[StBernard] misc answers

[Westley Annis]

Health Unit

I went to the health unit on Palmisano, in a trailer in the back. They would
have given my my last hepatitis shots but I was one week too soon. They were
very nice people and I plan to have it done this Friday.

Env. Meeting

If John is referring to the meeting held at OLPS gym at 1pm Sunday with the
guest speaker, here's what I was told by my mother.--- It was a waste of
time. The environmental professor talked in general, but it was nothing that
hasn't been published in the newspaper or shown on tv. 
Most people wanted him to tell them what to do-come back to St. Bernard or
not. He kept telling them that there were too many factors for him to give
that specific advice and he was just giving them factors to consider. ( It
seems people wanted someone to tell them what to do, and if they do that,
and they don't like the results, they have someone to blame like, "See what
happened to me and it's not my fault because you told me to do this.")

Towards the end of the meeting, a lawyer from the Torres firm got up and
said he wanted to make some statements, and then he went on and on about the
class action lawsuit and that's when people started to leave. 
Many people in the audience have already settled with Murphy and felt that
if the class action lawyers wanted to have a discussion, they should have
hosted their own meeting. Others felt that perhaps the whole meeting was
orchestrated by the class action lawyers, because the first thing the
moderator said was for elected officials and class action lawyers to stand
up and be recognized, and no one came forward.

Council resolution

Where can we all read these 17 resolutions that the council is going to
consider approving at the next council meeting as recommended by Duany? 
  Cannizaro's press releases often fall short of the details we'd like to
see in a press release. He doesn't have to write them in entirety, but a few
bullet points in the article would give us a clue as to what is under
consideration.

Abandoned cars

The TP article about the city and abandoned cars indicated that if Blanco
would issue some executive order for the whole state this abandoned car
process could be expedited. When interviewed her assistant said the governor
was not aware that her staff did not pursue this. DAH????  If any of our
state legislators are reading this, please push the governor to make the
declaration referred to in the TP article if you haven't already.  The State
and our parish have not process in place currently to get them removed. Our
parish used to have a complaint dept to handle such things, and now they
don't and Community Develoment Dept said they can't take this on. Seven
months of flooded, abandoned cars and it appears the governor can issue an
order that will make it happen quicker than the parish can.

Debris payment

DiFatta said on WWL TV last Friday that the State auditor needed FEMA nos.
for the govt workers that used the trailers in order to finish their audit
and free up the check that will be used to pay URG. Seems that this
reimbursement request had three parts-reimburse the trailers, reimburse the
Sheriff's costs, reimburse the debris removal.  So why hold up the Sheriff
and the debris checks because soem FEMA nos. were not sent?  My guess is to
hold the parish hostage to get the FEMA nos.
DiFatta also said that he expected the check to be released this week. 
If DiFatta is on any show this week, someone please ask  him if the state
issued the check yet so debris removal can resume.

Florida Avenue Project

The State has a project to build the Fla Ave expressway from Paris Road to
Poland Avenue. It is a top priority thanks to all our elected officials who
pushed for the past ten years or more.  Guess what?  The DOTD has put the
project on hold. Yep, the engr. design has halted totally and the project is
suspended. Want to guess why?  Because DOTD's Cedric Grant was told that St.
Bernard wants to consider moving the expressway from the original layout of
being on the north
(floodside) of Florida Avenue to the south (inside the 40 Arpent Canal
side).  However, until Cedric Grant receives confirmation where the parish
wants the section between Jackson Barracks and Paris Road to be, it seems
DOTD doesn't want to keep designing it. I can't blame DOTD. 
However, any elected officials reading this, PLEASE REALIZE THAT STATMENTS
MADE ABOUT CHANGING THE LOCATION HAVE CAUSED THE PROJECT TO HALT AND UNTIL
DOTD KNOWS THERE IS NOT GOING TO BE A CHANGE, OR WHERE THE CHANGE IS,
NOTHING IS BEING DONE.

Now we all know that when DOTD has more projects than it has money, and
that's all the time, the least hiccup in a project sends it to the back of
the line. We have a hiccup, folks. Other DOTD projects are going forward,
like the Huey P. Long bridge and the St. Francisville bridge. 
Shall we receive a Christmas card from Jefferson and other parishes thanking
us for our hiccup because they got to the pot of money before us?

Craig, you may be the only councilman reading these messages. Please, get
with the council asap on this issue.

ddk