Drew Broach chimes in today with River Birch deal recalls Jefferson Parish canal bottoms rip-off. Broach’s commentary frames River Birch story with “historical incompetence”. However, I see the picture in a different frame – but Broach first and I’ll follow:
“Trust, but verify” is an old aphorism, and one that any public official would do well to follow.
That Jefferson Parish officials didn’t follow it before approving the 2009 River Birch landfill deal is now coming back to haunt them. Their failure threatens to eclipse the infamous Robco canal bottoms deal of 1987, once called “the biggest rip-off in the history of the parish”…
None of the current members of the council held their seats in 1987 when Robco happened, but that’s hardly an excuse…Clearly some due diligence was in order before — not after — the council sealed the Robco deal in 1987….It was a lesson learned the hard way: Trust, but verify. And to think that some believe lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place.
My turn. If the Parish Council lack of “due diligence” was an act of incompetence, as Broach suggests, it is only because such incompetence; i.e. the lack of due diligence, is a cultural expectation in Jefferson Parish:
We internalize the attitudes of the society around us by making the attitudes our own. Besides attitudes, people internalize cultural expectations about how to behave…
The individual is often unaware of his acceptance of these socially derived roles, roles are often accepted unconsciously…
Applying behavioral science puts a tighter frame on Continue reading “How the cow ate the cabbage garbage in Jefferson Parish – Drew Broach frames the River Birch story”