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Posted on December 13 at 2 p.m.

4-lane Lee Drive, someone, PLEASE.

On What now?

Posted on December 12 at 5:53 p.m.

And let me conclude by pointing out, if a property owner does everything required by the local government to develop his property, what right does a neighbor nearby or a person many blocks away have to tell that property owner what he can and cannot do? If Rouzan meets all the DPW requirements and meets the Planning Commission requirements what right does anyone have to stop the property owner from moving forward with that approved development? Property rights have been & always will be, a firm foundation of the formation of this country & its continued success, right behind religious freedom, freedom of speech and freedom to bear arms.

If BR wants to hang on to more of its younger residents & stop the brain drain, this is one way to start. Give us a reason to want to stay, not an excuse to leave!

Support Rouzan & 4-lane Lee Drive.

On More people, same result

Posted on December 12 at 5:52 p.m.

Opponents moan about local streets becoming speedways. Streets connected through the development will have stop signs ADDED to the streets. This slows down traffic, part of the “traffic calming” desired by DPW. If anyone wants to complain about speedways, they can stand on the sidewalk in front of my house on Stanford Avenue. Traffic regularly drives by on 4-lanes at speeds greater than the posted 40mph. Some up to 60mph. A posted 35mph 2-lane street with stop signs connected to other 30mph streets with stop signs hardly qualifies them as becoming speedways.

Opponents moan about density. Do you realize that should Rouzan apply for LEED certification as a “smart growth” community, it would be denied as NOT DENSE ENOUGH? Boston, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Seattle, those are dense cities. BR never has been & never will be. If the opponents truly think 6.5 people/acre is too dense, then respectfully, they do not fully understand the concept. According to the New York City Department of City Planning, there are more than 100 people/acre in NYC. Atlanta is expecting to ADD 4 people/acre in the next 20 years. Vancouver is considered one of Canada’s leaders in smart growth & that city averages 12 people/acre. Las Vegas is one of the densest cities in the American Southwest at an average of greater than 12 people/acre. Seattle averages 5-12 people/acre in over half of its city and greater than 12 people/acre in well over 30% of the city. How can a resident complain about an increase from 5 people/acre to 6.5?

BR needs a shot in the arm to bring it into the 21st century, kicking & screaming. If it takes reverting to some tried and true solutions to make our town better, we should embrace them. The neighborhood and town center concepts have been around and working as viable living solutions since before the Roman civilization reached its heyday. Neighborhoods, homes shops and civic buildings have been working together since before the time of Christ. Why do a few residents get to tell the rest of the world and the rest of human history that traditional neighborhoods are wrong? Look at the term devised for these developments, Traditional Neighborhood Development. Just the name should imply a good deal. It’s been tried, it’s been vetted, it works.

On More people, same result

Posted on December 12 at 5:51 p.m.

I am in SUPPORT of Rouzan as a resident & as a design professional.

After graduating from LSU with a 5-year professional degree in Architecture I moved from the Garden District to my current home on Stanford. I have been in this house for over 16 years. I love my NEIGHBORHOOD. I have a grocery, a pharmacy, restaurants, taverns, dry cleaners, bookstores, a yoga studio, health food stores, Attorney’s & CPA’s offices, Insurance agents, hair salons, antique & gift shops, barbers, a travel agency, dance studios & medical supply company all within my NEIGHBORHOOD, the Perkins Road Overpass area. A neighborhood is not a collection of homes on streets. A neighborhood is a collection of families, people & services they use & need. Pollard Estates is not a neighborhood. It is a subdivision. Even the word subdivision allows a clue to what’s inside. It sub-DIVIDES people from each other. It separates a group of homes from the city.

Subdivisions clearly do not work well. They are forcing us to be dependent upon autos for basic needs. The public transportation system in this town is lacking in common access, appropriate scheduling & useful routes. One is forced to use a car for the most basic needs. The subdivision has become an enabler for the dependence on autos.

Rouzan is an attempt to alleviate this problem. It is a well thought-out development. It includes a library, a church, small shops, office space & a school. How can this be a bad thing? Everyone lauds developments like River Ranch, Seaside, & others in “more progressive” cities.

Opponents moan about drainage. Rouzan will improve drainage. The DPW regulations require Rouzan not make the current conditions worse. Since I know a thing or two about getting a project through the Planning Commission, the DPW Drainage department & the Green Light Program, I KNOW Rouzan did not skate through. The development was scrutinized, studied & approved. Drainage will improve because Rouzan will have its own subsurface drainage, adding capacity to the system in place. DPW has agreed.

Opponents moan about traffic. Perhaps Rouzan, with its integrated streets network & logical layout will allow more cars to travel to and thru the development instead of getting onto Perkins, Lee, Highland or Stanford. If there were a grocery store in walking distance to a home no one would drive there & the cars would not be on the road. If a Rouzan-type development is NOT built, take the 491 homes allowed in A-1 zoning for this property, multiply by 2.5 & you have over 1225 cars ADDED to the traffic problem. Not developing Rouzan will increase traffic & congestion.

On More people, same result

Posted on November 12 at 2:29 p.m.

katowoman needs to live on Stanford Avenue where the cars drive by at sometimes greater than 60mph (more than a slight breeze) and the SSCA people come along and REMOVE the signs for Rouzan supporters. Very adult behavior.

On A better idea

Posted on October 25 at 8:17 a.m.

This is a wonderful concept, and long needed for Baton Rouge. It's high time this city and its residents started thinking differently and breaking free from the stodgy past. One thing will hamper the sucess of this project as much as the reluctance of the nearby nieghborhood, that is the deplorable Lee Drive. The Southside Civic Association has continually blocked the 4-laning of Lee Drive. If there was ever a traffic juggernaut, it is the stretch of Lee Drive between Higland Road and Perkins Road. With the extraordinary number of cars entering and leaving LSU's campus, the high number of residents and other business traffic in the area it is unthinkable that Lee Drive continue as an undersized, dinky, two-lane road. The right-of-way is available, the new bridge over Bayou DuPlantier is large enough for 4 lanes, portions of the street on opposite ends of the 2-lane stretch are already 4-laned. The traffic is already there, 4-laning Lee Drive would simply move the existing traffic more efficiently, and perhaps faster. I live, shop, bank and have children attend school all in an area between Kennilworth, the Perkins Road Overpass and Highland Road. I cannot travel through this area without sitting in extremely frustrating traffic tie-ups on Lee or Perkins. Stanford was 4-laned decades ago and is a success. Yes, there will be construction, yes, there will be temporary inconvenience. However, the completed project would revive a fading city neighborhood and improve circulation in a vital part of South Baton Rouge. Bring on Spinosa's TND, bring on the new blood, new ideas and changes, especially those as well thought out as Rouzan appears to be. Baton Rouge is ready. Perhaps if we made things better in our town, young people would want to stay and live here instead of leaving the state? Bravo Tommy, Bravo!

On A better idea