The Baton Rouge Area Chamber announced this morning it’s embarking on a “quality of place” program—a series of initiatives designed to improve the physical appearance, development and sense of character around Baton Rouge.
The program is overarching in its goals, seeking to address such varying problems as blighted housing, overgrown lots, poorly maintained sidewalks and litter in public places. Above all, however, it will be an outreach and education campaign that is intended to raise awareness about ways to make Baton Rouge look better and, as a result, be more competitive in the economic development arena.
“For too long we’ve accepted quality of place issues that don’t meet the expectations of our community,” says Lee Jenkins, vice president of Performance Contracts and head of BRAC’s quality of place working group. “Overgrown areas, broken or nonexistent sidewalks, and blight issues not only affect quality of life for residents, they affect businesses who are looking to expand and recruit.”
It’s unclear how much the new program will cost. BRAC officials say while it will take some funding to promote the new program, the issue isn’t about money as much as it is about changing attitudes and encouraging greater cooperation and coordination among individuals and community groups.
To that end, BRAC has identified a series of short-, medium- and long-term initiatives to improve quality of place in the Capital Region. They include:
- Promoting public awareness and education.
- Fostering improved coordination and collaboration between regional and public and private stakeholders.
- Ensuring that quality of place is prioritized by the next mayor president.
- Adopting improved maintenance, landscaping, blight elimination and land use and development policies.
- Encouraging investment in streetscape improvements and better management of major regional assets.
The quality of place program will be regionwide, not just focusing on the city of Baton Rouge.
“We need to help north Baton Rouge, and help the businesses and communities attract a better quality of place,” says Tim Johnson, president of the TJC Group, who is also leading the campaign. “We need to work on Airline Highway and Florida Boulevard, just like we need to work on Essen and Perkins. This is not just about metropolitan Baton Rouge. When we talk about our area, truly we are a community … whether it is Baker or Zachary. All of this is part of the Baton Rouge area.”
—Stephanie Riegel
