Proving itself a master of rhetoric, the south Lafayette Parish municipality answers City-Parish President Joey Durel’s announcement Thursday morning on KPEL that the city of Lafayette will discontinue fire dispatch services for Broussard, which Durel says will double Broussard fire insurance rates. The discontinuance of the service is in response to a lawsuit Broussard filed challenging an annexation Lafayette did near its town line.
Gerald deLaunay, an attorney who represents Broussard, issued the following statement Thursday afternoon:
Mr. Durel and others in his administration are obviously more interested in advancing their political agenda than in the welfare of the citizens of Lafayette Parish. His most recent threat to cut off 911 emergency fire service to the citizens and businesses in Broussard would not only be blatantly illegal, but demonstrates his and his administration’s complete disregard of public safety, as well as a lack of common sense and morality. The citizens and businesses of Broussard pay substantial taxes which are levied specifically for 911 services, and they are entitled to receive those services.
By trying to deny emergency fire service to family homes, schools, and nursing homes, Mr. Durel and those who support him show their willingness to sacrifice human life for political reasons. The latest move also sends a message to the businesses that have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure in Lafayette Parish that he does not care about the dangers he would cause their employees, and their property by his completely irresponsible acts.
Mr. Durel’s talk of lawsuits being the reason for his ludicrous acts is pure political deception. Both of the pending suits between the parties were caused by Lafayette.
After it was discovered that Lafayette had ignored a wholesale water meter owned and maintained by it which supplied water to Broussard, Lafayette gave Broussard what it has admitted to be an inflated bill for water usage, and told Broussard to file suit if it wanted a refund of excess charges. When Broussard did just that, Lafayette sought to cancel its contract to sell water to Broussard because of the meter incident. The court threw out that claim, and Mr. Durel simply won’t accept the court’s ruling.
When Lafayette attempted a patently illegal annexation of citizens that had asked to come into Broussard, Broussard went to court to challenge the illegal action and defend the wishes of the citizens that had asked to come into Broussard. At a recent hearing, the court considering the matter called Lafayette’s annexation plan unreasonable on its face. Mr. Durel won’t accept that either.
Broussard has repeatedly urged Lafayette to put the interests of the citizens of Lafayette Parish ahead of politics, and to agree to sit down with a neutral mediator to work out our differences. Mr. Durel has refused each request. If there is anybody in the Durel administration that is willing to stand up to the City-Parish president, and put reason ahead of politics, it is really time for them to come forth.
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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