[0:00] ers is walking in. I am Janet Simmons. I'm the interim

[0:04] superintendent of Breck and we're delighted to be here tonight to present

[0:08] some of the ideas that we have for the Baker City Parks. And we're excited to

[0:13] be here and being able to work with the mayor on getting some park systems here

[0:18] in Baker active up and running and have kids play. So, without any further ado,

[0:25] mayor,

[0:28] » can you get away? Can't get away. >> Can't get away.

[0:31] » Can't get away. I need an agenda.

[0:35] » Here he come.

[0:43] » Is it raining out there? >> Okay. All right. So, we're going to do

[0:51] and the the very purpose tonight is to go over the agenda. All of you should

[0:58] have an agenda tonight and we're going to talk about the parks um and what

[1:04] what's going to happen uh probably in the next 24 to 36 months and what what

[1:09] we're working on. Um, so we will, um, you met Janet and so what I want to

[1:18] do is we don't have a lot of people in the room and so um, we going to what

[1:25] we'll do you guys uh, we'll take questions now. Um, real quick questions

[1:30] to the agenda about what you see, what you're looking for. We'll take the notes

[1:34] and we'll go from there. How about that? Is that good? So you can be able to come

[1:38] up to the mic and um and and just talk about, you know, what you see or what

[1:43] you think we should have. Make sure you state where you live and where you from

[1:48] so we'll know the areas. Okay. How about that real quick? You want to do that?

[1:53] Got that?

[1:58] » Yeah. Um I'll go ahead and introduce I wanted the elected officials to come up

[2:02] and introduce ourselves and and go from there. Um, we we do have, matter of

[2:07] fact, let's do this. Um, huh. You want to do that? You want to do

[2:13] that answer? >> Oh, yeah. I'm going to do my

[2:15] presentation about 10 15 minutes and then we'll do questions and answers.

[2:18] » Okay. I know. I thought I saw Robert Young in here. I did saw Council Young

[2:22] in here. Let's give him a big grandpa. He's here. Um, we got anyone in the

[2:28] picture here? I think we got a lot of people do a lot

[2:33] of work here. So, um, okay. I'm just going to turn it back over to Angela.

[2:36] She can do a presentation and then we'll move forward.

[2:39] » All right. >> All right. Well, thank y'all for coming

[2:44] out in the nasty weather. Uh, we are going to go through some parks and some

[2:48] initiatives that uh Brett and the city of Baker are working on. Uh, so these

[2:52] are really exciting. I'm going to go through them kind of quickly. So, if you

[2:55] have any questions, just either write them down, remember them, come up to the

[2:58] mic, and we'll have a nice Q&A afterwards.

[3:02] All right. So, the first thing we want to talk about is the new initiative that

[3:06] we have with uh with mayor on the corridor to Baker. Starting from I10

[3:13] when you get off of the interstate at 19, what that looks like when you're you

[3:17] know, when you come off the interstate, are you seeing signs that say, you know,

[3:22] come this way to the zoo, come this way to our parks, um you know, come this way

[3:26] to Popeye's, McDonald's, all the places that, you know, Baker has to offer. So,

[3:31] if we're not seeing that, then we're not getting the best of, you know, people

[3:34] coming down the corridor. How do we clean up the corridor? How do we make

[3:37] the the entrance to Baker really nice and fabulous and a place that people

[3:42] want to be? So, this is just some of the things that are offered right off of

[3:45] that that corridor right when you enter the city. So, we want to be able to

[3:49] contribute where you brick uh zoo, we have a lot of parks, even right before

[3:54] you get into Baker, we have two parks. So, wanted to make sure people know

[3:58] about those parks. Um, South Magnolia is another one, you know, right when you

[4:02] come in, it's right there on the on the other side of the of the tracks that

[4:06] people don't know about. So, that's one of the parks we're going to talk about

[4:09] tonight is um improvements to South Magnolia.

[4:15] And I'll let Mayor talk a little bit more if he wants to about this

[4:18] initiative of the corridor, the entryway to Baker. But this is one of the things

[4:23] that we want to address first. This is that little park that you see when you

[4:27] come off the D frame and you're at 19 making that turn on Highway 19 from the

[4:32] interstate. It's actually part of Scotlandville Parkway. And Scotlandville

[4:36] Parkway is actually uh being renamed right now for Melvin Kit Balden. So,

[4:41] we're really happy to announce that. Um so, this little pocket park, if I can

[4:47] get my little pointer to work, this is the exit off of 110 coming this way onto

[4:52] 19. And so this little park here is kind of

[4:56] it's a little underwhelming. So it's it needs some improvements. We want to do

[5:00] some work with the fence. We want to clean up some of the trees. We want to

[5:02] make it visible. We want to have it be the announcement to where you're going.

