(Print edition T-P, May 20)
Bob Livingston is finally starting to get his due.
On Monday, the longtime former congressman was told that the University of New Orleans will name the East Campus of the UNO Research Park in his honor. Granted, I’m biased, because Livingston is my friend and former boss; but just about anyone of good sense would say this recognition is richly deserved.
Livingston, who chaired the House Appropriations Committee from 1995 through 1998 and served on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee for 14 years, spent tremendous time and effort for eight years to consolidate the U.S. Navy’s nationwide information systems into two buildings, 100,000 square feet each, at UNO’s Research and Technology Park.
The direct funding for the project amounted to $220 million, and a UNO study shows the ongoing, operational economic impact to Louisiana has topped another $350 million. This wasn’t just some sort of local “pork” spending; instead, it met an urgent national need. (About which, more momentarily.)
This project was typical for Livingston, who (while cutting federal spending overall) arguably brought home more money to Louisiana than anyone in the state’s history. Even as he did, in almost every instance his modus operandi — as I saw personally in five years on his Capitol Hill staff — was not just to lard up spending bills with purely local projects. Instead, he would identify existing funding streams or demonstrably national needs and then match those streams or needs with Louisiana’s capabilities.
If the federal government was building interstate highways, Livingston made sure sound barriers protected nearby neighborhoods from roadway noise. Because grant money already existed for urban transportation and historic preservation, Livingston directed it, with assiduous personal attention, to expand New Orleans’ streetcar lines. As flood protection already was a national priority, Livingston worked to use it not just against storm surge but to stem urban flooding in southeast Louisiana…. [The full column is at this link.]
