Janet's Book Nook

I know it sounds like that old adage used to say that people are gullible. The problem is that this was a very real case in the New Orleans area. There is a bridge that is 24 miles long that connects Jefferson Parish to St. Tammany Parish over the Pontchartrain Lake. The bridge is named the lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge. It was built in 1956 as a two lane bridge and was later expanded to two spans with two lanes on each span. One heading north and the other heading south. These are considered the longest bridges over a body of water in the world. This bridge is a toll bridge and is patrolled by its own police force. There has been a population boom on the north shore in recent years and Hurricane Katrina  only helped to reinforce this expansion. In the past weeks there have been talks that the Presidents of both Jefferson and St. Tammany Parishes and the general manager of the bridge have been in talks with Shaw Group of Baton Rouge to lease and operate the bridge. The story leaked to the press and the residents of both parishes have created an uproar. This is a public bridge that was built using public funds and is operated using public funds. Shaw’s idea was that they would lease the bridge and therefore operate the bridge. The positives were that the money from the lease could be used by the parishes to fund road work projects. The idea of the public and private sector joining in the running of public buildings is not something that is widely used in Louisiana. It is a new concept and one that the residents are not ready to grasp with open arms. I think that part of the problem is that the deal was released to press as an offer to buy the bridge. My first thought was "You mean like the one in San Francisco?" I have read up on it since then and while I do believe there are some positives to the deal I think that this area is in need of other options for bringing back the economy. Selling off our public assets (even as a lease and not a sale) is not the way to do it.