Ms.

Nicole Hobson-Morris Executive Director Louisiana State Office of Historic Preservation 1051 North Third Street Baton Rouge, LA 70802 October 20, 2011 Dear Ms. Hobson-Morris, As Cultural Ambassador for the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana since 2003, it is my pleasure to support the nomination of the New Orleans Levee Breach Sites at the 17th Street and Industrial Canal for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. A lifelong native of New Orleans, my father passed away during the flooding of Katrina. I bore witness the devastating impact the levees failures had on these neighborhoods, my own neighborhood and the city. I can testify to the still unfinished efforts to recuperate from the day the levees failed. Listing these two levee breach sites would be an important avenue for the impacted residents to preserve and remember their history. These sites of civil engineering failure also serve as a warning to the nation to ensure levee systems are designed, built and maintained properly. Major policy changes regarding levees and floodwalls have been implemented not only in Louisiana, but nationwide. These breach sites as well as over 50 others have prompted the passage by Congress in 2007 of the first ever National Levee Safety Act, which called for a nationwide levee inventory and the establishment of a levee safety program. Also in 2007, Congress passed reform measures to the Army Corps of Engineers. We hope to soon commemorate this event, an event so significant that people all over the world watched it on television. If you have any questions regarding this letter, you are welcome to contact me at your convenience. Yours truly,

Irvin Mayfield Jr.