WEST END UPDATE
John Manard
Making
West End what it can and will be – far nicer than it had become before Katrina
– is not just the story of fixing the harbor, important as that is, and it is
not simply a story of government action, but one of people. Rebuilding fueled by FEMA claim resolution is
a core element, as it puts back in place basic and important infrastructure. But, it is bringing life, beauty and utility
to those things that surround and build on that infrastructure that we will all
look back to in future years as what marked the difference – an area made
better from disaster, its stakeholders made stronger and its place in the
region made sustainable. Read on to
learn what is happening. There are
hurdles. They are challenging, but not
insurmountable. West End’s best days are
not right around the corner, but they are in sight.
A
variety of documents and drawings relevant to this report can be viewed on the
MYHMC website: nomunicipalharbor.com.
West End Park Master Plan: The Park’s finest
days to date were some decades ago. Those
days can and will return, though it will take thought, planning, money and
persistence. The Park presents an
excellent place to begin, as it will not be damaged by harbor reconstruction
and is not subject to any of the takings that will be involved in building the
pumping station. Consequently, a Master
Plan for West End Park is currently being developed. Two public meetings have been scheduled, one
several months ago and the second on Thursday, February 25. The next step is for it to be written up in
draft and posted on the MYHMC and Friends of West End, Inc. websites (by early
April) and become the topic of further public airing during the MYHMC Board
meeting in May, with a possible vote in June.
The
first focus is on defining the best and most desirable uses for the Park,
followed by identifying capital improvements required to allow for such
activities. Once those capital
improvements are identified, prioritized and priced, the multi year Master Plan
will focus on which will be undertaken in which year. Then begins the process of raising the money,
project by project, one year after the next.
It will take five years or so to get to the finish line, but it will be
worth the time, the money and the effort, if done well.
Like
many other parts of New Orleans’ rebirth after Katrina, this is about people,
not just about government. The Master
Plan will reflect what people have to say in several public meetings, guided by
paid and pro bono professionals. Whether you made it to the first public
meeting or make it to the one on the 25th, there will be plenty of
time for your input. There will be at
least one further public meeting, you can email suggestions via the “Contact”
section in this website.
Linear Park & Constructed Wetlands
on Breakwater Drive: This project continues on its journey from concept to
reality. The basic concepts are both
simple and exciting. An area of rubble
that affords little opportunity for enjoying the beauty of the western exposure
of West End and the Lake is transformed into an open green space, with paths,
benches, small shelters and a constructed wetlands to help the rejuvenation of
the Lake. It will connect a restored
West End Park to three great opportunities further north on Breakwater Drive –
the fishing pier and boat launch at the corner and the large open green space
facing the Lake to the North (referred to on area maps as “Breakwater Park”). And, one day, restaurants and retail are
likely to be back in place at the southern end of this linear park. When all are completed, a reconstructed harbor
would be surrounded by “U” shaped park space, with restaurants and retail at
one corner and outdoor recreation at the other. The linear park as the middle leg of the “U”
is the critical feature.
17th Street Canal
Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge: As previously reported, MYHMC drew together meetings
of Jefferson, Orleans and Regional Planning Commission representatives to
develop the necessary support for the linear park and to insure a continued
focus on the restaurant and retail opportunities once the Corps situation
settles out. That evolved into a second
project and a January, 2010 meeting with the Corps to make sure that pumping
station and canal plans leave a place for this bridge and the connecting paths
to link Bucktown and West End once again. The RPC agreed to draw together a consolidated
proposal to the Corps as to what territory to protect. You will note that neither route will be built
until the pumping station is complete (perhaps 2014). But, better to get it affirmatively in the mix
and get the search for funding underway now.
Jefferson Parish is exploring with the Corps the responsibility of the
Corps financially as a result of the post Katrina removal of the Bucktown
Bridge (both ends of which were in Jefferson Parish).
Pumping Station Developments: The Corps
said in January that it will begin the paperwork part of its takings by some
point in February or March – surveys, title searches, appraisals, notifications
etc. Previously, they published the map
depicted here showing the “maximum” footprint of that taking. While they are doing that paperwork with the
City and MYHMC concerning the West End property, the Corps will be doing two
other important things. First, they will
be working with some of their potential contractors to determine how much of
that “maximum” footprint they will really need to take – projecting they will
know by June or July. Second, as to the
parts they do need to take, they will be deciding when they need people moved
off of the property (end of year sounding like a possible deadline, if not a
bit sooner).
So,
there may yet be some hope that some or all of the property Coconut Beach is
situated on will not be included. And
the situation as to the half of the parking lot where the seafood restaurants used
to be similarly seems to be a bit more of an open question. Set against that is the fact that a second
building (a generator building) and petroleum storage to support the generators
will be required. The Sewerage and Water
Board, according to the Corps, has been a strong voice for having generator
buildings adjacent to the pumping stations and five full days of fuel for the
generators on hand. The S&WB will operate
these pumping stations once they are built.
So, there is a good bit to fit into that footprint and it would be wise
to avoid jumping to conclusions as to how this might turn out – June and July
will be here soon enough.
The
Corps of Engineers has conducted several public meetings and is routinely
publishing schedules and other important information on this. See their websites (mvn.usace.army.mil and
nolaenvironmental.gov). Links to
important Corps documents also are posted on this website. During the Corps’ public comment period MYHMC
sent a letter to the Corps.
Progress of the FEMA Claims: A
key concept to keep in mind is that “Claims” is plural – there are several
claims (harbor basin & piers, administration building, east bulkhead, West
End Park, two boathouses, boat launch & fishing pier and Breakwater Drive).
