is the city ready for you?

BRPD Owes Us Accountability

2006-01-29T21:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 28's Advocate featured a well-researched and enlightening(by The Advocate's standards) article on the Baton Rouge Police Department's crime reporting techniques, or lack thereof. Since the 1990s, American police forces have been publishing "crime maps" to the public in an effort to make communities more aware of the types of criminal activity happening around them. It began with the largest departments, in New York City, and Los Angeles, but today, the software is so widely available that much smaller municipal forces are turning to the internet to share information with their employers, the citizenry. New Orleans Police began posting in 2003 to battle the city's unyielding murder rates, and The Advocate cited a very successful mapping program that the Lafayette Sheriff's Office launched several years ago. Generally, when a call is placed to 911, dispatchers make a post to a map of the city's police districts, down to the block, as officers are responding. A specific description of the incident and the names of responding officers are included, and the information can be updated based on the officers' final report. Those maps are posted at the department's website every week or month, and usually a year-on-year map is also available, so that the public can watch for long-term trends. Knowing what is happening down to the block helps citizens make important decisions about the way they live, and even where they live. Budget constraints are making it harder for police agencies to maintain huge platoons, so many are turning to the "neighborhood policing" approach, where officers rely heavily on intelligence provided by residents. Progressive police forces, and NOPD, understand that sharing information with communities opens a channel for communication and builds up public faith in the department.

The response of BRPD Superintendent Jeff LeDuff has been one of conservative realignment. He is moving the department towards a more community-oriented approach by slowing the shuffling of officers among the districts and encouraging residents to speak directly to district commanders if they feel crime is out of control. But improvement isn't coming quickly enough. I applaud the PD for being more open to the public than at any point in its history, but people are still being murdered in our streets. Mr. LeDuff believes that the current reporting method--posting to the website monthly figures for each of the districts, but not pinpointing their occurrence--is as far as Baton Rouge should go. There is concern that such detailed reporting may actually scare residents into stopping all communication with the PD. But that argument holds no water in a nation where most major municipal police forces find public crime maps to be an invaluable tool. East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office Spokesman Fred Raiford says that his agency now owns software to publish maps on its website, and will begin doing so this year. That office protects the unincorporated regions of the parish. Is the disconnect between the agencies' strategies so great that they cannot agree on the obvious value of crime mapping? Mr. LeDuff also suggests that the best way to learn about crime in a neighborhood is to speak directly to the district commander. But with four districts imposed over the 230,000 residents of Baton Rouge proper, it seems to me like such communication could be difficult at best. Assuming the population in each district is similar--probably not the case--each commander answers to almost 60,000 people. I have tried to speak to people in several City-Parish offices; it would be a lot more convenient, informative, and efficient to search a website. BRPD should learn to use its website effectively. Other major police departments allow ticket payments, list missing persons, and display most wanted criminals. Ticket payment is limited at our site, and vital lists are not available. While the upper command has stressed its need for public cooperation, it has provided little more than telephone numbers for us to provide it. It's time to take the plunge that other cities took more than a decade ago. It's time to shut down crime by empowering citizens to play their rightful role in the process. BRPD is in big-time need of a public confidence boost, and there may be no better option than breaking down the pretty high walls it's built around itself.

Support Baton Rouge's Few Artworks

2006-01-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

I want to call my readers' attention to an unfolding situation that I consider especially disheartening: the steady--and intentional--collapse of one of a very few pieces of public art I can think of outside of downtown. I am sure that all Baton Rougans are familiar with the sculpture on the front lawn of Westdale Middle School at Jefferson Highway and Claycut Road. It was built by Westdale and Capitol High School students, and local artist and educator Ted DeMuro, between 1986 and 1994. The sprawling installation roughly spells out the schools name, and is adorned with hand painted tiles representing personal aspects of the students' lives. Unfortunately, the work has received little care from the school system, which is responsible for its upkeep. In the past month, two sections of the sculpture have collapsed. A safety board of the school system and the system's major insurer have unanimously recommended tearing the work down, citing concerns for children. But along with the challenge from the elements, the sculpture has had to weather criticism from the school's principal, Sherry Brock, since at least 2000. That year, Ms. Brock led an effort to have the installation dismantled and replaced with landscaping and pathways. She argues that the sculpture is vulgar and inappropriate for children, as some of the tiles feature curse words, satanic symbols, and other "inappropriate" artwork. Mr. DeMuro gathered a strong coalition of local artists to save it from the wrecking ball, and the school board opted to leave it in place.

My question is, five years later and under the same principal, why hasn't Westdale Middle's sculpture been maintained? It should be noted that Ms. Brock was recently awarded the top principal award for our region, so I am not questioning her dedication to the school and its children. But is she allowing the structure to decay so that it can be removed out of "safety concerns" and without having to revisit the meaning of public art? Does she want to see the work of all of these young people crushed because some students painted "hell"on a tile? And if there is a budget to replace the installation with landscape work, why hasn't there been money all along to re-point some mortar work? I think it is fortunate for Baton Rouge that the decision of Ms. Brock and the safety board is not final. Mr. DeMuro has offered to repair the sculpture at his own cost, and the school board seems open to discussing options. Every time the notion of censoring public art surfaces, I am reminded of NYC mayor Rudolph Giuliani's push to end City funding at museums that displayed works not approved by his art commission. He formed the commission to decide the moral acceptability of art after a display at the Brooklyn Museum of Art featured the Lady Madonna smeared with dung. It contributed to a substantial drop in his public confidence numbers that he did not turn around until 9/11 a year later. I don't think that the demolition of Westdale's lawn sculpture would have quite the same effect; we aren't exactly art conscious New Yorkers. But in a city that is changing as fundamentally as ours, I think it would create a large debate, and the school system might not be the victor. Many Baton Rougans aren't willing to settle for "OK" anymore. We aren't Salt Lake City or a theme park; this is a living society of cosmopolitan people who don't necessarily want their thoughts and expressions to be censored. I know that there are younger people involved, but I think that the schools should be broadening their interpretation of art, not narrowing it to the "pretty" stuff. Let's think about what we are chipping away at in our city before we rush in to an irreversible decision.

Real Renaissance in Midcity, Part 2

2006-01-04T23:44:00.000-08:00

I hope that Part 1 made it clear just how firmly I believe that the private sector is doing great things in Midcity Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for our local government. The problem is a lack of even the most basic services that should be provided by any municipality. The downturn of Midcity can be traced almost directly to the development of I-10 in the 1960s and the beginning of "white-flight," a time when the City turned its back on established districts by encouraging poorly planned suburban sprawl. The community wizened up in the late 80s and established the Downtown Development District to revitalize the economic core. But there is more to Baton Rouge than those 100 blocks. Now, some 25 years later, it is time for our city government to expand its revitalization efforts to the east of I-10.

There are some efforts underway that the City and various agencies of the State should be credited for. Baton Rouge Community College is a major success story, and its endless growth is a major player in the area's recovering health. The Bon Carre Business Park venture is a risk I'm surprised the State ever took, and I don't think it could have turned out better. The existing space is almost entirely occupied, anchored now by Cox Communications, and incredibly stable tenant. While I very seldom applaud BREC for anything, its decision to purchase and renovate a former State office building--a Sear's before that--is a real plus for the Florida Boulevard corridor. But this really is the bulk of government participation in the region. So I will offer my suggestions, in order from the most basic to the most long-term, in hopes that the City will soon recognize the value and potential of its real heart.

1. Improve public safety. BRPD must step-up patrols and enforcement in almost all areas of Midcity, most especially near Downtown in the Numbers, in the Mall City area near Cortana Mall, and near Government Street. Although many areas of Midcity are safe by urban standards, crime rates in these specific regions are abnormal and unacceptable, as evidenced by BRPD's own crime statistics.
2. Clean the streets, sidewalks, and public spaces. Public Works should be cleaning our streets and sidewalks on a very regular basis. Many public parks and spaces owned by BREC in Midcity are a disgrace. In a poll commissioned by BREC, and available at brec.org, citizens ranked spaces in Midcity among the lowest categories for attractiveness, usability and safety.
3. Streetscape improvements. The City needs to find a way to force Entergy and other utilities to bury their wires along the area's major arteries, like Government Street and Florida Boulevard, and eventually city-wide. The utility poles are unsightly and are more succesptable to damage in foul weather. Sidewalks along major steets should be widened and planted with attractive urban streets. Improved lamp posts and traffic signal posts should be installed, along with streamlined and uniform street signage. Public art should be installed at traffic islands and in parks. The City's Planning Department would have you believe that all of these are amenities, but residents of most large cities expect them as regular necessities.
4. Improve traffic flow, and save money in the long-run, by upgrading all traffic signals and pedestrian cross signals--which should be at every controlled intersection in the city--to LED lights. These modern signals allow complete computerized control of their patterns, are bright enough to be seen from several blocks away, and use substantially less energy than the bulbs used at most intersections today. NYC spent millions on a similar upgrade, but will save $6 million a year in energy costs.
5. The Housing Authority of E. Baton Rouge should purchase dozens, if not hundreds, of dilapidated inner city blocks and upgrade the housing. I would suggest starting with the entire area bounded by 10th, North, 19th, and Government Streets, what I call "the Numbers." Much of the area is abandoned and the housing stock is in pathetic condition. The HAEBRP should team with Habitat for Humanity and the US Dept of Housing and Urban Development to bring new low and middle-income properties on-line near downtown.
6. Capitol Area Transit System (CATS) should push forward with research on bus rapid transit along Florida Boulevard, an option that creates dedicated lanes for buses that catch green lights at most intersections. They were discussing a plan with the federal Dept of Transportation pre-Katrina, and now the idea seems an even more natural fit.
7. LSU Health Sciences should construct a public Level One Trauma Center and Teaching Hospital along Florida Boulevard near the Baton Rouge General-Midcity. Its complete Medical, Dental, and Nursing Schools should be moved to this new Midcity Medical District. Baton Rouge is now the city most in need of acute care, so these facilities should be moved upriver, and used as an economic engine for Midcity. Concentrating brilliant minds in one area seems better than fanning them across the city, and it seems to work in a lot of other places, like Houston, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

