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COLUMN: How do we budget for LCG’s drainage follies?
There has been no public accounting of how much three drainage lawsuits could ultimately cost. The cases could blow multimillion-dollar holes in LCG’s budget.
Columnist Geoff Daily explores Lafayette’s economy and government, providing critical commentary about what’s working and what’s not.
There has been no public accounting of how much three drainage lawsuits could ultimately cost. The cases could blow multimillion-dollar holes in LCG’s budget.
Lafayette can’t count on the industries that have powered its growth in the past. We need to pivot, and we have the tools to do it.
Problems with several major drainage projects threaten to waste millions of public dollars on actions that may not save anyone from flooding. It’s bad government, and the taxpayers are going to pay for it.
The City and Parish councils have been complicit in approving Guillory’s drainage projects without question. Now with tens of millions of dollars at risk of being wasted, the City Council is starting to ask the hard questions.
The population of the city of Lafayette may no longer make up the majority of the parish. That means our city is stuck without a full-time leader who is focused solely on city business and who is accountable to city residents.
The betting favorite for where it will go is UL’s Research Park. That’s the path of least resistance, not the past of greatest impact.
Our history is full of examples of how dreaming big paid off for Lafayette. But big dreams can distract from accomplishing small, important tasks.
Guillory’s bureaucracy-busting approach could force Lafayette to spend millions filling holes it just spent millions digging out.
Lafayette can build them. But where is the money to operate and maintain them?
A majority of city residents feel like Lafayette is heading in the wrong direction. But non-city residents think we’re on the right track.
After crashing from 2014-2016, Lafayette Parish’s GDP had shown signs of recovery. Then 2020 happened, blowing a billion dollar hole in Lafayette’s economy.
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