CenLamar: On Life in Louisiana

Here. Lee Ann’s incredible, and this morning, she delivered a moving and heartwarming eulogy to her husband. Kudos to KALB for posting most of it online.

It’s been a tough few days for the City of Alexandria. We lost one of our champions.

CenLamar will be displaying a picture of Les Whitt on the sidebar, and this picture will remain until Phase Two of the African Experience exhibit is completed. We need state and federal support to make this happen. And we need the support of everyone in the Central Louisiana community.

Les’s dear friend and fellow musician Bud Albright wrote a fitting tribute to him in today’s newspaper.
Quoting:

I got to know Les better when I worked with the mentally handicapped at John Eskew Training Center right next door to the zoo at that time. He and I shared a love for music and soon became good friends. Gary Perkins, who owned Spirits back then, told Les and I that we should come check out this blues singer that had been frequenting his club named B.B. Major. Both Les and I were looking for someone to work with and Gary had informed us that B.B. was not happy with the musicians he was working with. We both agreed to talk with B.B to see if he wanted to do something; he did. With the support and financial help of Gary, Dr. Greg Gormanous, and a few others, Les and I took Maj into the studio and recorded him with some success.

We were soon sending the CD all over the world to blues fans who wrote letters and visited our Web site on a regular basis telling us how much they liked the music.

We even scored a No. 2 spot on the charts of a Dallas blues station and appeared in several major national blues publications.

Another CD followed and we were invited to perform regularly at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Maj was inducted into the Louisiana Hall of Fame and from one of our Jazz Fest performances asked to star in a Folgers Coffee commercial that aired nation wide.

Here.

(Jack Hanna and Les Whitt. Photo: The Town Talk)

My thoughts:

Throughout the past two years, I’ve learned to appreciate and understand Les’s vision for the Alexandria Zoo. And I use the word “vision” purposely, because Les was a visionary. He single-handedly turned the Alexandria Zoo into a world-class facility. Just three weeks ago, Les was envisioning the Alexandria Zoo as a model for energy sustainability. Quoting:

Maybe we should consider some solar generated designs for this area of Masonic Drive; something environmentally friendly, identifying Alexandria as a “green community.”

I had the privilege of working with Les on a few projects. I can personally attest to the value of his wisdom, insight, and experience.

He was always ahead of the curve. He was always plotting, inventing, and thinking. He was an innovator in his field, an educator to tens of thousands, a vibrant force of life.

And he was a true and authentic champion for his community.

His absence is already felt. He leaves a huge gap in the fabric of our city.

Update: Louisiana Trekker- a travel blog focusing on 29 North and Central Louisiana parishes- offers a timely post on their family’s recent visit to the Zoo.

And here’s the latest piece of Les Whitt fan mail (written just two days before he passed):

Dear Mr. Whitt,

Your zoo is wonderful…. I must admit when I read about it on your website, I thought we would be able to see it all in a couple of hours before our appointment. Boy was I wrong. I think we may have walked through about half of the zoo. What we did see was GREAT! We also took a ride on the train as my three year old son loves trains. It was so much fun. We are planning a trip back in October. We live in North Louisiana south of Bossier.

Thank you for providing such a great family activity. Not only was our trip fun but it was also educational. Our son is still talking about all of the animals and can’t wait for our next trip.

Update Two: Les’s memorial service will be held on Wednesday at 10AM at the Riverfront Convention Center in Downtown Alexandria.

Mayor Roy’s remarks:

Thousands of families will never overcome this loss of a true son of Alexandria. From the Administration, the City Council, and every department, we extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, to the zoo community and its friends, and to all citizens of central Louisiana.

Les was given a second chance at life, an opportunity he made the most of, crafting a sustainable legacy that will live as long as Alexandria does. In addition to losing the indispensable leader of the city’s most recognized quality-of-life institution, artists and musicians lost a true friend and fellow professional–as did organ donor advocates. From production supervision to being a fine musician in his own right, Les served our community’s recreational and educational missions. As a zookeeper, he was routinely extolled by Jack Hanna as one of the industry’s best. As a musician, B.B. King counted Les a member of the family.

As a citizen, we know Les the paragon of selfless action for his fellow man–the highest contributor to others and his community, the one who does so from real altruism and deep character.

KALB is breaking the story online.

Les Whitt, beloved Director of the Alexandria Zoo, passed away this morning at 6:38am at Ochsner’s Medical Center in New Orleans after a brief illness.

Les had been Director of the Zoo since February of 1974, and worked tirelessly to build the Zoo into what it is today. He was passionate about the popular local attraction and was frequently praised by American zookeeper Jack Hanna. The zoo features more the 600 animals from around the globe.

