Porch and Parish The Podcast
Our mission is to make sure every Zachary resident feels heard and engaged! Host Mike Gennaro facilitates candid conversations with local leaders, influencers and innovators in Zachary, Louisiana and beyond with the help of producer Mike Holt. New episode every Monday at noon!
Porch and Parish The Podcast
Baton Rouge Mayoral Forum
In 2022, we created a safe space for political candidates to amplify their message to our listeners. We stressed over the questions and the logistics, and it was a huge success for all concerned.
We’re back to do it again, but this time for the Baton Rouge Mayoral candidates. We invited all 8 candidates, and Mayor President Sharon Weston Broome and Ted James were gracious enough to visit our headquarters in person, right here in beautiful downtown Zachary!
Listen, enjoy, and be sure to do your part when it comes time to vote!
It's Jesus Christ Superstar meets Sister Act! Inspired bt4 gospels of the New Testament!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Hi, this is Mayor President Sharon Westp-Broom, and I want to encourage you to keep listening to Porch and Parish, the podcast.
Ted James:I'm Ted James. Keep listening to Porch and Parish podcast.
Mike Gennaro:Hey there, Zachary. In 2022, we created a safe space for Zachary area political candidates to amplify their message to our listeners. We stressed over the questions in the logistics and it was ultimately a huge success for all concerned. We're going to do it again, but this time for the Baton Rouge mayoral race. First things first. Our policy is to treat all candidates fairly, which in this case means equally. A timer will be set between questions, with a max of three minutes per answer. All eight qualified candidates were invited. Of the three frontrunners, ted James and Mayor President Sharon Weston Broome were the two candidates that made the time to visit and record at our headquarters in Zachary, which says a lot in my book.
Mike Gennaro:Zachary, louisiana is a separate city located within the East Baton Rouge Parish. While Zachary operates independently, with its own mayor and city government, there are several ways in which its needs and interests might intersect with the plans of the mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish. Today, we're going to ask the mayoral candidates about how we fit into those plans. And more Now. Louisiana elections use the majority vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary November 5th and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, december 7th 2024, regardless of their partisan affiliation affiliation Welcome to Downtown Zachary.
Mike Gennaro:As always, we're going to bring you the best of Zachary in the Baton Rouge area through engaging conversations every Monday from our headquarters right here on Virginia Street. This is Portion Parish, the podcast. Stay tuned because the lightning round is coming up. Next, looking for a family outing off the beaten path, trot over to Breck's Far Park Equestrian Center for a unique experience. Far Park offers guided trail rides throughout the fall. Starting on September 22nd, you and the family can enjoy the fresh air, beautiful scenery and quality time with loved ones Perfect for all ages. Follow the link to sign up. Spots are limited. Link to sign up. Spots are limited. All right, we're back with the lightning round After your home and workplace.
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:what is your favorite place in Baton Rouge? I would probably say, after my home, my workplace, my favorite place would be my place of worship. I enjoy going to my church and hearing the music and being inspired by my pastor, so that's one of my favorite places.
Mike Gennaro:Excellent.
Ted James:My favorite place has to be the campus of Southern University. So much history there for me as a young person spent a bunch of Saturdays there. Looking out off the bluff into the mighty Mississippi River has always been my favorite place in the city.
Mike Gennaro:Who was one of your favorite teachers or coaches growing up and please describe why.
Ted James:Oh, that's hard. So many amazing teachers educated in Baton Rouge schools. I would have to say that my favorite teacher was Miss Jan Linney. Miss Linney was my English 4 teacher teacher and she was one who pushed. She was one who inspired, but she was also one that had the ability to motivate us. And I would say a close second would be Miss Daryl and Jackson, and she was one of our science teachers at McKinley Middle and she was my favorite, selfishly, because she took us on trips to Houston every summer and we would go to Astroworld and Splashtown. But Miss Jackson was mean as nails and she was tough and she was my favorite because as much as she pushed and she was mean, she loved on us as well and that was early on evidence that she really cared enough to push right and she was only pushing out the potential that she saw in us.
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:I would say that one of my favorite teachers was Mrs Gilchrist. Teachers, uh, was Mrs Gilchrist and she actually, uh, was my I want to say, fifth and sixth grade teacher it's been a minute, as they say and she was my favorite teacher because she had a lot of pizzazz to her. You know, uh, I love the way she wore her hair. She had like a bouncy ponytail and she just, you know the way she moved today we might call it swag and I felt like I always had a memorable time in her class and she always, you know, she always gave me a little nudge too.
