Shreveport again urges purchase of Line Avenue site to serve as police substation

Shreveport City Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor speaks during a council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, at Government Plaza in Shreveport, La. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save With a debate over their authority and the potential price concluded, the Shreveport City Council Tuesday reemphasized a desire in the wake of a recent killing to build a police substation on Line Avenue.

Though the site already was a prime candidate for a substation, council members again urged the administration to act. The Shreveport City Council Tuesday passed an emergency ordinance urging the administration to purchase a property at 8509 Line Ave. to be used as a police substation.



The site location and emergency passage of the ordinance followed the killing of a 67-year-old man in the parking lot of a Line Avenue Walgreens. The council last year passed a resolution urging the administration to buy the property but this week sought to force the issue. Council members emphasized the need for more police protection in the area and argued a substation would help reduce the likelihood of another killing.

One councilwoman argued Monday against another site that had been considered and said she didn't believe the administration was acting with enough urgency. "You have a number of shots fired calls. You have a number of shootings in that particular area," said Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor.

"For me, the emergency is giving the attention to 8509 because there were two asks for the administration to look at this building, and it didn't seem to move you all in any way." In its original form, the emergency ordinance was written so as to require the administration purchase the property. Both the authority of the city council to pass legislation stating the mayor "shall" make such a purchase and its requirement to do so "at the fair market value price" complicated the ordinance's passage.

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux listens during a Shreveport City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, at Government Plaza in Shreveport, La. Mayor Tom Arceneaux asked the council at Monday's administrative conference session to withdraw the legislation over that question of authority.

Though the council did not withdraw the ordinance from consideration, City Attorney Marcus Edwards confirmed for them at Tuesday's meeting that authority was dubious. "I do not believe this ordinance is in compliance with the charter or is enforceable because the council has no power to require the mayor to take any action for which he would have discretion," Edwards told the council. Edwards also told council members the wording of the ordinance, assuming it was enforceable, required the mayor accept the fair market value price for the site.

Councilman Grayson Boucher, a realtor, reminded fellow members the fair market value price depends on an appraisal which hasn't yet been conducted. "If it appraises for more, then we're locked in to pay more," Boucher said. "My concern is the verbiage.

I don't want anyone to think that we don't want the property, but I don't want to lock us in to buying a property for more than ...

what we can pay, or more than what we're willing to pay." The council took a 10-minute break near the end of its Tuesday meeting to allow Edwards to write an amendment to the ordinance correcting both issues. Though it took time between the council's Monday and Tuesday meetings to work out the wording and intent of the ordinance, the council and administration seemed in agreement about the viability of the site for a substation and the need to improve the police presence along Line Avenue.

"We are not at odds about 8509 Line Ave.," Mayor Tom Arceneaux told the council after explaining why he believed the ordinance should be tabled or defeated. Members of the Shreveport Police Department stand at the request of Police Chief Wayne Smith during a Shreveport City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan.

28, 2025, at Government Plaza in Shreveport, La. Arceneaux told The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate 8509 Line Ave. never was out of the running as a substation site.

But he said the administration was exploring another option meant to facilitate the need to have fewer patrol officers in a reconstructed Texas Avenue headquarters because the council wants that building to move forward with a smaller footprint so the city can start sooner without the need to make up for a funding gap from the 2021 bond issue election. Arceneaux said that potential fourth substation site did not pan out, so the Line Avenue site has returned to a place of primacy in the administration's search. Arceneaux said the city expects to have an environmental study at the site completed by March 15 and an appraisal concluded by March 31.

He said a previous asking price for the property was more than the $1.5 million allocated for the substation in the 2021 bond issue election. Deciding on if the cost is viable will depend on whether and by how much it exceeds available resources, as well as how much additional funding the city can find to buy the site.

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