[StBernard] Parish Council Concerned About Regional Levee Board Idea and Toll-Free Number for Nunez

[Westley Annis]

Parish Council Concerned About Regional Levee Board Idea, and More 

February 2 , 2006

By: Steve Cannizaro


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Parish Council concerned about regional levee board idea but Boasso
reassures them; applications being accepted for 2006 Isleno Scholarship; new
toll-free number given for Nunez Community College, 1-866-825-1954

St. Bernard Parish Council members are worried a regional levee board would
hurt the parish's ability to drain its streets and maintain its own levees
while not solving flooding issues.

But state Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Arabi, author of the proposal, said it will
help St. Bernard as the region makes a unified effort to get flood
protection and the funding needed to make it happen.  "The last thing I want
to do is hurt St. Bernard,'' said Boasso, a lifelong parish resident.

"This is the only way for us to get the attention of the folks in
Washington, D.C.," he said.  "Congress is looking at how they can protect
the whole area."

The Legislature will consider a proposal by Boasso, supporterd by Gov.
Kathleen Blanco, in a special session that begins Monday to create an
11-member board appointed by the governor. It would take control of existing
and newly created levee districts in eight southeast Louisiana parishes.

Boasso met with St. Bernard Parish Council members late Tuesday.  He said
the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District, which oversses pumping stations in St.
Bernard, and its director engineer Bob Turner, would remain in place,
although Turner would answer to a chief administrative officer appointed by
the regional board. Turner currently answers to the three-member appointed
board that operates the Lake Borgne district.

Turner, a well-respected engineer, "would have a boss but would still
control people under him,'' Boasso said.

Several council members questioned how one politically appointed board
replacing another will solve flooding issues.

Council member Mark Madary said the Lake Borgne district's pumping stations
were staffed during the hurricane and that its levees held up well. Madary
and others pointed out the Lake Borgne district's levees held during the
hurricane, while those along the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, which were
built by the federal government, were flattened, contributing to the
parish's severe flooding.

"I'm for regional cooperation, but our position is weakened in its current
form," Madary said. While the proposal calls for each parish to have at
least one representative on the board, Madary and others worry that more
populous parishes would be given more representatives than St. Bernard.

Council Vice Chairman Joseph DiFatta Jr. asked Boasso to amend his bill to
include only hurricane protection levees under the control of the
regionalized levee board, with the local levee districts maintaining
independent operation of their interior canals and pumping stations.

"It makes more sense to separate storm surge levees'' from the interior
system of levees, DiFatta said. "We don't need the federal government or a
regional board for interior protection. We can do that.''

Boasso said he wasn't sure the logistics could be worked out.

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Applications are being accepted for the 2006 Isleno Scholarship, St.
Bernard's Los Islenos Heritage and Cultural Society has announced. The
deadline to submit applications is March 31 at 4 p.m.

To be eligible, a person must be of Isleno descent and be a 2006 high school
graduate with a current GPA of 2.5. Islenos are descendants of the Canary
Islands who settled in St. Bernard Parish between 1778 -1783.

Applicants for the scholarship must complete an application showing their
Isleno descent and submit a 500-word essay on the subject "What My Isleno
Heritage Means to Me.''

Applications and rules are available at the St. Bernard Parish School Board
office or by calling Laura Sullivan at 679-1333. 

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A toll-free number of 1-866-825-1954, has been announced for Nunez Community
College in Chalmette, which just started its spring semester. Late
registration is still available, officials said.