Opelousas Taxing Districts Expanding With Little Public Input

By Stephen C. Picou
We are one of the poorest cities in Louisiana and have one of the highest sales tax rates in the USA. At approximately 12% (depending on where the purchase is made), Opelousas is more expensive to shop in than nearly anywhere else in the country. Why? Because of special taxing districts, specifically Central St. Landry Economic Development (CSLED) and the Opelousas Downtown Development District (ODDD), each of which collects a 1% tax in its coverage area.

Exactly where you pay those taxes (or whether they overlap in certain stores) is hard to determine because neither agency makes that information easily accessible. The ODDD website shows a map, but doesn’t indicate which businesses collect the tax. In fact, under a Q&A section, the ODDD misrepresents the number of businesses with this statement: “There are only six existed [sic] businesses that are included in Special Taxing Districts.” Yet more than a dozen businesses currently collect the tax, including grocery stores, pharmacies, fast-food restaurants, and auto-parts retailers. It takes a public records request to find out the details.

According to meeting agendas, CSLED plans to expand to Sunset/Grand Coteau and continue north of Opelousas along the I-49 corridor. ODDD wants to add Creswell Lane and more of the businesses in town. They’re not proactively presenting this information to local civic organizations, news outlets, or the public, and are taking action with the barest adherence to state Open Meetings guidelines. No fact sheets, no research papers, no public forums.

Raising sales taxes in a town as poor as Opelousas is irresponsible; for an economic development entity to do so during these tumultuous, inflationary times is cruel.

The most oppressive tax burden on struggling households is not income tax; it’s sales tax. The price of groceries has risen by more than 33% since 2019. If these were more prosperous and optimistic times, this tax increase might not hurt as much. But times are getting much harder for the poor, and too many of us are running out of options.

Anticipated cuts to federal food and medical safety-net programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, and Medicare, are now impacting families, and additional reductions written into federal law are scheduled to take effect after the upcoming midterm elections. Louisiana is among the states most affected.

For Opelousas, this means less money for food and reduced access to medical care. It means more hungry people. It means untreated illnesses. It means businesses that depend on discretionary income, like restaurants, home improvement, and entertainment, will see lower revenue.

Meanwhile, the ODDD has committed roughly half of its annual sales tax revenue to debt service associated with the renovation of Gardner Stadium, including $1.4 million in interest and overhead. Payment of that debt will continue for approximately 9 more years until the bond is paid in full. That’s $1,800 a day, every day through 2035, not counting utilities, insurance, maintenance, staffing, and other operating costs borne by the city government, which, if estimated, have not been shared publicly. All for a high school sports stadium that should be (at least partially) owned and operated by the school system and that sits empty for more than 300 days a year, baking in the increasingly hot weather. It is the most expensive non-infrastructure expenditure in Opelousas history.

Now, ODDD and CSLED want to expand their taxing authority. And you and I only have a voice if we have the time and ability to drive three miles from downtown to meetings on weekday mornings, when those of us lucky enough to have a job are at work.

The bottom line is this: economic development should improve the lives of the people who already live here while creating opportunities for those who may choose to join us. That’s the standard by which every public investment, and every tax increase, should be judged.

As climate risks, insurance costs, and housing prices reshape migration patterns, inland communities like Opelousas have a compelling opportunity to attract new residents and businesses. That opportunity depends on affordability, competent public infrastructure, and confidence in local leadership. Higher sales taxes move us in the opposite direction, and we’ll struggle to convince families and businesses to bet their future on our unique town.

The decisions we make today will shape Opelousas for decades. Let’s make this a place where people choose to live, not simply because it’s affordable, but because we’re doing things together that make our unique city a great place to be for people of all ages.

Excerpt from July 31, 2026 ODDD Agenda. Due to issues relating to legal language and descriptions, this item was deferred. A special meeting was anticipated, but as of August 12, has not been set. The regular August meeting is set for Friday, August 21.

Parks Are Human Nature

The return of the Parks & Recreation Commission offers Opelousas a chance to reconnect people, place, and purpose.

How long has it been since you touched water in a bayou or lake, or walked barefoot in the grass? Would you let your child play in Bayou Tesson, Bayou Yarbor, the Vermilion River, or any body of water in the immediate vicinity of Opelousas? Where would you feel comfortable spreading a blanket on the ground for a picnic or walking barefoot?

April 5, 2025, event in South City Park in Opelousas on the now-demolished site of the pool and future site of the community center.

February 19, 2026, the pool site was in the first stages of construction. An area far larger than the building footprint was destroyed because a small group of city leaders made the decision in the absence of the Parks & Recreation Commission and without formal public input.

I raise these questions not as a newcomer but as a native of St. Landry Parish, having grown up fishing in Two O’Clock Bayou and swimming in the outflow canals of rice pumps. I am passionately connected and committed to what remains of Louisiana’s remarkable natural and cultural heritage.

As an adult, I have spent much of my life thinking and writing about what that connection means and what happens when we let it erode. In Lafayette and New Orleans, I advocated for urban tree canopies not as ornament but as essential infrastructure in a hot, changing climate, and as essential connections to the history of people and place. I believe trees, parks, and healthy waterways make cities more livable and desirable places to live. They nurture corridors of life in a landscape that is otherwise paved over and sealed shut.

Over the years, my writing has returned to parks again and again because they reveal what is possible when a city treats its public spaces as a legacy and shared inheritance.

That belief is what I carry with me here, back to the parish of my birth and to Opelousas.

In the rebuilding years after Hurricane Katrina (we lost everything, and it took two years to restore our house), I was appointed by New Orleans City Councilmember Susan Guidry to replace a retiring member of the founding board of the Lafitte Greenway (the inspiring landscape architecture professor and historian Lake Douglas), a park that, at the time, existed more as a possibility than a certainty.

Serving on the Lafitte Greenway board alongside civic leaders such as (the late) Edgar “Dooky” Chase lll, I learned something that has stayed with me: a park is never just a project. It is a long-term commitment to people, place, and the unseen systems that hold us together. The Lafitte Greenway is now one of the country’s newest and longest linear municipal parks, a place where imagination becomes reality, helping shape the future of New Orleans.

But more questions must be asked if we are to make parks what our community wants and needs them to be.

When you think about Louisiana, what do you see? Where did your most meaningful memories take place: indoors or outdoors? As a child, did you swim in a bayou, pond, or lake? Were you fortunate enough to take swimming lessons at a municipal pool? Did you go fishing at Bayou Courtableu, Chicot, or Miller’s Lake, and did the family have a fish fry with the catch? Today, fewer towns have public pools, those waterways are unsafe for swimming, and the fish are contaminated with mercury. The Louisiana of our memories is becoming harder to find.

These aren’t merely environmental questions. They point to something deeper — an increasingly scarce part of life: access to the outdoors and the natural world. For city dwellers, parks are often the only places where that access remains. As we pave and pollute the land, our connection to the living world fades, making healthy, shady green parks more important, not less.

