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Started By
Message
re: Baton Rouge no longer pursuing downtown-LSU tram
Posted on 2/27/18 at 11:26 am to King of New Orleans
Posted on 2/27/18 at 11:26 am to King of New Orleans
Llink to BR Business Report Article
Here's a key paragraph from the article;
It's obvious BRAF has lost their champion. Kips's gone and the BRAF plan to build the Tram to aid the BRAF development has been lost too.
It was all political. Politics helped it get this far, and politics is now killing it.
But all we lost was 2.8 million of which about a million was local funds.
It seems Broome saved the taxpayers 10 million or more.
Here's a key paragraph from the article;
quote:
The mayor’s announcement comes as little surprise. The tram concept was the brainchild of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which is developing the Water Campus along the Nicholson Corridor, and was enthusiastically embraced by former Mayor Kip Holden’s administration.
It's obvious BRAF has lost their champion. Kips's gone and the BRAF plan to build the Tram to aid the BRAF development has been lost too.
It was all political. Politics helped it get this far, and politics is now killing it.
But all we lost was 2.8 million of which about a million was local funds.
quote:
Some $2.8 million, including $1 million in city-parish funds, has already been spent on preliminary design and environmental clearance for the tram. Another $10 million for design and engineering work was approved by the Metro Council in 2016 but was never spent
It seems Broome saved the taxpayers 10 million or more.
1
Posted on 2/27/18 at 11:41 am to doubleb
quote:
The old build it and they will come strategy.
Versus the old do nothing new and then act surprised when nothing improves strategy?
I'm not saying the Tram proposal was the "be all end all" solution, but honestly it was good to see BR at least ATTEMPT to do things differently. The status quo sure isn't doing anyone any good.
This post was edited on 2/27/18 at 11:43 am
Posted on 2/27/18 at 11:42 am to doubleb
quote:
The city-parish’s consultant for the project, HNTB
All they do is keep funneling money to their crony consultants. They they kill the project before any real work begins, in order to fund another study with their crony consultants. Then repeat for the next mayor.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 11:51 am to AbitaFan08
quote:
Versus the old do nothing new and then act surprised when nothing improves strategy?
So doing anything is better than doing nothing even though you know it all doesn't add up.
Sometimes doing nothing is better when you know it's going to be a big loser.
I remember Catfish Town. Do you?
BR had some kind of Olympic games here, we had the Bowling convention here, and we had minor league hockey. Did any of these things make a big change?
Recently I heard how IBM was going to be a big game changer, was it?
Now BRAF says they need a Tram and people go ga ga because its new and shiny, but that doesn't mean it will be a plus. Maybe if there was a study proving ridership? Maybe if someone could pin down the cost(remember it started at one number and kept getting bigger and bigger). And then who was going to pay for it? They never told us that.
I'm not opposed to new things, but when you see developers and politicians pushing a big public outlay you have to know it's for them and not for the good of the whole.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 11:54 am to LouisianaLonghorn
This post was edited on 10/1/20 at 12:13 pm
Posted on 2/27/18 at 11:57 am to dixiechick
I think he's talking about cities that are vibrant, growing, and desirable to live in. Also known as the opposite of Baton Rouge.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:04 pm to Loungefly85
quote:
Well duh. We can't have anything that doesn't service the good people of North Batin Rewage. That tram wasn't "Together BR" enough.
This. It was a Holden project.
It's no longer a priority even though the Trump infrastructure plan would have likely funded a substantial portion of it.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:06 pm to doubleb
Yes, I remember CatFish Town. It was a complete bust as many predicted it would be. I don't see the relevance of that is to building a tram, unless the point is that trying sometimes leads to failure so why do it.
And I don't know a single person who said, "oh man, a bowling tournament! This is the spark that will light the flames of change downtown!" It was just a short term event to bring a little money into the city.
And I think it's far too soon to determine the overall positive or negative impact of IBM. Anyone expecting things to change overnight because one company opens up is fooling themselves. These things take time.
And I don't know a single person who said, "oh man, a bowling tournament! This is the spark that will light the flames of change downtown!" It was just a short term event to bring a little money into the city.
And I think it's far too soon to determine the overall positive or negative impact of IBM. Anyone expecting things to change overnight because one company opens up is fooling themselves. These things take time.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:09 pm to King of New Orleans
Property taxes about to go up
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:20 pm to member12
quote:
It was a Holden project.
A BRAF project, but Holden was championing it for them.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:29 pm to AbitaFan08
quote:
Yes, I remember CatFish Town. It was a complete bust as many predicted it would be. I don't see the relevance of that is to building a tram, unless the point is that trying sometimes leads to failure so why do it.
I listed projects and events that all required tax payers to subsidize that were touted as big pluses to the economy; yet we see little or nothing as a result.
Sometimes government gets into picking winners and it helps the entire community; however, all too often government picks losers and the community suffers and only a few win or no one wins.
We may never know what may have happened if the Tram was pushed through to completion, but I just don't understand how gambling 85 million dollars in local funds can be justified by just saying we need to do something.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:30 pm to AbitaFan08
The democrat politicians in this city always try to build up downtown so their constituency doesn't have to go so far south to rob people
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:32 pm to el Gaucho
quote:
The less public transportation the better. Criminals that can't afford cars use public transportation to rob nicer neighborhoods
Absolutely. Plus the drastic drop in DWI/MIP and other traffic crimes would decimate local law enforcement budgets. The public can't afford to have them not pulling in people who pay them.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:35 pm to AbitaFan08
quote:
Yes, I remember CatFish Town. It was a complete bust as many predicted it would be.
