Deborah Carney
October 20, 2009
Mrs. Leontine (Tina) Harris
October 22, 2009
President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting in New Orleans Thursday drew 1,500 people – including a number of Tri-parish residents.
“This is a dream come true,” said Terrebonne Parish Council Chairwoman Arlanda Williams, who was among the attendees. “It is an honor. I hope that what he brings will be something that all of us can share with others so that we can begin to work toward one common goal.”
Williams attended with her mother, Barbara Johnson, who also celebrated her birthday Thursday. “It really is an honor for me to share this day with my mom on her birthday,” the councilwoman said. “She’s someone who lived through a time that, frankly, something like this would have never happened.”
Obama’s mention of coastal erosion and health care reform was among local priorities, Williams said. “I’m not trying to slight New Orleans, but I’m here for Terrebonne Parish. One of our major concerns – levee protection.”
Morgan City resident Monique Hagen also attended the presidential event at the University of New Orleans Recreation Center.
The post-Katrina transplant moved to the Tri-parishes after Hurricane Katrina pummeled her New Orleans home.
She initially evacuated to St. Mary to reside with her mother. Later, she made the move permanent.
The 19-year-old was upbeat about Obama’s speech.
“I really believe he is going to provide the tools we need to make Louisiana and this country a better place to live,” Hagen said. “I’m over excited. It’s just amazing. I know in his heart, he wants America to be a better place.”
U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-Napoleonville) was optimistic that state officials had an audience with Obama to make a case for continuing the state’s recovery effort.
“President Obama’s visit to Louisiana put a national spotlight on the progress we’ve made,” the congressman said. “But he reminded Americans that our recovery is not complete.
“We are grimly watching our coastal wetlands disappear and desperately-needed hurricane protection projects are still stalled by red tape and a lack of funding,” Melancon added. “But today, we were able to get our president, our governor, our legislators and our neighbors all in one room to talk about how we finish the job. Now it’s time to deliver for Louisiana.”
During his address, Obama briefly mentioned coastal erosion and gas and oil expedition.
“Here on the Gulf Coast, we’re working to make sure this region is protected in the event of a 100-year storm,” the president said. “We’ve already seen 220 miles worth of levees and floodwalls repaired, and we are working to strengthen the wetlands and barrier islands, which are the first line of defense.
“This isn’t just critical to this region’s physical protection, it’s critical to our environment, it’s critical to our economy,” Obama continued. “That’s why we’re establishing an interagency working group that will be responsible for coordinating our restoration efforts across the Gulf at all levels of government.”
Obama was critical of America’s dependency on foreign oil, which now hovers near 70 percent. “This means that we just send billions of dollars over to somebody else and basically ship out their wealth,” he said.
Louisiana, he noted, is an oil state, making it “obviously very important to our energy independence.”
“But the matter of the fact is that if we don’t think about using energy more efficiently, then we’re not going to solve the climate change problem and we’re not going to solve the energy independence problem,” Obama said. “But here’s the good news: coming out of this recession, we’re going to need a whole bunch of new areas of industry to employ people. And clean energy offers probably the best opportunity to become a huge engine for economic growth and innovation in our economy.”
Obama urged increasing domestic energy production using environmentally sound methods. He said Japan and France have had success with nuclear energy, another option he suggested for America.”
“There are going to be disagreements and, I’ll be honest with you folks in Louisiana, a lot of whom are employed by the energy industry, sometimes are going to be suspicious about how this affects oil and gas,” he added. “That’s legitimate. That’s the give-and-take process of our democracy.
“But I ultimately am convinced that we should be able to put together a package that puts people back to work, makes us more energy independent and saves our planet in the process,” Obama concluded.
Terrebonne Parish Councilwoman Arlanda Williams (left) and her mother, Barbara Johnson, were among the 15,000 people that packed the University of New Orleans Recreation Center Thursday for President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting. * Photo by HOWARD J. CASTAY JR.
