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TWO SIDES OF POVERTY
I read with great interest Stephanie Riegel’s recent piece on HOPE Ministries’ efforts to increase the employability and retention of our citizens who are struggling with poverty (“A Different Approach to Tackling Poverty,” Business Report, Sept 16). This is a much needed and thoughtful approach to the issues facing our community. I applaud HOPE Ministries and encourage continued support of these efforts. I am grateful to Ms. Riegel for highlighting this effort.
I also found it interesting that the same edition included an editorial about the poor state of our education systems without a mention of the impact of poverty. If we, as a business community, can recognize the many issues around employment that are created by poverty, why can we not also recognize this impact on education? The current accountability system has been shown time and again to primarily measure poverty and where students are when they begin school—not the current state of teaching or the efforts of unions.
No matter one’s stance on education reform, ignoring the impact of poverty will keep any reforms from moving us forward. Our business community and policy leaders must tackle poverty in order to impact both sustained employment of our citizens and the educational experience of our children.
Additionally, paying attention to what the customers of our public schools actually want is important. Through the Beyond Bricks EBR initiative, we learned that most of the messaging of the reform efforts do not capture what we truly desire—excellent schools closer to our homes, less focus on high stakes testing, less interference from the State, more recess, better communication, a new perspective on parental involvement, effective and competent leadership, and a meaningful way for students to have their voices heard. A full report is available at beyondbricksEBR.org/results
Anna Fogle, via email
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EXECUTIVE DEPARTURE
I see no mystery in why corporations and professionals leave Baton Rouge (Executive flight,” Sept. 29). There seems to be a biannual cycle of this kind of “major loss” and the same bunch of people struggling to understand how they could do things differently, followed by making excuses for why they failed.
I think a key issue here is city leaders think Baton Rouge offers something that it does not. There is a tendency to market Baton Rouge as the destination for the offices and the suburbs as a destination for the employees.
Baton Rouge does not have vibrant suburbs. Baton Rouge has a collection of towns outside of Baton Rouge, each of which offers basic resources. These are not bad communities, but they’re neighborhoods, not cultural centers. A professional accustomed to the resources of a suburb of San Jose, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, etc., would find it hard to relocate their lives to Prarieville or Zachary.
Keep in mind that “top performing public schools” are what most of these people already have; that it is an exception in Baton Rouge will indicate to them that the problem is very large, very real, and likely to affect their children during the 12 years they have to deal with it.
Why does the article even discuss the benefits of the country—sorry—suburbs? Isn’t the problem Baton Rouge? Until city leaders try to fix the education, crime, and infrastructure of the city no one in their right mind would move a business here. This isn’t about millions of dollars and a retrofit of an airport that should have closed in 1970. Until the focus shifts to correcting these very real problems Baton Rouge will continue along this cycle of loss.
A suggestion to city leaders, or those who want to be: Get on a plane, go somewhere, and live there for a while. Figure out what makes a successful community tick. It seems everyone else is capable of this—even Detroit is making a comeback despite an entire nation banking on its failure. Come back with ideas, and stop being clueless about why companies don’t want to be in Baton Rouge. I’ll give you a hint: it’s because their employees don’t enjoy the lifestyle, and they can’t find people who do.
A suggestion to the residents: Elect better leaders.
Brad Artigue, via email
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BIKES vs. CARS
I guess bike lanes are more sacrosanct than just plain streets (“A step backward for bikers?” Sept. 29).
You can drive through almost any neighborhood in Baton Rouge and find cars parked on the street. Be it a lawn service working in the neighborhood, or new house or remodeling construction or visitors or an “extra” residences car, it happens each and every day all over town.
In the majority of cases, it blocks two-way traffic and motorists must wait for oncoming traffic to pass to go around the park vehicle. Now apparently this is OK for vehicles, but it is a no-no for bikes.
In the thousands of miles I have biked on city streets and the many thousands of miles walked, I have never have had any “safety” issue with cars parked on street.
I just think the whole issue is blown way out of proportion.
Leonard Coco, via email
Bike lanes are a great idea. In many areas they would work, and speed people along and decrease the traffic congestion. But in the Glenmore area, it seems the bikers want the bike lanes and the whole neighborhood as well.
It seems unreasonable to ticket vehicles parked on the street in front of a home—especially if they are visiting or working at the home. No one wants to exclude the bikers, but there is no reason to ticket vehicles parked on a curb. The bikers can go around or stop and look around.
Bike lanes are great for some areas, but if one can’t park at a friend’s house for dinner or to watch a football game or whatever, we have lost what a neighborhood is.
Julius Mullins, via email
