Greenberg: 'Long-term solutions' being considered to curb rowdy crowds on Bardstown Road
Mayor Craig Greenberg said June 5 that more long-term solutions are being considered to deal with unruly crowds that have shut down Bardstown Road for two consecutive weekends.
Greenberg's comments followed a meeting among business owners and residents in the Highlands neighborhood to discuss what can be done after hundreds of people flooded the area around Bardstown Road and Grinstead Drive, blocking traffic and disturbing neighbors in the early morning hours.
'We want Bardstown Road to remain a thriving commercial corridor with great shops, great businesses, bars, with restaurants, with great different types of residents living all around us well, and that's where we're headed,' Greenberg said.
Greenberg was reluctant to reveal what long-term courses of action were discussed at the June 5 meeting. He said some of the solutions he was considering 'could be happening at the state level' and others would require Metro Council approval, but that he was not considering forcing bars to close earlier at this time.
'I don't want to get too far ahead of that, because we still need to research some of them,' he said.
Highlands Commerce Guild President Aaron Givhan said June 5 that one suggestion he's heard from residents is a mandatory 2 a.m. closing time for bars.
'They want quiet in their neighborhood,' Givhan said, 'And that is a fair request.'
The Highlands Tap Room on Bardstown Road is one bar that closes at 4 a.m., but it recently came to a voluntary agreement with city officials to temporarily close its doors at 2 a.m. on the weekends to curb disturbances in the neighborhood.
For some bars and businesses like Taco Bell, the 2-4 a.m. window is cash bearing, Givhan said, giving them a 'true financial reason to be open.' He added he was concerned that if the rules change for one bar, they would have to change for all bars in Jefferson County.
'The resolution is working together to calm things down,' he said. 'As long as the businesses remain in an acceptable, law-abiding demeanor, there is no reason to punish them, and that's where the guild comes in. We are not into punishment.'
Discussion of reform in the Highlands came to a head when hundreds of people swarmed the intersection of Bardstown Road and Grinstead Drive in the early hours of the morning Memorial Day weekend.
LMPD made no arrests on that occurrence, but when a crowd amassed again the following weekend, officers arrested three people for disorderly conduct.
After the events on Memorial Day weekend, Councilman Ben Reno-Weber, whose district includes the Highlands, promised increased police presence in the neighborhood. Business owners were encouraged by LMPD to file Trespass Enforcement Request Forms, which authorize officers to address trespassing without an on-site complaint.
Sergeant Matt Sanders said that LMPD plans to be in the area from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday night, with mounted patrol stationed on the street to discourage crowds from forming.
This story may be updated.
Reach reporter Molly Gregory at msgregory@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Greenberg talks possible solutions for late-night crowds in Highlands
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