Russell area residents launch ‘Choice’ planning
March 20, 2015 | Courier Journal
Louisville, KY (March 20, 2015) – Metro housing officials and others will kick off a two-year effort to devise a plan to dramatically upgrade the Beecher Terrace public housing site along West Jefferson Street and the East Russell neighborhood at a public event Tuesday.
The Russell Choice Neighborhood Initiative to develop a “transformation plan” for Russell is funded by a $425,000 federal grant awarded to the Louisville Metro Housing Authority.
The aim is to identify “innovative and sustainable solutions” to improve housing, education, health economic development and safety in the west Louisville neighborhood, according to Tim Barry, director of the Metro Housing Authority.
Housing authority officials and others from metro government will present an overview of the Russell Initiative and upcoming planning activities at the Tuesday kick-off event at 6 p.m. at the Baxter Community Center, 12th and Jefferson streets. Childcare and light refreshments will be provided.
“We’re not going to let any grass grow under our feet,” said Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, government chief of Louisville Forward. The initial grant is just for planning, and the city also will seek a much larger federal Choice Neighborhood Implementation grant.