September 24, 2024 • 53 mins
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!
God, doubt, and proof walk into a podcast... it goes better than you’d expect!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mayor President Sharon Westo (00:05):
Hi , this is Mayor President Sharon
Westp-Broom, and I want toencourage you to keep listening
to Porch and Parish, the podcast.
Ted James (00:14):
I'm Ted James.
Keep listening to Porch andParish podcast.
Mike Gennaro (00:18):
Hey there, Zachary .
In 2022, we created a safespace for Zachary area political
candidates to amplify theirmessage to our listeners.
We stressed over the questionsin the logistics and it was
ultimately a huge success forall concerned.
We're going to do it again, butthis time for the Baton Rouge
mayoral race.
First things first.
Our policy is to treat allcandidates fairly, which in this
(00:40):
case means equally.
A timer will be set betweenquestions, with a max of three
minutes per answer.
All eight qualified candidateswere invited.
Of the three frontrunners, tedJames and Mayor President Sharon
Weston Broome were the twocandidates that made the time to
visit and record at ourheadquarters in Zachary, which
says a lot in my book.
Zachary, louisiana is a separatecity located within the East
(01:02):
Baton Rouge Parish.
While Zachary operatesindependently, with its own
mayor and city government, thereare several ways in which its
needs and interests mightintersect with the plans of the
mayor-president of East BatonRouge Parish.
Today, we're going to ask themayoral candidates about how we
fit into those plans.
And more Now.
Louisiana elections use themajority vote system.
All candidates compete in thesame primary November 5th and a
(01:26):
candidate can win the electionoutright by receiving more than
50% of the vote.
If no candidate does, the toptwo vote recipients from the
primary advance to the generalelection, december 7th 2024,
regardless of their partisanaffiliation affiliation Welcome
to Downtown Zachary.
(01:46):
As always, we're going to bringyou the best of Zachary in the
Baton Rouge area throughengaging conversations every
Monday from our headquartersright here on Virginia Street.
This is Portion Parish, thepodcast.
Stay tuned because thelightning round is coming up.
Next, looking for a familyouting off the beaten path, trot
over to Breck's Far ParkEquestrian Center for a unique
(02:07):
experience.
Far Park offers guided trailrides throughout the fall.
Starting on September 22nd, youand the family can enjoy the
fresh air, beautiful scenery andquality time with loved ones
Perfect for all ages.
Follow the link to sign up.
Spots are limited.
Link to sign up.
(02:31):
Spots are limited.
All right, we're back with thelightning round After your home
and workplace.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (02:37):
what is your favorite place in Baton
Rouge?
I would probably say, after myhome, my workplace, my favorite
place would be my place ofworship.
I enjoy going to my church andhearing the music and being
inspired by my pastor, so that'sone of my favorite places.
Mike Gennaro (02:59):
Excellent.
Ted James (03:00):
My favorite place has to be the campus of Southern
University.
So much history there for me asa young person spent a bunch of
Saturdays there.
Looking out off the bluff intothe mighty Mississippi River has
always been my favorite placein the city.
Mike Gennaro (03:20):
Who was one of your favorite teachers or
coaches growing up and pleasedescribe why.
Ted James (03:26):
Oh, that's hard.
So many amazing teacherseducated in Baton Rouge schools.
I would have to say that myfavorite teacher was Miss Jan
Linney.
Miss Linney was my English 4teacher teacher and she was one
(03:47):
who pushed.
She was one who inspired, butshe was also one that had the
ability to motivate us.
And I would say a close secondwould be Miss Daryl and Jackson,
and she was one of our scienceteachers at McKinley Middle and
she was my favorite, selfishly,because she took us on trips to
(04:07):
Houston every summer and wewould go to Astroworld and
Splashtown.
But Miss Jackson was mean asnails and she was tough and she
was my favorite because as muchas she pushed and she was mean,
she loved on us as well and thatwas early on evidence that she
(04:28):
really cared enough to pushright and she was only pushing
out the potential that she sawin us.
Mayor President Sharon Weston (04:37):
I would say that one of my
favorite teachers was MrsGilchrist.
Teachers, uh, was Mrs Gilchristand she actually, uh, was my I
want to say, fifth and sixthgrade teacher it's been a minute
, as they say and she was myfavorite teacher because she had
(04:58):
a lot of pizzazz to her.
You know, uh, I love the wayshe wore her hair.
She had like a bouncy ponytailand she just, you know the way
she moved today we might call itswag and I felt like I always
had a memorable time in herclass and she always, you know,
(05:23):
she always gave me a littlenudge too.
Mike Gennaro (05:26):
What is the most nostalgic memory you have of
Baton Rouge?
Mayor President Sharon Westo (05:31):
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 winterhere in Baton Rouge and it was
(05:53):
a beautiful day, almost liketoday.
It was probably in the 70s andit was Christmastime and I
didn't have to put on any heavycold and it was just a beautiful
day and I distinctly rememberthat because it was Christmas.
Ted James (06:13):
I would have to say my Saturday mornings here.
I had a very active childhood.
I grew up playing soccer, somemories of playing soccer at
Independence Park, birthdayparties after games at Funfair
Park, spending Saturdays.
Of course, like I said, myparents both graduated from
Southern, so a Saturday in thefall meant that I was going to
(06:37):
spend my evenings in AW MumfordStadium.
So, as a young person, all ofthe kids running up and down the
stadium watching the band play.
So my Saturdays in Baton Rougewere just extremely exciting and
really filled with the pridethat I have for the city today.
Mike Gennaro (06:57):
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 inleading Baton Rouge for the next
four years?
Ted James (07:08):
Yeah, I'm a parent and raising a seven year old
daughter here.
My level of responsibility toBaton Rouge has changed.
I have been blessed to servethis community as a lawyer, a
state representative, aprofessor.
Blessed to serve this communityas a lawyer, a state
representative, a professor.
And then the last two years Iworked as a regional
(07:29):
administrator for the SmallBusiness Administration.
So I was appointed by thepresident to lead 10 offices
across five states and I wasexcited and did a lot to build
the small business ecosystemsand communities that I didn't
live in.
But flying back to Baton Rouge,I believe that as a parish we're
(07:50):
stagnant and when you go toplaces like Little Rock and
Conway, arkansas, and DeSoto,texas, san Antonio, and you see
these cities thriving, and thenyou come home and when I think
about all of the resources thatwe have at Baton Rouge LSU,
(08:10):
southern we have a capital city,we have a downtown on a river,
we have a large port, we haveindustry, we shouldn't be
outpaced by these communitiesthat don't have the resources
that we have in Baton Rouge,outpaced by these communities
that don't have the resourcesthat we have in Baton Rouge.
So for me, I watched how localgovernment can build the quality
of life.
(08:31):
And then I came home, flyinginto the Baton Rouge airport and
feeling like we could andshould be doing more.
So I made the decision to notcomplain about it.
I made the decision not togripe about it.
This is me doing somethingabout it to pour into the
(08:52):
community that has always pouredinto 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 avillage to raise me, and from
teachers to colleagues to, youknow, other public servants, I
(09:13):
owe it to Baton Rouge to push usfour years, because I have
spent the first eight years, thefirst four years we laid a
foundation.
Mayor President Sharon West (09:31):
The second four years we started
building I often like to callmyself Broom the Builder and
we've been transforming and Iwant to finish the job that I've
started.
That's why I want another fouryears.
We've done some great work, hadsome great successes and
achievements, but we've juststarted moving the needle and
(09:54):
making some very significantprogress, and I want to continue
that progress because I believethat Baton Rouge specifically
has the potential to be the bestmid-sized city in America.
Mike Gennaro (10:10):
It's no secret that corporations place their
top executives in cities thatrank high on quality of life.
How will Baton Rouge positionitself for greater quality of
life for its citizens into thefuture?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (10:23):
Well , baton Rouge is a great city
and we've already startedpositioning ourselves as it
relates to quality of life.
We have been working onimproving our infrastructure and
our roadways and we've beencleaning out our drains and our
stormwater systems, and so we'vealready started that process.
(10:48):
We have a very vibrant downtown.
We're working on that downtown,which goes to your question.
We are going to continue towork on making our downtown a
very vibrant area.
But one of the visions that Ihave for our city so top
(11:08):
executives will see the value ofthe quality of life there is to
transform our riverfront.
I want to start at the bluffsof Southern University, go
downtown and then go out towardsLSU and develop our riverfront.
Our Mississippi River is one ofthe greatest assets that we
(11:29):
have and in the next four yearswe're going to start seeing that
development take ground.
Ted James (11:37):
You know we have to Like.
The Milken Institute is aninstitute that ranks cities on
how well they perform economicdevelopment, job growth.
In 2015, we were ranked in thetop 30.
Now we're 156 or 57.
That tells me that we are not achampionship team, probably not
(12:01):
even a playoff team.
So what we have to do isseveral things.
Pour into the massiveuniversities that we have.
Right, we are educating youngpeople at LSU and Southern and
at BRCC, and those young peopleare leaving.
They're leaving because we haveto eliminate blight, we have to
(12:22):
alleviate traffic, we have tofix our education system and we
have to just get the basicsright.
Pick up the trash, cut thegrass, sweep the streets.
Those are basic governmentalservices right.
In several communitiesthroughout this parish they
aren't getting the basics.
(12:43):
It is hard to fly in executivesto East Baton Rouge Parish.
They fly into the Baton RougeAirport.
The first thing they see is thewhat the prison?
