[StBernard] Returning to St. Bernard - By Councilman Craig Taffaro

[Westley Annis]

Returning to St. Bernard 

December 30, 2005 


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A Note of personal reflection from Craig Taffaro:
There has been a great deal of discussion about the March 31, 2006 deadline
for the voluntary consent for demolition.  It is hoped that the following
explanation may squelch some of the fears and assist people in the decision
making process and to quiet some of the unfounded interpretations of the
deadline.

March 31, 2006 will be the date that will be used as a start date for the
office of community development to BEGIN to evaluate the status of homes
that have not been consented for demolition.  This process will take a
significant amount of time.  Even if there is a 40% consent for demolition
(roughly10,000 homes), that would leave the other 60% of the homes to be
evaluated (roughly 15,000 homes).  This evaluation simply involves
determining the status of the home- has it been gutted, repaired, abandoned,
or something in between.  So lets say that everything else that community
development is doing stops and the entire labor force of community
development starts to focus on the evaluation of homes not consented for
demolition, at a rate of 100 homes a day that is still 150 days or 5 months
of additional evaluation.  Now in practical terms, there will naturally be a
comparison of the homes that have been permitted for repair, or registered
for safety and health removal, or otherwise noted.  Those homes will
obviously be evaluated after the homes that have no record of response as of
the date the property is reviewed in the office.

Properties that have no record of a response will be evaluated and the
property owner contacted if there has been no movement on the property.  It
will be at this point that discussions will begin about the decision making
process of the home.  As stated, legitimate circumstances that inhibit a
decision being made will be considered and the obstacles identified so as to
allow for greater focus on those issues.  The crux of this process is to
allow a balanced approach for repopulation and to answer questions of
property owners fears that a property may sit in a blighted state for an
extended period of time.

To date there has been no direction by the council on how to handle vacant
property that has been cleaned and externally restored so as to not appear
blighted.  Obviously these are issues that are some time away, although the
residents who have been fortunate enough to already have begun their repairs
or who have moved back in are ahead of the curve and will have to anxiously
await the growth and repair of their neighbors.

To be clear and to clarify some of the commentary that has been distributed;
the parish government is not rushing in and taking the decision making
process away from anyone.  The parish government is however, moving the
recovery effort forward to assist in identifying the obstacles and then
assisting in bringing those obstacles to the proper agencies and individuals
for resolution.  There will be a great deal of discernment in the decision
making by parish government in the evaluation and response to properties
that have not been moved on, but please be clear that St. Bernard will not
be allowed to be sit in its own mess indefinitely.  Forward movement is a
must in the recovery process, even slow forward movement.  Stagnation and
paralyzed thinking while we lick our wounds only serves to cripple the
opportunity to create new growth and healing.

Many people have talked about not being able to make decisions because there
are so many unanswered questions and this is true.  However, I encourage
people to look at it this way- any trauma or adversity presents an
individual with two basic options; do something or do nothing.  We are
facing such decisions now- doing nothing may lead to other answers in the
future and will likely lead to other questions as well.  While a period of
grief is understandable and necessary, it can easily grow into debilitation.
Doing nothing is the equivalent of denying that there is a challenge in
front of us- pretending that Katrina never visited.  Doing something opens
one up to a whole array of possibilities- no one direction will serve the
masses and most all directions will offend and enrage some.  In doing
something, there is a process for this rather than recklessly reacting to
our disaster and having little to no forethought in decision making.  And
while the timing of doing something may not always fit, the value of doing
something most definitely identifies what that something should be or how it
should be modified.  When my father faced a battle with cancer, he was faced
with accepting the diagnosis or denying such; then faced with choosing a
treatment of one physician or choosing a treatment of another or to wait to
see if the medical community could provide another option that would be even
more befitting.  Any choice was forward moving and every choice had its
consequences- to do nothing most assuredly was his demise- to do something
provided a fighting chance.

While we wait for our local government to announce a master plan of recovery
or wait for our state government to provide support or wait for our federal
government to implement programs, we must ask ourselves what have I done in
the past.  When was it that I surrendered my decision making to others and
how must I balance the desire for answers that may never come in the way
that I want with the my desire to do something.  We have been thrust into a
pioneering status as Judy Hoffmiester continues to remind us- we are writing
history in a very real sense.  I encourage you to stand up for your plan,
but I caution you to stand against any plan that does something.  There will
be much time for discussion and much clarification of decisions.  I can tell
you personally that I haven't all the answers, but I shall not sit and wait
for ALL the answers before doing something, please join me in this quest-
knock me down if you must in your disagreement, but be prepared to run along
side me to do it again, because down I will not stay.

I have produced a decision making matrix that is not endorsed by the parish
council or the government, but just a collection of decision points that one
may choose to use or discard at one's discretion-  if it helps, great; if
not, feel free to throw it away.

Click here for the Return to St. Bernard Decision Tree
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