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3 0 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 5.14 www.pondercreekestates.com www.oxmoorlodge.com about an issue, and sometimes that rubs other politicians the wrong way. In 2005, at the start of a brief of-the-cuf interview with WHAS radio's Tony Cruise, then-Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson — not realizing he was on-air — described Johnson as being "somewhere between lost and found." Abramson quickly called the councilman to apologize, but the episode was an expression of years of tension between the two men, who were onetime allies. Te relationship devolved into open hostil- ity by 2009, when a January ice storm ravaged the city. Johnson became a vocal critic of the administration during the months it took to clear some neighborhoods of downed tree branches and debris. Butler says she and Johnson were both angry because the mayor didn't keep a promise to provide overtime for people working to clean up their districts. In a spring news conference, Johnson said, "(Abramson) promised me through numerous emails, time after time, 'We're going to get it next week, it's going to be done next month, it'll be done by Derby.' Maybe it'll be done by the Fourth of July now. I think our South End has been forgotten again by our mayor." Talking about Abramson and the debris still makes Johnson animated. He believes the mayor favored outlying areas over communities within the old city limits. Johnson planned on using the issue as the centerpiece of a new political campaign against the future lieutenant governor. "I was going to run for mayor against Abramson because he didn't pick up that stuf," Johnson admits. "I think I would have done good against him. But then he didn't run and (Mayor Greg) Fischer and all those people got in the race, so I had to get out. Tey are rich and I'm not. I didn't want to get in over my head." Johnson says the 2014 Metro Council race will be his last. He hasn't decided which ofce he will seek after leaving the council, but in 2012 he considered a run for state senate until redis- tricting put him in the same district as popular Sen. Perry Clark. Johnson says he'll see how things develop over the next four years before he decides which ofce is the best ft for him. Nichols, who has known Johnson for 25 years and produces a community newsletter for his of- fce, says people shouldn't take the councilman's plans lightly. "He's been in long enough that there is a huge number of people who recog- nize his name. Tere are certain council people that everyone knows. I would put Tom Owen (Eighth District) at the top of that list. Dan is in that list, but maybe not to the extent that some of the others are. Most people, if you tell them a councilman's name, they don't really know." T he spat with Abramson was not John- son's only high-profle fght. In 2012, District 25 Councilman David Yates accused him of violating the city's ethics law. Te confict involved Colonial Gardens, a once- popular former social club that sits across New Cut Road from the Kenwood Drive entrance to Iroquois Park. Redeveloping the structure, which closed in 2003, has been a long-term goal for South End residents who want similar amenities to those enjoyed by people who live in NuLu or the Highlands. Yates contended that Johnson made a verbal bid to buy the former beer garden himself based on information from a feasibility study that had not been made available to the public. In an email sent to the county attorney's ofce, Yates said he felt he had "a moral and ethical obligation to bring this issue to light." Johnson at his City Hall offce. 24-31 Dept.indd 30 4/18/14 1:15 PM