HB 780: The Little People VS Goliath
Last week the Senate Education Committee deep-sixed House Bill 780 which would require that LSU produce a legitimate business plan to pay for the proposed $1.2 billion LSU Academic Medical Center in lower mid-city.
It’s just common sense to have a sound financial plan in place to pay for a project whether it’s a dog house or The Taj Mahal. Most especially before you kick out people who have worked and lived for years on the designated property. How would you like it if the government told you to move out of your family home/business and you had NO CHOICE, without even the assurance the project would actually be completed. Read Save Charity.com’s post today to hear what some lower mid-city property owners have to say. Whether you are for or against the proposed LSU Medical Complex, as a property owner and American citizen, you must see the sense in this bill. Please email or telephone your state senator and demand HB 780 be revived and passed before the end of the legislative session. Here is a direct link to the list of LA state senators with links to email any or all of them. Please take 5 minutes and let your voice be heard.
The louisiana senate has been out to lunch! what a drag.
e
June 23, 2009 at 9:02 am
great post. but don’t worry, david beats goliath more often than we think!
J
June 23, 2009 at 9:05 am
Without a doubt, a plan needs to be laid out before anything permanent happens… no matter what. I don’t think any of the plans on the table address all the needs at hand, but it’s ridiculous to even consider anything without a clear picture!
Holly
June 23, 2009 at 11:01 am
I have just emailed a letter to almost all (I already emailed Education Committee Chair Sen. Ann Duplessis, and I previously thanked Sen. Eric Lafleur, after he cast the only “Yes” vote for HB 780) of the Senators. I agree that a “No” vote on this bill is just unacceptable, and I urge everyone to contact their Senator, and other state senators, to get HB780 out of legislative purgatory, and back into the Senate for a full vote. Let’s not let this issue go down, without a fight.
Why the Education Committee voted 7-1 not to pass this bill favorably out of committee is puzzling. Clearly they weren’t paying much attention to Sen. Lafleur’s questions, and the rather fuzzy answers from LSU’s Dr. Fred Cerise, Jerry Jones, and Pam Perkins, as they tried to explain why their business plan would succeed, when it was clearly inadequate, and would, in Treasury Secretary Kennedy’s words, get them laughed out of the bond markets.
It’s clear that the Senate Education Committee did not do its duty here, to protect Lower Mid-City homeowners and business people, and Louisiana taxpayers, from the potential disaster of LSU’s lack of a solid business plan, and the vision of a 70-acre empty space in Lower Mid-City with a fence around it, and no LSU teaching hospital on the horizon.
Wendy King
June 23, 2009 at 12:23 pm