“I'm upset we turned away 100 jobs and I don't understand it," Caddo commission president John Escude says. Outrage is brewing over a decision to pass up economic development at a time when many people are searching for work. A trucking company wanted to drive in business. But Nbc 6 reporter Karen Hopkins spoke with people who say the deal was too dangerous.
“Someone could fall asleep at the wheel and come barreling through here." Gaysha Triggs doesn’t want a major trucking company down the street from her son's daycare. She says the road's too narrow for semis. One accident could cost lives. “We have accidents there all the time. We don't know what material they would bring in, whether it's explosive."
Quality Transport moves cement and liquid petroleum. The Baton Rouge company wanted to buy 35 acres off Woolworth road in Caddo parish. The expansion would bring a hundred jobs, in trucking, mechanic and administrate positions.
"Of course I want jobs, but this is not the place for them." Caddo parish commissioner Ken Epperson introduced a plan to block any industrial company from building on the site, near daycares and churches.
The commission approved the ordinance in a close vote. “The parish itself is in good fiscal shape, but that doesn't mean our citizens are. People are out there hurting, struggling, having hard times,” Escude says.
“I'm not going to put a business where it's incompatible for the residents. There's no way I will do that."
Instead, Epperson says he'll work to turn the site into a park, giving these children a safe place to play, while attracting families to live and pay property taxes here.
The trucking company will not be able to build at another Caddo location. Leaders say the parish doesn’t have another site big enough for sale.
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