Louisville Magazine

MAR 2013

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/111400

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 59 of 136

DEBRA MERCER Mercer is a Portland native and longtime community activist. cal Food Hub LLC, a warehouse district, and Portland Avenue Shopping District LLC. Holland said the shotgun project is frst because it���s a manageable way to gain traction with investors who are unfamiliar with Portland. He would like to see it become a national model for reviving challenged neighborhoods. ���It���s a 10-year project that will take a ton of work, but I hope this is one of many sparks to get the community jazzed about reclaiming this part of town,��� he says. P ortland native and longtime advocate Debra Mercer, who���s become something of an expert on shotgun houses, is excited about the PII project, which calls for rehabbing up to 80 homes. But she puts the number of shotguns needing serious help in the thousands. Tere are other resources, including $2 million that the city earmarked several years ago for shotgun rehab. It only found its way to Portland in recent months and Mercer says the lengthy delay is indicative of how Portland must badger the city for resources. ���If we don���t stay on them, nothing moves forward,��� she says. ���We have to be our own advocate. It���s a constant push.��� Tat feeling of being left behind is a recurrent theme, and to illustrate the point, Portland lifer Mary Turner talks about the recent mid-morning ice storm that played havoc with the city. Her son-in-law had to make a trip downtown. When he got home, he called to tell her the roads were fne east of Ninth but lousy to the west. ���We feel we are ignored,��� Turner says. Owen thinks Portland has reached bottom and can only get better, but he also wants the city to acknowledge it has ignored Portland for 40 years. He says a good start would be for Metro Planning to implement the neighborhood plan that residents spent countless hours creating. Andrews, soon to turn 72, has seen more than her share of aborted eforts to boost the neighborhood, and she���s more cautious about any proclamations. But she continues to look ahead. She���s leading an ambitious capital campaign to sustain the museum into the future after she steps aside. Mercer, who���s 49, worries about recent changes to the city���s landmark process, which could make neighborhood preservation eforts more difcult. Turner, 55, frets that time will run out. She says Portland���s biggest challenge may be ���to keep Metro Louisville from bull- dozing us under and pushing us into the Ohio River.��� As tends to be true in neighborhoods with deep historic roots, Portlanders are known for keeping outsiders at arm���s length. But it���s hard to see how things can turn around without interventions. Te focus, according to Trawick, who���s been at the Center for Neighborhoods for more than 30 years, should be on keeping Portland Portland. ���Something important that is only beginning to occur to me in my old age is that Portland, in order to succeed, doesn���t need to be gentrifed,��� he says. ���It doesn���t need necessarily to have an infux of middle-income population. What it��does need is for people to recognize there is a wealth of human capital in the neighborhood, people very dedicated to preserving and maintaining what is good about Portland. ���Tat doesn���t necessarily mean it has to attract the kind of urban investment that we in the majority culture view as being of value. Te answer, I think, lies in supporting in every way possible the people and kids in Portland, so they can succeed in whatever way they view or measure success. I think that is true generally for west Louisville.��� 3.13 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 5 3

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Louisville Magazine - MAR 2013