A Thursday meeting at Duson City Hall of the Lafayette Council of Governments provided an opportunity for some of Lafayette’s municipalities to delineate what they believe is the timeline of grievances that has led to the current angst in the parish, particularly south Lafayette Parish, over annexations. The gathering, which included a barbecue dinner, was a mostly jovial affair. However, the key players in Lafayette’s current tussle over acquisitions of unincorporated areas — Broussard Mayor Charles Langlinais, Youngsville Mayor Wilson Viator and Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel — were not in attendance.
Carencro Mayor Glenn Brasseaux, a political veteran in the north Lafayette Parish city, attributed the land grab mentality that currently characterizes intergovernmental politics in the parish to late Lafayette Mayor Kenny Bowen. Irascible and combative according to some, the three-term mayor (1972-1980, 1992-1996) was the last chief executive of the city of Lafayette before consolidation.
“The only thing I can say,” Brasseaux told the roughly 20 people assembled, “is this goes back a number of years. It all started with Kenny Bowen, who wanted to conquer Lafayette Parish.” There were no objections to Brasseaux’s recollection of the genesis of the parish’s annexation fights, and Scott Mayor Hazel Myers later echoed it.
Also emerging at the meeting was a sense that the small towns are framed as “the bad people,” as Brasseaux put it, thwarting the city of Lafayette’s growth. “They blame the small towns for keeping the city of Lafayette from growing,” he said of a conventional wisdom among many in Lafayette. “That just tears me up.” [Editor’s Admission: The subhead of The Independent Weekly’s April 7, 2010 cover story, “Land Grab” reads, “The parish’s small towns are hemming in the city of Lafayette, threatening to diminish our influence and hamper our growth.”]
Another common thread that ran through the annexation discussion was identity — that residents living in rural, unincorporated Lafayette Parish, while they would prefer to remain independent of any municipality, will nonetheless identify with the closest small town and not with the more urban city of Lafayette. Besides, Brasseaux asserted, forced to choose between Lafayette and a small town, rural residents will almost always opt for a small-town government to provide their services. “The main reason they want to come into the smaller towns is they know they can call [Scott Mayor] Hazel [Myers] at 2 a.m. Try to call Joey Durel at two in the morning,” Brasseaux said. “Try to get a pothole fixed under Lafayette Consolidated Government. …The smaller the government, the more efficient you are.”
City-Parish Council Chairman Jay Castille, who also serves as COG chair, agreed with Brasseaux’s observation that much of the current suspicion among Lafayette Parish’s municipalities is the result of “hard feelings from the past.” But Castille struck a conciliatory tone throughout the meeting. “I think we know where everybody stands as far as annexation,” he said. “We have a lot of more work to do. …I’m trying to diffuse many of the issue out there — they’re hot-button issues — but they’re going to take care of themselves.”
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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co-joined business goons, who have their hand in every Parish Project, which comes up on the board.