Keep Baton Rouge beautiful

Have you ever been driving down a road somewhere, only to see someone in the car in front of you throw trash out of the window onto the street or highway? This happened to me a few weeks ago. I was driving down Perkins Road and came to a stoplight. As soon as the light turned green, the person in front of me threw a crumpled piece of paper and a cigarette butt out of his window. It infuriated me, so I blew my horn, pointed towards his trash and tried to give him a piece of my mind. He just sped off in a flash as if he had done nothing wrong. I wanted to pull him over and make a “citizen’s arrest” like I’ve seen a few times on TV.

From that point on, as I drove around town during the normal course of my day, I began to notice more and more the amount of litter and trash along I-10 and other well-travelled Baton Rouge streets. April is the official “Keep America Beautiful” month, but I have a suggestion for all our citizens—young, old, rich, poor, white, male, female, black, Hispanic or Asian—let’s keep Baton Rouge beautiful every month.

It seems some people aren’t aware that government is only partly responsible for keeping our streets and highways clean. Of course our elected officials, both statewide and local, need to make litter removal and beautification of our public spaces and streets an ongoing priority. However, all citizens can help keep our city more trash- and pollution-free by doing their part.

While some steps have been taken to help curtail all sorts of litter, it is still a big, persistent problem not just in Baton Rouge but Louisiana as a whole. Whenever I drive to Houston or Dallas, it’s easy to realize I’m in Texas because the roads have fewer potholes, are smoother and hardly have any litter.

I love our city, but I also know that we can do much better on this issue, both as a city and statewide. The fact is the presence of litter in a community takes a toll on quality of life, property values and housing prices.

All of us have a role to play in preventing litter. Changing a common behavior, like littering, starts with each of us. We all must accept responsibility for our decisions and do our best to influence the actions of others around us—be they at home, at school, in the workplace, or out in the community.

Here are three easy steps to get started:

Make a personal choice never to litter. Ever!

Remind others not to litter and explain why litter is bad.

Get a litterbag or portable trash receptacle. If you see litter, pick it up. Dispose of full litterbags appropriately.

This issue comes down to a matter of pride. Are you proud of your city? Let’s take pride in where we live. If other countries, states and cities can keep their streets litter-free, then we can, too. No excuses.

It is no secret that public education in East Baton Rouge Parish needs to improve—both for our area’s children now and our entire community’s future as the next generation grows up and affects the direction of the city in the years to come. This month, contributing writer Lauren Brown looks at a handful of Baton Rougeans who are thinking outside the box and striving to reach our city’s young people and to meet their educational needs in new and innovative ways.

Read her cover story here.

Setting forth a bold vision is the first step to progress and success, but that vision is much better expressed when it can be shown in great detail. Planning experts agree that the Government Street corridor through Mid City is poised for redevelopment in order to make this already unique thoroughfare an increasingly vital and attractive district in Baton Rouge.

On April 13 and 14, the Center for Planning Excellence is bringing an elaborate vision-casting event called Better Block BR to a two-block stretch of Government Street. Pop-up vendors and shops will line the street, lanes will be reworked, and additional landscaping and new features for pedestrians will be added. Read all about this unique experiment here.

With Mardi Gras behind us, April signals the start of festival season with a mesmerizing number of live music, art and food events in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas. We’ve got FestForAll and Blues Fest in Baton Rouge, Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and Festival International in Lafayette, all drawing many of the world’s most talented people to celebrate with us in Louisiana. Want to join the fun? Get all the details on who to see and when in our Culture section.