Teen's age looks OK for Shreveport mayor's race

I've gotten a few questions about whether Parker Ward, the teen who officially announced his candidacy for Shreveport mayor last week, actually can run.

Looks like his age won't be a problem, according to the city charter.

Here's what it says:

"At the time of his qualification for election, the mayor shall be a qualified elector and a resident of the City of Shreveport. During his term of office, he shall hold no other public office or position of public employment, except that of a notary public or as a member of the National Guard or any reserve component of the armed forces of the United States of America. If the mayor ceases to be a qualified elector or ceases to reside in the city, his office shall be deemed vacant."

So while Ward may  not have much political experience - people want leaders who operate on "prinicple," he reminded me - it looks like he meets the prerequisites.

Is mistrial a big setback in probe of Shreveport's Community Development Department?

If you missed today's news, a Caddo district judge today declared a mistrial for Shreveport construction contractor James Alex III. Apparently there was a technicality involved. Alex was arrested in 2009, but the charge listed included changes made this year.

What do you make of this? A minor mistake or a black eye on the continuing investigation into sloppy work on the taxpayer's dollar? Of course it also extends to the Queensborough Neighborhood Association and shamed Caddo School Board member Lola May.

Railroad crossings make for a long Shreveport City Council meeting

Today's Shreveport City Council meeting wrapped about 7:30 p.m. I can't recall exactly when I had to hang around four or more hours for one of these, but I would venture to say it was back when Councilman Joe Shyne was chairman, and therefore in charge of the meetings. That would've been 2008.

While I might have been irritated that politicians talked for that long, I was proud to see Shreveport residents stand up for themselves. The folks who talked today are those who never got the chance before to say no to railroad crossing closures in their neighborhoods.

However you feel about their opinions, surely you agree they deserve a say so? Council members apologized today for not allowing that before they made a decision.

"We’ve all learned a lot," Chairowman Joyce Bowman said, "and we hopefully won’t forget the lessons we’ve learned today."

Obviously there are a lot of complicated issues that led to this boiling point. Do you readers feel like it would be helpful to explain that process more?

Glover in DC on auto trip as Obama announces GM plan

President Obama today announced his $800 million proposal to clean up old General Motors sites in a effort to make them viable for future growth. The Shreveport plant (technically in Caddo) is on that list.

Meanwhile, Mayor Cedric Glover (and Assistant Director of Economic Development Matt Bailey) is in DC on another trip for leaders of automaker cities. Known as “Auto Communities and the Next Economy: Partnerships in Innovation,” the national summit is co-sponsored by the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, and the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.

The Obama administration invited Glover, according to a city news release. Meeting attendees wil learn about what the federal government is doing and how to partner with philanthropy groups. Glover was scheduled to participate in a panel discussion called “Innovations and Opportunities for Further Partnership – Land Use/Physical Transformation."

“I am proud once again to have the opportunity to represent Shreveport and the challenges we and other communities face at this very important and timely gathering,” Glover said in the release.  “We’re going to Washington to work to solidify the connections and collaboration with the federal government and other localities that will build a framework for the future.  Just as, here locally, we have worked together with the parish, region, and Gov. Jindal’s administration, we also have to work to build those same partnerships with the federal government.  We’re especially well-positioned here locally to use the blessing of the Haynesville Shale to become a leader in natural gas vehicle technology, and I’m going to deliver that message as well."

Here are some of Glover's tweets from today's events:

• White House & Brookings Institution Auto Communities & the Next Economy Summit is officially underway. Opened by Bruce Katz & Luis Ubinas.
• Katz is VP & Director of Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings. Ubinas is President of the Ford Foundation. Auto Czar Ed Montgomery next.
• Ubinas says today's abandoned auto communities are like the South Bronx in the 1970's. Greatly challenged, but with tremendous potential.
• Dr. Ed Montgomery, "Today we announce the largest environmental trust in our country's history! Combined trust over $850 billion dollars!"
• Dr. Lawrence Summers, Director of the Nat'l Economic Council begins comments w/ a quote from de Tocqueville on the US sense of community.
• It is that unique American sense of community that allows us to meet together to solve common problems & maximize common opportunity.
• Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is now the podium. Venue is now at standing room only. Hundreds of people are in attendance

Railroad crossing talks set for Friday in Shreveport

Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover plans this week to meet with residents to discuss future railroad crossing closings, which will affect where motorists can drive.

The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Woodlawn Leadership Academy, 7340 Wyngate Blvd. (It was slated for the same time Thursday, but that conflicts with Woodlawn's graduation. Fridays are tough for drawing crowds to government-related meetings!)  

Crossings set to be closed in the next month include:

• Wyngate Boulevard between Valleyview Drive and Woodmont Street.
• Malcolm Street between Corbitt Street and Midway Avenue (trying to get clarification on  this – that's a big space).
• Church Street at Flournoy Lucas Road.

Union Pacific and the city have been negotiating on the closures while Shreveport worked for a new crossing on the extension of South Shrevepark Drive. That is intended to give better access to Shreve-Park Industrial Campus.

More movie perspective from Shreveport City Hall

Here's this weekend's article about the Shreveport area's movie scene. Note the byline: I worked with LSU-S senior and Times intern Christine Bradley. She is talented, and I hope we can figure out a way to keep her around.

