In attendance: Robert Trudeau, Brian Salvatore, Garrett Johnson, Susan Fontaine, Jon Soul, David Young, Maurice Loridans, Ken Hawkins, Katherine Brandle, Cynthia Keith, Pam McPherson, Megan McPherson, Loren Demerath
UPCOMING EVENTS
A celebration of “El Dia de los Muertos” (The Day of the Dead) held by the local Latina group, Voces Castellanas, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., Saturday, October 29th at Columbia Park, and will feature arts and craft displays and activities, as well live music and dance performances.
The 3rd Makers Fair of the Texas Avenue Community Association will be on November 5th from 10 to 5 at Texas Avenue and Common St., featuring home-made arts, crafts, food, and music.
The Dog Park wine and beer tasting fundraiser originally scheduled for November 5th will be postponed until January 14th at the Barnwell Center. (The LSU-Alabama game has been moved to the evening and would overlap. Note: there's an elephant buried at the site of the future dog park. Good omen, huh?)
BICYCLE COOP PROGRESS
Maurice reported on some progress in creating a bicycle depot and cooperative. In conversations with people about a possible location at the Calanthean Temple it may not be as suitable as another possible site that has emerged on Texas Street. Maurice envisions three stages to the depot:
1 – a site to use tools held by the cooperative and get guidance in repair and bicycle use.
2 – a site to store used donated bikes which people can use for parts to build bikes which they can then keep.
3 – a site to provide the parking and shelter of bikes (some people own bikes of high quality and would not be willing to park them on the street), and to provide shower and changing facilities for commuters.
MONTHLY PLANNING
The majority of the meeting, though, was used to focus on the primary item on the agenda: to plan the themes for the months of November and December.
To reiterate the decision made at the last meeting, ABS' new format of each month is as follows:
In light of the new format, possible topics for the themed meetings and advocacy events of November and December were discussed (though December an advocacy event, depending on how people want to treat the holiday period).
It was noted that there are two bayou cleanups that will be occurring in November: Daniel Gehrig's on the 5th (meeting at 8:30 a.m., parking at the library on Riley Lane; for info see the facebook group “The Duck Pond Cleanup and Restoration Project”) and the Centenary living-learning community focusing on sustainability will be helping Jon Soul with a cleanup of Anderson Bayou on the 6th (meeting at 1:00 p.m., parking available at Sevier St. parking lot of the Montessori School). All are welcome to help in both cleanups.
Jon also announced that the Coates Bluff trail will be opening “officially” on November 12th, with clean up and trail clearing before that. Jon and Loren are also eager to make the trail on the east side of the bayou that we hope will become a bike path, and will connect to the bike path currently going under Clyde Fant to the existing riverside bike path. With poison ivy on the wane, but the colder temperatures not here yet, it was noted that now is the best time for trail clearing.
With all that in mind, the group decided that Forest and Bayou Paths would be the theme for the month of November. The exact nature of the advocacy event will decided as the month progresses.
As for December, Maurice noted that Ian Webb of River City Cycling would like to collect as many bicycling tours as possible, presumably with maps and appropriate accompanying materials. Those could be digital with links of information. For example, on online map accessible via cell phone could route a bicyclist through a tour of notable city architecture, musical sites, historical sites, public art, even notable holiday light displays. At notable stops, riders could pause to access information, even music, via phone. Last year, ABS sponsored a social bike ride tour of holiday lights, with stops at ABS members' houses for mulled cider (at Carolyn Manning's), cookies (at Kari Brownholland's) and gumbo (at Loren Demerath's). Several families participated as well as regular ABS'ers. It was cold, but we didn't feel it, warmed by food, drink, and good company!
In light of those memories of the past, and hopes for collecting new tours for the future, the group decided December's theme would be City Tours.
