“Tim James looks for projects like this,” Bradford said. “He was looking for growth and expansion in his business. He has some relationships here in Shreveport. He looked at our issues here, where a river separates two economically thriving communities — south Shreveport and south Bossier City — and the need to improve transit between the two.

“Allendale is right there next to downtown,” Brown said. “Allendale is kind of this gateway to the downtown area. A city is only as strong as its weakest neighborhood. Right now, Allendale is one of its weakest neighborhoods. That’s why I believe Shreveport is not strong.

“March 21 is the day I started working,” Chandler said. “We went to Baton Rouge two or three times and had a one-on-one with the governor. One of the things we discussed was the Jimmie Davis Bridge. We had $24 million already, and he gave us another $100 million.

They say people accomplish incredible things in crisis mode, like lifting Volkswagens off of babies. Back in January, the life that needed saving was mine, and amazing things did happen. I began walking every day. I started weighing my food. I cut way back on bread and fried things.

At its zenith, the B'nai Zion Temple in downtown Shreveport served as a herald for the city's thriving Jewish community, complete with majestic Corinthian columns and detailed stonework on the facade.

Let me explain. This was no ordinary English test or algebra quiz, where it took a 93 percent or better to make me happy back in high school. This was an echocardiogram. A normal result is anywhere from 50 percent to 70 percent, according to Dr. Google..

“Mainly, it’s water in the bathrooms,” he said. “None of the male urinals work. The commodes work intermittently. They shut the men’s bathroom in the patrol division down because it flooded with contaminated water. The renovated gym was done around 2001 or 2002.

I have passed so many visible benchmarks along the way. I can see the number on the scale. I can count the notches on my belt. I know how baggy my jeans have become. All of those things pointed toward a positive test result. That wasn’t good enough, though.