Attitude offers standard of measurement

How do we accurately measure progress?

Is progress simply the forward motion toward a higher standard that requires meeting specific goals? What if those goals are met or seem a far distant objective?

One year ago the Tri-parish region was still reeling from the deadly April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil release with subsequent restrictions placed on the oil industry by the federal government.

Ripple effects of what the oil industry wondered would happen next carried over into support services and other businesses.

Paranoia regarding the safety and availability of seafood remained while fishermen sought compensation from BP and the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.

Regional public schools were treading water academically and financially as state officials looked at possible budget cuts.

Yet, even with the apparent challenges, parish officials in Lafourche, St. Mary and Terrebonne insisted that grit and determination would carry them through.

One year later, progress is noted in the Gulf cleanup efforts. Petroleum companies wait for the return of offshore drilling permits to return to pre-BP levels.

The fishing, although slowed by as much as 3 percent in shrimp production and facing a possible two-year lag in oyster production from the previous year’s harvest, remains confident that better catches are ahead.

Parish government officials point out subtle additions to the area from infrastructure improvements in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, to increased hurricane protection and even local initiatives that have proven to federal officials how a barge sank in Bayou Chene could protect both St. Mary and Terrebonne parishes from anticipated backwater flood damage of a historic proportion.

Economically, experts praise a diverse business base as protecting the region and lowering unemployment levels to 4.7 percent while the remainder of the country continues to experience hard times from a recession that has left an overall unemployment rate of 9 percent.

Education has been taken on as a renewed priority during the past year. While school board officials admit they have a long way to go, public school student performance levels made notable improvement in the three-parish region.

Nicholls State began work on a new recreation center in Thibodaux and Fletcher Technical Community College anticipates the opening next spring of a new campus facility in Houma, offering examples of priorities to invest in the region’s future.

Multiple leaders contend that progress this year is not limited to a handful of items that can be easily praised as one-time accomplishments. Instead, they insist that multiple projects, some complete, some still in the works and some only on the drawing table, offers long range security that single big deals are unable to provide.

In this year’s progress section we present both accomplishments and challenges of the past year. Some are obvious, some subtle and some that are only noticed when pointed out for the observer.

The accomplishments made this year in Lafourche, St. Mary and Terrebonne parishes might not make measuring progress any easier. They do, however, demonstrate that progress cannot be measured in tangible acts alone.

Progress, it seems, is not limited by what has or has not been accomplished in terms of destination. Progress is the process of a people unwilling to succumb to challenge and always able to move forward so that every accomplishment, no matter how immediate or far away they seem, are in reality part of the journey toward constant improvement.