Days before Phase 2 of Project Engage begins with Dr. Geoff Stewart’s students from ULL working on new projects to revitalize Ville Platte and Evangeline parish, several business leaders from around the parish met Monday for a round table discussion on issues affecting economic development. The purpose of the group was for the business leaders to share issues and ideas in order to come up with a way to help the parish grow.
The group listed such issues as crime, infrastructure, lack of technology, utility rates, quality of life, interstate access, and property tax rates.
Another issue discussed was pride of ownership and the overall appearance of Main Street. One member of the group said, “A big issue is the façades and how does your business look. If somebody is coming through town and looking to start a business, it doesn’t look all that good. It’s like the early Beirut look here.”
The issue topping the list was having an educated workforce. “It all goes back to education and how do you encourage the child who comes from a broken home and had never seen a parent or an individual go to work,” said one of the business leaders. “How do you break that cycle to say there is another way to live besides selling drugs on the street corner.”
Even with the issues facing public education in the parish, it was discussed during Monday’s meeting that the Evangeline Parish School District is now graded at a B+ which is higher than Lafayette.
Public education, according to another business leader, can be part of the solution with the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) projects. The business leader said she wants to “try to take the science projects and turn them into something local and work on fixing the issues and problems that are happening in industries here. We need to start training these students to partner with Cameron and Ville Platte Iron Works and actually become part of the solution to find some innovative new things instead of just doing some science fair on the solar system.”
Another part of the solution, as one business leader explained, is the federally created opportunity zones, which include Ville Platte, as they relate to blighted properties. “A group of investors or one person could buy these properties, get the tax credits because it is in an opportunity zone, and then donate the land back to the parish or city and get another tax incentive for donating the land,” he said. “You could take this property and put a basketball court on it.”
He continued, “We have to get out of the box and start thinking very creatively because, if we do the things we did 50 years ago, we’re just going to have the same results.”
Project Engage meets tomorrow, September 27, at the Ville Platte Girls and Boys Place beginning at 3 p.m. to discuss new projects such as community pride for businesses, residents, education, and economic development.
All business owners, employees, and residents of the parish are invited and encouraged to participate in either or all of the three sessions Friday.
Image
TONY MARKS Editor