How can we possibly plan for the next century? The Lafayette In a Century Planning Commission meeting, scheduled for tonight to discuss a parishwide comprehensive plan, has been canceled due to The Daily Advertiser’s failure to advertise. The daily paper of record did not publish the meeting’s legal notice on Sunday, forcing city officials to cancel so as not to violate the state’s public meeting laws.
Cathie Gilbert, a planner with Lafayette Consolidated Government who sends out notice for the meetings, says that the agenda she e-mailed to The Advertiser seems to have gone nowhere. “Apparently the person I e-mailed the agenda to is no longer [working] there,” she says. “I don’t really know what happened. They haven’t gotten back to me on why it wasn’t followed up on.” This is the second time this month LCG has been forced to cancel a public meeting due to a blunder with The Advertiser (the Jan. 13 city-parish council meeting also had to be rescheduled), and further evidence of the ongoing complications that have arisen out of massive cutbacks and changes at the paper. For more, read this week’s cover story, "Chain Reaction," in The Independent.
Update: Make that three meetings in a month. The Lafayette Public Trust Finance Authority's Wednesday night meeting has also just been canceled due to The Advertiser's failure to publish its notice.