[5:08] The announcement to Baker. So something beautiful, something eye-catching. Maybe

[5:12] it's a really big art piece. Maybe it's some really interesting signage. Um

[5:17] something that really draws your eye and makes you want to go into Baker.

[5:23] So that's one initiative. One of our other big initiatives is Baker Ball

[5:28] Fields. So this is a park that you're going to have an opportunity to give us

[5:31] some feedback tonight on Baker Ball Fields. Currently we do have ball fields

[5:35] there. Uh this is the park down Jefferson Street. Not the first one you

[5:39] get to, but the second one. So that's Baker Park. Um a lot of people, we have

[5:43] two parks on Jefferson Street. One's Jefferson Street Park, one's Baker Park.

[5:47] So, they're a little confusing, but this one has the um the three ball fields

[5:51] right now, a concession stand, and a playground.

[5:55] Excuse me. So, what we're looking at doing is a tournament level ball

[5:59] complex. So, one of our options has got my little thingy has um two high

[6:06] school fields and two practice fields, a new parking lot, and expanded um

[6:11] overflow park. So, this would be an opportunity for Baldi's to come.

[6:16] overflow tournament uh play they're at another bigger facility they could have

[6:21] ball um all play here too. These would be turfed fields synthetic turf so you

[6:26] could play when it rains like it did today. You could play tomorrow.

[6:32] So this is one option. The second option has the one high

[6:36] school field and two smaller fields that you could play softball on. still all um

[6:41] artificial turf and then the practice field would be regular grass, natural

[6:46] grass. So these are two options. When we finish

[6:50] our Q&A session, we'll go to the boards and uh project manager Peter Cuff is

[6:55] going to help you kind of get your feedback and take any notes you may

[6:59] have, you know, any comments you want to give us. So um we're excited to hear

[7:02] what y'all think about this. And then I'll tell you a little bit.

[7:08] This is just some precedent imagery. You'll see it closer up on the board,

[7:11] but this is like the the level of service we want to provide with this

[7:15] park. Um, really nice back stops, you know, nice netting, true dugouts,

[7:19] covered features, covered walls, uh, really nice ball complex.

[7:26] South Magnolia Park is another park that we want your feedback on tonight. We

[7:30] have a master plan for South Magnolia. We want to do a public survey. So, at

[7:34] the table over there, Will, wave your hand, Will. Will's one of our project

[7:38] managers. He is going to take uh give you a survey on our iPads and we can get

[7:43] your feedback on preferences for South Magnolia. Uh preferences would include

[7:47] anything from playground equipment, uh new courts, basketball courts, maybe

[7:52] it's football, maybe it's um you know basketball, tennis. What do we want to

[7:57] see there? And this is where we're at in our

[8:00] timeline. This is kind of us right now in design. We would like to get this

[8:04] project bid out by the end of the year so we can start construction first of

[8:08] 2027.

[8:13] Greenwood, we have a lot going on as people know at Greenwood, it continues.

[8:17] It's a very large park. Um, and so we wanted to highlight a few of the things

[8:22] we're doing. One of them which is I think is most exciting because it's

[8:27] going to provide a lot of safety on Highway 19. It is the Highway 19 turns.

[8:32] This is a project that we initiated with the OC to confirm the companies on

[8:38] Highway 19 to come into the park at Greenville. So we bre did the um

[8:45] expedited design for DOT in order to get those tile lines built. Do is starting

[8:50] right now on their uh what they call an assembly period where they're getting

[8:55] ready. They've already did the project. They're getting ready to start

[8:58] construction any day now. It's supposed to be under construction before the end

[9:03] in in June. So, and I'll show you some images of what that looks like. And then

[9:09] I'll show you some imagery on Lady Lane, our entryway into Greenwood Park, as

[9:15] well as some ideas for phase two. So, this is the turn lanes. Um, this is

[9:22] if you're coming into Baker from the interstate and then back towards the

[9:27] interstate. So, this is kind of north south, but it's sideways. Uh, so this is

[9:32] the entryway into Greenwood Park, and this is New Rage Meer Road here. So, as

[9:36] you know, when you're coming down 19, it's really dangerous to turn left in

[9:41] both directions. And so, those are going to be dedicated turn lanes. So, you'll

[9:45] have safe turning into uh onto New Wave Meer and into the park.

