[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.