It makes for good political theatre for Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor and her minister/fellow Councilman James Green, a candidate for Public Service Commission (PSC), to revel in the open mic at council meetings providing fodder for their political aspirations.
Add to this the free pr machine that council members have with their highly paid special assistant R.J. Johnson, who regularly issues self-serving press releases for Taylor, and it is easy for Shreveporters to question the Shreveport City Council.
The Shreveport mayor—NOT the Shreveport City Council—sets wages for city employees who have very generous health and retirement benefits along with PTO and vacation that is generally not provided in the private sector, in addition to many paid holidays.
Thus, comparing city worker salaries to the private sector is the typical “apples and oranges” analogy that makes for great grandstanding, which can unfortunately sends false messages to city workers and Shreveport citizens.
The council’s September Infrastructure Committee meeting, chaired by Green, will be a waste of time if wages for sanitation and CDL workers are on the agenda.
However Green, “a certain person,” has a history of this behavior, much of it racially miscast, such as when a white SPD officer stopped him for dark-tinted car windows and when white SPD officers responded to a citizen complaint after he barged into an optical shop. He later asked the then-SPD police chief, “What were your officers going to do, shoot me?”
And then there was the time he demanded that Mayor Arceneaux leave his seat at the horseshoe and go to the mic at the council chambers to address a committee meeting chaired by Green.
In a similar fashion, recent heart bleeding cry fest about private citizens deserve air conditioning in residential units and that AC should be a requirement under the Shreveport Property Standards Code is a misguided message from Taylor, the council chairwoman.
This is NOT to say the AC isn't needed, although making it a legal requirement for Shreveport landlords pushes the envelope regarding the City Council's powers.
This is likely not an issue for Taylor who is opposed in her Nov. re-election bid while she chairs council meetings as if they were high school student council meetings, complete with many silly jokes, time-wasting side conversations and antics.
With the upcoming council and PSC elections, one should not expect any meaningful council actions on subjects such as police pay raises, SPD use of flock cameras, sanitation fees, or data centers to be seriously discussed in council meetings, much less appear as agenda items, other than the 2027 city budget which must be approved by December.
One can expect Taylor to return to her council seat after the November 3 election, but hopefully not as the council chair.
Thankfully the days of Green on the council are numbered since he is termed out and most likely will be hammered in the PSC race. Green is the most ineffective council member and it no wonder his district has suffered during his 16 years on the Council.
City employee salaries and AC requirements make for good social media chatter but they are not in the legal domain of the City Council, and they just stay on Facebook, Twitter, X, etc. But don't hold your breath.
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.