Candidates focus on EBR transportation needs

• By AMY WOLD
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Sep 30, 2008 - Page: 4B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Candidates for Metro Council District 11 agree that traffic congestion in East Baton Rouge Parish needs to be addressed through supporting public transportation and promoting other transportation options, such as rapid transit.

Jean Armstrong, president of the League of Women Voters of Baton Rouge and moderator for a candidates’ forum Monday night at Jefferson Baptist Church, started the discussion by asking several audience-generated questions about the Capital Area Transit System.

Candidate Matt Watson, an independent, said that, if elected, he would work to get local funding for CATS, which would give the public bus system a better chance of getting federal funding.

However, Watson said, there needs to be massive reworking of the bus lines and the routes to make it workable for people.

In addition, more transportation alternatives, such as bike paths, need to be provided for people to get to a store or school or work without having to get in their cars, he said.

Candidate Alison Cascio, a Republican, agreed and said she supports finding local funding for CATS because the need for public transportation will only continue to grow. She also said she would like to see the system reworked to make it more useable.

“More and more people are going to rely on public transit. It needs to be safe and it needs to be on time,” Cascio said.

It’s important to remember that transportation issues are connected to how the city-parish handles land use issues, she said. “We need to take a holistic look at how we develop,” Cascio said.

Candidate Donald Hodge, a Democrat, also said that local funding for CATS is needed to provide better public transportation and provide the city-parish more of a voice in how the  system is run.

“Mass transit is needed to cut down on the amount of traffic,” Hodge said.

Other possibilities to address traffic include encouraging carpooling and encouraging large employers, such as the state or universities, to allow people to stagger their working hours, he said.

“It would cut down on the amount of people all trying to get to the same place at the same time,” Hodge said.

Candidate Scott Lemoine, a Republican, also agreed that local funding should be found for CATS. “People are trying to get out of their cars,” he said.