Torres Park Aug 29, 2009

A near perfect day in the Parish, here are some photo's of the gathering at Torres Park this evening............click on any photo to enlarge.

Ceremony at Katrina Memorial,Shell Beach

Katrina Memorial

Shell Beach Monument........Aug 28, 2009

Parish Council Pay Raise

One of the item's on the last E F C meeting agenda was a proposal to increase the Council members pay. Currently they make $600 per month, or $7,200 per year. They want to raise it to an average of the pay in Plaquemine, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Charles, and St Tammany. After a few phone calls and some checking, this looks like it would raise the salary to somewhere in the $33,000 a year range for district members and $40,000 for the at-large seats. ( Some places pay the at-large members more than regular members). For example, St Charles pays about $12,700 for at-large and $9,500 for regular members, Jefferson is about $92,000 at large and $62,000 regular, St Tammany about $25,000 each,Orleans $42,000, and Plaquemine about $28,000 each.
The Council will be voting on whether or not to put this raise up for a Parish wide vote ( along with a few other item's, we will post the agenda soon ) at the Sept 1, 2009 meeting. The meeting will be at 7:00 P.M. in the Council chambers, open to the public of course. Any resident can speak at these meetings, just show up early and sign-up to speak.

Hospital Meeting Update

The Hospital Committee met last night ( Wed Aug 26 ), and though there were no major developments, it was impressive watching the meeting progress. The gentlemen from the Hammes consulting group had answers to every question the board asked. Plans are drawn up, money issues are falling into place, and the meeting moved right along. I would urge you to attend the next meeting ( we will post it well in advance ) and see for yourself. They said the subdivision request for the hospital property will be on the Planning Commission agenda Sept 22, 2009......once that is approved things could begin to move fast. Stay tuned, we will have a full report on the progress soon. The poll last we ran last week showed 40% think we will have a hospital in 3 years, and 40% think it will never be built.

Katrina Anniversary

The 4Th anniversary is fast approaching...........4 years, incredible...........in some way's it flew by, in other's it was excruciatingly slow.

Saturday Aug 29, 8:30 a.m. there will be a ceremony at the monument down in Shell Beach..........Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. a Mass will be said at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church..........Saturday at 5:30 there will be a celebration at Torres Park behind the Government Center.............come on out, meet some neighbors.

Hospital Committee Meeting Tonight

The Hospital Committee meets tonight at 7:00 pm in the Council Chambers........open to the public, stop by if you get a chance...........we will be updating later about what happens......6 hours left to vote on our poll question about when a hospital will open........as of now 50% think 3 years, 25 % say 2 years, and 25% say never..............stay tuned.

Planning Commission Meeting

The Planning Commission met today and revisited the sub-division request for the four apartment complexes Provident wants to build here. A Mr. Bob Voelker from Dallas spoke in favor of the apartments, and questioned why the the issues outlined by the Fire Dept. last week were a problem for the apartments, but didn't seem to be a problem for the new Lowe's or Wal-Mart. Some of these issue's were the fact that any alarm in the apartments would be a 2-alarm fire, drawing down available resources from the Fire Dept, the problem of traffic trying to get into the apartments ( Fire, Sheriff, Ambulance, etc. ) while residents are trying to get out, available hydrants, etc.
Mr. Richard Lewis on the Planning Commission explained that it was not valid to compare them. People live, sleep, smoke, cook, etc in apartment buildings, unlike a Lowe's, and it was not fair to compare one to the other.
The discussion went back and forth for a short while, then the Planning Commission voted to uphold it's decision from last week and deny the request.
The next scheduled meeting for the Commission is Sept 22, 2009...........where this leaves things is not clear. It might go to the Council or back to court, or both. As of today, the Planning Commission stuck by it's previous decision to deny the developers request. Stay tuned......there is surely more to come on this.

Demolition Continues

The demolition of the elderly housing across from the old Hannan High site continues. While the Parish has plenty of rentals ( and might be adding more ), quality housing for our Senior Citizens who have lived and worked here for years and years remains a question mark.

St Bernard Animal Shelter

We have posted the link to the St Bernard Animal Shelter in the column on the left. Check it out . Lot's of info and plenty of pictures.

Planning Commission Meeting

The Federal Courts have told the Planning Commission to give the Provident group another hearing. This will be to review their request to get sub-division approval for the four apartment complexes....the Commission turned them down the last time they came before the Commission......this will take place Tuesday, Aug 25 at 4:00 pm in the Council chambers........open to the public, of course. We will try to post an update when they make their decision Tuesday. Stay tuned.