[9:51] So, we're we're super happy for this. So, we'll get rid of that no left turn

[9:54] sign coming from Bakery into the park. This project, like I said, is um

[9:59] starting construction right now and it will go through.

[10:04] It's actually a pretty quick project. So, it won't it'll be done before the

[10:07] end of the year. All right. So, Lady Lane. So, in from

[10:13] Lady Lane into Greenwood Park, there's currently no entrance. You just go into

[10:18] this clubhouse. So, now we are going to have a turn lane. This is Ley near uh

[10:23] Sugarore. And then you will have a new street that comes all the way into the

[10:28] park to where the the waterfront building is right into the playground.

[10:33] So it's going to come into the back side of that playground parking lot. And so

[10:36] you'll have um a dedicated entry and exit there. That's going to help

[10:40] tremendously with our traffic. So our traffic that goes into the zoo during

[10:45] high, you know, high use times, big events, that's really going to help with

[10:49] entry and exit. uh so that you'll have as much traffic going on Highway 19.

[10:53] Kind of spread it out a little bit. This project is currently under design.

[10:58] We are going to bid it. It's a little hard to see. It's going to bid by the

[11:03] end of the year. Uh first of first part of Oh, the end of the year

[11:12] for the last quarter of the year under construction.

[11:18] This is um what is going on now at Greenwood. There's a lot of dirt moving

[11:23] around in Greenwood Park. This was a watershed initiative project. It's a

[11:27] grant we received. Um and it is to dredge the lake, expand the lake here.

[11:32] As you see, this is a brand new picture of a new island. Uh so now you'll be

[11:36] able to kayak all the way around the lake, around this island, and around

[11:40] this island. Uh the waterfront building will reopen once construction is

[11:44] complete. Uh which is uh slated for the end of this year. So we'll have new

[11:49] nature trails that go around the lake and up. This is Cypress Bayou through

[11:54] here. And uh this is to help storm water management. All the water that comes

[11:58] down from Baker through the park into Cypress Bayou.

[12:04] Future phases. Uh this is Oops. Future phases along Lady Lane. This is Ley

[12:09] across the top. This is an area of the old Dumas golf course that's $5

[12:14] currently. And so these are some just thoughts and ideas of the next phase.

[12:19] What could we do in that corner? Um it we are thinking we have some kind of

[12:24] tournament level really nice soccer fields. It would kind of either replace

[12:29] or um complement the ones that are on uh the intersection at Thomas and 19. So,

[12:36] these would be really nice soccer fields, concessions, restrooms. Other

[12:40] thoughts are community garden, picnic areas, cross country trails, dog park.

[12:45] We have a dog park down in Greenwood. We think we can we can move it up to this

[12:49] area where there's more people that that could walk there. Um, with the mayor's

[12:53] initiative and the different projects that we have going on, the sidewalk that

[12:57] we have along um along Lane will continue all the way down. And so that's

[13:03] going to be a really good opportunity for for a different mode of

[13:06] transportation, whether that's walking or biking.

[13:11] All right. And our last one here that we have is the rec center transition plan.

[13:15] This is a plan we have across the parish to look at our inventory of of rec

[13:19] centers and to see how we can sustainably move forward with our rec

[13:23] centers. How can we provide air conditioned gyms um and and improve and

[13:28] modernize our rec centers? Luckily, um, the Baker Rec Center already has air

[13:32] conditioning. It was one of the first that we did in 2017. So, our Baker Rec

[13:37] Center is very nicely equipped with new air conditioning, which was recently

[13:41] replaced. Uh, it's very nice now. That had an

[13:46] ignition done in 2017 as well. The roof was replaced and the floor was replaced

[13:51] at that time. So, we're a little ahead of the game

[13:55] here in Baker with our rec centers. Um we do want to make some improvements to

[13:59] TD vehicle and so we are going to have um some opportunity for feedback as we

[14:03] continue into this process with um what do we want to see in TD? Is it

[14:09] better community rooms, modern community rooms, meeting spaces like this one uh

[14:14] where you have community meetings or um reunions or parties? Um and then the

[14:20] outdoor you know what do we do with the gym? So, if we have an air conditioner

[14:26] in the area, we want to be able to provide a different type of recreation

[14:30] uh and also one that maybe doesn't have to be staffed uh all the time. And so,

[14:34] when you have an outdoor um area like this, it can be used for a multitude of

[14:39] things and not be staffed and can be open when we wouldn't be able to

[14:42] manually. So you would have an opportunity to have it's basketball, um

[14:49] yoga, tennis, uh pickle ball, whatever those items might be to have outdoor

[14:54] recreation uh kind of on your own and not um rely on um hours of operation

[15:01] that would be able to provide. >> I think that is I'm out of breath.