I would say that the first four are doable almost immediately. The City is flush with cash from much higher sales tax revenues, and it should start to spend it on projects that benefit the citizenry. I think bringing Midcity up to par with downtown would be a huge step in the direction of creating a younger, more livable Baton Rouge. I really feel like Midcity should be the living room of the city, so I would really like to see input on what is working and on what still needs to happen, and on Midcity neighborhoods I did not mention that need work.

New Year--Wait, New Era--for Baton Rouge

2006-01-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

2006 is here, and I have decided that I do care enough about my hometown to continue offering my suggestions to its big-world problems. There is something about Baton Rouge that really does make it a difficult place to dislike for long. It's easy to leave the city for a week, go to some incredible place, notice every single great thing that we don't have, and come home and mope around. But then you experience a series of reaffirmations--a New Orleans refugee tells you they are ready to move here because of how much nicer the people are; you learn that the City is actually hiring an urban planner, one with a degree and experience; it's 80 degrees on January 2nd; or you even catch all greens at Bawell, Corporate, I-10 West, I-10 East, Constitution, Bennington, Concord, and Perkins. Or you hear an out-of-towner complain or put down Baton Rouge. We may not have the best street grid, or an opera house, or even a private university, but I have found that traffic management and cultural institutions don't do much good if you can't keep water out. We natives can say whatever we want about Baton Rouge, but almost all of us can find some positives in front of visitors. Sure, Baton Rouge isn't where it should be for a city of half a million in the 21st century, but the attitude that we can't--or worse that we shouldn't--be a 21st century city seems to be falling out of favor. Just a little over a year ago, our community elected a black democrat mayor after 150 years of oppressively conservative leadership. A few months later we opened a $54 million arts complex on the bank of our river. For the first time in my life, I have seen full Baton Rouge buses this year, and there is serious talk of new transit options on the way in 2006.

Baton Rouge has opportunities now that cities similar in size don't. We have sheltered a cosmopolitan crowd of business people, artists and artisans from every talent and craft, restrauranteurs, and even the crushingly impoverished. As our community helps these people return to normalcy and even improve their lot in life, we can gain tremendously from each. Many of them, from all walks of life, will stay here, and broaden the urban fabric of Baton Rouge. With the Morial Convention Center closed, our River Center can gain ground in a tough industry; we have already secured a stop by a popular goods market normally headed for NOLA. The city had huge press in the weeks of the refugee shelters, and still today, major news publications regularly check-up on our situation. The nation has seen our local government, our church groups, and our incredible people doing what apparently couldn't happen from Washington or even the State Capitol--providing personal care to our devastated neighbors. Sure Seattle gets good press for a new library, or Orlando every time Disney opens a new attraction, but few cities can show the character of their citizens the way Baton Rouge has been able to since September. Now we have to combine these incredible elements, synthesize them in some way to make Baton Rouge the livable city it can be. We have to tackle huge hurdles in 2006; this will be the year that decides our survival. And we don't necessarily have all of the resources to do things the easy way. Baton Rouge--the City and the citizenry--will have to re-think the way it grows, educates, moves, protects itself, lives in its environment, and recreates. We have never had enough money to simply pay our problems away, and that's not changing.

2006 brings much more than the obligation to find solutions to our problems; it brings the opportunity to redefine our city as a modern place built on our unique, local needs and our local heritage. I think this year can bring the unveiling of America's next great city. The inertia surrounding reconstruction in New Orleans can become the kinetic energy needed to move Baton Rouge forward. We can be the city that does things the right way, a model of government efficiency and high quality of life. A city that solves the nuclear age's greatest urban-redevelopment failure: the phenomenon of gentrification, moving the impoverished from district to district. We can invent a new kind of successful, desirable urban life in the midst of Katrina's devastation and death. I don't think that we have very many other options but to push forward, constantly pairing innovation with concern for each other.

Real Renaissance in Midcity, Part I

2005-12-05T21:52:00.000-08:00

There is plenty of talk in this city about progress and rejuvenation in the roughly 100 blocks of downtown. Hundreds of millions of dollars, private and a lot of public, have moved into the district over the past two decades. Baton Rouge is very close to having a Central Business District we can be proud to call the financial core of the city. It's the first thing we want to show visitors and newcomers. But there is a real miracle happening in the vast collection of neighborhoods that is the Midcity area that does not get enough good press.

You probably don't think about it much, but Midcity really is the core of Baton Rouge, where we live out a good portion of our lives. It is VERY roughly bordered by 10th Street to the west, Choctaw Drive to the north, Sherwood Forest Boulevard to the east, and Old Hammond Highway/Corporate Boulevard to the South. If you think about it, the region includes: Woman's Hospital, "where Baton Rouge is Born"; Hammond Aire, the most valuable strip mall in the city; Bon Carre Business Park--once Bon Marche Mall--our growing technology incubator; Cortana Mall, our major city-center mall; several schools that are vital to our future, including Baton Rouge Community College, Baton Rouge High, Catholic High, and St. Joseph's Academy (the EBR School Board is even headquartered here); and it is the last great stretch of green neighborhoods in the city. It is the true heart and lungs of Baton Rouge. And there are some incredible things happening there, without government support, that I think put downtown to shame.

The Downtown Development District was formed in the early 80s by an act of the State Legislature to restore the old core of Baton Rouge. It has spearheaded ambitiously successful public works like the Capital Park governmental complex, River Center upgrades, the Shaw Center for the Arts, levee-top paths and parks, the Capital House Hotel, and it has basically convinced the public that the district is alive and kicking. Some 15 years after its founding, the private sector finally caught on and undertook even greater projects: Third Street's retail and residential revitalization, River Place, the Sheraton Hotel, and new office space on the way. But on the other side of a three-lane, one-way street lies the rest of Baton Rouge. I can think of three large-scale publicly funded projects in the vast Midcity region in the past 15 years: BRCC, the Bon Carre Business Park project, and improvements to the North Boulevard corridor in the lower Numbers. That's a pretty large disparity. But even without a major public body pumping millions upon millions into it, Midcity is pulling itself out of 30 years of steady decline. The interstate came in the 70s, and Baton Rouge discovered its southern side. A major portion of the populace and the retail base moved to the Essen/Bluebonnet/Siegen areas and to the Southeast suburbs, abandoning blocks of inner-city housing and commercial spaces. But exactly the opposite is happening today, as Baton Rouge re-learns how to live in a city. Here are some of the major private accomplishments in Midcity:

1. Government Street is quickly becoming the city's hot Magazine Street-type strip. Around 2000, business partners Danny McGlynn and Dennis Hargroder opened art shop and design center Circa 1857 at Gov't and 19th; the pair now own several blocks in the area with some of the city's more successful design businesses. That project spurred similar development along 14th Street, and the area now has very much the feel of the NOLA Warehouse District in its early rebuilding days. Strip malls and commercial spaces along the corridor are refilling and renovating. The Capital Heights neighborhood that straddles Gov't is a beacon to the city's young professionals. The private Midcity Redevelopment Alliance(MRDA) and Gov't Street art galleries host the growing White Light Night every fall to larger crowds. It's a little grungy, but it is almost undeniably our sophisticated, urbane thoroughfare.
2. A major site along Spanish Town Road near downtown has recently been acquired by the MRDA, which is planning a mixed-use development of housing, retail, and office space. The thought that this could be successful in Midcity is revolutionary in and of itself, and clearly demonstrates how far the region has come. Any achievements here would be a huge boost for the decaying Numbers blocks.
3. The old Godcheaux's/Maison Blanche/Dillard's department store at Florida and 15th has been converted to Renaissance Park, an office development. It started a little sluggish, but USAgencies Insurance Company has recently leased all of the remaining space. That puts hundreds of workers directly into the Numbers in a first-rate office space.
4. The Golden Mile of Jefferson Highway, and the Corporate Boulevard corridor, are driving up the renewed interest in the city-center. These streets have an appropriate mix of housing and commercial spaces that are generally well designed. It may never be 5th Avenue, but this area really does offer a different experience from Baton Rouge's monotonous strip mall drags.

