caballero

Lumping Broadmoor and big chunks of Sherwood Forest into your group C doesn't make much sense. That's 5,000 predominantly white households (70-75%) that lean mostly centrist conservative or more traditional democrat...I would even challenge you on Villa Del Ray (pre-flood) as it is still 50%+ Asian and (older) whites. Most blacks who live there and in Goodwood Homesites (neighborhood behind old fun fair park location, RIP) I would consider relatively well off middle class (New truck and boat in the driveway...well kept house and yard, etc.)...These people don't vote for the Chuana Banks or the Denise Marcelles of the world if better options present. That said I think your description is mostly correct outside of those areas...However, should Broadmoor and Sherwood (West Sherwood for District 6) see a resurgence in younger, middle class homebuyers (as it is now especially with the post flood Sherwood Renovations) you could see a push for a more centrist and ambitious candidate (although probably still a Dem.) I think if Scott Wilson (Republican) Dist.4 ceded East Sherwood Forest, district 6 could (if all was in alignment) go Republican if that seat were to open up. So If anything I think your yellow should extend further east to encompass Broadmoor/Sherwood Forest areas and maybe overlap with 'D'...

It's 20 acres. It's for sale. Part of the property fronts Government street. The right development could be sensitive to the remaining property and "museum"...I would never advocate for any historic property to be torn down, especially with the strip mall, pre-fab crap that goes up in this town. But, it's 20 acres of soon-to-be prime real estate. SOME Limited retail (a cafe, hair salon?) and high end town homes would be the only viable reason for a developer to purchase it for the price they are asking. I'm actually surprised at your reaction, I mean you did post a road 'build-out' map in which one of your "boulevards" appears to take out the plantation house and half of Old Goodwood in the process.

The Wittier property would make a nice Signature Central Park someday. Im sure cost would probably be prohibitive unless it was donated to the city for that purpose.

I could certainly see Government street becoming something very special if things keep clicking like they are now. Entergy site, Westmoreland, Area (where Jefferson Hwy meets Government) and Goodwood plantation site (now up for sale). Not sure if retail would be viable at the Goodwood site, but it certainly would be nice to have some high end retail at that end of Gov. St.

Thanks, glad you looked at it. As I said still a work in progress. That large shaded blue area just designates a larger solid employment area. I actually bike commuted from mid-city to Sherwood Forest Blvd. for a while (would NOT recommend) and realized lots of people work over in that general area. I like the idea of giving people an alternative to driving(or more likely sitting in traffic) and it was only like 3-4 miles. If you build it and it's safe, people will use it. The swirling trail was just an idea I had to use that area of woods for an easy recreational/jogging/hiking trail. You could remove that out and still have the trail running along Essen, but just thought it would be neat since that wooded area is a public resource not being used currently. If you ask me that Essen corridor needs bike access more than anywhere else in the city. You could still do Duplantier, but definitely would need a higher and drier alternative imo. Basically my route from kennilworth to Hyacinth then along LEE Drive already exists as a patched together network and would require way less time and money to implement. Which is ultimately my point. We need to get this thing up and running asap and stop lolly gagging along with short term, isolated plans. Once the public catches on to the idea that they can go anywhere in the city, safely, then you pitch the loftier ideas.

I created this biking/pedestrian map. It's still a work in progress. I have left out some areas because I don't know the area or it already has decent connectivity. I may come back and add those areas later... I've identified many of the problem spots, roads and other missing infrastructure to which BR should be focusing money and attention. I also highlight existing trails, key low traffic roads, planned trails and trails that need to be replaced, but already serve as rideable & walkable infrastructure. Lack of safe and marked intersections is a major problem in this city and a deterrent to families and new riders getting out there and riding/walking to local businesses, parks, etc. Some of this will NEVER happen with the old school mentality we have here in BR, but in most instances is the ONLY alternative to getting under i10 (for instance). Also, I recommend not building trails along major drainage creeks whenever possible because of the maintenance that would be required to keep these trails open. Flooding and errosion is no small concern, especially along Duplanier and Ward. I grew up with Duplanier in my backyard and do trail work at many local MTB trails so I can tell you it would be a huge liability and the trails in those areas would be closed much of the year. So, i avoided proposing those routes in my map. I feel like BR needs a comprehensive plan to catch up to many peer cities competing against us for investment and in-migration. Please feel free to give me your opinions or suggest revisions, etc. https://flic.kr/p/sWocv8

Commenting on an old post, but I've heard (from reliable sources) that BREC will not even finish the bridge because it would be too heavy to prefab and crane into place and too costly to re-build it any other way. As an avid cyclist over the past 15 years I've viewed this trail with skepticism from the very beginning. And it's sadly taken about as long to even get the trail to this point. A lot of money and time went into building pedestrian/bike infrastructure in the wrong place if you ask me. That money could have been better spent to remedy multiple problem spots around the city that have been real obstacles to safe riding/commuting.

New Orleans is neither of those places. Not even close. The scale of Tokyo and areas around Manhattan are enormous and would envelope a footprint larger than BR and NO combined. We will simply never see that kind of growth in Louisiana. New Orleans can't physically "grow" into BR because there are vast areas that can't be developed. Besides it's been BR suburbs like Gonzales that have grown south at a faster rate.

