URBAN GREENSPACE - CADDO COMMONS - Yesterday hundreds of people gathered in downtown Shreveport for the official ribbon-cutting of Caddo Commons – the first urban greenspace of it’s kind for the area. The park’s been in the works for the past few years and was designed to encourage revitalization of a nine-block area near the historic Municipal Auditorium. Among the many speakers at the ceremony was Mayor Adrian Perkins who said the greenspace can help create a thriving downtown.
"If you go around America today and you look at the cities that are growing and are booming, they all have a robust downtown that are filled with people that are coming to enjoy urban areas," explained Perkins. "Filled with people coming in to enjoy work, and filled with people that have great pride in their downtown and today is a great step for Shreveport towards that future."
Before construction began a year ago, the 2-acre lot – triangulated by Texas Avenue, Crockett and Cotton Streets — was covered with broken concrete. Funding for the project was the combination of raising $1 million dollars from private donations which was matched by the Caddo Commission, along with donating the space to the Shreveport Common, Inc. a non-profit which is dedicated to revitalizing the blighted area. The first event slated to happen in the park begins this weekend with “Rainbow City” which will transform the greenspace into a whimsical land of 40 giant inflatable characters, some reaching 50 feet high. Rainbow City will be the home base of public and private events and activities through Dec. 21.
