When Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister recently found himself enjoying an evening at the Water Campus, on what used to be the old City Dock overlooking the Mississippi River, he couldn’t help but think of all the progress that has been made in Baton Rouge over the past two decades.
“We were there to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Plan Baton Rouge and all that has been accomplished,” McCollister writes in his latest column. “It was a dream come true to see people dancing on the dock to the music, when just a couple years ago it was a rusty relic and eyesore at the gateway to our capital city.”
Andres Duany, who led the first charrette that produced a new vision for downtown 20 years ago, returned to Baton Rouge for the event. McCollister says Duany told him that there were many creative people in Baton Rouge who had great ideas, but nobody would listen to them.
“He said he took the best ideas, put them together and presented them with authority,” McCollister writes, noting Duany was not shy from being brutally honest and forthright in his views. “He also said something profound to the crowd. ‘The progress you have made has been more than in other cities—but it took longer,’ he said.”
Intrigued by the comment, McCollister followed up with Duany.
“He told me he had recently been to Cuba, where there are serious consequences if you speak your mind and express your ideas,” McCollister writes. “But he realized that, here in America, we all have the freedom to speak up, and share ideas and opinions—and the worst that happens is you upset a few people. They get over it. He said people should be more willing to be bold, speak their minds and share ideas. We all benefit.”
That’s why we can’t accept the status quo, McCollister says.
“It holds us back and slows our progress. The status quo may have worked in the past, but with the pace of change today, there are great risks with being slow. The next ‘20 years’ of change will happen in 10. It is time for us all to pick up the pace, speak up and lead.”
Read the full column, in which McCollister also discusses the need for a constitutional convention in Louisiana; the delay of an investigation by the Louisiana Judiciary Commission into a complaint made against District Court Judge Mike Erwin; the opening of a BASIS charter school in Baton Rouge; and the need to enforce a new sign ordinance.
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