It’s a new year and Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux is working after a Dec.27 hip replacement. He was back at work from his home on Dec.30.
In recent media interviews (710 KEEL, Shreveport-Bossier Advocate), Mayor Tom has listed this top three priorities for 2025.
The first is to hire the two management firms that the City has selected to monitor the expenditures of $88 million from the 2024 bond passage. The projects have been selected by the Shreveport City Council for these expenditures.
Mayor Arceneaux campaigned on a platform that included an aggressive attack on the city's blight. Not surprisingly, blight is one of his top three priorities.
The 2025 city budget included substantial funds for property standards and blight remediation including moneys for the Shreveport Implementation and Redevelopment Authority (SIRA). Additionally, the mayor has gained the assistance of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative to assist in the city's blight and redevelopment efforts.
A third priority is economic development, especially small business startups and expansion. Arceneaux hired an economic development director in Nov. and the city has a roadmap for small businesses working with the city in a report from a think tank.
Although not specifically listed, one can be sure that completing the temporary relocations of Shreveport Police Department (SPD) personnel from the 1234 Texas Avenue headquarters is another top priority for Arceneaux. Additionally, resolving the location of the north Shreveport substation location and identification of a southeast Shreveport substation location are certainly in the Mayor's top ten if not top five priorities.
By all accounts the 2024 Council and the Mayor worked well together, much better than in the mayor's first year as mayor in 2023. Much of this success is attributable to the leadership of the 2024 council chairman Alan Jackson and the mayor's hard work on council relations. Hopefully, this spirit of working together will continue in 2025 when councilwoman Tabatha Tayor is the council chair.