Mike Gennaro:What is the most nostalgic memory you have of Baton Rouge?
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:My most nostalgic moment in Baton Rouge I wish I could say two, but I will say one was 45 years ago when I spent my first winter here in Baton Rouge and it was a beautiful day, almost like today. It was probably in the 70s and it was Christmastime and I didn't have to put on any heavy cold and it was just a beautiful day and I distinctly remember that because it was Christmas.
Ted James:I would have to say my Saturday mornings here. I had a very active childhood. I grew up playing soccer, so memories of playing soccer at Independence Park, birthday parties after games at Funfair Park, spending Saturdays. Of course, like I said, my parents both graduated from Southern, so a Saturday in the fall meant that I was going to spend my evenings in AW Mumford Stadium. So, as a young person, all of the kids running up and down the stadium watching the band play. So my Saturdays in Baton Rouge were just extremely exciting and really filled with the pride that I have for the city today.
Mike Gennaro:One of my favorite authors, Simon Sinek, says people don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it. Why are you interested in leading Baton Rouge for the next four years?
Ted James:Yeah, I'm a parent and raising a seven year old daughter here. My level of responsibility to Baton Rouge has changed. I have been blessed to serve this community as a lawyer, a state representative, a professor. Blessed to serve this community as a lawyer, a state representative, a professor. And then the last two years I worked as a regional administrator for the Small Business Administration. So I was appointed by the president to lead 10 offices across five states and I was excited and did a lot to build the small business ecosystems and communities that I didn't live in.
Ted James:But flying back to Baton Rouge, I believe that as a parish we're stagnant and when you go to places like Little Rock and Conway, arkansas, and DeSoto, texas, san Antonio, and you see these cities thriving, and then you come home and when I think about all of the resources that we have at Baton Rouge LSU, southern we have a capital city, we have a downtown on a river, we have a large port, we have industry, we shouldn't be outpaced by these communities that don't have the resources that we have in Baton Rouge, outpaced by these communities that don't have the resources that we have in Baton Rouge.
Ted James:So for me, I watched how local government can build the quality of life. And then I came home, flying into the Baton Rouge airport and feeling like we could and should be doing more. So I made the decision to not complain about it. I made the decision not to gripe about it. This is me doing something about it to pour into the community that has always poured into me, and I tell people this all of the time that I am truly, truly, truly, the poster child for that proverb that it took a village to raise me, and from teachers to colleagues to, you know, other public servants, I owe it to Baton Rouge to push us four years, because I have spent the first eight years, the first four years we laid a foundation.
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:The second four years we started building I often like to call myself Broom the Builder and we've been transforming and I want to finish the job that I've started. That's why I want another four years. We've done some great work, had some great successes and achievements, but we've just started moving the needle and making some very significant progress, and I want to continue that progress because I believe that Baton Rouge specifically has the potential to be the best mid-sized city in America.
Mike Gennaro:It's no secret that corporations place their top executives in cities that rank high on quality of life. How will Baton Rouge position itself for greater quality of life for its citizens into the future?
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, baton Rouge is a great city and we've already started positioning ourselves as it relates to quality of life. We have been working on improving our infrastructure and our roadways and we've been cleaning out our drains and our stormwater systems, and so we've already started that process. We have a very vibrant downtown. We're working on that downtown, which goes to your question. We are going to continue to work on making our downtown a very vibrant area. But one of the visions that I have for our city so top executives will see the value of the quality of life there is to transform our riverfront. I want to start at the bluffs of Southern University, go downtown and then go out towards LSU and develop our riverfront. Our Mississippi River is one of the greatest assets that we have and in the next four years we're going to start seeing that development take ground.
Ted James:You know we have to Like. The Milken Institute is an institute that ranks cities on how well they perform economic development, job growth. In 2015, we were ranked in the top 30. Now we're 156 or 57. That tells me that we are not a championship team, probably not even a playoff team. So what we have to do is several things. Pour into the massive universities that we have. Right, we are educating young people at LSU and Southern and at BRCC, and those young people are leaving. They're leaving because we have to eliminate blight, we have to alleviate traffic, we have to fix our education system and we have to just get the basics right. Pick up the trash, cut the grass, sweep the streets. Those are basic governmental services right.
