CenLamar | Est. 2006

  • CenLa’s Essential Role in Hurricane Readiness and Recovery

    When I moved to Mid-City at the start of 2006, and now when I return to visit my brother, I’m sometimes asked with reserved uncertainty where I grew up or which high school I attended. New Orleanians can tell if you’re from out of town. But because my father’s family is from NOLA and I took my fair share of family-oriented trips down there as a kid (and not-so-family-oriented trips as an adolescent), I don’t totally stand out as being non-native. Telling them that I grew up in Alexandria seems to explain everything. “Oh, you’re from Northern Louisiana. That makes…

  • Louisiana Speaks and Observations on Alexandria

    Last week in Baton Rouge, the Center for Planning Excellence, along with Louisiana Speaks and the Louisiana Recovery Authority, held a “smart growth summit” entitled “New Directions for Louisiana.” More than four hundred people from all corners of Louisiana attended the summit, which included speeches by Senator Mary Landrieu and Congressman Richard Baker and panels concerning community health, smart growth, and the Louisiana Recovery Authority’s plan for rebuilding the hurricane-affected regions. Fortunately, Alexandria was represented by a strong delegation of both public officials and private citizens. It was a tremendous opportunity to learn about the benefits of smart growth and…

  • Why We Need A Neutral Internet

    When Neil Young agreed to play with the Crosby, Stills and Nash super-group at Woodstock, he made clear that he did not want to be in the Woodstock movie that was being filmed. Young felt that the performing musicians could be distracted by the cameras, the implicit commercialization of which would pollute or inhibit their free artistic expression, man. These days, it is unlikely to have super-rockers—even those as socially conscious as Pearl Jam or Rage Against the Machine—ever play a show without being on film. Though Neil Young worried that artists would sell-out or censor themselves, it has become…