Our Views: A new day for the council

With eight of 12 members of Baton Rouge’s Metro Council returning to office, several of those members might want to be chairman of the council.

At the council’s first meeting today, after taking the oath of office, the members will likely look to elect a mayor pro-tem to replace Mike Walker, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor-president in November.

We hope that the new council seeks a leader who will try to defuse what we have seen as sometimes needless confrontations between the mayor’s office and the council, and often enough among council members themselves.

Having been re-elected with 60 percent of the vote over Walker and two other candidates, Mayor-President Kip Holden is in a strong position to lead during this third four-year term. But leaders need colleagues, not rubber stamps, and we hope that the council and its new leader will seek to strike that healthy balance.

Holden has pledged to keep council members better informed about issues. For their part, we hope council members reach out to the administration.

In selecting a pro-tem, the council should look for someone who is independent, but not spoiling for a fight with the mayor.

A member of the council is a part-timer, with a real-life profession and a pile of pre-meeting reading that some members do more diligently than others — often making meetings more difficult for everyone.

Throw in a sometimes-combustible temper of the mayor, and council meetings in the past couple of years have seemed like the U.S. Congress on one of its bad days.

Of course we don’t expect the mayor and members of the Metro Council to agree on everything. Representative government is supposed to accommodate — and even encourage — a wide range of views. But we think people in Baton Rouge expect elected officials to find common ground and compromise in a spirit of tolerance and civility.

Comments

1) Comment by Being_Stupid - 02/01/2013

First order of business for the new Metro Council should be to remove Tara Wicker from the Planning and Zoning Commission. Appoint more open minded, pro-business folks to the Planning Commission.

2) Comment by Being_Stupid - 02/01/2013

WARNING: THIS IS A LONG RANTING COMMENT BY ***** These "Newbies" like John Delgado and especially Ryan Heck say that one of their main priorities is to make the FutureBR Plan become a reality instead of pipe dream on paper. If they want to make this happen, they needs to start by removing the obstructionists on the Planning and Zoning Commission, like Tara Wicker and relax the zoning ordinances on business developments that severely restrict the allowable uses. For example these Urban Design Districts that restrict usage to office or single-family residential only. Why not allow for more Light Retail, Neighborhood Commercial (not just Office), Multi-Family, Mixed Uses as depicted in the FutureBR Plan with neighborhood business on ground floors and multi-residential on top floors. Also, DO NOT cater to these special interests groups like NeoProhibitionists that want to ban the sale of alcohol and the Historic (Hitler) Preservation Commission, Neighborhood Associations, Federation of Greater Baton Rouge Civic Associations. All of these groups have stifled the growth of BIG Business in East Baton Rouge and have stopped Developers, Architects, Business Owners, and Entrepreneurs from being able to build and develop the "Next Great City". Mayor Holden, Walter Monsour, Tara Wicker and other Government Bureaucrats &/or Obstructionists think Government in the answer to building a better Baton Rouge. Only a FREE People can build a better city, not Government, not bureaucrats, and not obstructionists and not these Special Interest - NIMBY Neighborhood Groups. FREE THIS CITY FROM EXCESSIVE GOVERNMENT.

3) Comment by phil - 02/01/2013

And hopefully council members will fight the fight when it is actually needed and actually represent the people in their districts and not just become part of the established political machine in BR. Council members are just part-time, but they play a very important role in just about everything that takes place in government in EBR Parish. I just hope the council can pick a good leader.

4) Comment by Being_Stupid - 02/01/2013

Mayor Holden attends Metro Council meetings? When did this start happening?

5) Comment by jdk944 - 02/01/2013

The Advocate said in this piece, "A member of the council is a part-timer, with a real-life profession...". That did NOT describe Mike Walker who hadn't had a "real-life profession" in close to a DECADE!!