The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 72

SCHOOLS Teacher's 'snowflake' concept builds self-esteem Page 5 TOY BOWL Community Catholic among football champs Page 6 CITY News and features about your area of Jefferson County WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1991 A WEEKLY SECTION OF THE COURIER-JOURNAL, A GANNETT NEWSPAPER ST. RITA Many mourn sudden death of Rev. Casper Page 2 City targeting unpaid bills for cleaning, boarding up sites at i si Ordinance allows liens against owners who don't pay I' i 1 1 -ft '''7' I 4 I ".11 I'M? i i Bather initially sought an ordinance to allow the city to attach charges for cleaning and boarding to the owner's tax bill. He also wanted the ordinance to allow the city to publish the names of owners who don't pay. But Heavrin said such an ordinance wouldn't give the city any more power than it already has.

She said the city couldn't add a bill to a tax thereby treating it like a tax. But by including the cleanup bill in the same mailing with property tax bills, city officials hope to receive payment by owners who may have been unaware they owed the city. "People don't always read their mail or property owners could be somewhere else," Heavrin said. "We already have enforcement laws, but we could catch a few people who may be falling through the cracks." Heavrin said the city always had the right to foreclose or file liens against properties for unpaid cleaning bills, but generally didn't for smaller ones because it didn't have the money. Now that it is city policy to file liens for delinquent payment, Bather said the Board of Aldermen See LIENS Page 2, col.

1 By CYNTHIA WILSON Staff Writer Louisville has decided it no longer wants to foot the bill for cleaning or boarding up privately owned lots and structures. So the Board of Aldermen recently passed a resolution requiring city officials to aggressively pursue payment of delinquent bills. Between October 1990 and last September, the city spent $248,334 cleaning up private lots or boarding up buildings that owners had allowed to deteriorate, said Bill Schreck, the city's director of inspections, permits and licenses. The city recovered $83,755 from property owners. The city cleans vacant lots and boards up vacant buildings generally in response to complaints from nearby residents.

Before the resolution was passed Oct. 22, the city's delinquent-tax unit decided whether it was cost effective to file liens against properties whose owners didn't pay, said Christina Heavrin, director of the city's law department. Now the department must file liens against all property with overdue bills. Owners are sent one notice and given 30 days to satisfy the bill be- fore a lien can be filed, said Rob Epsan, collector for the Sinking Fund's delinquent-tax division. The resolution also instructs the city's finance and budget department to include copies of the bills with the city's property tax bills.

The resolution wasn't approved in time for the bills to be included with tax bills sent out this month, said Tom Lukin, assistant law director. But they will be included in February notices to property owners who haven't paid their tax bills by then, he said. "The property owners throughout the city will take the city seriously," said 12th Ward Alderman Paul Bather, sponsor of the resolution. "When they get their bill, they will know we mean business. If they don't pay the bill, we will eventually haul them into court." i jCt It A UJ WJ Jt -u kit zll2LL.Z 1 i I Dressing up history Filson Club to exhibit turn-of-century fashions 1U, VI V-l i i I imiriinn 3 til I 5 I I- STAFF PHOTO BY ARZA BARNETT The Rev.

Alan Haat said noon Mass last week at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Butchertown. Archdiocesan officials and parish members are celebrating Its 125th anniversary. Landmark celebration Butchertown's St. Joseph church marks 125 years 1 1 1 1 I' A-: 7 mm By CYNTHIA WILSON, Staff Writer The Filson Club is out to make a fashion statement.

Its material: designs by turn-of-the-century dressmakers. Research has already unfolded works by Anna Glover and Christine Grunder, two of Louisville's premier designers of the time. Still, the Kentucky historical club could use the public's help in gathering information about the designers, their workers and the people who wore the fashions in the late 1800s and early 1900s, said Can-dace Perry, the club's museum registrar. Perry said the information and clothing mostly the work of Glover, an Irish immigrant will be used in an exhibit the club hopes to open Jan. 31 if it gets adequate funding.

Perry estimates that sponsoring the exhibit will cost about $7,000, which they hope to raise through private donations. The information will also be used to publish a book about dressmaking and dressmakers from 1815 to 1925, she said. Judy Miller, director of development and public relations for the Filson Club, said she hopes the exhibit will be just one way the club can participate in the state's 1992 bicentennial celebration, possibly taking the exhibit on the road. "There seems to be a lot of interest at this time in historical clothing," Miller said. Perry said several people have already provided information about the kinds of people who wore the fashions, but very little has been discovered about the dressmakers.

