Baton Rouge is open for business for companies manufacturing smart car technology.
That’s the message city-parish officials and business leaders are hoping to send this afternoon when the Metro Council will vote on a resolution creating a Transportation, Technology and Innovation District.
The resolution is designed to get “on the radar of some of these companies ranging from the small startup to the large manufacturing companies (to say) that Baton Rouge is a willing and eager participant in how technology is going to redefine the automotive industry,” says John Snow, vice president of Emergent Method.
The district, which would not be for taxing purposes, would focus on downtown as well as two development-ready sites certified by Louisiana Economic Development in the Baton Rouge Aviation Business Park and LSU Innovation Park.
The two sites are in close proximity to universities and can complement companies developing transportation-related technologies, Snow says. Downtown offers a high-density urban environment typical of mid-size cities that can be used for technology development and testing.
The resolution is the result of the work Baton Rouge leaders did when they put together the city’s entry for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s $40 million Smart City Challenge, Snow says.
Cities from around the United States had been challenged to create a first-of-a-kind city that uses data to shape how people live and move about. Through that lens, leaders looked at how to incorporate technology to help solve Baton Rouge’s notorious traffic problems.
“We’re not unlike many mid-sized cities in how we struggle with traffic and congestion,” Snow says.
Even though Baton Rouge was not chosen for the grant, Snow says the conversations continued about incorporating technology, which led to the idea of recruiting smart car technology manufacturers to the Capital City.
Mayor Kip Holden has been pushing to upgrade technology across the city-parish, including with OpenDataBR and the overhauled 311 system. Snow says Holden has been the driving force behind the smart car technology push.
The effort is in the infancy stage, and “the intent behind this resolution is to move forward with those conversations in meaningful ways,” Snow says.
The resolution is similar to one passed by the Las Vegas City Council in February that declared the downtown area as an “innovation district.”
The resolution is coupled with another item on today’s Metro Council agenda by Councilman Buddy Amoroso to create a committee aimed at ensuring Baton Rouge keeps up with emerging technologies.
Also at today’s meeting, the council will introduce a contract with H&O Investments to handle grass-cutting along the interstates that run through the city, as well as an item to begin looking for a new bank to handle the city-parish’s banking services beginning next year.
Council Administrator Casey Cashio says the city-parish currently pays $168,000 annually to JPMorgan Chase for the city-parish’s banking needs, but that four-year contract expires on Dec. 31.
Once the council approves an item allowing Cashio to move forward in the process, he will send out a request for proposals to about 20 banks in Baton Rouge to see if they are interested in vying for the job.
The bank must be able to handle the city-parish’s banking needs, he says, and a bank that comes in as the lowest bidder may not get the contract if it cannot handle all of those needs. The proposals will be due July 29 and Cashio says he hopes to have the council approve the winning bid sometime in late August.
The selected bank will be offered a five-year contract, Cashio says, so that the lengthy process does not align with the council’s election cycle. It will revert back to a four-year contract thereafter, he adds.
The Metro Council meets this afternoon at 4 p.m. on the ninth floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. See the full agenda.
—Ryan Broussard
