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# Perk Up Perkins goes national
- URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/perk-up-perkins-smart-growth-america-complete-streets/
- Published: 2026-07-31T02:08:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-31T02:14:52.000Z
- Description: Two mothers' push for a safer crosswalk is being celebrated as a national "complete streets" success story.
- Author: JR Ball
- Tags: News

Two mothers wanted a safe place for their children to cross a busy street. What they built to make that happen is now being celebrated in a national report from Smart Growth America.

**Why it matters:** National recognition for grassroots wins like this doesn't come around often, and Perk Up Perkins is proof Baton Rouge's culture of neighbors [not waiting for permission](https://www.redeyebr.com/nobody-asked-permission/) reaches beyond one street.

**The pitch:** Smart Growth America's new report, [Complete Streets, Stronger Economies](https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/complete-streets-stronger-economies/?ref=redeyebr.com), profiles Julie Becnel and Mysti Byrnes' [push for a crosswalk](https://www.redeyebr.com/perkins-perks-up/) at Ferndale and Perkins—one of only six case studies nationally, alongside towns as small as West Jefferson, North Carolina, population 1,436.

- SGA counts the council-approved crosswalk among the report's list of finished community impacts.

**Why they pushed:** "Everyone in our neighborhood has a story of almost getting killed on this street," Byrnes told Smart Growth America.

**What's missing:** The report never mentions Perkins is a state route—so a Metro Council-funded crosswalk clears the same DOTD review as a nine-figure highway rebuild, a bottleneck [flagged in July](https://www.redeyebr.com/perkins-keeps-waiting/).

- No construction date exists. Byrnes and Becnel have been told to expect 2028.

**What's next:** The group isn't pushing for a lower speed limit right now, Becnel says, though businesses and residents keep asking for one.

- A survey of the project's remaining AARP grant money found the strongest support for landscaping and beautification—a traffic-calming move on its own.
- Though not part of the project, the neighborhood has "aspirational goals," says Becnel, of a pocket park and "I know your mom" signs at houses that would let children know it's a safe place to stop.

**The bottom line:** Two neighbors turned frustration into a national model for how citizens can get things done—and anyone with the passion and energy to push for change can do it.

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