Voters will have the opportunity to vote on East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden’s $900 million bond — which includes the $225 million project “Alive” — Nov. 14.At a Metropolitan Council meeting Wednesday night, members of the Council voted to put the bond issue on the ballot in its entirety.Alive is a proposed plan for an educational, research and entertainment complex that would incorporate the Mississippi River and Louisiana’s hurricane research while increasing tourism in downtown Baton Rouge.The proposed parish-wide half-cent sales tax and 9.9 mils property tax would potentially fund $178 million for drainage improvements, $135 million for a new prison and $92 million for a joint Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Sheriff Headquarters. Smaller improvements include $38 million to consolidate government offices in five floors of City Hall, $45 million for the replacement and synchronization of about 260 traffic signals and $68 million for the construction of two parking garages. Adam Knapp, Baton Rouge Area Chamber CEO, said Baton Rouge has seen more than 5,000 new jobs, and now is the best time for the city to consider expanding.”We have seen a tremendous amount of growth post [hurricanes] Katrina and Rita,” Knapp said. “This is exactly the moment when you want to think about a project like this, when the market is booming.”BRAC surveys local businesses each year, and Knapp said a handful of issues are criticized year after year — the availability of a skilled workforce, traffic issues and community safety. Alive’s research component helps to solve workforce issues, the repair and synchronization of traffic lights helps to solve traffic problems, and the new prison structure helps to solve the safety issues, he said. “Our economy is doing well,” Knapp said, explaining Baton Rouge has the seventh-best metropolitan economy in the country. “[It’s] the absolute right moment to propel our economy.”Alive, one of the more-heavily debated components of the bond, will potentially create 23,000 permanent jobs and bring approximately 600,000 visitors to Baton Rouge each year, according to an economic assessment of the bond conducted by economics professor James Richardson.The proposed plans for Alive also include an amphitheater on the Mississippi River, which ProjectIs co-founder Todd Teepell told the Daily Reveille in August could potentially become a top amphitheater in the country. It would potentially attract concerts that would otherwise go to New Orleans. Tara Wicker, District 10 Metropolitan councilwoman, spoke in support of both Alive and the remainder of the $900 million bond.”We have not done a good job of selling our own city — even to our own kids,” Wicker said. “I believe it is our responsibility.”————Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]