Greg Fischer Announces Jobs Plan

As some of you know, I am working for and supporting Greg Fischer, a Democratic candidate for mayor. This morning he released a jobs plan at a press conference in the Park Hill Corridor area. The full plan will be available on his site later today. Below I have copied his press announcement.

Dear Friend

With unemployment rising above 10%, Louisville needs a Mayor who can be trusted to start on Day #1 to create jobs we need. I’ve launched, built, or invested in more than 15 area firms and directly created more than 1,000 local jobs. I know what it takes to help small and medium-sized businesses to grow and as Mayor, and I will win a new generation of jobs: blue, white, and green-collar jobs.

Today, I announced a substantive Plan for Jobs and Economic Development to put Louisville Metro back to work, which you can learn more about below and at www.gregfischer.com/issues.

The keys to jump starting our economy are: jobs and economic development, transportation and infrastructure, and education and workforce development.

As mayor, I will relentlessly champion job growth and a culture of customer / citizen satisfaction. My top line economic development goals include:

Helping Our Existing Businesses Expand
Encouraging and Simplifying the Process for Entrepreneurs and Innovators to Start New Businesses
Attracting New Businesses to Louisville
And I will embrace the challenge to transition our economy to one that is cleaner and greener.

Our citizens need jobs now. Therefore, we must turn first to the area where we can put people back to work immediately: Transportation and logistics. We must get thousands of construction workers back to work now by starting work on the East End Bridge, continuing infrastructure improvements around Louisville International Airport, and remediating and restoring the brownfields of West Louisville and the Park Hill Corridor.

I will approach jobs and economic development as I always have – as an entrepreneur. I will create an Office of Innovation and Breakthrough to nurture ideas that have the potential to create significant numbers of jobs in new areas.

Another example of breakthrough initiatives will be my work to make Louisville Metro a national leader in local food economy-related jobs. We can bring fresh, healthy local food to every neighborhood and create hundreds of food-related jobs. As part of this initiative, I will create Local Food Enterprise Zones – called LIFE Zones - that provide incentives to food-related businesses that locate in the zones.

Finally, education and work development is an area where we must unite as a community and commit to making a lasting, meaningful improvement so that our children and grandchildren can be prepared for the jobs of the 21st Century. I am committed to making Louisville Metro a National Center of Joy in Learning from Childhood to Adulthood. This lifelong learning will be vital to putting Louisville Metro citizens back to work so that they can earn the blue, white, and green-collar jobs I plan to create in my administration.

I call on you to join me in support of these critical initiatives of jobs and economic development, transportation and infrastructure, and education and workforce are the keys to ensuring a brighter future for Louisville Metro.

Your support is critical to my mission and in the coming weeks, I’ll detail the second part of my plan to create an Open, Honest and Transparent Government which will be critical to delivering on the services that our citizens need and deserve.

Thank you,

Greg