There is much speculation on voter discontent recently, with articles appearing from several outlets espousing different theories of why and how. Most importantly, people like to be heard, and when something is voted down four times, someone is not listening.
The current alarming trend to push development without maintaining what already exists plays a factor. When problems arise in sewerage and water infrastructure, the public is told that development does not contribute to the flooding we have witnessed in the last couple of years.
These pronouncements are made as if they are fact, but the same bureaucrats require a $500,000 study from an out-of-state firm to tell them a similar thing a study from a previous administration found four years before.
A resident on Authement Drive recounted being told by the Army Corps of Engineers that at least one flood incident was the result of overflow from Lake Ramsey, even though the river is only ¼ mile west. If this were a true investigative report, there would be a statement from the Army Corps of Engineers, but it really doesn’t even matter. The story, whether accurate or not, illustrates the point, which is also the point of accuracy.
It doesn’t matter because until a study is performed to prove unequivocally and without a doubt (at taxpayer expense), there will exist people that think development contributes to flooding. While that is happening, the Parish will continue to think that it needs more and more money, to continue all the new development. The disconnect, in this writer’s opinion, lies with the Parish in picking and choosing what they wish to acknowledge.
Timothy Gates, Covington Weekly covweekly@gmail.com
CW’s Top 5 Reasons For Voter Discontent:
1. Promote St. Tammany’s Natural Scenic Beauty while pushing dredging, which would remove the Louisiana Scenic River designation.
2. Continue to enable favored development in wetlands areas and unincorporated areas, rather than committing to municipal infrastructure and small business programs.
3. Ignoring high profile unsolved murder cases like Margaret Coon and Lynn Nunez.
4. The refusal to accept that development tied to public dollars, private or not, elicits disclosure.
5. An effort existed to recall the entire council at one time.
