If this headline sounds familiar, it is.
On Saturday, March 15, Shreveport firemen were dispatched to the Villa Norte Apartments on Fullerton Street. The building was vacant at the time and there were no occupants.
The last fire reported at these apartments was in November of last year.
Unfortunately, another firefighter was injured.
When are fires in vacant buildings going to stop,--or at least slowdown? And what is an effective way to combat this growing municipal problem?
These are two hard questions with no easy answers. No other city administration has been faced with a challenge of this magnitude.
The Arceneaux administration has been challenged from day one with major municipal issues. Many of these were inherited from past administrations, including that of now DDA director Cedric Glover who has been hired to resurrect downtown Shreveport.
These vacant structure fires are expensive to the city. They are major costs to the Shreveport Fire Department, to Property Standards which must regulate blighted property including demolition, and to the tax rolls when property values are, in effect, burned up.
Mayor Arceneaux promised that blight would be a major priority in his administration. The fires and abandoned apartment complexes starting last year has certainly pushed this issue up the priority totem pole.
John came to Shreveport in January of 1977 when he was transferred to Barksdale AFB.
He’s been active in Shreveport politics since deciding to make Shreveport his home.
John practiced law for 40 years and he now monitors local politics. He regularly attends Shreveport City Council and Caddo Parish Commission meetings.
John is published weekly in The Inquisitor, bi-monthly in The Forum News, and frequently in the Shreveport Times.
He enjoys addressing civic groups on local government issues and elections.