Mayor Sharon Weston Broome says she is “steadfast” in her opposition to the renewed St. George incorporation effort, which was filed earlier today, and will “not stand for any effort to tear our city apart.”
Rather than aggressively fight the movement, however, Broome says she will concentrate on addressing the systemic problems facing the community.
“While I am not ignoring this, I believe one of the remedies is staying focused on the goals I have set before me: economic development in disinvested communities, eradicating blight, traffic remediation,” she says.
The mayor’s comments came shortly after organizers of the St. George incorporation movement filed the necessary paperwork with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office to begin a second effort to create an independent city.
Those behind the effort are remaining quiet for now, but the group posted a video on its Facebook page—“Sign St. George for a Better Baton Rouge”—outlining the history of the incorporation effort and why they’re back for a second attempt.
The group’s initial bid to create an independent city and school district in unincorporated southeast East Baton Rouge Parish failed in 2015, when a court ruling invalidated signatures on the petition. The effort fell just 71 signatures short of the number required to trigger an incorporation election.
The new footprint for the proposed city is smaller than the original, in part because in the years since the first St. George attempt, the city-parish has annexed several large, tax-generating properties that were in the unincorporated portion of the East Baton Rouge Parish, including the Mall of Louisiana, Siegen Lane Marketplace and L’Auberge Casino.
The total population of the proposed city is 86,316. In order to get the incorporation measure on the ballot, St. George proponents will need to get the signatures of at least 25% of all registered voters in the proposed city, which sources estimate will likely total about 14,000 signatures. They have nine months to collect the required signatures.
Some political observers believe St. George organizers are more likely to be successful this time around because they’ve learned from their mistakes.
“They know the system. They know the signatures have to be spot on perfect so they’re aware of all that,” says political pollster Bernie Pinsonat. “They’ve learned what they can and cannot do so they’re in better shape to get the signatures. The question is can they get the signatures?”
Several Metro Council member hope not. Matt Watson says he is “sad people feel they have to form their own city to try to solve problems.” Barbara Freiberg says she is “disappointed we as a city and a school system are not able to be proactive and to work with them to meet their needs.”
East Baton Rouge Schools Superintendent Warren Drake—who has said he opposes the effort and has met with St. George organizers periodically since taking over at the school system—issued a simple statement today, saying merely: “Since I became superintendent in 2015, my team and I have worked very hard to engage and serve every segment of this community. We will continue our efforts to provide a quality education for all students.”
The Baton Rouge Area Chamber, which opposed the previous effort, is declining to comment today, saying it must first study the new proposal and then bring it before the BRAC board.
Together Baton Rouge, the community organization that campaigned aggressively against St. George in 2014 and 2015, also declined to comment today.
