Gwen Hamilton, the newly appointed interim CEO of the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority, is a former Plan Baton Rouge organizer and 41-year resident of Old South Baton Rouge. While inside the Dr. Leo S. Butler Community Center on East Washington Street recently, she eyes dozens of framed photos of Old South residents who made significant contributions to the community.
There’s one of a lifeguard named Elvin K. Dalcourt Sr., Emmy award-winning actress Lynn Whitfield and American Idol’s Randy Jackson.
“That’s where the pride comes from,” Hamilton tells 225. “And it’s really important that young people in the neighborhood understand this.”
In the cover story of the November issue, contributing writer Maggie Heyn Richardson details the partial renaissance in the Old South community that seems to be underway. However, challenges are still present in the neighborhood, many of them the result of diminished investment over the past half-century.
Despite the once-pedestrian-friendly streets and rich architecture of buildings such as the now-shuttered Lincoln Theater, the neighborhood has languished. The area has a 50% poverty rate. Only about one-fifth of the homes are owner-occupied. Crime is so high that the parish’s experimental gang-eradication program, BRAVE, incorporated Old South in its target area. Still, there are signs of optimism.
One proven way to ignite business interest has been through the arts. This time, the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge is taking the lead. The organization’s focal point? The empty Lincoln Theater. It’s been a lengthy process for the Arts Council to get involved with the rejuvenation of Old South, and it started with the late Derek Gordon.
“He knew that if the neighborhood didn’t revive from within, it would be all too easy for it to be replaced with something completely different,” says Arts Council President and CEO Eric Holowacz.
But with an endless back and forth between the community, political leaders and organizers of the movement to revitalize the area, 225 wonders if the arts are enough to save the area. Read the full story.
