|
Home » Voter Information » 2007 Candidate Questionnaires
» Council District 8
Decided in the October 20th Primary
LAFAYETTE
CITY-PARISH COUNCIL
DISTRICT 8
 |
STAN BROSKEY
319 Marilyn Drive
Lafayette, LA 70503
337-981-5807
www.stanbrosky.com
stbrosky@cox.net
Republican
B.A. History, Point Park University, Pittsburgh, PA.; M.A. History, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA; Doctoral ABD, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Independent Landman, former executive with an independent oil & gas exploration company, former chief of staff to the Mayor of Lafayette, over 20 years in museum management of public and private museums in PA, VA and LA; former faculty and administrator at Duquesne University.
Public Service in PA, VA, and LA including 2 years with the PA Dept. of Revenue; 13 years on the PA Environmental Quality Board; member PA Historical & Museum Commission, PA Bicentennial Commission, 300th Birthday Planning Commission, PA Travel Council; VA Travel Council; Shenandoah Valley Travel Association; Chief of Staff to Mayor of Lafayette; Member & Chairman, Acadiana Open Channel; former chair, Stewardship Committee of Ascension Episcopal Church. |
Elected
KEITH PATIN
636 Alonda Dr.
Lafayette, La 70503
(337) 984-4170 (personal)
(337) 237-2947 (campaign line)
http://www.keithpatin.com
keith@keithpatin.com
Republican
UL Economics; Dale Carnegie Instructor; License Private Investigator; Residential and Commercial Contractors License; Licensed Louisiana Financial Service Representative; Registered New York Life Securities LLC Representative.
20 year sales veteran in the Lafayette construction market; 12 year entrepreneur owner/operator of 2 small building industry service companies; President and partner in King-Patin Staffing for 26 years; 5 year agent New York Life
Greater Lafayette of Commerce Diplomat, Our Lady of Fatima School Board Member; Our Lady of Fatima Finance Committee; Lafayette Rotary Club South; Trained Assistant Leader Boy Scouts of America; Krewe of Rio Board of Directors; Active Volunteer and Patron - March of Dimes, Acadiana Families Helping Families, Lafayette Community Health Care Clinic, Miles Perret - Reaux for Miles; Acadian Festival of Trees, Faith House, Special Olympics and 705 Club; STM Utopian and PTC; Our Lady of Fatima Blue and Gold; Krewe of Bonaparte and Ducks Unlimited Sponsor. |
TRANSPORTATION:
How would you alleviate traffic congestion and improve traffic flow in Lafayette? Do you support the Johnston Street redesign? Why or why not? What is your vision for public transportation in Lafayette?
|
Lafayette Parish does not have enough votes in the Legislature to begin to use the state funding process to address our needs. We must begin to address this need regionally, recruiting other parishes into our effort to find state dollars to improve state roads. This will take effort and time but I will support the Administration and any organization which will begin a dialog to build more support in Baton Rouge for a new effort to build proper spokes into the “Hub City.”
I invite you to view my website for a complete statement on the Johnston Street redesign. I have been meeting with the stakeholders of Johnston Street for months and support whatever plan all can agree to as a result of the due process of planning. This project is a long term effort and will take years to resolve a plan and bring it to fruition.
I am an advocate of public transportation in this era of congestion and high energy costs. As a community we must work together to make public transportation more attractive and more available.
|
Traffic congestion and flow are serious issues. With population density as we have it the cost of additional roads is expensive. Additional roads and widening of existing roads is a priority. It will take a good working relationship with our state and federal representatives to bring our hard earned tax dollars back to Lafayette. A very cost effective technique is to increase connectivity between different roads thus giving people more choices in selecting a route to get where they want to go. I do support a Johnston St. beautification program. What the plan will be has not been finalized. We are still in the early stages of discussion. Whatever the plan ends up being, I do believe “one size does not fit all.” Widening the road in one area may fit well with existing businesses and not with others. The project should not force businesses, who some consider to be landmarks, out of business. There will always be a need for public transportation! Improving route design with emphasis on a plan that would transport people to areas where they receive basic services – on a regular basis – would be a huge benefit.
|
HOUSING AND GROWTH:
Will you support funding as required by state law for the Lafayette in a Century (LINC) Comprehensive Plan for the parish? What does “smart growth” mean to you, and what do you see as its application potential in Lafayette? What is your vision to improve the existing blighted areas in the city of Lafayette?
|
For years I have been an advocate of common sense comprehensive planning and would support the LINC plan.
