334. Miscellany

Barret Avenue is being repaved from Broadway, US 150, to Eastern Parkway, US 60A. Barret itself does not carry any numerical designation. That part of Barret north
of Broadway, in the area where the Louisville-Jefferson County Democratic Headquarters, Barret was once known as Underhill Street. The part of Barret which leads south from Broadway to Castlewood, and then up Castlewood to Baxter, was the original Newburg Road, or the road to Newburg, which historically was a white farming community between Buechel and Okolona. The original Newburg community was centered at what is now Poplar Level Road and Old Shepherdsville (or, as the Metro calls it, Shepherdsville Road, as there is no "New" Shepherdsville Road). Of course, today, the word Newburg still refers to a neighborhood between Newburg Road and almost to Preston Highway, south of Buechel and north of Okolona, but no longer white at all. Much of what is today known as Newburg was built in the 1960s as housing for the nearby General Electric Appliance Park, shown below in 1997, which itself has been in the news this week.

This week's announcement that Appliance Park was for sale obviously caught His Honor the mayor of Louisville-Jefferson County Metro by surprise. It reminded me of the time about twenty years ago when the mayor made the Airport Expansion/UPS announcement, catching elected officials such as Fourth Ward Alderman Cyril Allgeier and "B" District Commissioner Irv Maze completely off-guard. The mayor's sometimes misdirected responses this week with two of Louisville's biggest employers, GE and Ford, made clear that some of the glitter is gone from the golden days or ore when a cheer here and a begonia there was all that was needed to keep the City on track.

Tracks brings us to another event held yesterday in Maryland. Big Brown, shown above, the horse which won the Kentucky Derby three weeks ago yesterday won the Preakness Stakes in a commanding performance and 5 1/4 length victory. On to New York and a possible, and apparently probable, Triple Crown win at the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York. The last horse to win the Triple Crown did so the weekend I graduated from Durrett High School, thirty years ago next month. Steve Cauthen was aboard Affirmed for all three of the Triple Crown races, winning the final leg in 2:26.8 over Alydar, the first, last, and only horse to run second in all three races. The rivalry between Affirmed and Alydar is unmatched.

Finally, speaking of rivalries, we are having an election this week. My church's school, Holy Family School, held its School Board elections today, with four people seeking two seats on the school board. I only knew one of the candidates, a former student whose father is a friend of mine. I voted for her. My other vote went to a school mother who has a child in the 1st grade. All the other candidates' children were in higher grades. I figured with her's only in the 1st, she has seven more years of dedication and she may as well get started early.

There is of course that other election, the one that started so so many moons ago. It will come to an end Tuesday night in Louisville. Although the polls will close five hours later in Oregon, between the votes Senator Barack Obama will get in Oregon and the ones he is expected to get here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606, he should have the 2026 delegates needed to claim the Democratic nomination for president. Expect to see one, if not both, of the candidates, along with their spouses, here in Louisville Tuesday night. Who could have ever dreamt we'd play such a role?

Finally, some birthdays. Yesterday was my middle niece's 12th birthday. Her name is Kavesha. Today is my friend Eleanor Jordan's birthday. I know how old she is but just in case she reads the blog, I'll omit it here.

That's all for today. Off to do a Herndon lit-drop in the 6th Council District, where based on the opponent's last minute barrage of negative ads, the race must be closer than people thought it would be.