Executive
Waste of the Day: Louisville Taxpayers Pay Nearly $600,000 For Empty Building’s Maintenance, Security
The Urban Government Center of Louisville, Kentucky, stands empty, without a buyer – so taxpayers must pay to maintain and guard it.
![Kentucky quarter reverse](https://cnav.news/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Kentucky-quarter-reverse.jpg)
Topline: The city of Louisville, Kentucky closed its Urban Government Center building in 2016 with plans to sell the property to a housing developer. The space would be renovated entirely with private funding.
Louisville must guard an empty building
That agreement fell through. So did the next one. The current plan still has not been finalized. Meanwhile, the 10-acre property is collecting dust, and taxpayers have been forced to spend at least $588,000 since 2017 for maintenance and security at the vacant building.
Key facts: Records obtained by WDRB News show that taxpayers have been billed for lawn mowing, fence repair and more at the empty building. In the last two years, 86% of the costs have been for security services.
Trained guards at an unused building might seem frivolous, but they’re needed because looters sneak into the building to steal and sell scrap metal. Thirteen arrests have been made at the site since 2022.
Cliff Hayden, who manages a hotel next door, told WDRB News that thieves have even entered his establishment to steal air conditioners. Another local resident said she watched a man trespass on the property with five pizzas and a bottle of soda in his hands.
Services at the building have likely cost even more than $588,000. WDRB News says the dollar figure doesn’t include spending after this January or any federal funds that may have been spent by the Louisville Metro Housing Authority.
Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.
Trying to sell it
Background: The city purchased the Urban Government Center for $1.2 million in 1992 and plan to sell to a private real estate company for $1.7 million. Adjusted for inflation, that’s a $1 million loss.
But the sale is delayed because the buyers, Paristown Preservation Trust, want the city to approve a $20 million public subsidy to help fund the $249 million the Trust will spend to build houses in the area.
Paristown Preservation Trust is the third company to try and buy the property. Marian Group backed out in 2019 because it said the city was taking too long to get required land-use approvals. Underhill Associates’ deal was canceled in 2021 because the city thought Underhill’s private funding plan was shaky.
Supporting quote: Some Louisville residents support public subsidies for construction at the vacant building if it will finally speed up the process.
One neighbor told WLKY News, “I have not always been so lenient on this project … But at this point, this has taken so long, people think we live in a slum.”
Summary: Louisville’s empty Urban Government Center is a perfect example of bureaucratic waste. While officials take years to act on a plan, taxpayers are footing the bill.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.
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