Extending Louisiana Avenue grows Lafayette the wrong way
Spending millions of city dollars to build a road through a cane field isn’t a new idea. We can’t afford to keep making the same mistakes.
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News + Notes
Robideaux vetoes Louisiana Avenue extension, kicking the ball back to the council
The gist: As expected, Mayor-President Joel Robideaux vetoed a council budget amendment that would have kept $7 million in a project to complete Louisiana Avenue. Instead the money will go into a stormwater diversion fund he proposed at budget introduction. The council could override the veto with a six-member majority, an unlikely outcome.
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LETTER: R-E-L-A-X on the charter amendment transition
Although the amended Charter probably does add a layer of complexity to government operations, it also provides much-needed clarity to citizens regarding who is responsible, and who should be held accountable, for government decisions.
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‘Doing nothing is not an option;’ Northside coalition creates black community agenda for local elections
The gist: Several Northside community organizations co-authored a comprehensive agenda calling for school board and LCG candidates to see generational poverty, lack of economic progress and failing schools as a local crisis deserving urgent intervention.
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State Ethics Board investigating Michael Lunsford, Citizens for a New Louisiana
Ethics Board investigations are confidential, but the board’s decision to seek legal remedy from the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge last month revealed the probe into whether Citizens for a New Louisiana, which Ethics refers to as CNLA, violated the state campaign finance disclosure laws.
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Basin Dance Collective tackles sports with new dance mash-up opening this week
Basin Dance Collective mashes up sports and dance, exploring parallels between the two and their relationship to humanity.
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Robideaux expected to veto Louisiana Avenue budget amendment
The gist: Last week, the City-Parish Council restored $7 million in funding to extend Louisiana Avenue, narrowly passing an amendment to next year’s budget that blocked the mayor-president’s proposal to move that money to undetermined drainage projects. Mayor-President Joel Robideaux is expected to veto the amendment and send the issue back to the council where […]
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Flare-up on jail funding previews tough sledding for the future parish council
The gist: A public spat between the sheriff and the Robideaux administration over jail funding is closing out the end of budget preparation. The sheriff wants parish government to shell out $1.7 million more to fund jail expenses and has brought lawyers to bear.
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The foundations of Lafayette housing strategy
The gist: A cross-sector alliance of agencies, nonprofits and community organizers soft-launched a coalition to develop a comprehensive housing strategy for Lafayette Parish.
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Republic Services yet to pay $75K fine from 2018
The gist: Republic Services, already in the hot seat over complaints of shoddy service, has yet to pay a $75,000 fine levied against the trash collector by Lafayette Consolidated Government more than a year ago.
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LETTER: The cost of doing nothing on the Buchanan garage
Our inability to work together has slowed and stymied progress in the city of Lafayette, while spurring much more expensive growth in the outskirts of our parish.
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Splitting the council has raised the stakes on Lafayette’s deteriorating politics
Political discourse in Lafayette has veered so far off the rails that we can’t even agree on the basics. And now we have a whole host of thorny issues that we have to unpack while splitting one council into two.
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