A tough and challenging year

When The Forum was born in 1988, downtown Shreveport had already been around for about 150 fairly wild years.

The history books tell of gun fights in the streets, mayors killed in duels, a yellow fever epidemic that killed 25 percent of the population and millionaires a-plenty building fine, tall buildings. Downtown was the place for shopping, restaurants and entertainment that included movies, live theater and opera, performed at a stylish Opera House on Texas Street. The area’s legal Red Light District was just a few blocks away from the Central Business District offering another type of entertainment to those who were so inclined.

Downtown’s heyday waned in the 1960s with a move to malls and suburban stores, and by 1988 the gradual decline was in full free-fall mode. Those in the oil-producing states of Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma were clawing their way back from the near-collapse of the oil industry in the early ’80s. Increased production and slower economic activity had come together as the perfect storm to create an oil glut in the aftermath of the Energy Crisis of the 1970s. The price of a barrel of oil – $35 in 1980 – plummeted to just $10 per barrel in 1986. By 1988, prices were slowly beginning to rebound, but families, businesses and banks had suffered terribly. So many local banks were closing that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation got to know local news reporters on a first-name basis and so many people were bailing out of the area that it was impossible to find a U-Haul truck or trailer to rent locally. The phrase, “The last person out should turn out the lights,” found a prominent place in local gallows humor.

It was a scary time and every area, including downtown, was hurting.

Downtown was struggling with high property vacancy rates and few development opportunities, but giving up wasn’t an option to supporters, and active residents weren’t sitting quietly by waiting for things to change. The folks who were at the helm in downtown in 1998 included a number of business leaders working on projects aimed at jump-starting both the economy and interest.

Old copies of a DDA newsletter from 1988 highlight groups working to spread information about the importance of good-looking building façades, an effort to land a new downtown hotel to enhance the usefulness of the city-owned Expo Hall and support for a “Back to Basics” street, sidewalk and drainage bond issue being promoted by then- Mayor John Hussey.

The downtown community was also participating fully in discussions about troubling racial issues that would be bought to national attention by the Cedar Grove Riots in September of the same year. An initiative called Together 2000: Southern Cities in Transition brought black and white residents together to delve into issues including Shreveport’s transition to a majority black city, minority business opportunities and economic initiatives.

Though 1988 was a tough and challenging year for downtown, there were bright spots, too. The downtown art collective called At the Loft – featuring such notable artists as Lucille Reed and Clyde Connell – celebrated its 25th year.

Voters supported a bond issue that invested in downtown streets and sidewalks, and through it all, downtown remained the largest single employment center with 12,000 persons per day coming to work.

Efforts to move the clock away from the 1960s and ’70s and remind people the importance of a strong and vibrant city center gained traction and saw successes as businesses began moving back into vacant downtown spaces.

In the years since, downtown has seen restorations and rehabs and other opportunities and initiatives made possible in large part by the efforts of dedicated civic supporters in the 1980s who continued to work hard and have faith even when things seemed bleak. The improvements and interest we’re seeing in downtown today would never have happened without the groundwork laid by them. It’s up to all of us to realize that downtown will always be a “work in progress” and to participate in that progress as much and as loudly as we can!

She can be reached at liz@downtownshreveport.com.