Les was also responsible for the Louisiana Habitat exhibit, which received an award from Louisiana Contractors magazine for best public facility in 1998 and won an AZA award (Significant Achievement Award in 2002), as well as the zoo becoming accredited by the American Association of Zoological Parks in 1986.

Les was utterly unique. Compassionate, generous, kind. He gave and gave and gave. Each of us who knew him, knew how blessed we were to share a few moments of our life with him.

Although what we’ve lost is tremendous, what he gave us is immeasurable.

Our deepest sympathy goes out to Leann, Sarah, and Hannah, as well as the many others who knew and loved him

I’ve just learned the shocking and sad news that Alexandria’s beloved Zoo Director, Les Whitt, passed away this morning.

More later… I’m still in disbelief. It’s a devastating loss– not just for the Zoo but for the entire community.

See also: AlexCenla’s “We Lost a Good Man Today.“

We’re gearing up for the next Summit on Sustainability, which we hope to be held sometime in the next six to seven months. This time, instead of focusing on bread and butter smart growth issues like physical infrastructure, in-fill, preservation, and energy, we’ll be expanding our scope– using smart growth as a framework to discuss public safety and education.

Arguably, education and safety are the most important “infrastructural” investments you can make in your community, and they should be key components of any redevelopment plan.

Anyway, if you have any suggestions — speakers, topics, etc.– please leave a note. More later…

McCain:

Obama:

Earlier today, an anonymous blogger on a local anonymous blog linked to an article in The National Review concerning “demographic inversion,” which seems to be a roundabout way of describing the unintended effects of gentrification in large central cities.

The blogger wondered whether demographic inversion was somehow a part of the discourse of smart growth, implying that I (personally) secretly espouse this notion yet carefully couch my discussions in the language of smart growth. Quoting from the blogger:

It seems that I have stumbled across the real motivations of Lamar White, racism and elitism.

Came across this long story about how rich, white Chicagoans are pushing out blacks and immigrants for housing in downtown.

Link

Isn’t that what Lamar calls smart growth?

However, the story admits that it doesn’t solve the city’s problems, just shuffles them around.

In fact, this quote pretty much sums up the futility of wasting tax dollars on downtown: “Joel Kotkin, perhaps the most prominent of the downtown debunkers, declares flatly that, until families begin turning up in significant numbers on downtown streets, we are talking about a blip rather than a major cultural phenomenon.”

Why are we spending $40 million for a blip? It’s policy that our young mayor seems to unfortunately been sucked in to.

I highly encourage people to read the entire piece and then comment on whether or not they reach the same conclusions. The piece is not about Chicago, which this blogger would have recognized had he or she actually read past the first three paragraphs. It’s about national market trends, shifting demographics, and the reinvestment in inner cities (and with that, the “inversion” of certain development patterns).

But either way, Chicago, which I recently visited and blogged about, is - obviously- very different than Alexandria. In Alexandria, there isn’t any housing downtown, so there aren’t any people to hypothetically “displace.” Our downtown, like many downtowns across the nation, is primarily office and retail space.

What we’re seeing in Chicago is a reflection of the changing lifestyle habits among younger working class professionals and even retirees. The changing demographics of the inner city, in other words, is actually a function of market demand, not a symptom of some nefarious racist and classist policy agenda.

The National Review piece says as much:

Ultimately, though, the current inversion is less the result of middle-aged people changing their minds than of young adults expressing different values, habits, and living preferences than their parents. The demographic changes that have taken place in America over the past generation–the increased propensity to remain single, the rise of cohabitation, the much later age at first marriage for those who do marry, the smaller size of families for those who have children, and, at the other end, the rapidly growing number of healthy and active adults in their sixties, seventies, and eighties–have combined virtually all of the significant elements that make a demographic inversion not only possible but likely. We are moving toward a society in which millions of people with substantial earning power or ample savings can live wherever they want, and many will choose central cities over distant suburbs.

Incidentally, the writer believes this is actually a good thing:

In the 1990s, a flurry of academics and journalists (me among them) wrote books lamenting the decline of community and predicting that it would reappear in some fashion in the new century. I think that is beginning to happen now in the downtowns of America, and I believe, for all its imperfections and inequalities, that the demographic inversion ultimately will do more good than harm. We will never return–nor would most of us want to return–to the close-knit but frequently constricting form of community life that prevailed 50 years ago. But, as we rearrange ourselves in and around many of our big cities, we are groping toward the new communities of the twenty-first century.

