Louisville, KY – On Saturday, July 12, 2008 the Louisville Fire will take on the Conquest of Albany. Before the game the Fire plan to honor Louisville’s very own Mayor Jerry Abramson. “It is an honor to have Mayor Jerry Abramson as our honorary captain,” replied Louisville Fire President/General Manager Dave Berryman after being asked about having the mayor as the honorary captain for the Fire game. He has been very involved in all aspects of the community. Being a Louisville native he has been an active supporter of the Fire upon the team’s arrival and the Fire look

Metro Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson

forward to working with him on other future endeavors.”

Mayor Abramson is currently serving his second four-year term as mayor of Louisville Metro. Since becoming mayor of Metro Louisville he has helped to increase safety by launching Metro Safe, added more police officers to the streets, and improved public health by establishing a new community-wide Emergency Medical Service to shave life-saving seconds off response times, and launching a healthy Hometown Movement with community partners. In addition, he created a “City of Parks”, which was a public-private partnership that added 3,000 acres of suburban parkland, established a 100-mile loop trail around Louisville, and improved existing parks. Mayor Abramson has helped lead the way of a 20-year renaissance downtown, with $1.6 billion in projects underway or planned including the new riverfront arena, the 62-story Museum Plaza tower, and tripled downtown housing opportunities. The project also included the creation of 4th Street Live, the Frazier International History Museum, the Muhammad Ali Center and new hotels.

From 1985-1998, Abramson served as the Mayor of the City of Louisville. During that time span he created a non-profit organization called Operation Brightside to clean up and beautify the city of Louisville and surrounding areas. He led a $700 million expansion of the Louisville International Airport, which resulted in improved airline services and the creation of 23,000 jobs at the UPS WorldPort hub. Abramson was able to expand the economy of Louisville by bringing international headquarters for Yum! Brands, the UPS Air Hub, and Presbyterian USA to Louisville, KY. He also revitalized Louisville’s waterfront with the creation of Waterfront Park (an award-winning ‘green front door for the city that attracts 1.5 million visitors annually.

Mayor Jerry Abramson has received attention outside of Louisville also. In 1986, he was named one of the Top 25 Most Dynamic Mayors in America by Newsweek. The U.S. News & World Report took notice of Mayor Abramson in 1987 by naming him one of the Top 20 Mayors in America. Abramson was elected to serve as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, in 1993. He also received the Conference’s Distinguished Public Service Award, which has been given to only 13 others in 50 years. Governing magazine named him the Public Official of the year in 2003 and was named Kentucky’s Best Civic Leader for the fifth time by Kentucky Monthly magazine in 2005.

Under Abramson’s watch, the city of Louisville has been recognized as well. In June of 2008 the city was named the Most Livable large City in America by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Louisville Water Company won the Best Tasting Water in America. In the August issue of Outside, Louisville is ranked seventh on a list of 20 cities for the “Best Towns of 2008”.

“The Louisville Fire play a significant role in the sports life of our city and surrounding communities,” stated Mayor Abramson when asked about the Louisville Fire.