But here's a little extra from an interview with Shreveport film commissioner Arlena Acree. If you'll remember back in July 2008, "No Country for Old Men" star Josh Brolin was arrested while in town to film "W," about former President George W. Bush. Just as his part in that movie wrapped, he was arrested at downtown night spot Stray Cat. Besides that he was maced, and co-star Jeffrey Wright was Tased.

Some industry insiders and at least one city official feared it would hurt business.

Asked recently, Acree said like she did in the months after the negative press that it obviously hasn't hurt.

"Not at all. You can tell by the numbers," Acree said. "This happens all the time in L.A. Even on video Josh said he’d been arrested four times or whatever.”

Acree went to the City Jail that night to hang with the stars.

Back in January 2009, when Mayor Cedric Glover and Police Chief Henry Whitehorn agreed to let City Council members watch video from the night of the arrests, Councilman Joe Shyne worried aloud that Shreveport's public relations would suffer. He compared the controversy to the 2003 fatal shooting of Marquise Hudspeth at the hands of police, plus the 2009 killing of Tremendous Davis, who also died from police gunfire.

"This just looks bad," Shyne said. "We've got to work on our image."

The charges against Brolin and Wright were dropped.

Here are some encouraging words from Brolin (who played Bush) to Wright (who portrayed former Secretary of State Colin Powell) while they sat handcuffed in a Shreveport police cruiser:

• "Dude, it doesn't matter." 
• "We're not going to get in trouble." 
• "You want a kissy?" 
• "I've been here. This is my seventh time."

Shreveport neighborhood buzz

Timing was interesting on this recent article by Times reporter Jane Bokun. It's about the new NoSo Neighborhood Association. NoSo stands for North-South Highlands. And you can't help but note its similarity to hip neighborhoods in bigger cities: SoHo in Manhattan and SoCo in Austin, Texas.

Generally positive comments on the article got me reading. Recent conversations I've had in and out of the newsroom kept me reading. One of the anonymous commenters questioned South Highlands' boundaries. (NoSo is between Line and Fairfield avenues from Kings Highway to McCormick Street. For The Times' identification purposes, we generally define the neighborhood as running from Kings Highway to Pierremont Road.) I was with a friend showing an out-of-towner around over the weekend, and the borderline between Highland and South Highlands was a question then, too.

For those of you who don't care about my personal thoughts and conversations, here's something that you can consider: I'm planning to incorporate more neighborhood issues into my coverage. That's through some of my own ideas plus conversations with editors and readers. So look for that. Feel free to give me your thoughts before the new effort rolls out.

On that note, here's the new Web site from the South Highlands Neihborhood Association. Group President Ellen White caught Bokun's article, too, and contacted both of us.

Shreveport property tax rates up for a vote at the City Council level

The yearly City Council vote on various Shreveport property tax rates is set for Tuesday. None are supposed to change, according to their proposed versions. 

Taxes on tomorrow's agenda pay for: 

• The Downtown Development Authority.  
• City debt.  
• Lots of general city operations, including worker wages, benefits, street repair and more.

Giving credit where it's due

Remember about a week ago when I pointed out some potential issues with Shreveport City Hall not offering information they should? Your local government came through this week.

I got a list of 337 individuals or couples who reserve Mardi Gras parade spots by the Duck Pond. Most are Shreveporters, but there are some from Greenwood, Blanchard, Frierson, the Dallas area, and several towns between here and there. At least one city councilman (Bryan Wooley) is included. The group is complete with addresses (for most – not Wooley, though). Not sure we'll post all of that information, but you'll likely get a look at some of it.

So I want to give props for the mayor's office – via SPAR Director Shelly Ragle – for doing the right thing. Look for more off-season Carnival coverage soon.

Videos for your viewing pleasure -- or at least to ponder

Here are two videos from YouTube to hold you over until we start having some debates for the Shreveport mayor's race. (Of course there is always a chance we can catch a few precursors to the real thing during City Council meetings.)

The more recent one is from Councilman Bryan Wooley's April 22 campaign kick off event.

This video is from Mayor Cedric Glover's 2006 campaign.

Wooley's vid is more than three minutes long. Here are some folks I spotted in it: Lou Burnett, Bruce Roberts, Sheva Sims, Charlie Caldwell, Harold Coates, Deanna Candler, Robert "SuperMann" Blount, Michael Corbin and Archie Hall.

Glover's is only about a minute, so I didn't see as many people that I recognized: Jeff Everson, Elizabeth Glover, Veronic Glover and Winzer Andrews.

Check out both, and tell me what you think. I haven't seen anything from state Rep. Roy Burrell, who said he will announce his plans to seek the mayor's seat soon.

What could a Continental-United merger mean for Shreveport Regional?

With Shreveport's specilized airport task force at work now, today's news about a planned merger between United and Continental Airlines got me to wondering about what that could mean for local flights.

Do you think it would be worth tracking flyer costs since Delta and Northwest got together? Has anyone who flies out of Shreveport Regional Airport noticed much difference? Could Shreveport get a flight to another hub with United service?

The United-Continental deal is worth about $3 billion. Seabury Airport Planning Group, which seeks a $35,000 contract for two studies with the city, said Shreveport has the highest ticket prices in the United States for an airport with the size of its passenger load.  The group said average ticket prices at SHV is $214. It's been a while since I flew for that cheap.