Beginning this Monday, Jan. 11 at 5 a.m., South Harrell’s Ferry Road between Jones Creek Road and Manchester Drive will be closed for two weeks as part of the Green Light Plan project to four-lane South Harrell’s Ferry Road.

The closure is necessary to relocate a required pipeline and the road is expected to reopen on Monday, Jan. 25, weather permitting.

Motorists should use Jones Creek Road, George O’Neal Lane and O’Neal Lane as detours during the planned two-week closure. (To see a map click here.) Access to South Harrell’s Ferry Road from Lirocchi Drive will also be closed during that period with a detour provided to O’Neal Lane.

Please remember to exercise caution when traveling in this area, and remember that travel times are likely to be affected during the two-week closure.

When work is completed, we will have two additional through lanes, sidewalks and a raised median on South Harrell’s Ferry Road from a point 1,100-feet east of Millerville Road to O’Neal Lane. The project also calls for a new intersection at Jones Creek Road.

Other Green Light Plan projects are now under construction to widen Jones Creek Road from South Harrell’s Ferry Road to Coursey Boulevard, and South Harrell’s Ferry Road from Millerville Road to South Sherwood Forest Boulevard.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to get traffic moving throughout southeast Baton Rouge. Promises made, promises kept!

Mayor-President Melvin L. “Kip” Holden will host a ribbon cutting ceremony commemorating the completion of the Downtown Signalization and Synchronization Project, the ninth completed roadway construction project for the Green Light Plan, at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 10, 2009 at the corner of North 3rd Street and Main Street.

“Improving intersections and synchronizing our traffic signal lights in Downtown Baton Rouge are essential components to eliminating bottlenecks and ensuring an overall better traffic flow around the downtown area,” said Mayor-President Kip Holden. “With the completion of this project, we are breaking up gridlock while providing safer and more fluid transportation options for motorists and pedestrians alike to move around Downtown Baton Rouge.”

“The Downtown Signalization project of the Green Light Plan signals a new day for infrastructure improvements in our city,” said Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer. “Visitors to the area will experience the latest technology in vehicular traffic efficiency while presenting a uniform design in all of downtown’s street intersections. The signals are a critical component to the continued development of our downtown.”

The project broke ground in June of 2008 and was constructed by Ernest P. Breaux Electrical, Inc. of Baton Rouge. Through the public bid process, the firm was awarded the $9.8 million contract to upgrade traffic signals and communications at 27 intersections in the downtown area of Baton Rouge. Signal equipment upgrades, interconnection of signals, and handicap sidewalk ramp construction were key components that were included in the project.

The Baton Rouge Area Chamber has released an Economic Climate Update for Baton Rouge. You can view it by clicking here.

Some highlights include:

- Baton Rouge was one of nine metro areas in the U.S. to have experienced six months of positive over the year job growth since the start of the recession.
- The Brookings Institute ranks Baton Rouge as the 8th best performing metro area during the current recession.
- Baton Rouge had the lowest foreclosure rate of 100 metro areas in 2008.

This past Wednesday, the DBE Fair Share Task Force held its first meeting. I caught up with two of the members to get their thoughts on the inaugural meeting.

Today Mayor-President Kip Holden, Councilwoman Alison Cascio, Councilwoman Denise Marcelle and others cut the ribbon on a brand new intersection at Government St. and S. Foster Dr., the seventh Green Light Plan project to be completed.

Left turn lanes were added in all directions, pedestrian access was improved by adding push-button crosswalks and the efficiency of the traffic signals was improved by using LED technology.

And we finished 80 days ahead of schedule! The Green Light Plan has projects just like this throughout our parish that is providing the traffic relief our citizens demanded. Promises made, promises kept!

My dear friends at the East Baton Rouge Parish Republican Women’s club are raising money to expand their “Civics for Kids” program, which provides school children with dictionaries and copies of the U.S. Constitution.

They are raffling off two nights at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, MS, which includes two free meals for the winner and a guest. The tickets are $3 each or 10 for $10.

If you’d like to help out some very dear friends of mine and support a great cause, please call Lou at 771-8881.

By: Zona M. Pickens

As Legislative Assistant to Councilman Mike Walker, on July 13th, I attended a workshop on Mayor Kip Holden’s new Blight Enforcement Program and how “Litter Court” will operate. This idea was born as a result of Mayor Holden’s “Listening Tour” meetings where, over and over, he heard residents complain about the trash and blight that seem to be overtaking EBR Parish.

The 5 most common violations on which this program will concentrate are:

1. Accumulation of junk/trash/debris
2. Maintenance of Property – Overgrown vegetation, open/vacant buildings
3. Swimming Pools – Security (gate & fence requirements) and condition
4. Sign Ordinance Violations – Size, zoning, location, non-permitted
5. Garbage Containers

Basic explanation of the process:

a. Residents are still requested to report perceived violations to the 311 Call Center.
b. DPW or Office of Neighborhood representative assigned to the area in which the offense is located will take pictures of the alleged violation using a specialized camera inputting the images into a computer system.
c. ATS (the same company that generates the traffic light violation letters) will generate a 15-day warning letter (from date of letter) with possible hearing notice date to the property owner(s).
d. If the problem is not addressed by the owner within the specified time, new photos will be taken that ATS will use to issue a certified letter (this does not have to be signed for by the owner in order to legally be recognized as having been received) to alert the owner to the date and time for a hearing by an Administrative Hearing Officer (AHO) (this keeps such cases from backing up on a judicial docket).
e. The AHO will have the authority to assess a fine of $117 FOR EACH VIOLATION as well as court fees and DPW clean-up costs. Owners who refuse to pay the clean-up costs will find that amount attached to their property tax bill the following year.