It is critical to recognize that he is speaking specifically about large American metropolises and the rearrangement occurring on a massive scale in those cities. Again, this rearrangement has much more to do with market demand than with public policy, and it’s not something that the 49,506 people living in Alexandria need to be preoccupied with, at least in terms of our own redevelopment strategy.

Smart growth isn’t about displacing neighborhoods; it’s about strengthening neighborhoods. And this isn’t done through pie-in-the-sky projects (though certain catalytic developments can make a difference); it’s done by improving infrastructure and accessibility, increasing home-ownership, and reducing crime. Of course, one would be naive to think that displacement never occurs, but if you are careful and deliberative and if you directly involve the community, large-scale displacement can be mitigated. Neighborhoods and the community spirit they foster can be strengthened.

I fully recognize the dialectic between gentrification and displacement. I’ve written about it in the past. But, in short, although we should guard ourselves against the negative effects of gentrification, S.P.A.R.C. seeks to strengthen existing neighborhoods through targeted investments in infrastructure; it does not seek and does not intend to displace. It simply recognizes that decades of neglect have created blight and that certain corridors have long deserved our attention.

Today, Alexandria lost one of its most respected community leaders and businessmen, A.C. Buchanan, who served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Rapides Regional Medical Center.

During his tenure at Rapides, he oversaw an incredible period of growth, and because of his stewardship, Rapides remains as one of the best hospitals in the State of Louisiana, servicing a 12 parish area of more than 400,000 people.

He wasn’t just a businessman; he was an important part of the community. And he will certainly be missed.

Mr. Buchanan died after battling leukemia. He was only 56 years old.

My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Buchanan’s family during this difficult time.

Update: This video reminds us about the parallels between the media narratives of Ronald Reagan’s and Barack Obama’s Presidential campaigns. And no, this wasn’t put out by the Obama campaign, and though I disagree with some of its implications, I think it’s instructive for us to all take a step back and recognize the ways in which certain themes repeat themselves in the media narratives of elections.

I’ve been blogging elsewhere about the recent McCain ads.

This:

and this:

I wonder how this type of ad plays locally.

The first ad– the one featuring Louisiana’s own Britney Spears alongside Paris Hilton, whose family actually donated to the McCain campaign–attempts to reduce Obama as a generic and vacuous “celebrity,” someone whose fame is either inherited or the result of an ephemeral teenage infatuation.

Ostensibly, the message was about energy policy, but for all intents and purposes, the ad was about framing Obama as an inexperienced, elitist, dilettante “celebrity.”

It’s a big risk. The ad can only work if– throughout the next 90 or so days– McCain can convince enough Americans to believe Obama is inherently unqualified, and that he is, in fact, the only qualified candidate.

This will inevitably raise the question: What does McCain mean by qualified and “ready to lead”? When you’re attempting to raise this question against a candidate like Obama, you’ll run into a wall of information demonstrating his qualifications (which have already been tested and vetted during the primaries).

Regarding the second ad, I agree with David Gergen:

There’s also a big risk in attempting to paint Obama as the “Other” or to cloak him in Otherness.

Certainly, we can all agree that the notions of identity and allegiance and unwarranted “celebrity” (which is, in and of itself a media creation, one in which McCain also benefited from when he returned from Vietnam) have little place in a debate between two qualified, though distinctly different, candidates.

There are much more important and pressing issues– issues that we should collectively feel compelled to debate… which is why when campaigns decide to throw millions of dollars and thousands of hours into broadcasting, supporting, and defending their peripheral attacks, you have to wonder why they’re not waging combat on the actual battlefield.

Unfortunately, it looks as if the once-touted YouTube debate in New Orleans won’t happen.

With less than a hundred days out, there’s just not a heck of a lot of time to fit in a fourth (and I suppose “unofficial”) Presidential debate.

A proposed YouTube/Google presidential debate in New Orleans next month appears unlikely to happen.

In accepting the four official Presidential Debate Commission scheduled debates - one of which would be for the vice-presidential nominees - the Barack Obama campaign said late Saturday that there probably isn’t enough time for any additional debates.

OK. If there’s really not enough time, then at least make some time during the three other debates to talk specifically about New Orleans and the issues affecting the Gulf Coast– models of rebuilding, the continued and persistent problems with levee protection, Cat 5 commitment, the vulnerabilities of our oil and gas infrastructure, overhauling FEMA, and ensuring for the effective expenditure of disaster relief funds in the future, to name a few.

How could anyone forget?

H/t to Humid Haney:

Notice the trailer contains the song “What a Wonderful World,” which was first recorded by Louisiana’s own Louis Armstrong.