GEOFF DAILY: Why Lafayette can’t afford two superparks
Lafayette can build them. But where is the money to operate and maintain them?
Lafayette can build them. But where is the money to operate and maintain them?
Here is a selection of items on the agendas for this week’s meetings of the City and Parish Councils.
Relatively light agendas include a continued push to privatize local park facilities, another step towards building detention ponds to help with drainage, and approval of new sidewalks around some schools.
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.
The gist: After the torrid pace of recent months, the agendas for both of this week’s council meetings are relatively light. There are some big discussion items to watch: redevelopment of the old federal courthouse and filling long-vacant director positions.
For the city to control its own affairs, this failed experiment in consolidation must end so our city can be free to govern itself.
The gist: A new .2% parishwide sales tax may be coming up for public vote to help fix the parish’s broken budget. The old federal courthouse developers don’t want to pay more in property taxes. Police and fire may get more money without actually getting more money. And the privatization of city and parish parks […]
The gist: This meeting presents several items at the root of recent confrontation between members of the City Council and mayor-president. Items addressing the council’s bid for independent legal representation, the ongoing LUS investigation and finding permanent leadership for it, LUS Fiber, parks and recreation and the police department are all on that agenda. Plus, […]
LCG’s budgetmaking process can be complicated in a normal year, and this is far from a normal year. Newly split councils, a mayor-president deadset on slashing budgets, and an uncertain economy has created a perfect storm for a tense budgetmaking process. As the councils round the corner on amending this budget, these are some of the top issues still to be resolved.
In order to be economically competitive as a city, Lafayette needs to offer quality of life amenities. In the rush to cut budgets, Mayor-President Guillory is putting the city’s quality of life at risk, reducing its ability to retain and attract people, especially young families.
Here are the highlights for Tuesday night’s city, parish, and joint council meetings. To view the full agendas click here, select 8/18/2020 from the dropdown menu, and then click on the agenda or agenda item you want to dive into.
The gist: A Lafayette Parks and Recreation Department employee was placed on administrative leave the same week longtime Director Gerald Boudreaux tendered his resignation after a heated discussion with Mayor-President Josh Guillory the morning of June 2. The employee later returned to the office but has since been temporarily suspended.
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