It’s Alive
To the editor:
After being here 45 years, I am tired of listening to the naysayers who keep this city and parish tied down with no real growth and improvements. Infrastructure [as some call bad streets and drainage] and the lack of pride [look at all the trash strewn about] seem not to be problems to those people who consistently vote and harangue against any and all plans to improve the area [Daily Report, Aug. 11]. The leaders of these groups seem to have a “what’s in it for me” attitude and care not if it is good for the parish as a whole, the same way our state and federal lawmakers [most of them, anyway] are only concerned with getting re-elected or what is good for their party, rather than what is good for our state or country.
When I first moved here [by choice], we had a mayor who had a positive vision for East Baton Rouge and things were accomplished. Until Mayor Holden, we have not had a mayor with that vision and the guts to try to do something about it. He needs all the support we can give him in this matter, because it is the future for us, our children and grandchildren.
So what if a tourist attraction is included in the package? It might even make a little money and then fool everybody.
Jerry Baldwin, Baton Rouge
Misery loves company
To the editor:
Now the auto industry will begin to know why the cost of health care is so high [Daily Report, Aug. 12]. Money is delayed, and rules keep changing. No one has mentioned that if the government and some insurance companies would just pay on time and not change the rules daily, we could reduce the cost of health care overnight without doing anything else. We all spend a disproportionate amount of money trying to keep up with the rules and payment methodologies. Just ask any health care provider in the city. The HIPPA debacle cost us millions, and I don’t think there were a handful of issues about privacy when they implemented the overburdening rule that has hurt far more than it has helped.
Chris Nichols, Baton Rouge
Bayou blues
To the editor:
I understand that both sides in the Alligator Bayou story [“A bayou runs between them,” Aug. 11] are business owners, and the goal is to make a profit. Both sides are claiming they also want to do good for Louisiana. If this is true, they need to set their pride aside and work together. Together, they can make an awesome area that could bring pride and economic stimulus to Louisiana.
Johnelle Minor, Baton Rouge
To the editor:
This is just wrong. Why must Louisiana always be in everything just for the money? What a shame. The argument to “bring it back to what it once was” is just an excuse for wanting to make money. How wonderful that place will be with 5,000 more cookie-cutter houses. I can’t wait to go visit. My grandkids will love it.
Bobbie Grand, Baton Rouge
To the editor:
There is no way the corporations involved are that interested in preserving the land and the ecosystem. They are all about the money. I have been out to the area before the gates were messed with. I spent Mother’s Day with my entire family and had a wonderful time.
Corporations have gotten so greedy, and politicians have gotten so corrupt, that Alligator Bayou Tours probably will not have a chance bringing the area back to the public and schoolchildren. What a shame that a beautiful place and two people who are so devoted to the area will have to bow down to corrupt politics and greedy corporations because of deep pockets.
Kathy McCoy, Baton Rouge
