Parish President Candidate Q&A: Connie Bourg

Editor’s Note: The Times of Houma-Thibodaux sent each candidate the same list of questions for our readers to learn more about their platforms and what their plans are for the highest office in Terrebonne Parish. We will be publishing their responses this week. 

Connie Bourg

Connie F Bourg: 66 years old. Married to Lavis “Jay” Bourg, Jr for 47 years. Children, Jason 44 and Katie 43. Retired from US Postal service. Owned and operated Lavis’ Auto Repair and Lavis’ Conoco. My husband and I are both retired. We most enjoy the company of our friends and celebrating our culture.

My Top three priorities:

• Cleaning and dredging Bayou Terrebonne
• Digging every ditch in Terrebonne Parish

Economic development: What are your plans to keep existing businesses located inTerrebonne Parish? What are your plans to grow and bring in new businesses?

• Ask business what their most important need is. What do they need to be productive in our Parish.
• Streamline and make it easier for business to come to Terrebonne Parish.

Industry: With the current economic challenges our seafood industry is experiencing, what are your plans as Parish President to help sustain and support this particular industry?

• Strongly encourage all restaurants doing business in the state of Louisiana to use Louisiana Shrimp.
• Fine those who do not adhere to the Restaurant mandate that country of origin appear on their menu. Foreign or Domestic
• Ask and talk to the shrimpers to see what else can make our industry better.

Quality of Place: What do you plan to do to increase the quality of place in Terrebonne Parish?

• Beautification of our Parish. Landscaping is sorely needed and must be maintained.
• More recreation for our youth.
• I would like to see the Town Hall turned into an indoor amusement park.
• We could have a multitude of activities. The possibilities are endless.
• Beautifying our exits off Hwy 90

Levees: What are your plans to maintain and further develop our levee system and protection, beginning with Morganza to the Gulf?

• We will be burdened with the maintenance of those levees for the rest of our lives.
• We need more land restoration, so we don’t have to depend on those levees.
• We need to grow our Islands and rock them. They are our first line of defense.
• Would like to rock the entire Northern rim of Lake Boudreaux and back fill the land that has been lost between Little Calliou and Grand Calliou.
• We have enough pumps. We must make sure we have a warehouse stocked with replacement parts. So down time isn’t a problem.

Flooding: What are your plans to address and improve flood protection for our citizens, in particular our pumps/pump stations and street drainage systems?

• DIG THE DITCHES…UNCLOG THE DRAINS
• Subsurface drainage where it is too hard to keep grass cut.

Infrastructure/Roads: List and prioritize the parish’s infrastructure needs that you will address as parish president.

• Redo MLK so it looks like Veterans Blvd in Metairie.
• Get DOTD to do their job. Find out what is the problem.
• Try to get the 3127 Hwy started. North South corridor.
• Dredge fill along Hwy 56 below Boudreaux Canal to put land back on the side of the road and more rocks.

Capital Outlay: Do you have any specific capital outlay project requests you would like to make to the state?

• I will meet with all our department heads and council members and together we will put forth the most urgent needs of our Parish.

Homeowners/Business Insurance: What specific plans will you push for with our federal and state legislative delegations to keep insurance rates affordable for our residences and businesses?

• We will have to meet with our new Insurance Commissioner. All we can do is have building codes that live up to our environment do the best we can to stop flooding. So, insurance can see that we aren’t a huge risk to them. It is all about exposure and risk. Our Insurance Commissioner needs to come down here and see all the improvements we have made so he can go back and sell us to the insurance companies.
• We also need to stop Insurance companies from picking and choosing what they will write down here. If they don’t want to write wind and hail, they shouldn’t be allowed to write anything. If you’re going to do business here, do it all.
• We can’t make Insurance companies come here. But we can make it more attractive for them to come here.

Recreation: As Parish President, what are your plans to streamline the operation of the parish-supported recreation programs and facilities? How do you plan to attract outside recreational teams and tournaments to our area?

• From the sound of it, it looks like it needs to be revamped completely. Our bayou communities need their local recreation areas. They don’t want to come to Houma for recreation. The city of Houma has a Sports Park. Each community should have a gym for recreation and after school tutoring. We need an inter-city gym for all children and adults to use.
• We have rules in place concerning travel ball practices. They are private teams and do not allow anyone but who is on the team practice. With them being private they are not considered recreation.
• My suggestion to this problem is, maybe the travel teams get together and have fund raisers and donations to build a gym for travel teams. Maybe the Parish can help at some point but contact AAU Sports to see if there are programs to help fund building of gyms for just AAU. Also, there are plenty.

Homelessness: As Parish President, what are your plans to address the homeless issues the parish is currently facing?

• I would like to see a new Homeless Shelter built at the base of the bridge where the old one is now. We need a shelter that is available to men, women and families. They also should have all the resources they need at the facility under one roof.
• There should also be a place for drug addicts to get the help they need for rehab.
• We need a Veterans center that can house homeless veterans.

Ida issues: What are your plans to address the damages caused by Hurricane Ida to parish-owned and-operated properties, including Bayou Towers and Senator Circle?

• Bayou Towers is owned by the Federal government. It has been deemed unsafe and is going to be torn down.
• Senator Circle is also owned by the Federal government. They are still in the process of evaluating what needs to be done. But they will be rebuilt and put back into service.
• I think we need more assisted living subdivisions for our elderly. They want to live independently on a smaller footprint. That will free up older housing. To be rented with section 8 vouchers. I don’t like the idea of grouping all section 8 housing in one area.
• Abandon and empty business need to be addressed. Through Nuances and Abatement, it will be done. But we need to streamline the process. Too much time is given to get things done. We are going on 3 years out of Ida.
• Empty buildings downtown need to be addressed by the owners of them. Make them presentable or tear them down. I would rather have green space than a derelict building.
• We may have to resort to finds for derelict properties to get their attention.