re: Together Baton Rouge initiative - What say you, OT?

Louisiana is undervalued. Just needs proper management.

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Seriously wondering how this is known

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It is not widely known but the Far Left is very well organized when it comes to funding local political agitation.

Almost all of these “local” groups are started to take advantage of some “new” source of non-profit $$. I know guys who have made a good living for decades starting these “local” activist groups. Its how your university Women’s Studies professors make their $$.

the issues change (BRT, BLM, equal rights amendment, etc.) but the funding stays the same.

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Louisiana should have the best educated (not worst educated)

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That starts at home and is something government can do very little about. Generous handout programs to "combat poverty" often do more to perpetuate it as working the system becomes a lifestyle.

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hat starts at home and is something government can do very little about. Generous handout programs to "combat poverty" often do more to perpetuate it as working the system becomes a lifestyle.

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They have this mentality BECAUSE of the generous handout programs. Entitlements are a life style and a vocation for thousands upon thousands of Louisiana citizens. If one does not need a career in order to support themselves and a family, if their food, housing, education, healthcare, child care, phone bills, internet, and spending money is provided without working, why would they work? Why would they work when working too many hours or saving too much money would cost them all of those benefits? If you don't need to work, why do you need an education? If you don't need an education? Why would you care about school? While it is often made out to be a racial issue, bad schools have little to nothing to do with race and EVERYTHING to do with the percentage of households subsisting off of entitlement programs. Those kids simply will not, on average, value education as much as the children of working parents because education, frankly, produces no value to them. Our secondary education system is nearly 100% geared at preparing students for college. There's no life skills being taught. Beyond the 9 weeks of civics (which is no where near enough), there is NOTHING relevant being taught in required high school courses to kids who have no intention of going to college. Why should people value something that produces no value for them?

If you want to fix schools, convert entitlement programs from being a life style to being just a safety net designed to get people BACK on their feet rather than dependent for life, and teach material in those schools that is useful like how to start a business, how credit works, how to do one's taxes, how our justice system works, how local governments operate, how to purchase a car, how insurance works, how to schedule doctors visits, how to do basic maintenance on your car and household items (toilets, lawnmowers, dishwashers, sinks, etc),

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Louisiana should have the best educated (not worst educated) and best infrastructure (not worst infrastructure) in the US.

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So your solution to that is simply more taxes?

And LA politicians actually do know how to capitalize on this little gem. Unfortunately, They're typically the beneficiaries, not the citizens.

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The problem with LA's education and infrastructure is not funding. The problem with infrastructure is a lack of efficiency as well as corruption. We can spend a million dollars per student but if the parents don't give a shite, it won't improve education results.

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This. The money is stolen through administrative bloat and massive consulting contracts that produce nothing. They are jobs programs, nothing more.

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This. The money is stolen through administrative bloat and massive consulting contracts that produce nothing. They are jobs programs, nothing more.

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It's like saying your boat has a leak and your fix is to get a bigger pump to bail out the water more easily

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They have this mentality BECAUSE of the generous handout programs. Entitlements are a life style and a vocation for thousands upon thousands of Louisiana citizens. If one does not need a career in order to support themselves and a family...

If you want to fix schools, convert entitlement programs from being a life style to being just a safety net designed to get people BACK on their feet rather than dependent for life, and teach material in those schools that is useful like how to start a business, how credit works, how to do one's taxes, how our justice system works, how local governments operate, how to purchase a car, how insurance works, how to schedule doctors visits, how to do basic maintenance on your car and household items (toilets, lawnmowers, dishwashers, sinks, etc),

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One of the most concise, cogent, and accurate posts I have seen on this here board, me.

Sums up so much, not to mention the idea mentioned by others as well that as long as we have entrenched, corrupt politicians, NOTHING will ever change.

I still say that the Pericone guy who doxxed Jim Letten harmed this state for decades as Letten was effective at rooting out corruption effectively.

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People are trying to do something right. Look at Zachary & Central. IMO, they should try to leave the parish altogether, and establish NBR parish, to include their municipalities, as well as areas to the north of them to the WF/EF/ST.H lines.

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For all this "together" bullshite they promote, the new thing now from the NBR folks is that they want to separate the city and parish government so they can remove any veto power from the rest of the metro council.

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For all this "together" bullshite they promote, the new thing now from the NBR folks is that they want to separate the city and parish government so they can remove any veto power from the rest of the metro council.

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Is is one policy aim of their which I agree with. The consolidated parish/city government system needs to end. The needs and desires of Baton Rouge, the unincorporated areas, and the other municipalities in the parish are too at odds with one-another to continue to have the mayor and parish president be the same person. Baton Rouge needs to run Baton Rouge and the rest of the parish needs to run itself.

Granted, one of the big reasons for the unincorporated areas being the way they are is the Voting Rights Act. One of the policies laid out by regulators is that cities cannot expand their borders if doing so would dilute minority voting power. So, as the city itself became more black due to white flight, it could not expand its borders into the newly created suburban neighborhoods. So, to expand city services and its sales tax base, the city had to gerry-mander its borders to absorb only commercial properties. This created the issue of all of these unincorporated areas south and East of town who have needs that they cannot effectively deal with. The city CANNOT absorb them without running afoul of the feds despite the fact that the metro council districts and the mayor/president are elected without regard for the city limits. Since most functions are handled at the parish level rather than city (water, roads, trash, sewer, parks, schools, etc), once the consolidated form of government was created and the voting rights act was being enforced, there has been no incentive to expand the city limits except to absorb commercial property which could help fund a fledgling city of St. George in the event it is successful at being formed.

This whole conflict is stupid and all just beating around the bush to try and fix problems caused by the federal government and by petty people within the local government squabbling between the unincorporated areas and those in the city limits. Those in the unincorporated areas want more schools, and those in the city want that funding to go to the schools that are already built in the city. They don't really want BR to have a separate government because the city's general fund is reliant on tax moneys from those unincorporated areas. They are using the unincorporated areas to fund services for the city that the unincorporated areas aren't receiving. They're basically using the unincorporated areas south of town as a colony.