Netherlands Trip Costs Louisiana Taxpayers

[Dedpuhl]

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/2171762.html



More than 40 state, local and federal officials are traveling to the Netherlands to learn about that country's levee system and whether a similar system could work in New Orleans.

According to Sen. Mary Landrieu's office, the total cost of the trip will not be known until the delegation returns home, but state tax money will pay for hotel rooms, airfare and meals for four members of Louisiana Congressional Delegation.

Along with those four delegates, taxpayers will also foot the bill for eight Congressional staff members and about 32 others. Landrieu invited Sen. David Vitter, along with Rep. William Jefferson.

"I have no qualms about using tax dollars for such kind of trip," said Baton Rouge resident Anthony Zeyhous.

But others question persist about whether it really takes a delegation of 40 people to study the Dutch levee system.

"That's about 30 too many," said Baton Rouge resident Percy Aube.

Taxpayers are also paying for members of the Senate Photo Studio and the Senate Recording Studio to tag along and record the details of the trip.

State Sen. Butch Gautreaux, of Morgan City is making the trip as well. He sits on committees overseeing disaster planning. coastal restoration and flood control.

The Senate Information Office said his expenses on this trip will also be covered by taxpayers.

New Orleans Sen. Diana Bajoie is making the trip to the Netherlands also. Like Gautreaux, she is on committees planning for the next potential disaster and figuring out how to recover from this year's devastating storms.

Employees with the State Senate Information Office said they didn't know whether Bajoie is using her expense allowance for the trip, and the senator's office wouldn't give out that information.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco is making the trip with two members of her Hurricane Recovery Committee, but the Dutch government is paying for Blanco's meals and lodging.

According to employees in her office, the expenses for the committee members will be covered by Blanco's budget, and her personal airfare will be paid from her own campaign fund.



The State's broke. So, let's foot the bill for 40+ people to see something that most will not understand. A couple engineers, including the Secretary of DOTD, would've been more than sufficient.

I hate my state sometimes

 

[catnap1972]

What's the point since it'll most likely never be fixed anyway?

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: Dedpuhl
I hate my state sometimes

Lol, tell me about it.

<-- Louisiana resident

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Aren't they remodeling the Governor's Office as well? Nice to see all that recovery money being well spent.

 

[Dedpuhl]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Aren't they remodeling the Governor's Office as well? Nice to see all that recovery money being well spent.

Yeah. However, the contract was let before the hurricanes. It was either do the work or risk getting sued.

 

[Ronstang]

Louisiana's state government is so corrupt, second only to Mississippi, what do you expect? They let their citizens down before, during, and now after the hurricane. Nothing is going to change.

 

[Compton]

They saw a chance for a free vacation to Europe and they took it. Big suprise.

 

[zephyrprime]

40 people isn't a lot for what will be an extremely big project.

 

[judasmachine]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
40 people isn't a lot for what will be an extremely big project.

I still tend to think a couple of engineers, and the token politicition would have sufficed.

 

[sdifox]

I still don't see what they can learn from Netherlands in situ that they can't learn staying in the States. Hell, they'll send you a few pdfs of their tech papers and studies, done. Dutch situation is very different from the New Orleans one so looking at the system does nothing.

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: sdifox
I still don't see what they can learn from Netherlands in situ that they can't learn staying in the States. Hell, they'll send you a few pdfs of their tech papers and studies, done. Dutch situation is very different from the New Orleans one so looking at the system does nothing.

Exactly.

Either way, I'm sorry for the citizens of their state If you need to send people, send a a group of engineers. Or better yet, have them, like you said, get the pdfs and diagrams, and then maybe get the government to send pictures of the levees, and finally if they still need to visit send them~

 

[slyedog]

Blanco must force N.O. change

By BY JOHN LAPLANTE
Advocate staff writer
Published: Jan 8, 2006


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Gov. Kathleen Blanco is talking tough about reforming the crazy quilt of patronage, nepotism and anachronisms known as New Orleans city government.

Before the hurricanes, reforming the city?s government was unthinkable. Entrenched political forces were not about to shake up their own well-feathered nests. And no modern governors saw fit to attack a political system they needed to support their own programs.

The result is a city that operates almost as a separate state, under its own independent set of quirky rules, but still enjoys vast aid from the state government.

Every other parish manages with one tax assessor to set the value of property for tax purposes. New Orleans has seven assessors, some of whom hold the title seemingly as an inherited birthright, like medieval lords.

Other parishes also settle for one sheriff. New Orleans has two. There are myriad courts, clerks and other offices not found anywhere else in the state. The levee board expends more effort running marinas than inspecting levees.

