SettleTalk.com

Shreveport citizens have stepped up their complaints to elected officials over their perceptions that Shreveport is becoming a less and less safe community. Mayor Tyler and her administrations say that they have a “plan” that is coming together, however the escalating shootings, homicides and burglaries tell a different story. And although different justifications for the increase in crime have been offered, one that has not been highlighted, but that can not be denied, is staffing at the Shreveport Police Department (SPD).

The Shreveport budget authorizes 553 officers; after recent firings by SPD Chief Crump the number on the payroll is 513. The SPD workforce includes 2 cadets, who are officers with less than one year’s experience that are not authorized to drive a SPD vehicle alone; the cadets are not counted as authorized policeman.

The SPD Academy currently has 24 recruits; 31 were hired but 7 are not completing the program. The City reports that the applicants who applied for the current academy were screened for their criminal backgrounds and were given the Civil Service tests; all that qualified were offered jobs.

The SPD workforce of available officers to be on the street is always reduced by officers on administrative leave and sick leave. The City reports that as of April 13, 2017, there were 9 officers on administrative leave and that the average per week is 3. The City also reported that 24 officers were on extended sick leave (which is more than 15 consecutive days) and that the average per week is 19.

Mike Carter, president of the Shreveport Police Officer’s Association, believes that the numbers provided by the Administration are generally “massaged” and that the SPD is operating 80 to 100 officers short each day. Carter cites vacations and extended court appearances, in addition to sick leave and administrative leave to justify his estimate. Carter also cites the loss of 73 officers from the force in the last 2 years due to retirements, resignations and terminations.

Carter states that the City’s refusal since 20013 to give SPD officers a pay raise is the primary reason that officers are leaving the force and that the number of applicants to become officers is low. The starting pay for a police officer in Shreveport is $33,000; after a year on the force an officer gets an additional $6000 per year as supplemental pay from the state.

Carter believes that SPD officers are paid $11,000 a year LESS than comparable cities in the region. He notes that the starting pay for police officers in Tyler Texas is over $53,000 and that the starting pay in Memphis Tennessee is $46000 plus. Even Lafayette and Marshall pay starting officers more than Shreveport according to Carter.

Mayor Tyler has stated that the City can not afford extra pay for SPD officers, as well as other city employees, citing big numbers needed to underwrite an across the board pay raise. Seemingly Tyler could look for incremental savings in many other areas of her budget, like the $100,000 sponsorship of the Independence Bowl, the additional pay that Tyler gave to SPD Chief Crump over that salary of his predecessor and the large administrative staff in her office, among other budget items. Bottom line Tyler has not made police pay a priority and Shreveport’s crime rate may be attributable, in part, to this reality. Tyler cannot blame her predecessor Cedric Glover, as she is prone to do, on many unresolved issues.

    No one can accuse Mike Wainwright and Scott Pernici, along with their attorney Jerry Harper, of backing down in their legal crusade against the City of Shreveport to be compensated for what they assert are serious problems concerning the City’s billing for water. In what is fast becoming a full scale “take no prisoners” litigation battle, a fourth lawsuit was recently filed by Harper against the City. 

    The first lawsuit was filed on behalf of Sand Beach Properties, LLC alleging that the City used confidential information to fix water rates where customers were under billed. The second Sand Beach suit alleged that the City was non-responsive to a public records request for documents relevant to the first suit. Sand Beach Properties is owned by Scott Pernici and Michael Wainwright. 

    Harper next filed a defamation action on behalf of Pernici and Wainwright against Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler and Chief Administrative Officer Brian Crawford. 

    The recent litigation is a class action suit filed on behalf of Pernici, Michael Jones and Mark Defatta. They allege that they have been overcharged on their residential water bills as a result of the of the City’s failure to properly compute their average water usage. The class action is based on the numerous potential plaintiffs who have been over billed, the common questions of law and fact that would be asserted in separate suits by potential plaintiffs, the costs and burden on the court system if numerous suits were filed and judicial economy. 

    The initial hurdle for Harper will be to have the class certified. There’s no doubt that the City will vigorously oppose the entire lawsuit, and it can be expected that numerous defenses will be asserted to initially dismiss the action, and then to oppose any certification of a class. According to the City’s website there are approximately 65,000 residential water customers and the plaintiffs believe that a substantial number of these were, and continue to be, subject to overcharges.

    The detailed lawsuit is based upon the procedures that the City allegedly uses for calculation of the water bills, and specifically whether or not the city is strictly following the ordinance that determines water usage. One complaint is that the City utilizes an excessive number of days in computing the customers usage. Another allegation is that the City does not correctly use the water consumption for the designated months of November, December, January and February to determine the average water bill. 

    The lawsuit also states that when reading the thousand-gallon water meters, the City rounds up the water usage to the nearest 1000 gallons, which rounds up the monthly average of water usage. For those residential customers with hundred cubic feet meters, it is alleged that the City also miscalculates the water usage as well.

    The lawsuit asks that the City be ordered to produce a detailed account-by-account report of the amounts over charged to residents. Whether or not the City has, as the plaintiffs assert, the technology to access the relevant data and to assemble, analyze and the report the data in a format to “correctly” calculate the alleged overcharges is an open question. Estimating the costs to analyze the 65,000 or so residential customers accounts and report the requested information is virtually impossible, but its safe to assume it will be staggering. These expenses plus the continuing cost to the city of the now four lawsuits is a major concern to many, both in and out of Government Plaza.

