St Bernard Update

New Visitor Center Groundbreaking

2009-11-15T12:17:00.000-08:00

Update Article: Groundbreaking Ceremony for new visitor center at Chalmette Battlefield

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve announces new Superintendent Carol Clark, Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery at Chalmette:pictured Parish Officials, Tourism Commission and NPS facilities manager Brian Strack

First quarter 2010 completion western wall of brick restoration project may re-open pedestrian access to the loop road. For more Information : Battlefield and National Cemetery Projects

Parish Government Meetings This Month October , 2009

2009-10-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

The Council will meet twice this month........Tues Oct 6 at 7:00 and Tues Oct 20 at 4:00

The Executive/Finance Committee will meet Wed Oct 14 at 4:00 and Wed Oct 28 at 4:00

The Planning Comm has an all day meeting on Monday Oct 19 at 9:00 am for permissive use permits, and a regular meeting on Oct 27 at 4:00 pm

The Hospital Services District meets every other Wednesday, Oct 7 and 21, at 7:00 pm

All of these are open to the public, and are held in the Council chambers at the Government Center on Judge Perez. The link in the column on the left has phone numbers, etc for the Parish Government, and we will post agendas as they are made available.

2010 Proposed Parish Budget

2009-10-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

Click on the link at left under useful links.....it's the proposed budget, probably be a few changes before the Council is finished with it.

Council Meeting

2009-10-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

This Tuesday night at 7:00.......Wayne Landry will update on the hospital progress, Craig Taffaro will make his report to the Council on Parish matters ( as he does every meeting).......ANYONE who wants to speak can.......simply get there a few moments early and sign up down by the microphone.......you can speak about anything your concerned about, and even though they might not pay attention, they usually pretend to give a damn. Anyway, there are a couple of interesting motions on the agenda, stop by and be involved if you like.

NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING BIG TURNOUT

2009-09-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Heart of Chalmette neighborhood association ( North of Judge Perez from Jackson to Paris Rd, give or take a block or two) had it's monthly meeting Thursday Oct. 1st at 7:00 pm in the Council chambers.........Sheriff's office made a nice presentation, plans for a Halloween block party were made, and about 40 residents showed up.........we will keep you posted about the next meeting well in advance.......

Around Our Town

2009-09-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

Staying the Course

When St. Bernard Parish voters decided to tax and save for a larger Public Library, they knew it may take 10 - 15 years, but no one expected the setbacks from a Katrina or a recession.

Like so many residents, our Public Library and dedicated staff will occupy different, temporary locations, until final construction of its permanent home in Meraux. From displacement to trailer, to the next relocation --- in Fall 2010 to the Public High School's 9th Grade Campus --- St. Bernard Parish's Public Library continues to plan and save for the future.

This architectural rendering is the result of a planning grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to envision and develop the future Public Library.

Preliminary site plans are designed for staged expansions of the total 40 to 50 thousand square foot building and include a separate Children's Area and Community Meeting rooms. The land, purchased in 2001, is located north of East Judge Perez Drive between Bartolo and Judy Drives, in Meraux.

Planning and saving are not new for Public Library.

In 1959, the Library was just a room in the Court House. By 1962, it was decided to issue a bond to finance a new 10,000 square foot building. Using dedicated library tax funds, the bond would not be paid in full until 1988.

The resulting Public Library at Palmisano and St. Bernard Highway served the parish's 65,000 residents. Renovated with FEMA funds post-Katrina, this former Public Library now houses the Public Works Department.

Pictured left, our Public Library's current trailer; another project funded by The Gates Foundation in Partnership with Friends of the St Bernard Parish Library and The Joseph and Arlene Meraux Foundation.

Public Libraries serve a multitude of basic and educational needs and are fundamental for civilized societies to grow and prosper. Supporting St Bernard's Public Library is an investment in our future; one we cannot afford not to make.

Friends of the St Bernard Parish Library can be reach at the Library's Trailer Location, 7701 West Judge Perez. The Library Board Meetings are held on the third Monday of each month at 6pm, at the Library.

Poll Question Ideas

2009-09-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

Use the comments section below for any ideas for future poll questions.........

