roads

[coolcajun]

well well is this a suprise what the daliy advertiser wrote.

theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060416/NEWS01/604160351/1002

if you ask me i think the first projects need to be completed north or south i dont care. but i will not support another bond issue. i think TBEAR started this board for this very article!!!!!

our money spent on other projects. i live on the south side of this parish but i have to agree with chris williams for once. if the money was there to build the roads noth south east or west it should have been spent on what is was intended. this bond issue is 9 years old and the govt has not done its job the way it should have been done. now more taxes and bonds?

and i will agree that it was not all this current council, mayor's fault but something needs to give.

however, once again this consolidated govt will vote to put something on the ballot just for city residents to vote on and not the whole parish. some consolidated govt. maybe, louis is right we need to seperate.

[abbd]

Cool, to me it looks like the tried and true method of "bait and switch".Promise the voters one thing and turn around and actually deliver something else. Dumb voters, they never check,newspaper ain't gonna report it so the cycle continues. We need better informed voters. We need to publicize how our elected reps vote. We really need to hold our elected folks accountable. Too bad it's taken this administration this long to find the real problems in our community. In my opinion, I think this admin has been "lost in (cyber)space" and we (lafayette citizens) have been "stuck in traffic".

[TBEAR]

That news article brings to light a perfect example of how inefficient our government runs itself. Now they want to again have the voters confirm the same bond issue for the same roads. The only difference is several millions dollars it will take now to build the roads compared to what it would have costed back then.

Big question, what the hell did they spend the money on?

[layne]

TBear, I can't answer the question you ask but I'd urge you to pay a call to City Hall and ask. That's the utter beauty of local governments -- you can talk to your elected officials. Contact your councilman. I've found that you can almost always get the info you want. You may not like what they've done with the money, but there's also a chance that you'll decide, after finding out the answer, that it was reasonably spent. Either way, you don't have to be in the dark about where the money went.

And abbd, it's also pretty easy to find out how your reps vote. Councilman, legislator, or Congressman -- just call their offices and ask. It's public info, and you're entitled to it. Post what you find here, and we can pore over it to decide who's doing a good job and who's not.

[abbd]

L. you are so right. The daily won't report on the goings on at the council meetings or give a summary of what's introduced or how anyone voted. It's up to us to publicize the tax and spend liberal actions of this government. I speak to my councilman at least weekly and voice my pleasure or displeasure with his votes. Too bad not enough voters do the same. I will be posting soon the voting records of our legislators and I believe a few people will be surprised at how they vote. I heard a quote last night from the Mayor of Scott, sayin that basically she was concerned about the high taxes we are already paying. She sums up my feelings.

[TBEAR]

Hey Happy Birthday abbd,

[zoe10850]

And do not forget our parishwide officials;Clerk, Assessor & Sheriff. What they say needs publication as well, particularly where it affects us, the taxpayers (am referring to Advocate reporting of Assessor talking to chamber and advising them how to squeeze more money w/o vote).

[abbd]

Good points Z. I will actively campaign against any elected politician or candidate who wants to seperate me from any more of my money. Slight of hand by these politicians is getting out of control, just like the last property tax increase that was "voted down" in a regular council meeting but "voted in" in a very hastily called special meeting. There was scant mention of that in the lcg press release(lafayette daily paper). I think this group believes if "you don't know about it, it didn't happen". Politicians thrive in an environmet of secrecy and stealth. Maybe we caan help educate the voting public, because the lafayette media sure won't help. Tell your friends and neighbors about this site,help spread the truth.

[TBEAR]

Well they voted to allow the people to vote on it.

That kinda sounds a dumb statement I just made

Its still ashame I can't vote on it as a parish residence again although I thought we were consolidated.

Did anyone catch the meeting last night, Joey sounded like he had enough of Benjamin and they went back and forth for a minute.

Very professional, just like when Benjamin once again is threatening the residents of Lafayette telling the citizens we better wake up because "its coming" or "things are gonna change".

Ok whats coming, is he trying to incite a riot, because thats sure what it sounds like he is doing. I would think as a councilman, and one of the heads of our community, he would be trying to bring people together for a common cause instead of dividing the community as he and Williams are doing.

As everyone in my forum knows, the road issue is the thorn in my side and the reason I made this board. I heard many councilman last night finally acknowledging that its time to build roads and get on with it although it should have been done with prior monies when it was cheaper on construction costs. The other problem you face with construction is now it will be a cluster to drive through the construction areas with the increased traffic. I would think it is always better to build roads before there is a traffic problem. Like I already stated in previous posts its not like they did not know where the city is growing and where traffic would increase.

Anyone can who lives in this parish and has traversed the north and south sides can tell you where traffic is the problem so its just logical to at least "get the ball rolling" on the southern projects.

I have nothing against northside residents, in fact my wife's family resides on the northside. They drove to my home on Monday during the midday to obtain my young son. They, who rarely travel the southside, told me themselves the southside traffic has now gotten ridiculous and can see themselves that the priority is the southside at this time. They also said they werent coming back through the traffic and that me or the wife can bring him to their house next time.

I believe, as in everything else, if it does not effect you, you will not be concerned with it, so I can see why some northside residents, who do not travel the southside, feel they way they do. Traveling through the southside only one day out of many may not affect you because you dont have to do it each day, but try it everyday and you would be raising kane too.

But I believe as a councilman, although only elected by one district, should think of the parish as a whole and should base their decisions on what is good for the parish as a whole. The needs of the many outway the needs of the few.

[coolcajun]

www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060423/NEWS01/604230331/1002

again the advertiser shocks me. with a decent article.

but i don't think a tax will get passed, too many times we have passed a tax, and the money was not used for what it said it will be used for. gas is high, food is high, electricity is high, insurance is high. i agree with the mayor of broussard, if this tax was strictly dedicated to roads it might pass. i think we need an independent person to interrupt the bill and tell us what it really means, cause the way they word things could change the way the tax money is spent

[TBEAR]

It was pretty descent . And if they could confirm that a parish wide 1 cent tax would go directly to roads I would vote for it, but as you said and we have seen, in the past they promise a dedicated tax amount to a certain thing and the money never gets used for what it is supposed to.

I also like the idea in the article of these homebuilders paying some money to improve the roads they are building the subdivions on. Its not like they can afford it. In one of my previous posts I told you how much these homebuilders are making, here it is again:

I spoke to the homebuilder in Boulder Creek, and he told be he had just sold one of his houses for $580,000.00. He told me it costs him $120,000.00 to biuld. He was working on another home that was costing him $280,000.00 to build and he was going to put it on the market for $1.2,000,000.00.

[jaguar]

That's it! I'm becoming a builder, darnit.

Seriously, isn't there some kind of cap on mark up ... or are these prices purely driven by the market?

As long as people are willing to go into debt up to their ears so they can live in mini-castles, I suppose those price ranges are what the market will bear.


But back to roads ... in the 90s we lived in a county in metro Atlanta that was the most remarkable example of foresight and planning I'd ever seen. The roads AND schools were of exceptional quality. Crime was low. Taxes were reasonable. As much as I'm grateful to be back in my hometown, it kills me to see the shoddy condition of our community and its leadership.

We can do better.