While addressing a crowd of area engineering groups this afternoon, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome praised infrastructure improvements throughout the city-parish but said work still to be done in terms of drainage and transportation.
She also encouraged the engineers to support the gas tax hike that’s being debated at the State Capitol.
Broome was the guest speaker today at a joint luncheon hosted by local chapters of the Louisiana Engineering Society, American Council of Engineering Companies of Louisiana and American Society of Civil Engineers.
“Our area is in need of vast and consistent improvements,” Broome said in her address. “When a city offers modern, state-of-the-art facilities, people are more likely to move here.”
The mayor championed recent developments, such as the $85 million proton therapy center to be built in the Baton Rouge Health District. The medical facility will create more than 195 direct and indirect jobs, she noted. Broome also lauded the progress made in the parishwide Sanitary Sewer Overflow program.
The city-parish also is tackling one of its most complained-about issues: Road conditions. Broome said 315 potholes have been filled in the parish this month, using 44 tons of asphalt.
The mayor answered only a few questions and then quickly left the luncheon after her address. Audience members in the large crowd of engineers asked Broome about a stormwater management plan and whether she would work with neighboring parish presidents on drainage problems.
“I have charged my team directly dealing with transportation and drainage to come up with a plan,” Broome said. “It can’t be done in a vacuum … That’s where individuals like you can help. If you don’t rally around our needs, then we won’t see progress in areas as it relates to drainage.”
Before requesting a local tax for storm water management, Broome said the city-parish should wait to see how much federal assistance it receives.
The proposed 17-cent gas tax hike came up twice throughout the luncheon. Before the mayor’s address, ACEC President Bob Schmidt urged those in attendance to support the gas tax for spending on infrastructure improvements.
“Our situation is getting dire,” Schmidt said. “I’m hopeful we can do something about that.”
Louisiana’s gas tax has not been increased since 1989, although 47 other states have increased theirs since then, he noted. The gas tax was to be debated on the House floor today. While the Senate seems to favor the tax, the House may be short of the 70 votes needed to pass, Schmidt said.
Broome backed Schmidt’s request for support of the gas tax, which she said would alleviate the traffic problems that are constantly being discussed in our region.
“Unless folks like you become active in this process, we won’t see the level of progress we want in our city and parish,” she said.
—Annie Ourso
