Mississippi Begins Planning For New Infrastructure
The Mississippi Renewal Forum held Oct. 11-17 in Biloxi "matched local architects, engineers, and planners with worldwide experts," says Will Longwitz, spokesman for the rebuilding commission created Sept. 12 by Gov. Haley Barbour (R). "Local leaders were suspicious of the process at first, but after the first couple of days, they began to realize that they would never have resources and attention like this again."
Forum participants will now take the ideas to town meetings among the 11 Gulf Coast cities and towns to see which ones they like. The final commission report is due on Dec. 31. A special session of the state legislature will be held Jan. 3 to discuss funding the plan. "The governor and congressional delegation currently are working on a federal recovery package," adds Longwitz.