Durel Unveils 'One Cent. One Year. One Project' Plan

City-Parish President Joey Durel delivered his annual State of the Parish Address Tuesday during which he unveiled his "One cent. One year. One project" plan to fund improvements at the Lafayette Regional Airport. Durel stopped by "Nathan and Bernie in the Morning" to discuss the plan and why he feels like now is the right time for the project.

In light of increasing lack of fair in national, state and local government, Durel described transparency as the key inspiration behind the "One cent. One year. One project" initiative.

"It all began for me in 2006 when the people voted down a tax that would have taken care of a lot of our traffic problems and paved a lot of our gravel roads," explained Durel.

Durel believes the 2006 tax was voted down because there is a perception that government never does what they say they'll with tax money; something that the "One cent. One year. One project." plan would hope to overcome.

It’s one year, one cent, and it goes to one project. It’s dedicated and goes straight to the airport. It’s a way to take a baby step to gaining back the trust of the people so they know the money really does go where we say it will go. —Joey Durel

If passed, Durel says the plan would raise $30 million and produce about $90 million with the aid of grants and federal money. The money would then be used to improve the Lafayette Regional Airport in an effort to attract businesses to locate in the area.

This is about competing with the rest of the world to get the jobs we want for our community and our citizens. It’s about having community pride in what we present to the world when they fly into Lafayette. —Joey Durel

With recent improvements to the Lake Charles, New Orleans and Alexandria airports, representatives from the Lafayette Regional Airport say they are falling behind. Durel believes improvements planned from the "One cent. One Year. One project" initiative would allow Lafayette to continue grow.

If we want to be great, we can’t wait for someone else to make us great. If we want to be world class, world class communities build world class things. —Joey Durel