BATON ROUGE - The Baton Rouge Area Foundation has released its CityStats 2016 report complete with indicators for tracking quality of life in the Capital Area.

CityStats tracks the quality of life in East Baton Rouge Parish with more than 70 indicators. Its total 2016 sample included more than 500 randomly selected adult residents of the parish. Segments analyzed included recreation, education, government, environment, infrastructure and health.

BRAF Chair S. Dennis Blunt notes at the beginning of his letter that accompanied the report that residents feel Baton Rouge is changing, but not fast enough. Another major sentiment was residents feeling they have little or no influence over their elected leaders.

>> You can view the full EBR CityStats 2016 report by clicking here. <<

The report seems to indicate that the local economy is continuing to grow with jobs being added and new people moving to the parish. Incomes are up as white unemployment is declining. The chair points out that the wage gap continues to be a “nagging problem” that divides the parish along racial lines. The report shows an $88,901 median income for whites, a $63,558 parish median income and an African American median income of $41,029. For every dollar earned in an EBR white household in 2014, just 46 cents were earned in the average African American household.

Another key point of strife in the parish is its flawed public transportation system. Cars remain the most used method of transit about the Capital Area, and gridlock remains a result as masses of BR residents take to the roadways to commute every day. 4 out of 10 of the people surveyed say they would ride their bike to work if it were feasible and safe for them to do so. There is also rising interest in bike-share programs, especially in the downtown, university lakes and in the City Park area. BRAF and the Downtown Development District will be looking to build a safe cycling route between downtown and the park partially due to this survey.

On the dark side of the survey, infant mortality in East Baton Rouge is almost twice the national average. The EBR Coroner Beau Clark’s staff attributes the increase in deaths to sleeping parents and other caretakers accidentally suffocating their children. Campaigns to alert parents and guardians to this dangers have seen these deaths drop in other cities.