Block by Block initiative advances steadily

The city of Shreveport’s Block by Block initiative wraps up this Saturday, and Mayor Tom Arceneaux said he is pleased with what he has seen from the campaign.

“Cleanups have gone exceptionally well,” Arceneaux said. “I have been very pleased with the volunteers who have shown up. We have covered limited areas. We have covered wider areas with bulk cleanup and tire removal. So that’s been very positive.”

Block by Block is a neighborhood-based strategy to combat blight and revitalize distressed areas across Shreveport. It is the result of an intensive planning and leadership effort led by a team of city and community leaders selected by Mayor Arceneaux to participate in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. This global program helps cities design more effective public policy.

The Block by Block initiative focuses on targeting resources in high-need areas — one block at a time — rather than spreading efforts too thin. Each neighborhood will have a tailored improvement plan, with a full lifecycle tracking system for violations, abatements, legal actions, demolitions and redevelopment status. Residents will play a crucial role in helping to identify priorities, report issues and support neighborhood transformation.

Volunteers will gather this Saturday in the Broadmoor Baptist Church parking lot off of Youree Drive between Ockley Drive and Atlantic Avenue. From there, volunteers will canvass the neighborhood, picking up debris and interacting with residents.

Another element of the initiative is a survey that has been conducted in the neighborhoods as well.

“We’re going to compile that information,” Arceneaux said of the surveys. “What we plan to do is develop a long-term plan of what we can do on-demand or on a planned basis in virtually every neighborhood. Then we have a couple of neighborhoods picked out for special attention, not because they deserve special attention, but because they are our pilot program. We will take those, learn from those, and apply them to a broader base and scale them up. That is what the plan is.”

Arceneaux emphasized, however, that flexibility and improvisation have been an element of Block by Block from its inception. And that will not change.

“The plan is to continue working on the plan,” he said. “But not to stop working while we do that. The phrase we sometimes use is that we are flying the plane while we build the plane. But if you wait until you have the whole plane, number one, you will find errors in your plan, regardless of how much time you spend on it. Two, you will delay the implementation of aspects you know you can implement.”

Arceneaux said he has been very pleased by the response to the program in neighborhoods across the city. But he is also happy with the attention it is garnering on a larger scale.

The mayor will be part of a panel at the statewide Keep Louisiana Beautiful conference Sept. 23-24. He will be joined by Lauren Jones of Shreveport Green, Karen Barnes from Visit Shreveport-Bossier and Terrence Green, director of Property Standards, to present the Block by Block success story.

“We are very excited that people are recognizing what we are doing and we are receiving some credit for something good,” Arceneaux said.

Vape store restrictions pass

The Shreveport City Council passed an ordinance that places restrictions on operations for stores that derive more than 25 percent of their income from selling vape products.

The ordinance will prohibit anyone under the age of 21 from being on the property and will limit the hours of operation. It will also require permitting for the business and its employees, similar to ABO cards for alcohol sales.

The ordinance passed with one amendment.

“There is an amendment that differentiates parts of it for the effect date,” Arceneaux said. “Hours of operation and age limits would all be effective seven days after my signature. The regulatory aspects would take place Jan. 2, 2026, to allow police time to put administrative processes in place.”

Budget boon

Arceneaux said his administration is putting together its budget message for next year. The budget has to be in place by Oct. 1. He added that there is good news to report in the plan.

“Our sales tax revenue has come up a little bit — about 3 percent,” he said. “That has given us some relief. We have had revenues that we have not yet budgeted. It will help us in terms of our operational reserves and what we can do. We likely can budget an increase for next year over this year. If that occurs, that will give us breathing room, so some things we thought we would have to consider we won’t have to consider.”