re: Voting on the Greenlight Plan

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Primarily an improvement for the City of BR but is taxing all of EBR.

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That's just a portion, there are projects all over the Parish.

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Does 100% of this specific tax money go into accounts exclusively to be used for this purpose?

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This is a temporary tax that is allocated specifically for the listed infrastructure improvements. There are a specific list of proposed projects all over the parish tied to the bond measure. You can see the road and intersections they want to improve on the project's website.

East Baton Rouge will borrow against the revenue generated by this tax and move the listed projects forward in the next 5-10 years instead of paying as they go over the next 50 years.

I voted against Council on Aging tax. I'm voting for this.

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If the ballot initiatives are approved, both of which are required for the plan to move forward, the new Green Light Plan would authorize a 5-mill property tax for 30 years, generating $450 million through 2046 to build 45 major road capacity improvement projects. A five mill property tax will cost a homeowner with a $200,000 home about $62.50 a year, or just over $5 a month. The program would also, at no additional cost to taxpayers, rededicate the Green Light Plan’s original half-cent sales tax to build 150 rehabilitation and community enhancement projects through 2030.

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A 200K homeowner would pay just over 5 bucks a month or 60+ dollars a year, but a homeowner who owns a 325K home would pay twice that much or over 120 bucks per year. It adds up fast because the exemption applies only to the first 75K so a 200K home is only taxes at a 125K rate.

They present the numbers in a misleading way.

Second they want to rededicate the 1/2 cents sales tax for to build "150 rehabilitation and community enhancement projects".

How many ways can you spell pork barrel projects?

I'm voting no for three reasons:

1) JBE is getting ready to hammer us more
2) This plan has been put together too fast and is ill-defined
3) I think the new mayor should be behind this and if he or she is not it doesn't need to pass.

Just because we need improved streets doesn't mean this is a good plan; nor does it mean its comprehensive in that it will help fix our regional and local problems.

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Second they want to rededicate the 1/2 cents sales tax for to build "150 rehabilitation and community enhancement projects

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A portion of is going to sidewalks and street lights. It's outlined on the website, but it could/should be more specific. I suspect that's how they are getting north Baton Rouge to support it. There was a lot of criticism initially with the proposal because very little of it went into that area even though the traffic problems were mostly not there. Most of the road improvements are in the growing parts of the parish which makes sense.

As far as the state taxes, I'm furious over the medicaid expansion and what that will do our budget. I do not trust them to use the gas tax to address the backlog. They'll rob that to pay for some other bullshite as they often do. It's honestly hard to blame people in Louisiana for being skeptical of the state government.

Those projects cover parts of the entire parish outside of slaughter.

Hooper Road runs through Scotlandville and Central.

30, Old Hammon, and O'Neil are all in St. George.

The improvemets around Essen and Bluebonnet help everyone by making the major ER hospitals more easily accessible.

One could argue that North Baton Rouge isn't helped by this plan, but frankly, they don't need the help. North Baton Rouge has a very solid grid with plenty of 4-lane highways and connector roads. It was developed 30 years ago and has not grown since. The South side was not developed. It lacks the street connectivity and 4 lane arteries the North enjoys. The traffic in the North is rarely an issue. I know because I commute through there most every day.

The only reason anyone would object to this plan is because they simply don't trust the government to use the money to complete them. These are all extremely worthwhile projects which would address major choke points within the city.

EBR Parish is hardly growing in population due to white flight.
Census POPULATION % Increase
1980 366,191 28.4%
1990 380,105 3.8%
2000 412,852 8.6%
2010 440,171 6.6%
Est. 2015 446,753 1.5%

Much of our problems are regional in nature, and can not be addressed by citizens of EBR alone.

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One could argue that North Baton Rouge isn't helped by this plan, but frankly, they don't need the help.

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North Baton Rouge is emptying out. Most of the growth is unfortunately where the infrastructure is inadequate - south Baton Rouge, Central, Zachary, etc.

While this is true, the worst of the chokepoints are in EBR, and the citizens of EBR have to deal with the traffic whether the suburbs cause it or not.

The suburbs have their own problems as well. The traffic issues in the capital region are the results of decades of compounding failures at the local, state, and federal level. It will take work and money from all three levels to fix it. Rather than squabbling about who's fault it is and who should shoulder the cost, like we've been doing for 20 years, it's time we just say f$&k it and pay to fix it ourselves. Damn this whole "it's not my job" attitude. It's about time we just go ahead and get this stuff done.

It took over 30 years to get a left turn signal on Nicholson @ Brightside. 30 YEARS!!! This plan will 4 lane Nicholson to the Parish Line. Ascension is planning to 4-lane nicholson between I-10 and the parish line with Iberville. Iberville woll likely 4-lane their stretch as well if both other parishes do the same. By EBR taking leadership, the other parishes will follow and do their part.

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Hooper Road runs through Scotlandville and Central.

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Hooper begins at Plank Road on the East side of the Airport and continues East to CEntral and beyond.

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30, Old Hammon, and O'Neil are all in St. George.

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30 begins at LSU nad moves South through BR into what would be St. George. It's a state Hwy. heavily used by commuters from Ascension and Iberville Parishes.

Old Hammond Highway runs from Towne Center East past S Forrest Blvd. where it becomes two lanes near Jones Creek Bridge. That's inside the city limits. It finishes up on florida blvd. East of O'neal lane which would be in St. George.

O'neal is almost finished from It's southern end at George O'neal North to its finish where it connects to the Central Thruway. Portions of O'neal make up the proposed border between BR and St. George.

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The only reason anyone would object to this plan is because they simply don't trust the government to use the money to complete them. These are all extremely worthwhile projects which would address major choke points within the

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Do you trust the new mayor to follow KIp's hastily put together plan?

And I see all the projects as worthwhile, and more important than building a new library downtown or one off Bluebonnet; and therein lies a lot of our troubles. Too many projects get built that aren't as important as other projects.

With tax dollars at a premium due to the recession here in La. and sluggish national economy; we need to be smarter with our tax dollars and right now we are seeing way too many tax increases.

I'm voting no and I voted for Green Light 1.

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True, but that doesn't mean the improvements proposed won't have a positive impact on taxpayers.

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You'd have to be an idiot to say the projects listed won't have a positive impact. I never said they would not.

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I would like them to be more specific on what they mean by "capacity improvements".

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Yes and what are enhancements, and such? That screams of pork.

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The project descriptions could offer more details, but the projects listed are definitely problem areas much like the bond measure they passed 10-11 years back.

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Yes, and that's why I said it was hastily put together as if they wanted to shove this through before a new mayor came in. Why??? Why not let the new mayor do it? Maybe the new mayor has other ideas? Why take her/him out of the equation with this 11th hour deal?

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I see this as a far cry from CATS, ALIVE, the downtown library monstrosity, the Council on Aging nonsense....or BREC's large budget for that matter.

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I'm with you here because I think key road projects are more necessary than Knock Knock Museum, a new downtown library or a new water lagoon somewhere.

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I agree, but my concerns here are remedied by the fact that this bond measure is tied to specific projects and not to some general fund.

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The enhancement deal stinks.