June 20, 2015 The Honorable Greg Fischer Mayor, The City of Louisville 1715 Spring Drive Louisville, Kentucky 40205 Dear Mayor Fischer: We who have signed this letter participated today in the charrette sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Green Lab to explore innovative and compassionate ways to find new uses for the historic Louisville Water Company headquarters on Third Street. We appreciated that you sent Mary Ellen Wiederwohl and others from the administration to meet with us and to hear our ideas. Our group had a fascinating day filled with creative proposals to enhance the proposed Omni Hotel project, all the while finding alternatives to the Water Company Building’s demolition. We are grateful to you for providing a 30-day period for exploration, and for offering $1 million dollars for the project. We ask you to please extend your deadline, which Cynthia Johnson, the city’s preservation officer, said will expire today, June 20. Our diverse team with a wide range of experience and expertise developed four extremely viable plans for the future use of the Water Company Building. John Huber, former president of the Louisville Water Company, spoke of its history and urged us to find a new life for it. Thirty days has proved to be an insufficient period of time in which to resolve this important issue. We ask you to grant citizens of Louisville a reasonable extension, 60 to 90 days, in which to work with you and others to find a creative solution that will bring widespread praise to our city and to your administration. At our meeting today, Christy Brown distributed a book, which we are enclosing. It contains an essay by Wendell Berry about Owsley Brown II, and the text of what sadly was Mr. Brown’s last public address, on the occasion of his acceptance of the Woodrow Wilson Award in June 2011. We think his comments will help guide us all as we seek ways to improve our city with the Omni project and other ventures. And we well recalled that you and he shared a vision that your administration would seek excellence in every way. Thank you for your consideration of our request. We hope you will agree that giving the process additional time for exploration and for a healthy community conversation will ultimately make it more successful. Cordially,
CC: Ellen Hessen, Esquire Mary Ellen Wiederwohl
Signatories: Roberto Bajandas Claude Stephens Eric C. Williams Edith S. Bingham Anne M. Arensberg Nathan Smith Joe Pierson Meme Sweets Runyon Charles Cash Martina Nichols Kunnecke Sarah Lynn Cunningham Valle Jones Keith L. Runyon Mary Moss Greenebaum James S. Welch Jr. Christy Brown Ray Yeager Regina Blake