[15:08] » Okay. All right. So, let's go back. Let's take a slide back to um the name

[15:15] road. Let's go back to this.

[15:20] » There you go. >> Now, that that that road is coming up

[15:24] going back into the front. That's all if you set it in front of Shalu. That's

[15:31] what we're talking about. And the deal is is that we want we're going to slow

[15:35] the traffic down because we want to run We we're trying to work to get that

[15:41] round about right there. We saw that traffic now, but we have uh kind of our

[15:46] way in the state now to run right there in front of

[15:51] sidewalks all the way down lane to Sunshine. That's first phase. Second

[15:56] phase is that we're going to run the next phase all the way down to Plank

[16:01] Road. And that's part of the initiative we had years ago. We put the walking

[16:06] trails in so we can connect to the break. So now the kids can you can walk

[16:13] all the way from Plank Road, cross over on Ly Lane, go to the park, walk all the

[16:19] way down to Thomas and everything else that's going in there. And that's what

[16:22] we want. They don't have to do all that. We got to slow the traffic down.

[16:28] That's the deal on that. And that gives us another outway coming in to the park

[16:34] from that area. Also, it has an opportunity there to have um to have

[16:43] businesses in that area depending on what is there at that particular time.

[16:47] So, that's one way. So, not all the traffic is not coming in on Highway 19

[16:52] going in and out, but they're coming into a roundabout and they go so the

[16:56] traffic is not stopped. It's going to be what we want. We wanted that walking l.

[17:00] That's the reason we did it l the way we did it so we can be able to

[17:08] be walking the park down all the way down.

[17:13] So they go to the park while they're walking. We'll be able to do that. Um so

[17:20] let's go back. Uh no. So any wrong that's going around and

[17:28] they find out there but we couldn't do anything.

[17:34] I just and so we got some train

[17:40] a little bit. It's not we didn't put it there. So we

[17:44] run up and down. We're going to stop. We're going to meet with the council and

[17:50] we're going to come up with what we want riding on there cuz those big trucks

[17:53] they ter that's what they do and so we want to keep it for another um we want

[17:59] to keep it for another 10 to 15 years and this is uh let's get back to the

[18:05] ball fields real quick. Um, you want to hear this? So, this is cuz

[18:11] this is the one. This is you want to go this

[18:14] off cuz everybody Why are you so What's What's your deal with the office?

[18:22] If you go to Central and you go to Zack or you go to Youngsville or Brousard or

[18:31] West, wrestling has a thousand people in it. They're not a big town, but every

[18:37] weekend they got hundreds of people at that baseball conference. When the

[18:42] baseball is year round, okay, it is year round. That means that they're going to

[18:49] travel. And when they travel and you put a ball complex, a baseball complex in

[18:54] there, hotels, okay, so now take a look at where

[19:00] Americana is located and people talk about it. They build that ball field

[19:05] there in there for years. When I got here in 1999, the ball field was being

[19:10] built there. But that hotel is there, that's because

[19:15] of that baseball field. That wall that's in there, they they market, that's

[19:20] because of that baseball field. Because they're going to need somewhere to stay,

[19:23] they going to need somewhere to eat. That's the purpose of the ball fields to

[19:27] make sure that we can create commerce coming in to the city and bring more

[19:32] hotels, bring more restaurants that we talk about because they're going to

[19:36] follow. If you go to central, just sit there in both places every weekend that

[19:42] they come in. And so this this gives us an angle here to say, okay, look, can

[19:48] you bring can we get quartered hotels in the city? We got a hotel that that that

[19:54] do really well with the industry. We want hotels. So when we put in hotel

[20:01] inter

[20:09] you got to grow it. It's just not for us. It's so people come through. There's

[20:13] so much traffic that comes through. The reason that you got the high school here