These are a handful of the private developments that are actually happening in the midst of a government pullout from the area. The State has moved thousands of workers from its dilapidated Midcity offices--which were not helping the district's reputation--and put them in the CBD. The predicted collapse of Midcity didn't come, reflecting the dynamism and sheer size of it. It's time to cut the umbilical cord on downtown; thanks to the tireless optimism of the DDD, it's ready to stand on its own two feet. In the upcoming Part II, read what I think the government needs to do to help Midcity grow further, and comment on how you would like to see the City commit to the living room of our community.

Has the Legislature Sealed Our Fate?

2005-11-28T17:05:00.000-08:00

I want to open by apologizing for the delay in my writing; I have been running cocaine in the jungles of Colombia, and internet access was hard to come by. Okay, replace Colombia with Europe, and smuggling crack with taking pictures, and you have my week. I would also like to point out a great editorial in the New Orleans Times Picayune from Dave Walker on Thanksgiving Day. It's a heartfelt thank you to Baton Rougans for basically being the rock of the state through the storms, and it really makes you realize how strong the bond between the cities is now. It is available at http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base/living-5/1132818097317290.xml.

I thought the most appropriate topic after a long break would be the three-ring circus that was the Louisiana Legislature's "Special Session." Don't worry, I didn't miss a beat while I was out of the country because, believe it or not, the world was watching our vaudeville act. What everyone saw was pretty pathetic. Our state government was so busy imploring the nation to pay for Lousisiana's problems that we proved to them that we can't fix them with all the money in the world.

The first great disaster was the collapse of the levee board consolidation plan. The heavily corrupted and incredibly ineffective parish and municipal levee boards should be made into one state authority. Pre-Katrina, and still, the levees that didn't protect Greater New Orleans were supposed to be surveyed, maintained, and upgraded by small governing boards representing a specific section of the levees. The idea is that the local communities have the greatest understanding of what they need from their protection systems. But in reality, as with almost any governing board in Greater New Orleans, the levee boards have been bastions for waste and mismanagement for decades. They put the blame squarely on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which actually designs and/or constructs the earthworks. I don't understand, however, the purpose of these oversight boards if they don't actually oversee the Corps. I would agree that the authorities were free of the blame if they had been screaming about severe inadequacies of the system years before. But that is not what has been happening. In reality, these boards have been pushing the Corps to spend its limited levee funds on pet projects, like new roads and improved lake-front parks. Naturally, board members steered these construction projects to friends and families and skimmed plenty off the top. I'm not under any grand illusion that state politics are any better, but a single levee board would at least have greater control over the system and a better chance at effectively rebuilding it. Unfortunately, lobbyists and the delegation from Greater New Orleans quickly slaughtered the proposition.

Then there was the budget hole. The governor tried to fix it by illegally cutting spending without the approval of the Legislature. She argues that she could not wait for the session to begin, but I think she should have just convened the houses a month before she did. Mississippi somehow managed to hold a special session before us. That's a shame because Mississippi was the one state we were still ahead of. Then the state used several hundred million dollars from the "rainy day fund" to fill the gap. I will agree that this certainly was a rainy day, and a truly appropriate use for the fund, but I am truly concerned about what happens in the next budget when we actually have to confront a financial crisis. We cannot tap that fund every year; we have to find real solutions and a way to live in a new normal at some point.

My personal favorite, though, was the December sales tax holiday. How the hell this one happened I will never understand. I am all about slashing taxes and I really do believe the tax holiday promotes business and helps families at the beginning of a school year or at Christmas. But how does this become the dominant issue that it became in a session that is supposed to deal with financining a new Lousisiana? In the end, the Legislature picked almost a full week in which we will pay no sales taxes on almost all consumer goods. Great idea, but what stupid timing. Here we are draining our general fund and cutting programs by hundreds of millions and freezing hiring and construction, and it's a good time for a tax holiday. I simply don't understand how the congressmen and women can justify the amount of time and deliberation that went into this one.

Our government is out of control, and its head is so far up its ass that it cannot recognize this. Did you know the state legislators received their regular per diem for travel expenses while in Baton Rouge? The City of New Orleans had to lay off half its workers and there is talk about the state letting go of a quarter of its workforce, but thank God our senators were well taken care of. It is just incredible what we are dealing with here. Katrina took a lot from us, but our government is going to steal our future. Things have to change here. At this point, I don't blame any person outside Louisiana who thinks we cannot handle our own reconstruction. With leaders like ours, I don't see how we can.

River Center a Shining Star in Katrina Relief

2005-11-17T02:00:00.000-08:00

In a vast sea of abysmal failures after Hurricane Katrina, the Baton Rouge River Center--and really the Capitol City as a whole--stands in stark contrast as a sucess story. We faced the mass influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees with an incredible calm. And in an ironic, almost sad way, today we are being rewarded for our strengths, as Baton Rouge will probably remain Louisiana's primary city. As our city grapples with the daunting task of accommodating a decade of growth over just several months, it is important for us to take note of what has gone well since the storm. I think that our River Center is something to be proud of.

In Wednesday, 16 November's Advocate, the City said the convention center was again ready for use after serving 2 months as home to 5000 hurricane victims. This brand new, state of the art exhibition hall has seen a lot since January when it was inaugurated by the American Bowling Championship, which brought tens of thousands of visitors from all over the country to our downtown. But it's role as a place of refuge was a little more somber. Aside from the Louisiana Superdome, this was the most used shelter, reaching upwards of 6000 evacuees immediately after Katrina. It spiked again after Rita, but quickly leveled off. From what I have gathered, it was the most effective, too. It almost seemed like there was an actual plan for operating as a shelter: federal and state government agencies quickly opened human services shops at the center; the Parish Health Department ran a vaccine clinic in the entry hall; the school board rushed to bring education to the children stuck in the facility; and best of all, you never heard about food or supply shortages. I believe that the River Center's response to the needs of our community and those of our neighbors is representative of what we should expect from our government every time.

Also impressive is the speed with which the River Center has returned to use. It was closed in mid-October so that the expected massive cleanup could begin. There was talk of replacing all of the carpeting and repainting all of the interior spaces at one point. But a professional cleaning company was able to return the building to like-new conditions. That shows that the River Center was built to last, kind of a new phenomenon in local government construction. To make basic wear and tear repairs to walls and restrooms, the City put the Department of Public Works to the challenge instead of opening a bid process for a private company. When government uses the resources it already owns, small projects like this can come in under budget, in less time, and with less opportunity for corruption. Mayor Holden's Chief Administrative Officer Walter Monsour said that cost predictions had been downgraded significantly from the original $750,000 price tag. And while several other arenas state-wide have complained they will be forced to close unless FEMA speeds up payments, the River Center weathered the storm with its own cash reserves while waiting for the agency. I think it is important and impressive that our government is not dependent on an immediate check from the feds to remain solvent.

The River Center project has been a great thing for Baton Rouge in 2005. The large-scale restoration of the old Centroplex area has brought a much needed freshness to the lower Government Street corridor and the City Hall complex. And now, I think it is something Baton Rouge can be proud of because of the fundamental role it played in bailing Louisiana out. A big thank you to the River Center management, the Convention and Visitors' Bureau, and the countless volunteers who offered themselves to mend shattered lives at the hall.

Move Away from "Family" Mindset

2005-11-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is going to seem like a really weird connection at first, but I am going to make the stretch. In the Advocate from Friday, 11 November, the Sheriff's Office reported making five arrests in BREC parks for lewd behavior and attempted crimes against nature. All five arrested were men, offering sex to undercover Sheriff's deputies. BREC acknowledged that it has been dealing with an escalating solicitation problem in its facilities. So it is good to see that EPRSO is trying to bring the situation under control; sex of any kind in a public park is unacceptable. The part of the article that bothered me was at the end, when acting BREC Superintendent Bill Palmer claimed that "these parks are for our kids and families." Hold up, stop, wait a minute. Kids and families. How many people in our community does that statement disaffect? Are un-wed adults without children not a part of the fabric of our city? Are we as a community comfortable with BREC's self-image of serving explicitly the wholesome children and families of Baton Rouge?

I know that this seems minuscule, and it may be. After all, great cities build great parks with families in mind in a big way. And growing families are an important part of any city; they guarantee population growth (three months ago, they were the only element in Greater BR's growth). But I think this statement says a lot about Baton Rouge's core--and flawed--beliefs. There is an underlying attitude in the community that the modern nuclear family is the superior living mechanism. Those who have not created their own by 25 will probably fail at life. I really feel like this pervading thought is holding us very far back. There has been a real change in life styles in this country since the 80s that Baton Rouge has not responded to. Young college graduates are settling in hot communities with high paying jobs, waiting longer to marry, and then have fewer children. Austin, Philadelphia, San Diego, Washington, D.C., and the Pacific Northwest are all shining examples. And of course, the global cities like NYC thrive on diversity of their people's living situations. These metropolises all want to woo families, but they understand the importance of attracting singles as well, many of whom will create a family at some point. And those who never do settle down are naturally cheaper: they pay taxes but do not require education services--a huge portion of any city's budget. In a real city, the parks department may have said "we want to keep our parks clean and comfortable for everyone, and especially safe where children play."

