In his latest column, Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister challenges state Sen. Regina Barrow on her position that everything on the south side of East Baton Rouge Parish should be available on the north side of the city.
The legislator made the statement before an audience gathered for a Feb. 18 town hall meeting about economic development and the lack of emergency health care services in north Baton Rouge.
“I had to wonder, ‘What reality is she living in?’,” McCollister writes. “Is she expecting a Mall of Louisiana at Plank Road and Airline Highway? Does she want a Crowne Plaza with a conference center at Winbourne Avenue and Airline? Oh, and does she wants a specialty hospital on Harding Boulevard?”
McCollister says north Baton Rouge is much different place now than when his father grew up there and later opened a business on Plank Road. But that’s to be expected, he says.
“Shucks, all of Baton Rouge has changed over the last 20 years. That’s the way cities evolve, and you deal with the changing demographics and market trends—and consumer choices—not to mention the money in circulation and profits generated. Decisions by businesses, consumers or government have to be sustainable,” McCollister writes.
He notes north Baton Rouge once had a power center called North Park, which also had a movie theater. It’s gone now and so are the Bellemont Motor Hotel and The Great Hall, McCollister adds.
A high-quality Greater Baton Rouge Surgical Hospital, a 10-bed facility in Howell Place Business Park are also is gone, notes. Mostly owned by minority physicians, the hospital lost $7 million over its last four years due to patient volume, says McCollister.
“These businesses all wanted to stay open but couldn’t due to economics. Not an issue of black or white—but green,” he writes.
McCollister also says he doesn’t buy into Barrow’s “chicken-or-the-egg” argument that economic development can reduce the crime in north Baton Rouge.
“Unfortunately, the crime issue and economic issue are caused by the poor education and dropout issue. These also affect the unemployment and income levels, which are a major factor in the market for goods and services,” McCollister writes. “Even if there was no crime, if there are no profits, a business is not interested. That’s the reality that seemed missing from the town hall meeting. There is no ‘Santa’ who hands out grocery stores or hospitals.”
Read the full column. Also, read a response from state Sen. Regina Barrow to a request for comment from McCollister that was received after publication of his column. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
