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| Voters Near Baton Rouge Want Better Schools. First, They Need a New City. | Voters Near Baton Rouge Want Better Schools. First, They Need a New City. |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| BATON ROUGE, La. — Their plan to create a new independent school district failed. And then it failed again. But the residents of an unincorporated area southeast of Baton Rouge were undeterred. So a small group of local businessmen hatched an idea to establish a city of their own. | BATON ROUGE, La. — Their plan to create a new independent school district failed. And then it failed again. But the residents of an unincorporated area southeast of Baton Rouge were undeterred. So a small group of local businessmen hatched an idea to establish a city of their own. |
| “It’s been eight years in the making,” said Lionel Rainey III, a leader of an effort that is now tantalizingly possible after proposed legislation and earlier petition drives came up short. | “It’s been eight years in the making,” said Lionel Rainey III, a leader of an effort that is now tantalizingly possible after proposed legislation and earlier petition drives came up short. |
| Now, the plan to establish a new municipality, which the residents would call St. George, is before voters of the unincorporated area, a measure that also has become in many ways a referendum over the future of East Baton Rouge Parish and the role that a largely white enclave has in driving it forward. | Now, the plan to establish a new municipality, which the residents would call St. George, is before voters of the unincorporated area, a measure that also has become in many ways a referendum over the future of East Baton Rouge Parish and the role that a largely white enclave has in driving it forward. |
| Critics have questioned the motives of the organizers, a group of affluent white residents who have been driving the effort to create a new school district for years, contending that beneath the rhetoric and list of grievances lies a familiar pattern of wealthy white people seeking to distance themselves from black and poorer communities. | Critics have questioned the motives of the organizers, a group of affluent white residents who have been driving the effort to create a new school district for years, contending that beneath the rhetoric and list of grievances lies a familiar pattern of wealthy white people seeking to distance themselves from black and poorer communities. |
| St. George supporters cite a litany of frustrations, with complaints about underperforming schools chief among them. They said their other worries include inadequate drainage systems that make their neighborhoods more prone to flooding and roadways that are so clogged that the traffic feels more like driving in Los Angeles than Louisiana. In their view, their tax dollars could be spent closer to home, and not spread across the 470 square-mile parish. (“Our Independence Day is coming,” organizers posted on their Facebook page.) | St. George supporters cite a litany of frustrations, with complaints about underperforming schools chief among them. They said their other worries include inadequate drainage systems that make their neighborhoods more prone to flooding and roadways that are so clogged that the traffic feels more like driving in Los Angeles than Louisiana. In their view, their tax dollars could be spent closer to home, and not spread across the 470 square-mile parish. (“Our Independence Day is coming,” organizers posted on their Facebook page.) |
| Creating their own city, supporters insist, is an answer to their discontent, one that would bring them freedom and flexibility to pursue their own path, which they said could include investments in lagging infrastructure and improving local schools without having to raise taxes. | Creating their own city, supporters insist, is an answer to their discontent, one that would bring them freedom and flexibility to pursue their own path, which they said could include investments in lagging infrastructure and improving local schools without having to raise taxes. |
| “I’m hoping we will have more input,” Theresa Blair said at a local firehouse just after casting her ballot in favor of the new city during early voting for Saturday’s election. “If it’s smaller, we’re hoping there’s more concern for the community.” | |
| Still, even within the confines of the would-be city, many others said they fear that voter approval to create St. George would only sow division and undermine the broader community. | Still, even within the confines of the would-be city, many others said they fear that voter approval to create St. George would only sow division and undermine the broader community. |
| “I can see nothing good that can come out of forming St. George,” said M.E. Cormier, who is part of One Baton Rouge, a group opposing the incorporation. “All signs, all statistics, all reporting points to negative, harmful parishwide effects if St. George were to break away.” | “I can see nothing good that can come out of forming St. George,” said M.E. Cormier, who is part of One Baton Rouge, a group opposing the incorporation. “All signs, all statistics, all reporting points to negative, harmful parishwide effects if St. George were to break away.” |
| The campaign has also inspired intense opposition from much of the Baton Rouge establishment. The Advocate, Baton Rouge’s newspaper, published an editorial that described it as an effort that “seems more driven by passion than pragmatism.” Local government officials and business leaders have portrayed incorporation as an unwise endeavor that stands to bring about financial uncertainty and increased taxes, all while leaving St. George residents just as exasperated as they were before. | The campaign has also inspired intense opposition from much of the Baton Rouge establishment. The Advocate, Baton Rouge’s newspaper, published an editorial that described it as an effort that “seems more driven by passion than pragmatism.” Local government officials and business leaders have portrayed incorporation as an unwise endeavor that stands to bring about financial uncertainty and increased taxes, all while leaving St. George residents just as exasperated as they were before. |
