I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the letter to your newspaper regarding the introduction of House Bill 887 for the City of New Iberia Redevelopment Authority.

Although it is not my choice to respond to this type of political attack, this letter attempts to discredit and grossly misrepresent the works of a number of people in our community and I am compelled to defend the work of these individuals and in turn, our desire to create and establish an entity that will derive great benefits to our city and its residents. I apologize for the length of my response, but several months of hard work went into the drafting of this bill and the author’s letter containsincorrect or false information in every paragraph.

The creation of the New Iberia Redevelopment Authority through HB 887 is an effort that involves several groups and individuals within our City.  Mayor Hilda Curry, City Clerk Elmire Elledge, Mr. James Lockwood of the Hopkins Street Economic Development District, Ms. Sylvia Davis of the West End Council of Neighborhood Associations, Ms. Lorna Bourg and Ms. Marva Porter of Southern Mutual Help Association, and Mr. Mike Tarantino of the IDF and the Iberia Economic Development Authority have been meeting as a group over the last several months discussing the benefits of the establishment of this authority. At the request of these groups and the city, I agreed to prepare the legislation for the creation of the Authority. This proposed Authority’sresponsibilities will provide our City with the tools necessary to assist in the elimination of distressed, blighted and abandoned properties. The Authority’s duties will be focused on residential, recreational, commercial, educational and industrial properties to encourage and promote the healthy redevelopment of all areas of the City. The reference to “low-income housing” by the author is not included in any language of this legislation. The purpose of the bill is clearly written on page 2 of HB 887, “to encourage the provision of healthful homes, safe neighborhoods, a decent living environment and adequate places of employment for the people.” I don’t know of any community in the country that wouldn’t want this for its citizens but the author(s) implies that this would not be acceptable economic development.

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The author’s comments regarding my filing of the bill at the last minute, with no one knowing about it indicateshow little he understands the process.  Legislators introduce bills prior to every session based on specific deadlines.  Local bills, such as this, are not required to be pre-filed and are required to be advertised in the local official journal. The public notice announcing the introduction of this bill was advertised twice in your newspaper, the first week of April. The City Council at its regular meeting on May 5 adopted a resolution of unanimous support for this legislation. I hardly consider that “sneaking it in at the eleventh hour” as the author(s) implies. It is a waste of all of our time to have to respond to such a misinformed person who obviously does little research before feeling the need to address you, the editor. 

The author(s)’ comments regarding the Authority’s ability to tax are alsoincorrect.  All political subdivisions of the State of Louisiana are initially granted a number of rights, duties and powers and one of these is the right to collect a tax.  He incorrectly states that both this Redevelopment Authority and the Iberia Economic Development Authority were established to increase taxes on residents.  BOTH bills have specific language that any levy of tax by these authorities requires voter approval.

His next incorrect statement was that this Authority will have the right to expropriate or take property from citizens.  Clearly stated on page 7 is that the Authority will NOT have any power to expropriate, unless granted by the appropriate governing authority, which in this case, is the City of New Iberia. 

The most unfortunate part of this totally inaccurate letter is the author’s comments about Southern Mutual Help Association and its relationshipwith IBERIABANK. The bank’s relationship with SMHA dates back over 20 years and includes many successful partnerships. Southern Mutual is a nationally recognized organization and their mission of helping families work toward home ownership involves many banks and organizations across the state and country. The City of New Iberia and SMHA have recently partnered in an important effort to bring revitalization and redevelopment to the West End neighborhoods of the City. The creation of this Authority will help serveas the driver to assist in bringing this plan to reality.  One of the most important opportunities is that the Authority can qualify for federal funding on a number of revitalization projects – most of which don’t qualify for funding without the existence of established redevelopment authority.  For any redevelopment to be successful, partnerships like these are necessary and encouraging individuals, businesses and community organizations to participate is the main ingredient.  Real estate professionals, construction companies, individual land owners, non-profit organizations and banks will need to partner to make any of these efforts successful.  IBERIABANK will be a part of this effort by donating our time, money and employee participation to make our community stronger – just as we have for over 120 years. 

My intentions with this response was to correct the gross misrepresentations made by the author of this letter.  With his repeated attempts to discredit my work as a legislator and business ethic as the President of IBERIABANK, he also insulted the work of many other individuals. Although your paper could not identify him at the time I prepared this response, it is unfortunate that I know precisely who he is. I would ask the community, the City administration and the community partners who worked so diligently to bring this positive piece of legislation to our community, please continue to do the work that means so much to our citizens and acceptmy thanks for investing their time as volunteers to bring positive change. Maybe the author could leave his typewriter for a while and do the same.

Taylor F, Barras

State Representative, District 48

NEW IBERIA