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Baton Rouge will skyrocket to Detroit status when this happens (it will).
The Baton Rouge rich already send their kids to private schools. Baton Rouge has been shedding it's working population for 50 years. This is just another piece demonstrating that fact.
The HUGE difference now will be that a lot of the commercial tax dollars will be in St. George. Baton Rouge will have downtown, the plants, and ghetto.
Just a note - I do not live in BR any more. I have a lot of friends that do and they are pretty passionate about getting this done.
Baton Rouge is already just downtown, the plants and the ghetto. That decay will continue regardless of this outcome. All of St. George is not in the Baton Rouge city limits. The people this move benefits the most are not the rich. It benefits working families who want to send their kids to better schools but cannot quite afford to get their kids into one of the good private schools in Baton Rouge. They yearn for what their friends in Ascension, Livingston, Central and Zachary have. Local schools with high test scores. Like I said, the rich are already in private schools or they left. NOT doing this is only going to seem a slap in the face to these middle income families who want to stay in EBRP because it is home to them. If they feel they can't, they will do what previous generations did. Move. There is no easy or painless solution here. There is too much history behind it all. The one thing the St. George move will do is stop the exodus of families to neighboring communities and parishes.
Baton Rouge as a community was destroyed by the deseg case. It was every story on the news throughout my entire life leading up to my leaving for Tech in 1991. Everyone had an opinion and time only made everyone on either side more bitter towards the other. Houston was smart. They broke up into small independent school districts which kept local interest and then they said you could go to any school you could get your kids to. Case solved, neighborhood schools retained. Baton Rouge suffered for decades under people trying to find a way to make minority percentages the same at all schools resulting kids sitting on busses for upwards of 2 hours a day. None of those kids who sat on those busses wanted to subject their own kids to that. Nobody went to school near where they lived and they went to school with kids they couldn't hang out with after school. Soon nobody cared about the schools where they lived or where they were going. This result is not exactly unexpected and it will take generations to heal from.
This is a VERY serious issue all over the South. I have relatives in the Memphis-area where this came to a head a few years back...and is on the verge of busting wide open again. Similarly to Monroe City Schools vs. Ouachita Parish Schools, it was previously the poorer, inner-city Memphis City Schools, and the more affluent Shelby County system. Well, some of y'all that live up there can add commentary to how it went down, but a couple of years back the two MERGED...with the utopian view being, it would bring the poor Memphis City schools up to the level of the Shelby County system and give kids more "opportunity" -- enter bussing of kids from the 'burbs to the hood and vice versa. To say polar opposite cultures between the two environments would be an gross understatement. These kids were thrown into worlds they NEVER KNEW existed, and some on both sides have REALLLLLLY struggled.
Now the former Shelby County school areas are trying to "secede" and do something sort of similar to what exists in Texas: Each community having its OWN school district. For instance, they'd have "Bartlett School Systems" or "Germantown Public Schools" and operate as "ISD's" ---
Baton Rouge...Monroe...and others are probably watching how it unfolds 200 miles up the big river.
Texas still has problems with funding, but not like you would think. Some of the tax rich districts have the refineries and downtown office buildings. Houston Independent School District is one of the rich tax districts yet it is an inner city mostly minority school district. Cy-Fair is one of the poor tax districts in Harris County (the county of Houston) but is mostly suburban middle class or affluent. Which one do you think has higher scores and generally does better academically? It's "where does the tax money come from". In Texas the refineries pay their share of taxes and it's a lot higher than residential -- yes we do have taxes on our homes here in Texas and the homestead exemption does not reduce it to zero (I paid over $3200 total property taxes this year). The school taxes are frozen when you turn 65 so that all the retirees won't vote against schol bond issues which might raise taxes (lesson learned). Unfortunately our other taxes can be raised almost at will, if not by the taxing authority, then by the appraisal district who sets the taxable value of your home. You can always appeal the valuation but it takes time. I didn't this year because of the 65 year old thing and my taxes went up by $200.00 with no increase in school taxes.
We don't have state income tax, so is it a wash? I don't think so.
Here in Shreveport, we embrace the ghetto.
Baton Rouge is about to lose The Mall of Louisiana, Perkins Rowe, tons of commercial on Perkins, Essen, Bluebonnet, Siegen, Highland, probably most of their car dealerships, and a hospital. The City will get hit very hard with the tax base.Originally Posted by weunice
That being said; I bailed years ago and live in Livingston! Someday Amazon and telecommuting will be the final death nail in the traditional urban centers.
Until certain demographic groups stop supporting libtards in politics and embracing the whole poverty movement, those groups will continue to wallow in it.
It is a complex history that really began in the 1960's, but you have to look back to '50's to get a clearer picture of it. I participated in an economic/community development study several years ago where we researched several cities, including Natchitoches, which served as our small city sample. It was a REAL eye-opener for two of the liberal members of the group who had their preconceived notions smashed to bits on the rocks of reality. I learned a few things too, admittedly.
If you really want to read some interesting studies about how things really affect other things try the two FREACKOMICS books. That will really open your eyes.
Apparently none of the area in the proposed St. George is in Baton Rouge, it's all in Unincorporated parts of E. Baton Rouge Parish. Not sure if the city is getting Tax Dollars from those businesses anyway.
I know the following is only one side.
http://www.stgeorgelouisiana.com/about/faqsQ. Will this incorporation negatively impact the city of Baton Rouge?
A: No, here's why:
The area which would be incorporated as St. George is not in the city of Baton Rouge. It is in an unincorporated area of East Baton Rouge Parish. The two are not the same.
It is true that we have a city-parish (consolidated) form of government in East Baton Rouge Parish, and it's true that taxes collected in what would become St. George make up a significant portion of East Baton Rouge Parish revenues. That said, St. George would still utilize - and pay for - services offered by the East Baton Rouge Parish government, just like Baker, Zachary and Central do.
The services not contracted for with East Baton Rouge Parish will not have to be provided to St. George. That means East Baton Rouge Parish's expenses will be reduced.
Furthermore, St. George will embark upon a pro-growth, pro-private sector agenda. This is the same agenda which is leading to rapid economic expansion in neighboring parishes at the expense of East Baton Rouge Parish. Our pro-growth agenda will bring people back into East Baton Rouge Parish.
This is 100% about schools and $hitty public school system. Naton Rouge is bussing kids all over to get equal number of white kids and black kids. A lot of kids don't go to school anymore according to where they live...as Rougedawg said above, he has moved...a lot of people have. So, why not try to do something where people will quit leaving the parish...?
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Hmmm. I'm not sure where the city limits are! Google Maps is usually pretty good about this, but it differs from the City's online map.
Hey, as long as EBRP continues to implode it just helps my property value and the ghetto around LSU slowly creeps closer and closer . . . mmmmmwwwwahahahahahaha!!!
You just nailed the huge problem for Baton Rouge and more specifically, lsu. Lsu is quickly becoming boxed in by the changing demographics in that area. What is scary is that there are low income housing tax credit developers fighting for property beyond the campus boarders....these tax credit deals will get approved and Lsu will have real issues at hand when it happens.
Tech on the other hand has purchased virtually all the declining property due east of campus.....and before our lifetimes are over you will see the push to connect the main campus and the southern tech farm area.
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