By TONY TAGLAVORE
To start the new year, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal is publishing a series of stories this week on Shreveport’s new mayor, Tom Arceneaux. Yesterday, the SBJ introduced you to the city’s new leader.
Today, we focus on if the mayor can solve Shreveport’s problems.
Potholes that shake your car or truck to its core.
Grass along streets and highways taller than you.
Houses and buildings — some vacant, some occupied — looking like bombed Ukrainian cities.
The perception — based sometimes in fact, sometimes in fear — that stepping out of your home means you’re likely to be shot.
Shreveport has its problems — and the city’s new mayor knows it.
“We have to clean up,” Tom Arceneaux told the Shreveport-Bossier Journal shortly before he took office last week. “We have to do a better job of sprucing up the city and doing the simple things — the basic things — well. We haven’t been doing that. I’m going to be trying to devote as many dollars and as many resources as I can to do that, and as soon as possible.”
Mayor Arceneaux acknowledges the city has an image problem. Not so much with outsiders, but with those of you who live in Shreveport. In particular, the people who constantly complain about what Shreveport is or isn’t, and what it has or doesn’t have.
“We don’t love ourselves enough,” the mayor said.
Mayor Arceneaux believes there are the many good things that make Shreveport a great place to live.
During the next eight years (he plans on serving two terms), the mayor will be reminding you of those good things.
“I think I can lead by example, and I think I can put the kind of things (Shreveporters) ought to appreciate in front of them on a very regular basis,” he said. “I can be out there and participate in them — because I do. That surprises people about me, but I go to all these things … I get to see the people who live here, and I happen to love the people who live here.”
If you’ve forgotten some of those things, just ask the mayor.
“We have great amateur community theatre,” said Arceneaux. “Do you know we have the longest running little theatre organization in the country — in Shreveport, Louisiana? We have the oldest and still continuous Symphony in the State of Louisiana. We have a huge musical history, and currently, wonderful live music of all different genres.
“This is a place we need to be celebrating. You can get anywhere in a short period of time. When I moved from Houston to Shreveport, I gained a full workday every week in loss of commute time. A full workday every week! You start putting those things together and you find out, ‘Hey, this is a great place!’”
But Mayor Arceneaux knows there is one word hanging over Shreveport that — right or wrong – has some people terrified.
Crime.
In particular, the concern of being shot while minding your own business, whether it be driving, walking, or sitting in your home.
“I do understand that perception,” he said. “Most of the violence, it has in a couple of instances had random locations, and that is frightening to people — and I do understand that. But most of the time, that’s not the case.”
The mayor lives in the Highland neighborhood, not far from where 13-year-old Landry Anglin was shot and killed last year. The eighth-grade student was sitting in her Fairfield Avenue home when she was hit by a stray bullet which came from — according to police — a rolling gun battle.
The mayor refuses to be intimidated.
“Frankly, I feel safe,” said Arceneaux. “And if I had any trepidation, I’m not letting the bad guys make my decisions for me. I’m going to go out there and live my life. I think if people do that, they will see, ‘Hey, it’s safe to go out there.’”
When crime happens, people tend to blame police — or the lack of. But officers are usually called after the fact.
“Obviously, I don’t know where somebody is going to pull out a gun and shoot somebody — and neither does the police department. If they did, they would be there to stop it. They’re called First Responders. They respond to crime.”
Though that’s not to say police don’t share in some of the burden to keep the city safe.
“I think there are some things we can talk about in the police department,” said Arceneaux. “The chairman of my (Public Safety Transition Committee) is Jim Roberts, who is a retired police chief. Jim has shared with me some ideas — some things that have worked in other places — some things that have worked in the past in Shreveport. People need to know that we’re applying every single effort that we can to do that.”
But remember the grass growing out of control? The dilapidated houses? Those are more than aesthetics.
“The better neighborhoods look, the fewer crimes are going to be committed,” continued Arceneaux. “That has been proven over and over and over and over again. That’s where we are going to apply ourselves … I hope by the end of my term, we will see changes, and we will say, ‘We’re not where we want to be, but we’re not where we were.’”
On his website during the campaign, Mayor Arceneaux listed six priorities for providing “Safe Communities for Everyone.” But he has a message to anyone who thinks one person – especially him — can change whether we get shot and killed.
“I’m here to tell you that’s not the case,” he said. “We all have to decide what kind of city we want to live in, and how we want to talk about our city. I’m hoping I can help people decide that they want to live in the best of Shreveport that we can be.”
Contact Tony at SBJTonyT@gmail.com
Tomorrow, the SBJ will focus on how the mayor views the future of sports in Shreveport.