[StBernard] St. Bernard government reluctantly moves forward with ice house in Yscloskey

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard government reluctantly moves forward with ice house in Yscloskey

Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
Email the author | Follow on Twitter 
on August 06, 2014 at 3:39 PM

St. Bernard Parish government is moving forward with the Yscloskey Ice House
project, even though parish officials freely admit they don't think it's
needed.  

Parish President Dave Peralta said the parish's hands are tied because if it
doesn't move forward the parish would have to repay nearly $300,000, "which
we don't have," to the federal government.

"Basically, we were too far into it to turn around," said Councilman Monty
Montelongo, who represents the eastern part of the parish and attended the
ice house's Wednesday groundbreaking. "It was inherited from the previous
administration, but I don't think we will ever need it.

"I can see much better uses for that money."

Former Parish President Craig Taffaro's administration purchased the Amigo
Ice House property in August 2011 for $289,000 from Dawn Nunez to provide
ice to fishers. Taffaro said at the time that it would "be a much needed
boost to our fishermen."

The money to purchase the property at 2523 Louisiana 46 came entirely from
federal Community Development Block Grant funds.

But since taking over the parish's helm in 2012, Peralta and others have
questioned the project, specifically the idea of taking profits from
businesses that already sell ice to fishers in eastern St. Bernard.

"Government shouldn't be competing with private enterprise," Peralta said.
"So now, the ice house will be strictly for emergencies."

Instead of Taffaro's idea of it being used year-round to supply recreational
and commercial fishermen, the ice house now only will be used during
emergencies - such in hurricane recovery scenarios when no other ice is
available.

The existing ice house - which Nunez's father Peter Deogracias and Bill
Guarino built in 1978 - will be demolished and replaced with a concrete
masonry-unit structure elevated above the flood plain. The new facility will
include an emergency generator and it will be capable of producing about 16
tons of cracked ice per day, according to the parish government.

To complete the project, it will cost another $965,000 in federal CDBG
disaster recovery funds.

But, Peralta said it's either putting that federal money into the project or
being forced to pay back the property's $289,000 purchase price to the
federal government - a price that Peralta labeled "an exorbitant price for
that thing."

Construction of the project is being handled by Lou Con, Inc. It is
scheduled for completion in April.