Apartment Projects & Hospital Update,and Planning Comm Meeting, 12 noon Tuesday Sept 29

2009-09-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

There is no major news out about the apartments. Seems the Parish is moving forward trying to appeal the last court decision, but we are not expecting any big news for a while. On the other hand, they have not started construction yet. Whether they have not started because of action the parish is taking, or because of other reasons, is not known ( at least it's not known to us!! )...............The hospital is moving forward nicely, the schematics are done, and the final design isn't far behind. As to it's location, that is not finalized yet. Some people want it to go on the Meraux Foundation land, but no final decision was made at the last meeting. Seems there are a couple of schools of thought about the land around the hospital. Some people want the Meraux Foundation to retain as much control as possible for future expansion, or for Labs and Doctor office buildings, by only giving the hospital a short term option on any more land. These out buildings could be a good profit center, so of course the hospital wants a long term option to buy the land and expand when the time is right. It could take a couple of years to build the hospital, and at least a few more years to make any profit, so that's why some people want the hospital to have a long term option to buy more land for expansion. Anyway, there seems to be some disagreement. But just the fact that the plans are as good as done is great news. The reality is that there has been remarkable progress in the last few months, and hopefully they will break ground soon.........................................Planning Commission Meeting set for Tuesday, Sept 29 at 12:00....there are 31 Permissive Use Permit Requests ( people/ investors looking to rent out a house that was not a rental before katrina )........the Commission will make a recommendation on each one and the Council will make the final decision. Every month there are a whole lot of these permits issued, and in light of the apartment situation, maybe the Parish should slow down on these rentals.

Battlefield and National Cemetery Projects

2009-09-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

Our National Historical Park's scheduled facelift - in time for the 200th year anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, 2014-2015.

As more and more residents move past looking at things that still look like "katrina", one of the many restoration and rebuild projects we can all look forward to enjoying is at our own national historical park in Chalmette. Soon to be under new management, these changes will result in a dynamic park and an operation which adds to our economic development. Preliminary organization of a "Friends of...." Auxiliary is underway, with more information, soon.

Every effort is being made by the Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve for safe public access as each phase of the rebuild allows. Some residents may have noticed progress in the brick wall restoration at the National Cemetery. With an expected completion date of February 2010, the brick wall restoration should coincide with the cleaning and restoring of grave markers, through the efforts of a National Preservation group from Natchitoches, LA.

The National Parks Service (NPS) announced the Battlefield's new Visitor's Center has been contracted, with expected completion date of Fall 2010. The new Visitor Center will be in the same footprint, but twice the size--- 3500 square feet. A recent press release from NPS stated, “During construction, the historic Malus-Beauregard House on the battlefield grounds will serve as a temporary visitor center, open 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. " " An architect’'s rendering of the new Visitor Center and a map of closures and parking are available on the park website at http://www.nps.gov/jela/new-chalmette-battlefield-visitor-center.htm (credit National Park Service if published). Construction progress will be updated regularly on the website."

Malus-Beauregard House restoration is complete, including porch and upper level.

Climbing the monument will be limited during construction. Also due to construction, the earliest 'official' re-opening date for the Self - Guided Driving Loop is February 2010, with the latest expected opening date of August 2010. The NPS is making every effort to move towards the earlier date, as residents are eager to re-embrace their National Park at Chalmette.

The General Management Plan and Development Concept Plan for Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve at Chalmette should public notice soon, with public comments timeline. Residents may request an electronic copy at jela_superintendent@nps.gov

Photos and story line submitted by 'boats'. Photos from recent visit to Battlefield with relatives from Monroe, who are accustomed to our family visiting them for mandatory "evacucations". Since we havent had any yet this hurricane season, our relatives visited St Bernard Parish and the National Battlefield at Chalmette.

8:00 A.M. Meeting 9-23-09 agenda emergency meeting Scroll Waaaay Down

2009-09-22T16:57:00.001-07:00

PUBLIC NOTICE

ST. BERNARD PARISH EMERGENCY COUNCIL MEETING

AGENDA

E-MAIL ADDRESS – radams@sbpg.net 504-278-4228 504-278-4209 (fax) Posted 9/22/09

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 8:00 a.m. Council Chambers Page 1

Sign Interpreter will be provided if requested 48 working hours in advance. Should an interpreter be needed, it is advised that the interested person contact the Clerk of Council at 278-4228. All accessible formats are available upon request.

