Recently, several African-American elected officials hosted a public forum by Zoom to discuss issues relating to the Southside Economic Development District. However, one Southside city council member did not attend the online (Zoom) meeting and gave the open meetings law…
Tag: Roosevelt Wright Jr.
City King Day awards still political, looks like Mayo 2.0
When mayor Oliver Ellis was elected as mayor of Monroe last year, one of the things he promised was to end the city’s practice of politicizing the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. Instead of ending the practice, the Ellis administration…
“Day of Service” on King Day should substitute for serious focus in King ideals
Monday, the nation will celebrate the birth and commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., hopefully in ways that will tell his story as a new generation learns about the ideals of the dream. It should be a…
An effective City rebranding plan needs more time
The City of Monroe has hired a local company to rebrand the city in time for the mayor’s state of the city address in February; it’s a great idea, but the timeline is too short. In its November 24th meeting,…
Police sweeps that target blacks and poor whites should cease
On October 22nd and 23rd, law enforcement agencies in several parishes participated in a multi-jurisdictional Taskforce sweep in South Monroe that allegedly targeted violent criminals in Ouachita Parish. We are weary of these targeted sweeps because the poor and blacks…
Ellis administration ignoring blacks in first 100 days
In the first 100 days, the Oliver Ellis administration has laid out the sketches of a tenure that is drastically different from the Mayo Administration. We didn’t get much under Mayor, and we are getting less under Ellis. Economic development…
Vote “NO” on amendments, 197 amendments is already too many
Among the many items on the November 3rd Ballot are seven proposed constitutional amendments and one gambling proposition. We have reviewed all eight items and make the following recommendations. The goals of each amendment can be achieved without being included…