Shreveport mayor comments on issues surrounding Crawfest

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux released a statement regarding this weekend's Crawfest at Betty Virginia Park.

Over the last few weeks, concerns have been raised about everything from the organizers charging admissions to noise concerns.

"Any festival in a central city park will involve some inconvenience in the neighborhood, and the City and the sponsor are taking steps to minimize the inconvenience. These steps include maintaining access to many areas of the park during the festival without paying an admission fee, closing off certain streets to prevent parking on those streets, shuttles to and from the site from remote parking areas, and discontinuing live music at 8 p.m. (and at 7 p.m. on Sunday) to reduce noise after that time. "

Arceneaux continued to say that the festival organizer has agreed to pay for all cleanup use of public officers. "In essence, the festival is providing a family-friendly event at the park at no cost to the City."

While the city currently does not have a policy regarding the exclusive use of a public park. Arceneaux has directed SPAR to draft a policy that would deal with fees for exclusive use of park facilities, times of operation and amplified sound, and other issues raised by concerned citizens.

With respect to whether the sponsor is for-profit or non-profit, the city views the convenience or inconvenience of the use of the park the same regardless of the organization of the sponsor, though the ultimate policy may differ in some respect between for-profit and non-profit ventures.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Shreveport mayor comments on issues surrounding Crawfest