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 24 Blogger Robert Mann posts this entry about the Baton Rouge Chamber's recent report on Louisiana's higher education system. It's critical to economic development, and yet our system is facing a "funding crisis" with no way to resolve it, the report says. The Chamber says control of tuition and fees must be returned to the higher ed governing boards.
MAY 24 Here's a NBC33 story about Tyrann Mathieu. He has signed with the Arizona Cardinals, inking a $3 million, four-year deal. He gets a signing bonus of $265K, but gets another, larger bonus if he doesn't get cut from the team for doing drugs. The deal reportedly includes mandatory tests and meetings for the player.
MAY 24 Jarvis DeBerry posts here about the redonkulus rhetoric that would have us believe NOLA is a safe city with a murder problem. Maybe the city's crime stats don't compare with its murder stats because you can't manipulate a murder, he says: a dead body's a dead body. It just doesn't make sense, he says, and his readers agree: a poll asks if they believe the city is safe, and more than 90 percent say no.
MAY 24 Jindal administration officials announced Thursday that the privatization of public health care is going to cost a lot more than they budgeted for, the Advocate reports here. "I'm so surprised," said no one. Anywhere. The cost they're projecting now is more than $1 billion - a lot more than the $626 million budgeted for it. And, it's more than it cost the state to operate those hospitals. So why are we doing this again?
MAY 24 Blogger CB Forgotston ridicules the recent PR campaign by the state GOP in the wake of a legislative auditor's request to both major parties. The GOP (apparently unaware that the Dems got the same request) started yammering about being targeted because it had "killed" a tax increase. CB finds that laughable, but it's also pretty funny that the GOP was comparing this episode to the IRS scandal (Because the President has so much to do with our state auditor. Right?).
MAY 24 Politico details some recent fund-raising efforts by Sen. David Vitter, which have raised the question of his future political plans. This time, it is a $5,000 per head "bayou weekend" that includes "Cajun cooking" and an all-caps "alligator hunt," the story reports. Funds raised go to a super PAC that can spend money to support Vitter in federal or state races, the story points out.
MAY 24 The pink building on Royal in the quarter was sold at a sheriff's sale Thursday, this Picayune story reports. An injunction that would have halted the sale wasn't enforced because the family failed to post a $150,000 bond, the story reports. So the owner of the mortgages on the building bought it, for nearly $7 million. Now the feuding family will have to negotiate with that company to get a lease on the building that has housed their business for close to 60 years.
MAY 23 This post in Louisiana Voice tells us about a bill by a Winnsboro lege that would require all public high school students to take at least one Course Choice online class in order to graduate. (What?) Blogger Tom Aswell says it's a monument to "waste and corruption," especially in light of the problems he's exposed with the program in recent weeks. Idaho had a similar program, but voters removed it by a 2-1 margin, Aswell says.
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