[StBernard] : Planning key for recovery and Louisiana

[Westley Annis]

Folks, Louisiana's recovery from Hurricane Katrina WILL take a long, long,
...long, time (IMHO). Recovery of the parishes, coastal erosion, and
services/infrastructure, length of time getting assistance, education
drawbacks (especially in the city environment, etc. can be summed up in one
phrase:

"Louisiana is at the bottom of the "food chain" with little respect for us,
dedication to our immediate and expedited recovery is weak to none because
like the "runt of the litter" (ie: Charlotte's Web), Wilbur (LA.) is seen as
a place to send party-hoppers, entertainment craved executives from the
convention centers, etc. as the high priority on the list of "things to do".
It must be that most of the country believes we are "expendable". 

With that said, Louisiana's task to complete and escalated recovery past
other states ahead of us looks bleak for the future prognosis. If we lived
during the 1900 century, the outlook might have seemed different. We would
have been portrayed as at the peak of U.S. states in glory by comparison.
The  Civil War not only took the punch out of us, if started the trend
economically downward. Once a glamorous beacon of light towards a prosperous
future in the United States, (barring yellow fever, and natural disasters)
we were in line for greatness. But that has changed the South with the North
stripping us of our dignity, precious wealth and statue in admiration by
other parts of the U.S. and world. The South chose to defend slavery and
because of that position, the reconstruction era was the death knell
throughout the years since. I'm not an Historian as my good friend, Mr.
Chapman, but I struggled for many years fighting my own personal battle for
moving up the ladder in our state for various reasons which I'll not go into
here.

Yet, my pride for my home state is unchallenged. I hope for the best, but in
reality, I expect much less waiting for a resurgence of trillions of dollars
(not billions) needed to make my state prosperous and a leader in the
country. Do we think a disaster of this magnitude would be given secondary
and tertiary attention if it occurred in New York, California or Washington?
Nay, me thinks not! There would be such an onslaught of help from every
branch of government (bypassing the bureaucracy, demanding expediency at the
highest level of importance second to none). 

We had inferior health care and statistics bear it out that we're probably
one of the unhealthiest states in the union. Education? Sheesh. I've seen
states where the best of education in Louisiana is the least of such in
other states. Roads? You go figure, because everyone here has experienced
our "superior" roads. The list goes on, but the frustration remains and the
question is asked over and over again, if not soon--then when? We can only
pray that the recovery on the "micro" side of things (us, as individuals
trying to get a minimum recovery, perhaps) is ever going to get us moving up
the food chain to something great/greater. 

Why should we have to move from our once "proud-er" state when proper
governing officials, removal of the crime scenes, learning how to gear up
towards not only getting a good education, but a great one can make the
significant difference towards a turnaround. Perhaps we cannot change the
Bible's Armageddon, and maybe things are beyond a turnaround, but as I've
mentioned,

If we do not get a foothold on getting things moving in the correct
direction at a breakneck speed, Louisiana's recovery is not going to take 5
years. It's going to take many decades at best. We pray it's not so because
I'm sickened at where we are and I'm much too old to believe I'll be around
when and if Louisiana will ever return to the beauty and echelons/rank it
needs to be to share the glory we would call excellence. 

--jer--