The recent winter freeze was hopefully a one-time occurrence.

In the minds of most reasonable people, the city of Shreveport was as prepared as could be expected.

The idea of buying snow plows, stockpiling large quantities of food and water at community centers, and having volunteer agencies lined up to ferry medical workers and other essential people to and from work, deliver food and water and facilitate needed services would not have gotten much traction with the Shreveport City Council in the dog days of summer last year.

COVID-19 was the driving political topic last year, much like it is now after the freeze.

Funding for adequate pay raises for police and fire along with new police cars and fire trucks has been a major financial challenge for the Perkins administration and the city council.

A failed bond issue that included water and sewer projects was an indication that Shreveport citizens were not happy with their local government.

Post-mortems will be forthcoming on how the crisis could have been handled better and new contingency plans can be developed.

However, planning without funds to adequately prepare for the next apocalypse could be a meaningless exercise.

As is the usual case, the current mayor and his administration are getting the brunt of criticism over a water system that has been a challenge for many years.

The disaster occurred under Mayor Perkins’ watch, but it was a long time in the making, going back several administrations.

Like with all municipal services and systems, money to fund improvements and satisfactory future planning measures will be the Gordian Knot.

THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE March 5 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.