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Central, Louisiana
City
Motto(s):  "A community that cares"[1]
Location of Central in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
Location of Louisiana in the United States
Coordinates: 30°33′16″N 91°02′12″W / 30.55444°N 91.03667°W / 30.55444; -91.03667Coordinates: 30°33′16″N 91°02′12″W / 30.55444°N 91.03667°W / 30.55444; -91.03667
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parish	East Baton Rouge
Government
• Mayor	David Barrow[2] (Republican)
• Police Chief	James Salsbury (defeated 2018) Roger Corcoran (R) (incoming chief)[2]
Area [3]
• Total	62.49 sq mi (161.85 km2)
• Land	62.22 sq mi (161.14 km2)
• Water	0.27 sq mi (0.71 km2)
Elevation	66 ft (20 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	26,864
• Estimate  (2016)[4]	28,529
• Density	458.55/sq mi (177.05/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code(s)	225
FIPS code	22-13960
Website	centralgov.com

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.^[5]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[6]

It had about 25,000 residents when it incorporated.^[6] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

By 2015 the city had about 28,000 residents.^[6]

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.^[5]

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 at its incorporation and, since that time, had not been revised.^[6]

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.^[6]

The Central Fire Protection District #4 operates fire stations and provides fire protection services.^[7]

The U.S. Postal Service operates the Central Post Office and the Greenwell Springs Post Office.^[8][9]

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Residents are zoned to the Central Community School District.

The city's public schools are:

• Bellingrath Hills Elementary


• Tanglewood Elementary


• Central Intermediate


• Central Middle School


• Central High School

The schools were acquired from the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools in 2007.^[10]

Prior to the acquisition:^[11]

• Bellingrath Hills Elementary School served a section of eastern Central.^[12] Tanglewood Elementary School served a section of western Central.^[13] Other schools serving Central included Greenbrier Elementary School,^[12] Northeast Elementary School, and White Hills Elementary School.^[13]
  


• Central Middle School served a large section of central Central, but other portions were zoned to other schools, including Glen Oaks Middle School and Northeast Middle School.^[14]
  


• Most of Central was zoned to Central High School, but there were portions of far north Central and sections of southern Central zoned to other high schools: Belaire High School (to the south) and Northeast High School (to the north).^[15]
  

Private schools

Private schools within Central's School District boundaries include:

• Central Christian Academy


• Central Private School


• St. Alphonsus Catholic School


• MTI School of Ministry


• Galilee Baptist Academy

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.^[16]

The Greenwell Springs Road Regional Branch Library is in nearby Monticello.^[17]

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.

Demographics

Notable persons

• 
  Barry Ivey, current Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Central^[19]
  


• 
  Will Hayden (in Greenwell Springs)^[20]
  

References

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Central City, Louisiana.

• City of Central official website


• Central Fire Protection District #4