CenLamar | Est. 2006

Revisiting the Sports Arena And Other Observations on Alexandria’s Future (Warning: Rant Alert) Way back on August 2nd, the Town Talk published an article about plans to build a multi-use sports arena near the Pineville Expressway. The proposed site is eligible for Superfund money, because it is currently listed as a public health hazard (and has been on the EPA’s national priority list since 1999). The Superfund program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. At the time, most of us dismissed the need for such a facility, pointing out that Alexandria already has a multi-use facility in the Rapides…

NY Times: The Garage Apartment is Back in Vogue In today’s New York Times, Janny Scott writes about the reemergence of the garage apartment in suburban and exurban areas. The garage apartment or the “mother-in-law” unit allows people “who would otherwise be priced out of the housing market to live close to their jobs and relatives,” Scott states. She writes: Hundreds of communities across the country have rewritten their zoning rules in recent years, to eliminate longtime bans on apartments in single-family houses and encourage new ones to be built. The revisions — allowing, say, backyard bungalows in Santa Cruz,…

Conservative Pundit Tells Muslim Congressman-Elect: Put Your Hand on the Bible Despite the fact that the swearing-in ceremony for the House of Representatives never includes a religious book, conservative pundit Dennis Prager (seen here playing the accordion) is demanding that Congressman-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, place his hand on the Christian Bible while being sworn in. ThinkProgess has been covering this story (non-story) for about a week, and it’s generated some interesting commentary. Prager wrote an op-ed piece on Townhall.com (and he’s been talking about this on his radio show ad nauseum). From the op-ed:…