Tim Coulon Quotations

If the interested people want to resolve an issue, we can resolve it.

Katrina blew that out of the water. There is no longer any talk of a new stadium.

I think it's quite credible, ... We consider that to be a legitimate expansion of the building.

That $475 million of insurance is going to be eaten up quickly, ... The rest hopefully will be covered by FEMA.

We can't be pressured into a situation where the Saints are the only concern that we have, ... If you have to identify the five most important things to rebuilding the region, would an NFL team be one of them? Considering the magnitude of the problem that everybody across the state faces, they just aren't that important. The Saints can't dictate what we do with the Dome.

It would be foolish on our part not to look at the building with the need to modify it as a shelter, ... Obviously, if we don't consider the use of the Dome as a shelter then we shouldn't use it at all. Won't we be criticized five years from now if we don't take into consideration the use of the building for some anticipated mass evacuation?

As a whole, I think he did exactly what the citizens of the parish expected: to take control and take a leadership position in getting us through the disaster,

There isn't a mayor in the future that, faced with the same set of circumstances, wouldn't open up the largest building in the city as an evacuation shelter, ... But if you're not going to enhance it, then you can't use the building.

It's highly unlikely we would have the facility available at the beginning of the season. We're looking at November, but again, that's an ambitious schedule.

It was a Herculean task this morning that we accomplished with the cooperation of Mr. Benson and the commissioner, and I have to commend LSU for their efforts, ... As you know, they are dealing with many, many logistical issues here. No doubt every person in that room was sensitive to not having a negative influence on the recovery. But it was also the sentiment that the Saints need to be a part of our rebuilding initiative. We made the best of a difficult situation.

I'm very concerned about repairing a sick building, ... You cannot see what's behind the walls, the mold and the spores that are in there. All of those things are going to be dealt with over the next 30 to 60 days in doing the assessment. Then we'll see where we go.

If I was the mayor, I would have had to do the same thing. The dome saved lives.

If there's some damage to those buildings, we're going to rectify that,

I don't want to speculate, because I haven't heard from him, ... But it's not too late (for Benson) to step up to the plate and be the good citizen.

The dome was never intended to be an evacuation center. Its sheer size makes it inviting to use, but the logistics make it difficult.