[StBernard] Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco: Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference, Nov 10, 2005

[Westley Annis]

First, let me thank you for giving me this opportunity to discuss
Louisiana's recovery with you today.

More importantly, let me thank you for holding this conference here in New
Orleans.

As you all know, and as many of you have seen, we face a challenge of a size
and scope unprecedented in America history. 

Never before has a city of this size been evacuated. 

Never before have so many been left homeless. 

Never before have so many public buildings been damaged or destroyed. 

Never before has a natural disaster - two actually - created such economic
disruption.

And never before has Louisiana or American seen such an opportunity 

An opportunity to recreate neighborhoods and communities 
An opportunity to recreate a troubled school system 
An opportunity to restructure an out-of-date public health system 
An opportunity to rebuild to the standards of modern building codes 
An opportunity to apply the principal of wise planning and design on such a
massive level  

The experience, talent and innovation represented in this room and at this
conference is astounding: architects, civil engineers, planners and
preservationists. 

You are just the people that the citizens of coastal Louisiana - from Lake
Charles and Cameron Parish to the Greater New Orleans area and the
Northshore -- are turning to as we tackle this challenge and seize this
opportunity.

On behalf of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, I want to thank every
organization that made this conference possible.  The authority and I asked
for this conference on short notice and this group made it reality.

Specifically, I want to thank The American Institute of Architects, the
American Planning Association, the National Trust for Historic Preservation
and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

These organizations have paid for this entire effort. 

They have risen to the occasion, demonstrated leadership, brought together
great expertise, and have devoted enormous amounts of their staff and member
resources to the support of the people of Louisiana. 

I also want to thank America Speaks and the Rockefeller, Casey and Carnegie
Foundations for their invaluable assistance.

This is a perfect example of public-private collaboration. 

It is the perfect example of bringing people together to solve problems. 

It is a perfect example of civic action in support of the common good. 

I am also happy to see that so many Louisianians are leading these national
organizations. 

Norman Koonce, CEO of the AIA, is from Bogalusa and Natchitoches, 

Ron Faucheux, who heads government affairs for the AIA, is from New Orleans
and a former Louisiana legislator; 
and Paul Farmer of the APA is from Shreveport. 

Welcome home, all of you.

I understand that you've arranged it so Louisiana residents can provide
instant, real-time feedback on the principles developed by participants and
nationally recognized experts.

Louisiana residents have strong opinions, so prepare yourselves.  

We are all interested in rebuilding for the future while looking to,
listening to and respecting the past. 

New Orleans is a unique city in America. This soil; these streets; these
buildings are steeped in a history found nowhere in this nation. A broad
palette of cultures and nationalities came together along this river to
create the culture New Orleans enjoys today.

Each of the other cities, towns and communities, devastated by Katrina and
Rita, has its own unique culture and flavor. 

No rebuilding or recovery will succeed without keeping those cultures in the
forefront.

We must rebuild in a way that retains the heart and soul of this vibrant and
unique city and region. We must keep that spirit alive to attract our
families and businesses back to New Orleans and every other community in
South Louisiana damaged by the hurricanes. 

We have challenges, however, that are extraordinary to our normal hurricane
problems. Many homeowners subjected to flooding carried no flood insurance,
and therefore, will have little or no money to invest in this effort. 

We definitely need the most thoughtful financial considerations in this
process, and I ask you to respond to this problem.

One of the many ways I hope to attract businesses back into the city, and
encourage their rebirth, is with Renewal Community Zones. 

This federal program provides substantial federal tax breaks and other
incentives worth millions to encourage businesses to locate and expand in
economically stressed areas.

There aren't many areas more economically stressed these days than coastal
Louisiana.

Therefore, it gives me great pleasure to have the privilege of announcing
today that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has
tripled the size of the Orleans Jefferson Renewal Community. 

This expansion will provide tens of millions of dollars in a wide spectrum
of tax credits, deductions and financing options for our struggling
businesses.

Many of these tax credits are aimed at encouraging businesses to hire and
train local workers. 

This Renewal Community expansion is exactly the economic boost this area
needs, and there is room for more. 

After this expansion, the Orleans Jefferson Renewal Community includes
census tracts with more than 50,000 residents. A Renewal Community can have
up to 200,000 residents.

I encourage our delegation in Washington to work with me to push the federal
government to expand this positive program. We have a strong delegation. I
know they will support expanding this economic development tool yet again. 

My vision of a new, recovered Louisiana is a state and region that is
better, stronger and safer.

I created the Louisiana Recovery Authority last month to make that vision a
reality. 

When I appointed the authority's board members, I told them that local needs
will drive this recovery. I told them to seek out and listen to local folks
and local officials.

I told the board to act boldly and innovatively; 

to reach out for new ideas; to forget old limits;

and to ignore the ancient rivalries of politics, race and region.

I'm asking everyone in Louisiana to be bold. I've made bold cuts to the
budget. I'm asking the Legislature to be bold and approve my recovery
package. I'm asking you to be bold; to dream big dreams for the future of
this state.

