New 2010 Census

[richyb83]

Is beefing up Baton Rouge's population essential before the new 2010 census figures come out?? This discussion is basically a continuation I have been a part of on UP for a few years....

2000 or 2004 census has BR around 224,000/227,000 people (EBR 412,000?); but many out-of towners traveling thru BR down I-10 find it hard to believe that Bluebonnet and Siegen with all the large development are not included in the "city limits". While we are not the only city guilty of this; BR has been slow to annex places you would consider "Baton Rouge". If BR did a realistic annexation; the current population would be more than what people see. Thus beefing up BR's population total!

According to citydata.com these area's that might be considered BR; but are technically not included in the population:

Baton Rouge 227,818

* Shenandoah - 17,070 (probably more now)

* Merrydale - 10,427

* Gardere - 8,992

* Oak Hills Place - 7,996

* Village St.George - 6,993

* Old Jefferson - 5,631

* Brownfields - 5,222

* Inniswold - 4,944 (little more now)

* Monticello - 4,763

* Westminster - 2,515

* Millerville - 2,500 (unofficial)

> Add all those places up and you see BR becomes much larger adding roughly +77,000 more people. Then BR's urban population totals are more like 305,000. And really these areas mentioned above are still not including a few smaller pockets... If BR only annexed half that..it would still be approx. 270,000 like southeastBR recently mentioned...

(not the best illustration) Check the outline of BR's city limits..it's almost shaped like a jagged porkchop; with gaping holes in the bottom. The areas mentioned above are the boxes surrounding the city limits..Millerville not boxed

[all2neat]

I never understood why cities in Louisiana are slow to annex.. Bigger city usually means more federal tax dollars.

[southeastBR]

I just remember after Katrina, it was all over the news that New Orleans had lied about their pop. saying it was (484,000) before,when it was in accuality (355,000). I would be surprised to see how many U.S. cities do the same. I can tell you now and truly believe that B.R. has more than 227k! I just hope they get it right this time!

[cajun]

As far as I'm concerned, if you can vote for mayor and city council officials, then you are in Baton Rouge- population approximately 412,000.

[byrde]

To add on to what cajun has starte, I think the form of govt we have is part of the reason why we have been slow to annex. All the areas mentioned by Richy should be "in the city" boundaries along with Central. All the areas have been able to vote for mayor and their own city council member. We have always been providing services to these areas so make them a part of the city.

[cajun]

To add on to what cajun has starte, I think the form of govt we have is part of the reason why we have been slow to annex. All the areas mentioned by Richy should be "in the city" boundaries along with Central. All the areas have been able to vote for mayor and their own city council member. We have always been providing services to these areas so make them a part of the city.

[southeastBR]

I know it's a city/parish government,but man, Baton Rouge will always be counted as the city proper in the census. While every other major city across the country is its own,BR is just the 200k+ city that has been that way since 1980. I just think it would be fair to do a real count of the citizens in the city just to see exactly how many there really is. I would love it if they counted the entire parish, we would be larger than Atlanta,New Orleans, and a few other cities out there.

[cajun]

Not to sound like an ass, but who cares if Atlanta has more residents than Baton Rouge? It's just a statistic on paper...it means very little. If this is some kind of contest, it's not based on population, but quality.

The reason Houston annexes everything is because at the time is to continue new construction to bring in the tax base. Baton Rouge has no need for that since they've consolidated the entire parish and city.

My point is that the people outside the limits are paying city/parish taxes and voting in elections. The only services they receive are the consolidated city/parish services, which are essentially everything but police protection.

EBR is going to be the second largest, if not the largest parish in the state in 2010. I've read estimates between 415,000 and 450,000 people. Better school districts would keep it growing...and there's a lot of land on the north end that only needs a decent highway to open the place up. The political power of New Orleans has been matched, and has shifted away from Orleans/Jefferson and towards the I-12 corridor btw EBR and Slidell. As East Baton Rouge grows, Baton Rouge benefits in many ways.

