> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.redeyebr.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # RedEye Q&A: Beth Osborne - URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/redeye-q-a-beth-osborne/ - Published: 2026-10-13T00:59:32.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T00:59:32.000Z - Description: The head of Smarth Growth America will be key speaker at CPEX's Smart Growth Summit. - Author: Mukul Verma - Tags: News, Analysis Beth Osborne, president and CEO of [Smart Growth America](https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/?ref=redeyebr.com), has helped reshape national transportation policy by championing safer infrastructure, stronger transit and efforts to reconnect communities divided by highways. She also knows Louisiana. Osborne grew up in Algiers and graduated with degrees from LSU and its law school. Ahead of her appearance at the [Center for Planning Excellence’s Smart Growth Summit](https://summit.cpex.org/?ref=redeyebr.com), *RedEye* spoke with Osborne about improving public spaces and infrastructure, encouraging innovation inside government, and why people’s first response to a new idea is so often “no.” Here are three takeaways from the conversation. ### **1\. Getting past “no” requires a broader conversation.** In the debate over City Park’s future, opposition to changes at the golf course hardened into a standoff that reshaped the final master plan. [How can leaders get past “no](https://www.redeyebr.com/baton-rouge-city-park-butch-spyridon-university-lakes-lsu-arena-downtown/)" and help people see what might be possible? Osborne said resistance is natural. “Firstly, I would say everyone says no. A well-formed human brain starts from no because that's how our brain formed, and that’s because, throughout human history, you are safest with the familiar.” Moving beyond that initial reaction requires three things, she said: dissatisfaction with the status quo, a vision for something better and a practical first step toward achieving it. That means identifying what is not working, showing residents how a proposed change could improve their lives and offering a manageable path forward. It also means recognizing that people satisfied with established ways cannot be the only voices in the room. “They should not have a veto over the needs of the entire city. You've got to recognize that you're serving multiple people.” The answer is broader engagement, not top-down decision-making and not allowing opposition alone to stop change. “Instead, you should be engaging the whole community, the people who are looking for that new thing you're going to build, and talk to the person who might be losing something that they want and identify ways to ameliorate the inconvenience they're going to face.” 🚲 **RedEye* is a news partner of CPEX's Smart Growth Summit, which will be held October 21 & 22 at the Manship Theatre in Downtown Baton Rouge. [Learn more about attending](https://summit.cpex.org/?ref=redeyebr.com). ### **2\. Make innovation part of the civil servant's job** The best way to spur innovation in public agencies is to give employees both permission and a mandate to experiment, Osborne said. Instead of creating a separate innovation department, leaders should find opportunities within each agency, give employees room to test new approaches and require them to report what worked, what failed and which rules may need to change. In Public Works, for example, a mayor could direct employees to test new street designs at the city’s 10 deadliest locations. That would reverse the usual incentive structure, in which public employees may fear being punished if an experiment goes wrong. As Osborne put it, “Well, now you're in trouble for not innovating.” “That can be done,” she said. “That should be done in every department.” ### **3\. Invest in what makes Baton Rouge distinctive** Baton Rouge should stop chasing development that could be built anywhere and invest in the places and qualities that set the city apart. Osborne pointed to the revival of Government Street and the redesign of its roadway as signs of progress. But she said Baton Rouge has not devoted enough attention to its core, particularly downtown, an area that successful cities tend to treat as a major asset. “Baton Rouge's strip malls are not what separates it from every place else. It’s the things that are quirky and unique and interesting, and that’s where they need to invest.” The fastest route to attracting development, she said, is to build on strengths the city already has. That could mean replacing downtown parking lots with restaurants and housing or encouraging more development around LSU, where growth is already happening. **The larger point:** Baton Rouge does not need to invent a new identity. It needs to recognize what already makes it special—and invest there. ## Sign up for RedEye Journalism to kickstart Baton Rouge Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.