Forging ahead: Mayor Kip Holden and city-parish officials will kick off a $19 million project to improve O’Neal Lane at a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday. The project, as part of the Green Light Plan, will include adding two through lanes from South Harrell’s Ferry Road to George O’Neal Road, developing a raised median and sidewalks along both sides of O’Neal Lane, and making curb and gutter drainage improvements. The groundbreaking will take place at Temple Baptist Church, 3650 O’Neal Lane, from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Get complete details on the O’Neal Lane improvement plan.
Next step: If you can’t make it to Thursday’s public meeting on TramLinkBR, the proposed streetcar line along Nicholson Drive between LSU and downtown, you can still watch the meeting live via Periscope broadcast. The meeting takes place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the River Center, with Mayor Kip Holden and Ashley Booth, project manager with HNTB Corp., to give a brief presentation at 6 p.m. The remainder of the meeting will be an open house format to allow the public to view displays, ask questions and get additional information from the project team. Holden’s office says this will be the first time a city-parish public meeting will be streamed via the popular video app. You can tune in on Periscope by following @TheCityofBR on the app. Get complete details on TramLinkBR.
Smoke-free support: A group of local, state and national public health entities released a poll Tuesday showing about 70% of Baton Rouge voters support extending the statewide smoke-free ban to include bars and casinos as a group of local residents push to make the change. The group says it is working with Metro Council members to craft the ordinance and hopes to introduce it soon. “Voters throughout East Baton Rouge Parish and across party lines strongly support extending the smoke-free policy to all workplaces,” says Jim Hobart, vice president of Public Opinion Strategies, in a statement. “Voters are more likely to go out to bars and casinos if the smoke-free law is extended, and are also more likely to support a candidate who backs the smoke-free law extension.” See the full poll results.