They go on to that interstate.
They see litter.
They look over.
They see blighted communitiesin North Baton Rouge.
(13:06):
If they are staying downtown,let's just say they land evening
flight five o'clock.
They get to downtown BatonRouge on a five thirty on a
Thursday.
You see nothing.
There's no activity there.
Right Quality of life,especially for young
professionals.
You have to have a thrivingdowntown.
You have to pour into theaesthetic beauty of a community,
(13:28):
eliminate blight.
Look at the sound walls on ourinterstate.
We don't even pressure washthose Right.
So we have to pour into thebasics to improve the quality of
(13:53):
life of the people that arehere so we don't lose them,
before expecting folks to wantto live here from other areas,
especially some of those areasthat I mentioned.
We're competing with Austin,we're competing with Greenville,
we're competing with Charlotte,atlanta.
We have to take care of homefirst before we can even think
that corporations are going towant to move executives to Baton
(14:14):
Rouge.
Mike Gennaro (14:15):
What's your top priority within the first 100
days?
Ted James (14:20):
You know it's so hard with so many needs in these
Baton Rouge parish, but I alwayssay that elected officials
should be more responsive to thepeople.
What I hear every single day iscrime.
First 100 days is a publicsafety summit bringing together
(14:41):
all of the multiple lawenforcement agencies.
In these Baton Rouge Parish, wehave over 11 law enforcement
agencies.
In East Baton Rouge Parish wehave over 11 law enforcement
agencies.
Out of that summit, we hear thestrengths, the weaknesses, the
opportunities and the threats.
We do a SWAT analysis.
We bring in not just theleaders, but we bring in the
(15:02):
rank and file to talk about theresources that they need.
Out of that, within the first100 days, leaders, but we bring
in the rank and file to talkabout the resources that they
need.
Out of that, within the first100 days, I want something to
come out a multi-agency taskforce to address violent crime
in our community.
We have to do thatSimultaneously.
It's an agenda prepared that wecollectively me as the mayor
(15:26):
president, the mayors of Baker,zachary Central and St George to
present to our legislativedelegation, where we are going
to collectively enter thelegislative session in 2025 with
an agenda for the entire parish.
It is paramount that we do thatand for me, when I think about
(15:47):
if I could accomplish one thing,it's correcting our Head Start
program for our young people.
We have a Head Start programthat we are allocated about
$18.2 million In 2022, we onlyspent $ 10 million Of that.
32% of our Head Start babiesthat are low income scored a
(16:10):
zero in terms of kindergartenreadiness.
That's embarrassing, and if wedon't get it right for our young
people, we can't talk abouteliminating crime.
We can't talk about bringingyoung families to Baton Rouge or
incentivizing young families tostay.
So if it's one thing that wehave to correct is our dismal
(16:31):
performance in our Head Startprogram.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (16:33):
Well , first I would say that my goal
within the first 100 days is toaccelerate and to deliver.
To start that, I think it wouldbe better to say acceleration
and delivery will be the themeof my next term, but in the
(16:54):
first 100 days we want to movetowards acceleration and
delivery.
I believe that it will be agreat opportunity for me to
bring people together our LSU,southern University, brcc, baton
(17:15):
Rouge Area Foundation, brac andsome of our other notable
philanthropic groups to cometogether and strategize as I go
into my last term in terms ofwhat we believe we can do as a
city and parish to certainlyattract and attract new
(17:39):
businesses, but also to maintainor retain, I should say, our
talent.
Mike Gennaro (17:47):
Wonderful, and if you could only focus on one of
those.
Oh it's okay.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (17:54):
Well , I would say, in the first 100
days, convene a meeting of allof our stakeholders to talk
about talent retention.
Mike Gennaro (18:05):
As mentioned in the intro, zachary operates
independently in some areas andcollaboratively in others.
How are property and sales taxrevenues distributed between
East Baton Rouge, parish and thecity of Zachary, and how does
this distribution impact fundingfor local services in both
jurisdictions?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (18:23):
Well , basically we are, because we
have a consolidated form ofgovernment, our distribution of
parish taxes really isredistributed to the parish,
(18:54):
distributed to the parish and ifyou look at our go to brlagov
you can see a pie chart that'svery illustrative in terms of
how those taxes are distributed.
I can tell you that, as mayorpresident, my goal has always
been that the municipalitiesthat are within the parish
certainly are not neglected andthat their tax revenues that
(19:17):
they put into the parish pot arereturned in the delivery of
services.
Ted James (19:23):
Well, the sales tax collected here in Zachary stay
in.
Zachary Property taxes, youknow 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.
(19:45):
You all self-attack,self-assess for your school
system.
Um, the city parish maintainsproperty, not not properties
maintain services for the entireparish, right?
So, um, those things come inthrough um the city parish and
then, as mayor, we will gothrough the budget.
Uh, what we need to do a betterjob of is aligning our resources
(20:09):
in terms of infrastructureprojects, flood mitigation, and
that's why I talk a lot aboutthat legislative agenda bringing
those resources back to makesure that we are creating
opportunities for major projectsthat benefit all of us.
Right, when we look at theproximity of Zachary and Central
(20:30):
, on one side, zachary and Bakerthere are some opportunities
for us to bring in some majorresources if we are working more
collaboratively on it.
Now, of course, zachary has itsown independent council.
For me, as mayor president,when I announced on February
29th, I said that I wascommitted to put president back
(20:51):
in mayor president, meaning thatI was going to be just as
focused in Baton Rouge as Iintend to be in Baker, zachary
and Central.
And now since the February 29thdate, we now have St George.
29th date, we now have StGeorge.
(21:12):
So I have to be as presentright, not just during the
election season, but I have tobe present when it's time to
govern.
I've already been to a ZacharyCity Council meeting to
understand what the issues andthe needs are your mayor, your
police chief.
We've had countlessconversations already.
So at City Parish that level ofcommunication has to continue
so that the City Parish can be agreater resource to the City of
(21:34):
Zachary.
Mike Gennaro (21:35):
How do you plan to manage and fund joint projects
or services between East BatonRouge Parish and the City of
Zachary, and what criteria willbe used to determine how costs
are shared and priorities areset?
Ted James (21:47):
You know I think we kind of briefly mentioned that
on major infrastructure projects.
I think it's important that wego in and work with our
legislative delegation oncapital outlay for major
infrastructure projects.
Right, the move be our program.
I believe that there are.
There are projects slated forthis year.
We need to magnify those.
Right, the move be our program.
(22:07):
I believe that there are.
There are projects slated forthis year.
We need to magnify those.
Right, the major corridors here.
When you all, as a council and amayor, create these things that
are economic drivers, right,the city parish has to come in
because if it's an economicdriver for the city of Zachary,
(22:27):
it's an economic driver for theentire parish and that's what we
have to start looking at.
We have to start looking ateach other as partners, not
competitors, right.
So when I look at it as if it'sbeneficial to Zachary, it's
beneficial for all of us.
Right Now, public works andpermitting and all those
different things.
Those are simple things thatyou know.
(22:48):
These requests will go throughthe city of Zachary.
It's outside the confines.
We have opportunities for thesethings to go through city
parish, right.
But when we talk about sharingthe resources, I am going to
focus on the mutual benefit thatit provides to the residents of
the entire parish.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (23:08):
Well , I will tell you that I usually
collaborate with the mayor ofZachary and talk about the
priorities that the mayor hashere and then as the parish
president, for example, with ourMove EBR project.
(23:28):
Before we passed that Move EBRproject, which is the largest
infrastructure project in thehistory of Baton Rouge, I sat
down and met with the mayor atthat time and we talked about
the priorities that existed inZachary.
Projects that came from themayor are now incorporated in
(23:55):
the Move EBR program.
So you know, collaboration andcommunication with the leader of
Zachary is very significantwhen we talk about the
distribution of resources andmaking sure that we meet the
needs of the citizens here.
Mike Gennaro (24:12):
What strategies will you use to ensure the
economic growth initiatives inEast Baton Rouge Parish also
support the development andprosperity of Zachary?
Mayor President Sharon Weston (24:27):
I will tell you is that this
region, which would includeZachary, the East Baton Rouge
Parish region has the strongesteconomy in the state of
Louisiana.
So we are already on atrajectory of success.
But once again, I believe thatwhen we talk about economic
growth and economic development,we have to certainly analyze
(24:49):
our assets Also.
Look at the intersection of thebusinesses that exist here in
Zachary and their connection toBaton Rouge, for example.
When we think about what takesplace here, we know that
historically Zachary has been atype of bedroom community, right
(25:15):
, but now it's escalating interms of opportunities and the
potential for new businesses.
So our strategy that we applyin Baton Rouge really is
applicable across the parish,because when we look at economic
development, we look at it froma broad lens.
Ted James (25:37):
Yeah, I mean I think that we have to look at economic
growth, eliminating blightright we need to do that across
the parish.
When we look at strengtheningthe small business ecosystem
with my experience at the SBAPrior to SBA experience, I was a
(25:58):
housing policy advisor so whenyou look at more affordable
housing, creating a betterhousing stock, when you look at
eliminating barriers toentrepreneurs in terms of
permitting, licensing, makingCity Parish a well-oiled machine
so that entrepreneurs here feelsupported and that we are
(26:21):
eliminating obstacles for themto grow, my idea is to work with
lending institutions and alsoall of our local government
entities to make sure that wecreate procurement opportunities
for those small businesses whoare looking to do business with
City of Zachary, ebr schoolsystem, the City Parish, to make
(26:43):
sure that they have an easieropportunity Once we create those
opportunities, when you take anentrepreneur in a small
business and they could go froma 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 aretoday.