So it always bothers me when I hear people talk about Louisiana's strong family values. Our public schools are consistently ranked at the bottom of the states, we have the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, 20 percent of Louisiana has no healthcare coverage--making us 46th for coverage. Crime rates in New Orleans were among the highest, and Baton Rouge's murder rate is higher than NYC's. Do these statistics sound conducive to raising healthy families? I propose shifting our emphasis to young single people and young couples. We clearly have failed at helping families, but young people flock to Louisiana to have a good time; we need to find some way to hold on to them. There are 45,000 college students in our city every semester, but our city is hemorrhaging educated people because it is doing nothing to keep them here. Purging the books of Baton Rouge's Blue Laws would be a good start. I do not need Metro Council members who illegally vote for their own promotions to tell me that buying booze on Sunday is immoral. Promoting public art in all forms would help too. Improving traffic in the city instead of building massive boulevards to nowhere would encourage urban regeneration and bring trendy, wealthy, sophisticated people to Baton Rouge. And simply offering the people who do live here without six children some respect could go a long way. When BREC says that its parks are for kids and families, it basically tells all other tax payers to screw themselves. It sends a message that this community is not interested in the positives that many of its people have to offer.

I think that we have a real tendency to ask "what about the children?" and fail to ask "what about us?" When making important community decisions, sometimes we have to think about how they will impact those who are actually living in the here and now. How can a city ever get anywhere by closing its ears and eyes to what is happening in the world around it? We would not have to look far to see this at work; across the New South cities are redefining themselves to meet the demands of people of the 21st century. But here, we think somehow the nation will turn back to 1950s suburbia and all of our urban problems will disappear by wishing them away. By putting up such a strong fight to hold on to its 19th century mindset, Baton Rouge may not make it too far past this decade.

2005-11-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

Three months ago, Wal-Mart was a Baton Rouge tradition the way red beans and rice on a Monday were in New Orleans. What a difference three months can make. Now, all but the O'neal Lane Super Wal-Mart are closed by 10 p.m. And when they re-open at 6 a.m., they are in a pretty pathetic state. The shelves are barely stocked and the check out lines have a 45 minute-minimum wait--all day. So I'm wondering how the world's largest retail chain has dropped the ball in one of it's most welcoming markets, and how much longer it will get away with it.

It made enough sense at first: Baton Rouge had swelled to a million people overnight, a lot of stores had trouble keeping up, and there was a very real concern for security. So Wal-Mart cut down its hours. But three months later, while the rest of Baton Rouge has adjusted, Wal-Mart has been sluggish. Considering that the store is closed at night, it seems like that crew could work registers during the day now, so that all of the lanes would be open. But at best, I have seen maybe half. It seems like the stockers would be caught up by now, considering the store closes for eight hours, but they are not. It seems like Wal-Mart is not concerned with customer satisfaction any more, assuming simply that "always low prices" will keep us shopping in droves. But I seriously question that assumption. Personally, I was in the habit of shopping in a Wal-Mart Super Center three to four times a week, generally after midnight. I seldom stocked up much, but each trip added up. I know that a lot of Baton Rougans had similar habits. There is something almost recreational about a trip to Wal-Mart. The sight-seeing is incredible. But for the past three months, I have bought BASIC groceries at Albertson's, and have been saving. I am not tempted to buy everything that I see in Albertson's--if you have ever stopped at Wal-Mart's $5 DVD bin you know what I mean. Albertson's is in and out, and I am not wasting my money. I have walked into Wal-Mart several times, gotten whatever I could find, but abandoned the buggy at the front four times now. It is bad enough that I have to settle for Hunt's ketchup, don't make me wait 45 minutes to own it. I have only made Wal-Mart purchases three times in three months now. I miss the trips, but I will not return to my normal Wal-Mart routine until some effort is made to improve the experience.

So there it is. Wal-Mart is letting its guard down because for the most part, it is the only major retailer in Baton Rouge. It shut out K-Mart, and both Targets are on the fringes of the city. But if things do not normalize soon, a whole slew of big-box retailers, like Costco and even K-Mart, may start looking at our market. Share your thoughts on Wal-Mart. If you have noticed a better time to shop, or if there is a better location, PLEASE post your suggestions. Maybe by banding together we can actually make Wal-Mart work for us again.

BR Police Short on Professionalism

2005-11-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

The men and women of the Baton Rouge Police Department do a job that few of us would ever consider. They accept the role of keeping us safe while bringing home below average pay, working with inadequate equipment, and face a severe shortage of support staff. Almost to the last one, they are good people out to make a difference in our community. But it would be a stretch to say that the department is professional, well run, and well received by the public. BRPD is in desperate need of an overhaul, and we need it now.

A couple of Katrina-related incidents perfectly illustrate the department's level of professionalism. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, officers of the Minnesota and New Mexico State Police joined with the BRPD to meet the influx of people in Baton Rouge. But just 24 hours later, both departments refused to work with BRPD, citing inappropriate language and behavior. There has been an internal investigation, but Police Chief Jeff LeDuff will not publicly release specific findings. I imagine that cultural differences among the departments led to the misunderstandings--after all, how often to Minnesota and New Mexico State Police deal with urban policing situations--but if officers violated policy, they should be reprimanded and the public should be told. In just the past week, the department has acknowledged that an e-mail was circulated through its system by the Union of Police, informing members that they were eligible for Red Cross debit cards whether or not their homes were affected by the hurricane. The union guaranteed that membership dues entitled them to these cards. Of course, there was no connection between the Union of Police and the Red Cross; only officers who sustained damage, like all other applicants, were eligible for aid. An investigation is underway, and the U.S. Attorney's office has promised to prosecute any person who has unfairly taken cards. But the deep problem here is the Union of Police's defense: a tired employee sent out the e-mail. BULL-S**T! No person is tired enough to get it in his mind that he deserves an American Red Cross debit card for nothing. And why was the official PD e-mail circuit being used for unofficial purposes? The Internal Affairs division must come down on inappropriate use of PD property, and on the police officers naive enough to take the hand out. Most people would seriously question a hands down offer of $2000. Police officers should be no exception.

In August, before Katrina, Officer Terry Melancon was murdered, and another officer shot, in a drug raid in the Capital Heights area. A unit of the Narcotics division, they broke into a home unannounced and were fired upon by a young drug dealer, who was taken down in the fire fight. I respect Mr. Melancon and his commitment to the community very much, but let's look at the factors that got him in that position. None of the three officers wore protective equipment (i.e. body armor, flack jacket, head gear) when entering the potentially dangerous situation. They made no effort to knock on the door; they busted through it. They did not evacuate the neighboring duplex unit; bullets actually went through the walls into the neighbor's apartment. Narcotics officers should be trained to always be on their toes, and to consider the safety of those in the surrounding homes.

The PD needs to learn something about traffic management, too. I have never been to a large community gathering (i.e. LSU game, fireworks show, hot air balloon show, and now Saints games) that has been cleared out efficiently. It seems like they make no effort to actually move the traffic. By now, there should be an effective plan that can be called up for each specific event. It takes more than one-way traffic to make a mass of cars move. Traffic officers need to communicate, and should be able to work with the traffic signals to coordinate traffic. At LSU games, a major problem is that the plans change in some minute way every week, so drivers never know what to expect. I almost believe that events would empty faster if we were just left to fend for ourselves.

Then there are the aesthetic qualities. Who picked the uniforms out? The navy pants fade into royal blue, then they hike up like high-water pants. The ornamentation on the grey shirts is cheesy. Our officers deserve a professional and comfortable uniform. They should be given deep navy blue pants made of quality material; their shirts should be modernized; they should be given high quality tactical boots; they should wear ties at all times; and officers should wear caps, not baseball hats. All of the police stations need an overhaul and a more welcoming appearance to the public, rather than the concrete bunker-look. The police Impalas are definitely better than the Crown Vics, but I am really annoyed by the variety of fonts and custom lettering that officers can have applied to the cars. I also really like the Durangos being given to supervisors and support servicepeople. They radiate a more powerful sense of the PD's force.

Baton Rouge is indebted to its police department, and we owe them better. We owe them better training, better pay, better uniforms even. We have an average PD that deserves average pay, which they do not get now. Once we bring the department up to par, we must think about creating a truly great police department. Under Chief Jeff LeDuff, I believe things will get a lot better. He seems like a progressive leader who wants to bring community policing into Baton Rouge. He rose through the ranks and is deeply concerned for his officers. I have great confidence that he will be the superintendent to push through the hard but necessary reforms that Baton Rouge deserves.