Ted James:In several communities throughout this parish they aren't getting the basics. It is hard to fly in executives to East Baton Rouge Parish. They fly into the Baton Rouge Airport. The first thing they see is the what the prison? They go on to that interstate. They see litter. They look over. They see blighted communities in North Baton Rouge. If they are staying downtown, let's just say they land evening flight five o'clock. They get to downtown Baton Rouge on a five thirty on a Thursday. You see nothing. There's no activity there.
Ted James:Right Quality of life, especially for young professionals. You have to have a thriving downtown. You have to pour into the aesthetic beauty of a community, eliminate blight. Look at the sound walls on our interstate. We don't even pressure wash those Right. So we have to pour into the basics to improve the quality of life of the people that are here so we don't lose them, before expecting folks to want to live here from other areas, especially some of those areas that I mentioned. We're competing with Austin, we're competing with Greenville, we're competing with Charlotte, atlanta. We have to take care of home first before we can even think that corporations are going to want to move executives to Baton Rouge.
Mike Gennaro:What's your top priority within the first 100 days?
Ted James:You know it's so hard with so many needs in these Baton Rouge parish, but I always say that elected officials should be more responsive to the people. What I hear every single day is crime. First 100 days is a public safety summit bringing together all of the multiple law enforcement agencies. In these Baton Rouge Parish, we have over 11 law enforcement agencies. In East Baton Rouge Parish we have over 11 law enforcement agencies. Out of that summit, we hear the strengths, the weaknesses, the opportunities and the threats. We do a SWAT analysis. We bring in not just the leaders, but we bring in the rank and file to talk about the resources that they need. Out of that, within the first 100 days, leaders, but we bring in the rank and file to talk about the resources that they need.
Ted James:Out of that, within the first 100 days, I want something to come out a multi-agency task force to address violent crime in our community.
Ted James:We have to do that Simultaneously. It's an agenda prepared that we collectively me as the mayor president, the mayors of Baker, zachary Central and St George to present to our legislative delegation, where we are going to collectively enter the legislative session in 2025 with an agenda for the entire parish. It is paramount that we do that and for me, when I think about if I could accomplish one thing, it's correcting our Head Start program for our young people. We have a Head Start program that we are allocated about $18.2 million In 2022, we only spent $ 10 million Of that. 32% of our Head Start babies that are low income scored a zero in terms of kindergarten readiness. That's embarrassing, and if we don't get it right for our young people, we can't talk about eliminating crime. We can't talk about bringing young families to Baton Rouge or incentivizing young families to stay. So if it's one thing that we have to correct is our dismal performance in our Head Start program.
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, first I would say that my goal within the first 100 days is to accelerate and to deliver. To start that, I think it would be better to say acceleration and delivery will be the theme of my next term, but in the first 100 days we want to move towards acceleration and delivery. I believe that it will be a great opportunity for me to bring people together our LSU, southern University, brcc, baton Rouge Area Foundation, brac and some of our other notable philanthropic groups to come together and strategize as I go into my last term in terms of what we believe we can do as a city and parish to certainly attract and attract new businesses, but also to maintain or retain, I should say, our talent.
Mike Gennaro:Wonderful, and if you could only focus on one of those. Oh it's okay.
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, I would say, in the first 100 days, convene a meeting of all of our stakeholders to talk about talent retention.
Mike Gennaro:As mentioned in the intro, zachary operates independently in some areas and collaboratively in others. How are property and sales tax revenues distributed between East Baton Rouge, parish and the city of Zachary, and how does this distribution impact funding for local services in both jurisdictions?
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, basically we are, because we have a consolidated form of government, our distribution of parish taxes really is redistributed to the parish, distributed to the parish and if you look at our go to brlagov you can see a pie chart that's very illustrative in terms of how those taxes are distributed. I can tell you that, as mayor president, my goal has always been that the municipalities that are within the parish certainly are not neglected and that their tax revenues that they put into the parish pot are returned in the delivery of services.