We also have to look at kind ofchanging the narrative in terms
(27:07):
of how we look at housing.
We have to be more focused onsingle family housing.
One of the things that I woulddo differently is we get HUD
dollars in this community In2020, there was an article about
how East Baton Rouge Parish,over a 10-year period, either
misused or didn't spend itsallocation and we were penalized
(27:29):
.
You can't grow economically ifyou send money back to DC, so we
have to better utilize thosedollars and get away from
multi-complexes in terms ofhousing.
But look at single family.
You do that by having anaggressive plan to eliminate
blight, using those resources toget those into the hands of
developers, nonprofits, churches, other quasi-governmental
(27:52):
entities that can quickly movethose properties into commerce.
And there are other programswhere I would work towards using
some of those same dollars fordown payment assistance.
Other mayors across the countryare doing it.
We use some of those dollarsfor rental assistance.
Mike Gennaro (28:06):
I'm not saying rental assistance isn't
necessary, but when you talkabout using the same pot of
(28:37):
money To create these, theseopportunities, so that they can
have that real opportunity forhomeownership.
What can Zachary leaders andcitizens do to better support
the initiatives of East BatonRouge Parish as a whole?
Ted James (28:44):
You know, I think.
Number one we just have torecognize that while we're in
different municipalities, we'reall in the same parish.
Right, and it's a mindset shiftin that it's not A competition,
right, it's how do wecollectively?
Because if, as Zacharyprogresses, the entire parish
(29:05):
progresses right, as Baker movesin the opposite direction, we
all move in an oppositedirection, right?
So, number one, it's a mindsetshift.
Number two I think we have tocreate more opportunities for
Zachary residents.
Many Zachary residents, theyhave children that go to school
in these Baton Rouge parish.
(29:26):
I mean in Baton Rouge, theywork in Baton Rouge, they go to
the mall in Baton Rouge.
We have to create more of thoseopportunities for us to
fellowship.
And I think once we see on thegovernmental side, when Mayor
James is present in the city ofZachary right, showing up not
just at the Hot Air BalloonFestival when it's fun, but
(29:47):
showing up at the councilmeeting to talk about joint
projects, right, when they seeMayor James talking about these
massive infrastructure programsand federal dollars that we're
bringing down to the entireparish, I think that that will
help all of us get to a point ofrecognizing that we're all
residents of these Baton RougeParish.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (30:08):
Well , you know, when we we just had
a neighborhood convention abouta week or so ago and at the
neighborhood convention we had aspecial roundtable with all the
mayors, including the mayor ofZachary, and we talked about the
common denominators thatconnect all of our cities, and I
(30:34):
believe the best way thatZachary can help intersect with
Baton Rouge and, let's just say,east Baton Rouge Parish, is
through a unified vision ofsuccess when it comes to every
area that impacts our people,focusing on how we can connect
(30:57):
our resources together, ourideas to maximize those
resources, but to stay connectedto that shared vision, how do
you?
Mike Gennaro (31:17):
plan to address blight issues just outside the
Zachary City limits, but withinEast Baton Rouge Parish, and
what steps will you take toensure that these efforts are
coordinated with Zachary's localinitiatives?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (31:29):
Well , you know, blight is an issue
that we have invested instrongly and, once again, those
shared resources where we touchZachary will be impacted with
the work that we do on blight.
So we have already invested inI want to say, almost.
(31:54):
I always like to get thenumbers right We've invested
about $2 million already in ourblight initiatives.
We have coordinated withSouthern University to help us
with titles, because we do knowthat tied-up titles impede the
(32:15):
ability for us to address blight.
Coming up, you will hear metalk about in the future some
creative ideas that I hear thatare taking place in other cities
and towns dealing with TIFs,which could help us impede and
dismantle blight in ourcommunities.
(32:37):
Excellent.
Ted James (32:40):
Yeah, I think that.
Number one we have to make surethat we're not losing the tax
dollars that we have.
Right, and this is not aproblem created by the current
administration.
It's been a decade long, from2017 to I mean from like the 10
year period from 2010 to 2020.
(33:02):
Right, and so what we haven'tdone is corrected, a problem
that existed before this prioradministration.
We have to be a good steward ofthe tax dollars.
First, what we don't do a goodenough job of is the
coordination between the Officeof Community Development and the
quasi organization, ourredevelopment authority, bill
Baton Rouge.
We have to look at theboundaries.
(33:22):
Number one we got to decide ifwe're going to have Bill Ben-Ruj
, we need to invest in it.
They've had an interim directorfor almost two years now.
Major cities of our size haveredevelopment authorities.
We have to make sure that weare not hindering progress of
our redevelopment authority.
Now, that's resources, it'sleadership, it's board members,
(33:44):
it's taking a full, honest lookat it.
We need a blight map in thisparish right.
Looking at number one, first,the city-owned properties.
It's hard for us to go todevelopers and landlords and
chastise them.
The city parish today has notdone a good enough job of
maintaining the properties thatwe own.
(34:04):
Of course there are issues whenit comes to clearing title.
I am willing to number oneblight map so we know by council
district 12 council districtsseparated by those properties
that have title issues and thosethat have clear title.
Those that have clear titlethose same tax dollars that
(34:24):
we're losing.
We need to deploy those taxdollars to either nonprofits or
other governmental entities togive them the resources to put
those things into commerce.
Those that have title issues.
It may be a legislative fixthat we need to go to our
legislators to make sure that weare providing opportunities
legally to capture thoseprojects, opportunities legally
(34:49):
to capture those projects.
I am even willing to go to ourjudges and create some type of
specialty court so that we arerespecting legal timelines and
issues so that we're not juststripping properties away.
There may be residents in yourarea in the city of Baton Rouge
that live in blighted propertiesbut for lack of resources,
nobody wants to live in ablighted community.
For those folks we have to makesure those same organizations
(35:12):
that we're going to pool federaldollars and philanthropic
dollars to help we have to makesure that those homeowners have
opportunities as well so thatthey can work on their own to
eliminate blight in their ownneighborhoods and the plans for
the geographic boundaries ofBaton Rouge.
We can take those same thingsfor Baker's, zachary and central
(35:33):
, to be honest.
Mike Gennaro (35:39):
What are your plans for improving water
retention and drainage systemsin East Baton Rouge Parish,
especially in areas like Zacharyand its surroundings, to
address flooding andenvironmental concerns?
Ted James (35:49):
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 gainsright, there have been some
allocations there, but we don'thave a long-term sustainable,
sustainable funded option.
We need to get there right.
We need to pull the folksaround the table and if it takes
(36:11):
a vote of the people, we needto put it in front of the people
to decide whether or not we aregoing to fully fund it.
We have to look at otheropportunities, like the Southern
University School of UrbanForestry.
Right, we have a school thatSouthern is one of the only
schools in the country that hasan undergrad, grad and doctoral
program in urban forestry, greenspaces and what to do with
(36:36):
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 urbanforestry, urban ag position and
they went right to the federalgovernment and they were able to
pull resources to get thatposition funded.
That person and I envision inEast Baton Rouge, parish,
(36:58):
coordinating with all of thedifferent organizations.
Litter we got to think aboutlitter too.
Right, if we continue to puttrash in the storm drain.
Water is not going to go down,it's going to come up, right.
So we got to get aggressive interms of code enforcement.
We got to get aggressive interms of folks that are
littering throughout this entireparish so that they know we're
serious and it's not just aboutthe aesthetic beauty, it's about
(37:20):
protecting us from futurefloods.
We've we've been through 2016flood.
There are certain areas in thiscommunity we're building way too
fast, recognizing and we knowthat we have not done a good
enough job of creating aninfrastructure where the water
is not going to come back upinto our homes.
So we need to have some realconversations about how fast we
(37:40):
develop in certain areas If weare not going to simultaneously
create opportunities for floodmitigation.
That's a legislative fix, it'sa community fix, but it's also
pulling down resources from ourfederal delegation and I
mentioned it a lot and I watchother mayors and other
communities announce almostmonthly a new grant, new federal
(38:03):
opportunity where they'repulling down resources.
City of New Orleans has usedthe Inflation Reduction Act
dollars, where they were pullingdown 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 needto create a whole of government
and a holistic approach tomaking sure that that our homes
(38:24):
and businesses don't flood againlike we did in 2016, because we
know in South Louisiana it'snot a question of if, it's a
question of when.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (38:32):
Well , the first big project is the
Comey Diversion Project, whichwill certainly help with water
management from the majorstreams that drain in the area.
Diverting the water to theMississippi River will certainly
have a big impact in the areasof the areas north of the
(38:55):
diversion project around theZachary area.
We also have cleaned andsnagged the Comey River from its
tie-in to the Amit River tojust short of Highway 64.
All this improves runoff fromthese areas.
So that's what we've done.
Mike Gennaro (39:14):
To what extent can the mayor of East Baton Rouge
Parish influence the state ofpublic schools in the area?
If at all, Is it your plan tocollaborate with the school
board and other stakeholders toimprove educational outcomes or
take a hands-off approach?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (39:27):
Well , I think I know we have to have
collaboration.
You know, while the mayor doesnot run the school system,
whether it's in anywhere in EastBaton Rouge Parish, we
certainly know that education isthe key to elevating our cities
and our parishes.
