SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – The Shreveport Capital Improvements Committee launched the first in a series of community meetings to address citizens’ concerns about capital project needs and whether they want a bond at all.

“My thing is the drainage, the streets, the sidewalks,” said Annie Ealy.

Annie Ealy has lived in the Martin Luther King neighborhood since 1963 and wants her community to be well taken care of like other parts of the city.

“We love this community and we want the same thing that everybody else has. We want our homes to be nice we want our grass cut and so we don’t want this to be a dumping area,” Ealy said.

She shared her feelings at the Shreveport Capital Improvements Committee meeting at Southern University in Shreveport. District A Representative Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor expressed her concerns as well.

“I drive down these streets and there are trees and vegetation coming out of the streets and it’s grass you cannot see the sewer,” said Taylor

The committee gathered information for possible bond projects and will create a master list of suggested projects so city leaders can present a proposal to voters.

“We had almost 20 people talk tonight, we got a really good list of not just what people want but kind of where we are now. I think the committee really enjoyed that,” said Chief Administrative Officer Tom Dark. “The committee will start to narrow that down I think, as they said tonight. Try to get a bus tour and start looking at some of the places exactly as they are then at some point between then and Thanksgiving we will narrow that down. To something that they can present to the city council.”

Other meeting dates and locations are:

Thursday, October 5 at LSUS in the UC Theater

Tuesday, October 10 at Huntington High School

Thursday, October 12 at Valencia Recreation Center

All meetings begin at 6 p.m.