Residents in several unincorporated areas in north Lafayette Parish and Shenandoah Estates, which is surrounded by the city of Broussard and has been urging Mayor Charlie Langlinais to annex the unincorporated island for years, are in line to finally begin receiving clean, potable Lafayette Utilities System water. Residents in Shenandoah have long complained about what they say is a shoddy, unreliable water service provided by Total Environmental Solutions Inc., a private company.
According to District 7 City-Parish Councilman Don Bertrand, who represents the Broussard area, an agreement was signed Wednesday between TESI and Lafayette Parish Waterworks District North in which the latter will take over service for the unincorporated areas. Waterworks District North is one of the rural Lafayette Parish water providers under the Lafayette Consolidated Government umbrella governed by a board of commissioners and in a long-term contract with LUS for wholesale water, which the districts sell to residents in unincorporated parts of the parish. The five smaller municipalities are also in wholesale contracts with LUS — City-Parish President Joey Durel is pressing for severing the contract with Broussard — so consequently about 80 percent of residents in Lafayette Parish receive LUS water. Shenandoah and the other subdivisions that will be affected by the agreement do not, and they’ve had to rely on private providers like TESI.
“I would suspect that their rates will go down because they’re paying a premium now for a horrible product,” Bertrand says of the Shenandoah residents. “They will pay a rate — what that rate’s going to be right now I don’t know.”
Getting the residents in Shenandoah hooked up to Waterworks District North, Bertrand says, will be expensive, adding that he’s “working with [state Sen.] Page Cortez to find some money for Water District North so that they can come up with the funds to run the lines to them because it’s a substantial cost.”
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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