Weekend Trip: Chicago

2005-11-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

Picking back up on the Friday tradition of blogs on cities served by Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, today's topic is the Midwest's great capital, Chicago. It is probably the world's first truly modern city, built largely after the Great Fire of 1877 with all of the drive and dynamism of the early 20th century.

The Chicago area is home to nine million people and some of the world's most instantly recognizable architecture and attractions. It is a world city on almost any list for its museums, cultural diversity, and its long list of firsts. The Windy City built the first modern clean water and sanitation systems, the first skyscrapers, and even became the first true core of organized crime. It is an innovative, culturally rich, and endlessly improving city, but with a casual, Midwest world-view of itself.

Grant Park on the Lake Michigan shore is a great place to take in the towering vista of Chicago. It is also the site of the Museum Campus, 10 acres of some of the world's premier scientific institutions. Not to be missed is the Field Museum of Natural History, home to Sue the dinosaur; the Shedd Aquarium, which has grown continuously since 1929 into a formidable establishment; Adler Planetarium, the oldest in existence but with state-of-the-art technology; and the Art Institute of Chicago, a premier museum with the largest collection of Impressionists outside of the Louvre. Above the park is the Loop, a small district of highly-fashionable brownstones surrounded by the original elevated rail line, the "El." Today, the Loop is almost swallowed by the towering highrises of Chicago's business district, including the famous Sears Tower. Following Michigan Avenue across the Chicago River brings you to a world-class shopping street that residents love too. On the riverfront is the Chicago Tribune building, considered a milestone in skyscraper construction and a major local icon, and the famous corn-cob Marina Towers. Further up Michigan is the Water Tower district, a testament to Chicago architecture and a busy pedestrian area.

Chicago is a major arts city. Comedy is huge in the Second City; many of the greatest comedians got their start at clubs in Chicago. There is a major theater district of historic houses that run touring performances and original works, including Spamalot. Musically, the blues and jazz are a major part of the city's cultural heritage, and are still celebrated today in clubs across Chicago. One of the country's largest operas has performed to sold-out crowds for decades, and the Chicago Symphony is a direct rival to that of New York City.

Our little river city may never reach the global prominence of Chicago, but again, there are things we can learn from it. Baton Rouge too has a deep blues tradition, and we are finally celebrating it. The Live after Five downtown concert series has been so successful in the past four years that it has been expanded into the fall. The influx of performers from New Orleans has brought jazz to the Manship Theater, downtown, and several bars. Mass transit, a major component of Chicago's urban fabric, is a growing option in Baton Rouge. The Windy City is a premier world health center, and Baton Rouge may have an emerging opportunity on this front; with LSU's Health Sciences Center at New Orleans devastated, we should lobby the State to move the medical school. Like Chicago, we have a great planetarium with top-notch projection equipment, and we have the bones for a great collection of museums. We just have to find a way to attract decent artwork. Baton Rouge is on the move but we have a lot to learn in terms of city-life. It is time to take suggestions from a long list of superior cities.

Litter Is Out of Control

2005-11-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

Traffic aside, I think the one thing all Baton Rougans can agree on is that our city is knee-deep in trash. And I am not talking about trashy people, an equally significant problem that I will write on eventually. Our city's streets and public spaces are filthy and there is no excuse for it. Unfortunately, City-Parish government is only so much at fault here; the core problem is the mindset of many Baton Rougans that it is OK to toss litter. In most of the cities I have visited, drivers and pedestrians can hold on to their garbage until they get to a waste bin. So what makes Baton Rougans intrinsically unable to do this?

It seems like a viscous cycle to me: people litter because the curb is already disgusting, and the City does not clean the streets because they cannot stay clean. The pattern has to be broken. A normal city government provides sanitation services; street cleaning is a standard part of life in any other American city. Even New Orleans had relatively clean streets three months ago. But the only time I have ever seen a street sweeper in Baton Rouge is after a Mardi Gras parade downtown. We own the machinery, we deserve to see it in the CBD and on major thoroughfares at least once a week. The Department of Public Works should find a way to dedicate workers to this important task. Under Mayor Bobby Simpson, the City initiated a public education program encouraging Baton Rouge to stop littering. Similar programs before it failed, and the "pig nose" campaign met the same fate. The City-Parish should spend that money on running the street sweepers, and on placing attractive trash receptacles along sidewalks and at major intersections. There is no excuse for the lack of bins downtown, in the north and south retail sectors of LSU, and in the busy pedestrian neighborhoods of North Baton Rouge and Mid City. A clean city is a major turn on to prospective new residents and new businesses. At some point Baton Rouge's population will stabilize, and we will be back to square one on the economic development front. If our government cannot keep our streets clean, how can we ever convince businesses that it is capable of providing more critical services, like police protection and education?

But the deep down problem is cigarette smokers. Remarkably, their is a segment of the population that believes cotton wrapped in paper is not trash. Here is street litter defined: anything that is in the curb and is not water. Most people would agree that a sheet of printer paper is litter, so how can a person miss the connection with cigarette paper. Few things are less attractive than four inces of cigarette butts at a traffic island. They absolutely are litter. We as a community have to change our view of Baton Rouge. On the whole, we do not take pride in our city, which explains the comfort many have with throwing their trash out of their cars. I remeber a few years ago a Forum 35 "We Are BR" campaign. It never gained momentum--most of the stickers ended up on DPW trucks--but the message was right on. Why all live here for some reason. There is something that keeps us in Baton Rouge. We should express this bond to our community by cleaning up our behavior on the road. Leave some comments about what you think the dirtiest streets and intersections are. Have you ever seen a street sweeper outside of Carnival? What can our community do to change the attitude that cigarette trash disappears?

How About Some Real Architecture

2005-10-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

From the looks of things, I must be about the only Baton Rougan who is more than a little tired of "French Provincial" and Spanish Mission design. Since the early 90s practically every new home and office, in the city as well as the suburbs, has taken elements from one or both of these architectural styles. Oddly enough, however, Baton Rouge homes through both the French and Spanish colonial periods were not built in either theme. A stroll through downtown neighborhoods reveals a rich heritage in Spanish Colonial, Victorian, Creole, and Federal style homes. The Garden District is mostly turn-of-the-century bungalows, Victorians, and English Colonial homes. The Capital Heights area is predominantly shotgun homes and bungalows. And in commercial areas, the predominant styles were Colonial and Federal. So where did the pitched hip roofs, the rows of arched windows, and the drab colors come from? Your guess is as good as mine.

What many call the "French Provincial" style is predominant in new inner-city housing, like the Lake at Bocage, and in almost any small suburban tract homes, and in all of the "office parks" along Bluebonnet Boulevard or Jefferson Highway. There are enormous hip roofs that accentuate the slate-look-alike asphalt shingles, odd combinations of brick and stucco walls, and incredibly dull and monotonous colors. But my real problem with the style is its abundance. One or two well designed homes on a block can look nice--there are several redeeming qualities in the style, like gas lamps and re-used bricks and wood doors. But entire rows of practically the same home in any style is boring, especially in matching taupes and tans. I am amazed that architects are still able to develop their own variations of the French Provincial house plan. It is even becoming popular to tear down attractive older homes in Southdowns and Old Goodwood to replace them with this non-vernacular style. South Louisiana has too many unique architectures to pull from to drag in this one. Almost anyone agrees that older neighborhoods in any city are intriguing because of their variety. So why pick a French country-side home that has no real place in an urban setting?

As for the Spanish Mission style, I think a lot of developers believe they are drawing influence from LSU's architecture. These stucco and tile roof buildings are hugely popular in the South Baton Rouge/LSU area, especially any place frequented by students. But LSU's influence is Northern Italian Renaissance--there is no Spanish Mission influence in Baton Rouge. The differences are quite substantial, from the color palette, to the use of arcades and colonnades, materials, and the extent of architectural details. Unfortunately, the university is a major proponent of the confusion in its own style. Understandably, it is scared to build truly modern buildings on its campus and push architecture to new extremes like most other universities because of a number of hideous ones put up in the 60s and 70s. So LSU has fallen back on the historic post-modern disaster of the 80s that most cities are finally abandoning. It is an odd mix of historical, often unproportional features, like decorative columns, or dormers, or construction materials, and modern touches in glass or lighting or roofing. On the campus, see the Frey Computer Sciences Center, the new daycare, or the new Business Technology Center. But no real effort is being made to match the old red tile roofs for the new buildings, which often have too much brown and yellow, or with walls, which are aggregate concrete originally and now poorly-colored stucco. Off campus, similar attempts have failed at Southgate Towers, which simply looks stupid, and the various strip malls of Burbank and Nicholson Drives. Just because a building is within 30 miles of LSU does not mean it must attempt to copy it.

