Judge Perez Progress

A few photos of some progress ( or lack of progress ) on part of Judge Perez....this is mostly for our out of town readers, who have not been back in a while......One photo is the new fire station in Arabi ( looks like a nice job ), another is what appears to be an abandoned modular home business, then we have the rebuilding of the super wal-mart ( rumor has it opening in the spring of 2010 ), work is moving slow at the civic center in another photo, and the new Lowes is really moving fast, should be opening fairly soon...........click on any photo to enlarge

Emergency Council Meeting for Saturday

There will be another "emergency meeting" this Saturday, Sept. 19, at 3:30...........this meeting, not to be confused with Thursday's emergency meeting, will deal with something that was dealt with at Tuesday's regular meeting. ( note: there was no emergency meeting Tuesday, just a regular meeting ).......This meeting will be about including a couple of items in a special election. Making sure Councilmen can't collect a salary for serving on any other boards, and about putting a $20.00 fee per month per household on the ballot to pay for Fire and Sanitation services... ($10.00 each) ..the agenda can be found on the Parish Govt web site ( see the link on the left )

Emergency Council Meeting Results From Thursday

It appears Thursdays meeting was to approve certain actions to be taken to try to stop the apartment projects by appealing to a different court. Looks like they wanted to be sure to act before construction begins, or before any time limits expire.

Emergency Council Meeting 5:00 TODAY (Thurs)

Here we go, another emergency meeting of the Council and Parish president. They will go into executive session to discuss the GNOFHAC lawsuit against the Parish , then take any action " deemed appropriate ".

New Poll

Should the Hospital Service District say no thanks to the Mereuax Foundation land and build the hospital elsewhere?............Another poll question that was kicked about is if the Parish should name each of the four apartment projects in honor of some of the local people who have been such a big help in getting them built.........at any rate, the new poll is on the left.

They Came To Do Good, and Did Right Well

There is an old saying in the Hawaiian Islands about the original missionary families that went there in the 1800's and stayed there. To this day descendants of those families still control a lot of the shipping, land use, banking, etc. in the Islands........................the saying of course is "they came to do good, and did right well". I'm often reminded of that here in the Parish. I know and have seen many good, honest people who really did want to help, with no motive other than good will. I've also seen the other type. Real estate investors, "house flippers", came in to buy cheap, fix up even cheaper, then sell for a big profit.........A lot of these investments have not worked out the way they hoped, and a lot of them are having trouble selling, so they want to rent, to anyone they can, and they could care less about the impact on the neighborhood. They say things like " I could flip houses anywhere, but I'm doing it in St Bernard to help the people". Usually it's a small time investor, but sometimes it's a big company that wants to build apartment projects...........either way, I'm at the point where I wish they would stop "helping". If people want to come here to do good, fine. But I'm really tired of people coming here to do "right well".

A Couple of Local Businesses I Like

There are a many, many local businesses that are doing a great job here, and deserve our support. A couple that I'd like to mention today are Main's Supermarket on Judge Perez. I remember when they opened a couple of years ago, first grocery in the Parish. I also remember that they kept the prices fair and reasonable even when they had no competition, and I still do a fair amount of my shopping there. The other place is fairly new, The Jungle.....down on Judge Perez a little before the High School......great pizza, video games, laser tag, a great place for the kids, the kind of place we have needed here for a while. Even without kids, this is a really good place for pizza.

Local Groups , News, and Opinions

Anyone wanting to add information about a local group or event is welcome to send it in to us. Also anyone wishing to contribute news or opinions, send us an email........

Council Meeting Tuesday 4:00 pm

The Council will be meeting Tuesday at 4:00 in the Council chambers...........though it is not on the agenda, the St Bernard Update is hoping that Parish officials will take the opportunity to let the Parish residents know what the plans are regarding the apartment projects.. ( i.e. is the Parish issuing the building permits? Still appealing the decision? etc, etc, etc.....). There are many, many questions residents need answered, maybe the Council meeting would be a good time for the Parish Government to bring everyone up to date on this issue. .............................Anyone wishing to speak, on any issue, needs to get there a few minutes early and sign-up to speak........there is a sign-up sheet up front by the microphone......................................................The agenda is posted below.

Apartments Thoughts

I knew when I came back and rebuilt there would be changes, but I was not expecting four major housing projects to be built. Truth is, I would have returned even if I did know about the apartments. I lived just fine with Village Square here, and I'll still do just fine with these projects built. I wonder if there is a net gain or loss in the total number of apartments with Village Square being pretty much gone. Anyway,we will know by Monday night if the Parish is going to issue the permits, and I would expect they will while they continue to appeal. But irregardless, I think Earl Dauterive and the Planning Commission did the right thing and get my thanks. Time will tell, but even if these apartments get built, we will still make it. We will still be O.K. and the parish will survive, this is just another hurdle in the road to recovery.