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Young For Shreveport
About
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Young For Shreveport
About
DONATE NOW
About
DONATE NOW

The problem:

Shreveport is experiencing rapid decline and has lost 7% of its population in the last four years. People who leave and people who have stayed all name the same problems. We don’t feel safe. We see litter and dumping everywhere. Our water quality has declined noticeably. Our streets are in terrible condition.

The solution:

To reverse the decline of our city we must get the basics right, and there is no time for delay. We must do it right now.

The Basics of any local government are 1. Public Safety, 2. Public Cleanliness, 3. Drivable Streets.

We must

• immediately invest in public safety by raising police pay.

• creatively adapt our water system to improve water safety, reliability, and quality.

• make city government responsible for keeping shreveport clean.

• aggressively and effectively repair our streets and roads.

want the details? Scroll down.

safety first

Citizens of Shreveport, especially young families, must be safe and feel safe here. As the public safety candidate, I pledge to raise pay for police officers, making SPD competitive with nearby cities and enabling us to recruit more officers quickly and retain them in the long term. SPD Officers are the lowest paid of any Law Enforcement in our region.‍ ‍Starting pay for SPD officers is currently below $50,000 per year, but new officers in the growing city of Texarkana earn over $65,000 per year – a huge disadvantage for our city. Repurposing just 3% of our discretionary budget for a 35% police pay raise will make us competitive with Texarkana without costing taxpayers a cent.

When police pay goes up, police presence goes up, public safety goes up, and population goes up. When police pay, police presence, and public safety go down, population goes down.

Since our police department is missing 166 officers, resources are stretched too thin, response times are slow and enforcement is diminished. At any time, there are as few as 25 officers on patrol for our entire city — just one for every 7,000 people. Police officer staffing is low, officers are underpaid and overworked, police department morale is low, and public safety is suffering. Today SPD is not even allowed to enforce crucial criminal and public order laws that could prevent more serious violent crimes.

expecting more from police

High, competitive pay for officers will quickly improve recruiting and retaining officers, and with a fully staffed police force we can expect more. I will empower and expect officers to enforce the law whenever they see it broken, and I will improve discipline and morale on the police force by appointing a vigorous and inspiring Police Chief who actually lives in Shreveport. I will strictly enforce the criminal laws already on the books against vacant, blighted properties, which are magnets for crime and are the major force driving citizens away from core neighborhoods, rapidly destroying our city from the inside out.

Enforcement against these crimes will change core city neighborhoods from frightening to desirable and incentivize renovation and rebuilding the beautiful houses that are currently rotting in place.

To Support this police Policy: DONATE NOW
To Support this police Policy: DONATE NOW

water security is public safety

Our water quality has declined noticeably in recent years as the entire watershed of our only reservoir, Cross Lake, has seen record levels of industrial activity, especially fracking for natural gas. (Everything has costs and benefits. Fracking has the huge benefits of revenue and jobs, but also the costs of increased pollutants.) Since our water treatment plant was created, there are at least eight new types of pollutants in higher concentrations in Cross Lake, from heavy metals to pesticides and pharmaceuticals, all posing health risks, especially to infants and children.

We must adapt our water system to meet this reality, and filter out these risky substances to minimal levels in order to have high quality water again. Structural failures in our water system have recently caused losses of pressure and lack of water for large parts of our city, and these risks must be reduced by creative planning.

to remake Shreveport’s water system, I will

  1. continue consent decree work (funded by existing municipal bond of $82 million)

  2. add 8 new forms of filtration at the Amiss water plant (costing roughly $200M, funded with half of Amazon data center commitment of $400M)

  3. subdivide our three large water supply districts into numerous smaller and more insulated units, to reduce and isolate the impact of major water outages

  4. aggressively apply for and deploy existing federal funds to replace lead distribution pipes

  5. commission the first ever external forensic audit of the water department to restore confidence that billing is honest and fair

to support this water policy: DONATE NOW
to support this water policy: DONATE NOW

A clean city

We are all frustrated by the filth we see throughout Shreveport, and visitors always notice it. Shreveporters can no longer tolerate litter and dumping throughout our city, and we can no longer rely on the volunteer efforts of the charitable few who spend their Saturdays cleaning up after their adult neighbors. 

As mayor I will take responsibility for keeping the city clean, and I will make simple reforms in the Public Works department to continue the work of cleaning our city steadily, without increasing the budget.

