A tale of two cities

How do residents break-up with a city? Fed up with crime, poor schools and lack of government accountability, some residents in the unincorporated southeast part of East Baton Rouge Parish want to create a new city. Activists want to break away to create a new school system and keep sales tax dollars from the Mall of Louisiana. But not everyone’s sold. We’ll have all sides at 7:30pm ET.

IOn this episode of The Stream, we'll speak to:

Lionel Rainey III @StGeorgeINC
Spokesman, Committee to Incorporate City of St. George
StGeorgeLouisiana.com

C. Denise Marcelle @Marcelle4Dist61
Councilmember, East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council
facebook.com/councilwoman.c.denisemarcelle

James Richardson
Professor of Economics, LSU

What do you think? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below. 

East Baton Rouge Parish is divided over an effort to create a new city and school district, St. George, in the southeast section of the parish. Fed up with the parish's lackluster education system, residents of the St. George area tried two previous times to establish their own school district. Those efforts failed, so they turned to a new tactic - incorporation of St. George. Creating a new city would allow St. George to establish its own school district, but would have serious repercussions for the parish.

If incorporation is successful, it would affect funding for students in Baton Rouge, revenue for local governance and public services for residents. The debate brings up issues of race, class and access to quality education.