NEW MEETING SITE: WRIGHT MATH BUILDING, ROOM 103
Because ABS meetings have consistently been filling room 206 in Centenary Square, we decided to move the meeting to a roomier locale. Katherine Brandle, a Centenary math professor who works in the Wright Math Building, said room 103 would be a good fit. There is a parking lot in back and in front, and the table in the room can be arranged easily to suit us. Also suitable is the projection equipment there, since we often look at maps and online materials during meetings. So the Wright Building it is! Thanks Centenary Math Department!
NEXT MEETING: MORE PLANNING AND T.B.A. ISSUES
The next meeting will consist of more planning, such as specific advocacy events and themes for other months. Other issues may be raised as well, so stay tuned. As a new practice, we'll post the agenda for the meeting on the blog Monday morning.
I attended the Shreveport mayor's community briefing Oct. 10.
I applaud the mayor and City Council on their ambitious efforts to revitalize the historic communities of Allendale and Ledbetter Heights through Shreveport
Commons and Choice Neighborhoods.
I received many calls about my picture in The Times holding a sign reading, "We Want A Better Shreveport."
A few mentioned the sign and had interesting thoughts on its intended message.
To clear the air, I'd like to introduce A Better Shreveport to those that don't know about it.
A Better Shreveport is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of life in Shreveport. Since moving back home, this is the most interesting and inspirational group I have been introduced to.
Through a small core group, this organization provides a voice for advocates of forward-thinking community projects such as a dog park at Hamel's Memorial Park, Coates Bluff Greenway, a bike-pedestrian master plan and the Velo Dendro bicycle tour Saturday.
This isn't an easy process as their advocacy and passion can sometimes cause discomfort, but it is a necessary effort in a community with so much opportunity.
I encourage you to get involved in groups like this that can make a real difference in shaping our community's
future. You can find out more at abettershreveport.org, abettershreveport.blogspot.com, on Facebook and at 5 p.m. Mondays on KSCL-FM.
- David W. Young
"I really enjoyed it. You did a great job pulling it together," says Hallie Dozier, forester and leader of Shreveport's Velo Dendro.
Along the way, Hallie saw several tree-based priority items -
- The trees in Oakland Cemetery: "Need help in contacting whoever would be in charge of the Oakland Cemetery so I can try to set up an arborist service day there next spring and get some of the trees in better shape."
- The champion sycamore at AC Steere park: "Need to contact whomever is the correct person to see about doing another possible arborist service day on the sycamore at Steere. If nothing else, it needs to be mulched."
- Additional rides to be considered: "If ABS decides to add any kind of other rides (history, architecture, recording studios, great food, etc.) please make sure you let me know so I can join! And please feel free to pick my brain for any nuggets of wisdom that might be stuck there."
She also passed along a helmet encouragement via an untimely death notice:
A Bossier City teenager died Sunday afternoon after falling off his bicycle, police there report.
According to a release, 13-year old Marcus Griffin was riding his bike on the road in the 2400 block of Hoyer Street at around 2:30 p.m. when the chain on his bike apparently locked up, causing him to tumble over the handlebars. The youth's head struck the pavement, witnesses told fire personnel, the release said.
Griffin was taken to LSU Hospital in Shreveport where he was pronounced dead, police said.
First, it was a smooth ride. Everyone seemed happy with the experience. And the crowd was of an effective size, said Hallie Dozier.
Yet where were those additional 25 to 30 riders that we expected?
Looking forward to analyzing the lower turn-out in the meeting on Monday.
Please see slideshow of snaps at flickr.com/photos/robert_trudeau.
In attendance: Garrett Johnson, Susan Fontaine, Carolyn Manning, Katherine Brandle, Steph Pedro, Jennette Ginsburg, William Hartman, Loren Demerath
DUCK POND CLEANUP
The group discussed Daniel Gehrig's planned upcoming cleanup of the duck pond on November 5th.
It was mentioned there might be conflicts of interest with fracking, and the brief discussion around that it was noted the more we're in need of funds for our projects, the more vulnerable we are be getting comprimised in what is in the interests of the city, the environment, etc.
