BATON ROUGE — Mayor-President Sid Edwards on Tuesday laid out plans for how he would spend money currently spent on the parish's libraries, saying he would spend money on infrastructure, public safety and blight reduction.  

Edwards called his project "Revive EBR." He said money that currently goes to the East Baton Rouge Parish Library would be put to better use by tacking some of the city-parish's "most pressing challenges."

"This is a pivotal moment for Baton Rouge," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery at a news conference. "By using existing resources more effectively, we can address longstanding issues without placing an additional burden on taxpayers."

Edwards said we need to address public safety because "dead people can't read books."

Library patrons have been alarmed by the new mayor-president's plan. The library system's dedicated property tax is due for renewal this year.

Its leaders were hopeful to meet with the mayor about a way forward that could benefit both the library and meet city-parish needs. It wasn't clear whether Edwards was rejecting the library's overtures outright.

According to the mayor-president's plan, Revive EBR would address 
-drainage and infrastructure
-law enforcement, community policing and violence intervention programs
-expand access to mental health services
-strengthen "community programs"
-address blight and improve public spaces.