Coach Sid Vows to Bulldoze Trap Houses Used for Prostitution, Drug Deals in EBR

Coach Sid Edwards grew up in North Baton Rouge and graduated from Redemptorist High School. He said he thought he knew his old neighborhood quite well until he returned as head coach at Istrouma High School in fall 2023.

“My eyes were opened when I started having to carry some of my kids home after practice. Very, very few have cars. If they have to stay late, one of our coaches has to bring them home. I was shocked at the conditions I found.  I was not shocked to find many without air conditioning. But I was shocked to find some of them living in houses without doors, without food, and without running water.”

“One day, when I brought one of my guys home, I saw a man standing in front of the house across the street. He seemed to be guarding it.  I asked my guy why he was standing there.  He said, ‘Oh, that’s a trap house!’” Coach Sid said, “I didn’t know what that was, but he explained it was a house used for prostitution and drug deals.  The man standing out front was guarding the place and was ready to sound the alarm if someone showed up.”

“I learned that there are more than 4,000 abandoned and blighted buildings in Baton Rouge, and that there are scores, perhaps hundreds, of these trap houses.”

“To my surprise, I learned the man standing in front of the trap house wasn’t a man at all.  He was a teenager who had dropped out of school!  I was shocked to learn that the kids I see and work with every day often go home to the most unbelievable home situations you can imagine.  Many of these kids are captured by the street.  Our football team at Istrouma actually competes with the gangs to see who gets any given child. That’s one of the reason I think coaching is so important.  A good coach fights to save the lives of these kids!  Many of us are fathers to these young men, many of whom never had a dad.”

Coach Sid said, “The Mayor-President has a lot of jobs to do. But one of the most important jobs I will have is turning around North Baton Rouge.  I promise you this: I will bulldoze every trap house in this town!  And beyond that, we will tear down every abandoned, blighted building we can find.  We are only as strong as our weakest link, and every area of this parish must be safe, clean, beautiful, and up to a high standard.”

The Republican candidate for Mayor-President said his ultimate goal will be to tear down 100 blighted buildings a month until they are all gone. “We will have legal challenges, but we will be aggressive and make it happen.”

“Baton Rouge is the capital city.  We are going to look and feel like a beautiful capital city — not like the marginal areas of a Third World country! We will see big changes for the better!”