HumidCity

Violence. It surrounds us these days more than ever. From the vicious slayings of the city streets to the consistent array of rapes and hazings at Tulane University we are suffering a deluge of it. Both the city and the University desperately need enforcement. This is an issue with pre storm roots.

Along with the violence comes the pungent aroma of fear. I know I am subject to it.

City streets seem darker and more threatening than ever and small movements caught in the eye’s corner make you jump almost out of your skin. Everyone has those moments whether they admit it out loud or not. Its part of life in the city, especially these days.

So how far do we allow fear to propel us? Where do we find the line between making ourselves safe from extraordinary circumstances and sacrificing our liberty for perceived safety? Ben Franklin once said that those who abandon liberty for safety deserve neither. But how to stay firm in that resolve when you have a family?

Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans and the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association want us to sign their petition to keep the National Guard in NOLA. With my office located in the Bywater and a lovely wife at home Uptown I find myself supporting that aim. At the same time I cringe at the thought of endorsing the concept of armed troops on American soil, especially ours.

In the French Quarter a new initiative has begun - cameras in every window. QuarterSafe is something I only just discovered when they sent me an email about an hour ago. Its a movement to have people hook up cameras to their computers watching the streets of the Vieux Carre. “Orwellian,” was my first thought. “Could it work?” was my second. After reading in the Times-Picayune that violent crime is up 20% and rape is up 85% I find I am not not as secure in my ideals as I would like to be. Perhaps the 20+ funerals I have been party to since the levee failure has something to do with it as well.

I am merely ruminating here. I have no magic solution, no wave of a Harry Potter wand to dispel the complexity of what faces us. I just know this:

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

We must face our fears and determine our proper course. In the final analysis it is a dialectic between each individual and their own conscience.

So, how do YOU feel about the New Orleans Brand ™?

Loki, HumidCity Founder

[EDIT: And then Karen G. points me at this as a coda.]

My daughter goes to a charter school. I got an email the other day about tomorrow’s rally in Baton Rouge in celebration of Charter Schools Week (I’ve never heard of this one and wonder why it is the same damn week as Teacher Appreciation Week):

Louisiana Celebrates National Charter Schools Week Wednesday, May 7, 11:30 a.m.
Steps of State Capitol, Baton Rouge

With: State Senator Cheryl Gray
House Speaker Pro Tem Karen Carter
Algiers Charter School Association
Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans
Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools
Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools
Louisiana Charter School Association
New Schools New Orleans
and others!

Open to the public

And then at the end, the email says:

We intend to:

• Increase awareness that charter schools are public schools;
• Advocate for more favorable policy environment for charter schools in Louisiana; and
• Show how the quality and accountability of charter schools is transforming public education in Louisiana.

Even if I could be there, I wouldn’t. Why? Because charter schools here are NOT public schools. More than a handful of charters, regardless of the supervising agency, have selective admissions and even those that don’t get to cap their enrollment where they choose. They are not obligated to provide for special needs students (at either end of the spectrum) and a fractured “system” makes providing that extra care harder or impractical–how can one single school afford a full-time special education teacher paid out of its current budget for 3 or even 10 students? How can that expense be justified to the 99+% of parents whose children do not need these services? Also, where’s the accountability if no research has been done and is only going to be started at some point in the future AND when schools can provide whatever data they want however they want? There is no standard system for comparing current charter schools or comparing schools now to schools before (and I get this from the Cowen Institute report, not my ass)? A public school takes every child who walks in and educates every child that stays, regardless of need. That’s what public schools are supposed to be about and for. And do we need a “more favorable policy environment” for charters in LA? There are bills in the state legislature now which aim to make our charter school “system” permanent regardless of results, flaws or failures. And no transformation of public education has occurred yet. From my vantage point, we have a few innovators but mostly we have new themes for schools–social justice, college prep (whatever that means), math and science, math and business, art and technology. A theme is not a reform.

There is a place for charters in a public school system. But that doesn’t mean that charters should become a school system. How can we be sure all our children are educated if they are divided into fiefdoms or placed on their own islands? And it will take years, at least one generation, for charter schools to change NO public schools from being schools of last resort (a Cowen Institute phrase) to just plain schools.