Our connections to one another are fading, too. We are more isolated than previous generations. Air conditioning, the internet, polarized politics, and the slow disappearance of shared public life have led us to lose touch with one another. Parks offer a rare double opportunity: to reconnect with nature and with our neighbors.

The science behind connection is more profound than most people realize. Our bodies are made of atoms as old as the universe. We are mostly made of water that has been cycling through this planet for billions of years, and we walk and talk because of the mysterious cooperation of trillions of human cells and even more non-human ones.

With each breath, we exchange millions of microbes with our environment and each other. Humans emit roughly 35 million microbes per hour into the air around them, and stir up even more when we enter a room. When you smell someone, you are not just taking in a scent — you are inhaling airborne particles, cells, viruses, fungi, and bacteria, many carrying the unique DNA of their host. These microbes meet, and in the blink of an eye, exchange DNA through horizontal gene transfer, helping us continuously adapt to one another and the world we live in.

The environment is not “out there,” it is us and everything we do on this living planet. We are inseparable from the air, water, and soil around us — inseparable in ways mostly invisible to our eyes, yet those invisible microbes and molecules hold absolute power over whether we live healthy lives or not.

When we are in a room full of people, or sitting among the trees, we are sharing and absorbing microbes, becoming more human and more natural. It’s a magical, spiritual reality we mostly ignore and take for granted.

The richest source of microbial life is healthy soil, where a single teaspoon can contain billions of diverse organisms—the foundation of everything that grows above ground, including us. A truly thriving park starts with healthy soil that supports native plants and trees, wildlife, and people.

All you need to do to “become one with Nature” is go outside. The more plants around you, the more deeply you connect with life. In Japan, people practice shinrin-yoku or forest bathing—spending time in dense forests as a form of therapy—and it works, because outdoor air is generally healthier than indoor air, and because nature soothes the mind as much as the body.

Parks give us that. They provide space to celebrate and restore local landscapes, engage in team sports, art, and music, participate in community gardens, pursue education, enjoy picnics, experience moments of contemplation, and take simple walks. The best parks give people of all ages and abilities the chance to improve their physical and mental health, and sometimes, simply the chance to sit somewhere that is neither home nor work, and collect their thoughts.

What’s possible in our parks is limited only by our desire to get involved in how our local government manages these precious public assets.

In Opelousas, that voice was effectively silenced in 2019 when the Parks and Recreation Commission (PRC) was not reappointed by the incoming administration. In March, the city took the first step toward restoring it by passing an ordinance that reduced the PRC’s membership from 13 to 7, giving each council member the power to make one appointment, with the mayor appointing the chair.

What comes next remains uncertain—there is little or no institutional memory about how to proceed—but it needs to happen quickly, because Opelousas is losing precious green space with every passing month.

So I’ll close where I began. Would you let your child touch the water in Bayou Tesson? Would you spread a blanket on the grass in your neighborhood and have a picnic? Getting the Opelousas Parks and Recreation Commission back on its feet is how we start making those questions easier and less painful to answer, for our children, ourselves, and our world. Tell city leaders to get the Parks and Recreation Commission in place so you can have a say in what our parks will be for generations to come.

Non-functioning water fountain in South City Park in Opelousas, decorated by local artist Michelle Fontenot, January 14, 2026.

The Most Predictable Crime — And How We Stop It Together

(Originally posted December 12, 2025. Updated Dec. 27)

NOTE: Thank you to the Opelousas Police Department for releasing a statement of warning and guidance for the public on their Facebook page that was shared as an online story by KLFY TV in Lafayette. The St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to my email and prepared a Crimestoppers video admonishing people not to shoot guns in celebration and to report occurrences. Kudos to both agencies, but they need to create shareable links on their main webpages. The Sheriff’s page has no News or Press Release option in its menus, and OPD is similarly lacking in easy-to-find, shareable press releases.

Meanwhile, stupid people firing guns know no bounds. I’ll update this section with this year’s stories as I find them. See more information and stories at the end of this post under For more information.
December 26: Oklahoma man doing target practice in his backyard accused of fatally shooting woman blocks away

For 35 years, I’ve been doing a job I hate, a job I shouldn’t be doing, a job that rightfully belongs to someone else—one that, because it deals with the most predictable crime of the year, should be part of our public health, safety, and justice systems: warning the offenders, appealing to the public, monitoring the responses, and tallying the bullets fired in celebration on New Year’s Eve. Here we are again, on the brink of another New Year, and the public safety systems of Acadiana are not fully engaged.

I really don’t want to do this job; it’s sad to know that every holiday season, I’ll spend time popping everyone’s happy holiday bubble by explaining how one shot fired in celebration can destroy an innocent life, miles away. But that’s exactly how it happens.

In the first minutes of 1994 in New Orleans, as fireworks lit the sky over the river, a bullet fired in celebration from who knows where smashed through the top of the skull of Amy Silberman, a young publishing professional from Boston, killing her instantly. Here is her friend’s eyewitness account.

How happy she must’ve been, celebrating the New Year in the City of Dreams. For her friends and family, that moment of joy was instantly transformed into a nightmare because of a stupid fool firing a gun for fun. It’s sickening to reimagine the horror of her friends, the shock and pain of her family, and how their trauma resurfaced every New Year for the rest of their lives. But every year, that’s what I think about and why I’m writing. It doesn’t assuage my trauma to do this.

For two years prior, I warned that such a horrible thing would happen, and my pleas fell on mostly deaf ears. I tried to get local media to recognize that a story needed telling. I called the popular radio talk show, the local news media, the police. Until Amy died, nobody took me seriously.

That morning, when I woke up to the news (and the media that had ignored me in the prior weeks flocked to my doorstep with microphones and cameras), it was one of the worst days of my life. I cannot describe the helplessness and shame that washed over me as I felt responsible for failing to raise awareness and spark action. That feeling haunts me as I write this and see the same thing happening here.

I’ve spent half of my adult life warning that falling bullets kill. And I have seen in New Orleans how consistent public messaging, civic leadership, and community reporting can reduce this most predictable crime. In the years after Amy’s death, we lowered the gunfire rate by more than 70 percent. By 2000, the effort was so effective that I stopped recording shots altogether because so few were happening. It took a coalition of families, faith leaders, police, media, and citizens to make that happen.

Since 2023, I’ve lived in Opelousas, and I’m hearing the same chaos I experienced in New Orleans decades ago, compressed into a smaller city with far fewer people, yet with a much higher rate of gunfire per capita than in some of America’s largest cities.

Because so few people believed me and treated me like Chicken Little, in 1991, I began counting gunshots. That first year, I counted more than 1,500. I counted more than 3,300 shots in an hour and a half the night Amy Silberman died. I heard more in some of the years before.

Last New Year’s Eve, from my home near South City Park, I counted nearly 400 shots in only thirty minutes, with 300 fired in a ten-minute window between 11:58 p.m. and 12:08 a.m. That is a rate of 30 shots per minute — the equivalent of a small town turning into a free-fire zone every New Year’s.

