It all started with a Facebook status. (Such is my life.)
Jason Holland, known to many for his exceptional and discretionary use of bowties and patterned socks, posted a status encouraging his friends to e-mail their commissioners expressing support for something called Shreveport Common.
I kept scrolling, because I had to feed the ADD monster, but then that crafty son of a gun tagged me specifically.
So I googled it.
And welp….I’m embarrassed.
I know I’m not an Anton, a Chris, or a Robert, nor do I pretend to be. I’m not “in the know,” not really; but I pride myself on having the expressed interest to know what’s going on in our community, and more importantly, on being involved when something YUUUGE comes around that would affect generations to come in a positive manner. I mean I’m all about some Geek Fair, and some Norton Art Gallery, and you know I steadily heart me some Co-Creative!
But this. This I knew nothing about. And we ALLLLL need to know about this one.
If you haven’t been living (unintentionally) under a rock with me for the past several months, feel free to skim down to the important stuff at the end.
For my fellow under-the-rock-mates, here’s what we missed: approximately 5 years ago, Mayor Glover saw fit to create a committee comprised of both civil servants and private citizens to come up with a plan to revitalize Shreveport. It included architects, engineers, artists, financiers, and historic preservationists – the super-supreme-deluxe-sweep-the-city ultimate metaphorical pizza. Shreveport Common was born of this intention to take the glory days of our city’s past and rebirth them – with some improvements – into a brighter, doable future.
What they came up with centered around one tenet: working together. We will not gentrify the city, they said. We will not displace the beauty that currently resides here. We will not come in and proclaim revitalization for the future by destroying the present.
Wendy Benscoter, project director of Shreveport Common, took me on a tour of the 9-block radius handpicked for this downtown revitalization effort and spoke passionately about what they have been able to achieve. “Five years after asking the public to imagine it, our project is 40% complete! The change is real. It’s happening right before our eyes.” The plans entail a host of developments which will include a performance pavilion, green lawn (with the planting of 120+ trees), an Art Bosque Café, a sculpture garden (we fancy now!), a boardwalk path, and an environmentally-friendly bio swale.
And that’s just the park.
Why do you need to know this, and why do you need to know it now? The Caddo Commission is set to vote on whether to fund half of the park project THIS THURSDAY at 3:30 p.m.. If it passes, the other half of the budget would be raised through private donors – but the park would be for all.
“The Caddo Commission has shared our vision since the beginning,” states Benscoter, “but they need to know that the community is behind it and invested in seeing this happen.”
Instead of the dilapidated concrete slabs we see west of Common street, moving forward with this project would mean putting a 2.4 acre urban green space in its place, which could be used recreationally for walking, exercise classes, rendez-vous-ing with friends, or just a nice place to sit and eat lunch for the 17,000 people who already work downtown.
But what you don’t need from me are the details. Sean Green and Biz Magazine did a wonderful spread on the project in their February issue, and there is beaucoup d’information on the organization’s website at Shreveportcommon.com (I highly recommend watching the imaginative video narrated by Brady Blade – PREPARE TO GET EXCITED!)
What I want to scream from the rooftops directly into your ears is the WHY.
WHY? WHY DO WE NEED THIS?
Jeff Everson, who is on the Board of the Shreveport Common group, explains: “It’s not just about food trucks and a place to exercise. It’s about the how. How do we create an environment where people can have a diversity of experience and common creativity? What are the things that bring us together as a community, and how can we celebrate that?”
To further the notion of which Jeff so passionately speaks, it’s worth nothing that this wasn’t just a typical architecture-designed process. “We had artists involved, musicians, community members,” he continues. “This is what people want to see in this space. They want large performances and small quiet areas. They want high design art and clear open spaces. There are a lot of extremes represented in a small compact space.”
One might refer to that as a pretty apt description of Shreveport, as well. And what about this whole gentrification thing?