You will not see this black mother at that rally.

pic cropped from SanFranAnnie

Reading First, included in the No Child Left Behind legislation, does not increase reading comprehension. When I first saw the story this morning, Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education, still had made no public statement about the study:

“Reading First did not improve students’ reading comprehension,” concluded the report, which was mandated by Congress and carried out by the Department of Education’s research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences. “The program did not increase the percentages of students in grades one, two or three whose reading comprehension scores were at or above grade level.”

The study, “Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report,” analyzes the performance of students in 12 states who were in grades one to three during the 2004-5 and 2005-6 school years. It is to be followed early in 2009 with a final report that will analyze additional follow-up data, the institute’s director, Grover J. Whitehurst said.

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and President Bush have consistently extolled Reading First as a highly effective program. But last year, Congressional Democrats reduced financing for the program for this year by about 60 percent, to about $400 million from the $1 billion it had received in several previous years.

On Thursday, Ms. Spellings had no comment on the study. Amanda Farris, a deputy assistant secretary of education, said in a statement that Ms. Spellings planned to look at the study “to inform our efforts,” and would “look forward to reviewing the final report.”

Ms. Farris said that one of the consistent messages Ms. Spellings has heard from educators, principals and state administrators “is about the effectiveness of the Reading First program in their schools and their disappointment with Congress” for cutting its financing.

There can be all kinds of anecdotal “evidence” that Q or F-3 works but we owe all children, not just suburban ones and not only low-performing ones, best practices that are based on actual results and research rather than political loyalties:

In 2006, John Higgins, the department’s inspector general, reported that federal officials and private contractors with ties to publishers had advised educators in several states to buy reading materials for the Reading First program from those publishers. The Reading First director, Chris Doherty, resigned in 2006, days before the release of Mr. Higgins’s report, which disclosed a number of e-mail messages in which Mr. Doherty referred to contractors or educators who favored alternative curriculums seen as competitors to the Reading First approach as “dirtbags” who he said were “trying to crash our party.”

On NPR, I heard a new teacher say that a parent at her school, a school that had been mostly minority and failing for many years, appreciated the state tests that her daughter was still flunking because she felt it showed that, finally, those in power cared about her child’s education. And one point the teacher made in her segment was that all children deserve well-rounded educations that promote critical thinking, creativity, problems-solving skills and more than test-taking tricks and methods and rote drill. And I have to disagree with the parent–the powers that be still don’t care about your child’s education because your child is being taught to and held accountable for a test that doesn’t necessarily benefit her as much as it gives those powers that be, those adults, cover for not caring about her or most other children’s education. The idea is to raise the test scores of failing schools enough to make it look like something is being done, not to really reform them, not to bring the best practices of the suburbs and magnet schools to every school, and certainly not to fulfill the promise of Brown and desegregate public schools.

With Bush set to leave office, NCLB is being looked at. We’ll see what comes out of it all.

G Bitch (yeah, still)

NOLA

In the midst of the Jazz Fest Daily Deluge the following article snuck through between the raindrops:

A federal court judge cleared the way Friday for the Army Corps of Engineers to face trial on claims that defects in its Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet destroyed wetlands and turned the navigation channel into a funnel for storm surge..

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval’s 40-page ruling “paves the way for the first and only trial that will likely be held on how the Army Corps of Engineers drowned New Orleans” during Hurricane Katrina, said California attorney Pierce O’Donnell, who leads the legal team that filed the case two years ago on behalf of a group of plaintiffs that includes WDSU-TV anchorman Norman Robinson, who lived in eastern New Orleans.

The suit alleges the controversial shipping channel flooded thousands of homes in eastern New Orleans, the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish.

After the way previous suits against the Corps have gone this is a lovely breath of fresh air. In order to engender respect from the community there needs to be responsibility, accountability and some from of pennance besides. Accountability has been evaded because of decades outdated immunities still on the books. Need I remind the world yet again that the winds that hit New Orleans were Cat 2, we were on the weaker backside of the storm. The levees were certified for Cat 3.