"We want to know about the women who made the dresses," Perry said. "We believe most of them were immigrants. They would have been the most skilled because they learned it (dressmaking) from their European roots." Perry said the organization decided that a dressmakers' exhibit would be a way to attract more people to the museum at 1310 S. Third St. She said many people consider the Filson Club a gathering of a select few instead of a place they can visit to learn about Kentucky's history.

She said the museum wants to be viewed as "accessible to everyone." The museum has about 10 pieces of clothing to display so far, but museum cataloger Audrea McDowell said many people in the state probably See FILSON Page 2, col. 1 By CLARENCE MATTHEWS, Staff Writer As Louisville was emerging from the Civil War, St. Joseph Catholic Church was being established east of downtown to serve the mostly working-class Butchertown neighborhood. Since then St. Joseph has been a spiritual home to thousands of Louisvillians who were baptized, wed and had their funerals at the church.

The church whose lighted spires have become a landmark has endured floods, the threat of urban blight and highway construction that divided the neighborhood. In celebration of the church's continued service, archdiocesan officials and members are planning a 125th anniversary observance Nov. 24 at the church, 1406 E. Washington St. The celebration is special to members like 74-year-old Helen Crowley, and her sister, Sister Joyce Georgel, descendants of early St.

Joseph members. "I was baptized there, went to school there, had my first communion there and was married there," said Crowley, who lives in the Clifton neighborhood but still attends St. Joseph. Crowley's" parents attended the church's grade school and her great-grandparents Peter Liebert and Andrew Zehnder helped sustain St. Joseph in its early years.

Each donated stained-glass windows. An uncle, the Rev. Cyril Georgel a Franciscan missionary who is now deceased, lived at the parish between assignments and after his retirement. "We have very close ties to the parish," said Sister Joyce, 72, an Ursuline nun who lives at the Sacred Heart Convent on Lexington Road. St.

Joseph was officially established on Jan. 6, 1866. The original church was next door to its current site. The Ursuline Sisters arrived a year later to open the parish school, which enrolled 235 students in grades 1-6 in the first year. The first Franciscan priests arrived in 1875, and the order continues to serve the parish.

Louisville Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, who will speak at the 11 a.m. Mass, said the parish's longev- See DECADES Page 2, col. 1 i I STAFF PHOTO BY SAM UPSHAW JR. A dress designed by Louisville's Anna Casey Glover is at the Filson Club.

Russell site to be renovated for retail center after CSC Discount closes preparation for Hampton Place, a 150-unit apartment complex. The $10 million complex will be built between 15th and 17th streets, from Chestnut Street to Congress Alley just blocks from Russell Plaza. "I think it's certainly going to be an anchor within the urban renewal area," 10th Ward Alderman Rhonda Richardson said of Russell Plaza. "It will help ensure the entire (urban renewal) project and encourage people to move back into the area." Chuck Kavanaugh, assistant director for See RETAIL Page 2, col. 1 three big stores and several little stores." Lee and Dischinger had been watching the CSC property for several months and said it made good "economic sense" to invest in it because the area needs a shopping center.

Area residents generally travel to Lyles Mall at 26th and Broadway, Southern Indiana, downtown or the East End to do their shopping. "We believe people will stay in their neighborhood and shop where they can go to three different places with one stop," Lee said. Dischinger said the revitalized center will also support the Russell urban renewal project, which recently began with site ways find the things I needed in this store. I was surprised to see the sign." John Alvey, who has owned the center for eight years, filed for bankruptcy a year ago. He said he will close the CSC store that had been in Russell for 45 years by mid-December, But Russell residents won't be' left without a shopping center.

In fact, they can look forward to a variety of stores at the same site, in what will be called Russell Plaza. Russell Plaza Inc. an eight-member investment group bought the CSC Discount Center for $250,000 last August with plans to renovate it and attract businesses. Judy Lee and Chris Dischinger of Equity Solutions are the majority interest holders in Russell Plaza. They are negotiating to bring in a grocery store, hardware store, drugstore, restaurant and laundromat.

They also hope to attract a furniture-outlet, offices and a smaller discount store to replace CSC, Lee said. The partnership is finalizing plans to redesign the building's exterior and parking lo. Lee said renovations should begin within a month and be completed by January, depending on the weather. Interior renovations will be made according to tenants' needs, Lee said. 'The nice thing about it is that there's so much space," Lee said.

"We could have By CYNTHIA WILSON Staff Writer Ruth Vertrees was disappointed to see the liquidation sign outside the CSC Discount Center in the Russell neighborhood. The discount store near 14th and Jefferson streets has been a regular stop for the 44-year-old Portland resident since she was a little girl. While CSC, isn't the fanciest store around, she said, it's close to home and offers good prices on clothing and household goods. "I've always shopped in here," Vertrees said last week. "I've bought paint, household supplies, Christmas toys I could al.