Christmas Wishlist

[dan326]

What do you want to breakground most of all (excluding RiverPlace Condominiums)? What kind of development would you like to see come to Baton Rouge?

[buckett5425]

While this not might be development like a new park, shopping area, or office tower, its still something i would "wish" for lol...

Dear Santa,

For Christmas this year I would like for every road mentioned in the green light plan to be completed within the year, I-10 to be widended, and for the loop to be finished as soon as possible! I want the roads of Baton Rouge to be traffic for the people so they will have less stress in their lives.(Maybe since im thinking of others, this wish will come true? LOL)

Love, Buckett

p.s. can we get lots of tall buildings downtown?

haha, seriously though, traffic here is worse then cities of the same size. i've complained about it before, and i mean it. we need to get something done about our roads!

[richyb83]

Well said buckett Where do I begin Dan?? Interesting topic! I will try to condense this

*Upgrade the Interstate System in BR with extra lanes; and continous turn lanes. More frontage roads too. And extend the extra lanes to Gonzales(I-10) & Walker (I-12)

*The Green Light Plan has already been a gift IMO; just wish things moved a little faster. More turn lanes on the surface streets

*Synchronized traffic signals for the entire city!!!

*A vibrant 24/7 downtown! With Lamar Digital Billboard for the Third Street parking garage

*More high-rise towers in the CBD for a legit skyline (see example below)

*Tall hotel along the riverfront downtown

* A Dave & Buster's type venue

*Something really nice at the old Advocate site

*A bike-path from Olympia Park to University Lake

*Some 10 to 12-story condo's for Perkins Rowe

*Some new mid-rises near the Marriott and CitiPlace(office or hotel) like W aLoft??

*More mixed-use villages; hopefully Rouzan and maybe for the old Westmoreland shopping center in Mid City.

*A huge Science Park at Pennington

*Light-rail transit system; bring back scrapped Laurel Tower plans..guess I can dream

This 400'+ old never built Fidelity Bank Tower would look nice between One American Place & the Chase Towers

And most importantly, "no more crime"! Well...I guess I can really dream

I'm sure there are somethings I forgot, but this is a good start

[dan326]

What I would like most is :

• A lightrail system with a major downtown/midcity hub
  
• A revived downtown and Florida Boulevard
  
• More highrises for downtown, Citiplace area, and Essen
  
• More new brands of hotels(One of my favorite type of development )
  

Well Richy, you might get that Perkins Rowe wish as they are planning a phase two with 100's of residential units on a small plot of land.

[BRPJ]

ooh this is fun!

- A new booming economy sparked by new industries

- Reform of the education system, and real change with positive results

- Some form of a Loop, and the widening of all BR interstates, including and extention of I-110 to Zachary

- 10 new dowtown highrises, 4 of these at least 25+ stories, and 2 of those between 35 - 45 stories!

- New entertainments venues such as gameworks, and dave and busters, main events

- A inner city population on 400,000 by 2020, and metro pop of 1.2 million

Okay maybe I'm dreaming but ...

[twstdndmntd]

ooh this is fun!

- A new booming economy sparked by new industries

- Reform of the education system, and real change with positive results

- Some form of a Loop, and the widening of all BR interstates, including and extention of I-110 to Zachary

- 10 new dowtown highrises, 4 of these at least 25+ stories, and 2 of those between 35 - 45 stories!

- New entertainments venues such as gameworks, and dave and busters, main events

- A inner city population on 400,000 by 2020, and metro pop of 1.2 million

Okay maybe I'm dreaming but ...

Can I just steal this wish list? Especially the 10 new downtown highrises and the population wishes.

[BRPJ]

Can I just steal this wish list? Especially the 10 new downtown highrises and the population wishes.

haha

[byrde]

Southwest and Airtan Airlines

I basically cosign the rest of Richy's post above.

[dan326]

ooh this is fun!

- A new booming economy sparked by new industries

- Reform of the education system, and real change with positive results

- Some form of a Loop, and the widening of all BR interstates, including and extention of I-110 to Zachary

- 10 new dowtown highrises, 4 of these at least 25+ stories, and 2 of those between 35 - 45 stories!

- New entertainments venues such as gameworks, and dave and busters, main events

- A inner city population on 400,000 by 2020, and metro pop of 1.2 million

Okay maybe I'm dreaming but ...

Can I just steal this wish list? Especially the 10 new downtown highrises and the population wishes.

I third that!

I would also like to see Juban's Crossing, Longwood Village, and the development between O'Neal Lane and I-10 get started.

[hagetaka]

Mid Rise apartments & condos down Florida Blvd from Acadian to Wooddale, See a new center of activity around Wooddale & Tom Drive Intersection, maybe some 8 {sodEmoji.|} 500 footers - 13 around the 350 mark, yea Im just on the idea of a new center.

[cajun]

More affordable new housing/rental property in west baton rouge.