For perspective, consider this: New Orleans, a city 23 times larger, now averages under 500 shots across the whole city on New Year’s Eve. Adjusted for population, Opelousas now experiences nearly 20 times more celebratory gunfire per resident than New Orleans ever did, even at its worst. Per square mile of audible area, Opelousas’ gunfire density is more intense than Kansas City, Washington D.C., or Oakland.

This is not a little problem in a small town. This is one of the highest per-capita rates of celebratory gunfire in America — and it is happening right here, in Opelousas neighborhoods, above Opelousas homes, and over Opelousas children.

It only takes one bullet to kill. I have said that line countless times, and I mean it literally. One shot. One angle. One moment of stupidity. We don’t get a second chance.

Why This Keeps Happening

Celebratory gunfire is not a “gun control issue.” It is a self-control issue. It is also one of the most predictable crimes in the world. Midnight. Every time zone. Every year. And yet, we still treat it as though nothing can be done. That is false — dangerously false.

What We Learned in New Orleans

New Orleans didn’t change because people magically became responsible. It changed because the community mobilized: civic leaders, the mayor, the NOPD, regional media, churches, neighborhood groups, and most importantly, ordinary citizens

We flooded the city each December with a simple message: Falling Bullets Kill! Citizens were urged to call it in. Report what you hear. Do not let this pass as “tradition.” People listened. The numbers fell; lives were saved. Here’s a link to a poster we created that told stories of people impacted by celebratory gunfire.

What Opelousas Must Do Now

If citizens do not report gunfire, there is little that the government and law enforcement can do. Opelousas cannot wait for the sheriff or the police department to solve this on their own. Every one of us must participate.

Here is what you can do — starting this year:

1. Call 911 when you hear gunfire.

Don’t assume someone else will do it. Don’t wait until it’s over. If you know the street, address, or the general direction, say so.

2. Talk to your neighbors before New Year’s Eve.

Let them know you’re calling in any shots you hear. Let the word spread that Opelousas is not looking the other way.

3. Share the message:

Falling Bullets Kill! One shot can end a life. Every bullet fired has an innocent destination.

4. Demand that our civic, religious, and neighborhood leaders speak up and take a stand.

This is not political. This is not controversial. This is basic public safety. (The sheriff of Caddo Parish stepped up in 2024.)

5. Demand that city and parish officials treat this as a real, annual public safety event.

It is predictable. It is preventable. And the plan should be announced every year, well before December 31.

What We Cannot Do

We cannot wait for tragedy. We cannot pretend this is normal. We cannot let another community bury a child, a visitor, or a passerby because someone wanted a few seconds of thrill and noise.

A Community Resolution

Let’s make a resolution — as a city, as a parish, and as neighbors:

This year, Opelousas will not accept a rain of bullets as the price of celebrating the New Year. We can fix this. And with enough voices, enough reporting, enough public pressure, and enough community resolve, we can make sure that Opelousas begins 2026 with something it has not had in years:

A truly safe and happy New Year.

Screenshot of a logo we created in 1994 for the New Year Coalition, an organization I co-founded in New Orleans that significantly reduced celebratory gunfire after the death of Amy Silberman. This image appeared on billboards around town.

For more information:

A Bullet and the Story of New Orleans’s Dangerous New Year’s Celebrations: A bullet found in an HNOC couryard sheds light on a Nwe Year’s Eve tradition with a deadly history (Historic New Orleans Collection, December 30, 2019

Falling bullet goes through boy’s face on New Year’s Eve (WWL TV, New Orleans, January 2, 2022)

A dangerous tradition: retrospective analysis of celebratory gunfire-related injuries in three tertiary hospitals (NIH, research in Turkey) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11065979/

Past incidents show falling bullets can still kill or injure someone (South Bend Tribune, July 2, 2025)

What goes up, must come down: The dangers of celebratory gunfire (Baylor College of Medicine, December 31, 2019)

Virginia boy’s death from falling bullet prompts search for culprit, scrutiny of celebratory gunfire (AL.com, Aug. 10, 2013. July 4 incident, shows how the problem is not limited to one holiday season.)

DON’T PAVE OUR PARK!

Opelousas Deserves a Voice Before the Bulldozers Roll Again

UPDATE December 1: The groundbreaking is yet to be scheduled.

Any day now, the City of Opelousas is planning to hold a ceremonial groundbreaking for the proposed “multipurpose community center” in South City Park. I plan to be there, but city leaders already know where I stand.

What matters now is whether you will be there, and what message they see when they look out at the crowd.

Because unless we speak up, Opelousas is on the verge of making an irreversible mistake: demolishing a historic WPA-era pool complex and paving over green space without public input, without transparency, and without meeting federal requirements that are supposed to protect communities from exactly this kind of reckless decision.

1. DEMOLITION WITHOUT REQUIRED FEDERAL REVIEW IS NOT LEGAL

The bathhouse and pool were built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration—a historic public asset over 80 years old.

Any federally funded project that affects a historic structure must go through:

Section 106 review¹ under the National Historic Preservation Act
Public notice and public comment
Consultation with the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office²
Evaluation of alternatives (including sites that don’t require demolition)

None of this was done.

No public notice.

No hearings.

No historic review.

No alternatives analysis.

That is not just bad practice—it violates federal law attached to the funds they are using.

2. THE CITY CHOSE THE MOST EXPENSIVE AND RISKY SITE

If the goal is to build a gym or community center, there are multiple city-owned parcels that could host it with:

no demolition costs
no hazardous materials
no historic review
no environmental review
better drainage
lower site-preparation costs

Instead, the City chose:

a site requiring demolition of a sturdy WPA building
the removal of healthy, mature trees
potential drainage issues for surrounding areas and Bayou Tesson
more expensive foundations and earthwork
legal risk under federal environmental laws that could cause clawback of funding
a more costly construction path

Under federal law 2 CFR 200.404, all federally funded projects must demonstrate “reasonable costs.”³ Since this project is monitored monthly with payments disbursed via invoices rather than upfront, an audit six months from now could identify issues and halt funds, potentially requiring the return of spent funds.

As of today, the city has received no money from the state. The process for payments to the contractor will hinge on the city’s acceptance of invoices for work done, followed by the state agency’s approval and verification of work. With this system, checks to the contractor are issued by the city after the state disburses funds. It’s often a slow and complicated process with many approval and verification speed bumps. I have post-Katrina experience as a contractor on federally funded programs administered by the state to municipalities, and this multi-step process can lead to slow payments. I hope the Lafayette-based contractor realizes this.

3. THEY NEVER ASKED THE PUBLIC WHY WE USE SOUTH PARK, WHAT WE WANT OR NEED

There has been:

No park user survey
No citywide needs assessment
No analysis of youth sports demand
No demographic or enrollment trend data
No public workshops or listening sessions

Opelousas is making multi-million-dollar decisions without one shred of unbiased research. I’d refer you to the construction manual and bid documents that describe the project in detail, but the city never posted the request for proposals on their Advertisement for Bids page.

A project built on assumptions, whim, and envy for what wealthier communities have rather than evidence is destined to fail—and to cost taxpayers even more in the long run.

4. THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION—REQUIRED BY LAW—HAS NOT MET FOR FIVE YEARS

The city charter requires an independent Parks & Recreation Commission to guide decisions on:

park investments
all planning and new facilities
public processes and input
setting annual budgets, programming and policies
maintenance and upkeep

This body has been dormant since 2019.

Instead, decisions impacting the future of our parks—and millions of dollars—are made by a small, insular group of people, with no citizen oversight, no transparency, and no accountability.

5. ALL OF THIS IS HAPPENING WHILE THE CITY FACES A $1.85 MILLION HOLE IN ITS BUDGET

The city lost $1.85 million in revenue due to a four-month lapse in sales tax collection—an internal control failure because no one on the city’s payroll read the Legislative Auditor’s report for 15 years.

Instead of correcting course, tightening spending, or creating a public plan to stabilize finances, city leaders are:

taking on new long-term operational costs
committing to expensive facilities
draining half of ODDD’s sales tax revenue for 10 years
ignoring the budget crisis

This is not resilience.

It is not planning.

It is financial mismanagement at the moment we can least afford it.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: SHOW UP!

At this month’s ODDD meeting, a ceremonial groundbreaking “hopefully on December 2 at 10am” was discussed, but I’ve seen no announcements, and it’s not happening on that day. Ideally, they’ll post the plan. Then again, I suspect they only want to alert the news media and the small group of city and regional leaders who want to pave South Park into a plastic grass sports complex like Youngsville’s. Watch Historic Opelousas and Opelousas Downtown Development District Facebook pages for an announcement, and if I learn more, I’ll update this post.

In the meantime, city leaders need to see that this community values:

parks
green space
historic places
fiscal responsibility
the input and voice of the public

This is not about politics.

This is about our home—our most beautiful and inviting neighborhood park—our future.

Post comments on social media. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Show up. Bring a sign. Bring friends. Bring your voice.

Here are some simple sign ideas:

“DON’T PAVE OUR PARK”

“SAVE SOUTH CITY PARK”

“NO DEMOLITION WITHOUT PUBLIC INPUT”

“WHERE IS THE PARKS & REC COMMISSION?”

“LISTEN TO THE COMMUNITY”

“HISTORY MATTERS”

“THIS IS NOT COST-EFFECTIVE”

Stand quietly, but talk to the people there. Stand respectfully. Stand firmly.

Let them see that Opelousas is about all the people, not just a select few. That parks are for people of all ages and abilities. Natural spaces and learning about nature and gardening are the prerequisites for children’s health and well-being, and are more critical to developing life skills than indoor competitive sports.

Let them see that decisions made about our parks must include the people who actually use them!

If we don’t show up, they will say no one cared.

But we do care.

And this is the moment to prove it!

A photo by the author shows a south-facing rendering of the Conceptual Master Plan, created in 2022, which the city and ODDD continue to use while spending more money than ever in Opelousas’s 300-year history on non-infrastructure projects. This plan has never been published on the city’s or ODDD’s websites. To see it, you must visit the offices of St. Landry Economic Development on the I-49 Service Road, three miles from downtown. The plan proposes paving a large portion of the park’s natural green spaces for poorly researched sports facilities. Since no unbiased studies have been conducted, all decisions are based on whim and opinion rather than facts, surveys, or guidance from the legally mandated but unappointed Parks & Recreation Commission, the citizen-led “board of directors” for all public parks. This excessive spending and exclusionary planning reflect a severe neglect of duty by the city and ODDD.

This part of the park is one of the most popular and well-utilized areas. These swingsets are for kids only, and the one on the left was built in 1939. Everything you see in this photo will be demolished.

View of the current state of the pool. It’s in remarkably good shape, and there is no publicly available research indicating what it would cost to restore it. It is the largest pool in the city, and when it was constructed, it had its own well. The building is sturdy and in good condition. It was built with old-growth lumber and cinder blocks that are stronger than those available today. If demolished, it should be deconstructed and the materials salvaged.

Rear view of the pool complex. Everything in this photo will be demolished.

The site is popular for events and quiet contemplation. The walking path has become the most used feature in the park, attracting hundreds of walkers of all ages daily, many from nearby communities.

The Financial Cliff: Why Opelousas City Government Can’t Afford a 17,000 Square Foot Gymnasium

Design Failures, Federal Noncompliance Liabilities, and the Fiscal Reality We Can’t Ignore

Opelousas stands at the edge of a financial cliff. It’s not a metaphor. Between the city’s $1.85 million loss of sales tax revenue (updated 11-17 after City Council meeting), historic cuts to federal food assistance, inflation, rising insurance and housing costs, and a destructive federal shutdown, the economic floor is crumbling beneath our feet. This isn’t a short-term squeeze. It’s a systemic threat to the city’s future—and it’s being ignored in favor of ongoing, unaffordable vanity projects in South City Park.

The next step toward the financial cliff is the proposed “community center” now being hastily pushed forward without full public input, transparent financial planning, or credible alignment with its federal funding source. It stands as a symbol of bad planning, mediocre design, and poor governance.

What was originally a 17,000-square-foot double gymnasium in the South Park Conceptual Master Plan for a sports complex was quickly rebranded as a multi-use community resilience center to comply with the federal Capital Projects Fund (CPF) guidelines.¹ These guidelines require the facility to offer a variety of services and flexible spaces for technology access and community programming, all of which must be provided free of charge to the public.

Federal CPF requirements emphasize digital equity and community technology access, but the current design lacks structured wiring, IT closets, or dedicated broadband access areas. There is also no indication that co-working, telehealth, or digital literacy spaces are included in the interior layout. Additionally, the application to the state fund manager depends on loosely verified claims of public-private partnerships to justify the grant.

Federal funds like CPF are a bureaucratic minefield that only the hardiest of administrators handle well. At this week’s ODDD meeting, the paid lobbyist working on the project admitted they’ve been meeting weekly with the state to revise five sections of the application to meet US Treasury requirements, including design features and the production and proper retention of required support and verification documents.

Having experienced the floods and losses of Hurricane Katrina firsthand, I understand how challenging federal compliance can be. The scariest scenario is that if a failure or compliance violation is discovered after the center is built, the city could be responsible for repaying the funds. Given our history, it’s wise to assume this is a real risk going forward.

Despite being designed for sports, there are no showers, lockers, changing rooms, or much storage for equipment. Yet the city and ODDD believe this facility will attract travel league and other tournaments. With such significant design gaps, how can this building compete for tournaments when it lacks features every school gymnasium has? Since no unbiased research was conducted, no one truly knows if this facility could attract paying users.

The project’s other design flaws are more than just cosmetic and will increase operational costs and expenses that were not estimated during the initial planning. Failure to specify high-efficiency HVAC systems and design, and using dark metal cladding in a hot climate like South Louisiana, will increase energy bills, strain long-term maintenance budgets, and weaken claims of environmental or financial sustainability.

The plans also lack site-specific stormwater management features, even though the park is vulnerable to erosion when runoff drains toward Bayou Tesson. The building will generate nearly two acre-feet (more than 650,000 gallons) of runoff annually, yet features no window awnings, no rainwater buffers, and no designs that integrate the building’s voluminous runoff into the (mostly clogged) existing drainage system in ways that won’t overwhelm nearby streets and neighbors.

These choices reflect the same disregard that has defined this administration’s handling of parks, planning, and public trust: no Parks & Recreation Commission, no community workshops, no unbiased research, no cost-benefit analysis, and no meaningful space for public voice. Instead, the process has been top-down, opaque, and dismissive—a local government acting more like an autocracy than a steward of public dollars.

This isn’t just about bad design. It’s also about federal compliance and failures that could come back to haunt the city even after the money is spent. Based on federal rules outlined in 2 CFR Part 200 and Capital Projects Fund guidelines, this project likely fails to meet minimum standards for cost reasonableness, historic preservation, public input, and sustainability. It may also run afoul of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, given the landmark WPA bathhouse and pool slated for demolition.

Because federal funding requires most usage to be free, how will the city cover operational and maintenance costs, which are likely to exceed $100,000 a year (excluding staffing) and put further pressure on the budget?

This isn’t resilience or good governance. It’s a retreat from reality, the public, and financial responsibility.

In these increasingly challenging times, leadership involves more than ribbon-cuttings. It requires a commitment to truth, transparency, and long-term community well-being, with a priority of making Opelousas a well-managed place where people want to live. As I’ve stated before, too many of the individuals behind these costly plans do not reside here, and some of them are among the city’s and parish’s highest-paid employees. Is it too much to ask that we all share a vision of Opelousas as a place where people want to live, and let that guide us?

Before another dollar is spent, this project must be reevaluated for compliance, relocated to a more appropriate and less destructive site, redesigned for efficiency, affordability, and sustainability, and re-grounded in the public interest it claims to serve.

Because the only thing worse than walking blindly off a cliff is dragging a city with you.

The footnote below is the language of (and links to) the US Treasury Department that describes what funds can be used for. Note that the pictures are screenshots from the public bid documents, which were not posted on the city’s Advertisements for Bids page. Like the South Park plans, the bid docs remain missing from the city’s website. These plans and this spending are being done without the legally mandated oversight of the yet-to-be-appointed by the mayor Parks & Recreation Commission. The construction bid proposals are due and will be opened at City Hall on October 30 at 2pm.

Multi-Purpose Community Facility Projects: the construction or improvement of buildings designed to jointly and directly enable work, education, and health monitoring located in communities with critical need for the project. ↩︎

Site plan from public bid construction manual. Every X is a tree or shrub to be cut. Note the entire pool complex is set to be “removed” and the walking path re-routed.

Floor plan from the public bid construction manual. Note the lack of lockers, showers, and storage. The bathrooms are small and there are no designated flexible areas to comply with federal guidelines that the building accommodate “work, education, and health monitoring.” It’s a gym, and lacks the functionality and flexibility of most school gyms, making its use for tournaments questionable.

The Real Game in Opelousas Isn’t Football — It’s Accountability

A Letter to the Opelousas City Council Regarding the Absence of a Parks & Recreation Commission, October 14, 2025

Councilman Gilbeaux (and Colleagues):

Thank you for raising the issue of the absence of a Parks & Recreation Commission at the last Council meeting. You were right to bring it forward. A functioning Commission is not a formality—it’s the mechanism that ensures fairness, transparency, and public participation in decisions that affect every neighborhood and age group.

Today, Opelousas faces difficult choices. The new 17,000-square-foot “community center,” essentially a two-court gym, will add substantial operating and maintenance costs to the city’s strapped budget, on top of the new stadium’s ten-year $632,000 annual bond payment. Together, those facilities could approach $900,000–$1 million in yearly obligations—before staffing or programming. And the timing couldn’t be much worse.

With the shutdown of the federal government well underway, Opelousas will suffer disproportionately compared to wealthier communities, making the ongoing capital investments in youth sports facilities, in an era of declining birth rates and enrollment, doubly troubling. Never before has citizen participation and oversight been more necessary. Here are conservative figures for you to ponder as you work to manage the city’s shaky budget:

Indicator	Estimate	Notes
Population	15,750	2023 Census Data
Opelousas Median Household Income	$28,000	LA median $60,000, St Landry $42,000, US $80,000,
Poverty Rate	35%	Among highest in Louisiana
Percent of households under $30,000	60%	Most citizens are barely getting by
Renter Households	57%	Majority are cost-burdened
FY 2025 Budget Gap	$1.4m to $2m	4 months of sales-tax shortfall
Stadium & Track Bond	$632,000 / year	10-year ODDD obligation
Total New O&M Burden	≈ $900k–$1M / year	Debt + maintenance

Feeding families is economic development. The shutdown is already significantly impacting local food security and the local economy. Loss of SNAP and WIC dollars will exacerbate hunger, hurt local grocers, and shrink tax revenues. If the shutdown lingers, the impacts will be grave. Using conservative estimates of the number of people using SNAP and WIC, here’s how that looks:

Federal Nutrition Program Impact on Opelousas

Program	Estimated Beneficiaries (City)	Monthly Local Spending Loss in Local Economy	6-Month Shutdown Loss	Total Economic Activity Lost¹
SNAP	≈ 4,500 individuals, 30% of the population (~1,700 Households)	≈ $550,000 or under $125 per month per recipient	≈ $3.3M	≈ $5–6M
WIC	≈ 2,000–2,500 participants	≈ $250,000	≈ $1.5M	≈ $2.5–3M

¹Every $1 in benefits generates roughly $1.50–$1.80 in total local economic activity. Combined potential 6-month loss: ≈ $7–9 million—comparable to one full year of Opelousas’s sales-tax receipts.

An expensive-to-maintain and operate high school football and track stadium, along with an oversized basketball gymnasium, destabilizes our fragile economy and faltering budget. Paving South Park to transform it into a high-end limited-use sports complex will not cause anyone to stay here or to move here. Dependable infrastructure, clean water, good housing, and economic opportunities are what drive quality of life.

Every dollar spent on South Park sports plans is a dollar not available to invest in youth development in life-skills programs, tutoring, trades apprenticeships, or arts, music, and culinary education, which often have higher “bang-for-buck” in communities where children lack access. And who can afford the $20 ticket price collected at last week’s games? Are projections (if they exist) based on potential ticket revenue?

The ODDD, formed as a business development organization, mortgaged a decade’s worth of sales tax revenue, accruing more than a million dollars in interest and limiting the city’s ability to fund programs essential for building economic resilience and a better future for all Opelousas citizens. I call them the Opelousas South Park Sports Development District.

Over the ten years of that ODDD debt obligation, SLPSS student enrollment is projected to drop by 4,000. Due to the lack of citizen oversight and failure to conduct non-partisan research, the mayor and ODDD are planning and spending for a narrow demographic that not only doesn’t exist now but won’t exist in the future. The Opelousas they are building is based on memories and on desires to have what nearby wealthier communities have, not on a vision guided by science, data, and community input.

Re-establishing the Parks & Recreation Commission is a fiscally responsible way to realign priorities with community needs. It would give the Council a structured, citizen-based advisory process to guide maintenance, programming, and equitable access across all districts.

Right now, every major city project—from the stadium to the community center to City Hall to the library—is being designed by the same Lafayette firm hand-picked by the mayor. That’s not how public procurement is supposed to work. The Council and the people of Opelousas have had no opportunity to compare costs, credentials, or design philosophy. The total spent on these services remains hidden from public view.

This lack of process invites misuse and guarantees inefficiency. The first step in restoring accountability is to re-establish the Parks & Recreation Commission, followed by transparent procurement reform.

City government investment in high school sports is folly. High school sports are, and should be, the responsibility of school systems. We are all on this ship, and we all can help set a better course. Citizen participation is built into the city charter, if only the administration would adhere to it. Let’s do the right thing and reinstate the Parks & Recreation Commission.

Thank you again for your leadership on this issue. Please keep pressing for the Commission’s reinstatement—it’s an essential step toward building a more balanced and sustainable Opelousas.

Note: This post was updated on October 15, 2025 with information provided by the city accountant at last night’s meeting. The hole in the city budget, caused by the failure to hold a timely vote to renew the sales tax that expired on May 31, will likely reach $2,000,000 —a gap unlike any the city has faced in the modern era. This adds weight to the argument that adding more overhead via new, limited-use facilities that produce little or no income is fiscally and morally irresponsible.

Donald Gardner Stadium on September 11, 2025. A $10,000,000 investment that represents the largest non-infrastructure expenditure in city history.

Bypassing the People, Bulldozing the Park

How Opelousas leaders are ignoring federal rules, silencing public input, and risking long-term damage to the city’s future.

(September 12, 2025)This week, city officials—including the mayor, the CAO, the parks director, ODDD leaders and SLED staff, State Representative Dustin Miller, and the project architect—hosted ConnectLA representatives at South City Park to showcase the proposed site of a new multipurpose center. What they toured, however, is a public green space the city now plans to clear-cut, and a historic public pool and bathhouse the administration aims to demolish. Any day now, the city is expected to release the RFP for demolition and construction. Yet the public has still not been shown the final plans, nor been allowed to weigh in.

This entire process is unfolding in violation of both the spirit and likely the letter of federal grant guidelines. Funding for the proposed facility is to come from ConnectLA’s Gumbo grant program, with dollars from the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, which is intended to support community connectivity and broadband access. These funds are governed by strict federal standards ¹ under 2 CFR Part 200 ², the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) ³, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) ⁴.

Federal rules require that costs be reasonable, necessary, and well-documented. Publicly owned properties must be planned and procured through a transparent, equitable process. Decisions to demolish existing infrastructure and natural amenities—like the mature trees and historic pool in South Park—require environmental and historic preservation review. Yet no such analysis has been conducted and shared publicly, and the city has selected a more expensive, destructive, and less inclusive path without justification. This puts the project at serious risk of violating federal cost principles, procurement standards, and preservation rules.

At the September council meeting, Councilman John Guilbeau asked why the legally required Parks & Recreation Commission still does not exist. The city attorney, whose primary office is in Lafayette, shrugged off the question, calling it merely an “advisory body.” That is an incomplete answer. According to the city code, the Parks & Recreation Commission is the public’s policymaking voice on all park matters. Without it, there is no lawful framework for planning, budgeting, or evaluating this facility.

This lack of legal structure coincides with a dangerously irresponsible economic context. The Opelousas economy is facing massive pressure from federal SNAP cuts, rising health insurance costs, inflation, and looming reductions in Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. Local health care systems are already seeing cuts. Additionally, the city budget lost nearly $1 million in sales tax revenue over the summer due to the mayor’s and council’s failure to thoroughly read the annual city audit. Overall, as these effects increase over the coming months and years, our small economy could lose up to $3 million each month in purchasing power due to federal cuts, rising health insurance costs, inflation, and shifts in spending.

Meanwhile, newly released census data shows the national median household income is $83,730. In Opelousas, it’s less than $26,000. This gap is staggering. And it comes at a time when birth rates are declining and the city is not growing. Fewer children, fewer working-age adults, decreasing enrollment, and greater poverty mean we must spend public dollars with discipline and wisdom.

Instead, the mayor’s team has chosen a path of secrecy and spectacle. They plan to destroy a beloved, shaded section of South Park to build a sports-centered facility that may ultimately serve tournaments more than residents. They awarded several major city projects to a single Lafayette-based architect without transparency. They are adding debt and obligations without publishing operations budgets or maintenance costs. And they have never held a single citywide meeting to ask what residents want. (Here’s how a similar situation played out for New Orleans City Park.)

This is not how a poor city builds trust. It is not how public money should be spent. And it is not compliant with federal law.

Before any demolition occurs, the City of Opelousas must:

Reinstate and activate the Parks & Recreation Commission.
Halt all demolition and site clearing activities until a full environmental and legal review is completed.
Release the full project designs, budgets, and justification documents.
Explain the selection process and total payments to the project architect.
Conduct public meetings in every district to gather input and assess alternatives.

South Park is not a blank canvas for out-of-town architects and a small group of politicians and ODDD board members. It is one of the few remaining green spaces in the heart of the city—a space that serves people of all ages and abilities, families, seniors, walkers, artists, and outdoor gatherings of all kinds.

Opelousas doesn’t need another sports monument. It needs housing, jobs, clean water, safe streets, and a responsive government.

Let’s stop this demolition before it starts. And let’s rebuild the public process before we build anything else.

Without your voice, they are empowered to change the park permanently, and we’ll never get back that beautiful space. Tell your neighbors. Tell the mayor and council members. Tell your legislators. Tell ConnectLA. This is our park. This is our city. You are the key to Opelousas being the best it can be!

Here are their email addresses:

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. Alice Walker

The vast majority of the trees and all of the shrubs lining the parking lot border, including two mature oaks, will need to be removed for the multipurpose center. The large live oak on the border of Market (left side of the photo), as well as one of the oldest oaks in the park behind the kiddie pool (actually another historic feature, a fountain that once stood downtown), will be negatively impacted by construction. The entire pool complex is planned to be demolished and filled, adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of the project, a potential violation of federal grant guidelines when less expensive sites are available. (Photo by author.)

All of the trees and greenery here would be removed, including a mature, 50+ year old white oak, a similar age live oak and other healthy shade trees. This area is the most popular location in the park for annual community events, fairs, cookoffs, family reunions, and cultural traditions. The popular swing set for small children is also located in this area. (Photo by author.)

This is what would face the parking lot and loom over nearby homes. The dark colors will add energy costs due to heat gain and the industrial building design is out of character with the existing park flora and infrastructure. The architecture firm touts no sustainability, energy efficiency, or water management credentials, such as USGBC LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which indicate expertise in sustainability and thoughtful management of building impacts on sites, energy use, resource management, and nearby neighborhoods. Use of this site will radically impact the popular walking trail. Would you rather walk behind this building, or among shade trees, grass, and nearly century-old, sturdy historic buildings? (Screenshot from Lafayette-based DB Architecture’s webpage. This image is yet to appear on any city or ODDD website.)

Footnotes:

Publicly Owned Property and Procurement Standards
Since all properties in South Park are publicly owned, the decision-making process is subject to federal procurement rules emphasizing efficiency and economy. Without a strong, documented justification for demolishing historic assets and green space—rather than developing nearby vacant land—such actions may be challenged for violating these standards.
↩︎
Federal Cost Principles (2 CFR Part 200)
Federal awards require that all costs be “reasonable and necessary.” Choosing a significantly more expensive or environmentally damaging development site—when a viable, cheaper alternative exists—must be justified with evidence. Non-federal entities must maintain clear documentation explaining key decisions, including site selection.
↩︎
Historic Preservation Requirements (NHPA Section 106)
Federal agencies must consider the impact of funded projects on historic properties. Demolition of a historic building (including those eligible for—but not listed on—the National Register) requires a Section 106 review and may trigger mitigation requirements. “Anticipatory demolition” to avoid review can render the project ineligible for federal support.
↩︎
Environmental and Green Space Considerations
Federal grants often require environmental review under NEPA and EPA guidelines. These prioritize minimizing ecological damage and encourage the use of vacant or underutilized properties. Destroying public green space and mature trees—without clear benefit—may violate the intent and spirit of these regulations. ↩︎

A City Run from Afar: Why Opelousas Needs Leaders Who Live Here

Opelousas is a once grand old city rooted in grit, creativity, decay, and resilience. However, our potential is limited by a pattern too few confront: the people in city government making many of the most important decisions and earning the highest salaries don’t actually live here.

Our city attorney’s office is located in Lafayette. And, according to my sources, the Chief Administrative Officer, Public Works Director, Fire Chief (and his top assistant), as well as the head of parish economic development, all live outside the city and parish.

Exactly how many Opelousas public servants live elsewhere is yet to be fully disclosed. At the most recent Special City Council meeting, questions were raised, and answers are slowly leaking out. Comprehensive transparency remains elusive.

Some of these administrative leaders take home city vehicles. Some have special monthly car allowances. Some have both. All of them take home city or parish-funded paychecks. What they drive away from is a commitment to a fully vested stake in the well-being of Opelousas.

This is what you might call “administrative colonization”: a model in which public leaders extract salaries from a struggling, poor city while investing their lives and dollars elsewhere in a wealthier, better-run community. It’s not just problematic, it’s corrosive.

These are essential jobs, and we need the best people for them. But when those individuals don’t live in Opelousas, it disrupts the feedback loop that keeps local government accountable. They don’t commute on our streets every day. Their children aren’t enrolled in our schools. Their property taxes don’t support our parish or community. Their lawn signs aren’t visible during local elections.

That distance signifies a disinvestment in the community they serve. It represents a lack of faith in the people whose hard work and taxes fund their paychecks.

This isn’t about punishing individuals. It’s about exposing a system that rewards disconnection and undermines our progress. The fact that some of our highest-paid public servants don’t live here isn’t just a staffing problem; it’s a crisis of confidence and trust.

Would Lafayette tolerate this? Would any self-respecting city allow its leadership to be so externally rooted?

There are ways to change this. We can prioritize local residency in our hiring practices. We can offer assistance in helping city staff relocate. We can invest in leadership pipelines that lift up local talent. But first, we have to admit that it’s a problem.

We say we want Opelousas to grow, but growth doesn’t happen when we outsource belief. It occurs when people who love this place step up and make a commitment to living in the city they’re paid to lead.

If the highest-salaried positions in city and parish government are held by people who live, pay taxes, vote, and send their children to schools elsewhere, Opelousas taxpayers are unknowingly double-burdened and on the hook for supporting another community and parish. That kind of leadership results in fiscal and moral slippage, regardless of the qualifications of the people involved.

It is often said that if you want others to love you, you must first love yourself. Opelousas is the same way. If we want people to love our city, we need to love living here, and so do our highest-paid leaders. As we face an increasingly daunting future, this situation represents yet another investment that falls short of what is needed in the moment. We can and must do better.

We are all in this together, at least those of us who live here!

City of Opelousas, August 28, 2025, Special Council Meeting to discuss the budget. Screenshot from Historic Opelousas Facebook webcast.

A Shiny Stadium, a Crumbling City: Why Opelousas Must Follow the Law Before Spending Another Dime

Despite extreme economic uncertainty and without following the legal requirements of the city charter, the City of Opelousas is well underway with plans to demolish historic facilities, cut large trees, and spend millions on a multipurpose community center and stadium upgrades in South Park. That charter mandates the appointment of a Parks & Recreation Commission to provide oversight, public input, and manage all spending and activities. Yet this legally required body has been unappointed since 2019, meaning all these funds flow without proper legal or community review.

While South Park is set to receive more than $12 million to support a select group of young athletes, the public library—a vital community asset serving all ages and abilities—is crumbling. Current plans call for the library to receive just $500,000—far short of what’s needed for a comprehensive renovation or new facility.

Why Not a Community Center in the Center of the Community?

Among the dozens of vacant buildings downtown is the former Bordelon Motors across from City Hall. That site could be purchased affordably and redeveloped for a combined library and true multipurpose center, serving not just recreation but as a resilience hub, disaster shelter, public meeting space, and business incubator. This would truly be a “monument to the people of Opelousas,” as the mayor described the stadium. Wherever it’s built, the center should focus on real public needs, rather than being another limited-use sports venue constructed without oversight and driven by whim, ego, and unfounded hopes. Besides, there is no shortage of gymnasiums or high-end sports complex dreams in the region. These are the kinds of ideas and questions a Parks & Recreation Commission and caring city leaders need to discuss, in public.

A Youth-Sports Model the City Can’t Afford

Nationally, only 6% of high school athletes ever play in college—and even fewer receive scholarships. Meanwhile, the mayor, the ODDD, park leadership, and Rep. Miller are backing a youth sports–driven, multimillion-dollar blueprint that tears down historic facilities and paves much of South Park in concrete and plastic “grass” in the guise of economic development, banking on expensive tournaments, hopeful revenue streams, and high-end, high-maintenance facilities.

But Opelousas, with its 34% poverty rate and shrinking population, cannot support that dream. As the falling birth rate statewide impacts enrollment, the St. Landry Parish School District currently faces an estimated $7.9 million deficit, underscoring the misplaced focus on funneling dwindling public dollars into sports infrastructure while neglecting students and families who need education, food, healthcare, and social support. And the glaring fact is that high school sports should be financed and managed by school systems, not cash-strapped city government.