Ted James:Well, the sales tax collected here in Zachary stay in. Zachary Property taxes, you know we have different assessments, brec, library board, all of those things are collected city parish level, right? The budgets right now. Zachary school system different. You all self-attack, self-assess for your school system. Um, the city parish maintains property, not not properties maintain services for the entire parish, right? So, um, those things come in through um the city parish and then, as mayor, we will go through the budget.
Ted James:Uh, what we need to do a better job of is aligning our resources in terms of infrastructure projects, flood mitigation, and that's why I talk a lot about that legislative agenda bringing those resources back to make sure that we are creating opportunities for major projects that benefit all of us. Right, when we look at the proximity of Zachary and Central, on one side, zachary and Baker there are some opportunities for us to bring in some major resources if we are working more collaboratively on it. Now, of course, zachary has its own independent council. For me, as mayor president, when I announced on February 29th, I said that I was committed to put president back in mayor president, meaning that I was going to be just as focused in Baton Rouge as I intend to be in Baker, zachary and Central.
Ted James:And now since the February 29th date, we now have St George. 29th date, we now have St George. So I have to be as present right, not just during the election season, but I have to be present when it's time to govern. I've already been to a Zachary City Council meeting to understand what the issues and the needs are your mayor, your police chief. We've had countless conversations already. So at City Parish that level of communication has to continue so that the City Parish can be a greater resource to the City of Zachary.
Mike Gennaro:How do you plan to manage and fund joint projects or services between East Baton Rouge Parish and the City of Zachary, and what criteria will be used to determine how costs are shared and priorities are set?
Ted James:You know I think we kind of briefly mentioned that on major infrastructure projects. I think it's important that we go in and work with our legislative delegation on capital outlay for major infrastructure projects. Right, the move be our program. I believe that there are. There are projects slated for this year. We need to magnify those. Right, the move be our program. I believe that there are. There are projects slated for this year. We need to magnify those. Right, the major corridors here.
Ted James:When you all, as a council and a mayor, create these things that are economic drivers, right, the city parish has to come in because if it's an economic driver for the city of Zachary, it's an economic driver for the entire parish and that's what we have to start looking at. We have to start looking at each other as partners, not competitors, right. So when I look at it as if it's beneficial to Zachary, it's beneficial for all of us. Right Now, public works and permitting and all those different things. Those are simple things that you know. These requests will go through the city of Zachary. It's outside the confines. We have opportunities for these things to go through city parish, right. But when we talk about sharing the resources, I am going to focus on the mutual benefit that it provides to the residents of the entire parish.
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, I will tell you that I usually collaborate with the mayor of Zachary and talk about the priorities that the mayor has here and then as the parish president, for example, with our Move EBR project. Before we passed that Move EBR project, which is the largest infrastructure project in the history of Baton Rouge, I sat down and met with the mayor at that time and we talked about the priorities that existed in Zachary. Projects that came from the mayor are now incorporated in the Move EBR program. So you know, collaboration and communication with the leader of Zachary is very significant when we talk about the distribution of resources and making sure that we meet the needs of the citizens here.
Mike Gennaro:What strategies will you use to ensure the economic growth initiatives in East Baton Rouge Parish also support the development and prosperity of Zachary?
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:I will tell you is that this region, which would include Zachary, the East Baton Rouge Parish region has the strongest economy in the state of Louisiana. So we are already on a trajectory of success. But once again, I believe that when we talk about economic growth and economic development, we have to certainly analyze our assets Also. Look at the intersection of the businesses that exist here in Zachary and their connection to Baton Rouge, for example. When we think about what takes place here, we know that historically Zachary has been a type of bedroom community, right, but now it's escalating in terms of opportunities and the potential for new businesses. So our strategy that we apply in Baton Rouge really is applicable across the parish, because when we look at economic development, we look at it from a broad lens.
Ted James:Yeah, I mean I think that we have to look at economic growth, eliminating blight right we need to do that across the parish. When we look at strengthening the small business ecosystem with my experience at the SBA Prior to SBA experience, I was a housing policy advisor so when you look at more affordable housing, creating a better housing stock, when you look at eliminating barriers to entrepreneurs in terms of permitting, licensing, making City Parish a well-oiled machine so that entrepreneurs here feel supported and that we are eliminating obstacles for them to grow, my idea is to work with lending institutions and also all of our local government entities to make sure that we create procurement opportunities for those small businesses who are looking to do business with City of Zachary, ebr school system, the City Parish, to make sure that they have an easier opportunity Once we create those opportunities, when you take an entrepreneur in a small business and they could go from a business of two to three employees to seven to nine, that's how you grow, especially in a community like Zachary, right the thriving businesses just on the street where we are today. We also have to look at kind of changing the narrative in terms of how we look at housing. We have to be more focused on single family housing. One of the things that I would do differently is we get HUD dollars in this community In 2020, there was an article about how East Baton Rouge Parish, over a 10-year period, either misused or didn't spend its allocation and we were penalized.
