BATON ROUGE — One year into his first term, Mayor-President Sid Edwards used his first State of the City address to frame what he sees as early progress and unfinished work on three of East Baton Rouge Parish’s most persistent challenges: crime, blight and homelessness.
“This has been a year of living and learning, of decisions and reactions, of happiness and sadness of many successes, and even a few disappointments,” Edwards said.
WATCH: Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ 2026 State of the City
Crime trends show improvement, but challenges remain
Public safety led the address, with Edwards pointing to significant reductions in both violent and property crime across the parish. According to data released during the speech, East Baton Rouge Parish is on pace to record its lowest number of homicides since 2019, and the second-lowest total since 2016. Overall, homicides are down 13%, while citywide crime has dropped 15%…