LAPLACE — Residents and business owners who have opinions and ideas and want to help shape St. John the Baptist Parish’s future and recovery from Hurricane Isaac are invited to complete an online survey now available on the parish website at www.sjbparish. com.
As part of the “One Parish, One Future: Building Back Better and Stronger” initiative, a Citizens Advisory Committee is seeking suggestions for ways the parish as a whole can recover from Hurricane Isaac and begin building a community for future generations.
The questions in the survey are identical to those presented to residents who attended the Jan. 28-30 open houses in Edgard, Reserve and LaPlace.
“Over those three evenings, we received thoughtful, creative suggestions about how to make St. John better for all of us,” said Dr. Wayne Robichaux, chairman of the National Disaster Recovery Framework Citizens Advisory Committee. “Now we’re really encouraging citizens to come forward and join in this collective brainstorming effort by giving their ideas and suggestions.  This is a huge opportunity.”
The online questionnaire will remain on the parish website until Friday, March 1, 2013. The information collected will be combined with the community input from the open houses and other events. Parish officials will present the potential projects to residents at a new series of open houses March 18-20 to obtain their input.
“These ideas are not going to sit on a shelf,” said St. John the Baptist Parish President Natalie Robottom. “Although Hurricane Isaac devastated many neighborhoods, it also has given us a unique opportunity to harness state, federal and private sector support for rebuilding and revitalization projects.”
The “Building Back Better and Stronger” initiative is supported by state and federal partner agencies under the new National Disaster Recovery Framework that was launched in Louisiana following Hurricane Isaac. The framework’s cornerstones are citizen involvement and local leadership, starting with input from residents.