Ted James:You can't grow economically if you send money back to DC, so we have to better utilize those dollars and get away from multi-complexes in terms of housing. But look at single family. You do that by having an aggressive plan to eliminate blight, using those resources to get those into the hands of developers, nonprofits, churches, other quasi-governmental entities that can quickly move those properties into commerce. And there are other programs where I would work towards using some of those same dollars for down payment assistance. Other mayors across the country are doing it. We use some of those dollars for rental assistance.
Mike Gennaro:I'm not saying rental assistance isn't necessary, but when you talk about using the same pot of money To create these, these opportunities, so that they can have that real opportunity for homeownership. What can Zachary leaders and citizens do to better support the initiatives of East Baton Rouge Parish as a whole?
Ted James:You know, I think. Number one we just have to recognize that while we're in different municipalities, we're all in the same parish. Right, and it's a mindset shift in that it's not A competition, right, it's how do we collectively? Because if, as Zachary progresses, the entire parish progresses right, as Baker moves in the opposite direction, we all move in an opposite direction, right? So, number one, it's a mindset shift.
Ted James:Number two I think we have to create more opportunities for Zachary residents. Many Zachary residents, they have children that go to school in these Baton Rouge parish. I mean in Baton Rouge, they work in Baton Rouge, they go to the mall in Baton Rouge. We have to create more of those opportunities for us to fellowship. And I think once we see on the governmental side, when Mayor James is present in the city of Zachary right, showing up not just at the Hot Air Balloon Festival when it's fun, but showing up at the council meeting to talk about joint projects, right, when they see Mayor James talking about these massive infrastructure programs and federal dollars that we're bringing down to the entire parish, I think that that will help all of us get to a point of recognizing that we're all residents of these Baton Rouge Parish.
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, you know, when we we just had a neighborhood convention about a week or so ago and at the neighborhood convention we had a special roundtable with all the mayors, including the mayor of Zachary, and we talked about the common denominators that connect all of our cities, and I believe the best way that Zachary can help intersect with Baton Rouge and, let's just say, east Baton Rouge Parish, is through a unified vision of success when it comes to every area that impacts our people, focusing on how we can connect our resources together, our ideas to maximize those resources, but to stay connected to that shared vision, how do you?
Mike Gennaro:plan to address blight issues just outside the Zachary City limits, but within East Baton Rouge Parish, and what steps will you take to ensure that these efforts are coordinated with Zachary's local initiatives?
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, you know, blight is an issue that we have invested in strongly and, once again, those shared resources where we touch Zachary will be impacted with the work that we do on blight. So we have already invested in I want to say, almost. I always like to get the numbers right We've invested about $2 million already in our blight initiatives. We have coordinated with Southern University to help us with titles, because we do know that tied-up titles impede the ability for us to address blight. Coming up, you will hear me talk about in the future some creative ideas that I hear that are taking place in other cities and towns dealing with TIFs, which could help us impede and dismantle blight in our communities. Excellent.
Ted James:Yeah, I think that. Number one we have to make sure that we're not losing the tax dollars that we have. Right, and this is not a problem created by the current administration. It's been a decade long, from 2017 to I mean from like the 10 year period from 2010 to 2020. Right, and so what we haven't done is corrected, a problem that existed before this prior administration. We have to be a good steward of the tax dollars.
Ted James:First, what we don't do a good enough job of is the coordination between the Office of Community Development and the quasi organization, our redevelopment authority, bill Baton Rouge. We have to look at the boundaries. Number one we got to decide if we're going to have Bill Ben-Ruj, we need to invest in it. They've had an interim director for almost two years now. Major cities of our size have redevelopment authorities. We have to make sure that we are not hindering progress of our redevelopment authority. Now, that's resources, it's leadership, it's board members, it's taking a full, honest look at it.
