- summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5) Local time Tuesday 7:11 PM | Area code 225 | |
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- Police Chief James Salsbury (Republican) Weather 18°C, Wind NW at 11 km/h, 93% Humidity Parish East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Area 161.9 km² (161.1 km² Land / 78 ha Water) | ||
Central is the thirteenth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the second largest city in East Baton Rouge Parish. Central became the state's newest city in April 2005. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Central was 26,864 as of the 2010 census.
Contents
- Map of Central LA USA
- History
- Geography
- Government and infrastructure
- Public schools
- Private schools
- Public libraries
- Media
- Notable person
- References
Map of Central, LA, USA
History
Long an unincorporated suburb of Baton Rouge, the citizens of Central voted to incorporate as a city on April 23, 2005, despite opposition from the parish. The U.S. Postal Service allows residents to use "Central, LA" with their current ZIP code.
Businessperson Russell Starns stated that the incorporation of Central, which took place in 2005, was a byproduct of the area's desire to establish a school system separate from East Baton Rouge Parish's; the Louisiana State Legislature allowed Central to operate a separate school system only after the city incorporated; Starns was the person who headed the incorporation movement.
It had about 25,000 residents when it incorporated. Former Central High School principal Shelton "Mac" Watts became the temporary mayor upon the incorporation of the city. Formal elections were held on April 1, 2006, in which voters chose incumbent Watts with 86 percent of the 18,000 votes cast.
In November 2006, the voters of the state passed a constitutional amendment authorizing the creation of the Central Community School District. The amendment authorized Central to govern its own public school system. Central operates its own police and fire departments. Other services, such as water, sewerage and trash, are still operated by the city-parish. Utilities are provided by DEMCO and Entergy.
On January 9, 2007, Governor Kathleen Blanco appointed the interim members of the new Central Community School Board. The board appointed Mike Faulk as the first superintendent. The new school system began operation on July 1, 2007.
By 2015 the city had about 28,000 residents.
Geography
Central is located in the east-central part of East Baton Rouge. The eastern boundary follows the Amite River, which forms the border with Livingston Parish.
Louisiana Highway 408 passes through the center of Central, leading west 7 miles (11 km) to Interstate 110 in the northern part of Baton Rouge. Downtown Baton Route is 13 miles (21 km) southwest of Central. Louisiana Highway 37 passes through the eastern part of Central, leading northeast 30 miles (48 km) to Greensburg, southwest 8 miles (13 km) to Monticello, and southwest 18 miles (29 km) to Baton Rouge.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the total area of Central is 62.5 square miles (161.9 km2), of which 62.2 square miles (161.2 km2) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.7 km2), or 0.44%, is water.
Government and infrastructure
The municipal government only has three direct employees; the mayor, an assistant, and an administrative officer. The remainder of city services are contracted to private companies. At first the city contracted with CH2M Hill for city services, but in 2011 it switched to IBTS. The municipal government's only source of revenue, as of 2015, is a 2% sales tax. This was instituted since its incorporation and, has of that time, had not been revised.
The school district and fire department are funded separately and instituted independent taxing districts. The city government does not pay to maintain many of the roads as they are owned by the State of Louisiana and/or East Baton Rouge Parish.
The Central Fire Protection District #4 operates fire stations and provides fire protection services.
The U.S. Postal Service operates the Central Post Office and the Greenwell Springs Post Office.
Public schools
Residents are zoned to the Central Community School District.
The city's public schools are:
The schools were acquired from the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools in 2007.
Prior to the acquisition:
Private schools
Private schools within Central's School District boundaries include:
Public libraries
East Baton Rouge Parish Library operates the Central Branch. The library first opened in the W.R. Edwards Store in 1940. The store needed room for expansion, so the library closed in 1944, and it restarted activities in a permanent building in November of the following year. The library moved to a 2,604-square-foot (241.9 m2) leased building, built in 1971 by L. W. Eaton and across from Eaton's shopping center, on April 10, 1972. The library purchased that building in 1982. The current library, with 18,263 square feet (1,696.7 m2) of space, was designed by Grace & Hebert Architects, Inc. and opened in June 2002.
The Greenwell Springs Road Regional Branch Library is in nearby Monticello.
Media
"CentralSpeaks" and "Central City News" are two of the locally produced weekly newspaper(s) in Central. The Advocate is the official journal of the city.