Local people say a valuable resource in New Orleans is being wasted and they feel they're being left in the dark as to why. We take you to the lakefront to explain in this 4 follow up.
NEW ORLEANS - Watching from the shores of Lake Pontchartrain you can see boats sailing off in the horizon, the sun setting towards it, and the sound of laughter over crawfish.
For Cassendra Shepard, you can't beat the backdrop. With the sunlight fading, however, she knows her minutes here are numbered.
"This could be like a very serene place for you to just come and relax and have friends...like we're doing. But we can't do it at night obviously."
It was more than a year ago, when Eyewitness News first reported on the long line of lights out at the lakefront. The non-flood division of the Orleans Levee District is responsible for the lights and Louis Capo is the director.
In January of 2009, he told us that nearly all of the lights along the five-mile stretch of Lakeshore Drive have been out since Hurricane Katrina and said the Orleans Levee District, Entergy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board were trying to figure out who should foot the bill to get the lights back on.
Today, much of the area is closed off for Corps' improvement projects, but those have nothing to do with the lights. In fact, it's still dark at the lakefront.
"There's been no major change," said Capo. "Currently we're still looking for a funding source."
Close to $1 million is needed to re-wire the lights, according to Capo. Before the storm, the power cables used to run through the levee underground, across the street, and into the lights.
"[The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] outlawed that practice, so now the lights have to be run over the levee which requires additional funds rather than repairing previous lines," said Sen. J.P. Morrell of New Orleans.
Last year, Morrell says he successfully pushed the governor to assemble a committee of law makers and experts to study how the Orleans Levee District can make more money to pay for things like the lights. The commission has been meeting for about 6 months and Morrell says members of the group have come up with some ideas.
"Currently, the lakefront police are paid for by the state, but the tickets they write for various infractions, those fines actually go to the city," said Morrell. "With detailed analysis by that commission they found if they were to keep the revenue just from the tickets they generate, they would pay for themselves."
Thus, freeing up dollars that could go towards brightening up the lakefront, said Morrell.
But until that happens, enjoy the breeze and the crawfish while you can under the sun - the only kind of light that's still working.
"It kinds shows how far we are in our recovery process," said Shepard. "Because something that basic we don't have."
Just when the funding will become available remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the committee's first report on how the Orleans Levee District can make more money is due out later this month with future recommendations to follow.
