It has been reported that many in attendance at the public hearings
have been in support of locating the permanent pumping station on the
Orleans Ave. outfall canal, and possibly others, south of Robert E. Lee Blvd. We believe this
is a very bad idea.

Fifty years ago, the Corps of Engineers proposed building pumping
stations at the north ends of all of the outfall canals but bowed to
public pressure from a small number of property owners
in the area and elected to build the flood walls deep into the city.
But we don't have to tell you the history of the flood walls.

Please do not repeat the same mistake twice!!

The pump stations should be constructed for the best possible
protection for the City of New Orleans.

Obviously locating the flood protection structure any distance at all
away from the lake increases the length of levees and flood walls that
must be built and maintained in order to protect the city. In
addition, the bridge over the Orleans Ave. canal at Robert E. Lee
Blvd. would be vulnerable to future storm surges in the lake. We are
also concerned about other facilities that may be exposed if the flood
barrier is moved south of lake levee system. In particular any
subsurface drainage, sewerage, or water lines that run under the canal
bottom north of Robert E. Lee Blvd. There were structures under the
canal bottom at one time, and we have no reason to believe that they
are not still there. If there is another large storm surge, the
weight of that much water on top of 80+ year old drainage systems may
cause another catastrophic failure!

Please let's not repeat the mistakes of the past.
The ONLY place that makes sense for any new flood control structures
on the outfall canals is AT THE LAKE!


*******PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT MY STATEMENT*****
*******This info was sent to me to be posted**********

Dear Lake Vista residents,

Below is a reminder about Tuesday night's meeting addressing the location of Orleans Canal permanent pumps. There were several options presented at a two-day ACOE workshop that John Davis and I attended as Lake Vista's representatives. We were assured all proposals offer the same level of protection. The three Orleans Canal options were either at the mouth of the Canal jutting into the Lake (with a breakwater about 20-feet high), or just south of the temporary pumps (which stay operational during construction), or just south of RE Lee.

A large majority of the LVPOA board, including myself, voted in favor of the third option, and John and I represented that perspective in the workshop, along with other Lakefront leaders. Wherever these pumps are built, they will be approximately 70 feet high (a 7-story building). The third option impacts the fewest number of homes because there are residences on only one side of the Canal at that location and many of those homes have not yet been rebuilt. We were assured by the ACOE that landscaping could visually buffer the pumps from the City Park side. Understandably, there is opposition to this site from Lakeview Civic Improvement Association, which favors the site at the mouth of the Lakefront. If you can imagine, as I can, a day when all New Orleanians can return to a restored Lakefront Seawall to bicycle, fish, and enjoy breathtaking sunsets, please come to the meeting.

Best to all,
Deborah Langhoff
LVPOA President

I read with interest the comments about the Tuesday night Corps of
Engineers meeting, on this group. We live in Lake Terrace and I offer
this clarification. Mr. Jim Dartez, who claimed to represent a
unanimous vote of Lake Terrace residents, is mistaken. No such vote
took place and the gentleman took it upon himself to represent the
neighborhood. After his comments two other residents of Lake Terrace,
who also live on Pratt Drive, stated publicly that they support
putting flood control structures at the mouth of the London Avenue
Canal.

Please read the Lake Vista website to see postings of other neighbors
about the future flood control structure locations at the New Orleans
outfall canals.

I know people who live in all four of the neighborhoods north of
Robert E. Lee. For some reason the Lakeshore, Lake Vista and Lake
Oaks neighborhood presidents have decided to take the official
position that all the neighborhoods want the new canal flood control
structures south of Robert E. Lee. I know of many more residents who
feel like I do that the structures need to be at the canal mouths.

I am also dismayed about the number of residents who do not even have
an opinion or do not make an effort to stay informed about these
serious issues.

My background is in Landscape Architecture. I cannot reconcile
destroying the visual quality of the south shore of Lake
Pontchartrain. But the original designers of the reach did not
consider flood control. The preservation of life takes precedence
over anything else. Also as I designer I can tell you that places
such as the Netherlands have good flood control design. In the USA
our system is faulty. We do not make a unified system design effort
to flood control. We do not give priority to lives we give priority
to cost-benefit-analysis. This is not my personal or professional
philosophy.

We have paid attention to the canal structures and have formed our
opinions based on information. I do not want to live in a city that
will flood again. It is extreemly short-sited of anyone to think
that if the structures are not within two blocks of their house that
they will being doing themselves a favor by supporting such a
location.

Sincerely,
Cecilia

Breathtaking sunsets, or 7 feet of water in your house, you pick.
I am going with keeping the lake in the lake.

If your area flooded in August 2005 from the 17th Street Canal levee breach, you need to contact the Assistant Secretary of the Army and the Corps of Engineers now.

In response to the devastating flooding arising from the 17th Street Canal and London Avenue Canal levee breaches, Congress enacted Public Law 109-234 authorizing the construction of permanent pumping stations at or near the mouths of the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue and London Avenue Canals and Lake Pontchartrain. As you all know, temporary pumping stations have already been constructed and are operational on those three canals.

