News
from the campaign
Quarles Campaign Shares Ambitious Bold Ideas For Louisville
As your Agriculture Commissioner, I pushed to foster lasting business relationships between Louisville’s restaurant community and the farmers in surrounding counties who raise many of the top-quality farm products restaurants need to fill out their menus. Despite the devastating impact Andy Beshear’s shutdown orders had on Louisville’s restaurants, closing some family-owned small businesses forever, those that have survived have benefited from these relationships. You can be sure I’ll continue to emphasize the economic benefits everyone feels when Louisville’s business community prioritizes Kentucky’s farm families as their source of food and beverage.
How will I expand on these efforts as your next Governor? From what I have heard from local residents, the biggest challenges to Louisville are crime, infrastructure, and education. When Louisville is safe and prosperous, Kentucky is safe and prosperous.
Let’s begin with what’s obvious: Louisville’s violent crime rate is unacceptable. I will emphasize intergovernmental cooperation between the Governor’s office and Metro Council to deal with gangs and violent crime. There was no serious effort of sustained cooperation between Andy Beshear and Louisville’s previous mayor to reduce violent crime. I’ll work with city leaders, regardless of political party, to find solutions.
Here’s a another idea: Some homeless camps are set up under or near state roads — that is, on state-owned land. The responsibility rests with the state, not just the city, to pay attention to these locations and ensure they do not turn in to hubs for violence. Andy Beshear turned a blind eye to the problem, as though he had no responsibility to pay attention to this substantial public health risk. With homeless shelters not full, we need to help the homeless with receiving shelter assistance and the other services such as mental health that they need.
Second, infrastructure. The Kentucky State Fair Board, which I serve on, operates the State Fairgrounds and the Kentucky International Convention Center downtown. The events hosted by those two facilities account for 68% of all hotel room bookings in Louisville. As Agriculture Commissioner, I will support these infrastructure investments and new ideas to make Louisville a world-class venue. Imagine Louisville hosting even bigger events which could revitalize the vacancies downtown.
We all know where population growth happens, the state’s infrastructure needs to keep up. When crime and inadequate infrastructure fails to keep up, businesses will go elsewhere. We need to be attracting businesses to Kentucky, not frustrating them so much that they feel tempted to leave. That Louisville staples and others have opted to leave our great city is a travesty. We need to focus on keeping them here and incentivizing them to stay.
Finally, let’s talk about education. The negative impacts on student learning and affiliated-mental health issues were compounded by Andy Beshear’s lockdowns. I will emphasize in-person learning, smaller student-to-teacher ratios in the classroom, and increased parental involvement in their children’s education. One way we can do that is not only by focusing on what is taught in our schools, but by finding the best and brightest teachers to help our children lead. As the son of a teacher, I know how important they are for creating the next generation of leaders so that means fighting for them to receive the resources they need to excel.
Louisville’s economic growth and quality of life and being tough on crime will be a priority with me as your next governor. Smart investments in Louisville will benefit all of Kentucky. Reversing Andy Beshear’s disastrous moves in public safety, infrastructure, and education will make Louisville a more attractive place to live, raise a family, and grow a business. You can count on me to be a strong advocate for Louisville’s interests.
I may not be from here, but I’ve worked closely with the city of Louisville the last eight years. You can count on me to be a strong advocate for Louisville’s interests as your next Governor.