Now the Corps is using newspapers to seal the gaps in the levees? Drag them through the court system and enforce accountability.

Without proper flood protection the world will lose a lot, not just the residents of New Orleans. Newsweek said it very well recently:

This subtropical port, which looks to the Mediterranean, Africa and the Caribbean for inspiration, has always marched to the beat of a multitude of different and very funky drummers. Which city has more beguiling street names - Abundance, Beaujolais, Cupid, Desire? Other places have the Rotary and the Elks. New Orleans has Social and Pleasure clubs and the Mardi Gras Indians - African-Americans masquerading as Native Americans in a tradition dating from when Indians and slaves were natural allies. A Mardi Gras Indian designs and sews a new costume every year: one chief put the cost, in time and materials, at $100,000 each. There are secret rituals, songs and chants; even parade routes are classified. Masking is crucial - disguise, misdirection, all in the service of nutty, impractical, unclassifiable mystery - and it’s one key to understanding the city and its culture. New Orleans elevates the chores of daily life to a high level of culture. Porch railings are wrought into sculpture. In the kitchen, the humblest food becomes piquant. Even the funeral procession is an art form. In the wake of Katrina, New Orleans is doing what it does best: making something extraordinary out of next to nothing. There’s no Marshall Plan here - just small miracles in individual neighborhoods. “The culture of New Orleans emanates from the bottom up, not from the top down,” says Ellis Marsalis, pianist, composer and patriarch of the musical clan. The resurrection of the neighborhoods is doubly important because thousands of residents are still trying to come back, and because the city’s culture - particularly its music - is anchored in the neighborhoods. Unless they are revived, “the music won’t have a home anymore,” says saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr., who is also the Big Chief of the Congo Nation, a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. “New Orleans needs the neighborhoods, because it’s the only city in America that retains its traditional styles.”

In the increasingly mobile and digital age the world needs places like New Orleans. This is the last true American bohemia in so many ways, a place with a rich and vibrant (and yes, in many case unfortunate) history.

This is one of those rare moments of sanity over the past three years, I hope it goes the distance!

Now back to my foul weather Jazz Fest Blogging…

Loki, Founder and Cat Herder, HumidCity

Click the Image to see more pics from Howieluvsus

HumidHaney (No relation to HumidCity, although we did work in a design studio together years ago) has done what he does best: take a meme and boil it down to a great Sticker/Tee Shirt. In this case it is something that fans of the late Ashley Morris will get instantly: FYFF stickers.

Show your support of the family Morris as well as your opinion of those who think New Orleans is dead. Purchasing info can be found on Humid Haney’s site.

In the morning I will be doing once again that which has become all too familiar in the past two years, laying a friend to his final rest. It seems like everyone has written about how Ashley Morris touched their lives, even those who only knew him from his blogging. From John Pope at the Times-Picayune to the Big Easy Rollergirls (of whom his wife was one) the tributes and goodbyes show how far his reach extended.

Huge of heart as well as frame, “The Perfesser” was a man of unbridled passion for New Orleans. He refused to allow injustice and inhumanity to go unchallenged, speaking up with conviction where others remained silent. He spoke from the heart, shot from the hip, and burned through many a cigar in the process.

In the morning people from around the country will be donning suits, Rollergirl gear, and Saints jerseys as they gather to honor the good Doctor. He would want a huge sendoff and I doubt he will be disappointed. Info on the funeral can be located here, and for those of you who wish to help his wife and children you can donate here.

What passes for eloquence on my part is out of the question now. I just know I miss my friend and want to see his children secure the way he would have wished.


You rascal, how dare you ease out the back door when we have yet to follow through on all those threats of playing guitar together over Guiness and steaks. I miss you brother.

Once the funeral is out of the way it will be time for some vicious dissection of the inadequacies of our political class. We must all pick up the torch and prevent the fuckmooks from resting easy. He is no longer here to contain his fire so we must all blaze on his behalf.
-Loki, founder HumidCity

In a surprise move this evening Soviet Block, our own Hana Morris, announced that she will be keeping Ashley’s blog open!

