Mayor Sharon Weston Broome this week doubled up on the annual State of the City-Parish address, ostensibly designed to lay out her priorities and views on the most pressing issues facing East Baton Rouge Parish.
So, what will be coming down the pike from City Hall in 2018? That’s hard to tell following Broome’s addresses, with both lacking specifics.
One does, however, get a general sense of what to expect and of the issues where the mayor intends to focus. For instance, among the initiatives Broome discussed in the first speech on Tuesday, according to The Advocate, were: a “disaster recovery framework” in the context of flooding, a “blight strike team” and a “neighborhood strengthening and development initiative.”
In her second speech a day later at the Rotary Club, the mayor again highlighted a “traffic remediation plan” her team is working on to alleviate the area’s traffic woes. This despite her roads tax failing to make the ballot last fall.
What any of those terms mean in reality remains to be seen.
“It means looking at different options,” Broome told Daily Report of the traffic plan. “We will have to wait and see what Fred (Raiford, director of the department of transportation and drainage) comes up with.”
One specific change that will come is the hiring of a consultant in the first quarter to study ways to make local government more effective and efficient. While the details of that, too, are not yet clear—Broome said it’s too soon to say who it might be or how much it might cost—the idea is to bring in an expert experienced in helping cities maximize “their organizations, their departments to make them more effective and efficient.”
After a somewhat turbulent 2017, where staffing issues and lingering tragedies dominated the headlines at City Hall, Broome regained her footing toward the end of last year, solidifying her top leadership—including a new Baton Rouge police chief and chief administrative officer—and making some digital-focused moves to make basic city services work better.
But the mounting problems facing Baton Rouge aren’t going away, and, in many cases, appear to be getting worse. The 104 or so murders in 2017 made it the deadliest year ever for the parish. Roads remain maddeningly congested with traffic, and the Metro Council is apparently unwilling to let voters have a stab at a property tax proposal to fund upgrades. An inexplicable rash of fires to start the year has already killed more people than all of last year.
That’s not to mention the impending St. George incorporation effort, the yet-to-be-announced Alton Sterling decision and Council on Aging fallout.
Here’s to hoping those vague-sounding initiatives have some serious detail behind them.
Check out the current Business Report cover story on Broome and whether the mayor can find her footing after a rocky first year in office.
—Sam Karlin
