Lake Charles residents will vote for one of five candidates running for mayor during the March 29 Municipal Primary Election.

Candidates Wilford Carter Jr., Democrat; Mayor Nic Hunter, Republican; Marshall Simien, independent; James Steward, no party; and Khalid Taha, Republican, participated in a mayoral forum hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Lake Charles Alumnae Chapter on Monday.

Over two hours, the candidates answered prepared and community-fielded questions on housing, and economic development, to name a couple.

Housing

When asked about his plan for undeveloped areas in the city, local practicing attorney Simien — a former city councilman who ran against Hunter in 2017 — said resilient housing is the greatest need.

“If you look at the northern part of Lake Charles, you’ve got a lot of infrastructure already. People are building in other areas and putting in roads and everything else,” he said. “The only thing we need is some emphasis on housing.”

He suggested identifying funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to improve the area, much like the Just Imagine SWLA Mid-City Transformation project.

That’s plug and play. We can do that anywhere else in the city if we put the energy there.”

In rebuttal, Hunter — who has served as mayor for eight years — said the notion that the city hasn’t invested in north Lake Charles is “absolutely false.” He noted over $20 million in private investment in the area and the 750th single-family home that was recently restored by one of the two active housing programs in Lake Charles: Restore Louisiana and the city of Lake Charles Housing Rehabilitation Recovery Program.

“That house was on North Crater Street.”

Taha, who ran for the District G City Council seat multiple times, believes there has been no improvement in North Lake Charles for decades.

“For the last 20 years, we have not seen anything happening in north Lake Charles,” he said. “They build half of Enterprise Boulevard and put a couple of palm trees. It’s time to get new faces and new ideas to make things happen”

Improving housing in Lake Charles hinges on acquiring funding, Carter, a teacher and local businessman, said in a rebuttal to a question about affordable housing.

“We need to get more money, and that includes grants. Once we build more affordable homes, give them an opportunity to own those homes. Give grants so they can give down payments.”

Rising insurance rates can be a hurdle for potential homeowners. When asked about addressing insurance costs, retired Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office Captain Steward said he would travel to Baton Rouge and Washington, D.C., to meet with legislators and “be the voice for my city to let them know that by raising insurance … will hurt the demographics of my city, will hurt Lake Charles as a whole.”

Economic development

The economic development districts — like the Enterprise Boulevard Economic Development District— that were established under Hunter’s administration have reaped results, he said in response to questions about jobs, and city and economic growth. He referred to a list of new businesses that have set up shop in Lake Charles over the past eight years.

“The list got to be ridiculous because it was dozens of new businesses in this area that represent economic diversity. You can go to multiple areas of this city and see new businesses that you did not see eight years ago.”

Simien aims to diversify Lake Charles’ economy, noting that restaurants alone do not engage tourists and locals enough.

“Restaurants will get you about 20 minutes drive time, but entertainment, people will drive up to three hours for that,” he said. “I think if we did things along our lakefront … I think you’re going to see a whole different set of economics. The whole thing is not for them to compete with each other, but to make them complement.”

Taha said he plans to offer tax incentives to prospective businesses to bring them to Lake Charles.

“Maybe 50 percent paid tax, maybe no tax for the first year till they take off,” he proposed. “When we have more businesses, we have more people coming in, we have more money for the city.”

Steward has a vision to “bring 1,000 manufacturing jobs” to Lake Charles by working with legislators, citing the META facility announced by Gov. Jeff Landry in December that is planned to be built in Shreveport. He said this in response to a community question about moving away from fossil fuel dependency economically. With manufacturing returning to the United States, he said he would like to see microchip plants and auto parts manufacturing in the city.

“As your mayor, I’ll be talking to our congressional delegation and our senators to bring back, bring those jobs here to Lake Charles.”

Carter rebutted and said the city needs to “be a lot more proactive.”

“The reason why we’re not getting them is because we’re not going after them. We can’t wait on people … we have to manage our growth and we can’t rely on the governor.”