Welcome back, Shreveport-Bossier, to Sounding Off! This is a completely unscientific and shallow measurement of our area’s political and social flotsam and jetsam, and its aggregate effect on out quality of life. Last we checked, the depths were a tad more shallow than we’d like, but currents move swiftly in these parts. While life on the shore of the Red isn’t a constant sink or swim matter, even Christian Louboutins made of cement present a challenge. Oh, the things we sacrifice in the name of fashion!
“Depth sounding refers to the act of measuring depth; it is often referred to simply as sounding. Sounding is finding the depth of a given point in a body of water.”
Last mark: 14 feet
So it’s just been announced that the necessary modifications to Shreveport’s zoning statutes have passed, and our Little Free Libraries shall live on. This is great news, but we hope this reversal makes as big of a splash in the national press as the original Metropolitan Planning Committee letter. This little episode demonstrates the need for a bit more media savvy from our city officials and legislators. While we understand the primary responsibility of local officials is to defend and enforce the law and regulations that preserve and support a high quality of life, is it unreasonable to expect some discretion and forethought? Let’s pray that going forward, national attention on Shreveport will result not from another social media rake being stepped on. Unforced errors are never a good look, to wit: SPELLCHECK. +1
The Louisiana Start Up Prize 2015 kicked off at Rhino Coffee last week; judging by the size of the crowd and the buzz in the room, Shreveport-Bossier is on the way to being Ground Zero for innovation in Louisiana. All the big players in town, led by the Entrepreneurial Acceleration Program at Biomedical Research Foundation and CoHab, will combine efforts and form a whole greater than the sum of the parts, sort of like a Start-Up Voltron. Shreveport-Bossier wants and needs this cooperation. +2
The potential growth of our start-up community comes not a day too soon, either. Thanks to an expected TWO BILLION WITH A B AND AN ILLION budget shortfall nightmare in Baton Rouge, we’d better learn how to make our own gravy. From sheer fright, we dare not speculate on what’s going to get hacked out of the budget. Rest assured, higher education and the arts are on the chopping block. But that’s just the tippy top of a full-blown financial crisis, the effects of which will be felt for years to come. -3
FORECAST: Still at 14 feet, and for now, the gods smile upon us. Trouble is a’brewin’ down river. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Or another drink. Either way, see you at the next port of call.