The University is stepping up efforts to rejuvenate the northern part of campus.
    While the Chancellor’s office has brought in developers to begin making plans for the north part of campus, Student Government has appointed a committee of three students to act as a bridge between students and the developers.
    Delia Taylor, a local publicist helping the merchants and landowners of the area north of campus, said this is the first time in history the University’s administration is involved with the revitalization of the area.
    Renee Myer, assistant to Chancellor Mark Emmert, said the University is engaged in a multi-layered revitalization effort — in which it has formed partnerships with private developers of the north part of campus and the city of Baton Rouge.
    She said while the University has “enlightened self-interest,” in the north part of campus, it actually cannot make plans for the area.
    Everything east of Chimes Street is private property, Myer said. The University only can make plans for what is on its property, but it can try to help the private developers envision what the University would like to see for the area.
Emmert said the University’s vision focuses on Northgate becoming an inviting neighborhood with attractive housing options, access to restaurants, services and retail.
He said the University wants it to be a place where students can hang out.
Emmert said it is critical for the University to be a driving force in the development of the surrounding neighborhoods.
The University needs to be involved because an increasing number of residents are University students and employees, he said. The University needs to help provide safe high-quality neighborhoods to live in, he said.
Emmert also said great universities have great communities.
“As we recruit the best students, faculty and staff, we are recruiting against universities that often have great university communities,” he said.
Emmert said universities such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are surrounded by inviting communities.
He also said the University is obligated to help the community.
“LSU is the six-hundred pound gorilla in the neighborhood,” Emmert said. “We simply have a moral obligation to be good, helpful neighbors.”
Myer said the University is trying to recruit the best and brightest students and faculty members, so there needs to be a warm and inviting front door for them.
The Northgate is the front door of the campus, and it needs to be inviting for the people at LSU, she said. But, the University also needs to be good neighbors to the people living in the surrounding community.
This means “looking beyond the front gate,” Myer said. The University has to look at the whole community.
One developer the University is working with is First Worthing — the construction company responsible for The Venue at Northgate apartments on State Street.
    First Worthing also has purchased the shopping strip which houses the Co-Op Bookstore, Roly Poly and other dining and retail establishments.
    Myer said the development company is bringing new energy, people and economic development to the area.
    “The new development will complement the things that have been historically successful places in the Northgate area,” she said.
Myer said the University is not pushing to create something entirely new for the northern part of campus because it already has its own distinctive flavors.
“We are not wanting to bulldoze everything and start new,” she said.
Instead, Myer said the University is trying to incorporate the new development with the successful businesses.
The University currently is working with different areas of the community, she said. It is working with First Worthing and other local merchants and landowners.
Myer said the University also has interest in the city of Baton Rouge.
Chancellor Emmert is working with the City Parish, and the East Baton Rouge Housing Authority on a project that involves residential development, she said.
Taylor said the University is involved with the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOPE VI grant.
HUD’s Web site says East Baton Rouge Parish received the HOPE VI grant to revitalize the East Boulevard and Oklahoma Street neighborhood north of LSU.
The Web site said in 2002, the parish received a HOPE VI demolition grant for $200,000. East Baton Rouge also received a HOPE VI revitalization grant for more than $18.6 million.
The site said since 1993, HUD’s HOPE VI revitalization program has awarded 193 grants to 114 cities.
According to the site, the grants are “used to demolish the nation’s most severely distressed public housing. In its place, HOPE VI is building an attractive development that enhances the surrounding community while providing housing for families of all incomes.”
Both Myer and Taylor said demolition will began in March.
Emmert said the University served as a “technical resource” to help put the HOPE VI application together and as “political support” during the review process.
“As the grant is implemented we will continue [in] this support role, providing whatever support is useful,” he said.
Emmert said he is on a three-person committee that approves major contracts and subcontracts.
Mayor Simpson and John Davies of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation also are on the committee.
Myer said other revitalization projects include working with Landscape Green to fix up community homes and organizing students to assist neighborhood residents with legal matters.
She said the University wants to share its intellectual resources to help sustain the surrounding community and work with those who control it.
Student Senate Speaker Michael Busada also has made revitalization a facet of his spring legislative package.
According to a Senate press release SG President Allen Richey, SG Vice President Jason Wesley and Busada met with Chancellor Emmert to discuss Busada’s legislative agenda.
Busada said revitalizing the north part of campus was one of the topics that surfaced during the meeting.
He said the Chancellor informed them that his office has commissioned developers to begin plans to rejuvenate the northern side of campus. During the discussion Busada suggested having students work with the developers.
    The group talked about the idea and felt a committee of students would be best to serve the campus community.
Busada said they agreed to appoint three students — who represent different parts campus — to work closely with the developers.
Richey appointed the committee members.
Richey said they chose younger students to be on the committee in hopes of developing a long-term partnership between students and the existing community partnership.