Polimom is disappointed this morning by the oh-so-fleeting sense of unity in the Louisiana legislative session. One would think that well over 50,000 signatures would send some signal to elected representatives; surely at least a hint of public sentiment should have come through.
The administration rolled out a long list of supporters for the Boasso bills, including the Public Affairs Research Council, the Council for a Better Louisiana, the Louisiana Association for Business and Industry, the Louisiana Home Builders Association, the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region and the Jefferson Business Council. A grass-roots group called Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans had collected 52,959 signatures supporting a levee overhaul like Boasso’s.
I understand the skepticism coming from the West Bank, and while I agree that historically, Algiers has indeed been the tail on the Orleans Parish dog, wagging that tail right now is counter-productive in the extreme… or hasn’t anyone noticed that the dog is very, very ill at the moment?
“Our constituents don’t want to go into a regional board that may not pay attention to the West Bank,” said Rep. Jim Tucker, R-Algiers, who submitted House Bill 25 to create a West Bank board called the Barataria Basin Flood Authority. “We remember what it was to be the tail on the dog and we don’t want to go back to being a tail on the dog.”
In life, one picks the battles. Is this the hill upon which Louisiana chooses to die fighting?
C’mon. Surprise everybody and pull together for a change.
