225 Daily’s sister newsletter Daily Report sat down with Mayor Sharon Weston Broome to discuss her mayoral campaign and her vision for Baton Rouge. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
If reelected, what would the priorities of your third term be?
A third term for me can really be summed up in two words: acceleration and delivery.
Over the next four years, I will prioritize continued economic development to transform the cornerstones of our city and ensure that we continue to thrive. We’ve already done that with Amazon, Howell Place and the ever-growing medical corridor, and we’re in the process of doing that with Memorial Stadium and the River Center. We have to continue to attract new industries to diversify our economy and attract and retain talent. Supplier diversity will also be key to ensuring our small minority- and veteran-owned businesses have a seat at the table. As the strongest economy in the state, we have momentum right now.
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Secondly, I’m going to continue to focus, of course, on public safety. Public safety is paramount for every citizen in East Baton Rouge Parish. We’re going to continue to invest in our police—like we did with the 13% raise that was given under my administration—and in their equipment and technology. We will also continue our intense work in the community to address the root causes of crime. Data shows that we’ve seen some progress, but the challenge remains and we’re very committed to tackling it.
My third priority is quality of place, specifically in regard to blight and homelessness. I recently launched a corridor cleanup program to clean up and maintain 50-plus corridors in our city. My administration has also supported the private groups that have augmented our work like Clean Pelican and Keep Tiger Town Beautiful. As for homelessness, we have to solve this problem so we don’t become an Austin or a Seattle. What I’ve done is hired a homelessness director and invested in the first non-congregate shelter in our parish. I’ve also invested in over 2,000 new affordable housing units and worked with our local One Stop to address the root causes of homelessness.
What would you do to address the long-standing inequities between north and south Baton Rouge, particularly when it comes to economic development?
We’re going to continue to focus on affordable housing units, because we know that everyone desires a place to live so that they can maintain their dignity. We will continue to pursue federal opportunities like the Choice Neighborhood Grant that we secured for Ardendale.
We will also continue to work on transportation enhancement projects—as you know, we just broke ground on the Bus Rapid Transit system that’s going to start on Airline Highway. The continued projects of MovEBR that touch north Baton Rouge will certainly add to economic development, and investing in streetlights will be an emphasis for us, as well.
We will also continue to look for opportunities to put buildings back into commerce like we did with Howell Place by setting up Oschner’s clinic there. We’ve allocated millions of dollars to north Baton Rouge organizations, and we currently have a request for proposals out to accept bids to provide seed funding to a developer and grocery operator to build a grocery store in a food desert.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that Amazon has certainly been a catalyst for economic development, as well. The new facility is part of north Baton Rouge and has created over 1,000 jobs.
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I believe that we’ve laid a good foundation to build upon in north Baton Rouge and other areas of disinvestment. The issue of disinvestment is one that you have to be very intentional about, and that’s what we’ve done and will continue to do with the help of the community.
This story originally appeared in a Sept. 18 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.