“The goal of the Shreveport Common neighborhood is for everything to work together,” states Benscoter. “We have partnered with the surrounding businesses, churches, and social service organizations to make sure this is something that will work for them as well.” Continuing on our downtown tour, she points out the Municipal, Scottish Rite Cathedral, Holy Cross, the Strand Theatre, the James Burton Foundation, Providence House – and several more who have not only been involved with the process but have pledged their support. In addition to the City of Shreveport, the Caddo Commission, and the Shreveport Regional Arts Council, several property owners have generously sold their land at or below appraised value so that the park could be built.
“I want us to know our neighbors and not be afraid of them,” she continues, motioning to a man eating his lunch with a Disneyland shirt on, sitting on the pavement. “Downtown catches a bad rep. These are good people. If you know the man with the Disneyland shirt on, you aren’t going to be afraid of him. Just because someone is using a social service doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t deserve to live in a nice part of town. If we bring the effort to this area, and finish what we started, with so many businesses already moving down here, this could truly be a community for everyone.” (I waited for her to finish the sentence with “and not just the 1%!” before I realized I wasn’t watching a Bernie Sanders video.)
I asked the Facebook-status-instigating Holland for his take. As a member of the Chamber’s Leadership program last year, his class helped this project move forward by strengthening the food truck culture downtown with eventual plans to transition the foodie following to the Art Bosque Café. Holland had no incentive to spread the gospel of the Common other than his own desire to see downtown Shreveport exceed the days of glory past.
“[The park will be] a bastion of art and nature, a place to unplug from the monotony of modern life. This will be a domino effect of revitalization…the city is on the cusp of a cultural explosion, but it will take many groups working together to realize the full potential.”
SRAC and Shreveport Common have had art critics, market study analysts, and historic preservationists all come through and give their two cents. And what did they, including recently featured artist Nick Cave, have to say?
“One of the things they are all consistently complimentary on is the way seemingly unrelated entities are coming together on this – from churches to private donors to government organizations – and how impressive it is. This is a message of collaboration. This is a message of community coming together.”
Bee tee dubs (apologies to all of my English professors), the National Development Council awarded this particular project the #1 Community Development project in the Nation in 2015. In the NATION!
Remember: the vote on Thursday is just whether to fund half of the project, to move it forward, with money already available. It is NOT a raise on taxes.
If there are suspected kinks in its proposed execution, Shreveport Common is open to inquiries and solutions from the public. But the vote is whether to keep going.
A common space, open to all, infused with art & food & communion, is exactly what this city needs.
“This is not just for millennials,” Everson notes, addressing a concern voiced by some. “This is about building something that reflects who we are now – a public space that shows the values we have at this moment in time, not just a playground or auditorium – and we don’t have anything like that!”
Clearly, this is the product of a labor of love for our community by our community. Walking around with Wendy, it’s hard not to be infected by her enthusiasm and excitement for the project.
“No developer is going to get involved without a reason. They are ONLY interested because of these plans for [the] Common. We’ve already come so far. The status quo can’t stay. It’s not fair to the community. This is the tipping point. This is the moment we make a difference.”
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Find out more:
Shreveportcommon.com
Biz Magazine: http://www.bizmagsb.com/shreveport-common-if-you-build-it-they-will-come/
CALL TO ACTION: Ask your questions; and when satisfied, express your support!
Go to caddo.org to find your commissioner, and then voice your opinion! VOTE IS THURSDAY!
Matthew Linn (2016 Commission President): mlinn@caddo.org
Doug Dominick: Ddominick@caddo.org
Ken Epperson: kepperson@caddo.org
Mario Chavez: mchavez@caddo.org
Jim Smith: jsmith@caddo.org
Lynn Cawthorne: cawthorne@caddo.org
Mike Middleton: mmiddleton@caddo.org
Stormy Gage-Watts: sgagewatts@caddo.org
Lyndon Johnson: ljohnson@caddo.org
John Atkins: jatkins@caddo.org
Jerald Bowman: jbowman@caddo.org
Steven Jackson: sjackson@caddo.org