T.R.A.I.L., “Transportation Recreational Alternatives in Louisiana,” is a non-profit organization created to do what its name suggests: provide transportation alternatives in the state and corresponding recreational opportunities. T.R.A.I.L. works specifically in the Acadiana area to make our transportation arteries pedestrian and bike friendly.
The most exciting of T.R.A.I.L.’s current projects is its Atakapas-Ishak Trail initiative. Lead by Scott Schilling, with the assistance of volunteers, the Lafayette Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Rotary Club of Lafayette North, the organization received support from the cities of Lafayette, Beaux Bridge and St. Martinville to build a bike trail connecting their respective downtown areas. The trail will run along the bayous Vermilion and Teche, through many areas currently accessible only by foot or boat.
Recently, the FHWA Recreational Trails Program for Louisiana awarded T.R.A.I.L. a grant of $100,000 per year through the Community Foundation of Acadiana to develop the Atakapas-Ishak Trail. The project is currently in the design and engineering stage of “Phase 1,” connecting downtown Lafayette to Beaver Park, Vermilionville, and the Jean Lafitte Cultural Center of the National Park Service. More funding is needed to complete the project.
The philosophy behind T.R.A.I.L. is composed of principles of smart-growth urban development, conservation, economic development and public health. An opportunity to walk and bike as transportation encourages exercise, the use of mass transit, and reduces greenhouse gasses. Alternative transportation routes will also allow current residents of limited means access to resources and jobs previously unavailable to them.
T.R.A.I.L. believes that communities that implement smart growth planning, encourage environmental responsibility, and support active life styles will attract members of the creative class and businesses that might otherwise choose to remain or relocate to more progressive urban areas. By simply developing safe bike paths and walkways, the Acadiana area will be on track to having an urban aesthetic that compliments its economic and cultural riches.
We encourage those interested in volunteering to assist in the development of the Atakapas-Ishak Trail or other T.R.A.I.L. projects to join our Yahoo! group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trails4la/ or call Bradley Black at (337) 680-9662.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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