I'm back, and Shreveport is newsy!

Hi, folks. Sorry for the absence. But after a week of vacation and another working with some great college journalists (see our work here), I am glad to be back on the city beat. And it's already been busy.

While I wasn't here to check in on our local leaders, at least other folks at the paper were. If you missed it, here is a Times editorial about Mayor Cedric Glover's handling of Government Plaza roof repairs. If you recall, water has oozed through the eighth-floor ceiling onto people, walls and cabinets since at least mid-2008.

Caddo administrators are getting dripped on, and the parish offered the city a loan early this year on its $1.3 million portion. The parish should bay about $500,000.

And here is Glover's response. (Seriously, folks. How many other places can you really go that will allow you to directly criticize analysis with so little censorship? Show some newspaper love here.)

Of course some of the biggest news of this week is plans to draw Louisiana College's law school to Shreveport. I'll offer more on that in the next few days.

Staffer quits Mayor Cedric Glover's office

I'm back on the job in Shreveport after spending most of last week reporting on the  Gulf oil spill.  Honestly, it feels in many ways like I never left. This blog entry details one of the dozen or so City Hall-related phone calls or texts I fielded while in south Louisiana.

As posted on my Twitter feed, Chloe Haygood, assistant to Mayor Cedric Glover, has quit. Her last day was June 18. She is getting married in August and plans to move to New Orleans, where her fiance lives, after her wedding.

Haygood said in a phone call that she still believes in Glover's mission and abilities. She campaigned for him in 2006, so she's put in a good four years. She said she needs the next few months to focus on getting her new life in order.

Much of Haygood's official work focused on community groups and events. She oversaw Glover's summer internship programs, for instance. I use "official" because duties often overlap in the mayor's office.

More background on Haygood:

• Ran unsuccessfully in the 2006 electiStaffer quits Mayor Cedric Glover's officeon against incumbent Willie Burton for the seat in Caddo School Board District 3.
• Daughter of Carolyn Jones, among the first black students to integrate Shreveport's white public schools. Granddaughter of the Rev. E.E. Jones, a civil rights leader and pastor of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church.
• In 2008 – the most recent year I’ve got information at my fingertips – her salary was about $78,000.

And follow this link to watch a video about the role of Haygood's family in the Civil Rights Movement.

Glover's full comments on firing of airports director

I'll be heading to the Gulf Coast soon to cover the oil spill, so the blog will be pretty quiet this week. (Check Twitter for updates, though: www.twitter.com/akcausey.)

Since Mayor Cedric Glover's news release came in late in the production day Friday (he didn't respond to interview requests), I thought I'd post all of it here. It's his response to Council Chairowman (and mayor pro tem while Glover is out of state) Joyce Bowman firing Shreveport airports director Roy Miller.

MAYOR GLOVER COMMENTS ON MAYOR PRO TEM’S TERMINATION OF AIRPORT DIRECTOR

From the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Convention in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Mayor Cedric B. Glover issues the following statement:

“I have been advised by the Mayor Pro Tem of the termination of the City’s Airport Director Roy Miller.  In accordance with the City Charter she was certainly within her rights and authority and was empowered to do so as Mayor Pro Tem. She was not required to and did not consult with me before taking this action.  Although I am not fully aware of her reasons, as of today Mr. Miller’s termination is legitimate and he has been relieved of all duties.    

While I have long advocated for change in our airport operations based upon the challenges of limited options and high air fares, this change must extend beyond the mere replacement of the airport director.  Obviously, there are those who are dissatisfied with Mr. Miller’s performance, however the Airport Director is nominated by the Airport Authority and it is this same Authority that just two months ago gave Mr. Miller a unanimous vote of confidence.  And they have not given me any indication of a change in their position. 

With Mr. Miller’s termination, the City’s Code of Ordinances requires that the Airport Authority nominate a director to the Mayor.  In order to truly effect change even at the director level, it may be necessary now to recognize that change must be made at the  Authority level.

Although I previously sought to make changes in the composition of the Authority, I am encouraged that with this action the Council Chair and the Council may be open to sitting down and discussing the need to make adjustments in the composition of the board.   

I look forward to meeting with the Council Chair and members of the Council upon my return as well as discussions with the Airport Authority itself in reviewing this situation and making a determination on how we go forward.   

The current operations at the airport are in need of much improvement.  We will continue the work of the Northwest Louisiana Air Service Task Force as they seek ways to enhance, and improve our operations and service.  I am encouraged by the work they have done so far and I look forward to their recommendations on how we can improve the operations and levels of service at Shreveport Regional Airport.” 

Shreveport mayor set for trip to OKC in natural gas-powered SUV

Mayor Cedric Glover is set for a road trip Thursday in a vehicle that can run on gasoline or compressed natural gas.

Glover will be boarding a Chesapeake Energy Corp. bifuel Chevrolet Tahoe on the way to a U.S. Conference of Mayors gathering in Oklahoma City. Company representatives will be along for the ride.

The crew will make the six-hour trip on CNG and switch to gasoline when necessary, according to a news release. They will refueling at a natural gas station near Dallas.

City council members, with Glover's support, approved a few natural gas-related (and Chesapeake) proposals today. Read about those here.

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

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.