Cedric Glover

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Cedric Glover, mayor of Shreveport as of 2007

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Cedric Bradford Glover (born August 1965) is the Democratic mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana -- the first African American to hold the position. There were originally eleven candidates for mayor who sought to succeed the retiring Democrat Keith Hightower, including a former Hightower aide and former television reporter, Democrat Liz Swaine, and a Republican state senator, Max T. Malone. All were eliminated in the jungle primary. Glover and former city attorney Jerry Jones led in the primary to claim slots for the November 7 general election. At that point, Glover defeated Jones.

The youngest son of Elizabeth Bradford Glover and the late Clarence Ernest Glover Sr., Glover is a lifelong resident of Shreveport and was educated in the public and private schools of Caddo Parish. His parents instilled in him and his siblings a sense of community and civic commitment.

These traits manifested themselves early in Glover's life. He started, what, at that time was the only black Boy Scouts of American troop in the nine-parish Norwela Council area. He later served with the Volunteers of America Lighthouse program as a program coordinator. During this time, he was elected treasurer of the Shreveport Chapter of the NAACP, and President of Martin Luther King, Jr., Civic Club. The MLK area at that time was beset by the twin scourges of crack cocaine and gang violence and void of constructive activities for the community's young people. Glover was active in efforts that culminated with the deployment of Operation THOR in the MLK area. Operation THOR, which is an acronym for Take, Hold, Organize, and Return, represents the largest mobilization of law enforcement in Northwest Louisiana history and served to break the stranglehold on the community by drug dealers and gang bangers.

Prompted by the urging of many, Glover offered himself as a candidate for the Shreveport City Council District A seat. In November 1990, he became the youngest individual ever elected to the Shreveport City Council. While on the City Council, he served terms as Council Chairman, Chairman of the Public Safety Committee, and was selected Public Official of the Year by the Shreveport chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. He also received the Louisiana Municipal Association's Community Achievement Award three times, as well as the Shreveport Black Chamber of Commerce Political Achievement Award.

As councilman, Glover secured more than $30 million in capital construction dollars for his district, and increased the Parks and Recreation budget by 30 percent and declared war on liquor stores selling to minors. This action resulted in the first liquor license revocations in city history. He also championed and advanced the concept of Community Oriented Policing, at a time when most in law enforcement saw little value in it. Probably most remembered for the time and effort he put into getting to know and understand the challenges met by the various City departments, a commitment that extended as far as his spending a day riding as a crew member on the back of one of municipal garbage trucks.

During his tenure on the Council, he was a board member of the Greater Shreveport Economic Development Committee, Goodwill Industries and the Metropolitan YMCA, and became the youngest graduate of the Leadership Louisiana program.

In October 1995, Glover was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives. He was elected by his colleagues to the executive committee of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. He was also selected as Legislator of the Year by the Rural Caucus, and selected as Legislator of the Month by the Louisiana Municipal Association, Citizens Against Crime, Inc., for instituting the first computer automated crime victim notification system in the entire state of Louisiana.