Yours is the type of expertise that will inform this recovery. 

You can help us rebuild livable, mixed-use, affordable neighborhoods that
retain the flavor and sense of community that existed on this ground before
the storms.

You can help us make these rebuilt communities economically viable.

We value your advice and guidance. And I know you respect and promote the
need for depending on local professionals and contractors to be involved in
the work of designing and constructing these resurrected communities.

That's important for more than the economics of keeping the job of
rebuilding Louisiana in the hands of Louisianians. It's important because
who better knows the soul and the spice of South Louisiana's communities
than us?

I also know that you can help us rebuild communities better able to
withstand future storms. 

I called a special session of the Legislature that is going on in Baton
Rouge right now. 

I've asked the legislature to adopt a statewide building code and a unified,
coordinated and focused plan for hurricane protection and coastal
restoration.

Louisiana has never had a statewide building code, although some of our
parishes have had solid building codes for years. I'm hopeful that once this
special session of our Legislature is over we will have a minimum code that
will encourage and allow local authorities, especially those in the coastal
zone, to create even stronger codes. 

But the single most important issue in Louisiana today is coastal
protection: raising the levees to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, and
restoring our coastal wetlands.

I am proposing a unified coastal protection authority to coordinate and
oversee the myriad local, state and regional agencies involved in these
efforts. 

The foundation of our recovery is based on our ability to protect our
communities. 

We must secure the businesses, homes and schools that we rebuild. Without
coastal protection, we can't rebuild. 

We know that levees are only part of the solution. 

Thriving coastal wetlands are vital to protecting those levees and our
communities. We know those wetlands are a buffer against a hurricane's
devastation. 

We saw what Katrina and Rita along a coast that had only partial protection
from a vanishing coast line; a coastline with a diminished capacity to
protect our communities. 

We also know the damage those storms did to our coastline.  Surveys show the
wetlands that Louisiana lost to those storms would have taken ten years to
disappear at the current rate of erosion.

In this special session we are tackling other challenges.

The storms hit our economy hard. They knocked one billion dollars out of the
state's revenue stream.

My three-tiered fiscal program is a strong, sound way to move forward. I cut
500 million in state spending. I'm asking to take a modest amount from our
savings and to develop a short-term loan package.  Thousands of large and
small businesses are doing the very same thing.

There more than 80,000 Louisiana businesses left destroyed or damaged by the
storms. 

I have urged Congress to consider a serious tax relief package in order
bring our businesses home and stimulate our economy.  I am optimistic that
Congress will deliver on some of these requests.  

But, we in Louisiana are helping ourselves. 

Therefore, my legislative package includes several tax breaks for businesses
and families.  

Despite our own budget problem, we know that investing in businesses will
more than payoff in the future.

Targeted tax cuts aimed at manufacturers and businesses damaged by the
storms will help them get back on their feet. I've also proposed significant
relief to all Louisiana businesses and industries by reducing the state
sales tax on electricity and natural gas. 

If a business or family gets federal tax breaks, they should not have to pay
state taxes on those benefits. We must change our tax code so storm victims
are not penalized.

In some ways, these storms have given us opportunities to start anew and
rise above the limitations of the past.

I'm determined to do just that in New Orleans, where the public school
system was not providing our children with the education they so desperately
need and deserve. 

Katrina left the system crippled, with buildings damaged and students
scattered far and wide. I am determined to seize this as a chance to
overhaul our system in a way that gives every child the opportunity to reach
his or her full potential. 

I propose that the state take charge of the city's failing schools. We will
use innovative thinking, help from proven partners, and rely on the charter
school model as one of our options.  

Now is the time for us to turn those schools around and create a system to
benefit every child in that parish.

Education is economic development and economic development is education. 

Quality public education is the measure of strong and healthy communities
and essential for economic restoration. A quality school system must be part
of a rebuilt New Orleans.

And, as we see billions upon billions of dollars invested in this recovery,
it's important that we meet the highest ethical standards.

With that in mind, I am proposing that legislators and elected officials
disclose what income they earn from the federal government in the recovery
effort.  We must assure our people - and the nation - that this recovery is
being conducted aboveboard. 

At a time when the country must continue to stand behind us, we need the
nation to understand what we know to be true.  

Louisiana will engage in sound fiscal practices.  We will make wise choices
as we rebuild.

I know that you - the designers, the planners, the innovators - will give us
many choices for this recovery and that you will help us make the wise
choices.

Thank you again for all your hard work; your wisdom and experience. And,
thank you for coming to New Orleans and bringing with you - hope.

With the advice, the insight and the help of dedicated, caring professionals
like you, we will create a new Louisiana.

Thank you 

###

The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF), Louisiana's fund for
Louisiana's people, has been established by Governor Kathleen Babineaux
Blanco in order to support long-term family restoration and recovery and
help provide assistance to our citizens in need through a network of
Louisiana charities and non-profit agencies. 

1-877-HELPLA1 (877-435-7521) www.louisianahelp.org