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Proposed Baton Rouge Street Car Line

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Although I no longer live in Baton Rouge, I still think about ways to improve the city, so that eventually I can make a McArthur like return.  One of things I love about New Orleans is that I can go weeks at a time without driving.  I take the Street Card into the CBD and Taxi  / Walk when I go out. 

Baton Rouge has no mass transit system, or not one that is used a lot.  Its taxi cab service is a joke.  I remember one time waiting an hour for a Taxi Cab to pick us up from a bar.  In New Orleans, I don’t think I have waited more then 5 minutes for a cab. 

I was talking about mass transit with my friend John Bullock today and we came up with the ideal that Baton Rouge should mimic the St.Charles Street Car line.  Since Baton Rouge franchises all of New Orleans restaurants,  why don’t they franchise one of the most iconic images of New Orleans (Stella!!!).  Replicate the New Orleans Street Car Line on St. Charles to Perkins Road. 

Could you imagine bar hopping from Chelsea's, the Bull Dog, and Perkins Rowe without driving.  You have to imagine, because in Baton Rouge, the states Capital, that is impossible.  The original line would use a street car like the one below that ran from Park Ave to Perkins Rowe.  We could look at expanding that based on the need.

Here is a model of the top of Car I would like.  I went to White Lights on Government Street a couple of years ago and they ran similar cars.  Run the stops on a 15 minute schedule to 3am. 

I don’t know if this would be profitable or pay for itself, but at you look at the big picture, an act like this would positively improve the image of Baton Rouge a hundred fold and maybe convince some people it is time to move back home.

“Hot Art, Cool Nights”

The fifth annual Baton Rouge Mid City Merchants sponsored spring art hop, “Hot Art, Cool Nights”, will be held on Friday night, May 9, 2008, from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m.

http://www.midcitymerchants.com/

I went with Ashley last year and had a blast.  I actually ended up buying some art.  I wish I could go this year but will be in New Orleans.  There is free drinks, so no excuse not to go.

Top 5 WiFi Spots in Baton Rouge

I work very long hours.  If I went to get some more work done after 5pm, it not going to be at the office or my house.  Here my favorite place to work in Baton Rouge

 

1. Highland Coffees

Great atmosphere and good coffee.  It is very easy to feed off the energy in there. 

WiFi:  Flaky

Drink of Choice: Granita

2.   Perks

Like Highland Coffees but smaller and more intimate. 

WiFi: Great

Drink of Choice: Granita

3. The Chimes

Do people actually work at the Chimes?  I head over there at 11pm when Highland Coffees closes.  There is always another guy on his laptop.  Sometimes he passes out.  I never have,  yet. 

WiFi: Good

Drink of Choice: Abita Jackamo

4. The Varsity

Monday is a good time to get some work done and see a movie.  Again, I will go over there after the Highland Coffees closes.  Also, you can hear Clark yelling all the time.

WiFi: Bad

Drink of Choice: Depends on Drink Special

5. Charlie's Coffees on Perkins

I tend to shy away from chains but you can stay for along time and order a sandwich.  The tables are nice to spread out your stuff if you can find one. 

WiFi:  Good and they also have wired connections

Drink of Choice:  Banana Smoothie

The Golden Age of Running is here

Every spring and fall the weather becomes perfect for running in Louisiana.  Unfortunately it only last for about 2 weeks.  It has finally hit us and this week look great.  Weather in the 60s all week and 10 percent chance of rain everyday until Friday.  Expect to see me out on the lakes every day this week.  I plan on rotating between 4 and 8 miles until Friday. 

For my friend's  that would be a cowards run and a Big Kahuna.

Also I didn't hear about any drive bys on third street this weekend so maybe the Boyz in the Hood fade has passed. 

Downtown is going through some growing pains

I was at Boudreaux and Thibodeaux's March 29th standing on the balcony when I saw about 15 police cars pull up and completely shut down 3rd Street.  No one had any ideal what was going on and I remained in the dark to I stumbled on this report at the Baton Rouge Business Report:

http://www.businessreport.com/news/2008/apr/04/downtown-brawl-leads-push-more-security/

Which basically describes that a huge fight broke out at one end of third street.  I found this part of the article a little disturbing:

An officer told 21-year-old Quintin Alonzo Williams to turn down the music and move on, Kelly says, but Williams cursed and instead turned the music up. The officer then tried to pull Williams out of the 1999 Pontiac Firebird, prompting Williams to allegedly push the officer, pin him against another vehicle and start fighting. That’s when another officer Tasered him. Williams was arrested and charged with several counts. The Police Department later towed his car and discovered an AK-47 with 28 rounds in the magazine, but he is not facing any weapons charges.

