Monday, Dec. 11 was a good day for Shreveport with back-to-back press events unveiling grant dollars being deployed for downtown.
The ceremonial LED check.
Centerpoint Energy Foundation and Sam Walters, the CenterPoint Energy North Louisiana District Manager, were on hand to give a ceremonial check, but a very real $30,000 to the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC). SRAC Executive Director Pam Atchison says the money will go toward additional LED lighting for Riverview Park to complement the lights on the Texas Street/Bakowski Bridge of Lights.
RiverView Park’s roses.
The beautiful ‘art’ roses and the balustrades (fencing) in between them will be lit first, says Atchison, and the large concrete ‘wall’ at the entrance of the park could come next. All the work will be coordinated by the City of Shreveport which scheduling a much larger project to repair the park’s popular dancing fountain spray park.
EV Chargers at the Shreveport Aquarium.
By the first of 2024, downtown’s first publicly accessible Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers will also be functional in the drive in front of the Shreveport Aquarium at 601 Clyde Fant Parkway, adjacent to RiverView Park.
Downtown Shreveport Development Corporation (DSDC) won a grant for three- Level 2 EV chargers, which have been installed and should be up and running within weeks.
“EV chargers absolutely fit the Shreveport Aquarium’s mission, both for downtown and overall,” says Jon Whitehead, aquarium Founding Partner. “One of our primary goals is conservation and sustainability, and the EV chargers will allow us to check another box in that mission.”
Aquarium GM Josh Evans.
DSDC Executive Director Liz Swaine wrote the grant to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for the EV chargers and looked at multiple downtown locations to deploy the chargers.
“The aquarium was hands down the best location,” Swaine says. “The chargers will be available to anyone who wishes to use them 24 hours a day/seven days a week. People who are charging up can go to the aquarium & the RiverWalk Cafe, the casinos, the shops in the Red River District and beyond, to Sci Port and Sci-Port’s IMAX theater. Considering all the amenities nearby, charging up at the aquarium could be like a short vacation getaway.”
A Tesla patiently waiting for juice to flow.
“The chargers are easy to see and quite public,” says aquarium General Manager Josh Evans. “The aquarium’s three stations will be listed in a national charger database, and we hope to see people come by for a charge but stay for the downtown attractions and amenities.”
“We’re very excited to partner with the Shreveport Aquarium to bring the first completely public EV chargers to Downtown Shreveport,” says Swaine. “It gives travelers one more reason to choose Downtown Shreveport.”
