Louisville Mojo: Mayor Jerry Abramson: the Mojo Interview, Part I

With little more than a year to go in his final term as Metro Mayor after committing to run for lieutenant governor in Governor Steve Beshear's 2011 re-election campaign, now seemed like a good time to sit down with Jerry Abramson and talk about his mayoral career: his successes, his failures and what he hopes to get done in his last year as mayor – as well as what he plans to accomplish in Frankfort.

In a nearly hourlong interview at his office Thursday morning, the man sometimes affectionately – and sometimes not – dubbed “Mayor-for-Life” looked back on his two decades as mayor, and ahead at his last year.

Abramson became mayor in 1985 and served three consecutive terms to 1998. He then was elected the first mayor of merged Louisville Metro in 2002. He's had his critics, and obviously his supporters, but the man has inarguably presided over a period of dramatic change in Louisville.

(The conversation with Abramson, who is a voluble man, has been edited for brevity and clarity. As it is, we've decided to separate the interview into two parts, with the second coming later today. - ch)

When asked about his legacy, or his greatest success, the mayor picked an unexpected – and in many ways ineffable – accomplishment.

“I think what you find is most people will remember the stuff they can touch,” Abramson said, ticking off the big ticket items like the $700 million airport expansion; the development of Waterfront Park, getting Louisville Slugger Field built; and the creation of Brightside. “They'll remember those physical changes, the things they can touch and feel.”

“But I take most pride in the attitude change in this community. When I was elected in '85, this was a community that saw the glass half empty; this was a community that simply didn't think it could compete; and it began to change, I believe, when we were successful with the Presbyterians.”

Abramson then recounted – in amazing detail for something that happened nearly a quarter of a century ago – the history of how civic leaders from Louisville were able to convince the newly consolidated Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), formed by the merger of the mostly southern Presbyterian Church in the United States and the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, to change course after selecting Kansas City as the future home of its new headquarters, and to select Louisville instead.

“When we won that and they changed their minds…That began to get people to believe that we could compete,” Abramson said. “What I take most satisfaction out of is that this community now sees itself as competitive with any community in the country…The glass is more often half full than it is half empty.”

When told some might've expected him to say merger, Abramson said merger was in may ways a reflection of that change in attitude.

“When you talk about something that will affect this community forever and ever, that is probably the most successful initiative I was involved in,” he acknowledged. “Although the airport…y'know when you relocate 4,000 people, 183 businesses, 14 churches, three schools and two community centers, and ultimately out of that get 28,000 new jobs, that's a pretty transformational event.

“But…the merger, the restructure of government will certainly play a major role for the future (of Louisville), and of course that sort of fits into the can-do attitude here. We had failed three times to merge this city and county and in the year 2000 we were successful.”

Abramson's answer when asked about the flipside of that, his greatest failure or disappointment as mayor, was another surprise:

“I think the biggest disappointment I had was in about 1988 or '89 I worked with the school of engineering at U of L on a concept that would have created a garbage-to-steam facility,” he said. “It was going to be in the Rubbertown area; BF Goodrich was going to buy the steam; it would have resolved once and for all regional garbage issues in this community; it would've put us in the position to not be held hostage by one landfill operation.

“It was really progressive, we had a group that was prepared to finance it… (but) I could never get through the Board of Aldermen the necessary legislation to make it happen.”

(The plant ended up being built, successfully, in North Carolina, Abramson added.)

“Substantively for the community, that was probably the biggest disappointment that I've had in regard to a policy issue that I thought was really important, and I just couldn't deliver it.”

As for his primary goals for his last year in office, Abramson again started ticking off a list of targets, ranging from getting more young people to pursue associate's and bachelor's degrees; making sure Louisville remains one of the ten safest large cities in America by continuing to support the police and fire departments (although some in those departments might dispute those sentiments); continuing to work toward providing more mixed-income housing; finishing the downtown arena; and getting museum plaza off the ground (“hopefully”), among other “quality of life issues” that will help make Louisville a more attractive place for the No. 1 goal:

“First, I think the most important area right now, with the economy the way it is, is to do everything we can to hold on to the jobs and businesses that we have and do everything we can to create a climate where the businesses will grow when the economy turns,” he said. “(A climate where) the infrastructure is in place for them to be successful in the future. And that's infrastructure meaning young, bright, skilled, educated people, and roads and bridges and sewers and waterlines and all those kinds of things, and at the same time continue to work diligently to attract additional businesses.

“We right now have more business prospects in our pipeline than I have ever seen since I've been mayor,” he said. “Now everybody's waiting to pull the trigger and nobody's pulling it because of the economic situation.”

Abramson said he'd met in the last three weeks with two companies considering moving their headquarters to Louisville and that there were “a host of potential opportunities,” some of which will certainly break Louisville's way.

Another of his big priorities is finishing the Big Four Bridge's transformation into a pedestrian walkway across the Ohio River, to complete the downtown Waterfront development.

“That's the last piece,” he said. “I started the waterfront, with a lot of other people, and if we can get the Big Four done, we are done with the downtown waterfront and now we can focus on the commitment I've secured from the Waterfront Development Corp. to start working on the Riverview Park area out off Greenwood.”

And that project will be essentially a whole new Waterfront Park in Southwest Louisville, Abramson said.

(Abramson announced in September that the city was ready to start the first phase of construction on the $30-$40 million park.)

Abramson indicated he was cautiously optimistic that Kentucky and Indiana officials, working together, have a good shot at attaining the funding necessary to finish the Big Four Bridge project.

And then the mayor himself segued into the next topic.

“We are closer now than ever to maybe getting something done,” on the Ohio River Bridges Project, he said.

(Check back later today for part two of the interview, in which the mayor discusses the greatest challenges he's faced in recent years; his relationship with the Metro Council; whether or not he plans to run for governor; and how soon he thinks someone will be able to drive across a new bridge over the Ohio River. - ch)

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rob fri nov 06 2009 at 10:01 am ·


	Great read!

chuck fri nov 06 2009 at 10:04 am ·


	Excellent read. I didn't know about the garbage to steam plant plans, either. I think Jerry's done a lot of great thing, but he's also played the establishment-man role too. For the second part of this series, let me guess what happens next... Jerry bounces the responsibility for the $4-Billion ORBP (Ohio River Bridges Project) up to the state level and doesn't appoint any metro council members to the committee (as promised) so as to effectively squash debate and dissent here in the city by putting the entire issue much further out of reach? Am I getting warm? ;-) Best, - C

fnnyworld fri nov 06 2009 at 10:26 am ·


	Jerry's always cared about the City, and that's a lot for a politician! At least we will have a Christmas Tree this year!!!

EdenSprings sat nov 07 2009 at 9:25 am ·


	Hunh! I think his greatest accomplishment is to not run again for Mayor. His biggest failure? Gosh! There are so many to choose from! The Cordish theft of taxpayer money, Housing debacle, that guy he hired to run corrections who "disappeared" from town one night, never to be seen again, his ability to unerringly pick the wrong person for top jobs again & again and, most recently, the entire fiasco with the moron running Animal Control who is about to cost this town another small fortune in lawsuits. (Did I mention Jerry's handling of the Firefighter's and Police in this town?) It's a smorgasbord of stupidity, Jerry--thank God you're goin!

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