July 16, 2008
By Rebecca Breeden
There’s so much to consider about the $989 million bond proposal pitched to the Metro Council on Wednesday afternoon, and the first step is resolving how to present it to the voters in the fall. Here are some pros and cons that resulted from Wednesday’s meeting.
Divide proposal into three sections: Public safety, drainage and economic development.
Pro: Allows voters to pick and choose which items they’d like to vote for or against, instead of having everything in one complete package. This way, voters can choose against the Alive exhibit and River Center expansions and still vote yes for drainage and public safety.
Con: Though legally possible, it’s difficult to split a half-cent sales tax into three propositions.
Oct. 4 election vs. Nov. 4 election
October pro: Many of the Metro Council and mayoral candidates will be on the same ballot as the bond proposal, a move that would make them take a public stand on the bond issue.
October con: Less time for voters to consider their decision; Metro Council members would have to vote at the Aug. 23 meeting in order to get on the October ballot, and some councilmen said a week is not enough time to confer with their constituents.
November pro: Presidential elections draw 30% more voters.
November con: If you’re Kip Holden, it could hurt your reelection chances to be in a runoff with the bond proposal.
New parish prison complex
Pro: The city-parish would save $3 million annually by not sending criminals to outside parish prisons; officers, judges and courtroom staff would be in more adequate security surroundings; frees up space near the airport for more commercial development
Con: Plenty of jail space for victimless misdemeanor charges (including those who don’t pay traffic tickets).
New public safety complex
Pro: Better communication and shared training facilities for the Baton Rouge Police, Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security, EMS and the coroner; no more mushrooms growing in the city police headquarters building on Mayflower Street.
Con: More employees going to work in that area means more traffic congestion on Harding Boulevard, which is already a headache if you’ve headed to the airport during peak travel times.
Traffic light synchronization
Pro: Drivers traveling down Fourth Street don’t have to stop at a yellow light every 100 feet; new traffic lights will be more energy-efficient, using only 10% of what the current ones use.
Con: $45 million for 260 traffic lights? Seriously?!
Click here for a slideshow to some renderings.
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Downtown dreaming...
So, what are you up to this weekend? Oh, just the usual: Riding my bike downtown to hear B.B. King, checking out that new Scorsese documentary and taking pictures of the rare newborn leatherback sea turtle.
Not a typical answer for a Baton Rougean, but it could be in four years, if the mayor and BRAF sell their vision to the public, starting today with the Metro Council.
Audubon Alive, a $274 million riverfront complex, is part of the $989 million bond that will be the city's hottest political issue this election cycle, one that could decide the fate of the next mayor and Metro Council line-up.
Will Disney-like adventures pitched by the Audubon Nature Institute make Baton Rouge America's next great city? Audubon CEO Ron Foreman thinks so. He and Mayor Holden are trying to convince everyone that Alive would do for us what the Space Needle did for Seattle, what the Riverwalk did for San Antonio, what the Arch did for St. Louis. (Alive renderings aren't yet available; in the meantime check out this map and video.)
Audubon Alive will have walk-through water features (think Audubon Aquarium walkways), an IMAX-inspired theater, an indoor swamp, virtual reality theaters that let you experience a hurricane, live animals, earth, wind, fire and water exhibits, and a 900-seat Rhythm & Blues theater.
How wonderful it would be if Alive really existed. The mayor wants to raise property and sales taxes for Alive and other downtown projects, claiming the economic triumph of thousands of jobs and some $375 million in city earnings within its first four years. That's great, so long as the city first reimburses the property owners who financed the projects (via tax rebates). Unlikely, however!
The Metro Council will hear the financial plans Wednesday, and could vote in favor of including it on the Nov. 4 ballot. Stick around. The fun has yet to begin.
In the meantime, I'll be dreaming of B.B. King live… just a bike ride away.
Comments
Posted by friendly on November 2 at 8:02 p.m.
Infrastructure before Theme Park
Now that applause for post-Gustav restoration heroics has died away, maybe Baton Rougeans will consider how to alleviate a repeat performance in the future. The argument that burying power lines is “too expensive” just doesn’t cut the mustard. What could be more wasteful than armies of twenty-first-century technicians working for weeks at triple overtime to restore a nineteenth-century technology? Never mind that about one fiftieth of our lives this past year was spent in unproductive misery. Besides, horizontal drilling techniques might offer a high-tech solution – I dare you to google it. And while we’re at it, how about “light pipe” and light rail for everybody!
Maybe Mayor-President Kip Holden’s near billion-dollar developer’s dream should be weighed against potential provision for real, everyday needs. Wouldn’t funds for the costly “educational” experience of a high-maintenance aquarium – so yesterday in the Age of Aquarius – be better spent improving local schools and teacher salaries? And wouldn’t a trip to New Orleans provide the more “educational” experience on so many levels anyway? Wouldn’t steps toward a mass-transit alternative to clogged highways be more welcome in an era of ballooning gas prices? Wouldn’t deregulated high-speed internet access put Baton Rouge more at the forefront of municipal progress?
Perhaps the if-we-build-it-they-will-come strategy toward making Baton Rouge a convention town puts the cart before the horse. It certainly puts the supposed beneficiaries of the “cart” (Audubon Nature Institute) before the needs of the “workhorses” who have to pony up to pay for it (Us). Improving the lives of ordinary citizens by making Baton Rouge a better place to live seems a goal worth paying for. Making downtown more accessible, promoting a favorable business environment, dressing up the riverfront to the extent that residents can enjoy it in its NATURAL state – these seem worthy goals.
Americans have witnessed the dire consequences of collapsing bridges and disintegrating schools, and too often a crisis-management mentality overshadows appreciation for the positive aspects of proactive development. But quality of life involves more than the odd weekend splurge on downtown amusements.
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