I went to Boudreaux and Thibodeauxs the following Saturday and noticed a huge police presence, which is good in the short term but not something that I think anyone really wants.  It would probably be a good ideal to shutdown 3rd Street on weekends and make it pedestrian only.  That way people won't have easy access to their AK -47s.  There is no way I can fit mine into my 7 Jeans and would mostly likely have to leave it in my car.    

There is trouble in Hundred Oaks

Our neighboorhood sends out this email last week about a proposed retirement home for nuns to be built in the Hundred Oaks area.

The Sisters, and their architect on the project, Raymond "Skipper" Post, would very much like to meet with the neighborhood to explain the scope of this project and listen to any concerns we may have so these can be addressed before any more planning is done. In advance of this meeting, I would invite all of you to visit Post Architects' website ( http://www.postarchitects.com/ ) to look at their achievements and portfolio of projects. I believe their history, and the quality of their design and subsequent construction, speaks for itself.

 

This is the response someone gave:

This is an outrage. What kind of notcie is this to the neighborhood? I will be out of town on the 11th of Oct. We need due notice and process. I have many questions about why the sisters need to use this property to our disadvantage??? This is a residential neighorhood, and we need to keep it as such. What is the rush?? I want at least a 30 day notice of any meeting; a plan in detail as to what is being proposed at least 20 days before the meeting; and at the meeting a full discussion.

 

To add some fuel to a non existent fire, here was my response:

While we are making demands, I want a cart drawn carriage to come pick me up and bring me to this meeting and a pair of tickets to a certain national championship game just for attending.

Seriously, it is wonderful to live in neighborhood and I want to thank @@@@ and @@@@ for their hard work in putting something like this together.

Everyone here complains about all the college kids, I think people would be jumping head over heels for a group of retired nuns unless they are the retired nuns that throw all night keggers, and then I would want at least a 30 day notice of such a party and a guest list 20 days in advanced.

PS: Let's start using the bbc and spell check on further emails.

My High School is on Wikipedia

Preston just tipped me off that someone created a wikipedia entry about my High School Episcopal.  It is pretty straightforward except for this:

"The current Headmaster of Episcopal, Deborah Kay Betts, was hired as a replacement for the previous Headmaster, Paul Hancock, who resigned after being accused of taking roughly $102,000 dollars from the school. Hancock claimed to need the money to pay off financial problems, but he did not specify their nature. Many have speculated that much of this money was used by Hancock to pay off his son's drug debts, but there is no proof of this. After much deliberation, and against the opinions off many students and parents, the school made an out of court settlement with Hancock and did not press charges."

Famous notable alumni include:

• Will Wright -- '76, co-founder of the American game development company Maxis and creator of The Sims.
• Todd Graves -- founder of the Louisiana-based fast-food chain Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers.
• Jimmy R. Williams -- sensational student-athlete. Currently plays football for the Seattle Seahawks
• Anthony Rushing -- musician, member of the band Benjy Davis Project.
• Michael Galasso -- musician, member of the band Benjy Davis Project.
• Brett Bolden -- musician, member of the band Benjy Davis Project

I guess they forgot to add Craig Bayer, founder of Bayerworld.com and founding member of the Dos Equis.

My Take on the Baton Rouge Beach Construction and the Lakes

Stanford Ave Park

The Construction

I am a little concerned with the way they are doing the construction.  I wish the construction crews made some path for us to use besides the street or at least did a better job in placing the barricades.   The other day I almost got clobbered by a car when I was leaving East Lake Shore and moving onto Stanford.  They had moved the barricades from the day before. 

The Parking

Currently is 119 and is going to be 115.  My only concern is that although the official parking is 119 I wonder if they have taken into account how cars create a middle row in the open space.  With the new designs, there will be no room for the

Technorati tags: Baton Rouge Beach

middle row.  It think it was a great ideal to move all the parking closer to the street which will make it safer for people who run early in the morning or late at night. 

The Lighting

The lighting around the lakes is horrible.  There are always lights out and more should be added.  Go out at 5am or 5pm and there are tons of runners.  The cars around the lakes insist on going 50 miles.  Someone is going to get run over.  It would be a great ideal if the city installed speed humps and fixed the current lighting, and added more. 

The Design

It looks pretty good and I think will be something we can all enjoy.  Here are Phase 1 and Phase 2.  Will add more piers and a volleyball court.  This is definitely a step in the right direction and Stanford Ave will look a lot nicer.