Ted James:We need a blight map in this parish right. Looking at number one, first, the city-owned properties. It's hard for us to go to developers and landlords and chastise them. The city parish today has not done a good enough job of maintaining the properties that we own. Of course there are issues when it comes to clearing title. I am willing to number one blight map so we know by council district 12 council districts separated by those properties that have title issues and those that have clear title. Those that have clear title those same tax dollars that we're losing. We need to deploy those tax dollars to either nonprofits or other governmental entities to give them the resources to put those things into commerce.
Ted James:Those that have title issues. It may be a legislative fix that we need to go to our legislators to make sure that we are providing opportunities legally to capture those projects, opportunities legally to capture those projects. I am even willing to go to our judges and create some type of specialty court so that we are respecting legal timelines and issues so that we're not just stripping properties away. There may be residents in your area in the city of Baton Rouge that live in blighted properties but for lack of resources, nobody wants to live in a blighted community. For those folks we have to make sure those same organizations that we're going to pool federal dollars and philanthropic dollars to help we have to make sure that those homeowners have opportunities as well so that they can work on their own to eliminate blight in their own neighborhoods and the plans for the geographic boundaries of Baton Rouge. We can take those same things for Baker's, zachary and central, to be honest.
Mike Gennaro:What are your plans for improving water retention and drainage systems in East Baton Rouge Parish, especially in areas like Zachary and its surroundings, to address flooding and environmental concerns?
Ted James:Our Groundwater Commission, stormwater Commission. We have studied this issue. We got to make a decision right, we have to make a decision and there have been some gains right, there have been some allocations there, but we don't have a long-term sustainable, sustainable funded option. We need to get there right. We need to pull the folks around the table and if it takes a vote of the people, we need to put it in front of the people to decide whether or not we are going to fully fund it. We have to look at other opportunities, like the Southern University School of Urban Forestry. Right, we have a school that Southern is one of the only schools in the country that has an undergrad, grad and doctoral program in urban forestry, green spaces and what to do with urban forestry. That's flood mitigation right, we need to tap into those young students. Now there are cities, alexandria, for instance. Alexandria has created an urban forestry, urban ag position and they went right to the federal government and they were able to pull resources to get that position funded. That person and I envision in East Baton Rouge, parish, coordinating with all of the different organizations.
Ted James:Litter we got to think about litter too. Right, if we continue to put trash in the storm drain. Water is not going to go down, it's going to come up, right. So we got to get aggressive in terms of code enforcement. We got to get aggressive in terms of folks that are littering throughout this entire parish so that they know we're serious and it's not just about the aesthetic beauty, it's about protecting us from future floods.
Ted James:We've we've been through 2016 flood.
Ted James:There are certain areas in this community we're building way too fast, recognizing and we know that we have not done a good enough job of creating an infrastructure where the water is not going to come back up into our homes. So we need to have some real conversations about how fast we develop in certain areas If we are not going to simultaneously create opportunities for flood mitigation. That's a legislative fix, it's a community fix, but it's also pulling down resources from our federal delegation and I mentioned it a lot and I watch other mayors and other communities announce almost monthly a new grant, new federal opportunity where they're pulling down resources. City of New Orleans has used the Inflation Reduction Act dollars, where they were pulling down dollars to to plant trees Right, that's. That's flood mitigation Right, it's heat retention as well, and those are things that we need to create a whole of government and a holistic approach to making sure that that our homes and businesses don't flood again like we did in 2016, because we know in South Louisiana it's not a question of if, it's a question of when.
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, the first big project is the Comey Diversion Project, which will certainly help with water management from the major streams that drain in the area. Diverting the water to the Mississippi River will certainly have a big impact in the areas of the areas north of the diversion project around the Zachary area. We also have cleaned and snagged the Comey River from its tie-in to the Amit River to just short of Highway 64. All this improves runoff from these areas. So that's what we've done.
Mike Gennaro:To what extent can the mayor of East Baton Rouge Parish influence the state of public schools in the area? If at all, Is it your plan to collaborate with the school board and other stakeholders to improve educational outcomes or take a hands-off approach?
