LC mayor: Biden must talk recovery during visit
Published 4:05 pm Tuesday, May 4, 2021
John Guidroz
Securing a new Interstate 10-Calcasieu River bridge and getting a federal disaster relief package approved by Congress are two topics President Joe Biden should address during his scheduled visit to Lake Charles Thursday, Mayor Nic Hunter said.
The White House announced in a May 1 news release that Biden will be stopping in Lake Charles and New Orleans as part of the Getting America Back on Track Tour. Hunter said Sunday that the president must mention the need for Southwest Louisiana to fully recover from Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
“It certainly would be an incredible miscalculation if he were to come here and not address hurricane recovery,” Hunter said.
Local officials have expressed frustration at Congress not yet having drafted or approved a federal disaster relief package. The Alliance for Positive Growth wrote a letter to the federal delegation urging them to take action soon, something Hunter supports.
“When you look back in recent history, it has not taken this long for Washington, D.C., to come out with a disaster recovery package after a disaster strikes,” Hunter said. “Every day that goes by and we don’t have it is another day where Washington, D.C., is failing the people of Southwest Louisiana.”
Biden is expected to talk about infrastructure during the visit. Elected officials on the local, state and federal levels have been pushing for a new I-10 bridge to replace the aging, outdated one. Bridge proposals from the state Department of Transportation and Development range from more than $900 million, to $1.2 billion.
“I’m very hopeful he’s going to focus on the I-10 bridge,” Hunter said. “It should be a poster child for the need for a federal infrastructure plan. If someone can help us push forward on a new I-10 bridge, I will sit down and talk to anyone, day or night.”
During a visit to Hackberry in May 2019, former President Donald Trump promised a new I-10 bridge, if re-elected.
Biden’s visit will be the fourth trip to Southwest Louisiana by a sitting president in nearly four years. Trump visited Lake Charles in September 2017 after Hurricane Harvey, followed by the Hackberry stop in 2019 and again last August to survey damage after Hurricane Laura.
Biden’s last stop in Lake Charles was in 2010 while he was vice president. He also visited the city in 2006 as a U.S. senator to survey damage after Hurricane Rita’s 2005 landfall.
Then-Vice President Joseph Biden greets residents — including Dinah Landry, above — at Grand Lake Elderly Apartments on Jan. 15, 2010. The president will visit Southwest Louisiana again on Thursday as part of his Getting America Back on Track Tour.
