BusinessReport.com

Posted on April 4 at 5:19 p.m.

As someone who is deeply involved and extremely committed to downtown both from a property ownership standpoint and as a resident living in a loft condo across the street from Avoyelles Cafe, my interest and concern for downtown rivals that of Jack Warner.

Any incident that requires a police response be it downtown or in any area of the city and parish is unfortunate. But as someone who has been, along with us, a pioneer in the revitalization of downtown, Jack knows that the growth of this arts and entertainment district is an evolutionary process. Just like the arts and entertainment district is not fully developed nor has the complete apparatus - security, trash removal, street closures, open containers, etc. - been installed.

Just like we need to address without adversely impacting Jack's business, the sidewalk and street crowds in front of Happy's and the Roux House that inhibits pedestrian and traffic flow on some evenings, we also need to aggressively implement the complete apparatus mentioned above for all of the downtown arts and entertainment district.

As the article mentioned, the necessary parties are focused on the need to put in place the proper appartus for our growing downtown arts and entertainment environment. It's a focus that began before the incident and one that has been and will continue to be on the fast track after the incident.

We need to learn from last Saturday's incident and put in place the appartus needed for our growing downtown. But Jack running around downtown with a camera and video prompts an Arsenio Hall reaction, "Hmmmmmm!"

On Downtown brawl leads to push for more security