With the continuing negative publicity over the operations of the Caddo Animal Shelter, the positive contributions of PAWS4LIFE (P4L), deserves special attention and recognition. Founded in August 2015, this local non profit corporation was and it is modeled after many nation wide animal rescue groups that work to save dogs and cats from being euthanized. 

This P4L mission is to have a zero euthanasia rate for all Caddo “adoptable” animals (A veterinarian or professional trainer assesses the animals to determine if suitable to be a family pet, i.e. trainable, disease free/treatable and free of aggression) 

Through the efforts of the P4L volunteers over 1800 plus canines have been saved by relocating the dogs to other rescues groups in Louisiana and across the nation. In so doing, the euthanasia rate for the shelter has been reduced from by thirty per cent—from eighty two (82%) per cent of the intake animals to fifty (52%) two per cent. Prior to the efforts of P4L the Caddo shelter had never adopted out over 180 animals in a year. 

P4L non paid volunteers (along with other animal shelter advocates) bathe, groom, socialize, photograph and transport animals locally to boarding facilities, veterinarian clinics, rescues and foster families. P4L makes two dog transports of thirty five dogs each month to rescue groups in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Iowa; in total, dog transports have been made to over twenty five other states. In March of this year the first feline transport was made to the New York.

P4L is funded solely by tax deductible donations and contributions from individuals and businesses; all P4L funds are directed to the care and transport of animals for adoption. Recently P4L received an anonymous donation of thirty ($30,000) thousand dollars for a transport van that greatly facilities their bimonthly transports and saves many hours and expenses for the P4L volunteers. 

P4L has an extensive public education outreach program to promote public awareness of the importance of canine heartworm prevention, parvo puppy disease, vaccinations a micro chipping of family peps. P4L also partners with the Pet Education Project to turn kids into “animal heroes.”
 

For those old hands who drove to Baton Rouge before the completion of I-49, the infamous roundabout in Alexandria was an event to be not only experienced but to be cussed and discussed as well.  Many a driver had the trip of a lifetime the first time he entered this traffic circle attempting to merge without getting run over, and then to exit safely toward the desired location.

Needless to say, the advent of I-49 not only saved travel time to Alexandria and southward, but also thankfully eliminated passage through “the circle.”  And for those motorists who never ever wanted to navigate a roundabout again, there is bad news if a shortened and faster drive is anticipated from Benton Road to the Jimmie Davis Bridge on the planned extension of the Bossier Parkway.

Currently the parkway connects Sligo Road to Hamilton Road at Diamond Jacks casino; it is named  the Arthur Ray Teague Parkway. Plans are now being prepared to extend this parkway all the way from Diamond Jacks to Benton Road; the extension will be named the Walter Bigby Parkway.

Here is the extended route: continue on the four lane past Diamond Jacks until it narrows to a two lane at Red River Chevrolet on Barksdale; cross Barksdale and continue on the four lane pass the Boardwalk to East Texas Street/Highway 80, which is also a four lane.  Then turn east (right) and travel to the entrance of Old Benton Road onto East Texas/Highway 80 and lo and behold—the first roundabout.  It will “allow” traffic to literally go around in a circle to continue east on East/Texas/Highway 80 or exit onto Old Benton Road which is currently a two lane but will be expanded to a four lane drive all the way to Benton Road.

Then follow the expanded parkway to the intersection of Hamilton Road and Old Benton and enter the second roundabout. This circle will allow motorists to enter the Bossier City Public Works facility, exit onto Hamilton Road or continue on Old Benton.    Hamilton Road will be expanded from a two lane to a four lane between the Old Benton roundabout and East Texas/Hwy 80. 

For those that continue on Old Benton toward Benton Road, the third roundabout will be entered just before the railroad tracks at the property owned by Lou Chandler.   This roundabout allows access to the Chandler construction yard, exit onto Old Benton Road toward Benton Road , or continue at an angle following the railroad tracks going northward. The newly constructed portion of the parkway will hug the railroad tracks and then cross over the levy and the tracks, continuing northward until it exits on Benton Road just south of the Brigham and Brigham Dental Clinic. In so doing, part of the property of Yor-Wick Construction Company and Red River Studio will be expropriated. 

Bossier City is completing the engineering for the park way extension and hopes to have all the necessary land acquisition by this time next year. How long it takes until the “parkway to nowhere” is extended and becomes a connection between Benton Road and the Jimmie Davis Bridge is an open question. Needless to say, travel from north Bossier to south Bossier should become more convenient and faster with the combined Walter Bigby and Arthur Ray Teague parkways.

And while this major public works project will be a boon for some, it could be bust for others as traffic flows are either increased or decreased. How the entrance onto Benton Road  with a traffic signal will impact a very, very heavily traveled thoroughfare is yet to be determined as well as the possible negative impact on the patients  of Brigham and Brigham trying to enter and exit from the dental clinic.  Additionally, all the merchants between the park way entrance on Benton Road south to East Texas/Hwy 80 will lose daily traffic counts that could adversely impact customer trade. 

Perhaps the biggest question is how well local motorists will navigate what to many will be a totally new driving experience/headache—that being how to safely get on and get off a roundabout. No doubt there will be a learning curve in the form of auto accidents and probably motorist going in a direction not intended.  And as drivers go round and round in circles,  there will certainly be more “adventure” driving in the fast growing City of Bossier.