Does Baton Rouge really want these people?

[cajun]

http://www.businessreport.com/news/2008/de...e-people-gnit1/

By Olivia Watkins (Contact)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The face of change in Baton Rouge looks a lot like Dan Kahn-a 26-year-old, Harvard-educated public school teacher in a sharp business suit with a goal of improving the community through hands-on involvement. He is not a native. He does not bleed purple and gold. And he doesn

[dan326]

First off, I just want to say that I love your posts, Cajun, they're always so thorough and entertaining.

Unfortunately, I don't think I have enough insight to be able to make such a thoughtout comment, but I do agree with what you said. You're right, we do need more jobs, but I must say I do like retail growth. Maybe I have my facts wrong, but along with cuisine I always thought that retail was what made Baton Rouge popular, so whenever a retail project gets cancelled or scaled back I always feel dissapointed.

We do need more young people to stay because young adults seem to be the demographic that attract a lot of the "hip" thing Baton Rouge is looking for.

Maybe or maybe not, but maybe the reason that Baton Rouge can't get more higher-educated jobs is because we just aren't big enough and we are fooled into a false sense of success by our large number of college establishments. Of course, one could argue that if there wasn't something special here, there wouldn't be so many colleges.

A lot of the time people blame the city/state government for not offering enough incentives and business friendly environment for businesses to came/stay here, but after a point one starts to wonder, is it that the government isn't "nice" enough or do businesses just not want to be here. And if it is the government's fault, who's fault is it for electing them into office? Everone wants to point figners, but really everyone is to blame.

One of the biggest things I think can aid our city success. I better infastructure. And not just that, actually maintaining the infustruture; cutting the grass alongs roads, picking up trash, etc. It is it that expensive to put interstate murial up(for real, if anyone knows the answer, please post )?

Well ,anyway that's my two cents. Hope it makes sense!

[byrde]

The city leaders wants the young crowd, but we don't know how to keep them interested. We think they have to be affiliated with LSU or Southern. Just like in Cajuns post about high school, when the youngsters are not connected, we tend to poke fun. We don't know how to embrace those that are not locals. I'm a native that did not go to college locally and when I came home, so many people gave me the advice that I should go away because in their minds, there was no future here. Retail, restaurants, hotels and other service industry jobs will be here. We need a diverse work force that is not tied to the petrochemical industry or oil and gas.

[richyb83]

Read this in Business Report this past week; never thought to make this a thread...thanks Cajun for starting this! Like your analogies of the cities; sounds about right too I love my lifelong city; but BR still can't seem to shake all of it's backwards ways. Baby-steps of progress aren't enough to keep up. I like that we seem to have a "bold" Mayor and "sharp" Governor to hopefully help turn things around.

Sometimes it hard to compare BR to a place like Greater Houston that has a larger population than the entire state of Louisiana. But I understand your point. Houston is like a giant vacuum(ask NOLA); had been trying to land Fortune 500 Shaw Group for many years; but Gov. Jindal finally had to put an end to that!

BR's plans for a Digital City; EA Sports; Properly funding $$ Pennington Bio-medical research institute; and a emerging local film industry are things that can help take BR to another level as well!

BR has come a long way; but has a long way to go. The public school system needs serious work; that's a big obstacle to overcome. More entertainment and affordable housing is needed for downtown if young pro's are going to stick around! Bike paths/trails along linnear park/waterways would be nice.

Places like Towne Center and Perkins Rowe have also elevated BR's status! The city has turned into a shopping mecca; plenty of great restaurants around too! The Nation's "2nd Best" Drinking Water has to count for something! Really nice to have LSU, SU and BRCC here.

Guess I can add more later; if I forgot something.

[cajun]

Places like Towne Center and Perkins Rowe have also elevated BR's status! The city has turned into a shopping mecca; plenty of great restaurants around too! The Nation's "2nd Best" Drinking Water has to count for something! Really nice to have LSU, SU and BRCC here.

Guess I can add more later; if I forgot something.