Business Report
Baton Rouge’s next mayor and Metro Council members must pledge to unite the parish and oppose the incorporation of St. George, demand excellence from public schools and hire an experienced chief administrative officer to assist with government operations, according to the election platform released by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber this morning.
The election platform has been released just days after the chamber announced it would not endorse anyone in the mayoral primary. The chamber, however, did endorse candidates in each contested Metro Council election, except for the race in District 2.
“The business community helped us to prioritize wide-ranging issue areas that directly impact our economy and quality of life,” says Adam Knapp, BRAC president and CEO, in a statement. “The need for strong, unifying leadership is more critical than ever following the tragic events of the summer.”
BRAC says it began developing the platform at the start of this year and sought input from its membership to develop the policies and initiatives it’s asking all candidates to embrace.
Future parish leaders are asked to embrace the mission of uniting the parish, building on recent economic growth, leading flood recovery efforts, addressing challenges to future economic expansion and extending opportunities for prosperity to all citizens.
The chamber also has identified six goals:
- Pursue major solutions to improve transportation infrastructure, relieve congestion and enhance mobility.
- Drive policies and initiatives that bring change to the criminal justice system and build trust in law enforcement to reduce crime rates.
- Champion public education and workforce training solutions to provide more options, improve public perception, and better prepare young people for college and career opportunities.
- Pursue robust economic growth policies and community reinvestment.
- Lead improvements for parish government services to run more effectively and efficiently.
- Implement policies to improve the city-parish’s physical attractiveness, cleanliness and “quality of place.”