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, I think I know we have to have collaboration. You know, while the mayor does not run the school system, whether it's in anywhere in East Baton Rouge Parish, we certainly know that education is the key to elevating our cities and our parishes. That's why, when I first got in office, I started a Cradle to Kay initiative realizing the value of early childhood development, and that was back in 2018. Now we have, after years of looking closely at our Head Start system, we have now implemented our Restart Head Start through public-private partnerships to open more seats and opportunities for early childhood development. So another initiative that I did when I first came in office that it is time again is I hosted the first school board and metro council meeting to bring our metro council and school board together to talk about education and the intersection of policies on what we do in the city and what happens in the school system.
Mike Gennaro:Yeah, can you elaborate on that?
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:one. Well, you know, during that meeting, there's obviously a genuine concern from the council members about education. In fact, at that time we had some council members who were educators and we talked about how we could certainly once again, early childhood development, we talked about Head Start, we talked about issues that impact the city, like truancy. Also, very importantly, after school programs, summer youth initiatives, all of which there's an intersection between our school systems and what happens on the city.
Ted James:No, I am not going to use it as an excuse because educational duties don't fall within the plan of government. I've already talked about Head Start. That's basic. That's right under the city parish. We have failed young people for years. It's unacceptable. We are going to fix Head Start. We're going to partner with the providers that we know today are really moving forward in terms of early childhood. We have some phenomenal options out there. We are going to make sure that our kids are in quality seats.
Ted James:Literacy is a huge issue across the country. We know in the state of Louisiana our legislators have said if our babies aren't up to par by the third grade, they won't make it to the fourth. I am committed to introducing a mayor's literacy program and partnerships with the local school districts. These conversations have already begun in terms of making sure that our teachers have the certification. There was an article a couple of weeks ago about the number of teachers in the EBR school system that haven't taken that literacy certification. The new superintendent, superintendent Cole, is already talking about making sure that we write that wrong to make sure that our teachers have that certification and professional development. I am going to be very intentional about conversation with our state department, our governor, our local schools, the federal department of education, to make sure that we have resources in terms of literacy, in the mayor's literacy program I am committing the summer of 2025, we will have a literacy program in East Baton Rouge, parish. I don't know how many students, but we are going to make sure that we are feeding into that opportunity as our kids get older. We got to partner with our local dishes in terms of job and training opportunities. We could take some of some of youth dollars and make sure we're paying tuition for young people to be gaining industry recognized credentials. Those things help those students.
Ted James:I worked on a program in a previous role at the Urban League where we created a dual enrollment program at Scotlandville High School. That opportunity to go to BRCC and obtain industry recognized credentials made them better students. When they got back to Scotlandville they were excited. They knew that we were investing in them, so in turn, they invested in themselves. We have to do that In EBR. They're having facilities, conversations Right, because we know that we have certain schools that have the capacity for a lot more students than they are. They're enrolling. Those conversations need to amplify and then we need to have conversations about what to do with those buildings, right? Do we work with break? Do we work with churches? Do we work with Breck? Do we work with churches? Do we work with other organizations? Or do we demolish these buildings and then look at our green space to go back to that flood mitigation, and you know ideas around green spaces in this community. So very hands on approach to education.
Mike Gennaro:What strategies do you plan to implement to enhance downtown Baton Rouge, to boost tourism and economic activity in the area, A community that has two major universities.
Ted James:We have to have a thriving downtown. A decade ago we had a thriving downtown. It's restaurants and bars for some people. Right, it's safety and lighting, because unfortunately there's a perception that downtown isn't safe. I will say that there have been efforts currently we're going to magnify those things. Right, we're going to make sure that we improve lighting. There's a police precinct in the middle of downtown. Of course, we have an officer shortage. We're going to make sure that we address those issues. I'm looking at partnership with the constable's office to make sure that we have constant officer presence to mitigate that perception problem. We also need to look like other communities that look at number one short-term leases. So those business, those folks, those building owners, because one of the issues for those entrepreneurs, of course, the price of entry downtown is extremely high. So we've got to look at short-term leases. Right, we need to look at capital opportunities so that we can offer some type of grant or financial assistance for those businesses looking to locate downtown and offer the same for businesses in other disinvested areas in North Baton Rouge and other pockets in our community. It's like quality of life things downtown.
