Columns & Opinions

With filming scheduled to begin this fall at Millennium Studios in Shreveport’s Ledbetter Heights neighborhood, the nearly complete phase one of the new Bayou Grande Choice Neighborhoods apartment complex will add to the growing energy in downtown Shreveport. Bayou Grande will be a mixed-income, mixed-use apartment building that will charge renters according to income. Former residents of the old Jackson Heights project that was demolished 14 years ago will have first chance at renting a new apartment in the complex.

I have been writing for months that Shreveport must give a pay raise to its public safety professionals -- 8% at a minimum, 10% is better. The city’s strong sales tax receipts through eight months are $97,152,050, or 17.5% more than the same period in 2020.

I have always loved road trips. There is nothing better than the anticipation of getting the car packed the night before and waking at dawn to hit the road. It really doesn’t matter where you are going, just making the trip there is a joyful experience. Vacations are great, but if you are going on vacation by road trip, then that is much better.

The cat-and-mouse game between the Bossier City Council mob and Bossier Mayor Tommy Chandler continued at the council meeting on Aug. 31.

“We shape our buildings, and thereafter they shape us.” -- Winston Churchill

This author has documented the current civil war between six of the Bossier City Council members and Bossier Mayor Tommy Chandler in several articles and columns. The battle continues on two fronts in the special elections on Oct. 9. It’s the old guard versus the new guard.

The random violence occurring in Shreveport has gotten out of control, and it does not matter who is at the helm of the police department. There is only so much that law enforcement can do.

Purchasing three badly needed fire trucks and other badly needed equipment items for the Shreveport Fire Department is explained in a fact sheet attached to Ordinance 116 of 2021. Purchasing 40 police cars and other required equipment items is outlined in a fact sheet attached to Ordinance 117 of 2021. These two were introduced at the Aug. 10 Shreveport City Council meeting and are up for the second reading/final passage at the council’s Aug. 24 meeting.