The Hayride trolling on Gary Chambers-NBRED – or North Baton Rouge Economic Development –

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Enter Gary Chambers to pin the blame on The White Man and his minstrel mayor…

Fellow board member Gary Chambers said the community is suffering from two decades of white flight and disinvestment from the city-parish’s public and business sector.

Chambers and others on the board of the Baton Rouge North Economic Development District point out that the success of Baton Rouge’s Downtown Development District was boosted by the advocacy of former mayor Kip Holden.

They say Holden’s focus on downtown aided in the adoption of policies and incentives that made redevelopment for the city-parish’s central business district attractive, and profitable, to developers.

Tax-increment financing districts, which return sales tax revenues back to businesses to reduce construction debts, supported the entrance of new hotels downtown.

The Metro Council in 2016 created the North Baton Rouge Economic Opportunity Zone, a program aimed at boosting private investment in low-income areas through federal tax incentives.

Since its implementation, though, there have been only three applications for developments within the approved zone, according to annual reports from the city-parish Office of Planning Commission. The first was in December 2016 and two more were filed in December 2018.

And then…wait for it…

Chambers said current Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome needs to step up and be visible and vocal about bettering the landscape and quality of life in north Baton Rouge the way Holden was for downtown.

“I think it’s time for Broome to deliver,” Chambers said. “We’re coming up on an election year, and voters will be looking around to see what has changed since Kip left office.”

So Gary Chambers has been on this board for three years, which means he’s at least partially responsible for the fact it has done absolutely nothing but collect per diems and free lunches, and now he’s making demands that Sharon Weston Broome deliver.

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