The City of Lafayette today filed a judicial demand against the City of Broussard to invalidate a recent annexation ordinance of the Broussard City Council. Broussard’s ordinance attempted to annex into the municipal limits of the City of Broussard a parcel of land measuring in dimension fifty feet by fifty feet which is not contiguous to the existing territorial limits of the City of Broussard. The challenged ordinance was adopted by the Broussard City Council at a special meeting held on Memorial Day, May 31, 2010.
On May 25, 2010, Broussard filed a suit against the City of Lafayette challenging an ordinance adopted by the Lafayette City-Parish Council which annexed the city-owned golf course (Vieux Chenes) and other city-owned property (Fabacher Park) into the City of Lafayette. In that challenge, Broussard contended that certain legal publications had not been accomplished as required by law. Lafayette’s position was that its original publication was fully in accord with applicable law. However, rather than fight a lengthy, expensive legal battle, it was deemed both prudent and cost-effective to merely repeal the original ordinance and re-adopt a separate ordinance annexing these properties. That new ordinance annexing the city owned Vieux Chenes Golf Course and Fabacher Park was adopted by the Lafayette City-Parish Council on Tuesday, June 1, 2010.
In Lafayette’s judicial demand challenging the recent annexation by Broussard, it is asserted that the annexation ordinance was adopted on a date which is earlier than allowed by Louisiana law. Louisiana law clearly states that, “No ordinance enlarging the boundaries of the municipality shall be adopted until ten days after the publication of the notice.” In this case, the publication was had on May 21st such that June 1st is the first legal day when the annexation could have been lawfully adopted. Adopting an ordinance on May 31 (a legal holiday), after a publication on May 21, does not satisfy applicable law which explicitly requires ten full days to pass after publication.
Additionally, the challenge contends that the purported annexation is unreasonable. Among other reasons, the challenge points out that the property purported to be annexed by Broussard is separated from the existing municipal boundaries of Broussard by over a half mile. The stated reason to annex the non-contiguous parcel of land is to install a sewer lift station, but Broussard has no existing sewer facilities in the vicinity of such parcel of land, and moreover, has no legal right to extend services of that type outside of its municipal boundaries.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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