Ted James:My office in the Urban League was on Canal Street in New Orleans. If I got a traffic ticket or a parking ticket, I can contest it on my phone. I can take a screenshot of my pavement, I could send it off and I can contest it from my phone. I can pay it from my phone. Our technology hadn't gotten there in downtown Baton Rouge yet, so we have to improve the technology to make sure people understand that downtown is open.
Ted James:Boots on businesses downtown, I mean on cars downtown. There was a Sunday a couple weeks ago. Some friends of mine went to the Vintage's on 3rd Street. Their cars were booted $200. Their first infraction, Now number one, they should have paid the park right. But number two in the city of new orleans they have a boot ordinance, their, their council has put together a boot ordinance to make sure that they're level. So you and I, we won't get a boot the first time, right? Um, if we return to our cars within a certain um allotted minutes, it's not a $200 fine, they have capped their, their, their boot, fine, and it's nowhere near 200. Those are simple things that we can show to say, hey, downtown is open for business.
Ted James:The conversations around the river center, of course. If we get that right. That project can be an impetus for more traffic downtown for the residents, but also we can become a destination site so that we are no longer canvassing other communities. But leaders from other cities start to canvas Baton Rouge because they've seen us turn the tide in terms of our north. I mean about downtown. There's a guy that was here a couple months ago from Nashville and he talked about their resurgence. The sad thing is that young man lived in Baton Rouge so he was here Right and he left here to go build the downtown in Nashville. So we have the ideas. We just have to be intentional about it.
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, certainly, as I talked about the riverfront development, but I will also tell you that we are embarking on a new hotel and conference center in downtown Baton Rouge, where the River Center is. That's going to be transformative for our downtown area as well.
Mike Gennaro:Yeah, excellent. How do you anticipate the creation of the proposed city of St George will affect surrounding communities like Central Zachary and Baker, and what measures will you take to address any potential impacts on these areas?
Mayor President Sharon Weston-Broome:Well, I have already started that process. We are in negotiations with the mayor of St George to see where we could where there, to see how we can minimize a overall negative impact for the citizens of our parish. My goal as mayor, president, is to protect basic services for this entire parish and, of course, I have the experience. I've been dealing with this issue almost since I came into office and so I have. Really. I am still very, very committed to doing that. We do have a plan. We've been working on plans since we first started about talking about St George. We have talked with our city parish officials, our department heads, and we've looked at our budgets and we've also presented to the mayor of St George a proposal which we think is fair to them and would have minimal impact on the entire parish.
Ted James:Yeah well, it's not the proposal anymore, it's here now right.
Ted James:The court has ruled twice. You know there will be, of course, some budgetary implications for the city parish once we have to transfer those sales tax revenues. I anticipate, looking at our budget and number one across the city parish, I know that there's a function of funding vacant positions. We need to look at those positions that we have been funding but not filling, positions that we have been funding but not feeling right, we can look at those opportunities to make sure that we are not taking away jobs first, right. So let's look at those opportunities we need to look at and once we get an agreement in place with the city of St George because what's happening now? We don't know all of the services that they want to maintain on their own or they want the city parish to maintain so for those parents, for those services that the city parish continues to maintain, there won't be a big fiscal hit because we are already providing those services. There are a lot of unanswered questions right, boundaries, with annexations? With annexations, I would be looking at possibly intervening as a friend of the court to say, hey, we need some answers regarding these outstanding lawsuits in terms of annexations so that we can properly budget, so that we know our number and incorporation date? I would hope that by the time this election ends, that the parties that be will have a lot of these these questions answered.
Ted James:The problem that I see today is there's too much attention on continuing to fight and not govern. And for me, I'm a lawyer, but I'm also a certified mediator, right. So creating these opportunities out of dysfunction is what I'm trained to do. I have worked with multiple governmental agencies. I have worked with the State Department of Revenue on the budget for the department. I sat on the Appropriations Committee and the legislature, so I understand budgets, but I also understand relationships and that's the biggest issue that we have right now. It's a relationship issue with the leaders of City Parish and the leaders of the city of St George and it's impeding progress because we're too focused on fighting and not governing.
Mike Gennaro:We'd like to thank all candidates for being generous with their time and for participating. Now it's time to do your part. That's it for this week's episode of PNP. Catch us on all local newsstands or on the World Wide Web at porchandparishcom. Immense thanks to all our sponsors who make this content free to you, so please go out and support them Till next time. Bye-bye now.