That's why, when I first got inoffice, I started a Cradle to
(39:48):
Kay initiative realizing thevalue of early childhood
development, and that was backin 2018.
Now we have, after years oflooking closely at our Head
Start system, we have nowimplemented our Restart Head
Start through public-privatepartnerships to open more seats
(40:09):
and opportunities for earlychildhood development.
So another initiative that Idid when I first came in office
that it is time again is Ihosted the first school board
and metro council meeting tobring our metro council and
school board together to talkabout education and the
(40:32):
intersection of policies on whatwe do in the city and what
happens in the school system.
Mike Gennaro (40:38):
Yeah, can you elaborate on that?
Mayor President Sharon West (40:40):
one .
Well, you know, during thatmeeting, there's obviously a
genuine concern from the councilmembers about education.
In fact, at that time we hadsome council members who were
educators and we talked abouthow we could certainly once
again, early childhooddevelopment, we talked about
(41:03):
Head Start, we talked aboutissues that impact the city,
like truancy.
Also, very importantly, afterschool programs, summer youth
initiatives, all of whichthere's an intersection between
our school systems and whathappens on the city.
Ted James (41:23):
No, I am not going to use it as an excuse because
educational duties don't fallwithin the plan of government.
I've already talked about HeadStart.
That's basic.
That's right under the cityparish.
We have failed young people foryears.
It's unacceptable.
We are going to fix Head Start.
We're going to partner with theproviders that we know today
(41:44):
are really moving forward interms of early childhood.
We have some phenomenal optionsout there.
We are going to make sure thatour kids are in quality seats.
Literacy is a huge issue acrossthe country.
We know in the state ofLouisiana our legislators have
said if our babies aren't up topar by the third grade, they
won't make it to the fourth.
I am committed to introducing amayor's literacy program and
(42:08):
partnerships with the localschool districts.
These conversations havealready begun in terms of making
sure that our teachers have thecertification.
There was an article a coupleof weeks ago about the number of
teachers in the EBR schoolsystem that haven't taken that
literacy certification.
The new superintendent,superintendent Cole, is already
talking about making sure thatwe write that wrong to make sure
(42:30):
that our teachers have thatcertification and professional
development.
I am going to be veryintentional about conversation
with our state department, ourgovernor, 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 of2025, we will have a literacy
(42:52):
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 thatopportunity as our kids get
older.
We got to partner with ourlocal dishes in terms of job and
training opportunities.
We could take some of some ofyouth dollars and make sure
we're paying tuition for youngpeople to be gaining industry
recognized credentials.
(43:13):
Those things help thosestudents.
I worked on a program in aprevious role at the Urban
League where we created a dualenrollment program at
Scotlandville High School.
That opportunity to go to BRCCand obtain industry recognized
credentials made them betterstudents.
When they got back toScotlandville they were excited.
They knew that we wereinvesting in them, so in turn,
(43:36):
they invested in themselves.
We have to do that In EBR.
They're having facilities,conversations Right, because we
know that we have certainschools that have the capacity
for a lot more students thanthey are.
They're enrolling.
Those conversations need toamplify and then we need to have
conversations about what to dowith those buildings, right?
(43:57):
Do we work with break?
Do we work with churches?
Do we work with Breck?
Do we work with churches?
Do we work with otherorganizations?
Or do we demolish thesebuildings and then look at our
green space to go back to thatflood mitigation, and you know
ideas around green spaces inthis community.
So very hands on approach toeducation.
Mike Gennaro (44:15):
What strategies do you plan to implement to
enhance downtown Baton Rouge, toboost tourism and economic
activity in the area, Acommunity that has two major
universities.
Ted James (44:24):
We have to have a thriving downtown.
A decade ago we had a thrivingdowntown.
It's restaurants and bars forsome people.
Right, it's safety and lighting, because unfortunately there's
a perception that downtown isn'tsafe.
I will say that there have beenefforts currently we're going
to magnify those things.
Right, we're going to make surethat we improve lighting.
(44:46):
There's a police precinct inthe middle of downtown.
Of course, we have an officershortage.
We're going to make sure thatwe address those issues.
I'm looking at partnership withthe constable's office to make
sure that we have constantofficer presence to mitigate
that perception problem.
We also need to look like othercommunities that look at number
one short-term leases.
(45:07):
So those business, those folks,those building owners, because
one of the issues for thoseentrepreneurs, of course, the
price of entry downtown isextremely high.
So we've got to look atshort-term leases.
Right, we need to look atcapital opportunities so that we
can offer some type of grant orfinancial assistance for those
businesses looking to locatedowntown and offer the same for
(45:29):
businesses in other disinvestedareas in North Baton Rouge and
other pockets in our community.
It's like quality of lifethings downtown.
My office in the Urban Leaguewas on Canal Street in New
Orleans.
If I got a traffic ticket or aparking ticket, I can contest it
on my phone.
I can take a screenshot of mypavement, I could send it off
(45:53):
and I can contest it from myphone.
I can pay it from my phone.
Our technology hadn't gottenthere in downtown Baton Rouge
yet, so we have to improve thetechnology to make sure people
understand that downtown is open.
Boots on businesses downtown, Imean on cars downtown.
There was a Sunday a coupleweeks ago.
Some friends of mine went tothe Vintage's on 3rd Street.
(46:15):
Their cars were booted $200.
Their first infraction, Nownumber one, they should have
paid the park right.
But number two in the city ofnew orleans they have a boot
ordinance, their, their councilhas put together a boot
ordinance to make sure thatthey're level.
So you and I, we won't get aboot the first time, right?
Um, if we return to our carswithin a certain um allotted
(46:37):
minutes, it's not a $200 fine,they have capped their, their,
their boot, fine, and it'snowhere near 200.
Those are simple things that wecan show to say, hey, downtown
is open for business.
The conversations around theriver center, of course.
If we get that right.
That project can be an impetusfor more traffic downtown for
(46:58):
the residents, but also we canbecome a destination site so
that we are no longer canvassingother communities.
But leaders from other citiesstart to canvas Baton Rouge
because they've seen us turn thetide in terms of our north.
I mean about downtown.
There's a guy that was here acouple months ago from Nashville
and he talked about theirresurgence.
(47:20):
The sad thing is that young manlived in Baton Rouge so he was
here Right and he left here togo build the downtown in
Nashville.
So we have the ideas.
We just have to be intentionalabout it.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (47:32):
Well , certainly, as I talked about
the riverfront development, butI will also tell you that we are
embarking on a new hotel andconference center in downtown
Baton Rouge, where the RiverCenter is.
That's going to betransformative for our downtown
area as well.
Mike Gennaro (47:53):
Yeah, excellent.
How do you anticipate thecreation of the proposed city of
St George will affectsurrounding communities like
Central Zachary and Baker, andwhat measures will you take to
address any potential impacts onthese areas?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (48:07):
Well , I have already started that
process.
We are in negotiations with themayor of St George to see where
we could where there, to seehow we can minimize a overall
negative impact for the citizensof our parish.
(48:31):
My goal as mayor, president, isto protect basic services for
this entire parish and, ofcourse, I have the experience.
I've been dealing with thisissue almost since I came into
office and so I have.
Really.
I am still very, very committedto doing that.
(48:56):
We do have a plan.
We've been working on planssince we first started about
talking about St George.
We have talked with our cityparish officials, our department
heads, and we've looked at ourbudgets and we've also presented
to the mayor of St George aproposal which we think is fair
(49:22):
to them and would have minimalimpact on the entire parish.
Ted James (49:27):
Yeah well, it's not the proposal anymore, it's here
now right.
The court has ruled twice.
You know there will be, ofcourse, some budgetary
implications for the city parishonce we have to transfer those
sales tax revenues.
I anticipate, looking at ourbudget and number one across the
(49:50):
city parish, I know thatthere's a function of funding
vacant positions.
We need to look at thosepositions 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 thatwe are not taking away jobs
first, right.
So let's look at thoseopportunities we need to look at
(50:14):
and once we get an agreement inplace with the city of St
George because what's happeningnow?
We don't know all of theservices that they want to
maintain on their own or theywant the city parish to maintain
so for those parents, for thoseservices that the city parish
continues to maintain, therewon't be a big fiscal hit
because we are already providingthose services.
There are a lot of unansweredquestions right, boundaries,
(50:37):
with annexations?
With annexations, I would belooking at possibly intervening
as a friend of the court to say,hey, we need some answers
regarding these outstandinglawsuits 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 timethis election ends, that the
(51:01):
parties that be will have a lotof these these questions
answered.
The problem that I see today isthere's too much attention on
continuing to fight and notgovern.
And for me, I'm a lawyer, butI'm also a certified mediator,
right.
So creating these opportunitiesout of dysfunction is what I'm
(51:23):
trained to do.
I have worked with multiplegovernmental agencies.
I have worked with the StateDepartment of Revenue on the
budget for the department.
I sat on the AppropriationsCommittee and the legislature,
so I understand budgets, but Ialso understand relationships
and that's the biggest issuethat we have right now.
(51:43):
It's a relationship issue withthe leaders of City Parish and
the leaders of the city of StGeorge and it's impeding
progress because we're toofocused on fighting and not
governing.
Mike Gennaro (51:53):
We'd like to thank all candidates for being
generous with their time and forparticipating.
Now it's time to do your part.
That's it for this week'sepisode of PNP.
Catch us on all localnewsstands or on the World Wide
Web at porchandparishcom.
Immense thanks to all oursponsors who make this content
free to you, so please go outand support them Till next time.
