Walter Monsour

Age | 69 Occupation | President/CEO, East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority Hometown | Shreveport

There’s no better time than now for the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority. And RDA President/CEO Walter Monsour is perfectly positioned to implement the big neighborhood-altering projects this semi-state agency has worked toward since forming in 2009. Smiley Heights, the 198-acre mixed-use urban village behind Bon Carré in Mid City, complete with a proposed BRCC training center and a Career Academy high school, already has the backing of Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Another top priority for 2013 is the Lincoln Theater in Old South Baton Rouge. It’s had several starts and stops, but the stars are aligning with a cultural district study by Center for Planning Excellence and the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, a public art project across the street and the greenway project that would pass nearby.

In the midst of these developments, the RDA is also making a push for more robust code enforcement, working with the Mayor’s Office to decrease blight by putting pressure on property owners—a tactic that’s bound to turn heads. Guiding Monsour is his assertion that the RDA’s projects can check off nearly every box on a list of hurdles facing the city, from crime to education to poverty.

“I truly believe the vast majority of people live up to or down to the environment they are in,” Monsour says. “If you create a better environment, human nature will take over.” ebrra.org