The fundraising efforts are going well on the internet end, something for which I would like to offer my personal thanks. There is still a long way to go, but I have faith in our community. Stop by Remember Ashley Morris and help lift them up.

More soon, I am completely exhausted and must sleep.  

A major voice in the New Orleans blogosphere has gone silent, widowing a Rollergirl and orphaning three tiny children. As
various local groups prepare a benefit we see major obstacles looming for the family including five figure expenses for the funeral. Please give what you can, even a few dollar here and there can mount up. There are needs that cannot wait on the fund raising events.

Please join the efforts of HumidCity, Defend New Orleans, NOLA Rising, WTUL, Tales of the Cocktail, The Big Easy Rollergirls, The Skull Club, L’Art Noir, and many more as we show the Morris Family what community really means!

Online Donations can be made at Remember Ashley Morris

If you wish to mail a donation make the check out to Hana Morris and send it to:

HumidCity c/o
George Williams
5500 Prytania St.
PMB #417
New Orleans, LA 70115

If you wish to become involved in the benefit events, donate art for auction, or assist in some other way please contact me directly by emailing me humidcity at gmail dot com

Ashley wants you to laugh, you fuckers!

This content is syndicated from the email by Matt McBride, formerly at the helm of Fix The Pumps. -Loki

Dear New Orleanians,

The Corps has released the preliminary version of their category 5 study:

http://lacpr.usace.army.mil/default.aspx

or the direct link:

http://lacpr.usace.army.mil/default.aspx?p=LACPR_Draft_Technical_Report

They had promised this to the public (after missing their 12/31/07 deadline) on February 8th, as seen here:

http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/Video/WLAE_Col_Lee_080115.wmv

I went and checked on March 7th, and it hadn’t yet appeared on the LaCPR site. But it’s there now.

By the way, the study doesn’t actually make any recommendations. In fact, here’s an excerpt from the end of the report:

“Efforts to date do not point to a single effective risk reduction strategy. No single strategy for comprehensive hurricane damage risk reduction, other than entirely abandoning communities in South Louisiana, will guarantee safety for the population along the coast.”

Basically, what this study has done is just collect all the alternatives, so that more meetings can be held. The Corps has placed a paragraph in the report meant to blunt criticism that the public was expecting recommendations from this report, and there are none (and, yes, I am aware that was reported earlier, but that doesn’t mean that every member of the public in South Louisiana will remember or care about it):

“Congress also directed a technical report rather than a reconnaissance or feasibility report as described by normal USACE policy. The technical report will contain many of the same components as a reconnaissance or feasibility report, such as presenting the results of the formulation and evaluation of alternatives. As outlined by the Congressional direction, the technical report will contain a ‘comprehensive hurricane protection analysis and design…to develop and present a full range of flood control, coastal restoration, and hurricane protection measures…for comprehensive Category 5 protection.’”

Expect to see that argument when people start asking, “why are there no recommendations other than, ‘have more meetings?’”

Matt

There is a Dirge on my doorstep. Last night it was Press Monkeys, darting about and chattering in the cold, shining The Big Light around and aligning, so I knew the Dirge was coming. In fact, I welcome it.

Tomorrow night is the anniversary of the murder of my neighbor, Helen Hill. While there is great sadness in this, too immense for any but her family to understand, especially knowing that their holidays will end each year with this commemoration, there is also something else.

In between the failed expectations of New Elected Officials and the Blunders of City Hall, between the Sloppy Demolition of Homes and Run Away Crime, there is definitely something else.

There is the Dirge; a small group of maybe fifty people, holding candles in the dark, shivering together in the cold, slowly pushing the sound of breaking hearts out of old brass instruments…to remember their friend.

There is no press. The cameras and lights are gone, as far as I can tell, since last nights report or update or whatever it was.

Tonight there is the Dirge, the soundtrack to an amazing act of love. To know such caring and fond rememberence brings a tear to my eyes, as indeed, how could it not. But there’s no speeches being made, no placards, no ribbons worn. There’s something else, so beautiful & rare. Hope.

