Op-ed By: Faye Hargrave
CROWLEY, LA — Conservatives—and anyone with a conscience—understand that when public records are withheld and accountability is dodged, something is broken. Records belong to the public. So why is the City of Crowley working so hard to keep them out of public hands?
That’s what one Crowley resident, Theresa Richard, set out to find out.
TROUBLING PATTERN
Her efforts to hold local officials accountable have now exposed a troubling pattern: blight enforcement that protects the powerful, delays disguised as due process, and a fee schedule that appears designed to punish those who ask too many questions.
Like many cities in Louisiana, Crowley has talked a big game about cracking down on blighted properties. But talk is cheap. Until 2025, the city hadn’t fully processed a single property through the legal condemnation process.
In fact, one of the first acts of the new administration in early 2024 was to pause blight enforcement altogether—claiming they were waiting on federal grant money that, as it turns out, they wouldn’t be eligible to receive for at least two more years.
BLIGHTED PROPERTIES
Meanwhile, in November 2023, a slate of 30 properties was brought before the council. Some were given six months to comply. But many received no follow-up at all.
Theresa Richard began tracking the process herself—something the city clearly wasn’t doing. What did she discover? Enforcement was only happening to some. Owners with connections, particularly one with dozens of substandard structures, seemed to be exempt.
In some cases, notices weren’t filed with the courthouse at all. In others, they weren’t mailed on time, resulting in canceled court hearings. All while the city blamed the process: “We have to send more notices,” they’d say. But Richard dug deeper and found they weren’t sending the first ones.
CROWLEY BRIGHT CLUB
Out of necessity, Richard built her own tracking spreadsheet. She mapped condemned properties, notice timelines, court outcomes, and delays. She also launched a Facebook page—Crowley Blight Club—to document what she uncovered and invite others to share their experiences.
With the tagline “We’re not the problem—we live next door to it,” the page has become a hub for residents frustrated by the city’s failure to enforce its own codes. It tracks abandoned homes, sewer overflows, unsafe rentals, and other hazards city hall seems to ignore—especially when those properties belong to politically connected owners.
OBSTACLES TO PUBLIC ACCESS
As Richard’s public records requests started catching the city flat-footed, they began pushing back.
How? By creating a new fee structure that included:
- $1 per page for paper records, and
- Up to $40 for “digital file transfers”—even for documents already stored digitally or emailed internally.
When Richard tried to avoid these fees by offering to make her own copies, she was told to photograph records off a computer screen—a clear violation of the spirit (and likely the letter) of Louisiana’s Public Records Law.
OUR RECORDS, OUR RIGHT
After months of public pressure—and with support growing through Crowley Blight Club—the city finally offered to submit a formal request to the Louisiana Attorney General. Richard responded with her own draft questions, making sure the request would reflect what residents actually experience, not just what City Hall wants clarified.
She doesn’t want a legal opinion designed to protect them. She wants one that protects the public.
Richard’s work is now forming the basis for potential civil rights and fair housing complaints. If the city’s selective enforcement disproportionately impacts Black, Hispanic, elderly, or disabled residents, the fallout could be statewide.
In Crowley, blight may be the problem—but covering it up may be the real scandal. And as the city scrambles to justify its actions, one woman with a spreadsheet, a Facebook page, and the law on her side may end up doing more for public safety than any official in City Hall.
NOTE: Citizens for a New Louisiana also has a series of public records requests submitted to the City of Crowley that have been outstanding for several months. Transparency is not their strong suit, and a daily diet of accountability is needed.
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