The ferry, along with one in White Castle, would be eliminated under governor's budget proposal
With the Reserve-Edgard ferry once again imperiled, St. John the Baptist Parish officials are gearing up for another fight to save the service, which Edgard residents see as a lifeline. The ferry, along with one in White Castle, would be eliminated under Gov. Bobby Jindal's budget proposal, only a year after the service was restarted after a four-year hiatus.
Without
the Reserve-Edgard ferry, motorists on the east bank must drive nine to
12 miles farther to the Veterans Memorial Bridge in St. James Parish
that connects to Wallace on the west bank."It would kill the west bank if they stop it," said Parish Councilman Art Smith, whose district includes the area.
Smith is sponsoring a resolution urging the parish to fight to restore the funding at tonight's Parish Council meeting.
"It's 32 miles from the courthouse to LaPlace if you take the Gramercy bridge and 45 miles if you go through St. Charles Parish," Smith said. "It would destroy the west bank."
Though the St. John courthouse is on the west bank in Edgard, there's little else. Only about 3,000 of the parish's 45,000 people live there, and residents of the area have long feared that residents will vote to move the parish seat to LaPlace, a move that would require two-thirds vote of support from parish residents under the state Constitution.
"The ferry's not being there would create greater pressure to move the courthouse to the west bank," Smith said.
Parish President Natalie Robottom issued a statement saying that maintaining ferry services is a priority for the parish.
"Prior to the introduction of the state budget, the entire parish (legislative) delegation was made aware of the importance of ferry services for our residents and have since been notified of the proposed budget cuts affecting those services," Robottom said.
"After speaking with our representatives, I am confident that our delegation will work to preserve ferry services to the residents of St. John the Baptist Parish," she said.
The two ferries charge a $1 toll, but cost taxpayers an additional $15 to $17 per trip for every vehicle. Eliminating those two ferries would cut 17 jobs and save $2.3 million a year, a news release from Jindal's office said.
The toll is applied only to the west bank-bound portion of the trip between Reserve and Edgard.
In other action, the council is scheduled to consider going out for bids for street repairs and canal cleaning.
The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Percy Hebert Building 1801 Airline Highway, LaPlace. A council finance committee will precede council meeting, starting at 6 p.m.
Both meetings are scheduled to be televised on Channel 15 of Comcast Communications and RTC cable TV networks.