Sharon Weston Broome Just Sent A Letter Bragging About Her Administration’s Progress, And It’s Just…

…well, let’s just say we’re underwhelmed.

Here’s the letter. You’re welcome to draw the conclusions from it that you want. We’ll have some thoughts below…

swb letter 4-18-17

We’re going to go ahead and say that bullet list is a little less substantial than one would have hoped an energetic, reform-minded new mayor-president would have been able to boast of.

Her top accomplishment is to demand “hug-a-thug” policing in Baton Rouge, which has already led to a number of resignations as cops in town look for jobs in adjoining parishes. Next, she touts having met with the state about getting flood recovery dollars – but hasn’t actually gotten any. That’s not particularly her fault, but it’s certainly not a notable accomplishment. Then there’s the Pecue Lane interchange, which is a leftover Kip Holden project she probably couldn’t screw up if she tried.

A transportation solutions summit? Meaning the same people talking about the same problems and asking for the same tax increases to go to the same governmental bodies who have failed to solve those problems before. What else do we have? A trash pickup volunteer event – one wonders why Broome needed to be mayor to get that going. Then an Education Roundtable; she has no constitutional role in education in the parish, so that’s window dressing. Plus a joint meeting with the School Board and the Metro Council; the letter doesn’t say whether cocktails or hors d’ouevres were served. Plus an initiative that looks a bit like Head Start, which national studies have shown doesn’t really work.

And finally, an Equity In Business Opportunity Plan and roping BRAC into a minority-owned business program which, while we certainly don’t oppose businesses being owned by women and minorities and would like a whole lot more of those, we already know is not exactly a search for the next Godfather’s Pizza or Black Entertainment Television. Broome is putting on workshops to teach black citizens in Baton Rouge how to apply for and get contracts to do work for the city-parish, not how to identify a hole in the market and fill it. It’s not economic development, it’s political machine-building.

This is 100 days’ worth of mayoral activity. And this is what’s coming for the next four years going on 12.

What else is coming? More middle class exodus. And St. George. St. George is coming. It’s just a matter of time.

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