[20:17] with it right and tell me if I'm wrong is because Baker Baker is going to

[20:22] probably start with their football stadium trying to get that together and

[20:27] bring it up cuz you got to have trouble sometimes. I mean, everywhere we go, the

[20:31] way that those kids play, they're playing on the road. You know, they're

[20:34] playing in places that are really, really nice. And then when you come

[20:37] home, you know, they got so they got to get that. But when you get this feeling,

[20:42] this baseball, the high school baseball team can play at that field. And we've

[20:48] already provided great provide for the girls softball team. They've been

[20:53] playing in a special place, but now they don't have a place here. That's why J

[20:56] wanted it the way he wanted so he can cover both.

[21:03] Um, so she said nine and then I really want to shut up in the ground the first

[21:09] part of 2027 that we can shut the ground. So our home got phase in and we

[21:16] you know we're not we're not waiting the whole field start we're going to phase

[21:21] it in and start bringing it in. Here's the uh what you think about tonight. The

[21:26] field on South on South

[21:30] right that we just just did the river cut off

[21:34] the with the toss co and up to 90 year olds. But now if you think about it

[21:43] there's no other little kids field. So the people that run the tournaments

[21:49] are already calling us to get in the tournaments to get that field going.

[21:54] That field is one of the things too. And so that's part of the process that

[21:58] Gerald talked about. We talked about this years ago that we wanted our kids

[22:03] to grow up and our recreational program. We got tired of waking up and in the

[22:07] morning reading the paper and see kids that live right down the street scoring

[22:12] 50 points for another team. We have took them somewhere to put them in the

[22:16] schools. Okay. So, it's all coming together now. So, we want to bring them

[22:20] up and with recreation, not just that, we going to teach them. You know, it's

[22:25] more to what y'all got going on than just recreation. You know, we building

[22:29] young men and young women. We want to have our hands on our kids. So, we bring

[22:34] them through there. They go and they go to these leagues here with the big the

[22:38] big leagues. We make sure they're in high school. We put them in our high

[22:42] school. They pay for our high school teams and then they leave and go. But

[22:45] all the time we got our hand when they come and so we stop all that coaching

[22:50] and all that stealing waking up. We want our kids to grow up here. So all these

[22:55] houses being built now they got kids in them just they got little kids. These

[22:59] kids are going to grow up here. So the future's bright. The future's bright for

[23:04] you. By the time those kids start growing up, these bills will be ready to

[23:08] go. All right, let's go back one more Angel

[23:13] job because I want to make sure that everybody So that's the two types of

[23:17] policy I'm going to talk about as you walk around. Go back again.

[23:22] » That's corridor. >> It's the corridor.

[23:25] » Corridor 19. >> 19. Um,

[23:30] okay. So, >> Interstate signs.

[23:33] » Yeah, the interstate sign and stuff like this. So, yeah. So here they were

[23:37] Highway 19 that we're trying to do here to bring people out. They changed the

[23:42] opening for the zoo for the park cuz it's a zoo

[23:47] in a park. It's $300 million. So they changed that. So what we're

[23:52] doing with that portal on Highway 19 is that we're working that portal all the

[23:58] way from I1. Okay? Because that was part of the

[24:03] problem. We want people when they get off I1, we don't want them to be afraid

[24:08] to come down 19 to the zoo. Now the zoo is in bad rules that parking in Bat

[24:13] Rouge, but indirect revenue is going to come from that mall. Okay? And and I

[24:20] know you tell indirect, that's what we call a rocket and it's going to bring

[24:25] people cuz we got shopping all down Highway 19. And so mommy mommy digs they

[24:33] might not want it in the park they can come to the paper and we want to put

[24:37] things that people see when you see things like a movie and that's that's so

[24:43] we want to clean it up and then we wanted the signs for the

[24:49] all the way down I 10 until you get almost here and I

[24:54] understand we there should be signs right out street on our downtown that

[24:59] says Baker, Southern University, Bad Roo School or whatever. That's that's what

[25:05] we're trying to work at. And so we're working with DOT to be able to get that

[25:09] done. And then we're going to make sure Highway 19 is clean. So we're working

[25:13] with uh Anthony Kennedy to make sure that our way and we keep the grass cut

[25:19] all the way down to that area. It looks real real nice

[25:24] because the zoo is a destination is what it is. And people come here from all

[25:29] over the country. And that's what we're trying to get people to come here all

[25:32] over the country. Make sense?

