CenLamar | Est. 2006

H/t to 2millionth weblog (which is easily one of the best and funniest websites in the State). The New York Times reported today about the sudden rush of speculators who have invaded the small town of Mansfield, Louisiana (the subject of a previous blog post concerning Cleco’s encroachment on Mansfield’s Civil War battlefield, due to their drilling of lignite). Apparently, Mansfield is now home to more than a handful of overnight millionaires. It’s all the Haynesville Shale’s fault. I immediately notice two things: Haynesville is nowhere close to what is being illustrated as the Haynesville Shale, and Samtown is included…

Tonight, I learned of an AMC series entitled “Breaking Bad,” which features R.J. Mitte, who is apparently from Lafayette and apparently also has a very mild form of cerebral palsy (something he and I share in common). In the series “Breaking Bad,” R.J. plays the character Walter White, Jr (bold all mine). Creeeeeepy. Needless to say, I wholeheartedly endorse this series, which will re-run on AMC today at noon and again on August 4th at noon, even if it turns out to be terrible.

This guy has some great photos of Alexandria on his Flikr site. Curiously, given the recently renewed conversation on the Hotel Bentley, I wonder: What do you think should be done with the old hotel? What is the old hotel’s highest and best use? Should the City be focused on the convention center model as the primary engine for downtown redevelopment? From the Brookings Institution: Faced with increased competition, many cities spend more money on additional convention amenities, like publicly-financed hotels to serve as convention “headquarters.” Another competitive response has been to offer deep discounts to tradeshow groups. Despite dedicated…