Work is underway to reopen the state-controlled Louisville youth detention center that Metro Government closed in 2019 due to financial problems. The estimated reopening deadline, in two years, is too long for Metro Councilman Kevin Bratcher.“They need to double or triple their efforts and get that open,” Bratcher said. “We need a juvenile detention center today, not in 2027.”The metro is in crisis with youth violence. Young offenders who are charged are also often released on home incarceration or transported far out to facilities in other counties.These complexities led Metro Council to pass a bipartisan resolution, sponsored by Bratcher, urging Gov. Andy Beshear and other state leaders to expedite the process.“I can't imagine why it couldn't be open next year? We're putting money in already,” he said.Beshear did focus on the state’s juvenile justice centers during his Team Kentucky update Thursday. But, more on sweeping improvements to Kentucky’s other youth jails, including issuing emergency regulations for medical and mental health care for youth in isolation.He did, however, acknowledge the state is working on reopening Louisville’s facility.“We have begun work to redesign and reopen the Jefferson County Youth Detention Center that was operated by the city of Louisville and closed based on their decision,” the governor said. “We've now been asked to reopen and are working towards that goal.”Bratcher was curt about Beshear’s remarks.“I wish he'd put an emergency order in getting this detention center fixed ASAP,” he said.In addition to city officials, community leaders question the priorities when it comes to Kentucky's youth detention centers, and Kentucky’s youth in general, notably those at-risk.“Political leaders are aware that trauma is a base or a root cause to what's happening with our youth, why aren't we just as invested in getting to the neighborhoods and the communities?” said Shreeta Waldon, executive director of Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition. “We'll pour millions into locking them up under the banner of mental health support and incarceration-type stays, while grassroots organizations like ours have to beg for pennies to provide prevention, treatment and community-based services.”Waldon believes in equitable investments. She says Juvenile Justice Centers are needed, but so are proactive community resources to deter the life of crime that will land a young person there.“We truly must care about their healing, investing in their education, housing, trauma services and mentorship, not handcuffs and confinement,” Waldon said. “You give people options and allow them to make the decision.”The estimated $40 million reopening project is stalled due to the building’s state of disrepair.