Tom Arceneaux: Does Shreveport Need a New Plan for Growth? [VIDEO]

Former Shreveport City Councilman Tom Arceneaux talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about the evolution of his views on how cities should grow...or, perhaps, not grow so quickly.

Arceneaux, who served on the city council from 1982-1990, recently wrote an op-ed for the Shreveport Times in which he questioned the "conventional wisdom" of cities annexing outward to grow its tax base. But, he says, he is questioning his long held views as he looks at the effects of those plans on his own city.

From Arceneaux' op-ed at shreveporttimes.com:

"I had questions about tax breaks for “home run” economic development, but the “powers that be” convinced me that 'everybody did it' and the breaks were what it took to attract large industrial and other projects to the area. I accepted as true that expanding Shreveport’s city limits through annexation was the way to grow the City’s tax base, and that just about any development was a good development."

But the former councilman now wonders whether this growth, with the added responsibilities of maintaining roads, infrastructure, etc., is worth the expense.

"It is to suggest that in times of increasing public liabilities and diminishing public assets, sometimes the best thing to do is to step back and attempt to evaluate past predictions in light of present realities when considering new proposals."