T’bonne District 6 candidates differ on issues

Three candidates are trying to fill the Terrebonne Parish Council’s District 6 seat in the Nov. 4 election left vacant since Councilman Leland Robichaux’s death earlier this year. Harold Lapeyre, appointed to the seat in June as an interim councilman, is not running.

Democrat Al Badeaux, senior vice president at Iberia Bank, has served on the parish’s Consolidated Water Works District board for three years, this year as vice president, and served on the Terrebonne Parish Personnel Board from 1988 to 2000.

He is a board member of the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce, serving as chairman in 2003, and a member of the South Central Industrial Association. He is also on the parish’s Subdivision Regulations Review Subcommit-tee.

Badeaux said District 6, which has the most voters of all the districts in the parish, is different than districts in the south because it does not flood as much, but flooding still occurs near where the Intracoastal Waterway meets the Houma Navigation Canal. A flood control project should eliminate the problem at that location, he said.

To relieve traffic congestion, Badeaux would like to see more turn lanes built on Louisiana Hwy. 311, which he called the largest growth area in Terrebonne. Four-laning Hwy. 311 will occur eventually, but the project is not high on the state’s list of priorities, he said. Traffic should be relieved when new “smart” traffic lights are installed in parts of the district in 2009. Much of the traffic is caused by people who work in Terrebonne but live outside the parish, he said.

Badeaux, who graduated from St. Frances de Sales where he was a standout athlete, would like to see Hollywood Road four-laned. A new bridge is being constructed over Little Bayou Black at Equity Boulevard, but traffic will not be relieved on Hollywood Road until a new roadway connects to the bridge.

He wants to petition the state to do drainage work on a Barrow Street extension, similar to work done at the intersection of St. Charles Street and Louisiana Hwy. 182

Badeaux said he is concerned about flooding in Schriever and Gibson.

“Many things have been approved,” he said about government projects. “I’ll make sure the money’s not spent somewhere else.”

He added, “My opponents don’t realize it’s a marathon, not a sprint. People get so frustrated. Businesses can have a timetable. Government’s timetables get pushed back.”

Republican Kevin Voisin, 32, said that while levee protection and getting the Houma Navigation Canal lock built are priorities, zoning needs to be expanded in growing District 6 as well as in the rest of the parish.

“We need a 21st century infrastructure,” Voisin said. “Two-lane, no shoulder roads through the swamp are dead.” He supports four-laning Louisiana Hwy. 311, Valhi Boulevard and New Orleans Boulevard.

Voisin called Terrebonne one of the beautiful places in the world, but the parish needs more parks and recreational activities, pointing out that Summerfield Park suffers from “grass and graffiti and a lack of vision.”

“Work and economic activity bring people here,” he said, “but parks and green spaces keep people here.”

Voisin, vice president of marketing for Motivatit Seafoods in Houma, graduated from the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts in 1993 and attended Brigham Young University from 1993 to 2000. While at Brigham Young, he spent two years in France on a mission where he spoke only French.

Voisin has worked on the Terrebonne Parish Coastal Zone Management Advisory Commit-tee and on several Chamber of Commerce boards. He currently serves as secretary/treasurer of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board.

“For 40 years, we’ve talked about priorities,” he said. “Enough studies have been done. We need to focus on making things happen and implement solutions.”

“A vote for Kevin Voisin is a vote for energetic, active leadership,” he said. “”I’m not a part of the good old boy network. My opponents deem themselves part of the process for a long time.”

Republican Steve Robichaux, 46, has similar concerns about levee protection and zoning, but he said he also wants to deal with the high cost charged for electricity by Houma and improve the hurricane evacuation process in Terrebonne Parish.

“We need a better handle on the city of Houma power facility,” Robichaux said. “Costs (for electricity) have escalated to an unbelievable amount.” Some retirees have told him they are paying $550 a month.

Robichaux said the plant does not run all the time and costs should be adjusted. He called for a group of individuals to monitor the situation.

Robichaux wants more comprehensive hurricane evacuation plans; the communication process broke down during Hurricane Gustav.

He said residents in Schriever and northern Terrebonne could not get to the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center during Gustav and had to go to Lafourche and St. Mary parishes for assistance.

“Why did this happen if they live in Terrebonne?” he said. “We need to improve communication.”

Robichaux, who sells crane equipment, graduated from H.L. Bourgeois High School and attended Mississippi College and Nicholls State University.

He is a member of the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce and sits on the South Central Industrial Association’s Infrastructure Committee.

He is also a member of the Terrebonne Beautification Project Committee and a past board vice president of the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority.

Some of his activities have been more informal. He has been active with the I-49 and Morganza Action coalitions and has been attending Terrebonne Parish Council and levee board meetings for many years, he said.

Robichaux wants to see St. Charles Street and Hollywood Road four-laned. To further alleviate congestion on Hollywood Road, he wants Enterprise Drive extended to the new bridge over Little Bayou Black at Equity Boulevard.

Concerning planning in Dist. 6, he said zoning along Louisiana Highway 311 in Houma should be more consistent.

“We need to be proactive in our planning and zoning,” he said. “We need to know what it’s zoned for. No surprises.”