Northshore looks beyond Katrina impact

With six years now between us and Hurricane Katrina, officials in St. Tammany Parish took this week of remembrance to reflect on the challenges that have been overcome and those that still remain. In particular, Brenda Reine Bertus, executive director of the St. Tammany Parish Economic Development Foundation, says the immediate aftermath created a boom for the housing and retail sectors while unemployment dropped. “The short-term construction boom ended, at first gradually and then abruptly in 2008 when the sub-prime mortgage crisis struck, causing lenders to tighten requirements for mortgages and other loans,” she says. “But in the last year, the housing market has stabilized with a correction in prices and an uptick in permits, construction and sales. The same has held true for commercial projects.” State Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, says it has been difficult for him to look back. “There are no good memories to be found in my recollections of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on our state,” Donahue says. “But there are positive outcomes that can be seen.” Largely, these outcomes are beyond the economics. “I would never have wished for such a calamity as Katrina was, and none of us could have foreseen the consequences of that terrible storm,” he says. “But we also never would have imagined that what felt like the end of the world was the beginning of Louisiana turning a corner in our history, both in government and in community. Katrina changed things. We will never be the same. We will be better.” Read the rest of 10/12 Corridor Weekly here. — Jeremy Alford