Mayor Roach Meets with President Obama; Announces Bid for Re-election

By Bill Krull






While Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana face major challenges in the coming years, Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach said no doubt exists about the region’s ability to respond. Time and again, Roach said at a news conference announcing his bid for re-election, the people have risen to the occasion and turned crisis into opportunity.

“Hurricanes Ike and Gustav came through almost three years to the day after Hurricane Rita. In the wake of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, we proved to the country that, yes, the people here did a great job after Rita but, guess what? It wasn’t a stroke of luck,” Roach told a crowd of about 200 people.

“It was because of who we were. Who we are. What we accomplished, what we’re doing to rebuild, reshape—that doesn’t just happen. Whatever the future holds, we, the people of Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana, we’re going to be fine, we’re going to be okay. Our strength comes from our ability to work together. We have proven our ability to accomplish great things in the midst of extreme hardship.”

The next four years will be challenging, due in part to the global economic crisis, Roach said. A prolonged recession may very well affect various phases of the community development strategy currently being implemented—public and private.

“We’ve focused on a vision of not just recovery, but of making things better. We’ve focused on the improvements needed to sustain growth that includes things like roads and water and wastewater and services, better recreation facilities for our children—the infrastructure we must have for a sustainable high quality of life,” Roach said.

Lake Charles people took a major step forward when they approved a $90 million bond issue—a community wide, comprehensive capital improvement program. Planners took extra care to build in responsibility, accountability and sustainability to ensure no barriers are created today that might hinder future growth.

The importance of such care was graphically illustrated when President Barack Obama laid down strict guidelines for the use of stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that he recently signed.

In a White House meeting with Roach and 84 other especially invited mayors from throughout the nation, the President cautioned mayors to use ARRA funds “with unprecedented responsibility and accountability.” The president’s warning was a pre-emptive strike meant to deal with a major concern about so much federal money being pumped into state and local governments in a relatively short time.

Such sustainable projects currently underway in Lake Charles include numerous construction projects for economic and community development and for roads, parks and recreation facilities for quality of life and for children. Many will be complete in 2009 and several others are in the design phase.

What it boils down, Roach concluded, is a simple matter of responsibility.
“It all translates into a very simple thing: When I was in Washington D.C. visiting with President Obama, he acknowledged that our nation is not a nation of government, it’s a nation of people. It’s a nation of people who live in communities, large and small, like Lake Charles. That’s where the real work gets done,” Roach said. “That’s where dreams are fulfilled. That is what this race is about. It’s about our dreams for our community for our children for their future.”