By james art BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPRUD) — The Nov. 5 election is less than a week away and polls are showing a tight race between three front-runners. One of them is Democrat “Ted” James.
“We’ve seen what happens if we pick a party over East Baton Rouge Parish,” James said
James is a Baton Rouge native, Southern University graduate, attorney, legislator, and father.
During the interview, BRProud host and reporter Sydney Simon asked what James likes to do when he’s not working. He said, “To spend time with Harper.”
For James, that means walking the lake with his daughter and giving back to his community. He says his love for Baton Rouge runs deep in his veins.
“Of course, turned down scholarship offers to go to other places because I never wanted to take what Baton Rouge did for me and go to another school,” James said.
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James said the town is not as united as it was when he was young. Now he hopes to unite all sides of democracy by running for mayor-president of East Baton Rouge.
“Come to the table to offer solutions that are not Democratic or Republican solutions. They were Louisiana decisions. So we need more of that,” James said.
One concern at the top of his to-do list is crime.
“Young people cannot be left in the shopping center because of the high level of crime and violence. We have a mall curfew,” James said.
The Democratic candidate is already working to address that problem by creating a dual-enrollment program at Scotlandville High School, an area known for high rates of juvenile delinquency.
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“Recognizing the importance of job creation and workforce development, not only as an economic development tool, but as a crime reduction tool,” James said.
While education is only one part of a complex issue, the former SBA administrator says we need to pay attention to the pay scale for those working in the legal field.
“Our prosecutor [District Attorney] and our public defenders are underfunded. You cannot have a functioning system if parts of the system are not whole,” James said.
Another topic on the agenda is mana and construction. James plans to do this by improving the mayor’s MOVE-BR project. He argues that we need more walkable and friendly communities.
“Decreasing resources for infrastructure. Roads and bridges. Reducing resources to adjust our STORMWATER program to make sure we fight against future floods,” James said.
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James says the federal government reports more than 400 people are living on the streets in Baton Rouge.
“If I’m going to hire these executives to talk about investing in Baton Rouge, I can’t have a downtown that’s full of homeless people, right,” James said.
For that reason, his administration wants to focus more on transitional housing, not just shelter.
“But we cannot overemphasize our responsibility to help and protect these people by reducing resources that other communities are putting to good use,” James said.
In James’ words, not everything is broken, but to see the change most people want starts with voting differently.
“Transitional housing where you create these opportunities for those who will benefit from the learning opportunities. You can get them mental health help. You get them substance abuse help,” James.
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Overall, James says he is committed to returning the president to the title of mayor-president.
“Because I felt like Baton Rouge couldn’t survive another four years like the last eight,” James said.
This means touching every corner of the parish, including the newly established St George’s Church.
“I ask for your trust. I have no doubt they will not vote for me,” James said.
If elected, James plans to stop practicing law and focus on running the city-parish. Election day is Tuesday, November 5.
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