To keep shreveport clean, I will

  1. for the first time in Shreveport’s history, task full-time city workers to pick up litter and clear dump sites. Two teams of five city employees will clean up to four sites per day, twenty sites per week, up to 1,000 sites per year. People required to perform community service will be directed to join these litter crews.

  2. direct city employees driving around Shreveport, bus drivers, garbage truck drivers, and others, to note and report spaces that need cleanups, rather than just ignoring them.

  3. deploy dump site cameras (provided by the Lieutenant Governor’s office), and direct SPD to find and punish the criminals filling vacant lots with tires and old mattresses.  I will prioritize criminal enforcement of nuisance litter, and take problem property owners to court. 

These actions will improve the appearance of our neighborhoods and restore pride in all of our communities.

Like this litter policy? DONATE NOW
Like this litter policy? DONATE NOW

Drivable streets 

Shreveport’s streets are in notoriously poor condition, with potholes and sinkholes dotting neighborhood streets, gaping holes in the concrete on busy highway entrances, dangerous intersections in major shopping districts, and a mismatch of traffic lights to actual traffic.  Too often, poorly executed patches and repairs last only weeks or months, spraying loose gravel onto vehicles and wasting significant time and money.

 

To restore Shreveport’s Streets, I will

  1. aggressively repair our busiest streets, ensure that repairs are made properly, and prioritize road quality in every city neighborhood.

  2. instruct garbage truck drivers, bus drivers, and anyone else driving a city-owned vehicle to note and document all potholes and needed repairs on their routes, and prioritize repairs based on severity and number.

  3. properly equip and retrain public works employees to repair potholes effectively so that repairs are long lasting.

  4. improve the design of major intersections and commercial corridors, especially critical crosswalks near schools, colleges, churches and shopping centers, to make them safer for drivers and pedestrians alike.  

like this road policy? DONATE NOW
like this road policy? DONATE NOW

A growing Economy

When businesses consider locating in Shreveport, they are discouraged by the crime, litter, and terrible roads, so economic development is always an uphill battle.

Because economic activity naturally flourishes in cities where people feel safe, and businesses willingly locate where their employees feel comfortable and secure, the best thing we can do to attract and support new businesses is to provide safe clean streets, and a city people want to call home.

Shreveport should be built by Shreveporters. I will prioritize local firms, especially small businesses, for city contract work, and support them in approaching banks and other lenders for the capital needed to undertake city contracts efficiently.

Workforce development is essential for every city, and although this is not a core function of city government, I will collaborate actively with the numerous centers in our city for education in trades and entrepreneurial incubators to expand the skills of our citizens.

The people of Shreveport also want to start and grow their own businesses, but often meet obstacles in site planning, permitting, and zoning approvals. I will continue to press the Metropolitan Planning Commission to reduce costs and burdens on starting and expanding local businesses and always be an advocate for the people of Shreveport to improve businesses and neighborhoods together.

to support a safe clean shreveport: DONATE NOW
to support a safe clean shreveport: DONATE NOW

Beautiful parks

Many of our parks suffer from decades of neglect. This same neglect led to the abandonment and demolition of our city’s baseball stadium, Fairgrounds Field.

I will work to revitalize Shreveport’s 62 parks for every neighborhood and expand popular outdoor and recreational programs by cooperating with Caddo Parish Parks.

To revitalize our Parks, I will

  1. dedicate unused edge sections of park land to productive, low maintenance uses, like fruit trees and wildflowers.

  2. recruit and collaborate with neighbors to establish productive community gardens.

  3. refurbish and update neglected sports courts.

  4. establish safe street crossing for pedestrians around all parks.

  5. enforce the law and park rules against litter, overnight sleeping, and dangerous activities.

to support beautiful bountiful parks: DONATE NOW
to support beautiful bountiful parks: DONATE NOW

city MAnagement

Who manages our city today? You might be surprised to learn that many of the heads of city government departments (think: Parks, Police, Administration) do not live in Shreveport at all. They live outside the city in safer, cleaner places like Keithville, Ellerbe Road, and even Texas. They don’t drink the same water, they don’t endure the same safety risks, and they don’t see the same litter.

I will require all department heads to actually live in Shreveport, so that they will all finally have “skin in the game” and a natural incentive to make Shreveport a safer, cleaner, better place to live.

to make city managers live in shreveport: DONATE NOW
to make city managers live in shreveport: DONATE NOW

Get involved!

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