[25:36] » Okay. Uh this it's another recreation uh event that is year round. Okay. The

[25:43] tournament can happen year round. So that that that keeping does a great job

[25:47] with that. But I think this is going to be really nice. But did y'all hear what

[25:53] she said? She said want your input on that. So you can do that tonight on what

[25:58] we can do with that. We got the community cards in there which is

[26:01] something that we can use cross country trails. Uh it could be whatever we

[26:07] wanted to be at this point and we can dream it up tonight. So look at that

[26:11] area. That's that's a really really good area. That's a that's the kind of area

[26:16] that that's a vision area right there. So we want some input on that tonight to

[26:20] what we do. Okay. And next

[26:26] is >> our rec center.

[26:28] » And then the recent >> those slides right there. That's the new

[26:33] development that we're going to have. >> So we are I can talk a little bit. So

[26:40] these this is a parishide initiative for the rec centers. Um these are some

[26:46] images of of what some of those could look like over time. Right now Baker has

[26:51] the air conditioning. So throughout the parish, we have lots that don't have air

[26:54] conditioning yet. And so we're going to try to prioritize those. We're going

[26:58] into each uh area of the parish to get that prioritization uh solidified. And

[27:04] then we're going to kind go each by each and implement. So luckily Baker was one

[27:09] of the first um the first of our five. So we did in 17 to 20

[27:18] that's the only other. Um, so we partner with the city of Baker

[27:24] on the Baker rec center. Uh, it's actually not our property, but we

[27:28] operate in January. So TAR will be the next one that we'll

[27:32] look at because it doesn't matter conditioning. Um, and that's one of the

[27:36] most important things that we've heard from people uh, that's most critical

[27:39] right now to be able to even use the place. So the TV would have the more

[27:44] modern um, side rooms, community rooms, that sort of thing. And what we want to

[27:48] hear is what else do you want that facility?

[27:51] » This is what she wants. This is what she wants. She wants

[27:59] » So the one we have the one we have >> she wants.

[28:06] » She is not alone with the rec center. with that transition from Port

[28:14] the old the old side and everything and

[28:20] » yeah that's what she want that's that's what they're talking about they're

[28:22] talking about a brand new one in this area brand all the way and so you know

[28:29] that's I mean she's right and she's absolutely right because because we all

[28:35] have one we should do that so we we need to work on it that's I need to be some

[28:39] type of futuristic plan that we come in here with um and and and look at

[28:45] building for that area cuz remember now when we talk there's no new race centers

[28:51] in North Bros period

[28:55] not we're not talking about hard street we talking about we talking about Baker

[28:59] Central Zachary no great service and that's exactly what she's talking about

[29:06] right there so we can put somewhere in that in in that plan for the future to

[29:12] build it like that. Once you start building it, it's built out and that

[29:17] that that'll make us whole. That that would definitely make us whole and

[29:21] that's exactly what your issues were. You

[29:23] » want to close this out?

[29:27] » I can I can tell which board to go to. >> So, um as we close out, you have an

[29:32] opportunity to go over survey and look at the boards and your opinions. We

[29:36] really want to hear from you. This is an important time for the community to get

[29:40] their input because this is your community and this is what we're here

[29:44] for for you to get your input. So, please go over to boards and get your

[29:49] input. Talk to the guys over there and and the rest of the TV guys are there to

[29:54] answer some questions for you. We really appreciate you coming tonight. Thank you

[29:58] so much for your attendance and I hope you have a safe turn.

[30:03] » Let me turn it over to Metro Council. Um and

[30:08] » Absolutely. First off, good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Um thank

[30:12] y'all for coming out to this great meeting tonight. Um I don't know who

[30:15] made the point. It was Council Member Collins. Um you know me and J we having

[30:20] conversations all the time. Um great is not to wait until election time to be in

[30:24] the Baker, right? And I think you know we all get that but community

[30:27] engagement, community outreach. Um as you all probably saw um we're great at

[30:33] you know consideration for parks, right? You know a lot of people say why the

[30:37] community engagement on a reactionary basis but um let me say this um is

[30:43] growing in a very positive. Um I know for a long time a lot of legacy

[30:47] residents that live in Baker. a lot of people be living in probably twice my

[30:51] lifetime, right? Um but I think to Miss Shannon point, I know it's council K's

[30:56] point, Council Dun's point, um baby don't want crumbs. And when we ask for

[31:01] crumbs, when we don't ask for crumbs, we want the full entire shield. We have to

[31:06] be ready for that full five. It's going to make people uncomfortable

[31:10] for change. It going to make bro uncomfortable. But I do think as well is

[31:15] very much poison potential. Um, and I know that may somebody bring it up about

[31:20] the state fair, right? And it's very, very early stages, very top of stages.

