CenLamar | Est. 2006

  • Fight for Alexandria High.

    Last week, I somehow found myself sitting in the cafeteria of my high school. I was only in town for a couple of nights, and because I am glutton for punishment, I decided to spend one of those nights at a community planning meeting. In all seriousness, it was a great meeting about a great project, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But every time I’ve returned to my high school, it’s always felt somewhat surreal. Nothing, really, has changed during the last twelve to fifteen years. The same banners hang from the walls; the same trophies sit proudly behind glass…

  • Alexandria Launches THINKAlex, Game-Changing Initiative That Could “Rewrite The Books” On Resiliency Planning

    Alexandria Launches THINKAlex, Game-Changing Initiative That Could “Rewrite The Books” On Resiliency Planning

    This afternoon, after years of behind-the-scenes planning, the City of Alexandria announced THINKAlex, a comprehensive initiative that will modernize the City’s development ordinances and guide its long-term plans and strategies for housing, transportation, disaster recovery, and land use, among other things. You can read the press release below, but first, I want to give my own perspective: When I first went to work for Mayor Roy nearly five and a half years ago, we both recognized the real and pressing need to rethink and retool Alexandria’s development strategies and priorities. It’s a subject about which I’ve written frequently on my…

  • We Can Do Better. We Will Do Better. We Must Do Better.

    We Can Do Better. We Will Do Better. We Must Do Better.

    Anyone remember this? Or, more appropriately, this? While the Jindal campaign was producing commercials depicting their opponents as corrupt, money-grubbing (literally, they’re eating money) clowns, we now know that this same campaign, at the same time, was receiving of tens of thousands of dollars in allegedly illegal campaign contributions. From The Times-Picayune (bold mine): A former executive of a failed Lacombe-based bank, charged last month with funneling illegal political contributions through the bank’s board of directors, gave the $55,000 of allegedly illegal donations to the campaign that first ushered Bobby Jindal to the Governor’s Mansion. It was the same campaign, just days later, that…