re: Baton Rouge issues $10M bond to start financing $170M downtonwn-LSU tram.

This. The idea is basically to expand downtown so that there is a safe, prosperous, high population density neighborhood spanning from LSU to the Capitol Building and from the River to 22nd Street with 3rd Street and North Boulevard being the focal point.

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That Nicholson area is "miles" from being in the city. There is so much stuff between the development area and where stuff is happening on 3rd Street. So even if the development goes all the way up to the bridge, you still got a big dead zone before you get to somewhere where stuff is happening.

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Well, that's the whole point of connecting them with the tram system.

And it's not really that far apart. Terrace St. (Water Campus) to North Blvd. town square is .75 miles. LSU's north gate to North Blvd. town square is right at 2 miles.

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I have walked many a time from the Pastime under the bridge to the Town Square and third street. The Tram will make those areas feel even closer.

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Yeah, that's like half a mile... no problem in nice weather.

That would be pure torture this time of year though.

Scam.

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Seriously, it would be more cost effective to set that $10 million on fire than to actually build the tram.

Hand to God.

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They've been burning money downtown for the last 40 years. I wonder if they bothered to calculate return on investment. Surely they would have saved money if they razed the city and started from scratch.

I hope they eventually succeed, but this annual pumping of money downtown creates an illusion of success. Nothing or very few things are happening naturally. It's being forced. Downtown should be bursting at the seams with all the money they invested downtown. Downtown is like a sick man on breathing machine. Yes, he could survive for a time without it, but long-term without it he ain't got a chance.

Downtown business owners be like, "Just a few more years and things will really start kicking," they tell themselves. Those that have already left and those who are struggling know better. Nobody is dumb enough to wait around for 10 more years of promises that things will get better and bidness will pick up.

They are essentially out of ideas. All they can do is keep pumping money in there to keep the illusion alive long enough for something real to catch on. And I for one, for the good of Baton Rouge and the LSU area, hope it does, but I ain't holding my breath.

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The thought is this team will jump start that.

It's started a little already. There are developers buying up everything they can.

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Yep, I'm pretty sure the water campus was reliant on the tram and old box mix development being planned.

Things really have started kicking, though. There's festivals every week, a grocery store, a lively bar and restaurant scene, a huge influx of hotels, and a massive migration of perminent residents. There's over 500 units opened up jus this year with another 600 opening in the next year, and most are presold.

Downtown has literally never been better.

Goldman Sachs is going to sell that River District land to a developer to recover some of the money they lost to Moreno. Someone is going to pay some good money for that site. That's ready to go development wise and it's right in between downtown and LSU. And it's near stuff like the Water Campus.

Id be amazed if it

1) gave 50,000 rides a year.
2) didn't have cost over-runs
3) didn't have maintenance cost/overhead over-runs
4) made it 2 years without someone getting shot and robbed on it