[StBernard] B.R. Advocate: LRA Regional Plan "A Bold Plan for the Future"

[Westley Annis]

Baton Rouge Advocate: LRA Regional Plan "A Bold Plan for the Future" 


>From time to time, the LRA shares commentaries about issues surrounding the recovery. This editorial was published in today's Baton Rouge Advocate. 


BATON ROUGE, La. (May 9, 2007) -- The (Baton Rouge) Advocate published an editorial today in support of Louisiana Speaks, a planning initiative of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. The editorial called on government and civic leaders throughout the region to coordinate their efforts in planning for South Louisiana's future. 

"After all the detailed maps, policy prescriptions and huge piles of planner jargon, the new plan for long-term recovery in Louisiana emphasizes a simple point: We're all in this together.


>From the Sabine to the Pearl rivers, and accounting for the cultural, economic and physical characteristics of all the places in between, it is the commonality of south Louisiana's future that is embraced in the L! ouisiana Speaks plan.


... After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, south Louisiana must plan for a common future that is safer and smarter than before, boosters of the plan said. Unlike most regional plans, the new effort encompasses not only land use but also job growth and the immense environmental issues surrounding coastal preservation and hurricane protection. 

*	To view the full editorial, click here <http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/7409126.html> . 
	

Louisiana Speaks is the long-term planning initiative of the Louisiana Recovery Authority that is supported with private funds provided by the LRA Support Foundation. The plan has been developed over the last 18 months using scenario planning, world- class computer modeling and technical analysis, and extensive public input from tens of thousands of citizens and stakeholders. Spanning parishes from the Texas to Mississippi border (including the Houma/Thibodaux, New Orleans, North Shore, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, St. Bernard and Plaquemine areas), the Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan provides a broad strategic framework and priorities for moving Louisiana forward.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated South Louisiana, claiming 1,464 lives, destroying more than 200,000 homes and 18,000 businesses. The Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is the planning and coordinating body that was created in the aftermath of these st! orms by Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to lead one of the most extensive rebuilding efforts in the world. The LRA is a 33-member body which is coordinating across jurisdictions, supporting community recovery and resurgence, ensuring integrity and effectiveness, and planning for the recovery and rebuilding of Louisiana.

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