Louisiana’s unpredictable flood last week is exactly why we need to heavily invest in better infrastructure. We could save lives and property and lessen the impact of environmental disasters.
Northeast Louisiana received the brunt of the storm, and about 30 percent of Monroe’s annual rainfall came down in just two days. The entire area was estimated to have gone through a once-in-1,000-years storm.
Last year, Monroe completed the Cypress Point Subdivision Water Line Improvement project to improve the community. It limited flooding damage and possibly saved lives, but Monroe must do more.
Specifically, Monroe must do more to protect its majority-black southern half of the town.
Last year, State Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, and Rep. Marcus Hunter, D-Monroe, tried to allocate $14 million for improving the drainage and sewage system on the southside of Monroe. This infrastructure project could have made a significant difference in how the recent floods impacted the city.
On the southside of Monroe, average rainfall can cause sewage to backup into homes. People in the 21st century shouldn’t live this way.
However, they couldn’t secure the money for this project. Instead, the $14 million went to building a future road that will cut directly through the Cypress Point subdivision. However, no one in the neighborhood wants the road. One of the neighborhood’s biggest draws is its seclusion from the rest of the city.
But government leaders and top industry leaders — specifically Century Link, a Fortune 500 company headquarted in Monroe — lobbied for this road and won with then-Gov. Bobby Jindal’s blessing.
Monroe doesn’t need a road; it needs a better sewage and drainage system. During the current fiscal crisis, Louisiana cannot afford to be penny-wise and pound-foolish.
The money being spent to plow through Cypress Point and force property values down is best invested elsewhere, but if this is going to happen regardless, the residents must be brought into the fold.
It would be wrong to say residents have not been able to express their feelings, as their concerns have been heard. But action must follow good words.
The community needs a sound wall protecting the neighborhood from the increased noise, proper drainage sites so the increased traffic does not make torrential downpours worse and a commitment to ensuring commercial rezoning does not occur near the subdivision.
Economic and infrastructure progress are a must if Monroe is to ever realize its full potential. Residents north and south of DeSiard Street must buy into the progress. Alienating voices of dissent only make those voices scream and shout louder.
Cypress Point residents are willing to work with the city to make Monroe better, and past issues should be under the bridge once the water drains away.
Garrett Hines is a 21-year-old political science senior from Monroe, Louisiana.