Because the first thing they did once it was opened was ban alcohol and live music, so it was just a couple lame shops and cafe's rather than a real destination for entertainment. Catfish Town was a victim of bad timing as much as anything. It just so happened to open right before the oil crunch that essentially shut down all the stores and many of the offices downtown.
This post was edited on 2/27/18 at 12:36 pm
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:38 pm to kingbob
Not sure how I'm gonna survive without this monorail.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:48 pm to JohnnyKilroy
quote:
I think he's talking about cities that are vibrant, growing, and desirable to live in.
That's exactly what I'm referring to.
quote:
Also known as the opposite of Baton Rouge
In the case of BR, the potential is there, but I don't think it will ever be fully realized.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:49 pm to LouisianaLonghorn
quote:
In the case of BR, the potential is there, but I don't think it will ever be fully realized.
Unless we fix our school problems and unless we fix our traffic issues it won't be.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 12:59 pm to doubleb
quote:
Unless we fix our school problems and unless we fix our traffic issues it won't be.
In fill development helps the traffic problem immensely.
Baton Rouge has several massive problems:
deplorable public schools
completely insufficient roads
sky-high crime
The city cannot blossom without fixing these issues, but investment improving the urban core of the city can seriously help at least 2 of those problems.
In fill development reduces traffic and creates broader swaths that are insulated from crime. Chicago is the most crime-ridden place in America, but it's still an awesome city because the crime is largely contained to one area. Baton Rouge has crime spread out everywhere. By gentrifying the areas surrounding downtown (Downtown East, Old South Baton Rouge, Mid City, etc), it creates a solid, safe, densely populated urban core and confines the crime to areas that most citizens who contribute to society are less and less likely to ever need to go.
In-fill development also helps interstate traffic since people living around campus, downtown, mid city, etc are far less likely to use the interstates during the week.
It won't fix the schools, but it can help get the ball rolling in other areas.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 1:14 pm to kingbob
I'm all for infill, but when you are talking about infill you have to understand it's more than Downtown, Mid City and around LSU if you look at the entire Metro area.
And we are seeing quite a bit of infill now. Drive through the area around Southdowns, Old Goodwood, Capital Heights and you can see that. You can also see growth in Downtown proper.
But still BR proper is stagnant. Education, education, education is problem 1. Areas with good schools are growing faster than areas without good schools.
I'm all for infill. I'm all for private investors building and remodeling homes, buildings and opening new businesses. The more the better.
Government should facilitate that growth by making sure there is an orderly process for investors to follow and that government keeps their side of the bargain (public safety, public health (garbage/sewer), and traffic, etc).
Currently our plan review process is broken. Talk to any developer and architect and he can tell you that. There's no excuse for it really.
Currently people feel unsafe. People in charge tell us we are short cops. There's no real excuse for that either.
Our Fire, garbage and sewer services appear to be fine.
Traffic? We all know it's a mess and many of our problems stem not so much from BReans not paying attention, but because of national and regional highways not being addressed. We have been neglected by big brother.
But honestly, how much good would a Tram do in fixing these major issues? I can't see how it would be but a blip on the radar.
And we are seeing quite a bit of infill now. Drive through the area around Southdowns, Old Goodwood, Capital Heights and you can see that. You can also see growth in Downtown proper.
But still BR proper is stagnant. Education, education, education is problem 1. Areas with good schools are growing faster than areas without good schools.
I'm all for infill. I'm all for private investors building and remodeling homes, buildings and opening new businesses. The more the better.
Government should facilitate that growth by making sure there is an orderly process for investors to follow and that government keeps their side of the bargain (public safety, public health (garbage/sewer), and traffic, etc).
Currently our plan review process is broken. Talk to any developer and architect and he can tell you that. There's no excuse for it really.
Currently people feel unsafe. People in charge tell us we are short cops. There's no real excuse for that either.
Our Fire, garbage and sewer services appear to be fine.
Traffic? We all know it's a mess and many of our problems stem not so much from BReans not paying attention, but because of national and regional highways not being addressed. We have been neglected by big brother.
But honestly, how much good would a Tram do in fixing these major issues? I can't see how it would be but a blip on the radar.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 1:17 pm to kingbob
quote:
In fill development helps the traffic problem immensely. Baton Rouge has several massive problems: deplorable public schools completely insufficient roads sky-high crime The city cannot blossom without fixing these issues, but investment improving the urban core of the city can seriously help at least 2 of those problems. In fill development reduces traffic and creates broader swaths that are insulated from crime. Chicago is the most crime-ridden place in America, but it's still an awesome city because the crime is largely contained to one area. Baton Rouge has crime spread out everywhere. By gentrifying the areas surrounding downtown (Downtown East, Old South Baton Rouge, Mid City, etc), it creates a solid, safe, densely populated urban core and confines the crime to areas that most citizens who contribute to society are less and less likely to ever need to go. In-fill development also helps interstate traffic since people living around campus, downtown, mid city, etc are far less likely to use the interstates during the week. It won't fix the schools, but it can help get the ball rolling in other areas.
Well said.
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