BRAF throws support behind new downtown library, stage canopy

A day after the Baton Rouge Area Chamber released a statement urging the Metro Council to move forward with the downtown library and a stage canopy for Galvez Plaza, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation has followed suit. “Baton Rouge residents and leaders should be rightly proud of what we’ve done together in the last decade,” says BRAF President/CEO John Davies in a statement released this morning. “Downtown has become the gathering place for our parish, a place where more than 20,000 people work, where thousands gather to hear music each Friday evening, where runners begin their races and families meet for dinner. The council has a chance to continue this remarkable progress by voting today for a new downtown library and the iconic canopy for the new stage.” Meanwhile, Forum 35 President J. Slater McKay sent out an email to members of the young professionals group late Tuesday, urging them to voice their opinion on the controversial downtown projects. “We’re all joined together in a rough, common demographic data point: our age. To date, the conversation about what to do with the Downtown Library has almost entirely involved people our parents’ age (in some cases, it may even be our parents). This needs to change,” wrote McKay, who did not take a position for or against the projects in his email. Read the full BRAF release here. Read BRAC’s release here.