The city of Shreveport launches a new plan this week in the fight against blight. At a Monday morning news conference downtown, Mayor Tom Arceneaux announced what’s called the “Block by Block Initiative.” This coming Saturday marks the first of 11 neighborhood sweeps over the next four months, starting with Ingleside.
Each neighborhood will have a tailored improvement plan, with a full lifecycle tracking system for violations, abatements, legal actions, demolitions and redevelopment status. The city’s new community development director, Vernie Howard, spoke at the news conference on the importance of public support and community involvement. “We need to know what makes you feel safe at home, what makes your schools better. And so, we’re not building it and expecting you to come. We need your voices. And so, there are surveys, we have some here. We want you to share these surveys with your community.”
At a separate news conference a few hours later - in a different part of town - came a $48,000 check presentation at the Willis Knighton North Eye Institute to Shreveport Police and the Cado Parish Sheriff’s Office. Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith and Caddo Parish Sheriff Henry Whitehorn joined Willis Knighton Health President and CEO Jaf Fielder for the announcement.
This is all part of the Anglin/Myers Public Safety Initiative, which aims to end the cycle of senseless gun violence. Chief Smith says the money will go toward 10 new security cameras for the city’s Real Time Crime Center. A statement released by the city explains, “The RTCC is staffed 24/7 by analysts whose primary mission is to reduce the number of man-hours required for detectives to find and use video evidence. Chief Smith explained, “The ultimate objective was not as much as putting people in jail as it was preventing crime altogether.”
The new initiative is named in honor of 17-year-old Landry Anglin and 13-year-old Devin Myers. Both lost their lives to gun violence in Shreveport.