| “That’s going to be a rude awakening for a lot of people,” said Sharon Weston Broome, who, as mayor-president, oversees the municipal government in Baton Rouge as well as that of East Baton Rouge Parish. | “That’s going to be a rude awakening for a lot of people,” said Sharon Weston Broome, who, as mayor-president, oversees the municipal government in Baton Rouge as well as that of East Baton Rouge Parish. |
| For decades, the city government in Baton Rouge has been blended with the parish’s, shaving costs and avoiding redundant bureaucracies as it oversees services for the city proper and its surrounding communities. On a drive through the parish, it is difficult to discern where the city of Baton Rouge would end and St. George would begin. | For decades, the city government in Baton Rouge has been blended with the parish’s, shaving costs and avoiding redundant bureaucracies as it oversees services for the city proper and its surrounding communities. On a drive through the parish, it is difficult to discern where the city of Baton Rouge would end and St. George would begin. |
| This is the second time that St. George supporters have tried to carve out a new city. An attempt in 2015 would have established an area of about 85 square miles with 107,000 residents, but the organizers were unable to collect enough signatures to put the proposal before voters. This time, the proposed map reduced the boundaries to about 60 square miles, a contraction that opponents claim was done to cut out majority-black neighborhoods. | This is the second time that St. George supporters have tried to carve out a new city. An attempt in 2015 would have established an area of about 85 square miles with 107,000 residents, but the organizers were unable to collect enough signatures to put the proposal before voters. This time, the proposed map reduced the boundaries to about 60 square miles, a contraction that opponents claim was done to cut out majority-black neighborhoods. |
| The campaign for St. George has drawn national attention over the years, highlighted as a reflection of something more troublesome. An article in The Atlantic called it part of a “new secession” of white, wealthier suburbs separating from city schools, a pattern that has repeated itself in dozens of communities across the country. (The East Baton Rouge Parish School System, with just over 40,000 students, has enrollment that is 89 percent nonwhite.) | The campaign for St. George has drawn national attention over the years, highlighted as a reflection of something more troublesome. An article in The Atlantic called it part of a “new secession” of white, wealthier suburbs separating from city schools, a pattern that has repeated itself in dozens of communities across the country. (The East Baton Rouge Parish School System, with just over 40,000 students, has enrollment that is 89 percent nonwhite.) |
| Opponents argue that the city’s architects have constructed a plan pocked with holes, questioning the wisdom of privatization and how a small, nascent government can outperform what the parish offers, noting recent investments in infrastructure. | Opponents argue that the city’s architects have constructed a plan pocked with holes, questioning the wisdom of privatization and how a small, nascent government can outperform what the parish offers, noting recent investments in infrastructure. |
| “I don’t see neglect when I look at that area,” Ms. Broome said. “I see a thriving community that has benefited from their relationship with the city-county government.” | “I don’t see neglect when I look at that area,” Ms. Broome said. “I see a thriving community that has benefited from their relationship with the city-county government.” |
| The roots of the St. George effort came from a legislative push in 2012 to create a new school district inside East Baton Rouge Parish, which has about 441,000 residents. The campaign morphed into the notion of St. George as organizers said that lawmakers had told them a new school district could be viable if it were part of a freshly incorporated city. About four years ago, a petition drive came close to making it onto a ballot. | The roots of the St. George effort came from a legislative push in 2012 to create a new school district inside East Baton Rouge Parish, which has about 441,000 residents. The campaign morphed into the notion of St. George as organizers said that lawmakers had told them a new school district could be viable if it were part of a freshly incorporated city. About four years ago, a petition drive came close to making it onto a ballot. |
| The campaign was revived in recent months and came as Baton Rouge, the state capital, was still stinging from a rash of turmoil that underscored the ties that bind the community — as well as the gulfs that divide it. | The campaign was revived in recent months and came as Baton Rouge, the state capital, was still stinging from a rash of turmoil that underscored the ties that bind the community — as well as the gulfs that divide it. |
| The city was roiled by unrest in 2016 after Alton B. Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was fatally shot by the police, and rattled when, days later, a targeted attack left three officers dead and three more wounded. Then, roughly a month later, the city was devastated by floods, a disaster that, many residents said, banded the community together after so much tumult. | The city was roiled by unrest in 2016 after Alton B. Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was fatally shot by the police, and rattled when, days later, a targeted attack left three officers dead and three more wounded. Then, roughly a month later, the city was devastated by floods, a disaster that, many residents said, banded the community together after so much tumult. |
