Allendale Strong

Ballpark Mural Celebration
2023-09-09 15:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | Galilee Baptist Church, 1500 Pierre Ave, Shreveport, LA, United States
Join us to commemorate Shreveport’s ballpark mural and all that it represents.
In 2021, a 400-foot mural was created at Galilee Baptist Church’s Stewart-Belle Stadium in Allendale. Shreveport’s Commission on Race and Diversity funded the community arts project. The painting on the mural depicts some of the history of Shreveport’s African American community. It is a rich, deep history that is not well known. I was proud to be lead artist for this important project.
Allendale Strong is working with Galilee Baptist to celebrate the mural, the history it represents, and the ballpark. The celebration is planned for September 9th, the day before the birthday of C.C. Antoine, a significant figure in our city and state’s history whose image is on the mural. The celebration will include music and stories, local food trucks, artists, and baseball. It will be a fun day for the whole family!
Learn more about the mural and upcoming celebration here.

SWEPCO Park Advisory & Committee Zoom
2023-06-14 11:30 - 12:30, 2023-06-28 11:30 - 12:30 | Virtual
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/531883105
Meeting ID: 531 883 105

FCI Blue Peer Group for Co-op startups
2023-07-13 17:00 - 18:00 | Virtual

AllendaleStrong Monthly Meeting
2023-03-09 18:30 - 20:00 | Allendale Friendship House, 1515 Clay Street, Shreveport, LA, United States
Join us for our monthly meetings on the 2nd Thursday of each month, 6:30 – 8 PM at 1515 Clay Street.

Corner Store Co-op Committee
2023-06-24 08:45 - 09:45 | Allendale Friendship House, 1515 Clay Street, Shreveport, LA, United States

Freeway Fighters Monthly Meetup
2023-06-28 15:00 - 16:00 | Virtual
(4:00 pm Eastern Time)

Louisiana 4 Corners Coalition for Transportation Planning Reform
2023-07-04 16:00 - 17:00 | Virtual

Louisiana Gubernatorial Primary Voting Day
2023-10-14
includes all statewide officials, Legislature, sheriff and Caddo Commission

NLCOG Public Input Meeting
2023-10-17 15:30 - 18:30
Public Input Meeting Announcement and Position Statement
Since February of 2012, Allendale Strong members have been working together to renew our community Relationally, Economically, and Environmentally. That includes politely and consistently advocating for separating through traffic from local business traffic. In the decade since the 3.5 mile I-49 Inner City Connector (ICC) “zombie” project has been revived by the Committee of 100 and other community members, North Louisiana Council of Governments (NLCOG) has repeatedly ignored input from any community members who are not in favor of building the connector through the heart of Shreveport. We have to assume that the upcoming public input meeting will lead to more of the same – carefully recording opinions on all sides, only to ignore those who advocate for anything other than the destruction of our historic, downtown adjacent neighborhoods.
NLCOG will be presenting the route options for public input on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, from 3:30-6:30pm at the Shreveport Convention Center in the Captain Shreve Ballrooms C & D. They will be labeled as 1, 2, 3, 3A, and 5. All of these route options explored by NLCOG are bad for the neighborhood and bad for the city at large. The only option that does not defy federal laws (1965 Transportation Act and 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)) is #5, which would designate 3132 as the I-49 Loop and use federal dollars to make it bigger and wider. Using the 3132 loop is what we’ve recommended for over a decade. While #5 gets closest to what we have learned are the best practices for cities, adding lanes and expanding capacity as planned would certainly be a waste of taxpayer dollars.
We encourage citizens to attend the public input meeting to learn more about all of the proposed routes for a project which cannot be completed for another 20 years. Which ill-advised construction project would you like a billion taxpayer dollars to be tied up in for two decades? NLCOG is currently projecting a record of decision will be made by next year, regardless of public input. We also anticipate filing a lawsuit (we have received legal assistance from over a dozen pro-bono attorneys) if the decision handed down is any of the first four route options through the city. All four are illegal. All four cannot get funding from the federal government. All four would destroy valuable historic areas of our city, and burden us with the maintenance and upkeep of a billion-dollar project that no one needs, and that would make the problem of sprawl in Shreveport much worse. The I-49 ICC 3.5 mile cut-through freeway proposal was officially removed from consideration twice by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), first in recognition that it violates 1969 NEPA, then in a 1996 corridor study stating the existing 3132 loop would be designated I-49 through Shreveport due to the ICC proposal being redundant, wasteful and harmful. Why has NLCOG and business interest continued to advocate for a bad idea?
Allendale Strong has spent over a decade learning about what works best for cities and the people who live there. We’re now proud to be part of a state-wide coalition to change how transportation planning happens (La 4 Corners Coalition) as well as a national group of citizens just like us who are fighting unnecessary interstate projects around the country (Freeway-Fighters.org). The systems that are in charge of building interstates in America are very old and very hard to change. But the things we build in turn shape the way we live. We will continue to advocate for building environments that build community wealth and enhance human health and well-being, rather than cause harm like interstates do. Allendale Strong meets every second Thursday of the month from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at the Friendship House at 1515 Clay Street. We are excited to be able to now turn our attention to renewing SWEPCO Park, creating a Corner Store Food Co-Op, and empowering citizens to become homeowners. We hope you’ll join us to work toward building a Shreveport we can all be proud of and that will serve all humans – not just those who own automobiles.

Which future do you want to live in? We’ll gladly continue to collect citizen feedback to submit to NLCOG at: Future Survey

As soon as we know how to submit comments directly to NLCOG outside of the Oct. 17 meeting, we’ll post the details here.

Vision Zero Cities 2023 Conference featuring Dorothy Wiley
2023-10-18 10:00 - 11:00
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Vision Zero Cities brings together leading industry and policy experts, advocates, and elected officials from across the nation.
Transportation Alternatives is excited to host the 10th Annual Vision Zero Cities conference from October 18 – 20, 2023 at New York University in partnership with the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at NYU Wagner.
Kicking off this three-day event, will be Dorothy’s session:
Mr. President, Tear Down this Highway!

11:00am – 12:00pm ET
Urban highways divided communities and destroyed neighborhoods. Now cities from Syracuse to San Francisco to Detroit are choosing to get rid of them altogether. And for the first time, new federal program is helping foot the bill. In addition, some cities are choosing to forego new highway construction altogether.
Featuring:

Shawn Dunwoody, Reimagine Rochester

Miriam Schoenfield, Reconnect Austin/Rethink 35

Will Toor, Executive Director, Colorado Energy Office

Dorothy Wiley, Allendale Strong

Learn more at transalt.org/visionzerocities

Louisiana General or Runoff Election Day
2023-11-18
