Few will admit it out loud: What has been Lafayette’s most important economic sector will likely never recover the ground it lost.
Geoff Daily
Geoff Daily created FiberCorps and helped launch the Lafayette General Foundation. He now works as a launch strategist.
COLUMN: Passing a local mask mandate will help Lafayette’s businesses
Lost in the rancor is consideration of the positive impact that a mask mandate will have on Lafayette’s businesses.
6 min read
OPINION: The library board’s censorship is not apolitical
At a time when Lafayette needs to be rallying together to support our libraries, the library board’s attempt to be apolitical has created a political nightmare.
5 min read
Analysis: Lafayette wages trail cost of living
This is problematic for two reasons. One, it suggests that people in our community really are having trouble making ends meet. Two, it harms our economic competitiveness as it relates to being able to retain our best and brightest.
3 min read
COLUMN: Will dysfunction continue to define LCG in 2021?
There’s a Cold War between the mayor-president and the City Council that could flare up at any time. The city faces a slew of controversial issues, while the parish’s finances continue to teeter on the brink of collapse, and consolidation is put on trial. These are the major stories I’ll be tracking at LCG this year.
8 min read
1/19 Council Preview: Another stab at deconsolidation, federal dollars for police, parish financial woes continue
The gist: The push toward deconsolidation may take a big step forward as the City Council considers establishing a committee to assess how consolidation is working. Meanwhile, the city’s police may breathe easier, millions more arrive from the federal government, and the parish government continues to not have enough money to pay for its needs.
5 min read
COLUMN: 2021 could be a make-or-break year for Lafayette’s economy
The elephant in the room is how much longer this damn pandemic will last and who will be left standing when it finally ends. But that’s not the only aspect of our local economy with an uncertain fate.
10 min read
Council Preview 1/5 — Lafayette surveillance cameras, more CARES Act funding, conditional pay raises for city marshal’s office, board and commission seats
The gist: After a holiday hiatus, the work of consolidated government resumes with a pair of relatively light agendas. On tap: electing officers, budgeting CARES Act funding and getting answers on a surveillance camera contract awarded to a private firm without council approval.
6 min read
Council Preview 12/16: Old federal courthouse is back for help; a ‘new’ development code; ratifying Guillory’s emergency powers
The gist: Wednesday (tonight) the City Council will finally decide if it’s going to subsidize the old federal courthouse developer’s profits. Both councils will decide whether to reaffirm the mayor-president’s emergency powers. And Lafayette may be getting a new development code — kind of. Meanwhile, the parish’s deteriorating finances continue to force tough decisions on the Parish Council as it […]
4 min read
Lafayette residents have lost more income than they did in the 1980s
You often hear that as bad as the economy is now, at least it’s not as bad as the 1980s. But in terms of impact on personal income, new data shows that it’s actually worse.
6 min read
Council Preview 12/2: More money for the Less Pay redevelopment, Downtown curfew for minors, revising the UDC
The gist: A relatively lightweight pair of council meetings is again on deck this week: another developer looking for more public subsidies, new grants for the police department, and the administration seeking to establish new restrictions on minors relative to their use of electric bikes and scooters and late-night access to Downtown. Bigger news is on the horizon, though, as […]
4 min read
COLUMN: The parish needs to raise taxes (don’t shoot the messenger)
Every part of parish government is underfunded. And there’s no way to fix it without raising taxes.
6 min read