Bye-bye now.
Hi , this is Mayor President Sharon
Westp-Broom, and I want toencourage you to keep listening
to Porch and Parish, the podcast.
Ted James (00:14):
I'm Ted James.
Keep listening to Porch andParish podcast.
Mike Gennaro (00:18):
Hey there, Zachary .
In 2022, we created a safespace for Zachary area political
candidates to amplify theirmessage to our listeners.
We stressed over the questionsin the logistics and it was
ultimately a huge success forall concerned.
We're going to do it again, butthis time for the Baton Rouge
mayoral race.
First things first.
Our policy is to treat allcandidates fairly, which in this
(00:40):
case means equally.
A timer will be set betweenquestions, with a max of three
minutes per answer.
All eight qualified candidateswere invited.
Of the three frontrunners, tedJames and Mayor President Sharon
Weston Broome were the twocandidates that made the time to
visit and record at ourheadquarters in Zachary, which
says a lot in my book.
Zachary, louisiana is a separatecity located within the East
(01:02):
Baton Rouge Parish.
While Zachary operatesindependently, with its own
mayor and city government, thereare several ways in which its
needs and interests mightintersect with the plans of the
mayor-president of East BatonRouge Parish.
Today, we're going to ask themayoral candidates about how we
fit into those plans.
And more Now.
Louisiana elections use themajority vote system.
All candidates compete in thesame primary November 5th and a
(01:26):
candidate can win the electionoutright by receiving more than
50% of the vote.
If no candidate does, the toptwo vote recipients from the
primary advance to the generalelection, december 7th 2024,
regardless of their partisanaffiliation affiliation Welcome
to Downtown Zachary.
(01:46):
As always, we're going to bringyou the best of Zachary in the
Baton Rouge area throughengaging conversations every
Monday from our headquartersright here on Virginia Street.
This is Portion Parish, thepodcast.
Stay tuned because thelightning round is coming up.
Next, looking for a familyouting off the beaten path, trot
over to Breck's Far ParkEquestrian Center for a unique
(02:07):
experience.
Far Park offers guided trailrides throughout the fall.
Starting on September 22nd, youand the family can enjoy the
fresh air, beautiful scenery andquality time with loved ones
Perfect for all ages.
Follow the link to sign up.
Spots are limited.
Link to sign up.
(02:31):
Spots are limited.
All right, we're back with thelightning round After your home
and workplace.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (02:37):
what is your favorite place in Baton
Rouge?
I would probably say, after myhome, my workplace, my favorite
place would be my place ofworship.
I enjoy going to my church andhearing the music and being
inspired by my pastor, so that'sone of my favorite places.
Mike Gennaro (02:59):
Excellent.
Ted James (03:00):
My favorite place has to be the campus of Southern
University.
So much history there for me asa young person spent a bunch of
Saturdays there.
Looking out off the bluff intothe mighty Mississippi River has
always been my favorite placein the city.
Mike Gennaro (03:20):
Who was one of your favorite teachers or
coaches growing up and pleasedescribe why.
Ted James (03:26):
Oh, that's hard.
So many amazing teacherseducated in Baton Rouge schools.
I would have to say that myfavorite teacher was Miss Jan
Linney.
Miss Linney was my English 4teacher teacher and she was one
(03:47):
who pushed.
She was one who inspired, butshe was also one that had the
ability to motivate us.
And I would say a close secondwould be Miss Daryl and Jackson,
and she was one of our scienceteachers at McKinley Middle and
she was my favorite, selfishly,because she took us on trips to
(04:07):
Houston every summer and wewould go to Astroworld and
Splashtown.
But Miss Jackson was mean asnails and she was tough and she
was my favorite because as muchas she pushed and she was mean,
she loved on us as well and thatwas early on evidence that she
(04:28):
really cared enough to pushright and she was only pushing
out the potential that she sawin us.
Mayor President Sharon Weston (04:37):
I would say that one of my
favorite teachers was MrsGilchrist.
Teachers, uh, was Mrs Gilchristand she actually, uh, was my I
want to say, fifth and sixthgrade teacher it's been a minute
, as they say and she was myfavorite teacher because she had
(04:58):
a lot of pizzazz to her.
You know, uh, I love the wayshe wore her hair.
She had like a bouncy ponytailand she just, you know the way
she moved today we might call itswag and I felt like I always
had a memorable time in herclass and she always, you know,
(05:23):
she always gave me a littlenudge too.
Mike Gennaro (05:26):
What is the most nostalgic memory you have of
Baton Rouge?
Mayor President Sharon Westo (05:31):
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 winterhere in Baton Rouge and it was
(05:53):
a beautiful day, almost liketoday.
It was probably in the 70s andit was Christmastime and I
didn't have to put on any heavycold and it was just a beautiful
day and I distinctly rememberthat because it was Christmas.
Ted James (06:13):
I would have to say my Saturday mornings here.
I had a very active childhood.
I grew up playing soccer, somemories of playing soccer at
Independence Park, birthdayparties after games at Funfair
Park, spending Saturdays.
Of course, like I said, myparents both graduated from
Southern, so a Saturday in thefall meant that I was going to
(06:37):
spend my evenings in AW MumfordStadium.
So, as a young person, all ofthe kids running up and down the
stadium watching the band play.
So my Saturdays in Baton Rougewere just extremely exciting and
really filled with the pridethat I have for the city today.
Mike Gennaro (06:57):
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 inleading Baton Rouge for the next
four years?
Ted James (07:08):
Yeah, I'm a parent and raising a seven year old
daughter here.
My level of responsibility toBaton Rouge has changed.
I have been blessed to servethis community as a lawyer, a
state representative, aprofessor.
Blessed to serve this communityas a lawyer, a state
representative, a professor.
And then the last two years Iworked as a regional
(07:29):
administrator for the SmallBusiness Administration.
So I was appointed by thepresident to lead 10 offices
across five states and I wasexcited and did a lot to build
the small business ecosystemsand communities that I didn't
live in.
But flying back to Baton Rouge,I believe that as a parish we're
(07:50):
stagnant and when you go toplaces like Little Rock and
Conway, arkansas, and DeSoto,texas, san Antonio, and you see
these cities thriving, and thenyou come home and when I think
about all of the resources thatwe have at Baton Rouge LSU,
(08:10):
southern we have a capital city,we have a downtown on a river,
we have a large port, we haveindustry, we shouldn't be
outpaced by these communitiesthat don't have the resources
that we have in Baton Rouge,outpaced by these communities
that don't have the resourcesthat we have in Baton Rouge.
So for me, I watched how localgovernment can build the quality
of life.
(08:31):
And then I came home, flyinginto the Baton Rouge airport and
feeling like we could andshould be doing more.
So I made the decision to notcomplain about it.
I made the decision not togripe about it.
This is me doing somethingabout it to pour into the
(08:52):
community that has always pouredinto 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 avillage to raise me, and from
teachers to colleagues to, youknow, other public servants, I
(09:13):
owe it to Baton Rouge to push usfour years, because I have
spent the first eight years, thefirst four years we laid a
foundation.
Mayor President Sharon West (09:31):
The second four years we started
building I often like to callmyself Broom the Builder and
we've been transforming and Iwant to finish the job that I've
started.
That's why I want another fouryears.
We've done some great work, hadsome great successes and
achievements, but we've juststarted moving the needle and
(09:54):
making some very significantprogress, and I want to continue
that progress because I believethat Baton Rouge specifically
has the potential to be the bestmid-sized city in America.
Mike Gennaro (10:10):
It's no secret that corporations place their
top executives in cities thatrank high on quality of life.
How will Baton Rouge positionitself for greater quality of
life for its citizens into thefuture?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (10:23):
Well , baton Rouge is a great city
and we've already startedpositioning ourselves as it
relates to quality of life.
We have been working onimproving our infrastructure and
our roadways and we've beencleaning out our drains and our
stormwater systems, and so we'vealready started that process.
(10:48):
We have a very vibrant downtown.
We're working on that downtown,which goes to your question.
We are going to continue towork on making our downtown a
very vibrant area.
But one of the visions that Ihave for our city so top
(11:08):
executives will see the value ofthe quality of life there is to
transform our riverfront.
I want to start at the bluffsof Southern University, go
downtown and then go out towardsLSU and develop our riverfront.
Our Mississippi River is one ofthe greatest assets that we
(11:29):
have and in the next four yearswe're going to start seeing that
development take ground.
Ted James (11:37):
You know we have to Like.
The Milken Institute is aninstitute that ranks cities on
how well they perform economicdevelopment, job growth.
In 2015, we were ranked in thetop 30.
Now we're 156 or 57.
That tells me that we are not achampionship team, probably not
(12:01):
even a playoff team.
So what we have to do isseveral things.
Pour into the massiveuniversities that we have.
Right, we are educating youngpeople at LSU and Southern and
at BRCC, and those young peopleare leaving.
They're leaving because we haveto eliminate blight, we have to
(12:22):
alleviate traffic, we have tofix our education system and we
have to just get the basicsright.
Pick up the trash, cut thegrass, sweep the streets.
Those are basic governmentalservices right.
In several communitiesthroughout this parish they
aren't getting the basics.
(12:43):
It is hard to fly in executivesto East Baton Rouge Parish.
They fly into the Baton RougeAirport.
The first thing they see is thewhat the prison?
They go on to that interstate.
They see litter.
They look over.
They see blighted communitiesin North Baton Rouge.
