LAFAYETTE PARISH (KATC) — There is upset over a senate bill that seems to rid of the North Lafayette Redevelopment Authority. The NLRA was created in 2008 by the state of Louisiana, but some say not much has been done since then. NAACP President Ravis Martinez believes the NLRA should remain, "I fielded calls all last night and all this morning concerning the issue."
Senate Bill 480 was proposed by State Senator Gerald Boudreaux. This bill transfers power from the North Lafayette Redevelopment Authority to the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, known as LEDA. "We feel that by moving the powers that belong with the North Lafayette Redevelopment Authority to LEDA limits our ability to move as we need and also keeping that focus specifically on north Lafayette."
Boudreaux says the NLRA hasn't been active in the last few years which is why he adds that change is needed, "We don't have a board. We couldn't get members to sign up and want to participate in that. When you see something is broken, you have two choices, you can continue to let it do nothing or you can hit the reset button and let's look at how we rejuvenate, how do we revitalize, how do we revamp and that's the button we have selected."
Martinez points toward political issues as the reason for the lack in action, "The reason why this authority hasn't been able to get off the ground, the reason why the authority has no building, has no money, has no resources as the senator stated is because of politics, literally because of the appointing powers of the varying agencies and them not being able to work together for the betterment of north Lafayette."
Bishop Carlos Harvin believes this move is unfair, "If you look at the Downtown Development Authority, they have their own board. Many people step forward to be on this board and would report to the governor and the state legislature, so we don't want a backseat." Boudreaux believes that by moving the NLRA into LEDA, this can be looked at as a re-brand, "What I don't want to do is have to continue after sixteen years to have an organization that's not functioning being in position when we can take advantage of so many more resources and help to bring many more resources to north Lafayette.
At this time, the bill has been moved to the House Committee.
