[StBernard] Disaster Relief Update From State Senator Walter Boasso

[Westley Annis]

Disaster Relief Update From State Senator Walter Boasso 

October 20, 2005


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* * * At Wednesday's Joint Senate and House Subcommittee for St. Bernard,
Plaquemines and Grand Isle (held in the St. Bernard Parish Council
Chambers), an overflow crowd listened as over a dozen parish officials
reported on the current status of our various parish agencies (post-Katrina)
and expressed their needs from the state in advance of the forthcoming
legislative sessions.  As chairman of the Senate subcommittee as well as of
the larger Senate Select Committee on Disaster Planning, Crisis Management,
Recovery & Revitalization, I urged our parish officials to continue to work
with FEMA to set up a regularly-scheduled FEMA Forum so that our residents
may directly communicate with local FEMA officials. A member of the audience
suggested that it could be done by geographic grids (much like our parish's
current structural inspection plan), and I agreed that was a good idea.
Local FEMA representative Michael Karl was the final featured speaker, and
both the legislative panel and the audience members present were pleased by
his willingness to stay and provide much-needed dialogue between FEMA and
our residents.

* * * Louisiana's small businesses have another great asset for their road
to recovery. LABI (Louisiana Association of Business & Industry) has a Small
Business Disaster Relief Fund available for the benefit of businesses
affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  If you are the owner/proprietor of
a small Louisiana business (fewer than 100 employees at the time of the
storm), then please click on
http://www.labi.org/assets/docs/news/SBDRFAPPLICATIONFORM.pdf to access the
application and rules of eligibility.

Sincerely,

Senator Walter J. Boasso
Louisiana State Senate District 1
boassow at legis.state.la.us
(225) 342-2415