In a slick, glossy report published by the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority in 2012, Mayor Kip Holden wrote a letter praising the agency for its hard work and accomplishments during its first three years in operation.
“As a new partner in community revitalization, the RDA’s accomplishments are astoundingly broad in scope, creating a positive, unique impact on the revitalization and growth of Baton Rouge,” the letter read.
But just two years later, as Business Report details in an expansive new cover story, the RDA has fallen on uncertain times and few in high places are singing its praises. The agency is running out of money and will have to shut down by the end of 2015 if no permanent funding source is identified. Holden has refused to allocate city-parish funds to help keep it afloat, and has pointedly criticized its former president and CEO, Walter Monsour, who resigned in November amid controversy.
“Whatever the underlying personal reasons for the mayor’s animus towards his one-time friend and former chief of staff—and many believe there is a personal issue here—the questions the mayor has posed about the agency’s performance under Monsour invite scrutiny,” reads the cover story by Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel. “Specifically, what has the RDA accomplished in the past five years? Moreover, how did an agency run by one of the city’s most capable and proven administrators—an agency empowered with sweeping legal powers to redevelop blighted property—fall on such hard times?”
Read the complete cover story, and check out a series of related stories on the RDA. They include a look at the original mission of the RDA, as well as some of the agency’s unrealized plans. There are also stories on problems the agency has had securing federal New Markets Tax Credits, and success it has had with gap financing and business improvement grant programs.
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