The debate about moving the Baton Rouge zoo has become about far more than simply finding the best location, Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister writes in his new column.
“For some it appears to be about winning the turf battle and sending a message—and BREC’s zoo is the trophy,” McCollister says.
BREC wants to spend $110 million to move the zoo southward—away from its current location at Greenwood Park. In exchange, BREC would spend $40 million to make Greenwood a regional park.
If the debate were simply about the location, McCollister says he believes a new southward location would win out. After all, he recalls being told the zoo was once located at City Park, but was moved northward to Baker after Woody Dumas became mayor. Dumas was previously mayor of Baker.
“I guess Woody won the trophy then,” McCollister writes. “But a lot of things were different in 1966. North Baton Rouge was economically strong, and Sherwood Forest was at the edge of south Baton Rouge. Many of the car dealers at that time were on Scenic Highway or Florida Boulevard in north Baton Rouge. Notice how they moved to Florida and then down Airline Highway to Siegen and then even to Denham Springs and Gonzales? They followed the growth, the population and the money.”
The current battle, however, has become personal, pitting the northern part of the parish against the southern part, McCollister writes.
Opponents of BREC’s proposal—including Metro Councilwoman Chauna Banks—are attacking the messenger and a study that examines whether the zoo should remain in its current location. Even Mayor Sharon Weston Broome joined the conversation by penning a letter to the BREC Commission supporting the zoo at its current location.
North Baton Rouge, she wrote, should be the focus of investment and moving the zoo would be a step backwards.
“There you see it—North vs. South,” McCollister writes. “But running the zoo properly would involve millions in tax dollars and more resources. It must be sustainable, not just a trophy on the shelf that tarnishes over time. That’s what we have now.”
McCollister says this debate is no longer about finding the most viable location—one that might increase traffic from growth areas and other parishes and attract more customers—for the zoo.
It’s also not about whether the zoo can be an ‘economic development’ tool for north Baton Rouge. No business is going to relocate to north Baton Rouge just to cash in on zoo traffic, he says, adding that hasn’t happened in 47 years.
“It is about drawing a line in the sand and flexing political muscle and public pressure to face down south Baton Rouge and hang on to turf and the “trophy” Woody Dumas won 50 years ago for the North,” he says.
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