Builders and contractors do not appear to worry, or maybe care, that the residences they are building will cause more harm than good to the community. I am certain that prospective home buyers are not told by real estate agents of the traffic problems in these areas. Verot School Road and Kaliste Saloom Road have ridiculous traffic congestion, and all the new subdivisions are not occupied.
I leave from East Broussard Road at 6:45 a.m. for work at 8 a.m. in the city. If I leave anytime after that I will be late for work. Returning home from work is frustrating on Verot School Road. The cause of this is not just the hurricanes; the traffic was horrible before the two storms and has worsened. Two years ago I was able to leave at 7:30 a.m., and it took approximately 20 to 25 minutes to travel to work. Now it is about 45 minutes to an hour depending on the traffic flow.
Kaliste Saloom is scheduled to become a four-lane road for 2028, according to city planners, which in real time might be 2035. Look at Camellia Boulevard. Verot School Road is scheduled for widening after monies were transferred, not stolen, from a certain north side project, but on hold now due to a lack of state funding and drainage requirements of the state that the parish must fulfill. This project has been planned for several years. So why were the drainage issues not addressed and completed before now?
Preplanning of roads is necessary when a developer first notifies LCG of planning construction and from our transportation officials having the foresight to make wise decisions on where to improve the current roadways or build new ones for the increased population.
I also believe that there are numerous non-essential expenditures with our tax dollars that could be allocated for roads to improve the quality of life for the residents of Lafayette Parish.
Thank you and drive safely.
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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