GET DAILY REPORT FREE
Daily Report sat down with Democratic mayoral candidate Ted James to discuss his campaign and his vision for Baton Rouge. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
If elected, what would some of your first priorities be as mayor?
No. 1 is putting a public safety summit together—pulling together the leadership of the 11 different law enforcement agencies that we have in hopes of talking about how we can consolidate efforts and resources to better keep the people of East Baton Rouge Parish safe.
I also want to address the dismal results of our Head Start program. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation’s report was just shocking in that we spend $10 million out of $18 million allocated and 32% of our young people score zero in terms of kindergarten readiness. Making changes there will be a top priority, and I also plan to work with our school district and other stakeholders to create a literacy program for our young people.
Something else that’ll be critically important to me is working with not only the Metro Council but our legislative delegation to create a parish agenda in advance of the 2025 legislative session.
Another top priority will be working with the Office of Community Development to create a blight map and make sure that we’re aggressively tackling blight in our community.
Last, I want to rethink our approach to economic development. Right now, there’s no point person on economic development in the mayor’s office and no contract with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. I will very early in my administration reengage in conversations with BRAC. Most cities of our size have full economic development departments. That would be a financial challenge, but we need to pull resources back to the table to better align with BRAC.
What would you do to address the long-standing inequities between north and south Baton Rouge, particularly when it comes to economic development?
With my background in housing policy and at the Small Business Administration, I see investments in affordable housing, rehabilitating blighted areas and making business easier for our entrepreneurs as keys to sustainable growth. We cannot just prioritize ribbon-cutting over fast-tracking permitting and improving our transportation and workforce development systems. We’ll need to take a holistic approach.
When it comes to infrastructure, we need to make sure that we’re fast-tracking investments in north Baton Rouge. That’ll require some changes to the priorities of the MovEBR program and a more aggressive approach to capital outlay at the state Capitol.
