Mayor focuses on tour issues

• By SCOTT DYER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Mar 8, 2009 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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When Mayor-President Kip Holden asked East Baton Rouge residents to speak out during his recent listening tour, he heard calls for more bike paths but less crime, litter and traffic congestion.

Others called for widespread changes to the bus system.

Holden said the feedback from hundreds of residents during his 12-stop tour Feb. 4-19 is helping him shape some priorities for his second term.

“I can tell you that we have to make this city cleaner, we have to do something about the crime that primarily (is) going on in the inner city,” Holden said.

Residents who attended the forums were not only given a chance to voice their concerns directly to the mayor, but also were given cards and asked to list their top three priorities for city-parish government.

Traffic congestion and litter were among the most common responses on the cards.

Many of the traffic-related concerns focused on localized problems such as potholes and the need for better signs. Others complained about traffic congestion on roads that are already planned for improvement under the Green Light Plan.

And there were concerns expressed both for and against the proposed Baton Rouge loop, which would bypass most of the heavily developed areas in and around Baton Rouge.

The 80-mile loop would be split both north and south of Interstate 12 near Walker, run north and south of Baton Rouge, and rejoin Interstate 10 west of the Mississippi River.

Jeanie Barnett, of 14810 Crystal Drive, asked the mayor to “improve traffic without dividing Central with a loop.”

Jim McCartney, of 4021 38th St., said he wants to see a southern loop prioritized within seven years, and a northern loop established within 14 years.

Litter and trash were the most universal concerns, with people voicing those complaints at almost every stop on the mayor’s tour.

Becky Tassin, of 1207 Mills Pointe Drive in Zachary, said the litter problem is especially bad along U.S. 61, Interstate 110, I-10 and I-12 — all heavily traveled by visitors and motorists passing through Baton Rouge.