State law books are full of laws that apply everywhere ?excepting the parish of Orleans? or that apply only to cities that happen to have the same population as New Orleans.

But the state provides resources to the city ? for sports stadiums, convention facilities, port and other improvements ? on a scale undreamed-of in other parts of Louisiana. In an arrangement unique in the nation, the state even subsidizes the city?s pro football team.

The aid-without-accountability contributed to a political culture that made scandals common, encouraged cronyism and nepotism, produced a breathtakingly bad school system and squandered one economic opportunity after another.

Even since the hurricanes, New Orleans leaders have let politics stymie recovery. The most glaring recent example is the City Council members insisting that they alone will decide where to put trailer parks in their districts.

Never mind that the federal government is paying for the trailers to house those council members? displaced constituents, or that quickly providing housing is crucial to New Orleans? short-term and long-term recovery. The members are determined to protect their turf, even if that makes their turf more and more worthless.

On Thursday Blanco demanded that she and city leaders sit down, settle the impasse and pick trailer-park locations this weekend or she will allow trailers on state-owned land of her choosing. ?The dispute ... must end and it must end now,? she said.

The governor also pointedly told the council that she will ask the state Legislature to reshape the city?s governmental structure.
?The times require reform. The budget requires it and the citizens demand it,? she told the city?s leaders.

The governor was hazy about what she wants to change, even though she plans a special session to tackle the historic overhaul in less than a month.

Asked on WWL radio to detail her plans for reforming the city, Blanco offered no more details. Instead she blunted what should be a direct attack on the city?s government structure by stressing that other communities might use the legislation to streamline their governments too.

Blanco did note that New Orleans must rely on the rest of the state to help it recover.

Surely Blanco knows what needs to be done to New Orleans city government. She campaigned for statewide office there for many years, and she has dealt daily with the city?s demands and peculiarities during her first two years as governor. She also has many supporters who know the city well.

The governor needs to settle on some changes. She needs to lay them out publicly so the citizens of New Orleans can learn how they will help, not hurt, their city, and so the rest of us can better understand the Byzantine operations of New Orleans.

Blanco must propose real changes, not window dressing. And she must stick with the changes, not compromise them down to a hollow victory. New Orleans should become part of Louisiana, operating by the same or at least similar rules as the rest of the state.

John LaPlante is Capitol editor for The Advocate.

this is from an article from the advocate on 1/9/06. everyone is La. knows this is the solid truth

 

[walkur]

Apparantly they were just shown the Maaslandkering (one of our newer slabs of land filled with industry that used to be sea) by the crown prince.

 

[Darkhawk28]

Originally posted by: judasmachine

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
40 people isn't a lot for what will be an extremely big project.

I still tend to think a couple of engineers, and the token politicition would have sufficed.

For a project this massive costing billions of dollars, I think a short trip for just 40 people is a wise investment in making sure it gets done right.

40 x $4,000 = $160,000 in R&D for a $10,000,000,000 (guesstimate) project doesn't bother me at all.

 

[Dedpuhl]

Originally posted by: Darkhawk28

Originally posted by: judasmachine

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
40 people isn't a lot for what will be an extremely big project.

I still tend to think a couple of engineers, and the token politicition would have sufficed.

For a project this massive costing billions of dollars, I think a short trip for just 40 people is a wise investment in making sure it gets done right.

40 x $4,000 = $160,000 in R&D for a $10,000,000,000 (guesstimate) project doesn't bother me at all.

lol. And 40+ bureaucrats are going to get 'er done? I don't think so.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: sdifox
I still don't see what they can learn from Netherlands in situ that they can't learn staying in the States. Hell, they'll send you a few pdfs of their tech papers and studies, done. Dutch situation is very different from the New Orleans one so looking at the system does nothing.

Yeah like a politician is going to understand 1/1000th of what the Dutch are telling them. What is known about the levee system in Holland should easily be found in tech papers or other means.

Like somebody else said above, 40 people saw the chance for a free trip to Europe on the taxpayers bill, so why not take it?

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: Dedpuhl

Originally posted by: Darkhawk28

Originally posted by: judasmachine

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
40 people isn't a lot for what will be an extremely big project.

I still tend to think a couple of engineers, and the token politicition would have sufficed.

For a project this massive costing billions of dollars, I think a short trip for just 40 people is a wise investment in making sure it gets done right.

40 x $4,000 = $160,000 in R&D for a $10,000,000,000 (guesstimate) project doesn't bother me at all.

lol. And 40+ bureaucrats are going to get 'er done? I don't think so.

Maybe the photo company that is coming along will?