BusinessReport: Baton Rouge needs dramatic change to keep pace with global landscape

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Baton Rouge needs dramatic change to keep pace with global landscape

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Baton Rouge needs to undergo a dramatic transformation to attract young people and avoid falling victim to a rapidly changing global landscape.

That is the message Tom Murphy, senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute and former mayor of Pittsburgh, delivered today at the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s Signature Speaker Series.

His remarks come as Baton Rouge grapples with numerous quality of life issues as well whether or not residents are willing to pay new taxes for transportation and other infrastructure projects. Then there’s the uncertainty of a parish still recovering from last year’s floods. Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, whose keystone transportation tax plan will go before its first real test tomorrow at the Metro Council, also spoke at the event and laid out goals like transforming blight and reducing crime in the Capital City.

Murphy is best known for his role guiding Pittsburgh’s reinvigoration after that city lost hundreds of thousands of steelworkers along with other residents during the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s as manufacturing jobs dried up, prompting people to flee the city.

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He also noted he never raised property taxes as mayor, instead turning to a small, targeted increase in the sales tax, along with tax incentives and other resources to get private companies to invest in the city.

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The article is about Baton Rouge, but IMO the entire state of Louisiana needs major change. The people of Louisiana have no reason to trust their state government to be good stewards when it comes to how and where their tax dollars are spent. They don't support infrastructure investment that they actually need because they don't trust that it will actually be spent wisely. The state continues to fall behind.