The work on the Administration Building
should begin reasonably soon (delayed briefly in January by the controversy
over the City’s annual “Rollover Budget”, which is now resolved). We are working on accelerating the two
boathouses, as the last 25 unrepaired boathouses have now been sent
default/restoration demand letters and a timetable for rebuilding. We are hopeful that money associated with a
resolution to the Breakwater Drive claim can help somewhat with the cost of the
linear park/constructed wetlands, but that effort is just at its formative
stage. Moving the fishing pier to face
north vs. west, just to the east of the boat launch is getting some
consideration, as it helps with the linear park and constructed wetlands. But, that concept too is just at its formative
stages and will get public airing and input before any decisions are made. The West End Park claim is a bit behind the
others as it got done by the City a little later than the others, but we are
working on speeding it up and keeping it coordinated with the Master Plan
process for West End Park.
The parts of these claims
that are of the highest interest are the ones that deal with the harbor basin
(dredging) and the piers. In these
updates you are not likely to witness spectacular break throughs, at least not
often. The thing to look for is steady
progress, the identification of road blocks and intelligent action to overcome
them.
There has been progress
since last month on the dredging front. The
core issues are (a) how much of what we now need to dredge out came in with
Katrina and (b) how much of the dredging
cost will be occasioned by removing Katrina debris still on the bottom or
buried in the silt that will be dredged out. Our team and our opportunities to develop
convincing evidence have both improved in recent months, particularly in
January. In the August 2009 time frame
the City changed its team and internal organization as to FEMA claims - for the
better, it seems to me. The City’s
leader as to developing the claims and addressing them with FEMA is Marty
Altman, who has worked with such claims for a number of years, including work
with the current head of FEMA. During
the fall he brought in a number of professionals with FEMA backgrounds and
assigned them to specific projects. Jim
Tideman is assigned to our project. An
architect by training, Jim has a long background with claims like this,
including working for FEMA. And he is a
sailor. I have worked with Jim for the
last month and have found him to be smart, professional, thoughtful and
obviously dedicated to helping get our claims across the finish line.
But, on the harbor it is all
about evidence, not enthusiasm. Joining
with us this last month is Lee Richardson, who many will know from boating but
who comes to our aid in this context as a professional leading an effort for
the State, through the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness (GOHSEP). That State effort
covers both storm generated debris and storm deposited silt. Lee brings to the process knowledge as to how
to develop the best evidence, knowledge about how other claims have been
treated by FEMA elsewhere and the added support of GOHSEP when our claim is presented
and argued. Lee and Jim are working
actively, meeting routinely with me and Ian Thompson at Sizeler Thompson Brown
Architects and the engineering consultants they retain. More on that as it evolves.
As previously reported,
getting a claim amount resolved with FEMA is not the end of it. Two meaningful hurdles loom after that, namely
(a) the City designing, contracting for and paying for the work subject to FEMA
reimbursement (the “Revolving Fund Issue” below) and (b) the City/MYHMC paying
for the part FEMA will not pay for (the “Bond Sale Issue” below). We are addressing the hurdles involved in both
now – tasks that will carry over into the next administration at City Hall.
The Revolving Fund Issue: The City pays
for the FEMA reimbursable work from a $300 Million “Revolving Fund” given to
the City a couple of years ago by the LRA. Some of the $300 Million has been used up by
the costs of putting together claims. Some
has been used up in paying for things FEMA would not pay for. Now, with more and more projects finally
making it through the claim process and being ready for construction, that
Revolving Fund is being called upon to fund more and more important
projects. The interface between the City
and FEMA as to reimbursement works at a pace that requires the City to fully
reserve the entire cost of a contract from the Revolving Fund before starting
because it cannot be sure it will be paid along the way by FEMA, thus creating
a choke point once there is high demand – today’s problem. All of that translates into there being a
reduced fund and now a competition between worthy uses – a prioritizing of
things like police stations, roads, public facilities, fire stations etc. and,
of course – at some point, the harbor. This
bottleneck needs to be resolved so that worthy projects are not forced into a
posture where their importance needs to be ranked and their rebuilding placed
in line and delayed. We are pushing for
that objective, though I am unable to report on precisely how that is likely to
evolve.
The Bond Sale Issue: One must
always plan for the possibility that FEMA will not pay for everything. In 2004
the voters approved a $260 million bond issue.
Dredging the harbor had a $1.1 Million place in that list. It was always intended that the bonds would be
sold in groups over time. Katrina and
the economy disrupted that intended sequence and the City is only now able to
move ahead with selling the bonds. In
December they sold $40 million of them, with all of the proceeds directed to
roads. It seems likely that the next
batch will be sold in 2010, perhaps toward the end of the year. It will be important for the harbor dredging
to be included as one of the uses in that particular sale so that the money
will be available when it is needed in 2011. We will work toward that goal.
Myth Busting: Nothing like this can escape the
“knowledgeable insider” telling you with great authority about what is “really”
going on. And there is no way that such rumors
will fail to improve and take on the appearance of being even more “true” with
time. We will never be able to field and
respond to all of the urban legends spawned by the harbor damage, but we will
try to cover as many as possible here and in subsequent updates.
First,
FEMA has not allocated $12 Million to repair the harbor, money that is simply
delayed in spending because of an effort to have the harbor facilities
replaced. What FEMA will pay for as to
harbor facilities (piers, etc) repair or replacement remains to be determined,
but that is being worked on in parallel to the dredging issues (see more
details in
Second,
the open issue of replacement vs. repair is not reflective of being greedy or
just listening to misguided people. It
is a legitimate and important issue that will turn on the actual evidence, not
rumor.
Third,
harbor design has not been finalized.
Indeed, most everything remains to be determined, with public meetings
and stakeholder input. But, for the
moment all is on hold until we know whether the design is to be for a repaired
or replaced harbor.
Fourth,
this harbor is not going to be sold to anyone.
It will remain the City’s marina – and become a great one.