| “It was an incredible family that came together in the parish,” Ms. Cormier said, “and I don’t know how we lost it. How did it go away so quickly?” | “It was an incredible family that came together in the parish,” Ms. Cormier said, “and I don’t know how we lost it. How did it go away so quickly?” |
| If the vote passes, St. George — the name an homage to an extinct parish that the area was once a part of — would displace Lake Charles as Louisiana’s fifth-largest city, with some 86,000 residents. It would stretch from a horseshoe bend in the Mississippi River to the Amite River, encompassing commercial and industrial pockets, block after block of single-family homes in middle-class neighborhoods, and parts like Highland Road, a lengthy oak-shaded corridor running between sprawling and stately Acadian homes. | If the vote passes, St. George — the name an homage to an extinct parish that the area was once a part of — would displace Lake Charles as Louisiana’s fifth-largest city, with some 86,000 residents. It would stretch from a horseshoe bend in the Mississippi River to the Amite River, encompassing commercial and industrial pockets, block after block of single-family homes in middle-class neighborhoods, and parts like Highland Road, a lengthy oak-shaded corridor running between sprawling and stately Acadian homes. |
| Plans for the city call for a lean operation: The parish’s Sheriff’s Department would police it and it would continue to rely on other parish services. A mayor and five-person council would be appointed by the governor, according to a website created by supporters. And the city’s bureaucracy would also be largely privatized. “It’s a very modern, some could say even progressive, way to look at city management,” Mr. Rainey said. | Plans for the city call for a lean operation: The parish’s Sheriff’s Department would police it and it would continue to rely on other parish services. A mayor and five-person council would be appointed by the governor, according to a website created by supporters. And the city’s bureaucracy would also be largely privatized. “It’s a very modern, some could say even progressive, way to look at city management,” Mr. Rainey said. |
| Mr. Rainey, who works in political communications, was the group’s spokesman during the previous incorporation effort but has had a less active role this time. | Mr. Rainey, who works in political communications, was the group’s spokesman during the previous incorporation effort but has had a less active role this time. |
| Other organizers of the effort declined multiple requests for comment. “We are not interested in interviewing with media outside of our voting area at this time,” their spokesman, J. Andrew Murrell, a local lawyer, said in an email. | Other organizers of the effort declined multiple requests for comment. “We are not interested in interviewing with media outside of our voting area at this time,” their spokesman, J. Andrew Murrell, a local lawyer, said in an email. |
| But Mr. Rainey said the ambitions for St. George were fueled by something larger and more wholesome than political or racial divides, or even run-of-the-mill complaints about government services. | But Mr. Rainey said the ambitions for St. George were fueled by something larger and more wholesome than political or racial divides, or even run-of-the-mill complaints about government services. |
| “This is about creating a better life for your family,” he said, describing the financial burden for families that chose to educate their children in private schools. “What’s more important than your family? Nothing. The rest is just noise.” | “This is about creating a better life for your family,” he said, describing the financial burden for families that chose to educate their children in private schools. “What’s more important than your family? Nothing. The rest is just noise.” |
| On a recent sweltering morning, a firehouse on the edge of St. George was a very busy polling site. One after the next, residents repeated familiar talking points: Things cannot get any worse than they already are. Or, the last thing they want is the additional taxes a new city would bring. | On a recent sweltering morning, a firehouse on the edge of St. George was a very busy polling site. One after the next, residents repeated familiar talking points: Things cannot get any worse than they already are. Or, the last thing they want is the additional taxes a new city would bring. |
| Some expressed their worries about what would come, no matter the outcome. | Some expressed their worries about what would come, no matter the outcome. |
| “It’s just going to split up the community,” said Elizabeth Ott, who lives just outside the proposed St. George boundary. “We’ve got enough division.” | “It’s just going to split up the community,” said Elizabeth Ott, who lives just outside the proposed St. George boundary. “We’ve got enough division.” |
| John J. Overton, an executive at Turn Key Solutions, an I.T. business that would be within St. George, said he had strong concerns about the consequences that creating a new city could have, and the emotions that appear to be driving its supporters. | John J. Overton, an executive at Turn Key Solutions, an I.T. business that would be within St. George, said he had strong concerns about the consequences that creating a new city could have, and the emotions that appear to be driving its supporters. |
| Yet when it came to the threat of lingering animosity, he held on to a strand of optimism: The divisions could only reach so far. | Yet when it came to the threat of lingering animosity, he held on to a strand of optimism: The divisions could only reach so far. |
| “We’re neighbors,” he said. “I think there will be some challenges to avoid a ‘them and us’ mentality. But our kids are still best friends even though they don’t go to the same school. You’re still my valued client even though you’re in the next city over.” | “We’re neighbors,” he said. “I think there will be some challenges to avoid a ‘them and us’ mentality. But our kids are still best friends even though they don’t go to the same school. You’re still my valued client even though you’re in the next city over.” |