It's raining. It's the first good 'soaking' overnight rain in several months. All Shreveport should thank me for ignoring the weather forecasts and watering my yard yesterday afternoon.
Candidates share goals, plans at forum
Michelle Mahfoufi
By Michelle Mahfoufi
mmahfoufi@gannett.com
With little more than two weeks to go until the Sept. 30 election, the candidates for Shreveport mayor laid out their visions for the city Thursday night.
More than 200 potential voters and nine out of 11 mayoral candidates attended a forum at LSUS sponsored by The Times and Red River Radio.
Candidates were given one minute to answer questions "" which ranged from how to handle gang violence to implementing curbside recyling "" culled from dozens of inquiries sent to The Times and collected from the audience.
Some of the candidates presented detailed plans while others fumbled through their responses. For example:
*On the topic of crime, Republican Arlena Acree said she would use city buildings to set up police kiosks while Democrat Ed Bradley said he'd create an "8 percent strike force" named after the 8 percent of the population that he said commits 90 percent of the crimes. Republican Tim Goeders said he would eliminate air conditioning, television and weight rooms in juvenile detention centers while increasing the number of police dogs who "don't care about political correctness."
*On the topic of tackling the city's nearly $1 billion debt, Democrat Cedric Glover said he has asked experts to evaluate how the debt can be restructured for cost savings.
Former city spokeswoman Liz Swaine, who has run television advertisements countering claims that the city's financial health is ailing, said the debt has already been refinanced to historically low rates, some as low as 2 percent. She said if the city continues to pay its debt as it is now, 60 percent of it will be paid off in 10 years, a point also made by former city economic development director Acree.
Republican Jerry Jones later countered those claims in a question about funding nonprofit organizations. "When government mismanages money, nonprofits get affected," he said, citing the lack of money available to organizations because it is directed to debt repayment.
Henry Hodge-Bey, a drug and alcohol counselor who says his goal is to motivate people, said he will ask the community for its help by sponsoring a citywide art show where residents would pay a $100 to $400 entry fee, depending on income, that would be used to pay down the debt.
*On the topic of Fair Share, all of the candidates agreed that the program that encourages 25 percent of city contracts be awarded to disadvantaged businesses needs to be retooled.
For some candidates, like state Sen. Max Malone, the steps are more drastic. "It's not working," he said, adding he would eliminate the program and make it available to all small businesses.
Bradley criticized Fair Share as a program that has benefited white women business owners more than the minority firms it was intended to help.
Hodge-Bey added levity to the discussion when he admitted he didn't know much about the program. "Give me to the end of the month. I'll get back to you," he said.
*On the topic of uniting the city's diverse demographics, a religious theme was pervasive.
Jones ""the son of a Baptist pastor "" said the next mayor will have to bring faith-based organizations together to help solve the problem.
Malone, who has an undergraduate degree in religion, agreed "it will take more than earthly wisdom to solve these problems" and will also use the churches and nonprofits because they know how to serve people better than government.
Retired banker Vernon Adams, who spends much of his time volunteer ministering, said, "If we don't follow (Jesus) "¦ then we'll never have peace in this world."
