Neighborhood is a freighted word in Louisville.
It commands a great deal of loyalty, no small bit of identity and sometimes a little defensiveness. This is ludicrous on one level, because there are few bum choices in the lot. In a city that is most comfortable at the family and neighborhood level, where good housing and friendly people are resources that the city relies on for economic development, good neighborhoods are as plentiful as hats on Derby Day. In the late 1960s and early 70s, residents of different neighborhoods began to band together against certain threats they perceived development, deteriorating buildings, crime. When political neophyte Harvey Sloane became mayor in 1973, neighborhood associations and the preservation movement formed a good part of his power base.