Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana
Jay Dardenne, lieutenant governor of Louisiana
At Fontainebleau State Park near Mandeville, La., 12 waterfront cabins that accommodated thousands of tourists a year, now are riddled with mold and broken dishes. Vandals visit to drink beer and destroy what nature didn’t, the New Orleans Advocate reported.
Hurricane Isaac pummeled the park in August 2012 and sent four- to five-foot waves crashing into the cabins.
Parts of the boardwalks connecting the cabins collapsed. Mold crept up the walls and studded the sheets with black polka dots. Water ruined the leather couches.
Repairs still are on hold more than a year later even though Fontainebleau is the so-called cash cow of the state park system. The deluxe cabins rented for $150 a night during the peak season, generating thousands of dollars a year.
The state of the cabins at Fontainebleau are at the heart of a political dispute that touches the entire state park system.
Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne contends projects are piling up because Gov. Bobby Jindal and legislators made a practice of using a state park repair fund to pay the parks’ daily operational expenses. Now, he said, the fund is dry.
The Jindal administration counters that the fund routinely had millions of leftover dollars each year and that state construction dollars can be used for repairs.
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