Guest Post: Daniel T. Smith on Louisiana’s Political Present and Future (And What We Should Be Asking of Mary Landrieu)

The three most publicized Louisiana issues at the moment that are also national questions are the Road Home Program, the Oil Revenue sharing legislation, and Asian fish cutting in on LA fisheries profits.

I’ll start with the fish because that’s what I know the least about. I read an article in DeadPelican and on Salon about this, and basically it’s what you expect: a lack of protective tariffs and commercial standards is threatening native catfish farmers from losing markets to Vietnamese fisheries.

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061127/BUSINESS/611270313/1003

In Louisiana, we raise real catfish in separated ponds with no environmental problems. In Vietnam, there are fewer safety standards and the fish are raised in netted reservoirs which increases risk of disease and contamination. Moreover, the Asian fish aren’t even truly catfish, though in 2003 there was legislation to require fairness in labeling, so they can’t call a Vietnamese basa a catfish. Even though basa goes for up to a dollar less a pound, aficionados say there’s no comparison between the flavor, but most people eating fried catfish don’tcare what it really is.

As you know the Road Home Program has been generating a lot of flak. People are angry, mostly at Blanco, for crafting the contract behind closed doors with the group ICF International, based in Fairfax. DeadPelican recently reported ICF is getting two new companies to help them out, one from Houma and the other I don’t remember. Here’s a good article summing up the various beefs with Road Home:

Honoring Mayor Ned Randolph

Yesterday night, the City of Alexandria held a series of events, culminating in a banquet at the Riverfront Center featuring Governor Kathleen Blanco, honoring Mayor Ned Randolph. And this reminded me:

When I was a kid, every Sunday morning at church, we used to sit right behind the mayor. My brother, sister, and I thought it was pretty cool because after the service ended we got to shake the mayor’s hand. As a child, I considered him to be a shy and humble person, someone genuine. I didn’t really know what a mayor did, but I knew he was important.

And he is.

During the past four months, we’ve been discussing the problems facing Alexandria and how to solve those problems. I hope that this discussion does not obscure the truth: Alexandria suffers from growing pains.

When considering the accomplishments of Mayor Randolph, it is impossible to recognize Alexandria without him: A successful plan for England Air Park, a state-of-the-art airport, I-49, a 4-year LSUA, the Port of Alexandria, hospital expansions, the Alexandria Aces, numerous subdivision developments, and Union Tank Car.

Alexandria, it has been said, is poised for tremendous growth, and we owe much of this to the leadership of Mayor Randolph.

In less than a week, Mayor Randolph will serve his last day as Mayor of Alexandria. Many things have changed in twenty years. And thankfully, we are all better off because of these changes.

Certainly, there is a lot left to accomplish, but our future accomplishments will be built on the successes of a shy, humble, yet important man who dedicated most of his professional career toward public service.

Thank you Ned Randolph.

The Town Talk: The Trees Versus the Forest

Throughout the past two weeks, the Town Talk has been in a fit over the Alexandria City Government’s refusal to release the details of a report analyzing leaks at the Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center.

Today, they published an editorial instructing Mayor-elect Jacques Roy to release the report once he assumes office on December 4th, claiming that in doing so, Roy will be keeping his promise of government transparency.

According to City Attorney Kelvin Sanders and Mayor-elect Roy (both of whom have read the report), the report contains sensitive information that may need to be used in potential future litigation. Releasing the information to the public, before the City has had an opportunity to build and present its case, may put the City at a strategic disadvantage. And considering it is the obligation of the City to collect any potential damages owed to taxpayers, it follows that prematurely sharing critical information and the “mental impressions” of an expert, would put taxpayers at a disadvantage as well.

But the Town Talk is not having any of it. The fact that Roy has read parts of this report, they argue, means that the public also has the right to read it– because Roy hasn’t yet taken office, they claim, he’s still a private citizen.

I’m not sure who the Town Talk relied on for legal advice, but it seems they’re a little confused. (And I have on good word that this misconception will be cleared up in the very near future).

Let’s think about this on a very basic level: Next November, Americans will be electing a new President. Between November 2007 and January 2008, our next President-elect will be thoroughly briefed on a host of confidential and proprietary issues, including, among other things, security and emergency management procedures.

Would the Town Talk argue that our next President-elect should not be able to review confidential information unless said information was declassified and made public beforehand? Certainly not. The President-elect, like our Mayor-elect, is, in fact, a public official, and even though the hyphenated “elect” follows his title, it’s still an official title.

To further exercise their bully pulpit, the Town Talk claims that by not releasing the report, Mayor-elect Roy would be breaking his promise of “transparency,” and they direct readers to his website, where they may find information on Roy’s positions concerning government accountability and transparency.