(13:06):
If they are staying downtown,let's just say they land evening
flight five o'clock.
They get to downtown BatonRouge on a five thirty on a
Thursday.
You see nothing.
There's no activity there.
Right Quality of life,especially for young
professionals.
You have to have a thrivingdowntown.
You have to pour into theaesthetic beauty of a community,
(13:28):
eliminate blight.
Look at the sound walls on ourinterstate.
We don't even pressure washthose Right.
So we have to pour into thebasics to improve the quality of
(13:53):
life of the people that arehere so we don't lose them,
before expecting folks to wantto live here from other areas,
especially some of those areasthat I mentioned.
We're competing with Austin,we're competing with Greenville,
we're competing with Charlotte,atlanta.
We have to take care of homefirst before we can even think
that corporations are going towant to move executives to Baton
(14:14):
Rouge.
Mike Gennaro (14:15):
What's your top priority within the first 100
days?
Ted James (14:20):
You know it's so hard with so many needs in these
Baton Rouge parish, but I alwayssay that elected officials
should be more responsive to thepeople.
What I hear every single day iscrime.
First 100 days is a publicsafety summit bringing together
(14:41):
all of the multiple lawenforcement agencies.
In these Baton Rouge Parish, wehave over 11 law enforcement
agencies.
In East Baton Rouge Parish wehave over 11 law enforcement
agencies.
Out of that summit, we hear thestrengths, the weaknesses, the
opportunities and the threats.
We do a SWAT analysis.
We bring in not just theleaders, but we bring in the
(15:02):
rank and file to talk about theresources that they need.
Out of that, within the first100 days, leaders, but we bring
in the rank and file to talkabout the resources that they
need.
Out of that, within the first100 days, I want something to
come out a multi-agency taskforce to address violent crime
in our community.
We have to do thatSimultaneously.
It's an agenda prepared that wecollectively me as the mayor
(15:26):
president, the mayors of Baker,zachary Central and St George to
present to our legislativedelegation, where we are going
to collectively enter thelegislative session in 2025 with
an agenda for the entire parish.
It is paramount that we do thatand for me, when I think about
(15:47):
if I could accomplish one thing,it's correcting our Head Start
program for our young people.
We have a Head Start programthat we are allocated about
$18.2 million In 2022, we onlyspent $ 10 million Of that.
32% of our Head Start babiesthat are low income scored a
(16:10):
zero in terms of kindergartenreadiness.
That's embarrassing, and if wedon't get it right for our young
people, we can't talk abouteliminating crime.
We can't talk about bringingyoung families to Baton Rouge or
incentivizing young families tostay.
So if it's one thing that wehave to correct is our dismal
(16:31):
performance in our Head Startprogram.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (16:33):
Well , first I would say that my goal
within the first 100 days is toaccelerate and to deliver.
To start that, I think it wouldbe better to say acceleration
and delivery will be the themeof my next term, but in the
(16:54):
first 100 days we want to movetowards acceleration and
delivery.
I believe that it will be agreat opportunity for me to
bring people together our LSU,southern University, brcc, baton
(17:15):
Rouge Area Foundation, brac andsome of our other notable
philanthropic groups to cometogether and strategize as I go
into my last term in terms ofwhat we believe we can do as a
city and parish to certainlyattract and attract new
(17:39):
businesses, but also to maintainor retain, I should say, our
talent.
Mike Gennaro (17:47):
Wonderful, and if you could only focus on one of
those.
Oh it's okay.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (17:54):
Well , I would say, in the first 100
days, convene a meeting of allof our stakeholders to talk
about talent retention.
Mike Gennaro (18:05):
As mentioned in the intro, zachary operates
independently in some areas andcollaboratively in others.
How are property and sales taxrevenues distributed between
East Baton Rouge, parish and thecity of Zachary, and how does
this distribution impact fundingfor local services in both
jurisdictions?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (18:23):
Well , basically we are, because we
have a consolidated form ofgovernment, our distribution of
parish taxes really isredistributed to the parish,
(18:54):
distributed to the parish and ifyou look at our go to brlagov
you can see a pie chart that'svery illustrative in terms of
how those taxes are distributed.
I can tell you that, as mayorpresident, my goal has always
been that the municipalitiesthat are within the parish
certainly are not neglected andthat their tax revenues that
(19:17):
they put into the parish pot arereturned in the delivery of
services.
Ted James (19:23):
Well, the sales tax collected here in Zachary stay
in.
Zachary Property taxes, youknow 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.
(19:45):
You all self-attack,self-assess for your school
system.
Um, the city parish maintainsproperty, not not properties
maintain services for the entireparish, right?
So, um, those things come inthrough um the city parish and
then, as mayor, we will gothrough the budget.
Uh, what we need to do a betterjob of is aligning our resources
(20:09):
in terms of infrastructureprojects, flood mitigation, and
that's why I talk a lot aboutthat legislative agenda bringing
those resources back to makesure that we are creating
opportunities for major projectsthat benefit all of us.
Right, when we look at theproximity of Zachary and Central
(20:30):
, on one side, zachary and Bakerthere are some opportunities
for us to bring in some majorresources if we are working more
collaboratively on it.
Now, of course, zachary has itsown independent council.
For me, as mayor president,when I announced on February
29th, I said that I wascommitted to put president back
(20:51):
in mayor president, meaning thatI was going to be just as
focused in Baton Rouge as Iintend to be in Baker, zachary
and Central.
And now since the February 29thdate, we now have St George.
29th date, we now have StGeorge.
(21:12):
So I have to be as presentright, not just during the
election season, but I have tobe present when it's time to
govern.
I've already been to a ZacharyCity Council meeting to
understand what the issues andthe needs are your mayor, your
police chief.
We've had countlessconversations already.
So at City Parish that level ofcommunication has to continue
so that the City Parish can be agreater resource to the City of
(21:34):
Zachary.
Mike Gennaro (21:35):
How do you plan to manage and fund joint projects
or services between East BatonRouge Parish and the City of
Zachary, and what criteria willbe used to determine how costs
are shared and priorities areset?
Ted James (21:47):
You know I think we kind of briefly mentioned that
on major infrastructure projects.
I think it's important that wego in and work with our
legislative delegation oncapital outlay for major
infrastructure projects.
Right, the move be our program.
I believe that there are.
There are projects slated forthis year.
We need to magnify those.
Right, the move be our program.
(22:07):
I believe that there are.
There are projects slated forthis year.
We need to magnify those.
Right, the major corridors here.
When you all, as a council and amayor, create these things that
are economic drivers, right,the city parish has to come in
because if it's an economicdriver for the city of Zachary,
(22:27):
it's an economic driver for theentire parish and that's what we
have to start looking at.
We have to start looking ateach other as partners, not
competitors, right.
So when I look at it as if it'sbeneficial to Zachary, it's
beneficial for all of us.
Right Now, public works andpermitting and all those
different things.
Those are simple things thatyou know.
(22:48):
These requests will go throughthe city of Zachary.
It's outside the confines.
We have opportunities for thesethings to go through city
parish, right.
But when we talk about sharingthe resources, I am going to
focus on the mutual benefit thatit provides to the residents of
the entire parish.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (23:08):
Well , I will tell you that I usually
collaborate with the mayor ofZachary and talk about the
priorities that the mayor hashere and then as the parish
president, for example, with ourMove EBR project.
(23:28):
Before we passed that Move EBRproject, which is the largest
infrastructure project in thehistory of Baton Rouge, I sat
down and met with the mayor atthat time and we talked about
the priorities that existed inZachary.
Projects that came from themayor are now incorporated in
(23:55):
the Move EBR program.
So you know, collaboration andcommunication with the leader of
Zachary is very significantwhen we talk about the
distribution of resources andmaking sure that we meet the
needs of the citizens here.
Mike Gennaro (24:12):
What strategies will you use to ensure the
economic growth initiatives inEast Baton Rouge Parish also
support the development andprosperity of Zachary?
Mayor President Sharon Weston (24:27):
I will tell you is that this
region, which would includeZachary, the East Baton Rouge
Parish region has the strongesteconomy in the state of
Louisiana.
So we are already on atrajectory of success.
But once again, I believe thatwhen we talk about economic
growth and economic development,we have to certainly analyze
(24:49):
our assets Also.
Look at the intersection of thebusinesses that exist here in
Zachary and their connection toBaton Rouge, for example.
When we think about what takesplace here, we know that
historically Zachary has been atype of bedroom community, right
(25:15):
, but now it's escalating interms of opportunities and the
potential for new businesses.
So our strategy that we applyin Baton Rouge really is
applicable across the parish,because when we look at economic
development, we look at it froma broad lens.
Ted James (25:37):
Yeah, I mean I think that we have to look at economic
growth, eliminating blightright we need to do that across
the parish.
When we look at strengtheningthe small business ecosystem
with my experience at the SBAPrior to SBA experience, I was a
(25:58):
housing policy advisor so whenyou look at more affordable
housing, creating a betterhousing stock, when you look at
eliminating barriers toentrepreneurs in terms of
permitting, licensing, makingCity Parish a well-oiled machine
so that entrepreneurs here feelsupported and that we are
(26:21):
eliminating obstacles for themto grow, my idea is to work with
lending institutions and alsoall of our local government
entities to make sure that wecreate procurement opportunities
for those small businesses whoare looking to do business with
City of Zachary, ebr schoolsystem, the City Parish, to make
(26:43):
sure that they have an easieropportunity Once we create those
opportunities, when you take anentrepreneur in a small
business and they could go froma 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 aretoday.