As I understand the basic concept of “smart growth” in its simplicity, the objective is to develop communities from the center or core outward as this takes the best advantage of built infrastructure. In Lafayette, we have a number of islands of undeveloped land or properties in need of redevelopment in areas where we the people have already made significant investment in roads and utilities. Some landowners are holding out for the best price no doubt and, in some cases, schools with poor standing have discouraged residential development. Government can help smart growth efforts with appropriate incentives or penalties aimed at land owners and we must insure that no matter what school, standards and opportunities must be uniform.
|
I may be incorrect with my information, but I believe state law mandates a comprehensive master plan, not the funding of such. I believe the law says we have to have one, not have one and additional fund it. I do believe in a “master plan” to keep us focused and moving forward, having said that, I am in favor of the LINC Plan and properly funding it’s implementation. “Smart Growth” is a concept, whereby, we plan our growth using models or rules that utilize different ways of moving traffic, building homes, and expanding with new and existing businesses. The smart growth concept should never be so restrictive that only one king of development would be approved by the community. Our application for Lafayette would be following a model that would ensure creation of housing for all income levels. Improvement of existing blighted areas need to be done with a partnership between LCG and the private community. LCG could possibly offer inducements for the “businessman” in specific areas to encourage redevelopment.
|
DRAINAGE AND FLOODING:
In what way can natural drainage be maintained and improved in Lafayette Parish and the construction of subdivisions and commercial sites be restricted to prevent drainage and flood problems in the future? What are your views on impact fees or a similar assessment to address infrastructure stresses resulting from new development?
|
Flood plain management is a continuing problem as changing climatic conditions and coastal erosion contribute much to run off and rising water levels. Comprehensive planning to discourage development in flood prone areas needs to be encouraged with government incentives to use such low lying land for recreational use or wildlife habitat.
Some communities have tried “Impact Fees” as a policy but I believe it places an unfair burden on new construction when we have too many infrastructure problems already unaddressed. There may be some instances where it would be in the best interest of the community and the developer to work out some mutual participation in cost, effort or design to solve an infrastructure challenge but these should be on a case by case basis. It is important that developers and government work together from before day one and dollar one spent to identify and attempt to resolve potential problems. I realize the need for confidentiality in the acquisition process of land but there must be more communication of the concept of anticipated developer land use and government such that potential problems can be identified and some course for resolution started.
|
Commercial sites need to continue to be “required” to have retention ponds to slow the flow of water after a hard rain. These structures are a valuable tool in slowing the flow of water off areas where there is concrete. Residential areas can use the swale ditch to slow water flow. I can understand the interest a home owner may have in covering a ditch in his front yard. This must and should be done by getting a permit from the city at their approval. The drainage issue is important! Often people don’t understand the big picture, they appear only interested in getting the water off their property as far as possible. This causes the flooding. Managed water flow will result in less homes getting flooded and that is my primary concern. Impact fees serve a purpose, they generate revenue, however these revenues cannot be bonded. This appears to be a too narrow focus only on one industry or a small segment of an industry places an unfair burden on too few people and/or businesses. In the most direct context, Impact Fees are a tax, and taxes should be decided by the people.
|
ENVIRONMENT:
What is your vision for creating additional public parks and green spaces in the city and parish of Lafayette? What would you do with the UL-Lafayette horse farm property? Would you support clean up of existing waste sites that would be impacted by planned public works projects? For example, if hazardous wastes lay buried in the path of a proposed road, what remediation would you support?
|
I have always favored preserving open space and tress for potential park development as funds become available. The Horse Farm lends itself to a planned, controlled use, to encourage some development with the understanding that the greater majority of the land would be preserved for low intensity park use with this park development funded by the developers and gifted to the City-Parish.
