Representing a dark period in St. Charles Parish’s history, Buddy Boe presented a basketful of house keys to the Council and asked they place them in a place of prominence.
Boe said they should stand as a lasting reminder of what’s coming next year.
Reauthorization of flood insurance rates is coming in 2017, which is done by FEMA and Congress every five years.
When it came in 2012, rates skyrocketed for some residents so high they saw insurance bills skyrocket up to $25,000 a year. It stunned 1,300 people, mostly residents of Bayou Gauche and Des Allemands, who tossed their house keys on a table to congressional representatives in resignation, saying the government should just take their houses because these rates would make them unaffordable and unsellable.
Boe also asked the keys be displayed to show what was done when the people of this parish needed help.
“St. Charles Parish was Ground Zero with everything wrong with the new law,” he said. “That fight started here.”Councilwoman Julia Fisher-Perrier agreed.
“Unfortunately, we were the perfect storm,” Fisher-Perrier said. “But St. Charles Parish changed this.”
She added, hopefully, “Parish President Larry Cochran will keep the keys in a visible place to remind us of what we need to do.”
A location has not been chosen yet, but the goal is to display them prominently with a message of what they represent.
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