Katrina Kathleen Cottage

FortWayne.com carries an article about the Katrina Cottage that I posted about previously.

Although much of the article rehashes earlier articles about the the development of the cottage, there is one one nugget of information that sheds light on the reason why recovery efforts in Mississippi is so far ahead of Louisiana.

Quote:

"Gov. Barbour is serious about doing this right," Duany told an audience at the builders show last month. "He asked me very few things before he told me to go ahead, but three times the governor asked me if I had ever worked in Mississippi or along the state's Gulf Coast, just to make sure there was no conflict of interest."

"He wanted a clean process," Duany said.

It left out builders and casino operators, whose presence would have "overwhelmed the process," he said.

"It would have been like having an elephant in the room," Sorlien said of the casino owners and residential builders. "They were brought in after the charette (the October brainstorming session) had finished its work."

Compare Gov. Barour's efforts to that of Louisiana Gov. Blanco.

Blanco created the LRA [Louisiana Recovery Authority] by executive order Oct. 17.

It is supposed to plan and coordinate recovery and redevelopment from the impact of the two hurricanes.

Blanco wanted the LRA established as a state agency in her office. The House Appropriations Committee changed that bill to put the LRA under the Division of Administration. The two Senate bills put the LRA under the state Department of the Military.

The LRA is “nothing but another government bureaucracy,� said Rep. Tom McVea, R-St. Francisville, during the House committee hearing. “If I’m going to help sell this thing, I don’t want to be selling another growing bureaucracy that isn’t going to be efficient.�

McVea asked LRA executive director Andy Kopplin how much the new agency would cost.

Kopplin responded he hadn’t calculated a dollar figure.

“That question is going to have to be answered,� McVea responded.

Some lawmakers voiced concern about the make-up of the 26-member LRA board of directors. At least two of the members Blanco appointed live in Washington, D.C.

Nearly six months after the destruction of much of south Louisiana, our governor is concentrating on ways to consolidate political power rather than rebuilding part of her own friggin state.