I'm not sure you were replying to me, but I think anyone with an ounce of sense recognizes the importance of a city like New Orleans to a state with only 4 million men, women and children. As far as importance placed on either city, BR is the center of political power in Louisiana, home of our only major university, location of the 4th largest refinery in the US and the list goes on....I wish people would try to look at the bigger "reality" picture rather than simply twisting things into a BR vs. NO contest...it really is just splitting hairs at some point. I think I made a convincing point in my earlier comments (which I might expand on now) that the available land and infrastructure in which to grow (industry, population, etc.) is nearly taxed out in NO and that BR is the most prepared to pick up the slack (in fact already is) because of it's proximity as well as shared access to river, rail, etc.. BOTH metro areas are huge, but the Baton Rouge area's physical footprint is probably already double that of NO area...BR is nearing 830,000 and NO is around 1.2 (not exactly what I would call "significantly larger"). In addition New Orleans lost population after Katrina and one could make the argument that the influx of people is only bringing that population back up to where it was pre 2005. Perhaps that explains the higher growth rates? Don't forget that New Orleans had about a century more to establish a higher population point and BR really only started growing in the later 1950's and 60's. I pointed out the flaws in BR as well. There are many...Yet in spite of that, I think we will see that in the next 20-30 years the BR metro area will be dominant in growth if only due to the lack of space and relative expense of everything in NO. Most of that growth will probably be sprawling, poorly planned suburbia, but that will still shift the power north even more. I do think that cooperation between NO and BR will be vital (more so to the economic survival of NO than BR) going forward and perhaps one day both will be considered one large, disjointed metro.

I would counter that New Orleans is CURRENTLY experiencing growth. But, that city is going to get prohibitively expensive in the relative short term (20 years or less). Parking, housing, land is already getting there...There isn't much land that can be developed between BR and NO until you get to the outskirts of Gonzales (which is a suburb of BR basically). Also, and it's been a while, but the potential for future damaging hurricanes & flooding, will catch up with NO. A lot of the influx of young professionals and new businesses have yet to experience the full force of nature and the economic & lifestyle hit that comes with that. Certainly BR get's it's share as well, but we aren't one of the oldest and most congested major cities in the US boxed into a narrow strip of land between a major river to the south, huge lake (connected to the gulf) to the north and swamps to the east and west. Plus I still question whether the culture of corruption isn't still very much alive and well there. If anything I could see continued growth in and around Hammond, Covington, Slidell and see those cities merge, but none of those has the potential (large population base & existing major companies & political pull) that Metro BR has in my opinion. Does that mean we shouldn't coordinate economic planning with NO? Of course we should, but, we need to prioritize our own goals first. We have not done as well as we could have since no one seems to be on the same page at times. There are still too many small thinkers in BR, even those boutiques people think are sooo cool are just carbon copies of stuff people did in other towns years ago...New Orleans on the other hand seems to be hitting on all cylinders in many areas. Props to them. I can easily see Baton Rouge catching and surpassing New Orleans in terms of attractiveness to larger companies with differing priorities than the cool crowd moving into and gentrifying parts of NO. Will we surpass NO in terms of population anytime soon? Probably not, but I don't think that really matters since metropolitan statistical area populations are relatively the same.

Correct, but a rail link with Lafayette would be useful although I don't think the funding would be as readily available as a line to NO. Honestly, I found the culture in Laffy wasn't very different from BR and largely overrated.

I think rail would better service an East/West line From Lafayette to BR to Hammond/Covington/North Shore areas. There is more developable land (East of BR) unlike the swamps between BR and NO. Although from an O&G and chem industry standpoint you will always have a need for sites with river & rail access. Lots of NO Money and power players live on the North Shore as well. From an economic standpoint a joint endeavor might be a good idea. Even if it's just a surface, marketing gimmick you could combine efforts to pull a major global company, but still compete for the small to mid-sized fish...I agree though that this may not work in our favor. I want NO to thrive as well, but I would like to see us focus more on our assets here and stop looking south for an identity. Metro NO is growing more diversified economically (especially in the creative, tourism and tech industries) and is very much indeed a major competitor with BR for this business. If Baton Rouge doesn't start thinking bigger, taking the lead and behaving like we know what we are doing we will always be seen as the little brother to NO. Just my 2¢.

Drusilla was packed today. Could not find one open parking spot in the entire complex. So many good things happening in this area.

Yep, never thought I would end up back here. I like BR, but one of the places I've research a good bit is Denver. It really does have far greater amenities than cities double its size (ie, every major professional sport including MLS). It's funny to hear people in Denver complain about their public school, infrastructure, crime issues...they really have no idea how good they have it.

Thanks! Oddly, I ran across this site a year or so ago when I was looking for info about Denver or some other city. This is by far one of the most frequently updated forums on Urban Planet. Lots of interesting topics and discussion and I hope to maybe add to that when I can. I was born and raised in BR. Moved away for about 12 years then moved back a few years ago for work. I really have not spent that much time in downtown since moving back, but it's like night and day. I remember when my friends and I used to skateboard downtown (back in the early 90's), if you saw a person walking around at night that was an odd sight. There were only one or two bars on 3rd street and that was it.

Here is another of just the IBM building. Again pardon the link... https://flic.kr/p/qXkM7H

Amazed by how much progress I see in downtown BR. 3rd Street is obvious with construction big and small. I was even more impressed with everything I see on Main Street. I can easily see the stretch between 6th and 9th (ending at the creative block) being another entertainment / hip housing area in a few years. Anyway thought I would add a panoramic photo I created today. Sorry, I can't figure out how to embed the image...May try to get back out there and do the same shot each month until construction is done? https://flic.kr/p/rcuuZ7