Makin'Sausage

Makin' Sausage

You know the old saying, "Never watch them make sausage or laws, it ain't pretty."

With retirement, I now have time during working hours to poke around in the innards of City Government. Folks, it ain't pretty.

You might remember my quest to change the regulations for fencing of backyard swimming pools. In only eigthteen months a new standard was written and approved requirieng fencing when the hole is dug. This really came about by happenstance. I was at a dinner party which included a city official with interest in public safety, he pushed it through.

Attending meetings of the Shreveport Regional Airport Authority Board, I followed the glacerial progress of a move to save one million dollars per year by eliminating two extra firetrucks at the airport. After the usual blue ribbon committe report, read that "fig leaf", it was decided to remove the only one truck six months hence. Why the wait ? This was the price extracted by City Hall and the Fire Union. The six month delay allowed firemen to retire, although it cost the tax payers 125k. When I asked Bill Cooksey, why the wait? He explained, "Well, it was already in the budget." Pass the sausage.

Watching his Honor, the Mayor, feverishly working behind the scenes to derail the extension of 3132, abstaining on a crucial vote while publicly proclaiming his desire to move Shreveport forward, is hard to take. One has to wonder why the Mayor of Shreveport is so taken with a Bossier Parish developer. As a now disenchanted supporter of the Mayor, I see his furure in magic. It is impossible to watch his lips and his hands at the same time, thus you don't notice that his actions don't match his words.

Just turning over these few rocks is sickening enough, is there any wonder that Shreveport is loosing population.

After all, you can't fight City Hall.