re: Whatever happened to the planned dredging of University & City Park Lakes?

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I go to the polls every time. I’m trying to get the public awareness of BREC’s fortunes out there. They are sitting in a ton of money just like the library board/system.

As far as BREC not owning the lakes, you might be right. However, city park and the beach area at Acadian/Stanford are both owned and directly next to the Lakes.

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You are correct, they are sitting on money. But the reason is because the taxpayers voted to dedicate it to them so it didn’t get lost in the general fund. And while some might not like it, BREC has built new parks as they proposed to the taxpayers which is why the tax was approved. The Library board proposed building new libraries all over the parish which is exactly what they have done. They are now using money to renovate those libraries that were first built, Jones Creek and previously Bluebonnet. While people might not like the downtown library, it was proposed and promised in the original request and is being built because the taxpayers voted for it.

I believe these two dedicated taxes as well as the first Greenlight tax have served the public well in actually doing what they said they would do and taxpayers approved. I believe the new road tax which is dedicated will be the same.

It’s not a perfect system. I support the above 3 taxes because I believe they served the community well. I do not and did not support the CATS tax or the Council on Aging tax and showed that at the polls myself. I got outvoted on both. I believe those 2 taxes are the flip side of dedicated taxes and people need to be vigilant to be sure of transparency.

But it is up to us as taxpayers to understand how this works. Too many people just spout off without actually doing any research as to how all of this works and it is all public record and available online. I don’t want to pay anymore taxes than I have to but I’m aware that if we sit around and complain and are against everything we end up in the dark. Things cost money and someone has to pay for them. That would be you and me.

I enjoy a good discussion and respect both sides of the arguement. What I don’t care for is everyone thinks everyone else is stealing their money and everyone involved is “on the take.” Government on any level is terribly inefficient and never will be perfect. We are all stockholders in it and no way everyone will always agree but by and large it works. There always is someone who’s looking for a scam but that’s just humanity. Government doesn’t have a monopoly on thieves, the private sector does very well in that department as well.

The beach on Stanford was created the last time the lakes were dredged, probably early 80’s if memory serves me and was given to BREC to create a park. A good thing that actually happened with the dredging but people don’t remember that.

Good for you for actually going to the polls as do I. By the numbers most people don’t even bother to vote but they sure will complain if something is passed they don’t like.

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They have a whole building with free games that only BREC employees go to because only BREC employees know about it. It’s disgusting.

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Where is it? I’d like to check it out

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The beach on Stanford was created the last time the lakes were dredged, probably early 80’s if memory serves me and was given to BREC to create a park.

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The entire lake was supposed to be dredged one summer in the early 1980’s. They started by the sorority houses and stopped when they approched the area where the TKE house sits because the money ran out. They also used the dredged material to build a peninsula for a park on the north shore of the lake.

LSU AD Scott Woodward recently commented at a luncheon that addressing the lakes issue is an area LSU Athletics could look to help with. The comment came in response to why LSU Athletics will not simply give a yearly sum of money to LSU (academics). He prefers providing the money for dedicated, planned uses. The lakes was an example he gave.

These lakes were originally swamp land and were dug out during the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, if IIRC. They are trying to revert to their original state. It would be great to go ahead and dredge these to a 25 foot depth to help with the flooding in da parish when we have a heavy rain. We could sell the dirt to AP so they can have fill to build their house upon.

That’s going to be some really expensive dirt.

That project is going to be a logistical nightmare. I don't see how you effectively haul away that much sediment efficiently.

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That will be a total shitshow if it happens. Please don't ruin or make unsightly one of the only pretty things in Baton Rouge.


dude. the lake is like 6 inches deep throughout. For its health, dredging and improvement is necessary. We are not talking about a naturally occurring lake that shouldn't be touched by man.

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Yes, this HAS to be done like every 25-30 years to actually keep these things as "lakes."

You'd really have to install a pipeline for sediment disposal. There's no way you could dewater and truck that out in any sort of efficient way.

Pipeline it to the River