Meet the candidates for Metro Council District 3

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - We’ve brought the candidates for metro council district 6 and 8. Now, we have the final district seat that’s up for grabs.

Races for other Metro Council seats have an incumbent. The race for district 3 has two newcomers.

Both of them have experience running for office, but not winning.

But this time, one of them will win.

The current metro council member for district 3 Kumar Rashad, won’t be on the ballot on November 7th.

Instead it’ll be independent Gibran Crook and democrat Shameka Parrish-Wright.

Crook ran for a council seat last year, but didn’t win.

“Last year I was a political rookie, stepped up to the plate and said I’m going to go for it. I didn’t win last year but I’m ready for round two,” Crook said.

Crook is a youth basketball coach and works a lot in the community.

He got an interest in politics when he started researching how to build speed bumps and clean up parks.

“You can have influence in the neighborhood, but you also need power behind you,” he said.

Crook thinks his youth experience as a coach can bring some structure and change to metro council.

“Sometimes with the same old, same old you just get the same results and you need new positive results,” Crook said.

He wants to prepare kids for the future and give them a community that they can grow up in safely.

“The violence is coming from different things not being in the community,” said Crook. “Whether it’s jobs, community involvement, things to do, going to community centers.”

He hopes the community and the police can work together to make things safer for everyone.

“Once the police are involved and people come together and show that not all police are bad, and the police can see that these people actually want to do something, we can come together as a unit and actually grow the community,” he said.

While Crook ran for metro council last year, Shameka Parrish-Wright ran for mayor.

“The biggest race of my life,” she said.

Now she’s trying her hand at becoming a metro council member.

“I solve problems. Whether I’m in office or not. This is just giving me a bigger chance to serve my city,” Parrish-Wright said.

Parrish-Wright is known for being an activist that serves on more than 10 community boards.

She says she’s running to make her community better.

“I know that from knocking on doors that housing, transportation, and basically reducing the red tape so that people can access government services,” she said.

Her plan for crime and violence reduction isn’t more police, it’s more resources.

“When people have there needs met, there’s way less crime,” she said.

She’s ready to work with everyone on metro council to get things done for the people. No matter how small the problem.

“I want them to know that they have a real voice. That they get to call and say, ‘hey there’s too many cats in my yard. Or we need a speed bump,’” said Parrish-Wright.

She says her experience has her prepared.

“Once I get on council and they don’t see activist Shameka, they see the organizer, the business woman, the teacher, the advisor, I think I’ll be able to unify that council,” she said.

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