Which is why it's just backwards to fight a loop that could not only reduce city traffic, but open up land in EBR and help create more linear, more controlled sprawl instead of the massive build up along the major freeways.

[BRPJ]

I know it's a city/parish government,but man, Baton Rouge will always be counted as the city proper in the census. While every other major city across the country is its own,BR is just the 200k+ city that has been that way since 1980. I just think it would be fair to do a real count of the citizens in the city just to see exactly how many there really is. I would love it if they counted the entire parish, we would be larger than Atlanta,New Orleans, and a few other cities out there.

[richyb83]

Thanks for all of yall's replies! Wanted to see what yall had to say on this

The city/parish government seems to have it's positives & negatives...but I will never consider Zachary, Baker and now Central as part of "BR Urban Proper"....they are just suburbs to me...Central would really have to qualify as a rural-burb with it's sprawling boundries. Baton Rouge is only 77 square miles; compare that to slightly smaller(in pop.) southern city's like Mobile 118sq.mi; Little Rock 116; Jackson MS 105; Shreveport 103 sq miles...if BR were to be annexed more to these sizes; it would be realistic to think BR has a pop. of 270,000 or even 310,000!!! Instead of the 224-227k it has ...

>My problem is seeing BR so far down the list ranked #84th Largest City...behind suburban places like PlanoTX(#70); Henderson NV; and Glendale & Chandler AZ....not acceptable to me...if BR were to be at 270k it would RANK #70 just behind Buffalo NY; jumping places like Birmingham, Norfolk, Greensboro and the big "suburbs" listed above like Plano! >If BR was at 305,000 it would RANK #60!!! jumping Toledo; Lexington(that incorporates entire county); Riverside CA, Anchorage AK and Corpus Christi TX!

IMO *Ranking* "Largest" Cities by city limit population alone is not always accurate.... Metro Areas(MSA's) is a more realistic approach....example: I have trouble with #25-Nashville(591,000) being *ranked* ahead of Atlanta #33 (519,000) & #43 Miami(410,000)....when actually Nashville's MSA is only 1.5 million(drops to #39) compared to Miami's 5.4 million(jumps to #7) & Atlanta 5.2 million #9.

>>BR's MSA *ranking is more acceptable to me... #67(770,000).... better than the #84 for city limits alone...I think it silly to see entire counties annexed like Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Lexington,etc...

[BRPJ]

I agree with you richy. Its funny that BR is an Urban Center but is smaller than places like Plano, Texas. With the population figures you've posted of the different neighborhoods, Its clear that Baton Rouge is a much bigger city than those 'official' figures show. I think we should be recognized as a city with 300K it just makes so much sense, also from a census standpoint it would appear to be growth when looking at the population data if w annex the lands.

MSA is a funny thing. Because on the one hand, ATL's population at one time was smaller than New Orleans and New Orleans was the 'bigger' city, but of course Atlanta's Metropolitan population has almost always made it the larger city. Its kinda like Houston being bigger than Dallas, But Dallas has a much larger Metropolitan area. MSA is a better indication of how big a city really is.

[cajun]

Do we get some kind of prize if we "outnumber" some other city?

I still don't see the point. I'd rather have the Sheriff than the City Police on patrol in my neighborhood anyways if I had the choice.

Maybe if someone can explain to me why it even matters if Baton Rouge has x number of people.

City officials have bigger fish to fry...like a cleanliness issue, drainage issues, sewerage, and crime. Seriously, does anyone own a trimmer in Baton Rouge? I'm guessing the city's street sweepers don't see much use either

[dan326]

Our pirze would be, like Richy said, would be a number 70-60.

It's also personal sense of something greater, something to be proud of that people get when they know there city has outdone other cities in certain ways. In the case of Baton Rouge, the sense that our town has finally gotten the recognition we deserve, especially after being tricked over by New Orleans for so long. If Baton Rouge was officially recognized to have 300,000 population, that would put us at the back door of New Orleans and past at lot of other cities that aren't really "on our level".