Parish president details grants, blight cleanup and infrastructure priorities at town hall
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Summary
At a town hall meeting in Terrebonne Parish, the parish president outlined recent grants — including a $150,000 Delta Region Authority award for an AI road-scoring program and a $2.6 million EDA grant for road widening and utilities — plus nuisance-abatement progress, housing projects and plans to rebuild the parish power plant.
The parish president used a community town hall to summarize the administration's recovery and development work, highlighting new grants, nuisance-abatement activity, housing initiatives and long-term infrastructure projects.
The president said the parish applied for and "received a $150,000 grant" from the Delta Region Authority to outfit vehicles with mobile devices and AI that will record road conditions and signage, producing a prioritized road-score portal after a three- to four-month data-collection run. He said the parish also secured a $2.6 million Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant to widen roads and bring utilities to an area near Westside Boulevard and Martin Luther King that will support a Terrebonne General Health Center build-out.
The administration reported about $337,000 in miscellaneous grants awarded, seven pending grant applications that could total roughly $5.6 million if all are approved, and a parish grant liaison in finance to match available funds with local projects. On housing, the president said the parish is addressing an "about 800 unit affordable home shortage" with projects that include a 180-unit development and a 90-unit Parkwood project; he also cited rehabilitation of 17 homes and issuance of rapid-rehousing vouchers.
On blight and waterways, the president reported removing 68 derelict vessels (about 470 tons of debris) from Bayou Grande Cayou, condemning 187 unsafe structures and closing almost 1,200 nuisance-abatement cases while about 1,100 remained open. "We're cleaning up properties, waterways, and everything else," he said.
He framed these items as part of a broader resiliency and efficiency push: upgraded phone and work-order systems, nearly $800,000 in savings from technology modernization, and an effort to increase insurance coverage after Ida. The presentation noted longer-term projects including pump-station retention work and a bid package for cleaning Bayou Terrebonne from the intercoastal to the parish lawn.
The meeting concluded with an invitation to residents to report problems through the parish website and Smart911, and a pledge to follow up on specific questions raised at the town hall.
The town hall produced no formal votes; it was an informational session and Q&A where residents sought clarifications and next steps.
