C’EST BON
Lafayette’s relatively robust economy is getting some recognition from the national press. Both Forbes and Money magazines have hailed the Hub City as one of the best nationwide to land a job. Money’s May feature, “Money 100,” lists Lafayette among the best six places in the country for finding a job. Forbes lists Lafayette as No. 3 among mid-size cities, behind No. 2 Tulsa, Okla., and No. 1 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas. Forbes cites Lafayette’s phenomenal 16.3 percent job growth between 1997 and 2009 and our low labor costs as prime reasons for earning a spot in the top three.
PAS BON
Kudos to Lafayette real estate developer Reed Andrus for his laborious and impressive work on an alternative plan for redesigning one of our community’s major eyesores, Johnston Street. But just as Andrus’ plan seems to be gaining traction and support from other concerned residents who have long worked to remedy this problem, it now has come to light that the recently completed Camellia Boulevard extension, from Kaliste Saloom to Verot School roads, also has no underground infrastructure for water, sewer or electrical distribution, which means we could soon see overhead power lines like the ones that today clutter Johnston Street. Proper planning, part of what we all now tout as “smart growth,” dictates the installation of subsurface water, sanitary sewer and electrical when new roads are constructed — especially those built in high-traffic areas that are sure to spur commercial development. Decades from now we may see a new group of community activists spending countless hours trying to solve another Johnston Street-like problem. Shame on Lafayette Consolidated Government and Lafayette Utilities System for not doing this right the first time.
COUILLON
Book ’em Daneaux! Lorenzo Green knows the contours of a jail cell. He knows them well. The 48-year-old was arrested in Alexandria last week at the Veterans Administration Hospital by law enforcement there after the Lafayette City Marshal’s Office got a tip. It was, according to local authorities, the 120th time Green has been arrested. That’s a dozen arrests times 10. Twenty-four arrests times five. Fifteen arrests times eight. His latest incarceration situation stems from warrants in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes for charges of criminal trespass, simple burglary and theft. Green’s rap sheet includes drug possession, domestic battery, aggravated assault, possession of stolen things, et cetera ad nauseum. Lorenzo Green has been a busy man; busy getting arrested, busy being a couillon.
I could be wrong, but I thought that the people who developed along Camellia would be responsible for placing the utilities underground. I think that new construction is prohibited from using overhead. So, since there's nothing out there, there's, well, nothing out there. It's not up to LUS, in other words, to always place the infrastructure merely in anticipation of development.
... written by Kirby Pecot , April 24, 2009 - 05:19 pm
In response to "nobody�s" comment, it�s my opinion that it is not smart for taxpayers to pay millions of dollars for a four lane arterial that discourages development. Realize the road will be paid by either sales tax or property tax. Developed property pays a higher property tax than farm land, and farm land pays very little or no sales tax. If the Lafayette Consolidated Government�s Administration and Council authorize millions to construct for a major street, smart planning dictates the installation of underground water, sanitary sewer and electrical power. Imagine a potential business or residence halfway between Kaliste Saloom and Verot School Road. The buyer would have to dig a trench and run a sanitary sewer line and water one-half mile to Kaliste Saloom. In addition, wooden utility poles with overhead electrical lines and transformers would run from Kaliste Saloom or Verot to service that property. This, CLEARLY, would discourage development. Instead, LUS could properly engineer and install underground electrical, sanitary sewer and water. The cost of this infrastructure will be repaid to LUS through fees paid by the property developers. The fee to connect to those utilities would be accessed proportionally, based on the frontage of land purchased on the roadway. This is the method extensively used in progressive communities and is a "smart growth" position Lafayette should adopt.
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There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
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