Any public use land must be environmentally sound and clean whether the intended public use is for roads or parks. However, government must not be the victim of such environmental clean-up costs. Even if legislation is require, the cost of environmental remediation needs to be the burden of its creators in as much as they can be identified.
|
Studies clearly show green space and parks are the kind of amenities people look for in planning a move. Additional parks would nothing but enhance the charm and character of the city. Additionally, our parks need to be taken to the next level with extra features designed to facilitate use by handicap citizens. The horse farm is a beautiful property. I would support a co-operative agreement between the city and the private sector to create a new park. An upscale jogging and fitness area, flower gardens, water feature, possible horse stables for law enforcement animals would be wonderful Remediation of any hazardous waste site needs to be done accordingly to DEQ guidelines and should not be a 100% burden to the city.
|
DISASTER PLANNING:
How would you ensure that timely communication is maintained between Lafayette Parish citizens, emergency help agencies, and sanitation removal companies during power outages and the days following during recovery? If the evacuation of Lafayette is ordered in the face of a natural disaster such as a major hurricane, how can the city help its needy, elderly, nursing home and bed-bound people, and those without a means of transportation evacuate? What else should be considered?
|
With the coming of “Fiber” and, potentially much of it will be buried underground, we have created a state-of-the-art dependable communications link for the various services. Wireless links to the fiber net from police, fire and other emergency response vehicles will create a mobile, real time report and response system. Any disaster response depends upon effective leadership and, as a member of the legislative branch in our community; I intend to be on the front line as I hope our executives and fellow council members would be.
Efforts must be made to identify transportation resources as part of a comprehensive disaster plan including city buses, school busses, and private carriers with drivers on notice prior to a potential emergency that they are on-call to respond. Once elected, I will call for and review the Lafayette disaster plan and call for any revisions to be made to effect a major evacuation. There will be no New Orleans situation here with fleets of flooded busses and stranded citizens.
|
The most effective form of communication is Radio and TV. For the people who have power – these two are the best options. The city knows who is without power and could certainly update these people daily with flyers. I am sure there would be some city employees who would be on the clock but not able to perform their normal duties. In the event of an ordered evacuation, specific plans that are already in place will be put into effect. These plans are at the direction of the governor (declaring a state emergency), Bill Vincent/Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security, Mike Mouton/Director of the Emergency Operations who will activate these plans. The plans that these people are charged with implementing cover issues with nursing home and individuals without transportation. I believe a concise overview of the plan and the way it is going to work should be distributed to the public in advance for their knowledge and records. I know I like a information before it happens.
|
SOCIAL ISSUES:
The hospitals and emergency care units seem congregated in mid-city or on the south side of Lafayette. What vision do you have to help the residents of the north side of Lafayette attain emergency medical assistance more quickly? The attempt to rename Willow Street to Martin Luther King Drive generated a lot of controversy. Since hindsight is 20/20, how would you have handled the situation? What lessons can you take forward that will benefit your tenure on the Council?
|
In Lafayette we have depended upon private emergency medical response for some time and the company has a comprehensive distribution of resources throughout the parish. However, I believe that we can do better and would encourage our fire department to take a more active role in emergency medical response.
The Willow/MLK controversy was “man-made” by a few actors in the process for their individual political agenda which was never made clear to the public in the media. Generally race and ethnic relationships in Lafayette are wholesome and have long standing roots of tolerance. What was evident was the lack of leadership on the Council and its Chairperson to end this “controversy” before it became a real controversy. I for one will not stand still for such behavior as a council member and will immediately address such efforts and seek a resolution.
|
Hospitals and emergency care units are a tremendous asset to a geographical area. As a councilman/leader in the community, I believe that the scope of my work would not just include but mandate some form of action. An example, of that action, could be to set up meetings between the administration, the economic development people, and the hospitals or emergency care providers. The meeting could flow something like this: As a concerned citizen interested in the well being of all the people of Lafayette, what can LCG and the Council do to help you locate a facility on the north side. Issues that polarize and split communities are some of the most difficult to handle. As a leader, I respect everyone’s position. I listen intently to all sides. I lead by example with concepts of compromise being the voice of reason. I stand my ground when my convictions comeinto play. I have lived here all my life and believe much of the problem is perception. By showing interest in the north side, more than just on Tuesday nights at the council meetings I can foster a better relationship that will help to change those negative perceptions. If a councilman is not taking care of his/her district shame on them. I am going to listen because I have to take care of Lafayette, my family, my responsibilities and my business.
|
|
