[StBernard] Delaney Plan

[Westley Annis]

Yeah Jer "-Whatever happened to all those hopes and dreams etc." I've asked
this question before with no responding answer.  What happened to all the
info from the hours of meetings that residents attended, coming in from out
of town to attend, that were facilitated by a consultant paid by the parish
to develop a plan for the rebuilding of St. Bernard?  Oh maybe the
government reinbursed the Parish, Oh that's us the taxpayer. The council had
to vote and accept this plan. As usual, wasted time spent by residents
giving their suggestions that just get pushed under the carpet. --jdolese

Jer Responds:

Jill: 

AS long as I've loved St. Bernard's history, its people, its uniqueness,
along with it's simplicity throughout most of my life, I have firmly
believed that it's hopes are intermingled with modernization to some point
not locked into the past.

A ghost town, city, parish is not what its dreams are about. If I can use
the Easter symbolism, all eggs in one basic of "historic past" is NOT the
solution to a growth problem, but to a stagnant one.

As the years progress, its historic people will lose sight of importance of
what St. Bernard has learned to solely rely its future. Islenos are dying
out by the crowd and their ancestors are thinning to the ranks of social
ignorance. As in the great immigration of the 1880's to 1920's, the Melting
Pot of New Orleans and st. Bernard Parish has watched assimilation into
society at its finest. People no longer spoke the language of their
ancestors, but wanted a new life here and English was the key to any success
in making it happen.

Now, the Spanish is different. Those who often speak it are those from the
"lower-countries" of Mexico and South America and fewer Islenos of the
culture which is 1000% an improved one over lower-socioeconomic ones. Spain
and Portugal brought great riches of peoples and culture to America.

Ghost towns. America who bases its future in its past is doomed to repeat
its historical significance, but in a negative light. Yes, remember the
heritage, but to base all modularity on a single premise of hope will
certainly doom St. Bernard to do something once again:

Assimilate the New Orleans culture into da Parish. Since St. Bernard is the
tail-end of the parishes from the west to east, people spread out to areas
to meld and create their environment--often so at the expense of a
struggling community parish--like Saint Bernard.

The signs are there, the Feds are behind mixing and meshing to forced living
in their socialist Utopia. Watch as the communities of da parish lose its
uniqueness to cultures overly dominant, complete with its severe problems
into the neighborhoods and districts of St. Bernard. I'm old enough to
remember it happening in New Orleans. What used to live in the countryside
have taken up stake into urban dwelling and forced the appeased and
less-dominant to seek solitude in neighboring areas. If you haven't seen it
yet, you will if eyes are wide-open.

The "rebuilding of St. Bernard Parish if done correctly, should have been a
model community for the world to see how we came back from desolation to
"observation". 

It didn't happen and it may not occur as "planners, dreamers, and
well-wishes" envisioned right after da storm.

It SHOULD have been a key part to a new era in da parishes' new beginnings.
It wasn't.

Dollar stores, apartment dwelling, no entertainment for youngsters, shopping
communities, and night life that'll make you pop your cork and embarrass Fat
City. Nickel and dime dreams--penny-ante planning.

The youths will leave to other communities. The old shall get older. The
rich won't want to invest in unsound business. It's all there. Calling a
dead horse a "winning Thoroughbred" won't make it behave as one if all one
has is a nag to begin.

Yes, it's harsh criticism. But, when do facts become reality? The time for
positive approaches have either come at an inappropriate/inept moment in
time. or has found itself crushed by negligence and lack of care to succeed
properly or both. Remember, once the masses get their "roots" in place as
before, the change that is needed grows ever so harder to fit into place.
Land takeovers, busy apartment slumlords, and renters delighted to mix and
mesh among the homeowners.

Time squandered. Moreover, time won't be returned once lost.

--jer--