[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19151-19152]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             THE SUPERDOME

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, it is only 1:50 p.m. in New Orleans, but 
the bands have been marching since early this morning, and the singing 
is joyful. People have been so excited not only in New Orleans but in 
all of Louisiana because tonight the Saints will be marching again into 
that grand, wonderful building we call the Superdome.
  The Superdome has always been a special symbol to New Orleans, but 
tonight that symbol takes on a new meaning. It has been a symbol of 
pride in the past, and tonight it is a symbol of hope--a symbol of hope 
for the great rebuilding of our wonderful city, region, and State.
  Just a year ago, the Superdome was a symbol of sadness, loss, 
confusion, and despair as New Orleans, the region, and our State faced 
the worst natural disaster in the history of this country. It wasn't 
just Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that caused devastation, it was also 
the levees that collapsed and put a great city and region under some 20 
to 25 feet of water. It was in that overwhelming flood that people fled 
to the Dome looking for safety and security. All of America knows this 
sad story.
  But I am here to talk about a story of recovery, a story of 
leadership. I want to thank the people who made the Dome's reopening 
possible--to thank the men and women who work at the Dome: the welders, 
the janitors, the cleanup crews, the construction crews, the managers, 
the architects, and the engineers.
  They spent the whole year rebuilding this Dome on a schedule that no 
one thought was possible, at a cost that came under budget. A 
partnership formed between the NFL, the State of Louisiana, and the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency to get this building back into 
shape and reopen tonight with 68,000 fans coming to watch the Saints 
play the Atlanta Falcons.
  I want to remind the country that these employees showed up to work 
each day to restore the Dome, many of them traveling hours to get there 
in the morning and hours back in the evening because there were no 
nearby houses for them to sleep. Many of them lost their homes, their 
children lost their schools, and their churches were destroyed.
  The successful rebuilding of the Dome is because of the people who 
showed up to work. Their journeys in the morning and their journeys 
home show a commitment to rebuilding a great city. Despite the 
criticism that the city, the State and the region have received, 
tonight is a symbol of all that is great about the spirit of the people 
who refuse to let this city die.
  Desiree Jones, who lives in Violet, La., is the housekeeping manager 
for the Superdome. She started working at the Dome 25 years ago as a 
janitor. Every day for the past two weeks, she has been working to get 
the Dome ready for tonight. She knows the Dome's reopening is a signal 
of rebirth for our city.
  I come to the floor to thank the thousands of men and women who 
worked on the Superdome. They were led by a wonderful leader, a young 
man who has really shown his stripes and all of New Orleans is singing 
his praises: Doug Thornton, the general manager of the Dome. He stayed 
in the Superdome with his wife and children doing everything he could 
to help the evacuees. His heroic efforts during those harrowing days a 
year ago have been well reported. But what might not be known is that 
Doug and his wife also lost their home. He didn't see his wife for 
weeks because he spent his time rebuilding the Dome while Denise spent 
time rebuilding their house in Lakeview. That is what people all over 
New Orleans and South Louisiana and the Gulf Coast are doing--going to 
work to rebuild the refineries, the pipelines, the industries, while 
their spouses are at home rebuilding what is left of their houses.
  Doug Thornton, general manager of the Superdome, is no exception. He 
deserves a tremendous amount of credit.
  Tim Coulon, the chairman of the Louisiana Stadium Exhibition 
District,

[[Page 19152]]

is a former Jefferson Parish president and a man I know well. Tim has 
always been a very quiet but competent and effective leader. His 
leadership doesn't come from loud speeches and pushing but from quiet 
determination. Tim, his staff, and other board members worked very 
closely with Governor Blanco, who signed executive order after 
executive order, to cut through the redtape and expedite the 
Superdome's rebuilding.
  That partnership between our Governor, the stadium commissioners, and 
Doug Thornton was the leadership team that put this Superdome back 
together.
  I also have to say for the record that Paul Tagliabue, former 
commissioner of the NFL, saw what happened at the Superdome and decided 
that the NFL was a service organization, and its first job was to 
service teams and the cities. He understands something about the 
emotional connection between the teams and the cities that host them. 
The teams become a part of the spirit of every city, and he would not 
allow the Saints' spirit to die.
  He said the Saints will march again. He said the Dome will be 
rebuilt, and let's get to it. New Orleans will forever be grateful to 
Paul Tagliabue and his staff at the NFL for their belief in our city 
and for not cutting and running, not leaving when times got tough for 
us. They stood their ground, and we are very grateful.
  I also want to go on the record to say that the Dome has been a 
symbol of our city for 31 years. Its origin goes back to Governor John 
McKeithen. He was not from New Orleans. He was actually a country boy 
from Columbia, LA. But as our Governor, he had a vision of what a great 
Dome could mean to a great American city, a great southern city. He, 
along with the mayor at that time, my father, Moon Landrieu, along with 
Dave Dixon, a local businessman, decided the Dome would mean renewal 
for the city. The three of them overcame all sorts of political hurdles 
and were able to build this great Dome.
  We have hosted more Super Bowls than any building in America. It sits 
on 52 acres of land in the central business district. The Superdome has 
a seating capacity of over 70,000, depending on the event.
  When Dave Dixon had a vision for this Dome, he told our Governor at 
the time: You know, Governor, we will have a Pope here one day and a 
President here one day.
  Nobody believed him when he said that. But sure enough, President 
Reagan honored all of us when the Republican National Convention came 
to New Orleans 18 years ago.
  It was a proud time for New Orleans and Louisiana when 19 years ago, 
Pope John Paul II made the first ever Papal visit to Louisiana and held 
a rally in front of 80,000 children in that Dome. It was a site to 
behold.
  We have had a proud Superdome history right there on the corner of 
Poydras and Loyola, right across the street from city hall. It will be 
there for years to come because the heroic efforts of the employees at 
the Dome and our local contractors who put their shoulders to the wheel 
and their hearts into their work and decided that this would be a 
symbol of our rebirth.
  I am proud as the Senator from the great State of Louisiana to come 
and honor them, to thank them, and to say that this is the beginning of 
our recovery. This week, we close a chapter on Hurricane Rita, which, 
Mr. President, hit your own State of Texas, and which did so much 
damage to both Louisiana and Texas. I visited Louisiana this past 
weekend with some of Louisiana's delegation and local leaders. It is 
clear that recovery has begun, but there is still a long way to go.
  As we close the Rita and Katrina chapters of the last year, let the 
Saints go marching in tonight, and let them lead us to a new chapter of 
hope and recovery for New Orleans, for Louisiana, for the whole gulf 
coast, and for all of America.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. DeMint). The Senator from Alabama.

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