The notion of transparency, as was mentioned numerous times by numerous people throughout the campaign, means that government should be held accountable for their decisions. It means that back room consulting contracts must be brought into the public light. It means that the public has a right to know how the government is spending their tax dollars. It means the government has an obligation to operate ethically.

It does not mean, however, that the Town Talk has the right to print sensitive information that may be used in litigation. That is precisely why Louisiana has an exception to public records requests. Perhaps this exception has been used loosely in the past, but in this case, it seems that the City Attorney, the Mayor, and the Mayor-elect (all of whom have degrees in law) are acting judiciously, believing that, based on the information they have read and analyzed, it would compromise the City’s ability to pursue litigation if the full report was leaked (pardon the pun).

It is healthy and necessary to continually question whether or not the government is acting in the best interest of the public, but in this instance, the Town Talk has attempted to pursue a story without considering the consequences.

Roy: Preparing Comprehensive Plan for Alexandria

According to Mayor-elect Jacques Roy, suggestions from his seventy-plus member transition team will be used in writing an extensive and comprehensive plan for Alexandria’s future.

Roy expects a preliminary plan to be completed within the next two weeks but states that a final draft won’t be ready for at least six months. “I think people will be surprised about the amount of material produced by the transition team, its interfacing with city officials (who have been very candid), and the preliminary compartmentalization of the issues,” Roy said. “The model we used has been very effective, and like the campaign, was borne of the ideas of Alexandrians. Although a comprehensive ‘findings’ document is far off, a 100-day plan with executive style summaries will be released shortly.”

Roy believes it will be important to share the plan with the entire community and has suggested holding town hall meetings, open to the public, in which audience members will be able to ask questions and offer suggestions to the new mayor and his administration.

Roy’s transition team is composed of volunteers, many of whom have been working throughout the Thanksgiving holidays, compiling information and writing reports on specifically-assigned subjects.

Observations and Unsolicited Opinions on Alexandria’s Housing Problem

Recently, the Town Talk reported that Central Louisiana’s real estate market is outperforming national trends by a significant margin. Although new high-end residential construction is definitely a growth sector in Central Louisiana, I disagree with the contention that our real estate market is healthy and stable, particularly Alexandria’s market. Indeed, the reason that our real estate market appears to be so strong is because affordable housing is simply too expensive to construct. The proliferation of high-end developments, while exciting, actually belies a major problem: the lack of affordable housing in our community.

During the mayoral election, several community activists expressed support for a plan of in-fill revitalization; that is, encouraging investors and developers to tackle large-scale renovation projects on homes located in blighted areas– as a way of solving the affordable housing problem. It’s a good idea, and we definitely have a problem.

The median household income in Alexandria is a little more than half of the national average, which means that the average family in Alexandria cannot afford the average home. An affordable home in Alexandria is actually priced and valued correctly; the problem is that it is still prohibitively expensive for the average family.

The average family in Alexandria, based on the federal government’s definition of affordable housing, should be able to afford a home priced between $80,000- $110,000. Unfortunately, there is a significant dearth of homes in this price range in our real estate market. During the past twelve months (according to our local MLS), only 48 three bedroom, 1,500-square foot homes sold in Alexandria; that is an average of four homes per month, a staggeringly low number when one considers the number of people who have moved into Alexandria during the past twelve months. And this just scratches at the surface. We’re only looking at the “average” family. Consider the fact that approximately 40% of people in the Alexandria region live from 50% to 150% below the poverty line. This precludes them from even considering buying a home.

If Alexandria’s growth follows the current trend, new neighborhoods will only include high-end housing. It’s simply too expensive for builders to justify affordable housing construction, unless it’s subsidized by the government. This will create stratification and segregation. The average taxpayer will be paying for new infrastructure for subdivisions they will never be able to enjoy.

While I understand that in-fill redevelopment is essential at solving a short-term problem (with the added benefit of improving blighted neighborhoods), we must be thinking ahead. We must envision what Alexandria will look like in twenty years, as we expand and as certain areas of town become developed due to added infrastructure.

We must ensure that our growth is not lopsided, that it incorporates a mix of developments, and that it encourages affordable housing. Currently, I believe Alexandria may be over-saturating itself with high-end developments, and as a result of this over-saturation, we may be over-extending ourselves as well.

Lifted from EPSN by way of Wonkette: What’s the Best Part of Thanksgiving?

No big surprises here: Louisianans love their food, Oklahomans love their football, and Floridians are in the process of a recount.

Tonight at the Frosty Factory: A Dazed Jam Session Featuring Dale Le Boeuf, Zach Rhea, and Derek Ashcraft, 9PM

Influences include Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Thelonius Monk, and Les Claypool.