Post by Doug on Sept 4, 2005 17:11:58 GMT -5
I copied the nola.com article at the bottom of this post. JP really is gonna let people back in to collect belongings. Anybody planning on going? I might go down with Brock to see if we can check out his place. If we go, we'll see if they will let us into Algiers too.
The link for the article:
www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#076912
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Jeff gears up for Monday return
Sunday, 4:02 p.m.
By Matt Scallan
East Jefferson bureau
Jefferson Parish officials geared up Sunday for a massive influx of returning residents who can expect to sit in long lines of cars at police checkpoints to ensure that non-residents don't enter the parish.
Parish President Aaron Broussard announced his plan on Tuesday, the day after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the New Orleans area, to let residents back in briefly and only to inspect their property beginning Monday at 6 a.m. And he has insisted on carrying out the plan, despite mounting oppostion from law enforcement and utility companies.
Broussard said that residents must be allowed to see the devastation up close so they can move on with their lives somwehre else.
"I am the only elected official who is in favor of doing this, but people need to understand that they're not coming back to Wally Cleaver's neighborhood," he said Sunday.
"I am doing this to jump start the economy. Not the economy of Jefferson Parish; that is destroyed. I want to jump-start the economies of the residents of Jefferson Parish, who need to find new jobs, new places to live” outside Jefferson.
Many residents who tried to get in Jefferson early were turned away at checkpoints on Airline Drive and on U.S. 90.
Meanwhile, utility companies are concerned that the flood of people returning today will block access routes for their fuel and supplies.
"Someone needs to re-think this," one utility company manager was heard to tell a parish official.
Sheriff Harry Lee was resigned to cooperating with the effort, but he told WDSU television that he doesn't think it's a good idea.
"There's no good law enforcement reason for doing this," he said.
Parish Councilman John Young said he has put aside his concerns about the matter.
"The decision has been made, and we're going to do everything in our power to make it work," he said.
Parish officials are urging residents who don't have to come back to stay where they are.
The rules of entry are such that those who try to return might face a hellish experience. Parish spokeswoman Angela Williams said residents must have enough fuel not only to drive in but to sit in line for hours and to drive out of the area to where fuel is available in outlying parishes.
All businesses are closed. Electric, gas, water and sewer service is unavailable in many areas of the parish.
"It's not going to be a pleasant place to stay," Williams said.
Under the Broussard plan, residents will be allowed to enter on Airline Drive, Jefferson Highway and U.S. 90 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday beginning at 6 a.m. At the parish line, they must show identification bearing a Jefferson Parish address. Anyone not in line by 6 p.m. will be denied entry on that day. A dawn-to-dusk curfew will be in effect.
Business owners will be allowed in on Thursday.
In an emotional news conference Sunday, Broussard reflected on the efforts to stabilize Jefferson Parish after Katrina passed the area on Monday.
"The bureaucracy committed murder" by failing to mobilize quickly enough to the crisis, he said, adding that the mother of one of his department heads died in a St. Bernard Parish nursing home after residents there were promised aid for days.
"There was a plan in place for this disaster, but when it happened all we got was promises," he said.
The link for the article:
www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#076912
________________________________________________
Jeff gears up for Monday return
Sunday, 4:02 p.m.
By Matt Scallan
East Jefferson bureau
Jefferson Parish officials geared up Sunday for a massive influx of returning residents who can expect to sit in long lines of cars at police checkpoints to ensure that non-residents don't enter the parish.
Parish President Aaron Broussard announced his plan on Tuesday, the day after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the New Orleans area, to let residents back in briefly and only to inspect their property beginning Monday at 6 a.m. And he has insisted on carrying out the plan, despite mounting oppostion from law enforcement and utility companies.
Broussard said that residents must be allowed to see the devastation up close so they can move on with their lives somwehre else.
"I am the only elected official who is in favor of doing this, but people need to understand that they're not coming back to Wally Cleaver's neighborhood," he said Sunday.
"I am doing this to jump start the economy. Not the economy of Jefferson Parish; that is destroyed. I want to jump-start the economies of the residents of Jefferson Parish, who need to find new jobs, new places to live” outside Jefferson.
Many residents who tried to get in Jefferson early were turned away at checkpoints on Airline Drive and on U.S. 90.
Meanwhile, utility companies are concerned that the flood of people returning today will block access routes for their fuel and supplies.
"Someone needs to re-think this," one utility company manager was heard to tell a parish official.
Sheriff Harry Lee was resigned to cooperating with the effort, but he told WDSU television that he doesn't think it's a good idea.
"There's no good law enforcement reason for doing this," he said.
Parish Councilman John Young said he has put aside his concerns about the matter.
"The decision has been made, and we're going to do everything in our power to make it work," he said.
Parish officials are urging residents who don't have to come back to stay where they are.
The rules of entry are such that those who try to return might face a hellish experience. Parish spokeswoman Angela Williams said residents must have enough fuel not only to drive in but to sit in line for hours and to drive out of the area to where fuel is available in outlying parishes.
All businesses are closed. Electric, gas, water and sewer service is unavailable in many areas of the parish.
"It's not going to be a pleasant place to stay," Williams said.
Under the Broussard plan, residents will be allowed to enter on Airline Drive, Jefferson Highway and U.S. 90 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday beginning at 6 a.m. At the parish line, they must show identification bearing a Jefferson Parish address. Anyone not in line by 6 p.m. will be denied entry on that day. A dawn-to-dusk curfew will be in effect.
Business owners will be allowed in on Thursday.
In an emotional news conference Sunday, Broussard reflected on the efforts to stabilize Jefferson Parish after Katrina passed the area on Monday.
"The bureaucracy committed murder" by failing to mobilize quickly enough to the crisis, he said, adding that the mother of one of his department heads died in a St. Bernard Parish nursing home after residents there were promised aid for days.
"There was a plan in place for this disaster, but when it happened all we got was promises," he said.
My biggest worry was about personal danger. But now that there is going to be a CRUSH of people going in (as I feared when I heard about this crazy plan) my fear is for the traffic chaos with no lights or controls! Hopefully, there will be officials at the major intersections??? Also, a friend wrote me today that her brother and cousin were inthere and things are REALLy bad (in Kenner anyway) with access to anything other than the main streets. They might not even be able to DRIVE up to our house! They might have to walk there. I calle Jim when I read that report, and he said he would try ot find a wheel barrow, or maybe walk to the house and get ours. That will not be a fun job - hauling stuff back and forthe long distances on foot with a wheelbarrow! I'll post again when/if I hear from him. Who knows if the cell phones will work?