Jeff Yocum is one of a dozen people running to be Louisville's next mayor.(Roberto Roldan / LPM )South End resident Jeff Yocum says Louisville is at a turning point.The way he sees it, residents increasingly feel like they aren’t being heard or represented by their elected officials. Yocum said t he residents he talks to are increasingly being squeezed by local taxes and the rising cost of living while city leaders focus on helping developers.“The reason I am in the race is because I know how many people are stuck here,” he said. “How many people have I door knocked and spoken to face-to-face, they’re afraid, they’re being taxed to death, they’re losing their homes.”Yocum said he feels many elected leaders in Louisville act like “celebrities, not servants,” a common phrase he uses when talking with voters in person or on social media.In an interview with LPM News, Yocum said his run for mayor is his “last stand” for Louisville. If Democratic Mayor Craig Greenberg wins reelection, Yocum said, he, his wife and four kids will move out of Jefferson County.Yocum said he grew up in Louisville, living a “rough” life before joining the U.S. Navy in 2007.“They made a man out of me,” he said. “They changed my life. They taught me everything I needed to know.”Yocum said he got hurt while serving on a base in Jacksonville, Florida, and retired in 2012. Since then, he’s spent a lot of time volunteering, mostly with local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1181, he said.If elected, Yocum said he will back LMPD so officers can “do their jobs again, the way they’re supposed to.”He said one of his main goals will be to bring transparency to city government, showing residents how their tax dollars are being spent.“All of the questions, ‘Where are my tax dollars going?,’ I’m going to tell them the truth,” Yocum said. “I am going to go in there and tell you everything they do not want you to know.”He said he wants to focus on helping address Louisville’s “broken families” that have lost loved ones to gun violence and drug addiction.Asked how he would do that, Yocum said he would eliminate the city’s needle exchange program, which he believes is enabling addiction. He said city funding, under his leadership, would not subsidize developers, but would instead push people into substance abuse treatment and create new homeless shelters where people can “go eat, bathe, rest and you have counselors there with them.”While he is a registered Republican, Yocum said he is running as a nonpartisan candidate to serve all Louisvillians.An excerpt of Yocum’s interview with LPM News, edited for length and clarity, is below:Roberto Roldan: Jeff, this is your first time campaigning for an elected position. Why did you decide to get into local politics now?Jeff Yocum: I helped another person with their campaign door-knocking and meeting thousands of people in Louisville, just the things that you learn, it's heartbreaking.They do not have the option, as I do, or many others do, to pack up and move away. They're stuck here in Louisville. This is their home and they feel like they're not being represented properly. There is no transparency. It feels like our elected officials here in Louisville are more celebrities than they are servants.RR: And tell me a little bit about yourself. What's your background?JY: My background was: I wasn't a good kid here in Louisville, I wasn't. I grew up rough. I survived the streets. I could have lost my life on many different occasions. What it took for me to leave Louisville was a dear friend of mine was murdered in front of me on Baxter Avenue. It made me take a hard stop and realize it's like I have no future.The only option I had was that war was going on at the time, so I chose to join the United States Navy. They made a man out of me. They changed my life. They taught me everything I needed to know.RR: So you've talked about crime, you've talked about transparency. If you're elected mayor, how do you address that?JY: Day one, I talk to the Louisville Metro Police Department and the leadership. Get their opinions, like, ‘Who's the bad guys? Who's the good guys?’ This LMPD, they are divided. This is the truth. I will back LMPD. They will be able to do their jobs again the way they're supposed to.Then, I will try to bridge the division between the communities and the police officers. The way you do that? You’ve got 26 Metro Council members that represent districts of this city. You need to understand the vibe. If you're a mayor, that's your communications. Like, ‘Hey, what's the problems here? Why is this happening and how do we fix it?’ And the community, they're already out there. You’ve got so many good Samaritans in this city. Their voices go unheard. And this is another sad truth.RR: You were also one of the folks that showed up at Metro Council a couple of weeks ago, protesting the proposal that would have banned federal agents like Immigration and Customs Enforcement from wearing masks. I'm wondering how you would handle the federal immigration crackdown as mayor?JY: So let's say ICE comes to Louisville. I'm absolutely going to watch them to make sure they're not doing illegal searches and seizures. You can't do that, but if you have the right, if you're doing things correctly, then you have to allow law enforcement to enforce the law. It's just a fact.People need to understand that they're doing a very dangerous job. They're paid to do that. And a lot of them, it's an oath, and they honor that oath. They get put in these really bad situations all the time. This is what I'm saying: We have to bridge the gap between the community and understand that these officers are there to protect all of us.RR: How does federal agents wearing masks help bridge the gap with the community?JY: Well, here's the thing: Let's say that that vote passed. How does Louisville, a local government here, challenge federal authority? They are way out of their jurisdiction. So, a lot of people are telling me they're like, ‘Look, this is just political theater, because even if they would have won that vote and passed that vote, they can't do nothing.’It's just going to cause trouble between Louisville and the federal government. It doesn't make any sense at all. You have to handle things the right way and through the right conversations, and get the community involved with their Metro Council members. Then, the mayor needs to listen to the council members and the problems they’re dealing with. You know, that's just my opinion. ...read more read less