Upon call of the Parish President

Meeting Called to Order and Roll Call
Invocation

Pledge of Allegiance

1. Motion to go into Executive Session to discuss all aspects of the GNOFHAC, et al vs. St. Bernard Parish Government, et al, USDC No. 2:06-CV-07185.

2. Motion to take any actions deemed appropriate as a result of Item #1.

Approved by: Frank Auderer, Date __9/23/09______

2:00 p.m. meeting efc agenda 9-23-09 scroll way down

2009-09-22T12:32:00.001-07:00

St. Bernard Parish Council Executive/Finance Committee Meeting

8201 West Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette, LA 70043

(504) 278-4228 Fax (504) 278-4209

PUBLIC NOTICE

_ _ Distributed 9/22/09

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 2:00 p.m. Council Chambers Page 1 of 1

Committee Members: Wayne J. Landry, Chairman George Cavignac and Fred Everhardt

AGENDA

Roll Call

Invocation

Pledge

Motion to approve minutes of the September 9, 2009 Executive/Finance Committee meeting.

2. Motion to discuss educating the public on the ballot issues for November. (Councilman Landry)

3. Motion to discuss the establishment of Sigur Center maintenance and improvement fund.

(Councilman Ginart)

4. Motion to discuss Open House St. Bernard date selection. (Councilman Ginart)

5. Motion to discuss selection of Parkway Commission members to send to Council for approval.

(Councilman Ginart)

6. Motion to discuss Summary No. 2585, an ordinance to establish a deadline for requesting a Letter of Non Jurisdiction from the Office of Community Development. (Council Mtg. 9/15/09)

7. New Business (Councilman Landry)

8. Old Business (Councilman Landry)

9. Motion to go into Executive Session to discuss all aspects of the GNOFHAC, et al vs. St. Bernard Parish Government, et al, USDC No. 2:06-CV-07185.

BY THE DIRECTION OF THE CHAIR

__Wayne J. Landry

$20.00 Fee

2009-09-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

The $20.00 per month fee that is going to be voted on by the Parish is interesting for a few reasons. One is that the Parish President seems to feel the amount needed may be even higher, and that could well be accurate. Most communities do pay a much higher amount than we do for sanitation and Fire. Also, it seems that the majority of water meters in the Parish do NOT get read, instead the home is sent a flat bill of $16.24 per month. At the last E F C ( Executive Finance Committee ) meeting Wayne Landry asked the Administration why the Parish was not reading all the meters and sending out accurate bills. ( I know in my case my pre-K water bill was usually about $30.00 month ). It seems the Parish is slowly replacing old meters with new ones that can be read by a water dept vehicle just driving down the street. No need to get out and actually look at the dials. The Administration did not want to hire people to read meters only to lay them off in future years as the new meters are installed. Wayne Landry suggested that the loss in revenue in the meantime was a very large amount of money, and maybe the Parish should hire a few meter readers and tell them up front that the job will only last a few years. Just getting that $15 - 20 from all the houses paying the flat rate water bill would be a dramatic amount, and if some homes are paying the "real " water bill amount ( getting the meter read ), then it seems everyone else should too. Anyway,the Poll question for the next few days will be simple..........$20.00 / month fee.......yes or no.

Agenda Sept.22 Planning Comm Meeting

2009-09-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry, but I have no idea why the Planning Comm agenda didn't appear here. Seems to be no trouble with Council agendas or E F C agendas.........I hope to figure it out before the next meeting........and thanks to the dozen or so people who wrote in about the problem, with out the emails I would not have noticed as it was comming up fine on my computer. Again, I hope to figure this out soon..........thanks

Judge Perez Progress

2009-09-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-09-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Council Agenda for Sept 15

2009-09-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

We are posting the complete agenda for the 9/15/2009 Council meeting, as some readers say they have never seen what the agendas look like.........a lot of the items are PUP (permissive use permit ) items, for landlords who want permission to rent a house.......anyway, the agenda appears below the notice about the emergency meeting.