Ville Platte City Council discusses loitering at meeting

The Ville Platte City Council played host to a packed and lively crowd at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening. City residents were focused on solving two pressing problems in the city: loitering and flooding.
Robert LaFleur opened the discussion of loitering by asking the Council to do address the problem, especially on North Chataignier Street.
“I’m here to ask you, what can be done about people walking in the streets all hours of the day and night?” LaFleur asked. “They walk in the middle of the street and expect cars to go around them. They’ll curse you out. Someone is going to get hurt.
“Chataignier Street is so bad, it’s a shame,” he said.
LaFleur said that he believes that the loitering is part of the problem with an increasing number of burglaries.
“You need to stop this as soon as possible,” he said. “The worse it gets, the harder it’ll be to stop.”
LaFleur asked whether or not the police could arrest people who are out late and walking in the street.
“If you want to call in a problem and be a witness,” said Police Chief Neil Lartigue, “then we can build a case and take them to court.”
LaFleur told Lartigue that there wouldn’t be much cooperation from people acting as official witnesses.
“For people to tell you who’s doing it, you’re going to be waiting a long time,” LaFleur said.
Councilman Bryant Riggs admitted frustration with the attitude that stops people from cooperating with the police.
“That’s the problem,” Riggs said. “Nobody wants to step up to the plate and tell what’s going on. People need to start telling what they see. We need the citizens’ cooperation.”
LaFleur said that part of the problem is a lack of trust between the community and the police.
“People might not mind telling you,” LaFleur suggested, “but you’ve got to treat them like you respect them.”
Councilman Mike Perron told LaFleur that the City tried to solve the problem with a curfew ordinance.
“We tried,” Perron said, “but the ACLU took us to court, and we lost. But we did try” to pass laws to address the situation.
Mayor Jennifer Vidrine said that the city’s crime cameras could be used to dispatch units when the police see crowds loitering. She even suggested that video evidence could be used to prosecute people identified in the videos.
“And, I want to remind parents that there is a curfew for children under 17-years-old,” Vidrine said.
The curfew begins at 10 pm on weekdays and at 11 pm on the weekend. Parents can be cited and brought to court for improper supervision of a juvenile.
Vidrine called on Lartigue to step up patrols in the problem areas. “Maybe a police presence will deter walking in the street and loitering.”
Vidrine specifically cited three “problem spots” that she would like the police to give special attention to: the corner of MLK Drive and Dr. Carver Street; on Main Street near the Bulldog Sports Lounge; and at the Exxon station at the corner of Main and Chataignier streets.
“I am asking the police department to write tickets, write citations, for loitering,” Vidrine said. “Write tickets. Don’t just ask people to be quiet.”
The mayor was especially appalled at the reports she saw and heard on Easter Sunday.
“Monday morning after Easter, it was just a garbage trail down Main Street,” Vidrine recounted. “People were throwing trash, throwing up, and pissing in public. I’m sorry to be so vulgar, but that what happened. It’s disgusting.
“People were afraid to pass on Main Street because they were getting things thrown at them,” Vidrine said.
Lisa Crane, who owns Uptown Cakes, just a few doors down from the Bulldog, urged the City to reign in the problem of loitering and profane behavior. Crane has a problem of people hanging out in her parking lot – even though she ropes it off so that people don’t use it – and leaving both the lot and her business littered with trash and human waste.
“Police will tell people to move, and the people will drive away, only to come right back,” Crane said. “I am tired of warnings, tired of letting things slide.
Crane reported examples of what she has to put up with, behaviors that she has recorded on her surveillance cameras.
“I get harassed for asking people not to park on my lot,” she said. “Three people threw up deliberately on my property – one person did it six times.
“People urinate on my building and expose themselves on purpose to my cameras,” she continued. “I constantly have to clean up broken glass from my parking lot.”
“Ordinances need to be enforced. The littering, the loitering, the nudity – it’s got to stop,” she said. “Does anybody have a plan of action?”
Crane said that she does not blame Bulldog owner JC Ceasar for the problem.
“That’s a good guy,” Crane said. “I’ve got nothing against him or his workers. He and I have talked about the problem numerous times. He even pays to have my property cleaned.”
Riggs offered a solution that he said he’s been pushing since he was elected to the Council a few years ago. He said that he will be introducing an ordinance that would require all bars in the city to have a commissioned law enforcement officer on the premises on the weekends from 10 pm – 2 am.
If the ordinance is introduced at the June 12 meeting, then a public hearing would be held on it before the July meeting. The ordinance would be voted on at the July meeting.
When Perron said that he talked to some bar owners about a private security solution, they complained about the cost.
“If a bar can’t pay $80 a night to protect its customers, something’s wrong,” Riggs responded.
Lartigue and Riggs suggested that the overtime budget for the police department could be increased to allow officers to monitor the problem areas, at least until the new ordinance would be passed. Vidrine said that there was no room in the budget to allow that.
The largest part of the crowd present at the meeting consisted of residents from flooded areas across the city, especially the Shady Acres neighborhood. Their concerns were addressed by Vidrine in her Mayor’s Report.
Vidrine told the crowd that she was going to dedicate money in next year’s budget specifically for addressing the widespread flooding across the city. The new budget year starts July 1. “We will begin addressing the problem this summer, in July,” she said.
Vidrine said that the City would clean and dig out ditches and remove and replace improper culverts. According to Vidrine, the City has the authority to make any corrections that it needs to do in order to improve drainage.
Vidrine told the crowd that the City would examine existing culverts. If a culvert is deemed by the city engineer to be either too small or at an improper angle, it would be removed. Vidrine said the culverts would be replaced.
After the meeting, Vidrine told The Gazette that culverts would be replaced if the city engineer deemed that doing so would provide the best drainage option. She said that she was not finished making next year’s budget; therefore, she could not say how much money would be dedicated to this effort.
During the meeting, the mayor said that the improvement efforts would begin along the western end of Hickory Street; along MLK Drive, from James Stephens Montessori School to Freddie Dunn Street; and in the Shady Acres neighborhood and along Natchitoches Road. The City would investigate other problem areas across the city.
Vidrine said that she had been in contact with US Congressman Mike Johnson. According to Rep. Johnson, she said, the problem lies in the Mermentau River, which receives the run-off from a large watershed that includes Ville Platte.
“The Mermentau seems like it’s far away from us,” she said, “but the water trickles back to us” when the river is stopped up.
Resident Greg Arnaud confirmed that the problem is multi-faceted. Arnaud has addressed the Council several times on this topic, including in 2015. He has urged the Council to clean out the city’s canals on a regular basis. But, he also said that good drainage depends on other factors.
“Almost all of the water from Ville Platte drains into either Bayou Joe Marcel (the west end) or Coulee Manuel (the east end),” Arnaud explained. “If those waterways are not maintained, then all the water will just back up into Ville Platte.”
Vidrine called on the citizens who were present at the City Council meeting to also appear at the Police Jury meeting to voice their concerns.
“We’re going to do everything we can do as a city,” Vidrine told the crowd. “However, it’s not just a Ville Platte problem. The Police Jury and other governmental bodies have to do their jobs, too.”