DELTA CLUSTER UPDATE - Lake Providence - Nov 2009

Lake Providence: The Issue is Animal Control

Leaders from the Delta Cluster of Northern and Central Interfaith from Lake Providence, Louisiana have been working on the issue of animal control. Lake Providence residents have been complaining of not being able to let their grandchildren play outside due to stray dogs wandering around their neighborhood.

It is understood that Lake Providence has greater issues than stray dogs but correcting simple quality of life issues such as animal control and neighborhood clean up are important to improving a community and make it somewhere people want to come to.

Lake Providence Interfaith leaders have been meeting with Town of Lake Providence staff and will continue to attend Town Council meetings until a solution is found.

DELTA CLUSTER UPDATE - Tallulah - Nov 2009

Tallulah – Narrowing Down Issues – Streets and Intersections

Following up on the meetings with Congressman Rodney Alexander and State Senator Francis Thompson, Tallulah Interfaith leaders recently invited Madison Parish elected officials to meet to discuss the infrastructure issues Interfaith has been advocating for since last year.

Senator Thompson's advice was to narrow down our list of issues.

So while the Madison Parish members of Interfaith have several issues, for now we have narrowed our concerns to the following:

1. Kimbrough Street – There seems to be some debate over who is responsible for the street. Also, the street does not score well for many of the government funding sources available to repair it. This street services two schools, a fire station and both Tallulah and Richmond.

2. Interstate Lighting – This has also been an issue with the Chamber of Commerce. It's important for economic development to attract travelers to stop in Tallulah.

3. Intersection of Hwy 65 just north of the Interstate and access to the new school. That location has several accidents and maybe a key with the solution to access to the new school. We are very concerned about access to the school and the safety of our children. We are disappointed that adequate access to the new school appears to have illogically been placed behind completion of the new school.

The only officials who responded and met with Interfaith were Mayor Beckwith of Tallulah and Mayor Kivett of Richmond who both provided updates on what infrastructure projects they are working on.

Both Mayors were very responsive and agreed to a joint followup meeting to discuss possible solutions on these three issues.