Editorial Roundup: Louisiana
The Advocate. January 2, 2023.
Editorial: New year, same old challenges for Louisiana
’Tis the season of best intentions, the time of year when many of us are recommitting ourselves to attack long-festering issues, whether it’s that extra 20 pounds that just won’t go away by themselves or the pile of seldom-worn clothes that really should be donated.
It’s also a time to focus on things beyond self-help and domestic order, to take stock of the world around us and figure out how to play a part in fixing larger but intractable problems.
Louisiana’s got its fair share of those, so we’d like to highlight a few areas in need of collective attention from our state’s incoming leadership.
The coast: Among the most important messages Gov. John Bel Edwards issued on his farewell tour is that the state’s coastal protection efforts should always be guided by science. We wholeheartedly agree.
This is not so much a new resolution but an extension of an ongoing one, as there’s been encouraging bipartisan support for prior upgrades to the master plan.
We expect Gov.-elect Jeff Landry’s administration to stay the course and keep political considerations to a minimum — both in terms of the projects chosen and the funding sources pursued, the latter of which should be on the front-burner as the BP settlement money nears its end.
Crime: Crime was a divisive issue during political campaigns, but the bottom line is that everyone benefits when young people have better options and our cities become safer.
We were encouraged to see the conservative Landry and progressive District Attorney Jason Williams pledge to work jointly on public safety in New Orleans. It’s past time for rhetoric to give way to common purpose.
Insurance: The property insurance crisis hitting homeowners is existential, as it immediately threatens residents’ ability to stay in their homes.
Insurance Commissioner-elect Tim Temple is looking to offer strong signals to the industry that Louisiana is a good place to do business, in the hopes of spurring competition and getting prices in check. Just how, and how soon, that can happen is a question. Although there was talk of an insurance special legislative session during campaign season, that does not now appear in the cards.
We urge Temple, Landry and the Legislature to offer up a plan, and quickly. Homeowners getting walloped with huge increases can’t wait.
Outmigration: This challenge, highlighted once again by a discouraging census report, is the result of not one problem but the compilation of many, including but not at all limited to those we’ve mentioned above. To be blunt, if Louisiana’s people are leaving and newcomers aren’t coming, little else matters.
Offering opportunities and a good, affordable, safe quality of life needs to be top of mind for everyone in office, not just in early January but every day of the new year.
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