“Where am I going to get $110 million?”
That’s the question BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight recently posed to Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel, who notes in her latest column that it’s been nearly a year since a feasibility study estimated the hefty sum is needed to build a new Baton Rouge Zoo at a new location.
“Not surprisingly, nothing has happened in the 11 months since to make the project a reality,” Riegel writes. “Not only was the idea of relocating the zoo from north Baton Rouge to the south of the parish controversial, but the hefty price tag pretty much guaranteed nothing would happen anytime soon.”
And Riegel says BREC isn’t the only agency with a wish list of projects that may never get off the ground. This summer will mark three years since the Baton Rouge Area Foundation unveiled its master plan to enhance the LSU lakes with new walking paths, boat launches, signage and lighting. The project was unveiled to much fanfare, but has been on the slow track since lawmakers in 2015 allocated just $3 million in their construction budget for design and engineering work instead of the $40 million BRAF had sought, she says.
Meanwhile, voters last year rejected a dedicated 1.5-mill tax that would generate $5.8 million for a mental health diversion center—another BRAF project—Riegel notes, adding that Plan B calls for applying for grants to jump-start some sort of programming.
And then there’s the Diabetes and Obesity Center, the cornerstone of the Baton Rouge Health District—another BRAF concept that seeks to brand the health care resources concentrated between Essen Lane and Bluebonnet Boulevard—Riegel says.
Consulting firms submitted proposals to do a feasibility study and business plan for the center, but the upstart health district didn’t have any money to pay for the plan, much less the center itself. Then the August flood happened, presenting the area with some real funding challenges, and the idea for the center got pushed to the back burner, Rigel says.
“It’s a familiar story here in south Louisiana. We can’t get ahead of the eight ball, and though we have good ideas and—in some cases—good intentions, there’s always a more pressing crisis, a budget shortfall, a natural disaster that sets us back,” Riegel writes. “How do you ask voters to fund walking trails when they’re still living in FEMA trailers? How do you justify spending public funds to dredge the lakes when traffic on an over-utilized Mississippi River bridge ties up the metro area in gridlock almost daily? How do you pay for a new zoo when law enforcement agencies are chronically underfunded?”
Read the full column. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
