John Yarmuth: “There was a time, and it wasn't too long ago, that the gorgeous waterfront park in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky…”

“There was a time, and it wasn't too long ago, that the gorgeous waterfront park in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, was a junkyard. It was a time, just 25 years ago, that if you found yourself in our now thriving downtown after dark, you were most likely either working late or lost. This was a time, believe it or not, that Louisville Slugger was in Indiana. You can't make this stuff up. No, these days, it's hard to picture Louisville before 1985, hard to believe how much has changed in the last quarter century, hard to imagine Louisville without Mayor Jerry Abramson. Yet on January 3, 2011, that's exactly what we'll be when we say goodbye, with gratitude, to the man for whom the title 'Mayor for Life' proved just a little too optimistic. Mayor Jerry dared not only to dream, he led the charge that made that dream reality. In five terms as mayor, Jerry was a driving force in expanding and modernizing our airport and transforming Louisville into an international shipping hub by luring UPS and 23,000 jobs to our community.”