Live Blog: Smoking ban, downtown safety top topics at Shreveport City Council meeting

4:32 p.m. - Council Chair Green adjourned the meeting.

4:31 p.m. - Councilman Boucher made a final statement that he wants the public to be able to come up to them and make their thoughts and grievances known. He also stated that he doesn't know what it's like to be Black, but that he declined to engage with the commenter yesterday because as a white councilman he didn't want to start an argument in the chamber.

4:27 p.m. - Councilman Jackson addressed what it's like being a Black man and getting pulled over and having to talk to his three sons about how to stay safe when dealing with law enforcement. Jackson said that "we have to take back our city and we have to work together, it's not a black or white thing, it's a Shreveport thing."

4:24 p.m. - Council Chair Green stated that yesterday would have been a good time for Councilman Boucher to make his statement.

4:22 p.m. - Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor stated that no one stood up for her or other Black members of the council when they were being called racial slurs.

"You talk about your offense," said Taylor. "Trust me, as an African American woman who happens to be an elected official, I get called out by name I can't tell you how many times and I don't hear a word. But I don't have a problem with this mouth and standing up for myself and people who look like me and people who don't look like me."

4:16 p.m. - "It infuriates me for people to get up here and speak and tell me that I don't have a heart," stated Boucher during an impassioned speech about yesterday's city council administrative meeting.

Boucher said none of the city council members defended him yesterday after a citizen accused Boucher of being racist for not making a statement on a pending investigation.

Councilman Chair Green reminded Boucher that he had the opportunity to call point of order, but that he did not.

"Any time a speaker comes up, any council member has the opportunity if it's not going the way that you know the rules say, you have that right to call point of order," stated Green.

Boucher stated that he wanted the Chair or the Vice Chair to interfere.

4:09 p.m. - Councilman Chair James Green asked if any council members had closing statements.

Councilman Boucher stated that emotions were high in Shreveport yesterday and that "anytime a life is lost in Shreveport, it bothers me. Whether it was a citizen shot by a police officer or a police officer."

4:08 p.m. - All ordinances on today's agenda were voted yes unanimously by the council.

3:56 p.m. - Ordinances on second reading and final passage included amending the 2023 General Fund Budget and the 2023 Budget for the Streets Special Revenue Fund.

Councilman Boucher asked Chief Administrative Officer Tom Dark that St. Charles Street in his district be added to the list of streets to be fixed.

The ordinance passed with six votes.

3:54 p.m. - The resolution authorizing the City of Shreveport to reject all bids received for Fire Station 16's renovation passed with six votes.

3:52 p.m. - Shocker Creal was voted in as the Chief Technology Officer.

3:46 p.m. - Chief Smith stated that there were several officers downtown on Friday night and that they were out writing tickets to people breaking laws.

Councilman Alan Jackson asked that Smith be sure that the council be kept updated about last weekend's events and that several businesses have called him to say they were not a part of the antics that took place.

3:41 p.m. - Councilman Boucher asked Chief Smith to come to the front and asked him to go over the events that took place on Friday night and Saturday morning and for clarification on the noise ordinances.

Smith said they are working with other departments to go over all of the ordinances and laws about noise and will be coming to the council soon to propose a new law that could help prevent more events like on Friday evening. Smith also said that decibel meters are on order to help figure out how loud it is getting during the nighttime hours.

Smith said they are pulling videos from social media, businesses and the real-time crime center to see if there was anyone enticing the crowds to go out in the middle of the streets downtown and cause traffic issues.

City leaders call for action after separate incidents occur in downtown Shreveport

3:37 p.m. Chris Lyon provided information about casino revenue in Shreveport and Bossier City being down, aside from Margaritaville and that none of it attributed to the smoking ban. Instead, the data shows that casinos in other markets are outperforming the ones here.

3:34 p.m. - Councilman Boucher put on the record that he will be voting no to reverse the ordinance of the bars and casinos to be smoke-free.

3:26 p.m. - Bob Holiday is a local pulmonary critical care physician and came to inform the council on the damages and long-term health issues the reversal of the smoking ordinance could have on citizens.

Councilman Grayson Boucher makes it to the city council meeting and thanks Dr. Holiday for his information.

3:19 p.m. - Alice Kline representing the American Cancer Society thanked the city council for taking action about enacting the current smoke-free ordinance in place for bars and casinos. Kline gave statistics proving that "smoke-free laws have no adverse effects on the hospitality industry" and included reports from the surgeon general talking about the issues with secondhand smoke.

"Prior to implementation of the law, air quality inside the casinos failed to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency safety standard," explained Kline. "However, two and a half months after implementation, concentration of particular matter had dropped substantially to a level that was no longer unhealthy for workers or patrons."

Kline encouraged the council to rethink their decision on reversing the ordinance.

3:15 p.m. - The regional manager of the Louisiana Campaign for Tabacco Free Living stated that none of the council members present had put in their campaign speeches that this ordinance about tobacco use in casinos would be rolled back. She proclaimed that it's unfair to the workers to subject them to secondhand smoke and the risks associated with it and asked that the current law in place should stay.

3:09 p.m. - Ashley Herbert with the Center for Black Health and Equity spoke on the issue about an agenda item concerning allowing the use of tobacco in casinos again. She brought up the concern the workers at the casinos would be directly affected by the risks around secondhand smoke consumption.

3:02 p.m. Meeting minutes are approved by all six council members present. Councilman Grayson Boucher is not in attendance.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Live Blog: Shreveport City Council to discuss various budgets