VELO DENDRO
Garrett reported that all bases are covered with Velo Dendro, and that Robert has noted a need to get “corkers” assigned when we begin that day.
MAYOR'S MEETING ON DOWNTOWN
Letters to the Shreveport Times on the meeting have been written by ABS members Jennette Ginsburg, Robert Trudeau, and David Young; they'll also be shared via the blog (see Robert's below), whether or not they are published in the newspaper. There had been questions from some at the meeting about who ABetterShreveport is and whether we were there to protest (we were not). Jennette's letter was about public prayer. It was noted that there is seems to be a lack of awareness sometimes here of how public prayer makes freedom of religion difficult. Robert's letter noted, among other things, that the Mayor didn't recognize any of the community groups in attendance at the meeting.
DOG PARK
The wine and beer tasting fundraiser is coming up on the 5th of November. There'll be a silent auction, and we're still accepting donations for that. We can now take credit cards under ABS with an app we now have. Over 50 people have bought tickets already, and we're hoping for 200.
CAPACITY BUILDING ACTION PLAN
The rest of the meeting focused on an action plan for building ABS capacity.
Job Descriptions: It was agreed that people would come to the next meeting with their own ideas of descriptions of board and officer and committee chair positions. It was noted that people may notice that they may already do what board members are supposed to do, or that they don't and are board members. We wear hats as committee chairs in addition to being a board member or a member. The board structure and duties of the Philiadelphia Center board members was discussed as an example (Garrett is on the board there as well). In sum: members are to draft a standard job description for each officer position, standard board member position, and committee chair person position that they hold, or if they desire one. The deadline is 10/31 when we'll discuss it.
Board manual: it can come out of the position descriptions. Susan, Steph, Susan and Loren will be on the board manual committee (page 8-9 in the report has ideas; a lot of the content exists already; we can borrow from elsewhere; due in mid January).
Adoption of professional ettiquite procedures: we can adopt the ones we want to give us more structure. If we want to build our capacity, we may have to make decisions. We can invite David Beiler in November or December to speak on Roberts Rules, and answer questions such as how might be able to minimize what we use.
Accessibility: this was discussed in terms of meeting purposes and schedule. The Lake Street Dance Hall could be the site of our social meeting {though we later discovered that is closed on Monday and so Robert and Loren decided Columbia would be site}. It was noted social meetings could also be a bike ride or a walk. It was decided the social meeting will always be the first meeting of every month. The programmed meeting will be the second; the board meeting the third; and the advocacy event the fourth (e.g., write letters, painting sharrows, attending other events/meetings at other times). Timeline: beginning of the month at Columbia. It was also noted that we need a point person for maintaining a calendar. Every month Steph will do that and throw it to Robert for the newsletter. The meeting minutes can continue to be sent out just to the board and posted on the blog, but with an announcement of what's next and highlights from the last meeting via mailchimp to the larger list used by the newsletter.
Archive radio show: use archive.org says Sara Hebert; we'll wait for Robert to take that up. 2 months for the timeline.
Database: Susan and Garrett will be the team for creating and maintaining the database of members and info such as dues being paid, contact info, day job, fields of expertise, skills, what they can bring, etc.; A membership benefit package was also mentioned as a possibility by Susan. An annual membership drive could follow from that. Benefits of dues could be discounts to fundraisers; Loren noted that a transparent budget is also what should justify our dues. Timeline: 2 or 3 months. (Loren also approved paying a monthly $10 fee budgeting software as suggested by Steph and Susan in the course of this discussion.) We'll have quaterly statements as well. Organizational fundraising would be a seperate committee. Velo Dendro could be the same thing as the paddles for the Bayou Chapter of the Ozark Society.
Newsletter: this is Robert's domain; hopefully he can get one out announcing our social hour and new format soon {and he did!}.
Media release template: done.
The media contact list: structured but needs to be updated; Carolyn (with Robert as Co-Chair) will take that task and finish in six weeks.
NEXT WEEK:
Next week we'll have a meeting planning session for November and December; what should our themed meetings and advocacy sessions be about? Come with ideas!
Shreveport's abominable streets were addressed in some detail by Mayor
Cedric Glover in the recent forum held in the Municipal Auditorium.
That was the meaty part of his presentation. Otherwise, the Mayor used
his powerful voice to rehash downtown development stories at
considerable length.
The forum was overdue. It was somewhat helpful.
Alas, the presentation was distinctly old school.
Following a video celebrating the Mayor and SRAC's successful
Shreveport Common grant app,a long and detailed lecture was read by
the Mayor. Meanwhile the city department heads were imprisoned in the
front rows of the auditorium as though they were members of the king's
court.
Allow me to make suggestions for future forums.
a) On that giant screen you might project factoids and illustrations -
use a perceptive photographer for your images - that highlight and
summarize the
text of the speech.
b) Add an additional screen to the presentation and allow participants to post
questions for the Mayor via Twitters (edited) projected on the screen
(we were told that you enjoy Twitting).
c) Position the city department heads at labeled tables around the room so they
are available to public questions from the start of the forum.
d) Respond analytically to the audience. You recognized the ministers
- why not note the presence of 2 rows of people associated with A
Better Shreveport?
e) Use public appearances to offer some level of transparency in
government. Example: "This meeting cost $3000 and the funds came from
the __ budget. We expect to use photos from this event in applying for
the next downtown rehab grant," etc etc.
Velo Dendro is a bicycle tour of Shreveport's trees sponsored by A Better Shreveport. A relaxed ride, it has drawn 80 to 100 riders per event in its first 2 years.
Please register at 8:30 am at Columbia Cafe. Registration is $10 and includes T-shirt, snack and lunch.
The tour is led by LSU forester Dr Hallie Dozier, a former Shreveporter. Matthew Linn, proprietor of Columbia cafe, is tour co-producer. Robert Trudeau and Garrett Johnson are the coordinators for 2011.
Those taking the entire tour will return to Columbia Cafe for lunch, which is included in the $10 registration fee.
The tour visits Betty Virginia Park before winding through old Broadmoor, taking a break at Centenary College and going via Olive St to the Stoner Boat Launch (water & fruit). There the group spins down the Fant bikeway to downtown. Group photos at Riverview Fountains. Thence we return to Columbia Cafe.
This year A Better Shreveport will be overall sponsor of the event. Joining as sponsors are Pratt Industries, Columbia cafe, the Bike Pedaler and River City Cycling.
If you'd like to help with planning or an event task, please email Robert Trudeau, coordinator, at trudeau11@gmail.com.
The “duck pond” is a very vague term, but it is generally thought of as the body of water located to the east of East Kings Highway between Shreveport Barksdale Highway and East 70th Street.
The duck pond and other such bodies of water in the area were formed by hundreds of years of erosion and weathering during which natural forces gradually shaped the area. Once a filled flood plain, this area’s potential was unlocked when Captain Henry Miller Shreve cleared the Great Raft of deadwood from the Red River. Using his personally designed steamboat named the Heliopolis, Captain Shreve cleared the 150 mile logjam that caused the river to flood this area, draining what is now eastern Shreveport. Because of Cpt. Shreve’s actions, many bodies of water, like the ones on the map, were disconnected from the river. Since 1839 when Cpt. Shreve’s completed his work, the only way the water in these basins have been able to be recharged is through precipitation; the effects of a lack of precipitation can be seen today.
In addition to the extremely low water level, another significant issue the duck pond is facing is the relentless encroachment of invasive flora and fauna. Among the most damaging are the nutria (Myocastor coypus), Chinese Tallow Tree (Sapium sebifera), and mimosa (Albizia julibrissin). Invasive species of plants and animals are harmful to native ecosystems because they disrupt the natural balance needed to promote biodiversity. Invasive species can also have a significantly negative economic impact. As an example, the nutria, which is native to South America, has very few predators in Shreveport. It is well adapted to eat the vegetation that grows here and has even been seen eating bread. These rodents not only fill a niche otherwise occupied by native animals, but they also exhibit destructive feeding and burrowing habits. Overall, many would agree that their existence in our area is more harmful than beneficial.