Tomorrow night, light a candle for Helen Hill, for her husband, her son, our city. Then light one for yourself.

You are the reason, the action, the love, and the hope.

Oh, yes. You are.

 

Lord David

Skull Club

From: Meg Lousteau

Sent: Tue 12/11/2007 8:24 PM

To: Edward J. Horan

Subject: demolition question

 

Hi Ed - I want to apologize again for unwittingly involving you in today’s mess.  I have never and would never question your integrity or work ethic, or deliberately put you in a bad situation.  I
hope you understand that my concern, and the concern of many others, is
based on the confusing and varied demolition procedures, and the
difficulty we’ve had in getting information from the department.  From now on, I will contact you first with any questions I have regarding demolitions.

 

On that note, I do have a question that I hope you can help answer.  Below is the municipal code that states that buildings in National Register
districts that have damage assessments at or above 70% are supposed to
be reviewed by HDLC.  To my knowledge (which is, admittedly, incomplete), no such buildings have gone before HDLC.  Am I misreading the ordinance, or has another
ordinance superseded it?  Or maybe it’s in conflict with another law? 

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

-Meg

 

Sec. 26-10. Demolitions within national register district.

 

Any structure that is located within a national register district and which
has been determined by the department of safety and permits to be
substantially damaged by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita, and where the
damage is defined as 70 percent or more of the replacement value prior
to the hurricane damage as determined by inspection by the department
of safety and permits, and which structure is constructed below base
flood elevation according to the flood elevation maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
and in effect as of August 29, 2005, must be reviewed by the staff of
the historic district landmarks commission prior to issuance of a
permit for demolition.

 

(M.C.S., Ord. No. 22226, § 1, 5-3-06 )

On Dec 13, 2007 8:22 AM , Edward J. Horan < ejhoran@cityofno.com> wrote:

 

Meg,

 

Yesterday was the first time I have ever read Section 26-10 of the City Code. I
have read, re-read, quoted, cut and pasted, and mentally tattooed onto
my brain Section 26-6 of the City Code . I was certain that 26-6 (which
contradicts 26-10) was the Section governing the Housing Conservation
District. I have already alerted both Mr Centineo and Mr Perkins of my
ignorance of 26-10 and can assure you and them that all future
demolition applications will follow the procedure outlined therein.

This morning I will inform the permit analysts of the misunderstanding and of new process as required by law.

 

Edward Horan

Zoning Administrator

City of New Orleans

Department of Safety and Permits

From: Meg Lousteau

Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 11:41 AM

To: Edward J. Horan

Cc: Mike Centineo; Elliot Perkins

Subject: Re: demolition question

 

Hi Ed - thank you so much!  I can’t wait to forward this information to my fellow concerned citizens.  It’s a huge relief to know that so many demolitions will now get some kind of review.  We deeply appreciate your help with this.

 

We noticed that at least one property seems to have slipped through the
cracks - the building at 1231 S. Rampart Street , which is in the Central City National Register
District, was issued a demolition permit yesterday.  I could be wrong, but shouldn’t this be going to HDLC?

 

[screenshot of permit application for 1231 S. Rampart St. from velocityhall.com]

 

That brings up another, very important question:  what steps will Safety and Permits take to rescind the erroneously issued permits that should have been reviewed by HDLC?  I think that all eleven I mentioned on Tuesday would now need to be reviewed, as well as many more.  I can try to get a list of them, if that would help.

 

Many thanks,

Meg

From: Edward J. Horan

Date: Dec 14, 2007 12:39 PM

Subject: RE: demolition question

To: Meg Lousteau

Cc: Mike Centineo, Elliot Perkins

 

The permit for 1231 S Rampart has not yet been issued, as you can see in
the information below the status is n/a and the fees have not been paid.

 

We will not retroactively apply this Section.  All future applications will be evaluated with Section 26.10.

 

Edward Horan

Zoning Administrator

Dept. of Safety & Permits

Cityof New Orleans

1300 Perdido St. Rm 7E05

New Orleans , LA 70112

 

Matt

Powered by ScribeFire.

