Louisville’s Smoketown has been in the news a lot lately, as federal grants and private funding along with sweat equity from a wide cross-section of Louisvillians have helped transform the historic neighborhood.
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth has been a vocal and visible presence in Smoketown since they moved their headquarters there in July 2013.
A cornerstone of their community involvement in the neighborhood has been a formidable attempt to speak directly with their neighbors through the Vision Smoketown Survey. KFTC knocked on every door and was able to complete surveys from about 21 percent of Smoketown residents.
After months of speaking with residents and interpreting the data, KFTC has released the Vision Smoketown Survey Report.
The report is broken up into easy to navigate sections, augmented by some powerful infographics.
KFTC starts by introducing themselves and explaining their decision to survey Smoketown.
On a basic level the medium is the message. The first thing the Vision Smoketown booklet tells a reader is that urban redevelopment should always respect the people who already live in a neighborhood. If that message isn’t clear from Vision Smoketown’s existence, the authors aren’t shy about repeating it throughout the text of the document. The introduction begins with a quote from a Smoketown resident who asks “I wonder how long you’d have to live in a neighborhood before your opinion will count?”
After the introduction and erstwhile mission statement, the survey gives us a brief history of Smoketown, both its glory (Muhammad Ali started his boxing training there) and its fall into disrepair.
After that it’s down to the nitty gritty. The survey results are broken into four sub topics: 1) politics and political life, 2) housing and safety, 3) access, and 4) “I’d like to see.”
In the “politics and political life” section it’s clear Smoketown residents don’t think there voices are heard. While 87 percent are registered voters, only 61 percent know who their Metro Council representative is. Many respondents stated that problems reported via the Metro Call system where ignored or only addressed after lengthy periods of inaction.
There are also complaints that the Metropolitan Sewer District hasn’t done enough to inform Smoketown residents of the effects of the MSD sewage overflow basin. Overall, the survey results in this section point to a desire by residents to have more “political involvement” and “visibility,” as stated by one respondent.
The “housing and safety” section shows the majority of respondents love their neighborhood: 78 percent would recommend the neighborhood to friends or loved ones. The majority of residents have been there for years and plan on staying for years to come. They know their neighbors, and they visit with them regularly.
Residents feel safe in their homes but less safe on the streets; 70 percent are concerned about vacant lots and empty houses.
Residents are frustrated by motorists using streets like Shelby and Logan as through streets, often driving above the 35 MPH speed limit. (Which already is a higher limit than the 25 miles per hour speed limit that exists in many residential neighborhoods farther east.)
In the “access” section, walkability is mentioned, as broken sidewalks are of particular concern to the disabled and elderly, for many of whom walking is a primary mode of transportation.
A perceived lack of buses also is mentioned, as many residents don’t have cars, and it’s felt that the three routes that service the area are inadequate.
Respondents wish they had better access to a local grocery, but they like the proximity of medical services.
In the “I’d like to see” section, the big winners are a grocery store, which 69 percent of respondents want, and a cafe or coffee shop, which 60 percent of respondents would like.
The summary highlights the takeaways of the booklet in broad strokes, and then makes concrete suggestions for action:
1) Reopen or open a community center.
2) Restart or start a neighborhood association.
3) Rebuild social capital.
4) Curb crime.
5) Increase available amenities.
It’s worth noting that within these results, each data point is surrounded by a good bit of interpretation from KFTC; the interpretation is at it’s most subjective in two final sections: the survey summary and the community recommendations.
The full info dump of the results isn’t currently available, but KFTC spokeswoman Alicia Hurle told Insider Louisville via email that if they get a lot of requests for the survey’s raw data they “may consider it.” The original survey (sans any responses) is included in its entirety at the end of the booklet.
The entire 34-page document is available on KFTC’s website. It’s easy to read and attractively packaged (design work donated by Kertis Creative).
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