The last significant problem we will try to address is one of litter. The Bayou Chapter of the Ozark Society will provide a number of volunteers to help with the project; they clean the Duck Pond quarterly so should be able to offer a good amount of experience.
Their quarterly cleanup focuses on removing as much litter as possible. Litter impacts water quality, harms wildlife habitat, and wastes resources. In addition to the aesthetic problems that litter causes, there is the more serious issue of the effects on wildlife. In this case, the animals most adversely affected by the litter are the ducks that live in the area. Litter comes in many forms, ranging from small cigarette butts to large shopping carts and abandoned crawfish traps. Plastic bags, glass, metal, Styrofoam, tires, and derelict fishing gear are all examples of trash that often ends up in our rivers, lakes and in our duck pond. Sharp glass, strangling plastic, and cigarettes that animals mistake for food harm the local wildlife.
Compounding the problem, studies show that approximately 1 in 5 people are intentional litterers. They feel no sense of responsibility and expect that someone else will pick up after them, an “it’s someone else’s job” attitude that is typically not the case. Also, liter begets liter. Once an environment is littered, people are more likely to continue the behavior. Hopefully this project will raise people’s awareness of the harmful effects of littering; litter abatement and educational projects are crucial to the upkeep of our natural areas and the reputation of our city.
The City of Shreveport understands these problems that face this popular park and is determined to solve them. Because of the large area that the park covers, Louisiana Environmental Solutions will focus on the main portion located between East Preston Avenue and Shreveport Barksdale Highway. The plan being developed will have three main stages to address the three main problems we have identified:
1. Remove all of the trash from in the pond and the surrounding area.
2. Eliminate as many invasive species of plants and animals as possible and reintroduce native plant and animal species. We will also develop a long-term plan to keep the ecosystem healthy.
3. Refill the Duck Pond to the normal water level.
If other details can be worked out, we might also remove a significant portion of sediment that has settled at the bottom of the Duck Pond, make a few minor architectural changes, and install an aeration fountain. In addition to the Bayou Chapter of the Ozark Society, we are closely working with The US Fish and Wildlife Service to identify what plants and animals should be removed and the correct plants and animals to reintroduce.
We know that this is a big project and will take much effort, that’s why we are reaching out to a host of organizations. Although we have a strong team, we need to have as much community support as possible. The volunteer portion of the project will start November 5th at 8:30 am. There is much work to do. The work is also labor intensive so come ready to get dirty. If you have ever enjoyed the Duck Pond, are concerned about the environmental quality of our city, or are simply looking for a way to give back we would appreciate any help.
If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at Daniel.Gehrig@H2Operation.com. Thanks you for your help and hopefully we can work together to make Shreveport a better Shreveport!
Thank you Daniel! Sounds like a great idea!
Shreveport's beloved Duck Park needs a rehab, says environmentalist Daniel Gehrig. Tune in Mon at 5 pm, kscl, for an on-air chat with Gehrig, an employee of Louisiana Environmental Solutions and a consensus builder.
Also, Centenary College prof Annie Blazer offers background on filmmaker Naimah Fuller. Her movie about the migration of Black Americans, entitled "Home," airs at RFC in Shreveport, Wed, 10-5-11, 7:30 pm.
Stream the show at http://kscl.fm/.
Questions or remarks during the show: 869 5297.
The program is Time for A Better Shreveport; hosts are Robert Trudeau, Carolyn Manning & Loren Demerath.
Visit the ABS open meeting at 6 pm every Mon at Centenary Square, across King's Hwy from George's Grill.
http://abettershreveport.blogspot.com/
