By “creating an ecosystem around entrepreneurship” and working to establish a medical district in Buffalo, New York, the community has seen a number of economic and health benefits, says Matthew Enstice, president and CEO of Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
Partaking in a panel discussion on Wednesday focusing on Baton Rouge’s efforts to establish a medical district similar to the one Buffalo continues to work on, Enstice told those gathered for the Louisiana Smart Growth Summit that Buffalo’s medical district is spearheading energy infrastructure innovation, engaging youth in healthy initiatives and improving transportation in the city. The district also serves as an incubator and attracts new businesses, Enstice said.
Enstice said Buffalo’s medical district grew from 7,000 employees to 12,000 since 2002, and is anticipating 17,000 jobs by the end of 2017. The district has also seen 5.5 million square feet of new development go up, and it’s still growing, Enstice said.
Creating a local medical district along the Essen-Bluebonnet corridor would encourage entrepreneurship here by serving Baton Rouge-specific needs, such as engaging in diabetes and obesity research and promoting emergency preparedness, locals who sat in on the panel discussion agreed. From what he’s seen, Enstice said, he thinks a medical district in Baton Rouge would be a success.
“You have all the bones in place, and all the right people with all the right attitude in place,” he said.
Enstice emphasized the need to get area hospitals, which often see themselves as competitors, to work together to leverage funding to move Baton Rouge’s district forward. David Green, a principal with Perkins+Will—the firm that the Baton Rouge Area Foundation has hired to create a master plan for the Baton Rouge district—said those conversations are already taking place.
Green displayed a map of the proposed district overlaid with a map of downtown’s street network and argued that new street design, with improved accessibility for the elderly and disabled, is essential.
“If we can’t do that then we’re really accomplishing nothing,” Green said.
Green’s firm will introduce ideas for new transportation, improving land use and building parks during a public meeting on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, which lies on the outskirts of the proposed district.
“It’s hard to imagine this place with a clear identity now, but it will have one,” Green said.
Check out a copy of Green’s presentation. —Kelly Connelly