I am personally a major proponent of modern architecture, but I understand the discomfort many people feel in its presence. What I do not understand is bringing in these awkward styles to a region with a deep architectural tradition, or trying to combine modernism with classical architecture. I firmly believe that a building not on the cutting edge of architecture should fit perfectly into a past architectural style, down to the smallest details. There has always been tract housing in cities; now fashionable neighborhoods like Southdowns and Capital Heights used to simply be low cost housing. An inexpensive way to make a start-up neighborhood attractive is to look to the bungalow style or the shotgun. As far as its housing stock, Baton Rouge should focus on the classical styles brought from our early Europeans and the Americans all the way through the 1950s. In offices and governmental buildings, we should constantly be moving forward. We should move beyond our fear of the glass curtain wall and concrete and metal. The Shaw Center is remarkable proof of how different our modernism is than that of the 70s. In many American cities, there have always been battles among great companies to build newer and more striking buildings, and the trend is stronger now then ever. "Starchitects" are building new corporate headquarters across the country in truly monumental ways. I would like to see a Baton Rouge-based company step up and place a great new building in the CBD or on Essen or Corporate. Let's stop questioning our potential and our creative energy as a community and put up structures we will not regret in twenty years.

BREC MUST GO

2005-10-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

Alright, it is time for the Recreation and Park Commission of East Baton Rouge Parish to go. At its October 25 meeting, Commissioner Darrell Glasper made a motion to forgo a national or even regional search for a new BREC superintendent, and immediately hire interim superintendent Bill Palmer. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Audrey Nabors Jackson. Had it not been rejected by BREC attorney Murphy Foster, the motion may have narrowly passed. Mr. Palmer is well respected in the organization, and may be the best candidate for the job. But to outright promote an employee to the top position without so much as advertising the job in the Advocate is pure stupidity, a hallmark of any BREC decision of late.

2005 has been a train wreck of a year for BREC. The park system managed to pull out a slight victory in its November 2004 "Imagine Your Parks" campaign, which will bond out $74 million in new parks construction and renovations. But it has been downhill since; here are the highlights:

1. In January, BREC opened discussions on future uses of the City Park Golf Course. Despite popular support for a project to convert the under-used course to fields and gardens, BREC decided in March to cave to the demands of Garden District residents. It was decided that the National Register of Historic Places golf course would be improved and redesigned.
2. In the early summer, a group of Shenandoah Estates residents asked BREC to help them purchase and save that neighborhood's country club from a new suburban development. Despite declining use of its existing golf courses and an inability to pay for the space, the Commission discussed the useless purchase at several meetings.
3. In June, BREC purchased 43 acres in Zachary for $580,500 to expand its signature park in that area. Even though land purchases were approved by taxpayers in November, and the price paid was below appraisal, Mr. Glasper, a developer friend of his Ted Hicks of Nottingham Construction, and Metro Councilman Wayne Carter were highly critical of the purchase. All argued superintendent Mark Thornton overpaid for un-needed land. Here begins the Glasper-Thornton conflict that marred Mr. Thornton's final months on the job.
4. Later in the summer, Mr. Glasper insisted that BREC needed to contract with a program manager to monitor the "Imagine Your Parks" projects. His natural pick: Mr. Hicks of Nottingham Construction. Mr. Thornton argued that BREC had a substantial enough staff to adequately control construction and financing. The Commission initially approved a request for bids, but tremendous public outcry forced them to recant that decision. It was determined that BREC would audit the program's success.
5. Two Baton Rougans revealed that Mr. Hicks and Mr. Glasper had contacted them about replacing Mr. Thornton. In a semi-investigation by the Advocate, neither fully acknowledged speaking to those residents specifically about Mr. Thornton's career.
6. In late August/early September, Mr. Thornton's contract with BREC was cancelled in a vote led by Mr. Glasper. BREC later agreed to buy out his contract for $107,000, slightly more than his one year salary.
7. Also in September, the State's historic preservation board warned BREC against altering the City Park Golf Course. BREC must realign several holes to relieve itself from the liability of a driver or jogger on Dalrymple Drive being hit by a ball. However, the Commission relied in a big way on the course's historic status in cowardly retaining the golf course. Quit a Catch 22. It seems to me that safety should come first, and BREC should abandon the course for more useful purposes.

The surface-level problem at BREC is Mr. Glasper. The Commissioner is clearly using his position to advance an agenda with good 'ole boy pal Mr. Hicks. But several other Commissioners are incompetent, have no experience or special knowledge in running a park and recreation system, and are not looking out for the well being of our community. BREC is too lopsided now to ever be saved. It is time for Mayor-President Kip Holden and the Metro Council to dissolve BREC and create a parks department within City Hall. There are some good board members, particularly Commissioners Warren Pratt and Danny Spencer; both should be offered paying jobs in the new department. But at the end of the day, we cannot have another year like 2005 if our parks are to play any part in Baton Rouge's re-making. We have to quickly find an innovative superintendent--yeah right, what self-respecting person would ever want to work in this system--to continue the renovations plan. This tax payer has lost all faith in BREC, and I do not think I am alone. I urge everyone to email the Mayor-President at mayor@brgov.com, and ask him to at least speak out on the circus that is BREC. It is time for our mayor to use his popularity and political muscle to manipulate our failing agencies.

First Amendment Battles Fourteenth

2005-10-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

So it has finally come to Baton Rouge: the battle over the Confederate flag. But this time, there's a spin. In Louisiana, we don't just like to fly the stars and bars, we feel compelled to add local color, literally. The war has been raging for several weeks now on the LSU campus between student groups who find the flag offensive and divisive, and tailgaters who fly the Confederate flag featuring purple and gold on Saturdays. Those opposed protested at this weeks Auburn game, and those in favor simply flew their flag out of the beds of their pickups. On Monday, October 24, black students brought it further when they gathered on the Parade Grounds and demanded to speak to Chancellor O'Keefe to hear the official LSU position. Their pledge: to protest at every game until the university officially bans the flag from the 2000 acre campus. So who is right?

Let me say clearly that slavery was across the board wrong, and is a permanent scar on America. If flying the rebel flag is a means of remembering those who died in the Civil War, it is serving an acceptable purpose. If it is some ironic symbol of the Deep South's strengths and resilience, then its purpose is debatable. But if it is being flown as an oppressive and retrogressive call for a return to the Antebellum days, it is absolutely inappropriate. Having observed several rebel-flag flyers in this city over my life, I gather that most lie somewhere within the second and third categories. Collectively, they are not the component of our population we should generally be proud of, for bigger reasons than the colors over their trucks. Most are either rednecks or fraternity members, and the line there is blurry. In my opinion, we should all just fly the American flag with pride. There is no need to re-hash the Civil War every other year over a symbol that can easily be replaced by one much stronger.

That said, the protesters should lay off the LSU administration. There is not, and should not be, any way for LSU, the State Legislature, or the federal government to restrict the right of an American to fly a Confederate flag on public property. It is such a simple case of First Amendment Constitutional law. The Baton Rouge campus is very public property. Citizens are entitled to speak freely, without concern of legal recourse, on public property, almost without exception. The exceptions would have no effect here. Mr. O'Keefe responded to criticism of LSU's handling of the escalating situation by discouraging the unfurling of the flag, especially with the school's colors. But he acknowledged the university's lack of options. And think of how slippery this slope is. If any group wants to protest my right to freely express an opinion, can I not protest their right to protest on equal merit? The black groups pushing for the ban are understandably insulted by the intentions of some of these flag bearers, and the seemingly simplest way to undo this insult is by banning it. But that is not the way our legal system handles conflict. The underlying tension does not disappear when government legislates societal relationships. Look at Orleans Parish population statistics since 1950 and tell me that people can be forced to live in what they consider undesirable conditions. The skewed views of those stifled from free expression are not lessened, they are actually compounded. Outlawing unattractive opinions is not the right solution for our community. In many instances, the Confederate flag is an embarrassment for Baton Rouge, but so is the Governmental Building, and most people would not agree to ban its use. If Louisiana is going to get somewhere, it is going to have to take on the "New" in "New South" and leave the War behind.

Baton Rouge Needs Public Art

2005-10-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

Today's post is about bringing art to public places across the city, but I would like to start by applauding the Baton Rouge Area Chamber for expanding its nondiscrimination policy. In addition to federally mandated employment standards, the Chamber will not consider marital status, political affiliation, and sexual orientation in hiring. I hope Chamber members follow.

Okay, on to art. I have been reading a lot of NY Times articles recently about the Bloomberg administration's focus on the arts in NYC. Under Mayor Giuliani, the City continually slashed funding to visual and performing arts programs, and was widely criticized for its "decency" board, a panel developed to select appropriate art for City-funded museums. But it has turned around 180 under Mr. Bloomberg, a Republican mayor with little actual interest in art. Central Park was transformed last winter by "The Gates," designed by Christos and Jean-Claude. The administration is well known for borrowing major pieces to display in City Hall, and the lawn at Gracie Mansion, the mayoral home, is dotted with Isamu Noguchi sculptures. But the art is not limited to Manhattan. Art is being brought in to every public building in every borough, and street art--besides graffiti--is becoming common in even the Bronx. Mr. Bloomberg reinstated art instruction in public schools, has personally and publicly financed start-up performance troupes, and has even infused City publications with graphic design. And there is more than an aesthetic element to his push for public art; Mr. Bloomberg recognizes the economic importance of it. A world-class city elevates itself through art and architecture, constantly accommodating and encouraging the newest trends. A project like "The Gates" brings visitors to NYC and it keeps Central Park on edge and vibrant. Art support brings artists, who sell art in galleries, and who bring gentrification to decaying neighborhoods. There is not much to lose in encouraging creativity and civic pride.

