APC to host Four Corners Neighborhood Voices event

By: Deidra Druilhet, Communications Manager

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Acadiana Planning Commission (APC) announces that it will host a Four Corners Neighborhood Voices event Saturday, September 29. The event will be held from 11 a.m. – 1p.m. at Bridge Ministries located at 512 N. University Avenue.

Recently, APC was awarded the first Community-Wide Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Assessment grant to be awarded in the Acadiana Region. The focus of this grant is the revitalization of Lafayette’s Four Corners Area – one of the most impoverished in Lafayette parish.

As part of the grant, APC will be hosting the Neighborhood Voices upcoming event to gather historical items and interviews that document the cultural and commercial history of the University Corridor.

Desired historical items include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Scrapbooks/Photos/Film/Video/Posters
• Advertisements/Newspaper clippings
• Matchbooks/Clothing/T-shirts/Uniforms
• Postcards/Stamps/Memorabilia

Additionally, recording stations will be setup to take account of any narratives related to historical University Avenue Corridor.

Neighborhood Voices is a community engagement tool used to gather feedback from residents to be more hands-on in the community planning process.

The EPA formed the Brownfields Program in the mid-90’s. EPA defines a “brownfields” site as a property that the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment.

The Acadiana Planning Commission (APC) serves the public sector through planning and implementation of Community, Economic, and Transportation Development throughout the Acadiana region.