Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC) Executive Director Rebecca Bonnevier and Shreveport Common Executive Director Wendy Benscoter appeared at the Providence House information session yesterday (Thursday) to express complaints about the Providence House’s proposed construction of a four-story multifamily apartment building and four single-family houses on Crockett Street between SRAC’s Central ARTSTATION and the Caddo Common Park.
They did not appear at the Shreveport Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) meeting where the project was unanimously approved.
Bonnevier obviously toted the water for the former SRAC executive director Pam Atchinson and long-time SRAC patron and matriarch Sandi Kallenberg expressing unmerited complaints about access to Caddo Common, parking, and visibility of the Kallenberg Artist’s Tower located behind ARTSTATION. Benscoter expressed opposition regarding parking and potential interference with Caddo Common programming.
These ladies ignored these facts: access to Caddo Common will remain the same along the sidewalk, Providence House employee cars will be marked for identification and will be parked at the Providence House Cotton Street parking lot, and the tower visibility will not be obstructed and the expanded Providence House facilities will have appropriate fencing between ARTSTATION and Cado Common.
NIMBYism, an acronym for Not in Back Yard, is defined as opposition to a development by people who acknowledge a project’s societal necessity but demand it be built somewhere else.
The Providence House population of homeless children and adults, the majority of whom are African American, is undoubtedly an underlying factor that evidences NIMBYism by these nonprofit organizations, which coincidentally receive public funding like the Providence House.
It remains an open question if Bonnevier and Benscoter will appear before the Shreveport City Council to object to the council’s vote to approve the MPC decision.
John came to Shreveport in January of 1977 when he was transferred to Barksdale AFB.
He’s been active in Shreveport politics since deciding to make Shreveport his home.
John practiced law for 40 years and he now monitors local politics. He regularly attends Shreveport City Council and Caddo Parish Commission meetings.
John is published weekly in The Inquisitor, bi-monthly in The Forum News, and frequently in the Shreveport Times.
He enjoys addressing civic groups on local government issues and elections.