In The Corner yesterday, there was an e-mail from Politics & Government teacher from a Louisiana college. He was talking about who owns and is in charge of the levees.
Rather [than] one agency that is in charge of flood prevention, there are scores. Building in redundancies would have required more boards, which would have lessened the political power of those on the existing boards. I seriously doubt that even now, after this catastrophe, that we in Louisiana will see this system change because the structure is mandated by the Louisiana Constitution. Any change requires not just statewide approval, but must also be approved by a majority of voter in Orleans Parish. Given how many local politicians whose fiefdoms would disappear, that will not happen, and so we will see this disaster occur again.Let me say right now that if the Federal taxpayer is going to rebuild the city of New Orleans he also better become the sole owner of those levees. There can be no more fiefdoms and other sources of confusion.
