How tolerance is essential to growing Lafayette’s innovation economy
The Drag Queen Story Time episode’s impact is bigger than drag queens and literacy.
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News + Notes
The parish budget is short a parking garage
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Bernhard/Robideaux talks go back to at least early 2017 and at one time included Fiber
Emails exchanged between LCG officials and representatives of Bernhard Capital Partners, the private equity firm pursuing management of LUS, show regular sharing of information between the camps beginning in 2017 or earlier, and at one time included an interest in purchasing both the electric division and Fiber. Fiber is not on the table in current discussions; at some point talks turned from a sale to a management agreement.
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Drag Queen Story Time supporters show in force and rebuke Robideaux
Dozens crammed into Tuesday’s council meeting to voice support for Drag Queen Story Time, a reading event promoted by the public library that Mayor-President Joel Robideaux apparently sought to cancel in a statement. Robideaux’s statement, also issued Tuesday, came after days of conservative outrage registered with his office and across social media channels.
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That thing about the Acadiana flag isn’t really about the flag
A civil rights researcher, Rick Swanson has spent the better part of the last two years probing Acadiana’s racial scars and open wounds in public presentations.
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Bernhard adjusts focus, management of all three LUS utilities now in play
Some have raised concern that extracting only LUS’s electric division for private management could destabilize the system’s other utilities: wastewater and water. The three systems have entangled debt and rate structures that are messy and risky to pull apart.
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Bernhard Capital confirms Lafayette has competition for potential HQ
Last week Jeff Jenkins, one of Bernhard Capital Partners’ founders, told The Current the company’s plans for LUS include making it part of what will ultimately be a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Lafayette. This week, his partner Jim Bernhard confirms that Lafayette has out-of-state competition for that proposed corporate headquarters, a city Bernhard says has an “advantage” over Lafayette because that contemplated transaction has not leaked to the press.
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The parish is broke, and it’s a drag on the city’s finances
In the upcoming fiscal year the city general fund will bring in just over $100 million and end the year with a fund balance of almost $40 million. The parish general fund will bring in less than $12 million and end the year with a fund balance of about $100,000.
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Should LUS and Fiber split, four top positions would be vacant at LCG
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In meetings with city leaders, Bernhard’s vision for LUS begins to emerge
As part of its plan to take over management of LUS’s electric division, Bernhard Capital Partners is presenting a vision of creating a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Lafayette.
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On split council proposition, amendments to the amendments on the way
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Cajundome director Greg Davis steps down to save the cost of his salary
Longtime Cajundome Director Greg Davis didn’t think it was right that he hold onto his $160,000 a year job while having to deliver news to seven other employees that their positions were being eliminated. So the 63-year-old, who has worked for the Cajundome since it opened in 1985 — 25 years as director — announced he’ll retire at the end of October, three years earlier than he’d planned.
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