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

If you listened to Kip, BRAF, BRAC and all the others in the City Hall crowd, Baton Rouge was booming remember?

Less than a year later and we are falling apart. Times can change really quickly.

Now everybody is going to pile on Mayor Broome, but reality was BR was never booming, and we were not growing like sister sisters across the South who were.

The reality is la. is still having hard times and BR is seeing the impact of that and lingering effects of the global recession. We had a governor who quit leading, and ran for president and he did very little to move us forward by making real reforms and necessary changes.

The Governor we have now is stuck with the problems, but he has no real solutions. Raising taxes in tough times gets you nowhere. You chase business and citizens out of state and let the those who stayed the course pay the bills for all the extra spending.

La. and BR need change, but the politicians in control don't want to lose control. We will see more of the same and the results won't make many of us happy.

Fishing/Hunting
LSU
Family
Friendliest People
Food
Driving distance to Best Beaches in the US
Gas Prices have less fluctuations than West and North
Festivals & Mardi Gras
Mild Winters


Having said this, I too struggle with the incompetence of our leadership, litter, crime, etc.

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They didn't take into account increased car volumes due to Claycut being closed. They factored in taking the CATS busses off the street which has already been taken aback. It's a terrible terrible idea. It just means that everyone will be stuck behing empty CATS busses idling at empty bus stops instead of changing lanes to avoid potholes and left turners.

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I thought the road diet included plans for bus pull outs?

Also, SWB and Tom Murphy spoke at this same speaker series. I'd love to know his reaction after meeting EBRs Mayor President firsthand....

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The only issue with that is the mayor is opting for property taxes to fund it instead of extending a sales tax for another 10 years.

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WRONG

The mayor is extending the sales tax AND increasing property taxes.

Furthermore, she wants roughly 540 million dollars, but only 360 million is to be spent on roads themselves.

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• $360.7 million for new roads.

• $100 million for improving corridors with signal synchronization, sidewalks and cycling paths.

• $39.7 million for road repairs, lights, landscaping and more.

• $40 million for advanced traffic management and traffic light synchronization

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source

I liked the original Green Light Plan much better. It had the list of roads as this one does now, but much more of the plan was for the roads and less was to be spent on items such as bicycle paths, sidewalks, traffic synchronization, etc. which allows the politicians a lot of wiggle room to help their supporters.


Do we really need 180 million dollars worth of traffic synchronization, sidewalks and bicycle paths?

Honestly, Lafayette is probably best equipped to be the city in Louisiana that begins to attract "young people". The culture is there, there's a lack of culcha, room to grow is there. The city just needs to bring some diversity into the economy and the oil field obviously needs to pick back up

Lafayette is still reeling from the oil turndown. Lafayette is bleeding jobs.

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The mayor is extending the sales tax AND increasing property taxes.

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I think they are extending sales tax to provide additional funding for upkeep and pavement rehab. Or at least that's part of the proposal. If it is voted down the old Green Light plan will continue without the supplemental projects.

Yes, and to pay for Greenlight 1.

But goofball was saying the property tax was replacing the sales tax and that is false.

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So, run away, that's your answer?

There are many things to love about La and stay to fight for.

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Run away wasn't always my answer. For years, I was a huge cheerleader for ways to save BR. I was a member of Forum 35, went to guest speaker panels, went to community meetings during the "Austin 6" days of the early 2000's. I was involved with the push to get younger progressive types on the Metro Council. That combined with Kip getting into office, with Walter Monsour and William Daniel and such, City Hall was changing. The blue laws were repealed and open container laws downtown were relaxed. Downtown BR was in this renaissance period.

Eventually though, the progressive push lead to a more local Democrat presence. That was the beginning of the end. St George was attacked as a racial pariah bent on destroying Baton Rouge. In my opinion, that was the last ditch effort to at the very least save EBR Parish as a whole. Without it, the drain continues. Suffering the most is not only the city of BR, but every city in the parish as well. St George could have at least kept property taxes in the parish. Now Ascension and Livingston await with arms wide open.

BR is now filled with urban decay. Murders are up, white flight continues, and the powers that be basically spend their time on sowing racial division and salivating for more tax revenue.

I'm pretty sure it's done. There might be some things to love LA for, but there's not much to fight for in the city of Baton Rouge. My family and peer group are looking for a way out of here. I'd advise you do the same. Let the race hustlers keep raising taxes for somebody else to pay for because I'm sick of it being me.