[StBernard] EDITORIAL: Time for change

[Westley Annis]

Periodically, the press office will share editorials about Governor Blanco's
work in various areas.

EDITORIAL: Time for change 

By: The Times-Picayune 
Published: Wednesday, February 8 2006

Gov. Kathleen Blanco laid out the stark realities of life in post-Katrina
Louisiana to lawmakers Monday night. 

With the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center as her stage, she reminded them
of their responsibilities: "These families, these homes, these images that
stretch across coastal Louisiana are the reasons we are here." 

She challenged legislators to cast aside petty personal politics and do
right by the residents of South Louisiana. "Anyone who wants to sacrifice
the good of our people to politics and cronyism needs to rethink their
actions," she said. "Louisiana can no longer tolerate the perception that
you must pay to play if you expect to do business in this state. We must put
the sins of our past behind us and use our recovery as an opportunity to
earn the trust and confidence of the nation." 

The governor asked lawmakers to consolidate the five levee boards in
Southeast Louisiana into a single board to oversee flood protection;
streamline New Orleans' bloated government; create a housing trust to help
flooded-out homeowners recoup their losses, and create the Louisiana
Recovery Authority by statute instead of executive order. 

This is an ambitious agenda, but these are times that call for boldness.
They call for toughness and tenacity as well. Gov. Blanco will need both to
get lawmakers to give up the opportunities for patronage that five levee
boards provide. She also will need fortitude to get them to do away with six
assessors and a multitude of unnecessary offices in New Orleans.
Term-limited politicians will be loath to eliminate any office they might
hope to occupy themselves one day. 

Some lawmakers will claim that it is best for the people of Louisiana for
all these boards and offices to exist, but that is nonsense. The people were
poorly served by the fractured levee board system in place when Katrina
struck. They are poorly served by a government bloated with superfluous
offices. 

Gov. Blanco is right to push for change. She would be derelict if she did
not, and the Legislature ought to willingly make the smart, selfless
decisions that are crucial to the recovery and security of Southeast
Louisiana. 

"I am asking you to overhaul problems that have begged for reform for
generations," the governor said Monday. "If we love our state -- and I know
we do -- the time to act is now." 

Now it is up to lawmakers to show that they indeed love their state and the
people in it -- and that they understand the suffering Katrina caused the
people of greater New Orleans. 

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The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's People
www.louisianahelp.org