Some of the main things that are exciting about this approach to these long-standing and ongoing problems is that: instead of only 4 DPW Inspectors to cover the entire parish, there are now 15 (and possibly more); instead of cases getting backed up on a judicial docket, there is now in a special AHO who will hear ONLY these cases; this is a stream-lined process that significantly cuts the time between when the offense is first reported and when it possibly is heard in court; and, it takes care of the possibility of out-of-state or absentee owners getting away with being irresponsible.

The program is scheduled to get begin on August 1st with the first court hearing date of Sept. 17th.

Should you want more information, call your Councilperson’s office. Click here to find your Councilperson.

Earlier today I was honored to join Mayor-President Kip Holden and others to break ground on the 17th Green Light Plan project, the Pecue Lane Realignment. This project will realign the existing Pecue Lane at Perkins Rd. into the existing Pecue Ln. at the Kansas City Southern Railroad.

This new and improved route will provide citizens with an alternative to Siegen Lane and Highland Road, and together with the Stumberg Lane Extension project, will provide a continuous north-south connection between Coursey Boulevard and Perkins Road.

The citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish asked us to get traffic moving, and with 17 projects just like this and many more coming up that’s exactly what we’re doing!

This morning I joined Mayor-President Kip Holden, Councilman Chandler Loupe and others to officially break ground on the Siegen Lane improvements. This project will widen Siegen Lane between Perkins and Highland to four lanes with a raised median and sidewalks on both sides, improving traffic flow in a heavily congested area and creating a safer route for you and your family.

This is the next in a long list of Green Light Plan projects that are under construction around the Parish to get traffic F-L-O-W-I-N-G. The voters of East Baton Rouge asked for traffic relief and that’s exactly what we’re delivering. Promises made, promises kept!

Earlier today I was privileged to join Mayor-President Kip Holden, my fellow Council members Bones Addison, Donna Collins-Lewis, Ronnie Edwards and Tara Wicker, and business and civic leaders to break ground on the River Park Development underpass.

This important first step will open up 36 acres of downtown Baton Rouge for new development. The plans call for a mixed-use development that will include hotels, residential apartments and condos, neighborhood retail, a destination restaurant and an entertainment complex. Over 3,000 jobs will eventually be created and the first ten years will have an economic impact of more than $126 million in new earnings and $103 million in new local tax collections!

Today was an exciting day for Baton Rouge and another step in building America’s next great city! You can see a video from the groundbreaking below:

Today I was honored to help break ground on the improvements to Forest Park on S. Harrell’s Ferry Rd. These improvements will greatly improve Forest Park, one of our community’s oldest recreation centers.

When construction is completed, we will have re-defined vehicular and pedestrian circulation through the park, improved baseball and softball fields and an improved playground. The improvements will also relocate the existing dog park and add a fishing pond, three new tennis courts and jogging and walking trails.

These are fantastic improvements that will make this park even more special for those who live in southeast Baton Rouge. You can see a video from the groundbreaking below:

Today Mayor-President Kip Holden, Councilwoman Denise Marcelle, Councilwoman Tara Wicker and others broke ground on the intersection improvements at S. Foster and Government. This is the 15th Green Light Plan Project to enter the construction phase!

When completed, this project will add left-turn lanes in all directions, push-button pedestrian crosswalks and traffic signal upgrades. It will provide much-needed relief for one of Baton Rouge’s busiest intersections. The citizens of Baton Rouge asked us to get traffic moving, and that’s exactly what we’re doing!

Below is a video with highlights from today’s ceremony:

Today, Mayor-President Kip Holden, Councilman Scott Wilson and others broke ground on two bridges as part of the Central Thruway Phase I project. This is another important step in completing the Central Thruway, which will create a greatly improved north-south connection for our parish, an important evacuation route and provide Central residents with increased connectivity to other parts of Baton Rouge.

You can see a video from today’s ceremony below in addition to a map of the project:

On Wednesday I had an opportunity to sign the final paperwork authorizing the sale of $165 million in bonds. These funds will be used to pay for design, engineering and construction of fifteen improvement projects that will bring our sewer into the 21st century. This is an exciting time for Baton Rouge!

Earlier this week Mayor-President Kip Holden, Councilman Chandler Loupe and others broke ground on the South Wastewater Treatment Plant improvements. These much-needed improvements are the first of three phases of improvements that will result in increased reliability, improved processed wastewater quality and they will allow us to meet our regulatory requirements.

You can watch a clip from the groundbreaking below:

A couple of Thursdays ago, I had the honor of speaking to two local Baton Rouge Republican groups. In the morning I met with the East Baton Rouge Parish Republican Women, and updated them on all of the exciting things going on in the Parish. I’m honored to count this tremendous group of ladies among my supporters, but more importantly I’m honored to call them my friends.

Later that evening I spoke at the monthly meeting of The Pachyderms of Greater Baton Rouge. We enjoyed great food, great company and great conversation. It is a terrific group of young Republicans dedicated to building a better party, and I was happy to accept their invitation.