News of Webre’s retirement caught some in the downtown community by surprise, but she says she’s been mulling stepping down for at least a year. “I’ve been planning this for some time,” says Webre, who adds she will fill her newfound free time with travel and volunteering in the community.
Webre was a planning employee in the city of Lafayette’s Community Development Department under then-Director Phil Lank in the mid-1980s when the Downtown Development Authority was created. At the time, downtown Lafayette had fallen under the spell of decay as businesses abandoned the old city center and followed the money to the suburbs. Jefferson Street was a one-way running north between Lee Avenue and Cypress Street and, save for a couple of night clubs and stalwart restaurants Don’s Seafood & Steakhouse and Dwyer’s Café, downtown Lafayette barely registered a pulse after sunset.
Webre moved from Community Development to become executive director of the newly created DDA in 1986. By 1993 the state Legislature created a taxing district downtown that bankrolled DDA’s operations. (Funding for DDA salaries and projects theretofore came via grants obtained by the city’s Community Development Department.) Downtown Lafayette Unlimited, a private, nonprofit offshoot of DDA that administers events like Downtown Alive! and ArtWalk, was also created and downtown Lafayette began its return from the cultural and economic doldrums that befell it with oil bust that gripped Lafayette throughout much of the ’80s.
DDA’s mission has largely focused on planning and development of the downtown area, and with the advent of StreetScape in the late 1990s and the return of business investment and the rebirth of downtown as a go-to evening destination, downtown Lafayette is once again a cultural centerpiece.
“It’s been a labor of love over a lot of years,” Webre says wistfully.
Webre says the DDA board will likely conduct a regional search for her replacement through the International Downtown Association and other channels.
MAY 20 This post by blogger CB Forgotston draws parallels between Gov. Bobby Jindal and two individuals he probably doesn't want to be aligned with: President Obama and former governor Edwin Edwards. CB says Jindal's trying to jack up the debt ceiling (an Obama play, according to CB) and buy votes from GOP leges who normally wouldn't go for that (an Edwards play, CB says).
MAY 20 Here's a post in the Baptist Message from an alumnus of Louisiana College. The author, Larry Burgess, calls on the leadership of the private school to take care of some pressing problems. Physical plant issues are critical and unaddressed, some faculty make so little they need government health care, and there is an atmosphere that does not encourage honest discussion, he writes. It's time to get things back in order, he says.
MAY 20 This post in Gambit tells of a benefit concert scheduled to raise money for the 19 people shot during a Mother's Day second line on Frenchmen Street in NOLA. Among them was Gambit blogger Deb Cotton, who spoke frequently about violence in the city and reported on the city's second line culture. Gambit's foundation, along with other NOLA non-profits, also is selling t-shirts to raise money for the victims.
MAY 20 Blogger Robert Mann is critical of the personal interest some legislators take in their work here, sharing the comments one NOLA solon made in explaining his decision to vote against a bill that would require people to stop discriminating against female workers. His wife might lose some salary, so he was going to have to vote against the equal pay bill, Conrad Appel said. Appel and everyone who heard him should have been ashamed, but they weren't, and that's what is wrong in that building, Mann argues.
MAY 20 American Press columnist Jim Beam writes about the budget again here, urging kudos for the House and its efforts to try to fix the budget as opposed to passing on a flawed and messy rubber-stamped document as it usually does. The Senate already is poo-pooing the effort, but instead Senators should be trying to find a way to improve it as well, Beam argues. He also has some predictions in here from LABI and CABL.
MAY 20 Here's a link to the photo gallery from Tulane's graduation this past weekend. Dr. John and Allen Toussaint played together and received honorary degrees. The Dalai Lama was so entranced by their performance he got up from his seat and walked across the stage to stand next to them. He even participated in a second line with his own personal, saffron-colored umbrella. To the graduates, he urged them to think about creating a peaceful, hopeful life and society.
MAY 20 This Picayune story questions the rhetoric of NOLA officials who say the city, aside from having a "murder problem," is safe. The talking points generally are that the criminals are killing each other, but everything else is OK. The police chief there says that even Lafayette is more dangerous than NOLA. But crime experts interviewed here say that NOLA's numbers indicate one of two things: either people are so used to violence they don't report it, or somebody's "fudging the numbers."
MAY 20 The Advocate's Mark Ballard writes about some of the background maneuvering that took place during the development of budget alternatives in the Legislature. From Rep. Joel Robideaux being called a "tax and spend liberal" to robo-call influence, Ballard lets us in on some of the work that happens behind the scenes but usually doesn't make it into the Advocate's daily coverage of the session.
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