Chamber EBR Recommends Priorities for Next Mayor-President and Metro Council Members

September 12, 2019 0 Comments

In 2012, a handful of small business owners created the Chamber of Commerce of East Baton Rouge Parish. It was intended to be a conservative, free enterprise voice for small business owners throughout the parish. Today, more than 300 small business owners participate in the activities of the ChamberEBR.

The “new” Chamber has often found itself on the other side of some important issues from BRAC, the long-established Baton Rouge Area Chamber. To understand the difference, it is important to understate that a strong majority of the board of directors of BRAC is composed of representatives of government, churches, non-profits, and multinational corporations. Perhaps this accounts for BRAC’s liberal stand on so many issues.

On the other hand, the ChamberEBR is composed exclusively of owners of small businesses located in EBR whose individual owners reside in EBR or a surrounding parish. Government, churches, non-profits and publicly-traded companies do not qualify for membership.

As a result of the composition of the ChamberEBR, its focus is very different from BRAC. As you might expect, it supports law enforcement, good public schools, good transportation, economy in government, and a beautiful, well-maintained city. But it opposes unnecessary regulation, excessive taxation, and social engineering.

The board of the Chamber of Commerce of East Baton Rouge Parish has adopted a list of its Priorities for the parish. As president of the ChamberEBR, I was tasked with meeting with Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome to unveil these goals. We met at Stab’s in Central two weeks ago and had a great meeting. It was her first opportunity to see the priority list. She said she liked seeing the bullet points because they cut through the fog of so many discussions. She said she saw many areas of agreement, although certainly not 100 percent. She remains very much opposed to St. George. Nevertheless, she promised to study the list and meet further on these priorities.

We were joined for the second half of the meeting by Central Mayor David Barrow and Central Community School Board president Roxanne Atkinson. It was a good chance for all of us to discuss the City of Central and the progress being made by the Central school system. Mayor-President Broome and Mayor Barrow have worked together for years, but it was her first chance to meet Roxanne. They really hit it off and had a very positive meeting.

Space here does not permit a full explanation of all the Priorities. In addition, it is understood that some of the items are not within the purview of the City-Parish government directly. They are the Priorities of the ChamberEBR, and we ask that all public officials consider using their influence to promote them.

We will follow up with the mayor-president to continue to push for implementation of the Priority List. We will also be meeting with candidates for the Metro Council in next year’s City-Parish elections. Hopefully, they will see merit in these Priorities and push forward to “make a real difference in the lives of people.”

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

OF EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH

PRIORITIES

“Make a Real Difference in the Lives of People”

“Come Home to East Baton Rouge Parish”

Begin a Campaign to Bring People Back to the Parish

Bulldoze the Blight

Demolish 100 blighted buildings a month, or 1,200 a year,

until all are gone

Clean Up the Entire City of Baton Rouge

Empty City Hall – Put 5,000 C-P employees on the streets

cleaning up the trash and debris in the city joined by