Monthly Archives: September 2018

An issue that Shreveport’s next mayor will need to address early next year is the Shreveport Police Department (SPD) headquarters building on the corner of Texas Avenue and Murphy Street. Specifically, whether to continue to spend large sums of money on maintenance and repair or just start over with a new building. The aging facility […]

Voter turnout is always a major concern for political candidates. And it is no different for Shreveport mayoral and council candidates this year. The primary is on Tuesday, Nov 6. The run-off election is on Saturday December 8. Both days can be problematic for candidates and their supporters. Weather is always a concern, and work […]

The Shreveport mayoral and council campaigns often appear to be more of beauty contests than fact driven contests. And in the forums, candidates often sound like parrots as they all answer the same questions.   With incumbents, the obvious factors are job performance while in office. For the mayor this involves the leadership of the […]

Who really knows? Jackson is employed by the David Raines Community Health Centers. The website indicates that he is a the community development coordinator. David Raines is a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides health care to citizens without regard to insurance or income. It is funded with federal tax dollars. The attorney for David […]

If anyone ever doubted that Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler is not in a “full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes” re-election mode, the recent refunds for excessive sewage charges should answer that question. On Friday, Sept. 7, city government sent checks to 12 local businesses totaling over $230,000. Perhaps it’s no surprise that many Shreveport voters […]

Caddo commissioners are the top paid. And Caddo Parish school board members the lowest. Based on the budget sizes of each group, Commissioners are overpaid by a large measure. And school board members just the opposite. (For the record the Caddo commissioners are the highest paid part time elected officials in the state.)   The […]

Labor Day traditionally is the kickoff for local contested elections. And this election season is no different. Other than several forums, the campaigns of the Shreveport mayoral candidates have been relatively quiet. Counting from Sunday, Sept. 9, there are fewer than 60 days to the Tuesday, Nov. 6, primary. Thus voters can expect to see […]

Its almost been two years since my good friend Dr. Artis Cash unexpectedly died.  Time goes by…seemingly faster and faster. And I still miss our every other day telephone conferences about local politics.  This being an election year in Shreveport, it sure would be great to be kicking the “political can” with Cash on a daily […]

Now that the Shreveport election for mayor and council members is less than 60 days away, the local campaigns should become more foreground to Shreveport voters. Schools have been back in session for several weeks and the last major summer holiday has passed. Between now and the November 6 primary the only big red letter […]