Since The Independent Weekly reported City-Parish President Joey Durel's interest in converting the 100-acre UL horse farm into a public park, a number of influential business leaders have contacted him to get involved in the effort to preserve the community landmark. Durel's interest in the Johnston Street land was noted in an Independent editorial calling for UL President Ray Authement to back off the proposed exchange of 36 acres of the horse farm for 4 acres of attorney Jimmy Davidson's residential property on Girard Park Drive ("Open Letter to Authement: Kill the Deal," Dec. 7).
Durel says the interested parties ' which include individuals from the real estate, legal and manufacturing sectors ' are not only proposing a public-private partnership, but they are also willing to provide their services free of charge. One individual has apparently offered to donate the funds for the land-purchase portion of the venture, but Durel declined to identify any of the potential partners at this time.
An outright sale of the state-owned farm will require a public bid process (which may jeopardize Lafayette Consolidated Government's position), and Authement has said the university would be able to keep any proceeds to buy land closer to campus. However, local government may be able to structure a land swap of its own, as Durel is willing to exchange the city's 8-acre Youth Park, which ' unlike Davidson's property ' is contiguous with the university. He's also indicated an interest in turning over part of Girard Park near the Alumni Center, what appears to be a suitable spot for a new university president's home. (Authement says his home near Martin Hall will eventually be consumed for university expansion.)
If the land is secured by LCG, possibly via a swap and donations channeled through the 5-year-old Community Foundation of Acadiana, any plan to finance the horse farm's transition into a public park will likely be aided by the numerous volunteers from organizations such as www.savethehorsefarm.com, who are researching grants and other mechanisms that may be available. It's also possible a portion of the horse farm may need to be sold off for residential development, Durel says, to help raise funds for the park.
Durel hopes Authement will view his plan as a welcome option to the current land-swap deal the community overwhelmingly opposes and at press time was trying to set up a meeting with the university president.
Authement, who in the past has not expressed any willingness to entertain alternatives to the deal now on the table, is now willing to listen. "If there's anyone out there that would like to propose a plan, he would be more than happy to talk to them," says UL spokeswoman Julie Dronet.
"There are just so many possibilities," says Durel, who hopes to secure the acreage quickly to protect the pristine land from commercial encroachment. "[If] this thing is developed into cement, it's over," he notes. "Ideally, it would be wonderful to have 100 acres with as little cement as possible, with ponds, lakes, an amphitheater, more pedestrian, bicycle-type [activities]." He also wants to restore the two small homes and antiquated dairy barn, all of which are in dismal disrepair.
In discussions with students, Authement put a general price tag on the horse farm. In his first meeting with students, the 77-year-old university president said he'd sell the farm for $8 million, according to UL student Elizabeth Brooks, one of the organizers of the "Save the Horse Farm" effort. In a subsequent meeting, says Brooks, Authement indicated $8 million would be the starting price, and a public bid would determine the actual sales price. Last week The Independent reported that the Board of Supervisors for the UL System has called for a new, independent appraisal of both the horse farm and Davidson's Girard Park property, which were each previously valued by two different university-hired appraisers at $3.25 million.
The Board of Supervisors, which approved the now controversial land swap in August, would have to give its nod to any new arrangement, whether in the form of a restructuring of the current exchange or a new one with LCG. The university is seeking to rezone the front portion of the horse farm from residential to business but had initially proposed to swap that portion at its lower residential value. The board later ordered that it be re-appraised based on its pending rezoning application to commercial, which increased its value from $3.25 million to $5.37 million.
As he explores various options and hopes to get Authement's ear, Durel is keeping the university's interests in mind. "The one thing we can't lose sight of is the university has some needs ' that [land swap] was a way for them to satisfy some of those needs," Durel says. "They evidently either need land or money."
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.
Most Read
in case you missed it
Subscribe to this comment's feed