Shreveport's Penny Pinch of Economic Development
By: Alese Underwood
Updated: October 11, 2012
The Shreveport City Council Riverfront Committee met with several local economic development organizations...which all depend on city dollars.
So far 45 groups have already put in their request for funding in 2013.
"Those requests for funding totaled over 3.7 million dollars and we have less than a half a million dollars to give out. It's going to be a very hard decision to make," City Councilman Jeff Everson said.
"We got $100,000 last year. The arts bring dollars to the community and it enables us to work with individuals that have not been exposed to art in any form or reason," Luther Cox Jr. with the Black Cultural Arts Coalition said.
The money is declining and with revenue down from Haynesville Shale activity and casino competition in other regions and across the river...
"It's something we need to seriously look at because we may not have this pool of money to pull from in the years to come," Everson said.
