[StBernard] PARK IN OVERDRIVE

[Westley Annis]

PARK IN OVERDRIVE
15 months after Hurricane Katrina, St. Bernard State Park will be open again

Sunday, December 17, 2006
By Karen Turni Bazile
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau 
St. Bernard State Park, closed more than 15 months since stewing in 10 feet
of floodwaters during Hurricane Katrina, will reopen Tuesday after a
facelift costing nearly $1 million. 

 
The opening of the park, which is just east of Violet on Louisiana 39, known
as St. Bernard Parkway, comes not a minute too soon for officials hoping the
park will give a boost to the rebuilding of St. Bernard Parish and its
tourism industry. 

Stuart Johnson, assistant secretary for the Office of State Parks, said he
hopes the park's opening will mean some of its regular out-of-state Sugar
Bowl visitors will make reservations. The park, like Bayou Segnette State
Park in Westwego, is near downtown New Orleans events and has had
out-of-state visitors regularly fill its 51 campsites at $16-a-night for big
events such as Carnival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. 

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who leads Louisiana's Department of Culture,
Recreation and Tourism, said the state renovated all the flooded buildings
in the 356-acre Caernarvon park, renovated the campground's electrical
system with upgrades for the electric hook-ups for the campsites and
replaced the chlorination system for the park's Olympic-sized pool. 

"It's been basically been redone. It is a big piece of our state park
system," Landrieu said. "Hopefully, it will be used as another rallying cry
to move St. Bernard along more quickly. (Locals) are doing a great job, and
we think this is our way to help." 


Boost to the economy 


Spurred by its proximity to downtown New Orleans, the park got about 46,000
visitors a year before Hurricane Katrina. Landrieu said the visitors
combined for an annual economic impact of about $2 million. 

With its reopening, the state park will join three others in the area --
Fontainebleau and Fairview-Riverside in St. Tammany Parish and Tickfaw in
Livingston Parish -- that offer campsites for public rental. The 98
overnight campsites at Bayou Segnette in Jefferson Parish are not available
to the public because they are being leased through March to house FEMA
trailers for emergency workers and hospitality industry workers, Johnson
said. 

Clearing the debris and downed trees at the park took three months and cost
$150,000, which was covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
Johnson said. The state, meanwhile, footed the $650,000 bill to rewire the
park and rebuild restrooms, the welcome station and the bathhouse at the
pool. Johnson said the work is complete except for additional repairs at the
pool that should be finalized within the next month so the state can get
federal reimbursement. 


Trees hit hard 


Tony Hall, who has been the on-site park manager for four years, said
workers continued clearing recently trimmed limbs from the common areas such
as the campgrounds and a playground area. Although the state paid for an
outside contractor to clear the massive amounts of storm debris on the site
after the storm, many damaged limbs have died in the 15 months since the
storm. 

Workers also hustled to erect the last of the informational signs in the
park before Tuesday's reopening party. 

Hall said the park has five of its original eight operations and maintenance
staff members, including long-timers that regular camp visitors know by
name. 

Two of those regular visitors witnessed the flurry of activity last week as
they strolled through the park. 

Lee, 75, and Huey Gonzales, 77, cousins from Violet, said they regularly
walked the paths in the state park before Katrina, and they are glad to hear
the park is reopening. 

Hall, who lives on the campgrounds in a temporary trailer until his flooded
quarters can be rebuilt, said the pool repairs will be completed long before
the pool's typical opening time on Memorial Day. Also, as soon as work
needed to open the park is completed, employees will begin clearing debris
inside the park's wooded areas and on the small paths that connect the
campground to the pool and to the picnic area and shelter. 

Johnson said the park, like others across the state, lost a critical amount
of trees. The state does plan to plant more, but officials are pursuing
outside funding sources before finalizing plans, he said. 


Community asset 


St. Bernard Tourism Director Elizabeth "Gidget" McDougall said local
officials are thrilled the state is reopening the park. 

"It's something really great for (the) community to get people back here to
use that wonderful resource. The park's campground always was filled before
Katrina," McDougall said. 

Landrieu agreed. 

"Every time you can show an example of something reopening that was a
lifeblood of a community, it just gives you greater hope that the rest of
the community will come back." 

Tuesday's reopening ceremony, which is open to the public, will begin at 4
p.m. and will include a holiday tree lighting, caroling, hayride tours and a
visit from Santa Claus. Landrieu will speak. 

. . . . . . . 

Information about the park is available at www.lastateparks.com or at the
state park reservation center at (877) 226-7652. 

Karen Turni Bazile can be reached at kturni at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3321.