The Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority’s master plan is in the process of being updated, which happens every five years. The new plan includes “non structural” projects – like elevation, flood proofing, and even relocating people. In order to get local input, CPRA officials are hosting a series of community conversations along the coast.
The first one was held in Buras on Tuesday night. About fifty people got together for a shrimp pasta dinner at a community center there. They sat at round tables and filled out worksheets describing their coastal concerns. At one table they joked and laughed, even as they wrote down, “Please don’t write us off” and “We ain’t going nowhere!”
Earl Armstrong Jr. grew up in Pilottown, at the mouth of the Mississippi. You can’t get there by car anymore, so he lives in Boothville now and raises cattle. He has come to realize that the coast really is disappearing. “I’ve been watching this thing happen since I was a kid but I never really thought it would be this bad. I did like everybody else, I took it for granted, but after Katrina, I knew it was true,” says Armstrong.
He came to the meeting to learn about what the state’s doing to save the coast, and to make sure his home is protected. He didn’t get any promises.
Five more meetings will be held in Dulac, Lake Charles, Larose, Lafitte and New Orleans in coming weeks. Details below.
October 6, 2016 Dulac Community Center 125 Coast Guard Road October 12, 2016 Lake Charles Civic Center 900 Lakeshore Drive
October 13, 2016 Larose Civic Center 307 E 5th Street
October 18, 2016 Lafitte Multipurpose Center 4917 City Park Drive
October 19, 2016 Dillard University PSB 2601 Gentilly Boulevard |