The Corps’ Orleans Avenue Canal pumping station is presently located in a crook in the Orleans Canal near Lake Pontchartrain but NOT VISIBLE from Lakeshore Drive. See link #1, below. As link #1 state, that pumping station was designed by the Corps to be incorporated into a future permanent pumping station. Corps documents originally indicated the potential placement of the permanent pumping station in one of 3 places near the mouth of the Orleans Avenue Canal, as directed by Congress in P.L. 109-234. See link #2.

Now there has mysteriously appeared a fourth potential permanent pumping station location SOUTH of Robert E. Lee Boulevard on the Orleans Avenue Canal. See backup slides in link #3. This is ¾ of a mile SOUTH of the mouth of the canal, and requires us to rely again on levee and floodwall protection to stop flooding from hurricanes. THIS GOES AGAINST ALL RATIONAL THOUGHT!

I believe the Corps is bowing once again to special interests that similarly had the Corps years ago abandon gates at the mouths of the canals and construct instead the levees and floodwalls that so miserably failed in August 2005.

We must stop this madness now. Not only will constructing the permanent pumping station south of Robert E. Lee, ¾ of a mile from Lake Pontchartrain, require us to again rely on 1 ½ miles of Corps levees and floodwalls, but new lands will have to acquired whereas the present temporary pumping station is already in place, on public property and out of sight from public roads. If the pumping station is constructed south of Robert E. Lee, 1 ½ miles of levees will have to upgraded to meet the new 100 year standard, 2 bridges instead of one tied into that levee system (structural weak points by Corps standards), 2 bridges instead of one will have to be flood-proofed ONCE AGAIN, the pumping station constructed on inferior marshy soil, levees and floodwalls will have to maintained, and other technical issues and ridiculously increased construction and operation costs addressed.

Please, please contact as many people as you can and have them contact Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) John Woodley, at the address below, with copies sent to the New Orleans District Corps of Engineers, stating opposition to the madness of the Corps’ proposal to place the Orleans Avenue Canal permanent pump station south of Robert E. Lee Boulevard. This goes as well for the London Avenue Canal that some suggest should also be well south of Robert E. Lee merely because of the lack of returning homeowners in that impoverished area. As we all know, flood waters from breached levees and floodwalls don’t stay in Lakeview or Gentilly, but continue to flow south into interior Orleans Parish and eastern Jefferson Parish.

I’m available to speak at any neighborhood association meeting. I would like to speak at the forth-coming March 8th Lakeview Civic Improvement Association meeting.

I copied your e-mail addresses from your neighborhood association web sites. I’ll remove your name from this neighborhood association contact list upon your request. I mean to help, not offend. I lost my house and everything I owned in the August 2005 flooding.

Help me spread the word to all those who flooded in 2005. Forward this e-mail. Rally your neighbors at the next association meeting. Write the Corps, your political representatives, the media. We must act NOW before the Corps makes its final decision in May. We can make a difference.

Thank you.



Bob Northey



Link #1

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Link # 2

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Link #3

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John Paul Woodley, Jr.

Assistant Secretary of the Army

(Civil Works)

108 Army Pentagon
Room 3E446
Washington, DC 20310-0108



LTG Robert L. Van Antwerp

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Headquarters
441 G. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314



Colonel Alvin Lee

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

New Orleans District

7400 Leake Ave.

New Orleans, LA 70118



Colonel Jeffrey A. Bedey

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

New Orleans District

7400 Leake Ave.

New Orleans, LA 70118



Editor

The Wall Street Journal

200 Liberty Street

New York, NY 10281



USA TODAY
7950 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22108-0605



Mark Schleifstein
The Times-Picayune
3800 Howard Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70125-1429



Chris Rose

The Times-Picayune
3800 Howard Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70125-1429



David M. Walker

Comptroller General

Government Accountability Office

441 G. St., NW

Washington, DC 20548



Donald E. Powell

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding

C/O DHS Mailstop 1250

245 Murray Lane

Washington, D. C. 20528-1250



James Allen Nussle

Office of Management and Budget

725 17th St., NW

Washington, DC 20503



Senator David Vitter

2800 Veterans Blvd.

Suite 201

Metairie, LA 70002



Senator Mary Landrieu
724 Hart Senate Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510



The Honorable Bobby Jindal, Governor

State of Louisiana

Office of the Governor

P. O. Box 94004

Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004



Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans

625 St. Joseph, Mail Resolving Dept.
New Orleans, LA 70165



Orleans Levee District

6920 Franklin Ave.

New Orleans, LA 70122



Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority

6512 Spanish Fort Blvd.

New Orleans, LA 70124-4322

Gentilly Small Neighborhood Focus Meeting for the Greater New Orleans Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System, 100-Year Level of Protection - Thursday, March 27, 2008

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March 27, 2008
Environmental Justice Public Meeting
Description
United States Army Corps of Engineers 100-Year Hurricane Protection Environmental Justice Public Meeting

Open House: 6:30 pm - 7:00 pm Presentation & Discussion: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Location
UNO Lindy Boggs Conference Center 2000 Lakeshore Drive New Orleans, LA 70122
Time
6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Contact
Gib Owen (504) 862-1337