It didn't matter to Jaimie and C. Ray Bergeron that
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski represents a state 3,000
miles and a world away from storm-ravaged New Orleans
The couple was happy just for the chance to tell the
visiting lawmaker Monday about their struggles trying to
repair the gasoline station and car repair shop that
they have operated at the corner of West Harrison Avenue
and Fleur De Lis Drive for 18 years before it flooded
after nearby levees broke in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina.
The Bergerons have waited months for a Small Business
Administration loan to pay for the repairs, but each
time they think they have cleared the last bureaucratic
hurdle in the process, another barrier appears.
A few weeks ago, an SBA representative advised the
couple to buy new equipment for the service station with
their own money and receive a reimbursement later.
"I said, 'Sir, if I had $60,000 to buy equipment do
you think I would be talking to you?' " Jaimie Bergeron
told Murkowski as they spoke Monday morning in the
parking lot of the ruined business.
Murkowski, a Democrat, said agencies such as the SBA
should be doing a better job helping hurricane victims.
"That's their mission. They could make this easier," she
said.
An eye-opener
Seeing the damaged city in person and talking to
storm victims face to face made an impression on the
senator.
"The country is here in its support, but I can tell
you as a policymaker from a state so far away that it
makes a difference to see this for yourself. It's
incredible for us to see what you are doing here,"
Murkowski told the Bergerons.
Murkowski became the 41st of 100 senators to tour the
New Orleans region since Katrina and Hurricane Rita
devastated south Louisiana six months ago. At least 82
of 435 House members have visited.
Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu guided Murkowski on a
morning tour of the Lakeview neighborhood, which
suffered major damage from the storm surge that broke
through a breach in the floodwall along the 17th Street
Canal.
Their first stop was the spot where the floodwall
gave way along Bellaire Drive.
Mechanics of failure
Standing next to a lot, now empty after the house
there was swept away by the flood, the senators received
a brief lesson in hydrology from Brig. Gen. Hunt Downer
of the Louisiana National Guard, who explained the
mechanics of the floodwall's failure.
"Look at what it did to this home when the water
hit," Downer said, pointing to a half-standing structure
across the street. "It imploded."
Murkowski said she was surprised to see such
devastating damage in a neighborhood filled with
modern-designed homes, many of which were built in the
past five years. "I was thinking that what was lost were
old structures," she said.
After leaving Lakeview, the two senators and their
staffs flew by Black Hawk helicopter to Empire where
they saw a specialized crane donated to Plaquemines
Parish by the city of Valdez, Alaska. The crane will be
used to lift stranded boats weighing as much as 60 tons
and put them back into the water.
The senators finished the day with a round table
discussion at Port Fourchon with local officials and an
aerial tour of southeastern Louisiana wetlands.
Landrieu, who has spent months lobbying Washington
lawmakers to make similar trips, said she has extended
invitations to tour New Orleans to New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner,
a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2008.
Both Bloomberg and Warner have influence that extends
beyond their home bases and could help rally more
support for Louisiana's recovery effort.
. . . . . . .
Keith Darcé can be reached at
kdarce@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3491.
