Capstone and Facts
Today June 8th, KATC TV-3 gave the issue of the proposed development of student apartments in Freetown some coverage. The story is available here (you will need to have JavaScript enabled to see the story). When interviewed for the story, Kent Campbell, Executive Vice President of Capstone Development said, "This will be the first development in decades that is on the campus edge - students can walk to campus". It appears that Capstone has not heard about the Legacy Park apartments, that are owned and operated by UL. They also seem to have unrealistic views about student behavior -- students who live in Freetown currently, do not 'walk to campus' (see the discussion of the traffic issue, below). Of course, this is the same gentleman who (totally implausibly) claimed that Capstone had spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on plans for the proposed project, at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at which their application was unanimously denied. If Capstone executives are prepared to be 'economical with the truth' on such simple matters, what are we to make of their claims that their development will be 'upscale' and 'beneficial to the neighborhood'?
posted by Save Freetown at 12:35 AM
3 Comments:
I have lived in Eugene, Oregon, Champaign/Urbana, Illinois, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, all of which have Capstone complexes. They are not upscale, although they can look sort of respectable for the first few months (before they start to deteriorate due to poor construction).
Freetown has a few run-down houses in it, but the buildings themselves are solid, and made of good, old wood. People in Lafayette value this kind of construction - a lot.
Here it is usually either hot or rainy, and there are not sidewalks on every street. People won't walk from this complex to campus on anything like a regular basis. Walking means getting your books and laptop wet, getting soaked yourself,
or, less dramatically, arriving to campus with your shirt already sweaty and your hair wilted. People walk from Cajun Village, Legacy Park, which are *really* close to campus, but this proposal isn't close enough to campus for walking to be really viable.
Finally, the people who now live in Freetown live much more quietly than does your typical college student. I realize that many residents are Black, and working class. To some white people, that means they automatically have wild lifestyles.
In reality, it just means that they sit on their porches in the evenings.
College students, on the other hand, are another matter. There are quiet, responsible ones, but they try to live in places that do *not* cater specifically to college students. Why: these type of complexes have lots of cars, lots of parties, lots of visitors, lots of noise.
My final point is about availability of housing--there are already quite a few apartment complexes in Lafayette, and apartments are not what people here are looking for long-term. I'm concerned about this development because it could soon end up semi-occupied or unoccupied, and then getting abandoned. THAT will be prime crack-selling territory, and a ruin of brick and asphalt.
There are some nice old houses on that property right now, but they need renovation. What about fixing these and renting them long-term to some families...or turning it into some type of co-op (residents buy the whole thing jointly, then own shares individually)?
who is that 'anonymous' who keeps posting arguments below, on the original post for this blog?
Anonymous is just a freetown landowner who is concerned that his rights and yours are being violated by a planning and zoning commission who are out of control. As evidenced by Fred Prejean at the June 15th LINC meeting. Mr. Prejean was irresponsible when he urged the residents to support and vote for the LINC neighborhood #7 proposal , without regard from where the money will come to fund the projects. Mr. Prejean said at that meeting , repeatedly, support the plan , don't worry where the money will come from. The truth is , there is money to support projects like this , but every town , village, city , county and parish are vying for those dollars. Realistically, and I know what I am saying , there is little or no chance of these projects being funded. But, if voted in , the administrators of the neighborhood can tell me or any other property owner what they can or can't do with their property. That's not right, That is what "someone" with a Utopian vision thinks the world should look like. Ms. Bary's comments that we could own property , like in a co-op , where do we live ? Tel Aviv , USSR perhaps. This is pure idealism. Take it somewhere else. The bottom line is: I want to use my property anyway I choose , as long as I do it within compliance of the zoning it was originally zoned for. The LINC takes away my ability to do that , and places that right in the hands of my neighbors, as if somehow "magically" they know better what my property should be used for.
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