It started last week, and it has intensified this week.
Visitors to downtown Shreveport, and especially to Government Plaza in the 500 block of Travis Street, are virtually overwhelmed with a horrible smell. Think of burning rubber, rotten eggs, skunk and moldy food combined with a haze that burns eyes, nose, nostrils and facial areas.
It’s a combined stink from the actions and inactions of government officials who not only disgraced themselves but also failed their constituents.
It started with the long-anticipated guilty plea of Caddo Commissioner Lynn Cawthorne to federal felony offenses on Friday, Nov. 2. Cawthorne and his sister lined their pockets with federal dollars intended to feed poor, hungry children in summer months.
As of this writing (noon, Thursday, Nov. 11), Cawthorne has yet to submit, or verify submission of his letter of resignation, although by law his position is vacant. It’s an open question if he will appear for the commission work session on Monday, Nov. 15. A parish press release issued on Monday stated that he “intended to resign,” but no date was provided. Thus, he is still on the public dole.
The stench intensified when the Shreveport City Council agenda was published last Friday with the amended Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (CEA) to be executed by the city with the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce on the proposed donation of the old, historic library building on Edwards Street to the Chamber. The CEA would not pass muster in a first-year law school course, much less survive serious review by competent legal counsel.
The council approved this action on Tuesday after City Attorney Ron Lattier assured Councilman John Nickelson at the Monday work session that the document protected the city’s interest. Evidently, legal eagle Nichelson failed to do his homework in reviewing this document, nor did Councilman Grayson Boucher, who is very knowledgeable in real estate law and transactions.
The smoldering trash heap was then fueled by the Councilman James Flurry brouhaha. Flurry moved out of the district on Friday, Nov. 2, and he announced in a radio interview on Tuesday morning that he would resign.
After consultation with the Shreveport city attorney, he decided to retain his position based on Lattier’s advice. Lawyers versed in municipal law were astonished by Lattier’s reasoning.
The council meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 9, continued the circus, and the hot air generated in the council chambers not only intensified the blaze but spread the acrid smell of bad government throughout downtown.
Initially, Flurry chaired the meeting after Lattier rendered his opinion, which basically approved Flurry staying on the council.
Then Councilman James Green recognized a frequent-flyer speaker and allowed him to make a long-winded, self-serving discussion that he has repeated at meetings ad nauseam and was not relevant to any agenda item. Thus, the speaker seeking three minutes of fame wasted about 10 minutes in an ill-advised presentation that basically set the tone of the meeting thereafter. If this is an indication of how Green will chair meetings next year, when he is expected to be the chair -- or maybe this year, if Flurry resigns -- then the council meetings will become a real drag, literally and figuratively.
Then the council had two lengthy briefings that featured PowerPoint presentations. The first was on the need for a $1 million grant request from the city for LSUHSC. The other was an update on the EPA Consent Decree.
Both of these flouted the intent of the Open Meetings Law by not providing any notice of the presentations or listings of the same on the agenda. Thus, private citizens had no prior knowledge and no opportunity to comment on the same during the citizens comment period on the agenda because slips requesting permission to address the council must be tendered before the meeting commences.
The council continues to allow these presentations with no notice as intended by the Open Meetings Law or any requirement that copies of the same be made available to the general public before the actual presentation.
The council then discussed a resolution supporting the proposed Tax Incentive Financing District (TIFD) for the Amazon North Market area that is under consideration by the Caddo Commission. When questions were asked about the resolution, the sponsor, Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor, was less than factual in her explanation of the impact of the same. Her misstatements were amplified by comments by Lattier.
And to top off the three-ring circus presentation, both Mayor Adrian Perkins and Chief Administrative Officer Henry Whitehorn fumbled the ball after both had the deer-in-the-headlights look when asked about the administration’s position on the proposed action. The mayor’s incoherent response was that he basically affirmed the creation of TIFDs.
The reality of the council action, which was not explained, is not that hard and has been explained numerous times by this author in published columns.
The Commission must have the approval of the council for the TIFD because it encompasses incorporated areas of the city. The council’s approval has no impact on the city, period. The proposed TIFD only affects future parish taxes. If the city and/or the Caddo School Board want to join in the TIFD and, thus, lose tax revenue to the TIFD, then separate action is required by each body.
The meeting concluded with an ugly, misguided and unlawful protest by an activist group fired up by a former Mansfield activist with a criminal record complaining over the actions/inactions of Shreveport police and the death of Tommy McGlothen. This group either does not know or just ignores that this incident is under investigation by the Louisiana State Police, and pending the same, no action can be taken by the Shreveport Police Department or city officials.
All in all, it was a bad day – no, a bad week -- starting last Friday, Nov. 5. Even with Flurry’s resignation on Thursday, Nov. 11, it will take a while, probably a long time, for the air to clear at Government Plaza. Civic black eyes do not heal quickly, and they are long remembered.