[StBernard] NOLA article

[Westley Annis]

How is it that the men and women we elected to represent our interests care
more about "historic oak and pecan trees" than our safety?  What additional
facts have surfaced that caused the council members to change their original
vote?  What about the "historic debris" that is continuing to increase in
volume every single day?  Everyone I come into contact with is disgusted
with the volume of trash in their neighborhoods.  I am "fortunate" that I am
in the Murphy spill zone, so at least the collection of trash in our
neighborhood continues on a regular basis. 
 
I challenge our council members to explain the change in their position.
With the exception of Mr. Taffaro, I doubt that any of them have the
backbone to publish a response.
 
Something stinks here, and it is not only the trash!
________________
John F. Richardson

 
	-----------------------------------------------------
	
	Do we not shoot ourselves in the foot more times than not?
	
	JY
	
	
	Levee elevation in Verrett halted
	Council says order not just about trees 
	Saturday, March 25, 2006
	By Karen Turni Bazile
	St. Bernard bureau
	
	The St. Bernard Parish Council on Friday stopped the Army Corps of
Engineers
	from continuing work to elevate a 4,000-foot stretch of interior
levee in 
	Verrett, after the politically connected owner of the land asked
council
	members to save about 20 historic oak and pecan trees the corps said
it
	needs to remove to complete the project.
	
	St. Bernard Parish Council V ice Chairman Joey DiFatta said the
issue is 
	about more than just saving trees owned by Assistant District
Attorney Glenn
	Diaz. DiFatta said parish officials who toured the site Friday are
convinced
	that having the corps raise that portion of levee is not the way to
go to 
	improve flood protection in the area.
	
	"When we looked at it, it didn't make sense to tear down all the
trees,"
	DiFatta said. The council voted 6-1 to rescind an earlier order
authorizing
	the corps to commandeer Diaz's property to raise the levee, as part
of a 
	project financed by the federal government. Instead, the council's
new order
	commits the parish to paying for raising a road on top of the levee
and
	asking the corps to assist with realigning the levee.
	
	Councilman Tony "Ricky" Melerine, whose district includes Diaz's
land, was 
	the only one who voted against rescinding the plan Friday.
	
	"We are stopping the corps, who is going to raise this levee or this
road --
	whatever you want to call it -- for nothing," Melerine said. "Now it
is 
	going to cost the parish to raise the levee. The people voted me in
there to
	represent them, and I held up my end."
	
	Diaz said the section of levee the corps wants to raise near his
Contreras
	Plantation is not truly a levee but a raised road used to access a
pumping 
	station on his property. He said the levee there is not really
floodproof
	because it crosses both St. Bernard Highway and Judge Perez Drive
and
	because there are culverts under the levee and two ditches that
cross the 
	area.
	
	Levee District Executive Director Bob Turner said it would cost the
parish
	about $40,000 to raise the portion of levee affected by Friday's
measure.
	But Turner said he was disappointed by the council's vote. He said
his 
	agency doesn't have the money to raise the levee, and he told the
council he
	would need labor assista nce to place sandbags on that stretch
during storm
	preparations.
	
	DiFatta said having the parish do the project would save about 20
historic 
	oak trees in Diaz's land.
	
	Councilman Craig Taffaro said he voted against taking the land
because a
	better solution would be to ask the corps for help extend the levee
another
	2,500 feet, so it can connect to the higher hurricane protection
levee 
	nearby. Turner said extending the levee would cost about $1 million.
	
	Taffaro said that would afford additional flood protection for
Verrett, a
	small, mostly African-American community that parish and state
officials 
	left outside the levees when they designed them in the 1960s.
	
	Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, who lives in Verrett,
told the
	council that he would donate whatever part of his property would be
needed 
	for the right of way to extend the levee.
	
	Turner and DiFatta said extending the levee is a good plan.
	"If the outcome winds out with us getting a realignment of the
levee, then
	we end up protecting a whole community instead of a portion,"
DiFatta said. 
	
	The corps had offered to pay for the portion of Diaz's land that it
said was
	needed for the project. But Diaz said he didn't want it tearing down
the
	trees on the plantation, which is the birth site of Confederate Gen.
P.G.T.
	Beauregard, and which Diaz has kept it in its Civil War condition.
	
	The corps agreed in the fall last year to spend about $17 million to
elevate
	the state levee that helps protect most of the parish's homes. It
runs 
	alongside the 40-Arpent Canal from Chalmette to the Violet Canal,
where it
	turns and runs parallel to the Mississippi River. It picks up on the
south
	side of the Violet Canal and travels to the Back Levee Canal and
stretches 
	to Verrett.
	
	Corps Project Manager Kevin Wagner had said that the federal
government is
	performing the work, expected to be completed next month, because
the agency
	needs a stronger inside levee while repairs continue along
compromised 
	federal levees along the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. Corps
officials said
	earlier this week that if the council reversed its order to take
Diaz's
	land, that section of levee would be removed from the federal
project.