Status quo won the battle, but change must win the war

History, both recent and ancient, conspired to scuttle Mayor Kip Holden’s bond proposal, but we believe it was only a temporary setback.

The plan was clear: invest $989 million to upgrade or replace crumbling city-parish facilities (police and sheriff’s office headquarters, fire stations, Parish Prison, sewage and drainage infrastructure, and roads and bridges). A bold downtown riverfront tourist attraction to be operated by the Audubon Institute represented the “progressive” component of the package.

Holden won re-election in October after disclosing his bond proposal. But the momentum faded fast as the banking crisis ballooned, which sent shivers down Main Street America.

By the time the Nov. 4 vote rolled around, alarming financial reports dominated the news, fueling fear of layoffs and a nationwide recession. It was under that stressful scenario that voters split into their camps, and not on simple lines of Republicans and Democrats, or new taxes versus no taxes.

Two historical events affected the vote’s outcome: the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the second, the more recent collapse of Louisiana’s oil patch in the early 1980s.

Voters old enough to remember the Depression were instilled with the perspective that prosperity is fleeting, and that hard times are really hard. They were more likely to oppose the proposal on the notion of financial prudence: with such a gloomy economic outlook, this seems like a time to batten down the financial hatches, not a time to pass new taxes or increase public spending.

More recently, the better part of a generation fled the state in the early 1980s in search of jobs. Many have not returned, nor have their children, who’d be voting age now. Who knows what might have happened if that “missing generation” were here.

Still, the words “progress” and “vision” were spoken often in the debate leading up to the election. Voters seemed energized, and the dire economic news didn’t dampen their optimism.

Younger supporters embraced the bond proposal for its symbolic nature. To them, the proposal meant Baton Rouge was finally willing to step up and face problems and deficiencies it had ducked for 50 years. It was welcome nourishment for their hunger for a better place to live.

Older supporters who understand how crucial it is to tackle long-neglected basics while pushing daring change (in this case, the Alive riverfront component) supported the measure with equal enthusiasm.

But on Nov. 4 the coalition of older conservatives with vision and young optimists fell just 3,071 votes short.

Status quo may have won the battle, but change must win in Baton Rouge. Like many in this community, we believe the components of the bond proposal are crucial to moving the parish forward, and we expect the mayor not to give up on them.