249. Second and Breckinridge streets

It is always interesting to pull up to the intersection of Second and Breckinridge streets, two blocks south of Broadway in downtown Louisville. On the northwest corner is the Stober Bookkeeping Service [there is a trivia question in that word bookkeeping] which has a marquee to advertise its services on one of those LCD-lighted signs which may contain several messages. But usually, they aren't advertising any of their services. Rather, they've become a one-stop site of protest against the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Council. Today's messages read Gestapo Council - Stifles our Liberties - Educate not Mandate. There may be more messages, but I'd have to drive around the block again to see what they might be. The Metro Council regulates how long a message may appear on one of these boards out of concern for people like me - that is to say drivers - who might pay more attention to the message on the Stober's board than to the traffic in the intersection.

They've used the message board to protest against this law, as well as the smoking ordinance (currently somewhat up in smoke), and the dog ordinance, among other things. Their use of the word Gestapo is a strong indicator of just how they feel about the current group of twenty-six legislators and one chief magistrate, His Honor the Mayor, who govern the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government, the successor government we have which alleges to have Merged the old City of Louisville and the Jefferson Fiscal Court, which in fact did not, but rather only assimilated the old City of Louisville into the County government, now renamed as Louisville-Jefferson County Metro.

Stober's sentiments aren't singluar. A number of people have complained that the Metro government is just not working. Laws which worked for years in the City have no place in some of the suburban and rural sections of Jefferson County, and vice versa. Although they are few in number, there are still large parcels of land out in the County, especially outside the Gene Snyder Freeway, totally undeveloped, some without full utility services, and often home to deer, rabbits, and other wildlife. Laws which protected this land and its inhabitants are now being forced into and upon people in the old City, where some lots are as small as 21 feet by 50 feet.

Next week marks the 5th Anniversary of the new government. The birth-year of the new government is evidenced in the telephone number of the Mayor's Office, 502-574-2003, a cute touch, but one which demonstrates that some of the people who pushed this alleged Merger through were simply intersted in the superficial and not the substantial. As we approach our second five years, one can only hope that the Merger will improve for its citizens, especially those in the old City who continue to pay both City and County taxes, and see more and more of both pots of money being spent in the approximately 320 square miles outside the former City, where resident pay only one Property Tax bill.

The filing deadline for those interested in running for office is the last Tuesday of January. In 2008, elections for even-numbered Metro Council districts will appear on the ballot.