Today, LeVette Fuller, Shreveport City Councilwoman for District B, has announced her candidacy for mayor of the City of Shreveport. Fuller had previously announced that she would not seek re-election as representative of District B after expressing frustration at some of her colleagues in city council and with the difficulty of working with the Perkins administration.
“After much prayer and many discussions with family and friends, I have decided that the best way I can contribute to my community is to seek the office of mayor of the City of Shreveport,” said Fuller of her decision to run. “In my campaign, I will offer my perspective on our community’s greatest challenges and a concrete plan of action on how we can fix them without waiting on someone else to save us.”
Fuller has revealed several key issues she will focus on during her campaign for mayor:
- Addressing Crime in Shreveport Through Investment in Neighborhoods and Communities. Our city has seen increased crime rates in recent years. To solve this risk to public health and safety, we must address crime head on at its source. History shows that crime is, more often than not, born of a lack of opportunities and promise for the future. By working with these front line communities directly, investing in neighborhood infrastructure and amenities, and creating opportunities for businesses and jobs, LeVette believes that we can reduce crime and increase quality of life. Even before her time as councilwoman, Fuller has worked alongside her peers and neighbors to revitalize neighborhood parks and engage in community-building efforts that have yielded a measurable reduction in crime, an increase in school attendance, and a more positive outlook from community members.
- Investing in Shreveport Police in Order to Increase Efficacy and Accountability. As the daughter of a former Shreveport Police Officer, LeVette knows the risk that our public safety officials face every day and the toll it takes on officers, their families, and friends. Officers deserve competitive pay for the work they do to serve our community and shouldn’t have to work extra shifts to put food on the table or to pay their bills. Instead of defunding the police, we should be investing in quality officers, ensuring effective and balanced training, and promoting accountability.
- Reducing Red Tape and Bureaucracy for Businesses. A safer community will create a space where businesses want to be, and more businesses mean more jobs for our residents. However, our city’s process for licensing and permitting businesses is not conducive to businesses who want to operate in Shreveport. LeVette Fuller will streamline the application and approval process with city departments and work with other agencies and governments to do the same while maintaining and safeguarding common sense protections for the public and environment.
- Embracing Smart Fiscal Policy with a Focus on Measurable Outcomes. Every dollar spent by the city should benefit the community and honor the taxpayers’ investment. Sometimes, the returns on public investment are safety and security. Other times, investment results in well-maintained public spaces and amenities that improve residents’ quality of life. Sometimes, investments make our infrastructure usable or encourage business and commerce which results in an increase in opportunities for residents and revenue for the city budget to re-invest. All of these investments should be made with metrics of success in place and outcomes should be measured so that the taxpayers can see the results of their investment.
- Rebuilding Public Trust with Effective and Transparent Communication. The hallmark of any good relationship is communication. The relationship between the government and residents is no different. LeVette Fuller believes constant communication with the community about where we are, where we’re headed, and what it will take to get there is needed to rebuild trust in local government. Without trust, we will not be able to reach our full potential as a community and move quickly to rebuild a city on the brink.
Fuller, a Democrat, has spent four years on Shreveport City Council as a champion of bipartisan collaboration and has fiercely defended the rights of residents, all while working to reduce red tape for businesses and protecting common sense standards for the community. Raised by her father, former Shreveport Police officer Everett Fuller, LeVette was educated locally at Centenary College and, after living for a brief time in other cities, returned home in 2004 with a strong belief that Shreveport can be a place full of people who believe that we can overcome our greatest challenges to build a better community.
Since her first public position on the Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) and through the last four years serving as city councilwoman, LeVette Fuller has been a devoted public servant, using her position to better the lives of residents and business. She has the conviction that the only way to build a better community is to put in the hours, do the research, to stand up to established ways of thinking, and do what’s best for the community, even if it goes against the party line.
“I am determined that with hard work, smart investment, transparency, and a little faith, that we can make our streets safe, that we can grow our economy, that we can have nice things,” Fuller said. “We can believe in Shreveport.”
