Imagine at the end of the work week, your employer decides that instead of paying you what you had earned, they would instead keep that money because they felt they could make better use of it than what you planned to do with it. Sounds ridiculous, right?

Well, that’s exactly what the City of Shreveport did when the City Council, by a vote of 5-2, allowed the continued development of a subdivision that is directly in the path of the Inner Loop Extension (via 3132) to the Port of Caddo- Bossier, despite the election in 1996 where voters approved spending their property tax dollars, through a 1996 bond issue, for this highway project.

There are lots of reasons why 64 percent of the voters back in 1996 chose to spend their tax dollars on the extension: Increase safety for residents and others who travel on East Flournoy Lucas Road, encourage traffic to the Port by offering a more convenient route with a higher speed limit, encourage future development along the Inner Loop, reduce industrial traffic from Youree Drive and Bert Kouns – and the list could go on and on, of course, to explain the majority vote favoring the extension of the loop.

We could talk about how the City of Shreveport went right to work on this project, after the vote, and started purchasing land that was located directly in the path of the Inner Loop Extension, even filing suit and expropriating property in 2005 that was needed for the extension to the Port.

We could talk about how the Metropolitan Planning Commission voted – three times now – against the continued development of any subdivisions that were in the likely path of the Inner Loop Extension, and about how the mayor and the City Council seemingly continue to favor the interests of a few who oppose the extension, to the detriment of the many who voted at the ballot box to support it.

But let’s get something straight here. This is not about a highway. Or higher property taxes (although we have the highest in the state). It’s not about economic development (although our population has declined now to below the 1980 census population). It’s not about politics (although every politician from Bossier City to Bogalusa has had some involvement in this matter). It’s not about the financial interests of a few landowners (although this perception of Shreveport is partly why so many are moving away, and to communities where they feel ordinary folks, like themselves, can be heard and make a difference).

Again, this is not about a highway. It’s about the will of the people, and according to Thomas Jefferson, the will of the people is the only legitimate foundation for any government.

In our Shreveport city government, the will of the people has been lost, however, and so it seems the very foundation of city government itself.

You see, you don’t need to know the “ins” or the “outs,” or who is friends with whom, or who plays golf with this politician, or goes hunting every year with that elected official, or who owes a big favor to someone in Baton Rouge.

It’s plainly and simply about the will of the people, and our community telling the mayor, and the City Council, that we’re tired of the old attitude of “give us the money, and we’ll tell you what we spent it on later.”

It’s about reminding them that our tax dollars should be open to public scrutiny, and public accountability.

It’s about remembering that bond issues, like the one voted on in 1996, are paid off with our property taxes, and that the voters might have voted differently, had they known that the promise made of the Inner Loop Extension would never have been honored.

And it’s about communicating to those in our community, and those who might choose to make Shreveport their home one day, that no one gets treated differently here, and that we favor the will of the people, over the special interests of the few … and that our elected official choose principles over politics, even when it may not be convenient for them to do so.

Now we can’t make chicken soup from chicken poop, or otherwise undo all of the knots that this matter has been tied up into. But we also don’t have to make the same mistake again, going forward.

And although there’s not hardly enough seating in a DeLorean, let’s gather up the mayor and City Council, and go back to 1996 and look at this from the beginning.

And after we get back to the future, let’s choose the will of the people this time. That’s really the only road for us to take.