So what is Baton Rouge doing? The Shaw Center was a major step forward for the city's art scene; there is at least a place to house visual and performance work. But LSU has not done much to keep up its end of the museum. It is a pretty empty $55 million space. The Manship Theater has been well used and is gaining popularity because its commission has aggressively pursued events. The public plaza in front of the center is great, especially for kids. And Columbus Circle at the foot of Government Street is a vast improvement over what used to be there. The River Center Exposition Hall is a major architectural accomplishment on the scale of the Parthenon when compared to the original facilities. But it is time to move public investment beyond just downtown. As vital as that area is, there are districts that need a lot of attention. Painted fish, cows, and moose in front of every building in a city are getting a little old, but Baton Rouge needs an arts campaign that distinguishes neighborhoods but embodies the city's values. Sculptures should be in parks, the neutral ground of boulevards, in front of fire and police stations. We need to take the CATS bus design back to the drawing board. The City needs to develop a seal or logo that does not replicate the State seal. In NYC, 1% of a buildings total construction cost must be public art. That seems like a great way to make sure a building actually gets art in it.

An excellent place to start is the new segment of North Bouleverd between 9th and 22nd Streets. This depressed area is in deperate need of some civic pride. Making the boulevard attractive--meaning more than an oak tree sapling on every other block and brick crosswalks--could make a difference in the neighborhood. BREC needs to make its Baton Rouge Gallery at City Park something truly special, and it needs to place works in other parks. I believe that the city could amass a large collection of public art at no cost if it simply held contests for public works. There have to be artists in our community ready to donate projects to promote themselves or simply to improve Baton Rouge. There needs to be some effort to improve the graphic appearance of City documents, publications, and property. All of these tell people what we think of our community. When we settle for "acceptable" or "average," we are getting less than what we deserve and what we pay for.

Weekend Trip: Houston

2005-10-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have decided that on Fridays, I will write about one of the cities served by Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. So this series will get us through about a month. No, really though, the options from BTR are improving; just this week daily flights to Orlando, NYC, and Washington, D.C. were added. So I am going to mention some of the great things these places have going for them, and a few of the things I think Baton Rouge should try to learn from them. We will start with Houston, the closest direct flight from BTR.

Put simply, H-Town is huge. It is America's fourth largest city, with almost 5 million residents. Most people think of big oil, freeways, suburbs, and strip malls, and they are not entirely off. But in several recent trips to Houston, I have seen a much different side of the city. The place really seems to be smartening, and that makes sense: on top of Texas-born intellectuals and entrepreneurs, the city has taken in thousands of educated Louisianians over the past two decades. And even with the big business, there is a laid-back lifestyle of corner cafes and neighborhood bars in a lot of the inner city. Houston seems overrun by young people, and there is a sense of their creative energy. And Houston seems focused on re-imaging itself from a concrete hulk to a vibrant, verdant, cultured metropolis.

Start with Downtown Houston. On a Friday afternoon, at every street corner, commuters line the sidewalk waiting for a bus, in some cases even a double bus. I am talking businesspeople, in casual Friday attire, from the corner to half-way or further down the block. They stand beneath clean, modern shelters with route information, and board buses with no advertising panels. Even more impressive is the new light rail line, stretching from downtown to the very far southwest of Houston. It is clean, efficient, safe, crowded, its route well landscaped, and is part of a major rehabilitation effort in several depressed neighborhoods. The City has learned how to market its transit system to professionals, as well as those who have no alternative. There is also a well established theatre district, home to an impressive opera house and other cultural institutions. The City Hall complex and its lawn are undergoing an overhaul to stimulate new downtown investment.

Moving away from downtown, Houston becomes a collection of distinct neighborhoods with character. The rail line takes you to the awesome Museum District, with almost two dozen collections, some very significant. In the same area is Rice University, and a little further is Hermann Park, a great old city green space. Further down the line is the Houston Medical District, an incredible site. 16 hospitals line Fanin Street for more than one mile, a major hub of Houston's intellectual talent. In a different direction, around Westheimer, Richmond, Montrose, and Kirby are restaurants, bars, shopping districts with major outlets and quirky local shops, and mixed housing. It is a very outdoor area, very shaded, and very busy. There are occasional highrise blocks that add to the excitement. A lot of people criticize the city's lack of zoning and planning, but to me it just lends it a less fake, more urban feel.

I do not want to see Baton Rouge become Houston, but I think it could take some things from it. In some ways, they are similar places. Both are turning sluggish downtowns around by encouraging nightlife and building cultural attractions, like the Shaw Center and the new main library. Our shopping centers are looking more like Houston's, with Town Center and Perkins Rowe. But we need to focus on our parks in a big way, by converting City Park to a truly public place and by rehabilitating the zoo. Our transit system is finally turning around under Director Dwight Brashear, but we still need to find a way to make it a desirable alternative. Let's remove advertising from buses and benches and build shelters at more stops. And finally, let's think more about how big public projects can affect surrounding areas. Is it time for a new City Hall? Do new governmental buildings have to have fake stucco walls and sheet metal roofs, or can we do something to make them attractive? Can we irrigate and maintain landscaping in the neutral grounds and in parks? Again, Baton Rouge is progressing here, but an overall direction is still absent. I think that if Baton Rouge can just learn to push and redefine itself like Houston has, it can become a great city of this century.

Time for a Team?

2005-10-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

On the same day that the City of San Antonio publicly announced discussions with New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson to move the team to Texas, the State of Louisiana was remarkably prepared to blow $125 million to save the Louisiana Superdome. Wow, we really do hold on to failure. If Louisiana was not Louisiana, it would stop, wait a minute, and realize that hundreds of thousands of its people no longer have permanent housing. The criminal justice system in New Orleans, normally one of the nation's busiest, is operating from the bus terminal. The City of New Orleans has fired half of its staff, and the State is prepared to lay off thousands in the special session. Should the Superdome be our number one priority? Do we have slightly bigger problems than retaining a team that does not respect us enough to win a season and feels no sense of responsibility to stay with us?

Since 2001, the Saints have been paid to stay in New Orleans, one of the NFL's poorest markets. This year, the check was slightly more than $12 million, and the figure is supposed to climb to $20 million by 2010. The idea is that the subsidy allows the Saints to remain competitive and that it pays for itself through Saints generated revenue in Metro New Orleans. In reality, the city's hotel tax has covered the payments only three times; twice now, the money has come basically from the State's general fund. Mr. Benson also expects the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District to significantly remodel the arena and add suites. Now, with the Superdome indefinitely unavailable and an even smaller market to pull fans from, the team is prepared to pack up and move to Texas, as it has long threatened.

So the State is ready to rebuild the Superdome, and beg, and throw money at the Saints to keep them. But this time, do the economics actually possibly maybe slightly even make sense? Can their impact on New Orleans ever again be enough to justify our endless spending? If their market was already too small to be "profitable"--Mr. Benson has never publicly released Saints' financial reports--how can a city that will be smaller by all accounts support them? Will New Orleans ever again actually need the world's largest indoor arena? I am all about bringing New Orleans back to life, but if we try to restore it precisely to its pre-Katrina conditions, how freaking stupid are we?

Here is the only solution I see to keeping any professional team in Louisiana: Baton Rouge. For three hundred years the State has overlooked Baton Rouge. And even now that it is the largest city, and I believe it will remain so, the State continues to see us as secondary to New Orleans. Wake up Governor Blanco; at the moment, we are the best thing Louisiana has going for it. Practically every office building in the New Orleans CBD is unoccupied. On the other hand, every single highrise in ours is leased. This shocking reality will not be undone by year's end, or next year's end, or probably by the close of the decade. Louisiana is going to have to look more and more to Baton Rouge to fill its deepening tax hole and to stem the flow of our educated people. The way I see it, the people who were paying to see the Saints games are in Baton Rouge or Houston, and enough of them are here to stay. Baton Rouge is one hour from downtown New Orleans, and one hour from Lafayette. Logically, the population living within one hour of Baton Rouge is larger than the New Orleans one-hour area, even before Katrina. So that handles market issues. And on the stadium front, it makes more sense to me to "fast track" construction on a new, modern stadium in Baton Rouge than to restore an indoor arena that will never attract any team besides possibly the Saints.