We also have to look at kind ofchanging the narrative in terms
(27:07):
of how we look at housing.
We have to be more focused onsingle family housing.
One of the things that I woulddo differently is we get HUD
dollars in this community In2020, there was an article about
how East Baton Rouge Parish,over a 10-year period, either
misused or didn't spend itsallocation and we were penalized
(27:29):
.
You can't grow economically ifyou send money back to DC, so we
have to better utilize thosedollars and get away from
multi-complexes in terms ofhousing.
But look at single family.
You do that by having anaggressive plan to eliminate
blight, using those resources toget those into the hands of
developers, nonprofits, churches, other quasi-governmental
(27:52):
entities that can quickly movethose properties into commerce.
And there are other programswhere I would work towards using
some of those same dollars fordown payment assistance.
Other mayors across the countryare doing it.
We use some of those dollarsfor rental assistance.
Mike Gennaro (28:06):
I'm not saying rental assistance isn't
necessary, but when you talkabout using the same pot of
(28:37):
money To create these, theseopportunities, so that they can
have that real opportunity forhomeownership.
What can Zachary leaders andcitizens do to better support
the initiatives of East BatonRouge Parish as a whole?
Ted James (28:44):
You know, I think.
Number one we just have torecognize that while we're in
different municipalities, we'reall in the same parish.
Right, and it's a mindset shiftin that it's not A competition,
right, it's how do wecollectively?
Because if, as Zacharyprogresses, the entire parish
(29:05):
progresses right, as Baker movesin the opposite direction, we
all move in an oppositedirection, right?
So, number one, it's a mindsetshift.
Number two I think we have tocreate more opportunities for
Zachary residents.
Many Zachary residents, theyhave children that go to school
in these Baton Rouge parish.
(29:26):
I mean in Baton Rouge, theywork in Baton Rouge, they go to
the mall in Baton Rouge.
We have to create more of thoseopportunities for us to
fellowship.
And I think once we see on thegovernmental side, when Mayor
James is present in the city ofZachary right, showing up not
just at the Hot Air BalloonFestival when it's fun, but
(29:47):
showing up at the councilmeeting to talk about joint
projects, right, when they seeMayor James talking about these
massive infrastructure programsand federal dollars that we're
bringing down to the entireparish, I think that that will
help all of us get to a point ofrecognizing that we're all
residents of these Baton RougeParish.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (30:08):
Well , you know, when we we just had
a neighborhood convention abouta week or so ago and at the
neighborhood convention we had aspecial roundtable with all the
mayors, including the mayor ofZachary, and we talked about the
common denominators thatconnect all of our cities, and I
(30:34):
believe the best way thatZachary can help intersect with
Baton Rouge and, let's just say,east Baton Rouge Parish, is
through a unified vision ofsuccess when it comes to every
area that impacts our people,focusing on how we can connect
(30:57):
our resources together, ourideas to maximize those
resources, but to stay connectedto that shared vision, how do
you?
Mike Gennaro (31:17):
plan to address blight issues just outside the
Zachary City limits, but withinEast Baton Rouge Parish, and
what steps will you take toensure that these efforts are
coordinated with Zachary's localinitiatives?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (31:29):
Well , you know, blight is an issue
that we have invested instrongly and, once again, those
shared resources where we touchZachary will be impacted with
the work that we do on blight.
So we have already invested inI want to say, almost.
(31:54):
I always like to get thenumbers right We've invested
about $2 million already in ourblight initiatives.
We have coordinated withSouthern University to help us
with titles, because we do knowthat tied-up titles impede the
(32:15):
ability for us to address blight.
Coming up, you will hear metalk about in the future some
creative ideas that I hear thatare taking place in other cities
and towns dealing with TIFs,which could help us impede and
dismantle blight in ourcommunities.
(32:37):
Excellent.
Ted James (32:40):
Yeah, I think that.
Number one we have to make surethat we're not losing the tax
dollars that we have.
Right, and this is not aproblem created by the current
administration.
It's been a decade long, from2017 to I mean from like the 10
year period from 2010 to 2020.
(33:02):
Right, and so what we haven'tdone is corrected, a problem
that existed before this prioradministration.
We have to be a good steward ofthe tax dollars.
First, what we don't do a goodenough job of is the
coordination between the Officeof Community Development and the
quasi organization, ourredevelopment authority, bill
Baton Rouge.
We have to look at theboundaries.
(33:22):
Number one we got to decide ifwe're going to have Bill Ben-Ruj
, we need to invest in it.
They've had an interim directorfor almost two years now.
Major cities of our size haveredevelopment authorities.
We have to make sure that weare not hindering progress of
our redevelopment authority.
Now, that's resources, it'sleadership, it's board members,
(33:44):
it's taking a full, honest lookat it.
We need a blight map in thisparish right.
Looking at number one, first,the city-owned properties.
It's hard for us to go todevelopers and landlords and
chastise them.
The city parish today has notdone a good enough job of
maintaining the properties thatwe own.
(34:04):
Of course there are issues whenit comes to clearing title.
I am willing to number oneblight map so we know by council
district 12 council districtsseparated by those properties
that have title issues and thosethat have clear title.
Those that have clear titlethose same tax dollars that
(34:24):
we're losing.
We need to deploy those taxdollars to either nonprofits or
other governmental entities togive them the resources to put
those things into commerce.
Those that have title issues.
It may be a legislative fixthat we need to go to our
legislators to make sure that weare providing opportunities
legally to capture thoseprojects, opportunities legally
(34:49):
to capture those projects.
I am even willing to go to ourjudges and create some type of
specialty court so that we arerespecting legal timelines and
issues so that we're not juststripping properties away.
There may be residents in yourarea in the city of Baton Rouge
that live in blighted propertiesbut for lack of resources,
nobody wants to live in ablighted community.
For those folks we have to makesure those same organizations
(35:12):
that we're going to pool federaldollars and philanthropic
dollars to help we have to makesure that those homeowners have
opportunities as well so thatthey can work on their own to
eliminate blight in their ownneighborhoods and the plans for
the geographic boundaries ofBaton Rouge.
We can take those same thingsfor Baker's, zachary and central
(35:33):
, to be honest.
Mike Gennaro (35:39):
What are your plans for improving water
retention and drainage systemsin East Baton Rouge Parish,
especially in areas like Zacharyand its surroundings, to
address flooding andenvironmental concerns?
Ted James (35:49):
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 gainsright, there have been some
allocations there, but we don'thave a long-term sustainable,
sustainable funded option.
We need to get there right.
We need to pull the folksaround the table and if it takes
(36:11):
a vote of the people, we needto put it in front of the people
to decide whether or not we aregoing to fully fund it.
We have to look at otheropportunities, like the Southern
University School of UrbanForestry.
Right, we have a school thatSouthern is one of the only
schools in the country that hasan undergrad, grad and doctoral
program in urban forestry, greenspaces and what to do with
(36:36):
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 urbanforestry, urban ag position and
they went right to the federalgovernment and they were able to
pull resources to get thatposition funded.
That person and I envision inEast Baton Rouge, parish,
(36:58):
coordinating with all of thedifferent organizations.
Litter we got to think aboutlitter too.
Right, if we continue to puttrash in the storm drain.
Water is not going to go down,it's going to come up, right.
So we got to get aggressive interms of code enforcement.
We got to get aggressive interms of folks that are
littering throughout this entireparish so that they know we're
serious and it's not just aboutthe aesthetic beauty, it's about
(37:20):
protecting us from futurefloods.
We've we've been through 2016flood.
There are certain areas in thiscommunity we're building way too
fast, recognizing and we knowthat we have not done a good
enough job of creating aninfrastructure where the water
is not going to come back upinto our homes.
So we need to have some realconversations about how fast we
(37:40):
develop in certain areas If weare not going to simultaneously
create opportunities for floodmitigation.
That's a legislative fix, it'sa community fix, but it's also
pulling down resources from ourfederal delegation and I
mentioned it a lot and I watchother mayors and other
communities announce almostmonthly a new grant, new federal
(38:03):
opportunity where they'repulling down resources.
City of New Orleans has usedthe Inflation Reduction Act
dollars, where they were pullingdown 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 needto create a whole of government
and a holistic approach tomaking sure that that our homes
(38:24):
and businesses don't flood againlike we did in 2016, because we
know in South Louisiana it'snot a question of if, it's a
question of when.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (38:32):
Well , the first big project is the
Comey Diversion Project, whichwill certainly help with water
management from the majorstreams that drain in the area.
Diverting the water to theMississippi River will certainly
have a big impact in the areasof the areas north of the
(38:55):
diversion project around theZachary area.
We also have cleaned andsnagged the Comey River from its
tie-in to the Amit River tojust short of Highway 64.
All this improves runoff fromthese areas.
So that's what we've done.
Mike Gennaro (39:14):
To what extent can the mayor of East Baton Rouge
Parish influence the state ofpublic schools in the area?
If at all, Is it your plan tocollaborate with the school
board and other stakeholders toimprove educational outcomes or
take a hands-off approach?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (39:27):
Well , I think I know we have to have
collaboration.
You know, while the mayor doesnot run the school system,
whether it's in anywhere in EastBaton Rouge Parish, we
certainly know that education isthe key to elevating our cities
and our parishes.
That's why, when I first got inoffice, I started a Cradle to
(39:48):
Kay initiative realizing thevalue of early childhood
development, and that was backin 2018.
