McCollister: Can Coach Sid change Baton Rouge?

Editor’s note: Rolfe McCollister is a member of Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ transition team.

It’s been eight years since Baton Rouge has had a new mayor-president, Rolfe McCollister writes in his latest column.

Congratulations to Mayor Sid Edwards. He is a good and humble man whose election victory shocked political pundits, the establishment and incumbent Mayor Sharon Weston Broome. Edwards ran as the “change candidate” in a city and parish desperately needing change.

But will our parish accept transformation?

When Broome first took the oath of mayor-president, McCollister wrote about optimism and the need to seize on our incredible potential. Still, he warned that the election results amplified the fact that East Baton Rouge was a divided parish. So what has changed in eight years?

Have we healed those divisions and now work as one team? Have we fulfilled our potential as a great city?

No, and no, McCollister writes. Due to failed leadership, we are still at square one in the Capital City—and the voters made it clear in the December election that they were fed up with going nowhere.

Edwards must bring “the change,” disrupting the stale management and stagnant thinking that has kept Baton Rouge languishing in mediocrity. Coach Sid, as he prefers to be called, must hit the portal and recruit dynamic talent committed to change and winning. He must focus on quality over quantity, and all of us must be willing to pay for that high-level talent. Change the rules. Break the mold. Results are what matter.

Read the full column, and send comments to editor@businessreport.com.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated since original publication.