JOHN PERKINS
Contributing Columnist
With the hope of film production returning to Shreveport now firmly planted in Mississippi, where film tax credits are unlimited and there is movement toward elimination of the state income tax, word came that the Shreveport City Council approved Mayor Perkins’ plan to buy the Millennium Studios for $3.8 million. But it isn’t a done deal yet.
That it is even up for discussion is disturbing a lot of citizens. Like Stageworks, the other derelict soundstage downtown, it was busy until former Governor Jindal and Louisiana legislative leaders, including then-Speaker John Bel Edwards, ratcheted back our film tax credit program to provide only enough film production to keep studios and workers busy south of I-10.
Shreveport can’t afford another pig in a poke. Why buy an empty building that is on city property and add to our inventory of buildings that we can’t afford to keep up? Word is that 50% of downtown floor space is empty. We bought the empty D’Anna Produce Building a couple of years ago, for goodness’ sake. We can’t keep our municipal buildings like the Convention Center in good repair, air conditioning working, and grass mowed. Do we need another square foot of municipal building under our roof?
I asked around, and it seems that a confidentiality agreement prevents discussion of what might go on inside the empty film studio once we own it. It won’t be a private business, so it won’t pay property or sales taxes, which we need here. Won’t be a tourism draw; we need that here desperately, and the Municipal Auditorium, hello, is available as a music history destination. There is a rumor that Millennium may provide a multimillion-dollar space for another “workforce development center.”
Shreveport architects and urban planners are appalled. It shouldn’t have been built in what is a residential neighborhood needing redevelopment to begin with, they say. Like the planned Duncan Donuts to be situated between stately mansions and the gorgeous Kings Highway Christian Church on Kings Highway, it sits like the proverbial dog manure in the punch bowl of what could be a great downtown neighborhood.
The money for this comes from the most dangerous place it can come from: the American Rescue Plan (ARP), and it looks like it Is going to rescue Israeli-American film producer Avi Lerner, founder of Millennium Films. Voters here are wondering what’s next? Happy New Year, Avi.
Readers, what would you do for Shreveport with $3.8 million? That money would solve a lot of problems like razing the eyesore on I-20, Fairgrounds Field ($500,000). We’d have $3 million leftover to tackle other small-budget issues. The recent article by the BYU sportswriter offering his impressions on his Indy Bowl visit to Shreveport could be addressed. For instance, I might put sound dampening panels up along our interstates 20 and 49 not only to block the highway noise but the views of the decaying mall and neighborhoods. Let me know: PerkWrites@gmail.com