BOSSIER CITY (KTAL/KMSS) – Louisiana Association for the Blind asks Bossier City Council to keep the current SporTran Budget.

Bossier City Council proposed a 400K public transit budget cut. Now organizations feel their employees and members will be negatively impacted if approved and are expressing their concern.

Paratransit riders rely on the additional services SporTran offers to live their day-to-day lives independently.

“That starts to impact our people’s ability to get to work, it impacts people’s ability to get to the doctor, it impacts people who have significant medical needs and their ability to get to medical appointments,” LAB President and CEO Brian Patchett said.

Patchett adds this would make it hard for paratransit riders to access the community.

During the last Bossier City Council meeting community members spoke out and now so are members of LAB.

“It would be devastating to me,” said LAB client Denny Keeth. “I’ve worked very hard to try to recover from my disability. This would just be a crushing blow to many of our people in the Bossier area.”

Members of LAB plan to attend the Bossier City Council meeting set for Tuesday, February 21.