Comments on I-49 Lafayette Connector project range from build it now to pump the brakes
Let the NIMBY / Interstate in the middle of the city fun begin. How do you run a major thoroughfare designed to support optimum vehicular movement through an urban area without disrupting the immediate area where the roadway is laid?:
FEMA absence at Comite diversion meeting leaves flood insurance questions unanswered
So, the Comite River Diversion project, which was first pondered when I was a freshman at LSU, is now within a few years of completion, and residents whose flood insurance premiums are high as a result of flood risks associated with the river are wanting to know how much money they will be saving. That is a very complex question, and I think those residents are very premature with this expectation. It will take a while to ascertain the effects of this giant canal that will be running flood waters to the Mississippi River:
Closer to US ‘Fertilizer Independence’: $3.7B Ammonia Plant Set to Open in Louisiana in 2029
This huge project is supposed to capture 95% of the carbon. There is a catch, however. The captured carbon is supposed to be stored at the Pelican Sequestration Hub in Livingston Parish. Residents there are opposed this site for storage. By the way, Livingston Parish largely gets its drinking water from the ground, primarily the Southern Hills Aquifer System. This situation reflects the age-old NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) battle that finds ties to Fair Housing. Where do operations like this find a home, at the point of least resistance, where people with the least political power reside. Livingston Parish is not exactly a place with no political power. There will be a fight by the residents:
https://www.hoosieragtoday.com/2026/08/30/blue-point-one-ground-breaking/
Denver’s Chinatown history was erased for decades, but its preservation is newly relevant
Denver had a Chinatown. I did not know that. By law, there were Chinatowns dotting the U.S., areas to which people of Chinese descent were restricted, a complete violation of the right to property in the 14th Amendment. There was a Chinatown in Montreal, too, and I would suspect, other areas. Denver's Chinatown would give way to the modernization movements in major cities, in the second half of the 20th Century, where generally poorer minority neighborhoods were razed for new public projects:
https://www.uniondemocrat.com/lifestyle/article_512c7505-940c-404f-a1ed-42f36610787f.html
Basic housing remains out of reach for nearly half of Louisiana renters, study finds
This is a real challenge across the nation. Affordable rental housing for many in the U.S. is virtually out of reach. In Southern Louisiana the problem is exacerbated by the high cost of insurance. The solutions call for tough decisions:
Developer Bill Hoffman is tackling one of New Orleans' biggest eyesores. It's not easy
A look at the mind of the person behind the razing of the Lindy Boggs Medical Center, the reuse of its basement for floodwater detention and the construction of the multi-use project for the area. Maybe we can get this guy on the Plaza Tower:
Freddie King, others embroiled in Algiers development lawsuit linked to ‘discriminatory’ texts
Whelp, I used to speak about this matter in our Fair Housing Act class; now it's back in force. Here's an idea, government officials, get out of the business if you're going to be a duplicitous moron:
Dozens of empty lots dot the MS Coast beachfront 21 years after Katrina. Is change coming?
There is plenty, plenty of room along the Biloxi and Gulfport coastline for elevated homes to be built. My advice, of course, would be to go Fortified Gold or don't go at all. Most of the homes are elevated 20 feet off the ground. If you don't like that look you can always go with the enclosed ground flood with the blow away walls for when the flood waters come, and they will come.
How ‘Hurricane Resistant’ Babcock Ranch Is Pioneering the Future of Climate-Resilient Living
What would you say to the idea of a neighborhood that took close to a direct hit from a category 5 hurricane and came away generally unscathed from the winds and the water, a community that did not lose power throughout the storm. Read this piece on a development in Punta Gorda, Florida:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/hurricane-resistant-babcock-ranch-pioneering-183700032.html
Real and RE/MAX Holdings Announce Completion of Business Combination
The real estate mega-brokerage mergers continue with the creation of Real REMAX Group. I always give a bit of a side eye when the buying group appears to be smaller than the seller. In this case Real has 36,000 real estate agents, but will be the controlling agent in its consolidation with the 145,000 agent RE/MAX. By the giant Compass has 340,000 agents:
Dread the dredge: Army Corps promises Vermilion cleanup, but not full dredging
For almost 200 years we have been looking to tame our rivers, pulling the bends out of them to speed their flow (The Mississippi and Missouri are both shorter by miles as a result), clearing the trees and other rubble, dredging them. Often, the effects are good and bad. Lately, to preserve micro-ecologies in the rivers we have not been cleaning up the debris, and resulting concerns have grown about local flooding:
Florida shows how to adapt as coastal cities face growing threats from sea level rise and storms
Just reading about these efforts to mitigate flooding in Florida. Be the first to know about them in your community because I promise you they will be coming to Louisiana:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/florida-shows-adapt-coastal-cities-120252411.html
In search of New Orleans' Pailet Land, a 'back of town' area that led to Gentilly, East
You can catch local examples of several key objectives of our Fair Housing Act continuing education classes in the very interesting article on Gentilly's Pailet Land by Richard Campanella. If you are a real estate agent and you want to sell in the Greater NOLA area, you need to be reading Campanella's books................................all of them:
SpaceX buzz aside, here are 5 major Lafayette Parish projects to watch in 2026
The businesses coming to Lafayette reflect the growth surge the area is realizing:
A century-old building material is having a moment. Why these architects are using it in NOLA
So, my first impression when I read the term, "mass timber" is just another composite that will grossly warp when it is exposed to moisture. My next concern is offgassing. In both cases mass timber appears to not be a major culprit for either concern. The inventors have moved to Nola from Miami, an area with the similar humid habit as ours and where they made their testing. Look for this product be become more available for residential use:
Massive St. Bernard container port gets federal green light
We talk about this proposed port in our Fair Housing Act class. This is another one of those good for the state, tougher for the local community cases. I hope we get the port. The state needs to minimize the stress on Saint Bernard's residents:
Old gravel mines line the Amite River. Now they might help fight floods around Baton Rouge.
The initial idea for mitigating the potential flood risk downstream of the Amite River was to imminent domain land in northern St. Helena and East Feliciana Parishes to create a giant reservoir, detention pond. That proposal has drifted away for a few reasons to include local oppositions and scientific concerns. Now the idea is to use smaller sites such as adjacent gravel pits along the river as smaller detention ponds:
'A flood of epic proportions': 10 years later, August 2016 haunts Baton Rouge area
Great piece on the historical flood of the Baton Rouge area in 2016. The community has taken many steps to mitigate flood risks. The question is how well with the perform:
Faimon Roberts: This random house in Alexandria looks like blight. Here’s why it should be preserved.
I find myself periodically noting these circumstances where a famous person lived in a local home and people are trying to preserve said home. How does a community prioritize these matters. It's a wonder for me: