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MONDAY — Welcome back to the home stretch, everyone. 2020 has but one month of its torture left. For the time being, we can hang our hopes on a better 2021 — vaccines! — while we dig in through the end of the year. We’re right there with ya. A freeze is a great time to warm up with some optimism.
What’s something great that happened this year? Hit reply and share the good news. — Christiaan
Take a breath and read on for what matters in Lafayette.
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Here’s the latest coronavirus data
Changes reported since Saturday, the beginning of the CDC week:
- 220,421 (+1,625) confirmed cases statewide; 6,163 (+27) confirmed deaths
- 31,112 (+236) confirmed cases in Acadiana (LDH Region 4); 700 (+4) deaths
- 11,730 (+73) cases in Lafayette Parish; 146 (+1) deaths
- 220 hospitalizations in Acadiana; hospitalizations quadrupled in November
- 11.8% (up from 10.1%) positivity in Lafayette Parish reported between Nov. 12 and Nov. 18 — the latest data available
- Data collection paused for Thanksgiving and the weekend
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Guys, we need to talk about taxes
▸ The gist: Columnist Geoff Daily breaks the bad news: new taxes are inevitable to shore up the parish’s finances. Lafayette Parish is out of tricks. Raising enough revenue to plug detrimental holes in the budget without raising taxes is magical thinking.
▸ What about cutting expenses? There’s pretty much no fat on the bone. “Non-essential” spending is down across the board.
▸ What about sweeping funding balances? Been there, done that. Combined, all parish fund balances are projected to end the year with $24 million, down from $118 million in 2019.
▸ What about economic growth? That’s not a switch the council can flip, and new development takes years when new revenue is needed yesterday.
▸ Key passage: “It’s time we all wake up to the fact that our parish government is woefully underfunded, and that we need to do something other than just complain. If someone has a better way for our parish government to fix its financial woes without raising taxes, I’m all ears.” Read more from Geoff Daily
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On the agenda — Dec. 2
▸ The gist: It’s a council meeting week. Both councils will meet Wednesday, instead of the usual Tuesday. The agendas are comparatively lightweight as the year winds down. Here are the top items:
- Update on the prodigal Festival International
- Developers on the Less Pay Motel project want another $129,000
- Downtown curfew for minors
- Board seats, board seats, board seats
Read the rest of the council preview here
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ICYMI: Bending over backwards
▸ The gist: Louisiana moved back to Phase 2, but enforcement of existing restrictions hasn’t amounted to very much.
▸ Compliance checks resulted in inconsistent and infrequent penalties for businesses in violation. Records show state officials performed compliance checks the weekend of Nov. 20-21. Yet ATC took action against only two bars. The fire marshal’s office assumed an even softer approach, explaining the restrictions to owners and managers, hoping to encourage them into compliance. Read more from Leslie Turk
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In Brief
▸ Early Voting numbers are down. Like, way down. Just under 1 million people, about a third of the state’s voters, cast early ballots in November’s presidential contest; only about 15% voted early this time around. Some 6,000 voted early in Lafayette Parish during the runoff, down from close to 50,000. Runoff turnouts are usually lower than generals, but that’s a big drop off. There is but one statewide “election” — a constitutional amendment — so a decline was to be expected without a marquee race. How that affects the remaining local races — two judicial runoffs and the race for city marshal — is really unclear. More Democrats (3,243) voted early than Republicans (1,993). Republicans had the edge in early voting in November. We’ve still got that Election Guide running here.
▸ Have a very Covid Christmas … and a coronavirus New Year. Louisiana’s current modified Phase 2 restrictions are likely to be in effect through the end of the year. Hospitalizations were climbing fast ahead of the holiday, and we won’t know the impact of Thanksgiving gatherings for another couple of weeks, given the pace of the virus. The same recommendations are likely to hold: Keep gatherings small and within your bubble. One idea reader James Proctor floated in our Facebook group: swap dishes with your neighbors or family. Y’all bring the turkey. I’ll bring the trimmings.
▸ Hurricane season is over. What’s that wind? A collective sigh of relief. And it’s bringing in the year’s first big cool front. The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is over, and it broke a lot of records — generally not the kinds of records you want broken. 2020 produced 30 named storms, the most on record, the strongest storm to hit Louisiana since the 19th century (Hurricane Laura) and made its way through most of the Greek alphabet. Yes, climate change is a factor here. Two thousand are still in hotels, waiting to get home. Louisiana and other Gulf states will be planning for the worst for some time to come.
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DATES AND RESOURCES
- Dec. 1 — Deadline to request a mail-in ballot
- Dec. 4 — Deadline to return a mail-in ballot
- Dec. 5 — Election Day
- Community roundtable on Covid restriction enforcement with representatives of LDH, ATC and Acadian Ambulance; Tuesday, 11 a.m. at the Carencro Community Center
- An unprecedented number of Acadiana households and individuals are without shelter this winter; give some warmth with a donation here
- No-cost Covid testing Nov. 30 - Dec. 4
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Mostly relevant reads
Covid-19 hits hard for South Louisiana’s musicians NPR
Divisions emerge over when Covid-19 vaccines will be available — and for whom STAT
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