Caddo chimes in on Shreveport railroad closure plans

While Shreveport officials work on how to appease angry residents and please Union Pacific Railroad on planned crossing closures, their Government Plaza neighbors are talking about it.

In today's Caddo Commission work session, Commissioner Ken Epperson asked Parish Administrator Woody Wilson what was going on.

"It’s pretty much up in the air," Wilson said. "We think the city of Shreveport might be changing their mind about that contract.”

Maybe the city and parish can take up the issue Friday in a scheduled intergovernmental meeting. Until then, I hear Mayor Cedric Glover should meet soon with Union Pacific reps. And Shreveporters are calling the governor's office saying their local officials did not represent them.

Get the background 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?