Four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the metro area, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard says the parish has made tremendous strides.
"I think (it's) the resiliency of our people, the fact that we came back and built back so fast," Broussard said. "They came back with the commitment to rebuild, and they did."
Broussard says that positive accomplishments since the storm include local drainage, one-hundred year hurricane protection, and the parish's battle against the blight.
He pointed to the development of fortified safe-houses to be used by pump operators in the event of a storm; pump stations built to withstand winds of a major hurricane; and improved local drainage on both banks in the four years since the storms of 2005.
Listen to WWL's Jay Vise's conversation with Broussard about the ongoing recovery:
According to Broussard, crime-fighting also has called upon a lot of parish resources since Katrina.
He says that although Jefferson's population figure of about 460,000 is near pre-Katrina levels, it's been a bit of a struggle to keep the ranks of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office filled.
"Our law enforcement numbers have not necessarily bounced back," Broussard said. "We lost a lot of good officers during Katrina and in the aftermath of Katrina, to were other regions, that were "cherry-picked" to go elsewhere, and so it's a constant challenge to keep up with the salaries that other regions have."
However, Broussard said that the JPSO and the officers of the six municipalities in the parish have done a very "proactive job," combined with the parish's fight against blight, to keep violent crime at a minimum.
"We've conducted over 100,000 inspections that have resulted in 37,000 violations," he said. "We have taken down, demolished, over 300 structures that we believe were a danger and also a haven for criminal activity."
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