I know it sounds like I want Baton Rouge to boom at the expense of New Orleans, but that really is not the case. The power play between the cities has changed, and Baton Rouge will almost assuredly be on top no matter what governments do to restore New Orleans. If the State really feels like right now is the time to make its case to the Saints, I think it should at least put forward a slightly feasible plan. Any person that thinks filling 70,000 seats in a devastated, horribly impoverished city is feasible should be exiled to New Orleans East. I would really like to hear what other people think about the Saints, and about the thought of wooing them or the Hornets to Baton Rouge. I have a sense that my plan is pointless; we should probably just say screw the Saints and demand our contract withdrawal fee.

Our Riverfront

2005-10-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

The Mississippi River is Baton Rouge's life source. The city's petrochemical-driven economy survives because of the cheap transportation made available by the river and the endless water supply. But for more than half a century, Baton Rougans have steadily moved their lives away from it. Today, the tide seems to be turning as a progressive collection of thinkers focuses on redeveloping the levee green spaces and bringing new life to the River Road corridor.

The idea of converting the levee to a chain of public parks and natural estuaries is gaining some steam, because it makes sense. First, the land is controlled by various public agencies, so it is basically public domain. Second, it stretches from the established North Baton Rouge area, through downtown, and beyond LSU into booming South Baton Rouge. It is physically the backbone of the parish. Finally, the levee is much more than a steep hill; land forms on both sides are varied, providing several options in development, like open playing fields at wide segments and scenic overlooks at narrower places.

For several years, the Department of Public Works and LSU Recreation have been working on a levee-top bike path connecting the LSU campus to the Central Business District. That project is nearly completed, and plans are underway to extend the path to the north to Southern University. The paths are solid concrete with lighting, benches, trash cans, and water fountains at regular intervals. I do think that DPW should find more unique fixtures, something that speaks to our city's future, for the second phase of paths than the current traditional-style replicas, but at least there is something up there.

Building on the renewed interest in the riverfront, Mayor-President Kip Holden initiated a downtown levee design campaign in the summer with a public brainstorming session. On Oct. 4, the Planning Commission selected the national-local Hargreaves Associates, Remson-Haley-Herpin, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple conglomerate based on preliminary plans and sketches. Although I believe the proposal by Van Valkenburg Associates, Trahan Architects was the more progressive, almost any project will be a good thing. Initial showings involve a redesign of the plaza space in front of the River Center, an amphitheater built into the levee, steps to the levee top at several places, and public art. In the coming months, the team will meet publicly with the community to develop a complete building program to be financed through the State's Capital Outlay plan.

State Government's downtown complex, Capital Park, was also supposed to have an important riverfront element at one point. Plans called on the federal government contributing to the development of a bature near the foot of North Street into a public plaza and playing fields. But it has been bogged down by state funding shortfalls, problems with the existing railroad lines, and what seems to be a lack of interest in the "Park" component of "Capital Park." It really would be a shame if this overall successful construction project did not finish with a connection to the river.

We have an administration interested in pulling up our quality of life. This is the perfect time to discuss expanding the levee beautification plans. The levee is an incredible green space that we cannot overlook any longer. Almost any city would kill for our river, but it is easy for us to think only of its negatives. I think that too often we see it as toxic sludge and industrial with no real aesthetic value. But this is probably because we never see the undeveloped swaths of it. As a community, we need to find some way to bring ourselves into this natural environment without destroying its unique existence. Please be looking for announcements of public meetings on the levee project in my blogs, and make plans to attend and participate. Also, put forward any suggestions as a comment to this blog. Let other people see your ideas. It is time to think bigger in Baton Rouge, because we should not be satisfied with mediocrity.

"Fast Track" to Nowhere?

2005-10-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

In the days following Hurricane Katrina's slow destruction of our state, there was a lot of talk about "immediate $1 million grants for traffic" and "fast-tracking" road projects. But six weeks later, what has happened to Baton Rouge's lagging public works construction? Where have the million-dollar grants gone, and have they done anything to help us move?

Fast tracking means 24 hour construction on state road projects, hopefully cutting construction schedules in half. The idea here is to push through slow-moving projects, like I-10 improvements between Bluebonnet and Seigen, and widenings along Old Hammond Highway and eventually of Perkins Road. Construction costs rise sharply, as additional crews must be brought in, delivery schedules must be reorganized, and often the bonus payments made to contractors for finishing early must be completely reconsidered. Given this extra spending, the plan must make it through the State Legislature in the upcoming special session. That puts any hope of fast track construction close to 2006 at the earliest. And there is no real guarantee it will happen, given the State's preoccupation with New Orleans. There is really no knowing how well Baton Rouge, by default the largest city in Louisiana, will fare in this session. Think about it: Baton Rouge, now a city of close to 750,000, will still have fewer representatives than New Orleans, at maybe 150,000 now, until the next round of elections. Those delegates will naturally be more concerned with their NOLA districts than our immediate needs as a city bursting at the seems.

And what of the $10 million or so made available through grants from the US Congress for traffic signal upgrades? You do not hear much about where it is actually going. I have noticed a dramatic improvement with inner-city traffic, but I am not ready to say the Dept. of Public Works had much to do with that. By now, a good number of people have returned to Jeff and St. Tammany, and the rest of us have given up on following the laws of the road for more flexible "guidelines" that actually mean moving. So what do you think? Have signals been synchronizing? Have green lights been lengthened and red lights shortened on major streets? Have two-way streets been converted to more efficient one-ways as initially promised? Have left-turns been limited on those same streets? Is traffic management one of the few places our City-Parish has failed us post-Katrina? And more importantly, how much longer do we accept that? Baton Rouge is going to be footing a large part of the bill for its growth and New Orleans' rebuilding. We have an obligation to watch where the money goes and what we are getting from it.

Just the Beginning

2005-10-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

I would like to start with a heartfelt thank you to the 13% of our community that voted this Saturday, and especially to the 2/3 that voted correctly. These tax extensions are more vital now than ever, as Baton Rouge is struggling to provide transportation and education to our growing population. The "pothole" tax will move forward a massive agenda of new road construction. However, it is important that Baton Rouge continue to push for expanded mass transit options, and we must insist that new roads are attractively landscaped and designed for pedestrians. The library tax continues to fund our truly exceptional public library system. Despite the controversial decision to move the main library to a downtown location, the public understands the impact of libraries on great cities.

Congratulations should also go to most levels of our City-Parish government on the tremendous task of keeping Baton Rouge functioning through the Katrina aftermath. The Mayor's Office has provided leadership that any city would envy; the Police and Fire Departments and EMS have worked around the clock to protect us; the EBR school system has accomodated 7,000 new students without complaint from the administrators; the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport has stepped up in a big way to meet the new demands on it; Social Services quickly responded to the immediate needs of evacuees. Agencies and elected representatives who are paid to care for 400,000 people are providing services to 750,000 now. That is incredible. And more incredible is the response from local church groups, businesses, and every private foundation in the region. We are a community of compassion, and we never fail our neighbors.

But there have been some black eyes on governments and agencies in the region since Katrina. BREC, the Recreation and Parks Commission for Baton Rouge, has continued its downward spiral. At the Sept. 27th meeting, Commision member Darrell Glasper and a collection of black Commission members voted to fire Superintedent Mark Thorton, the first experienced leader of the parks deptartment since its founding. The public trusted him to guide spending of $71 million devoted to improved parks. Mr. Glasper has been at the center of almost all of the Commissions recent controversies, and the clear racial split of the board--aside from Mr. Glasper, those opposing provided no commentary on their vote--is a frightening new twist in BREC politics. I have lost all faith in the current Commission's resolve to spend the public's money in a mature way, and I believe that the only answer to its problems may be the dissolution of BREC. Most large cities run parks as an agency under the Mayor, and this may be the solution for Baton Rouge. Another shameful decision was made in Livingston Parish shortly after the storm, when the Parish Council chose to prohibit FEMA from building trailer park communities in Livingston. I have to believe that this was the first rejection of a trailer park in Livingston Parish history. The council cited the Parish's traffic problems and concerns over adeqaute water supply. If it is the case that Livingston cannot supply water or sewerage to several thousand new residents, then they have a point. But if Livington residents think they have traffic problems, they should try to make it down Jefferson or College or Perkins at almost anytime of the day. I believe that the decision was based more on a deep fear of the New Orleans evacuees among Livingston Parish residents. In a time of crisis, such as now, almost no excuse is acceptable when closing your parish to those seeking refuge. All of Louisiana, especially the Southeast, has to pull together and save our state from itself. I would say that I hope Livingston Parish is treated with equal contempt whenever it floods, but real South Louisianians see beyond the invisible lines of parish boundaries and never abandon each other.

At the end of the day, Baton Rouge has been an awesome place to live in the past month and a half. There is a new bustle about the city: every restaurant is packed, downtown sidewalks are congested, and I've even seen some full buses. Exceptional things in August are now part of the "new normal." In Louisiana, we have come to expect last place rankings in any positive quality of life indicators and a state budget that starts off $1 billion short. But somehow we drag ourselves along, turning what people in alot of other places consider unthinkable obstacles into daily parts of life that we just have to deal with. For the first time in my memory, Louisiana's capital is headed in the right direction.