 |
|
| Joey Durel, left, and Charlie Langlinais |
Citing annexation lawsuits filed by the city of Broussard against the city of Lafayette as well as Broussard’s apparent breach of its wholesale water contract with the city-owned Lafayette Utilities System, City-Parish President Joey Durel told the council Tuesday he has directed his staff to explore a termination of all contractual and inter-governmental agreements with Broussard.
“Just like the other municipalities in Lafayette Parish, Broussard is the recipient of numerous and varied services from the city of Lafayette, all of which allow Broussard to provide to its citizens a level of services that it could not currently provide by itself,” Durel told the council. “However, unlike the other municipalities in Lafayette Parish, the administration of the city of Broussard has chosen to engage in an ongoing battle with the city of Lafayette, attempting to frustrate Lafayette’s growth and development in ways that are inconsistent with a mutually beneficial relationship.
“Essentially, the administration of the city of Broussard wants to declare itself to be an adversary of the city of Lafayette, all the while expecting the city of Lafayette to ignore the fact that it provides Broussard with the very services that have allowed Broussard to grow and prosper.”
Durel is referring specifically to Broussard Mayor Charlie Langlinais, who has been a burr under Durel’s saddle virtually since the Lafayette mayor took office in 2004. Now in his third and final term, Durel has clearly had enough. “I can no longer overlook the fact that the taxpayers of Lafayette are compelled to defend and pursue lawsuits and disputes with the same municipality that willingly accepts services from Lafayette at the same time,” Durel said. “This is not wise public policy.”
Durel is brother-in-law to Youngsville Mayor Wilson Viator, who has had his own share of spats with Langlinais over annexations in south Lafayette Parish as well as water — perhaps the most important infrastructure commodity for growing small towns. If Lafayette is successful in cutting off the LUS water supply to Broussard it could have a disastrous economic impact on the city of Broussard and stymie its future growth.
“The city of Broussard is not the city of Lafayette’s responsibility; we have no jurisdiction in there,” Durel said in closing his remarks to the council. “We were glad to help, as we do with other municipalities, but with this sort of unnatural relationship, I think it’s time for that relationship to come to an end.”
To hear Durel’s full remarks on the issue click here and go to about 15:45.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
Most Read
in case you missed it
Subscribe to this comment's feed