Blanco Solves All Levee Problems and Achieves World Peace

(Yawn…) Typical Democrat response from our Goverweeper. When a big problem needs to be solved, create another level of bureaucracy. Because you just can’t have too many layers on that bureaucratic cake, can you? Maybe after she’s voted out next term, she can get a job at the UN.

Townhall.com :: AP – Army Engineers: Levee Warnings Unreported – After receiving the good advice from the Business Council of New Orleans to ditch the brother-in-law political appointee club and replace them with real, live, flood control experts, she responds with a proposition to create a new state agency to keep a closer eye on those brother-in-laws.

The Orleans Levee Board does practically nothing for the levees. They manage the airport, marinas, and wonder how to successfully micromanage what prescriptions a prospective tenant pharmacist might write if they accept his rental application for one of their many commercial properties.

How do I know that? While we were still in Texas after evacuating from Katrina, I read their 2005 minutes. All of them. From the board and the subcommittees. And summarized them just for you.

Dummocrats: The Orleans Levee Board
I downloaded all of their board, Finance, and Planning, Engineering and Construction Committee meeting minutes, and after reading hundreds of intensely boring pages I have been able to ascertain that, mission statement notwithstanding, the Levee Board’s primary function is to continue doing whatever they want. The Levee Board owns property including marinas, an airport, and commercial property. They even have their own police force. The most interesting thing about all these minutes is the almost total lack of discussion of the levee system and how to protect the city in the event of a hurricane or catastrophic flooding.

One revealing quote from the Finance committee in January:
“a listing of 46 major maintenance and capital improvement projects that the staff have identified. This list totals $27.125 million and cannot be funded because of financial constraints. Of the $27.1 million requested, the budget funds only funding 9 projects for a total $800,000, as established by the priority of the staff. Commissioner Cynthia Willard-Lewis asked of the remaining unfunded projects, “does the lack of funding and the lack of implementation on any of those projects jeopardize the public safety or our ability to execute levee protection?” Ms. Herbert answered “no”. and added that these projects relate to and are funded by the General Operating Budget and anything that would relate to flood protection would come out of the SLIP Fund, the Special Levee Improvement Fund.”

My question is, if levee improvement is a side project for the Orleans Levee board, to the point that it is not a part of the General Operating Budget, who exactly is focusing on the levees? In New Orleans, for something as important as the levees, shouldn’t there be an organization whose primary function is to maintain, study, and improve the levees? The levee board may have started life with that goal, but they have strayed pretty far from it when it’s no longer even part of the General Operating Budget.

Is oversight what’s needed here? I don’t think so. We need to wipe the slate clean and get some bona fide experts in here. If the existing “Levee” board is doing such a hot job with the airport, marinas, and rental property, by all means let them keep those tasks. Give them a new name, and let them go do what they’ve been doing all along. And let’s get some real experts in here to get our levees back into shape.