corruption, LMPD predation/abuse, union busting, etc. And we get what in return?
~Over-development accelerating climate change: Loss of trees & green space, polluted waterways, increased traffic, parking lots sitting empty, etc.
~A glut of airbnbs, transitional homes, unaffordable housing, dollar stores, liquor stores consuming space locals need for affordable housing and business space.
~Dramatic increases in those sleeping on the street, being evicted or struggling to pay rent, etc.
~Revenue Loss: Public property, devalued via demolition by neglect, then practically gifted to a crony network for THEIR profit agenda, etc. Sadly, this is Louisville’s reality….but happily, so is this:
It’s well within our power to reclaim the city we love and call home. We begin by taking a stand the powerful do not expect. I began last December by changing my longtime registration as Democrat to Independent, anticipating I would run for Mayor. You can begin by voting according to principle–not by party affiliation or the size of a campaign chest. Friends, we can't expect those who’ve not been there for us to understand the problems or what must and can change. It’s up to US to set a new standard, to establish a new direction. It’s time to take the keys to the place we call home back. Are you? If so, I humbly ask for your moral support in the coming weeks & YOUR VOTE on Nov. 8th 2022. It is time. WE can do this
Martina Nichols Kunnecke
Visit KunneckeForMayor.com
You can contribute via
CashApp to $KunneckeForMayor
Venom
Mail P.O. Box 53, Lou., Ky 40203--0053