The Unplanned, Ongoing Cost That Nobody’s Talking About

Despite questions raised years ago about these projects, the city has yet to share any calculations of the cost of long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) for these proposed projects, nor has it specified where the funding would come from to support this new, ongoing expense. With nearly 30% of city revenue at stake in the upcoming August 16 sales tax referendum, its failure will trigger a budgetary disaster that will undermine all of the city’s current and future responsibilities.

Although my household supports the renewal of the sales tax, its passage faces strong opposition. The mayor is far too quiet in gaining support for the tax, and has not published a plan for how the cuts would affect services and staffing. Whatever his response to a reduced budget will be, here’s what I conservatively calculated as potential, and new, annual costs to operate and maintain the center and stadium. The sad truth is that estimates like this have not been shared or reviewed publicly to understand their impact on the city’s budget. These are sobering numbers.

Multi-Purpose Center (>5,000 sq ft, metal building with soaring ceiling in dark metal cladding)

Cooling and utilities: ~$35K–$50K/year
Insurance: ~$25K–$40K/year (Louisiana’s rates are sky-high)
Staffing: ~$50K–$80K/year
Repairs/Maintenance: ~$15K–$25K/year
Supplies/Equipment: ~$5K–$10K/year

Total: ~$130K–$205K/year

Donald Gardner Stadium (post-upgrades)

Utilities (lighting, scoreboard): ~$25K–$35K/year
Insurance: ~$15K–$25K/year
Maintenance: ~$20K–$30K/year
Event staffing: ~$10K–$20K/year

Total: ~$70K–$110K/year

Combined Operations & Maintenance Costs

Annual Total: ~$200K–$315K

Over 10 years, that’s $2M–$3.15M, in addition to approximately $1.4M in interest on the bond debt borne by the ODDD.

These recurring costs have no dedicated revenue source and will compete directly with other essential services, including police, streets, libraries, and social programs.

Ignoring the Charter Equals Breaking the Law

South Park spending is being conducted without the city charter’s required oversight by the Parks & Recreation Commission, thereby violating both our city code and the public trust.

This isn’t simply cutting corners—it’s illegal.

We Can—And Must—Expect Better

This isn’t about being for or against parks. It’s about expecting:

Transparency in all park expenditures.
Appointment of the Parks & Recreation Commission—now.
Public hearings before approving major projects.
Priority funding for essentials: a safe, modern library; downtown revitalization; disaster resilience.
Publicly shared analysis of long-term operating costs for all proposed facilities.

If charter violations continue, I’m prepared to file a Writ of Mandamus (any Opelousas lawyers out there want to join me?) to compel legal compliance before a penny more is spent.

Take Action—Protect Our City’s Future

Things are happening quickly. Your voice matters. Contact your council member, the mayor’s office, the ODDD, and your neighbors and tell them:

“Before any further demolition in South Park and spending on the multipurpose center happens, the mayor must appoint and seat the Parks & Recreation Commission, as required by law, to oversee his spending.”

We need compassionate, lawful leadership that utilizes science and community data to guide plans and spending. We expect our city leaders to do the right thing to represent us all, not carelessly spend based on the ego-driven “I want” of a few. Otherwise, Opelousas will continue to crumble and lose population, and people will wave at a shiny stadium as they leave for good.

Note: updated 8/12/25 to more accurately project bond interest based on the verbal monthly financial report given at the July ODDD meeting.

Concrete playing surface in place at Gardner Stadium, July 18, 2025. The end result is akin to playing tackle football on a parking lot covered by a thin layer of toxic plastic grass sprinkled with shredded tires.

Black asphalt running track and rolls of plastic “turf” ready to be installed at Donald Gardner Stadium, July 27, 2025.

My Response to the May 10 “Statement from State Representative Dustin Miller (District 40)”

Yesterday, Rep. Dustin MIller released a statement on his Facebook page regarding funding for South City Park and other projects in Opelousas. The following is my reply.

We wish the South Park plans only cost the million dollars allocated from COVID relief funds. That would be reasonable and responsible. However, this is only a token of the full cost of this extravagant plan that you and a small group of insiders have developed without proper public input.

You state, “No local city government tax dollars are tied to the Donald Gardner Stadium improvements, the Community Center, or library renovations.” That’s misleading. Every dollar beyond the COVID funds comes from sales taxes paid by people who live, shop, and work in Opelousas. That is public money administered by local government. And if transparency is your goal, where is the full accounting of South Park spending—past, present, or proposed? To date, none has been provided.

The stadium renovation alone is projected to exceed $10 million, primarily funded by the Opelousas Downtown Development District (ODDD) through an additional one-cent sales tax collected at big-box stores. The ODDD issued municipal bonds to finance this, locking us into 15 years of debt, plus nearly $2 million in interest and fees, costs that are omitted from public statements. And if transparency matters, why are these decisions being made without the legally required oversight of a Parks and Recreation Commission, which the mayor has failed to appoint since 2019?

Then there’s the choice of location. The community center is planned for the site of the WPA-era pool—an area that requires destroying popular greenspace, major construction demolition, and subsequent fill that must meet engineering standards, all costly and unnecessary when vacant land is available nearby at a fraction of the cost.

Here’s an idea: Why not build the community center in the center of the community, where it could anchor downtown revitalization and support library programming? That’s the kind of impactful investment the ODDD is supposed to be making.

Meanwhile, the project lacks even the most basic financial planning. No published operations or maintenance budgets exist for the stadium or the proposed community center. Who will pay for utilities, insurance, staffing, janitorial services, or long-term upkeep? Artificial turf fields require specialized maintenance equipment and must be replaced every 6–10 years, at over $1 million per replacement cycle. Where is that money coming from?

Other communities have learned the hard way: these facilities are expensive and rarely break even. The original private funder walked away from nearby Pelican Park because annual costs were too high. That should be a cautionary tale, not a model.

All this unfolds while the city teeters on the edge of a fiscal cliff. On May 31, Opelousas will lose the source of 29% of its annual revenue due to the overlooked expiration of a long-standing one-cent sales tax. At the same time, our core infrastructure is in crisis. After this week’s rains, raw sewage is spewing from manholes, flowing onto residential streets, and into waterways that empty into the Vermilion River. Brown water continues to pour from our taps. Experts estimate that repairing our water systems alone will take $20–30 million. Securing funding for those repairs should be everyone’s top priority, because we are one incident away from a significant public health crisis.

Yet, your focus—and the ODDD’s—has remained fixed on a flashy, limited-use stadium and recreation complex, not the urgent needs of a city with crumbling infrastructure, an aging population, and one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.

This isn’t just poor fiscal management—it’s misfeasance.

If you want the public’s trust, stop issuing misleading statements that justify these lavish and poorly researched plans. Opelousas needs investment in water, streets, housing, and jobs, not in distractions dressed up as progress.