That ought to get those younger students closer to downtown....cause I am betting that those brownstones on 4th street are not going to be cheap.

- Some form of a Loop, and the widening of all BR interstates, including and extention of I-110 to Zachary

How about making HWY 61 limited access (freeway) all the way to the new bridge in St. Francisville? Zachary would grow like crazy.

[BRPJ]

More affordable new housing/rental property in west baton rouge.

That ought to get those younger students closer to downtown....cause I am betting that those brownstones on 4th street are not going to be cheap.

How about making HWY 61 limited access (freeway) all the way to the new bridge in St. Francisville? Zachary would grow like crazy.

exactly, except i think 1-110 should merge into 61 and be like I-110/61 . the growth would be tremedous

[yis2003yis]

exactly, except i think 1-110 should merge into 61 and be like I-110/61 . the growth would be tremedous

somethings going to go down on 61...it'a alotta development back there...i manage deliver drivers part time at domino's in baker...and we drive all through the baker n zachary area 61 is getting ready to get realllllll busy......Main st. in zachary developing great

Baker started to gut out thoes old shopping centers that use to be the super fresh and albertsons...i dont know whats going there...but it's a good look but

do yall thing 61 will connect to the loop thats running through that north BR area?

[MobileLSUboy09]

I want a completed loop, tall buildings downtown, cool downtown living, better parking, a park n ride system, better public transit, widen I-10 to new orleans, and 12 all the way to slidell (traffic sucks between BR and Slidell), better public schools, nicholson to be widened or made into controlled access past lee/brightside all the way to Gonzales (trust me, its good foresight), aaaaaand Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines, better coastal erosion protection...... everyone save your christmas trees for that!

thanks santa!

[richyb83]

Well Christmas came & went quickly; made me think of this thread that was started just over 4 years ago...Some interesting responses...There were some serious wishes here back then! lol How has the wish-list turned out so far?? Some real positives & negatives; some still in waiting??

[dan326]

Defintely a throwback! My hotel wish came true although I'm wishing more and more the Juban Crossing one hadn't.

[richyb83]

Good to see the hotel come to fruition...I hear you on the Juban Crossing...they spared NOT ONE tree

One wish not included for me currently would be to see the redevelopment of Acadian Village...that land is so prime to be vacant so long!

[richyb83]

Already that time of year again...  After a 5 year hiatus for this thread...Why Not bump it up...you can always wish....enjoyed reading the interesting comments above from way back!

A Modern / gleaming  400'ft High-rise Office Tower for the CBD on Fourth Street

This one's actually 375'  @  27-stories

MERRY CHRISTMAS UP!! 

[Mr. Burnham]

I wish for our city to not fall apart, the progress we've made to continue, and for a massive federal transportation bill pass so that we have money to fix our transportation backlog and invest in some new transit options.

[dan326]

Literally LOL!! Richy how did you find this old thread with my name as the OP on it ??lol My Christmas wish is for our city to have 1st class roadways with an Airline highway freeway loop.

[cajun]

-Diversion canal to mitigate flooding. 

-Better disaster relief with faster aid dispursement and a return to normal life ASAP

-A major corporate relocation to Baton Rouge

-New 400 room hotel downtown

-Major event/convention

-Beat Bama

-Widening and improvement of Airline Hwy and I-10 in Baton Rouge

-Southwest Airlines service at BTR

-More local interest and care about the long term future of their community  

-Flurry of ISD's established in East Baton Rouge

-A break from serious hurricanes, flooding, terror attacks, industrial accidents, or other national tragedies

[all2neat]

I think apt.of everyone's wish list things are possible provided transportation is fixed, schools are fixed, and the state government is fixed and not broke.

[cajun]

3 hours ago, all2neat said:

I think apt.of everyone's wish list things are possible provided transportation is fixed, schools are fixed, and the state government is fixed and not broke.

State government has been disfunctional for my entire life.  I actually do not understand what Louisiana has to show for their relatively high taxes.  The infrastructure is functionally obsolete, and what exist is poorly maintained.   The schools suck.   There seems to be no control over development.  

Governing bodies seem to exist to enrich themselves without providing services in return.   It is no wonder why people are reluctant to tax themselves for better infrastructure.  There is no trust or credibility in state government or in most local governments.  It was only a few years ago that the FBI field office in Baton Rouge successfully conducted "operation blighted officials" that brought federal charges to a half dozen mayors and politicians in the region.   We've had former governors actually serve time in prison fairly recently.   We have a current governor whose family made a fortune suing the types of businesses the state needs to attract   

It is almost like parts of Louisiana are more like a 3rd world middle eastern or Central American oil country than part of the USA   

It can and should be so much more  

 

Add something else to my wish list:

Louisiana needs a litigious society to attract business.   

[dan326]

^ I was joking with my friend that we need to turn our government over to Texas because whatever kind of shady stuff they're doing they can do it to where its not obviously affecting the general populace.