Now we have, after years oflooking closely at our Head
Start system, we have nowimplemented our Restart Head
Start through public-privatepartnerships to open more seats
(40:09):
and opportunities for earlychildhood development.
So another initiative that Idid when I first came in office
that it is time again is Ihosted the first school board
and metro council meeting tobring our metro council and
school board together to talkabout education and the
(40:32):
intersection of policies on whatwe do in the city and what
happens in the school system.
Mike Gennaro (40:38):
Yeah, can you elaborate on that?
Mayor President Sharon West (40:40):
one .
Well, you know, during thatmeeting, there's obviously a
genuine concern from the councilmembers about education.
In fact, at that time we hadsome council members who were
educators and we talked abouthow we could certainly once
again, early childhooddevelopment, we talked about
(41:03):
Head Start, we talked aboutissues that impact the city,
like truancy.
Also, very importantly, afterschool programs, summer youth
initiatives, all of whichthere's an intersection between
our school systems and whathappens on the city.
Ted James (41:23):
No, I am not going to use it as an excuse because
educational duties don't fallwithin the plan of government.
I've already talked about HeadStart.
That's basic.
That's right under the cityparish.
We have failed young people foryears.
It's unacceptable.
We are going to fix Head Start.
We're going to partner with theproviders that we know today
(41:44):
are really moving forward interms of early childhood.
We have some phenomenal optionsout there.
We are going to make sure thatour kids are in quality seats.
Literacy is a huge issue acrossthe country.
We know in the state ofLouisiana our legislators have
said if our babies aren't up topar by the third grade, they
won't make it to the fourth.
I am committed to introducing amayor's literacy program and
(42:08):
partnerships with the localschool districts.
These conversations havealready begun in terms of making
sure that our teachers have thecertification.
There was an article a coupleof weeks ago about the number of
teachers in the EBR schoolsystem that haven't taken that
literacy certification.
The new superintendent,superintendent Cole, is already
talking about making sure thatwe write that wrong to make sure
(42:30):
that our teachers have thatcertification and professional
development.
I am going to be veryintentional about conversation
with our state department, ourgovernor, 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 of2025, we will have a literacy
(42:52):
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 thatopportunity as our kids get
older.
We got to partner with ourlocal dishes in terms of job and
training opportunities.
We could take some of some ofyouth dollars and make sure
we're paying tuition for youngpeople to be gaining industry
recognized credentials.
(43:13):
Those things help thosestudents.
I worked on a program in aprevious role at the Urban
League where we created a dualenrollment program at
Scotlandville High School.
That opportunity to go to BRCCand obtain industry recognized
credentials made them betterstudents.
When they got back toScotlandville they were excited.
They knew that we wereinvesting in them, so in turn,
(43:36):
they invested in themselves.
We have to do that In EBR.
They're having facilities,conversations Right, because we
know that we have certainschools that have the capacity
for a lot more students thanthey are.
They're enrolling.
Those conversations need toamplify and then we need to have
conversations about what to dowith those buildings, right?
(43:57):
Do we work with break?
Do we work with churches?
Do we work with Breck?
Do we work with churches?
Do we work with otherorganizations?
Or do we demolish thesebuildings and then look at our
green space to go back to thatflood mitigation, and you know
ideas around green spaces inthis community.
So very hands on approach toeducation.
Mike Gennaro (44:15):
What strategies do you plan to implement to
enhance downtown Baton Rouge, toboost tourism and economic
activity in the area, Acommunity that has two major
universities.
Ted James (44:24):
We have to have a thriving downtown.
A decade ago we had a thrivingdowntown.
It's restaurants and bars forsome people.
Right, it's safety and lighting, because unfortunately there's
a perception that downtown isn'tsafe.
I will say that there have beenefforts currently we're going
to magnify those things.
Right, we're going to make surethat we improve lighting.
(44:46):
There's a police precinct inthe middle of downtown.
Of course, we have an officershortage.
We're going to make sure thatwe address those issues.
I'm looking at partnership withthe constable's office to make
sure that we have constantofficer presence to mitigate
that perception problem.
We also need to look like othercommunities that look at number
one short-term leases.
(45:07):
So those business, those folks,those building owners, because
one of the issues for thoseentrepreneurs, of course, the
price of entry downtown isextremely high.
So we've got to look atshort-term leases.
Right, we need to look atcapital opportunities so that we
can offer some type of grant orfinancial assistance for those
businesses looking to locatedowntown and offer the same for
(45:29):
businesses in other disinvestedareas in North Baton Rouge and
other pockets in our community.
It's like quality of lifethings downtown.
My office in the Urban Leaguewas on Canal Street in New
Orleans.
If I got a traffic ticket or aparking ticket, I can contest it
on my phone.
I can take a screenshot of mypavement, I could send it off
(45:53):
and I can contest it from myphone.
I can pay it from my phone.
Our technology hadn't gottenthere in downtown Baton Rouge
yet, so we have to improve thetechnology to make sure people
understand that downtown is open.
Boots on businesses downtown, Imean on cars downtown.
There was a Sunday a coupleweeks ago.
Some friends of mine went tothe Vintage's on 3rd Street.
(46:15):
Their cars were booted $200.
Their first infraction, Nownumber one, they should have
paid the park right.
But number two in the city ofnew orleans they have a boot
ordinance, their, their councilhas put together a boot
ordinance to make sure thatthey're level.
So you and I, we won't get aboot the first time, right?
Um, if we return to our carswithin a certain um allotted
(46:37):
minutes, it's not a $200 fine,they have capped their, their,
their boot, fine, and it'snowhere near 200.
Those are simple things that wecan show to say, hey, downtown
is open for business.
The conversations around theriver center, of course.
If we get that right.
That project can be an impetusfor more traffic downtown for
(46:58):
the residents, but also we canbecome a destination site so
that we are no longer canvassingother communities.
But leaders from other citiesstart to canvas Baton Rouge
because they've seen us turn thetide in terms of our north.
I mean about downtown.
There's a guy that was here acouple months ago from Nashville
and he talked about theirresurgence.
(47:20):
The sad thing is that young manlived in Baton Rouge so he was
here Right and he left here togo build the downtown in
Nashville.
So we have the ideas.
We just have to be intentionalabout it.
Mayor President Sharon Wes (47:32):
Well , certainly, as I talked about
the riverfront development, butI will also tell you that we are
embarking on a new hotel andconference center in downtown
Baton Rouge, where the RiverCenter is.
That's going to betransformative for our downtown
area as well.
Mike Gennaro (47:53):
Yeah, excellent.
How do you anticipate thecreation of the proposed city of
St George will affectsurrounding communities like
Central Zachary and Baker, andwhat measures will you take to
address any potential impacts onthese areas?
Mayor President Sharon Wes (48:07):
Well , I have already started that
process.
We are in negotiations with themayor of St George to see where
we could where there, to seehow we can minimize a overall
negative impact for the citizensof our parish.
(48:31):
My goal as mayor, president, isto protect basic services for
this entire parish and, ofcourse, I have the experience.
I've been dealing with thisissue almost since I came into
office and so I have.
Really.
I am still very, very committedto doing that.
(48:56):
We do have a plan.
We've been working on planssince we first started about
talking about St George.
We have talked with our cityparish officials, our department
heads, and we've looked at ourbudgets and we've also presented
to the mayor of St George aproposal which we think is fair
(49:22):
to them and would have minimalimpact on the entire parish.
Ted James (49:27):
Yeah well, it's not the proposal anymore, it's here
now right.
The court has ruled twice.
You know there will be, ofcourse, some budgetary
implications for the city parishonce we have to transfer those
sales tax revenues.
I anticipate, looking at ourbudget and number one across the
(49:50):
city parish, I know thatthere's a function of funding
vacant positions.
We need to look at thosepositions 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 thatwe are not taking away jobs
first, right.
So let's look at thoseopportunities we need to look at
(50:14):
and once we get an agreement inplace with the city of St
George because what's happeningnow?
We don't know all of theservices that they want to
maintain on their own or theywant the city parish to maintain
so for those parents, for thoseservices that the city parish
continues to maintain, therewon't be a big fiscal hit
because we are already providingthose services.
There are a lot of unansweredquestions right, boundaries,
(50:37):
with annexations?
With annexations, I would belooking at possibly intervening
as a friend of the court to say,hey, we need some answers
regarding these outstandinglawsuits 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 timethis election ends, that the
(51:01):
parties that be will have a lotof these these questions
answered.
The problem that I see today isthere's too much attention on
continuing to fight and notgovern.
And for me, I'm a lawyer, butI'm also a certified mediator,
right.
So creating these opportunitiesout of dysfunction is what I'm
(51:23):
trained to do.
I have worked with multiplegovernmental agencies.
I have worked with the StateDepartment of Revenue on the
budget for the department.
I sat on the AppropriationsCommittee and the legislature,
so I understand budgets, but Ialso understand relationships
and that's the biggest issuethat we have right now.
(51:43):
It's a relationship issue withthe leaders of City Parish and
the leaders of the city of StGeorge and it's impeding
progress because we're toofocused on fighting and not
governing.
Mike Gennaro (51:53):
We'd like to thank all candidates for being
generous with their time and forparticipating.
Now it's time to do your part.
That's it for this week'sepisode of PNP.
Catch us on all localnewsstands or on the World Wide
Web at porchandparishcom.
Immense thanks to all oursponsors who make this content
free to you, so please go outand support them Till next time.
Bye-bye now.
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