A message from Jeanne Nathan. To respond, email jnyno@aol.com
Dear New Orleans Citizen,

The debate over demolition of public housing buildings in New Orleans has been cast in either/or rhetoric that has undermined any serious consideration of what is the best way to improve communities that were once home for 4500 mostly working families, many of whom are still scattered far from home.

Using the fear of urban crime and drugs as the banner for destroying over 700 sturdy, well built and well designed bricks and mortar buildings, HUD officials have failed to provide the facts, plans or contracts on which New Orleanians can judge the sincerity or appropriateness of their plans for building mixed income housing in their place.

Violent crime in the city has risen since Katrina, despite the fact that most public housing is vacant, and closed off to former tenants, who were, by the way, leaseholders whose possessions still lie frozen in time in their former homes. Violent crime, most of it perpetrated by teen age males against teen age males is rising nation wide. It is a by product of a drug industry that has replaced disappearing entry level manufacturing, port and service jobs. The abandoned urban public school systems have also failed to educate our youth for the increasing high tech and knowledge based economies.

HUD has spread lies about what tenants do and don’t want; how many new affordable apartments it “plans” to create; about how many affordable apartments are available in the city. Former tenants warn that past promises for new development turned out to be a mirage; that new mixed income communities never deliver the promises of affordable apartments. Vast acreage owned by HUD and ready for new developments lies vacant, waiting for new housing units HUD promised long ago.

Our public officials, long silent on these plans, now seem ready to accept HUD’s lies and public policy on face value without further exploration. Our news media has done little better so far, quoting HUD’s numbers, inaccurate depiction of housing, much of it virtually untouched by the storm, as “flood ravaged and obsolete,” and failing to go beyond the street protests to look at the valid arguments against wholesale immediate demolition of 4500 units of housing.

In today’s New York Times Adam Nossiter quotes a former New Orleanian living in southwest Louisiana as saying she opens her windows to listen to the cows for company at night, missing her city, but finding no neighborhood where she once lived.

Anyone who believes HUD’s claims that tenants do not want to return has turned their back on reality and their fellow citizens.

No one can know all the true facts about the need, alternatives and plans for public housing right now. There has simply not been enough examination of the alternatives. Many of us participated in the three phases of planning after the storm, and learned what participation in planning means. HUD regulations require similar planning involvement by its tenants. Yet, in fact, HUD signed preliminary contracts with developers that required wholesale demolition without such participation, setting up a sham series of noon time West Bank meetings only after the contracts were inked.

In the face of this confusion, many professionals familiar with housing, planning, preservation and social issues are calling for a time out. Rather than vote for demolition, they call on the City Council to vote for a moratorium to allow more careful review of the best ways to perhaps demolish some of the buildings in worst disrepair, others that would open streets through the once isolated developments, renovate units as Historic Restoration Inc. did in five older public housing buildings in the St. Thomas projects that became the River Garden complex, and add features that would attract a wide range of tenants, while offering a real one-for-one opportunity for working families to return to these new developments.

Lets take a few months to dig beneath the surface, get the facts straight, and create a more informed mandate for HUD to follow in creating new housing for former and new tenants.

The citizens of New Orleans, whether tenants, neighbors, or residents anywhere in our city, deserve informed decision making and plans. We talked about a new New Orleans in those desperate days after the storm. Lets not abandon that dream so fast.

We are seeking individuals and organizations to communicate with City Council members on these issues no later than tomorrow, before the Council meeting this Thursday. Please use the email addresses below to contact the council members.

Arnie Fielkow - Council Member-At-Large
AFielkow@cityofno.com

Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson –Councilmember-At-Large
jbclarkson@cityofno.com

Shelley Midura - District A
SMidura@cityofno.com

Stacy S. Head - District B
SHead@cityofno.com

James Carter - District C
JCarter@cityofno.com

Cynthia Hedge-Morrell - District D
CHMorrell@cityofno.com

Cynthia Willard-Lewis - District E
CWLewis@cityofno.com