BATON ROUGE - On the campaign trail, Sid Edwards promoted his platform to address crime, homelessness, and blight in East Baton Rouge Parish. Monday night at the Charles R. Kelly Community Center, the North Baton Rouge community got to hear from and share ideas of their own.

It was a packed and passionate room for a first look at the newly-elected mayor’s plans, as the audience cheered and shouted in response to crime-fighting plans from Edwards and members of his transition team, including Dist. 5 Metro Councilmember Darryl Hurst.

Monday night's primary focus was initiatives to unite community engagement. Hurst shared a plan called BLOCKS, which highlighted where the city could be falling behind and how to improve it. In the first 90 days of the initiative, Hurst proposes knocking on doors to address specific families' needs, conducting surveys, and determining what barriers are blocking success.

"We see the numbers climbing,” One woman told Edwards during the meeting. “If we intervene, it stops three other shootings."

Edwards says another of his priorities is addressing mental health and promoting autism awareness throughout the parish. Edwards, says he has two autistic children wants Baton Rouge to be an autism inclusive city-parish.

“I'm super experienced, and I want to partner with the right people in special education and autism services to open doors for those citizens,” Edwards said.

Inauguration day for the new Mayor-President is Jan. 2.