A few St. George facts for those still clueless about this

1. The area that is now St. George was never ever ever in the city of Baton Rouge. No one split Baton Rouge and no one is tearing Baton Rouge apart.

2. The map of St. George wasn't "drawn" by a bunch of rich white guys. The map of St. George has been being drawn for years by lack of incorporation of those areas. St. George is simply comprised of (most) of the unincorporated parts of SE EBR.

3. The new SG map eliminated small sections of land. Those areas showed their disinterest in the incorporation by lack of signatures on the first petition. St. George organizers granted their wish and left them out of something they wanted no part of. Now people are accusing the organizers of cutting them out on purpose. Well yeah, they were because they didn't want to be a part of this to begin with. Imagine if they were forced to stay in, what the commentary would be. Annexation is very simple. If those areas want in they will be let in.

4. White Flight is what's been going on for 40 years from EBR where all the (mostly) white people "flew" to bordering parishes to escape the horrendous school system in EBR that forced their children to ride a bus for an hour instead of putting them in their neighborhood schools. The St. George incorporation required no one to move (fly) anywhere. The entire thing is still a big part of East Baton Rouge Parish and will still contribute plenty to the parish. Stop calling this white flight until you prove that it resulted in someone, anyone, actually moving. (Hint: It didn't). White Flight Definition: the phenomenon of white people moving out of urban areas, particularly those with significant minority populations, and into suburban areas.

5. Taxes from the St. George area will no longer go to pay for services that the area does not get the benefit of using, such as the CITY police and the CITY fire department. I'm pretty sure if people in Scotlandville found out they were paying for St. George and East Side Fire protection services they'd blow a fuse. Same thing.

6. The entire St. George effort started out as the quest for a new school system, which is why the FB page is still named fb.com/SEBRSchools. The group was told that a school district has never been granted to an area that wasn't already incorporated into a city. They suggested that the group take that route then come back and request their school district. They did and they will.

7. The city of Baton Rouge population has been stagnant since the 70s and has only changed +/- 2,000 people in 40 years or so. The incorporation of St. George hasn't affected that number a single bit because no part of the city of Baton Rouge was involved.

Please feel free to add any other simple facts here so that people who haven't done their research can potentially get a little more informed.

If you are there and don't want to be, i'm positive your house will sell very fast. No one is forcing you to stay. If you do not want to spend your money in that area, no one is forcing you to. There are plenty of other options in the parish for dining, grocery shopping and all types of other retail. Spend your money where you want to. That option along with being able to vote on whether or not the land you own is inside of an incorporated area or not, is what makes this country so great.


With that I yield the floor.