[31:24] Um, and we want to make sure we get that community engagement for people in the

[31:27] area. Um, because for us, you know, the news hit us like everybody else. And so

[31:32] for us in the city of Baker, uh, we can always be ready to say no. We have to

[31:37] think smartly in what we do to make sure we can be ready for change in this

[31:40] community because we want to make sure no matter the resident you're a business

[31:44] owner in this area um everything's not always going to be a yes everything not

[31:48] going to be a no but we should be a community say you know what let's look

[31:51] at every option before we say no because I think great is now turning the corner

[31:56] to make a lot of investment into the area as we can see with the baseball

[31:59] parks I know council mal about multib and I do think um going to turn to one

[32:06] another, but we have to make sure we stay in day. We have a lot of people um

[32:10] who need to be in these meetings who always say they don't have nothing going

[32:14] on. They don't have no progress. When I look at those nice woods over there, um

[32:18] B is making a lot of progress, right? And so we are to make sure as residents

[32:23] of Baker, as constituents of Baker's elected officials, um we are telling the

[32:28] story about what's going on in the Baker community. And we cannot wait to be

[32:31] reactionary because news was very much quick about the challenges we have,

[32:36] right? >> Quick about the challenges, but I'm glad

[32:40] today to show the progress that's on the other side because every corner of this

[32:44] parish, the same issues that we see in Baker, North Baton Rouge is at every

[32:48] corner of this parish. But we have to make sure just as much

[32:52] people share the negativity of our faith, share the progress that's going

[32:56] on in our community because you have people that care. You have people very

[33:00] much working. But I want to applaud Greg for even trying, right? Cuz I know

[33:04] there's been a lot of challenges prior to your leadership and pride to you all

[33:07] leadership early. But all we can do is try. All we can do is be good partners.

[33:12] But I will always and I will push to y'all progress will be very

[33:15] uncomfortable when we look 20 years from now because

[33:20] people always say what you bring to make bring something new to make some

[33:24] economic activities. So you have to be very careful when that

[33:29] progress comes to the community. The community may not look the same but we

[33:33] want to advance our community. We have to burst Jack community as community

[33:38] partners because if we turn around every single thing that can push this

[33:41] community forward, Baker would never part. So we have to look towards the

[33:46] future, not 30, not 20 years ago. So when I look at what Baker is doing right

[33:49] now, this is putting Baker in position 30 years from now to be a destination

[33:54] place. We have four brand new subdivisions coming to make Louisiana.

[33:58] We have received over 400 residents in the maker community from Still Water on

[34:05] Coney Drive, Tremen, what's the other one, man?

[34:09] » Sunshine. Sunshine water. They're finish up another 50 to 60 houses. So, and

[34:15] » Trinity Trinity. So, is about to receive over 300 to 400 new residents to come

[34:20] into this area. And so, my challenge to you all here today as we see the

[34:24] progress, continue the engagement. We're continuing engagement. And when I tell

[34:28] people all the surveys people send out, do those surveys because the only way

[34:33] they can know how they can know engage how we can do something in this

[34:36] community if we do the community engagement surveys and praying. And so

[34:40] thank y'all so much for coming. Thank you under the end. Um but I get very

[34:46] excited I can see partners like this right because I hear all the time

[34:50] there's no progress in Baker. There's nothing going on in Baker. And I tell

[34:53] you when I hear it says a bold face not be a bold face but absolutely I tell

[34:58] everybody in this room get ready for change in maker get ready for some

[35:01] catalytic change in maker and we have to be community partners and say you know

[35:05] what instead of saying no let's say let's explore so thank you so much we

[35:11] all

[35:15] » right he's a lot younger than me all right so

[35:19] all right uh you guys let's uh we go to the boards. Don't forget to do the

[35:24] surveys. Don't forget to dream it up. Okay. Thank y'all for coming out. Y'all

[35:29] have a great night.

BREC Community Meeting in Baker | Planning the Future Together

Transcript