What can Lafayette learn from Colorado Springs about its homelessness response?
Coordination and public resources have fueled a scaled-up approach in Colorado Springs, a city on the radar of those working on the issue Lafayette.
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News + Notes
OPINION: Uncertainty is at an all-time high. Lafayette needs a fiscally responsible budget.
The roles have reversed from the 2020 budget cycle, and now the City Council ought to play budget hawk.
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Councils take control of Lafayette’s rescue money. Now what?
Much of the spending in Guillory’s plan was of questionable eligibility, and the administration struggled to make the case for moving ahead now with so much uncertainty.
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OPINION: Guillory’s proposed ARPA budget is a bad deal for the parish
Too many of the proposed projects deliver questionable returns, create unfunded maintenance liabilities, and inexplicably use parish dollars to pay for city responsibilities.
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8/17 Council Preview: Showtime for Guillory’s ARPA budget; flood control projects; COVID testing for LCG employees
Here’s a selection of items on the agendas for this week’s meetings of the City and Parish councils.
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How are other communities handling rising homelessness?
Catholic Charities has joined six other local housing organizations in asking Lafayette Consolidated Government for a more permanent solution to homelessness — $6.5 million to purchase an out-of-use hotel that would be retrofitted into a permanent, low-barrier, non-congregate shelter.
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UL studies solar farming, despite pushback to renewable energy Louisiana expected to lose out on renewable energy job boom
Just over a mile northwest of the Cajundome is a 5-acre plot of land flanked by neighborhoods of single-family homes and a commercial area to the north — not the type of zone one would normally expect to see a power plant — yet there one is, silently generating enough electricity to run 250 homes without a hint of pollution, waste or human traffic. It is UL Lafayette’s solar farm.
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Failed veto override changes nothing for Louisiana’s trans athletes
Due to invasive and stigmatizing policy hurdles already codified in LHSAA’s handbook, virtually nothing has changed for transgender students, despite the Legislature’s failure to override the governor’s veto of a bill discriminating against them.
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Aggressive policing has Lafayette panhandlers caught in a cycle of jail and homelessness
As homelessness rises, panhandlers have been caught up in a months-long police dragnet that critics say is ineffective and inhumane. Soon, the Louisiana Supreme Court will weigh whether it’s constitutional.
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8/3 Council Preview: Willow Street jail, charter commission, City-Parish Alignment Commission appointments
Some controversial items are up for consideration this week, like declaring a new Willow Street jail a public necessity and calling a charter commission to examine further changes to Lafayette’s home rule charter.
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How Should Lafayette spend its ARPA funds? Here’s what readers had to say — so far.
Readers want to see ARPA funds go toward keeping the city afloat (literally) and its residents housed.
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Amid lawsuit, LEDA turns over applicants for parish’s highest paid public job
The Lafayette Economic Development Authority has turned over the full list of applicants who met the July 14 application deadline for the agency’s top job, by far the highest paid position for a public official — potentially worth an estimated $450,000 in salary and benefits.
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