Metairie-- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday held its first public meeting since a federal judge slammed the government agency with a ruling for failure to maintain the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, or MRGO.
People packed the meeting in Metairie to sound off on the Corps' plan for permanent closures and pumps at the 17th Street, London Avenue, and Orleans Avenue outfall canals. The pumps and closures will replace temporary structures at those canals now.
"This is one concrete way to demonstrate the Corps is listening to things like pump station height, the aesthetics, maximum impact of footprints, pollution, noise, things like that," said Dan Bradley, the Corps' Project Manager.
"We just want to stay where we are and keep cooking good food," said Anthony Montalbano, who owns the popular II Tony's Restaurant in Bucktown near the 17th Street Canal.
He's concerned the Corps may force him to move his restaurant once it begins building permanent structures at the canal.
Twenty-four hours after Judge Stanwood Duval blamed the Corps for monumental negligence in flooding during Katrina, Montalbano said he's not focusing on what that could mean for other areas. He said, "we really would rather --especially from the restaurant standpoint-- kind of put everything behind us and move forward and move forward with the business rather than the hopes of you know.. getting compensated for something later on."
Old Metairie resident Lisa Ludwig said she's hoping the Corps, because of that ruling, reconsiders the pricier "Pump to the River" project that would send some storm water in the 17th Street Canal to the river. "I would hope the Corps would look at this and say we better come up with the best technical solution, not the cheapest because we may face a big judgement like this," said Ludwig.
Katrina victims in St. Bernard Parish and in the Lower Ninth Ward of Orleans Parish are closer to what the ruling considered ground zero, the MRGO. They hope the landmark decision that came down in their favor, will help in future lawsuits.
"It would help me get out of the debt that I've had to assume that I really should not be responsible for," said Jonathan Nicolosa, who lives in St. Bernard Parish.
Ninth Ward resident Albertine Reid said, "I am hoping that we will get some type of money to restore at least some of the things that we lost."
In New Orleans East where recovery has been slow, residents are disappointed that for now at least, they're shut out of the judge's decision.
"If he could have ruled in favor of the folks in this area, a lot of folks would have considered reinvesting," said Michael Jones of New Orleans East.
At the moment, the only people who would qualify for money in any possible class action are the people who filed claims a couple years ago. Attorneys said Thursday you don't have to do anything more right now.
