“City Park, a wonderfully unique 100-plus-acre site, is the most beautiful tract of land in the heart of our community. This signature landmark—nestled next to the City Park and University lakes (now undergoing $50 million in improvements)—is conveniently located amid a diverse range of neighborhoods and the LSU campus, yet its central location and easy access to the interstate makes it accessible to residents throughout East Baton Rouge Parish. The City Park and University lakes are the most popular place in Baton Rouge to walk, bike and jog. Developing this site into a “central park” with rolling hills, expansive green spaces and mature trees would make it a perfect place for many activities enjoyed by families, couples, students, young adults and seniors—picnics, frisbee, flying kites, softball, football, kayaking, walking and much more. It would also make it a safer place with more activity. BREC Superintendent Corey Wilson put it best, recently saying parks “bring people together. In the days that we’re living, bringing people together is as important as ever.”
   The 9-hole golf course currently at City Park has limited appeal compared to most other BREC activities, is  expensive to maintain compared to green space,  has traditionally been subsidized over the last decade with tax dollars and is the single biggest user of land in the park, dominating this spectacular site east of Dalrymple Drive. 
  The course should be closed, making way for a gem that all citizens in Baton Rouge can use. (Moreover, the 18-hole Webb BREC golf course is just 1.8 miles away.) The highest and best use for this signature site is a wonderful and spacious ‘central park’ for everyone to enjoy.  Please support this petition and ask BREC, the mayor-president and Metro Council to join with the community to create a unique green space of excellence that coincides with their current efforts on the amazing Lakes Project. A spectacular central park would provide a quality-of-life attraction for our future we can all be proud of and enjoy all year long.”  

NOTE:  Many different ideas and plans have been proposed over the years. Here are a couple along with concepts for The Lakes Project now under construction.

*An LSU design project
https://www.225batonrouge.com/article/city-park-gone-wild

*BREC: conceptual design with no golf course
https://d46w5x9vt7qfg.cloudfront.net/images/cityparkconceptdesign2.jpg

*The Lakes project concepts:    https://www.braf.org/br-lakes

Please post the link below and share petition with others: https://www.change.org/createacentralparkinBR