HumidCity

(Syndicated from the original posting on Flickr by “Rex” Dingler of NOLARising)

What’s all this hubbub there, mac? You say some graffiti non-artist has a beef with ReX, creator of NoLa Rising? Why would some guy have a problem with messages of hope. Let’s see what the verbiage is here…

Highlights from recent articles in New Orleans City Business:

“Fred Radtke is the Gray Ghost, the self-appointed scourge of the New Orleans graffiti scene.” -City Business {self-appointed scourge…ouch}

And he applies this theory to graffiti with a missionary zeal. To Radtke, graffiti is not just an eyesore, it is a personal offense to himself and the community. He accuses taggers of being anarchists, agitators and members of the church of Satan. {a zealot…wow, much like the people we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan who don’t know when to surrender…and WAIT, anarchists, agitators and members of the church of satan??? Are you kidding me? Just because I left the Republican party after fourteen years doesn’t mean I’m an anarchist. And I reckon that Christian fraternity I’m a part of it part of me being a phony (see below). Laughable and sad}

Radtke didn’t deny his war against Dingler is personal and said he will use all of his energy and resources to financially cripple him. He accuses Dingler of being in league with the graffiti artists, saying Dingler intentionally provoked him by hanging signs calling him the “Gray Gangster”. {Admitted to using the police in a personal vendetta…Wants to financially cripple an artist that is already broke (HA!)…Accuses me of violating my right to free association though he doesn’t know who I hang out with because he’s never met me}

“When I asked Officer Joia if he was going to file the same charges against Fred under the graffiti statutes, he said he was unaware of what I was talking about,” Dingler said. “Here’s a guy who is destroying city property, who has become what he said he is fighting against. And yet I’m the one facing all these charges? It’s selective enforcement of the law.” {ABOVE THE LAW? Ask why?}

Radtke dismissed Dingler’s accusations, called him a “loser,” a “phony” and the “biggest pain in the ass I ever met.” {I’ll take loser, phony, and the biggest pain in the ass from this man(?)…but he’s never met me so how would he know}

He said Dingler’s so-called “messages of hope” are “vertical trash” that promote other forms of vandalism. {So very different than the business signs he paints over and leaves hanging}

“I had no idea who he was,” Dingler said. “I thought it was crazy. Who would paint over messages of hope?” {Ask yourself what type of person would do such a thing}

“You have to have a pretty cold heart to do something like that,” Dingler said. {I stand by that statement}

Dingler said he was charged with violations of the law after Radtke became obsessed with him and embarked on a personal vendetta. {Which has been admitted to}

And it doesn’t matter if the signs happen to be hand-painted, “pretty pictures” of rainbows with inspirational slogans. {MORE GREY is better?}

To Radtke it is all vandalism and he is going to “gray” it all out, whether anyone asks him to or not. {ABOVE THE LAW?}

Radtke said taggers he associates with Dingler have thrown acid at him, threatened him with knives and smashed his truck windows. {I associate with no such people}

Dingler points to an online photograph of a bloodied young graffiti artist he claims Radtke attacked. {They are all over the internet along with the story}

“He may think what he’s doing is a corrective measure but it’s unauthorized in many cases and doesn’t correct the graffiti but just camouflages it with another color of paint. That’s the same thing,” said Lary Hesdorffer, Vieux Carre Commission director. “It may be with better intent, but that doesn’t make it right.” {So very plain and accurate}

“But I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some people who, if they knew of an easy path to do so, might take the steps to prosecute Mr. Radtke,” Hesdorffer said. {Start by calling the police and reporting the grey paint as a criminal act of property damage, by the City of New Orleans definitions, what he does is considered graffiti}

Robert Mendoza, New Orleans Public Works Department director, said street signs require a specific reflective surface for night viewing and by painting them gray Radtke is putting the public at risk. Mendoza said Radtke is making the graffiti problem worse by smearing gray paint over an entire sign to cover up a thin, spray-painted signature. But Radtke is unapologetic. He said if the city replaced the vandalized stop signs or coated them with a protective cover, he wouldn’t paint over them. {So, it’s okay to put the public at risk if your a zealot? Or, perhaps you’d like to sell the city a very special paint coating? One that may not have worked in New Orleans East some time ago at a failed press conference that never aired?}

“But what’s the difference between someone who paints their name on a building and Radtke painting big gray boxes over the graffiti? Just because he ‘afford to get rid of it the right way that’s no excuse to do it the wrong way.” {I still stand by that statement}

Radtke said if property owners don’t like what he is doing, they can pay to remove the graffiti themselves or be fined by as much as $500 under a 1998 law that punishes property owners for failure to remove graffiti 30 days after receiving a notice from the city. {His way of helping the business owners eradicate graffiti was to lobby City Hall to increase the penalties for owners who didn’t remove the graffiti…does that include grey graffiti?}

“If people did their jobs, I wouldn’t be involved,” he said. “Right now the only thing we can do to deter graffiti on signs is to cover it up with water-based gray paint.” {Nope, wrong again. Not a deterrent…more of an invitation of a fresh canvas}

But some property owners question what separates Radtke from the vandals he is fighting. {Indeed}

—

So, feeling harassed by a Loser and a Phony…and yet still all up in arms about someone you think so lowly of…enough to call out the police in a city where the police are already under-staffed and over-tasked? Enough to clog up the court system that has a ten percent conviction rate of murderers? Enough to drive around and collect my artwork as though you are indeed my number one fan?

I think this city has more important problems to be dealing with than the likes of what this one man has decided he can personally use in his vendetta against me because I was willing to put my name on the line to call him out from the shadows and help those in the press question his true motives.

Sure, I’m taking some hits on this one, but the greater hits come at your civil liberties. The battle is bigger than me. New Orleans is a town that has long since used posting flyers as a means of letting people know what is going on. If Fred RAdTke succeeds, every business that posts flyers will then also be opened up to the same kind of harassment that I am suffering from this one man vigilante.

So, keep the peace, fight the good fight and keep on helping NoLA RISE, for we’re in this rebuilding of the city together.

FOR MORE INFO ON THE ARTICLE WRITTEN BY RICH WEBSTER OF CITY BUSINESS:

www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewFeature.cfm?recID=967

&

www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=25644

-”Rex” Dingler (via Flickr)

I was going to write about Ray again, but then I found this picture in my Flickr account which is far more eloquent than I am at the moment:

Once again our local buffoon is “keeping the New Orleans brand out there,” for all of the residents of “Chocolate City.” Just what we needed. It really is quite pathetic to watch him continue to screw up in front of the media. That car crash fascination were you cannot look away even though it makes you sick to your stomach.

For those of you who have been enjoying an existence underneath a very large stone somewhere I am referring to Clarence R. Nagin’s latest flash of paranoia and incompetence as evinced in a TV interview with Eric Paulson and Sallie Anne Roberts. Go ahead, watch the video, it is only a few minutes long, I’ll wait. (Transcript and video here)

Aryan websites and hate blogs, eh Sugar Ray? I’m a pretty solid data miner when I need to be and my good buddy Google and I are having some trouble unearthing them. Even after over an hour. Seems I’m not alone there, I have the undead for company:

Nagin claims that the picture the TP published of him pointing a gun at Cheif Riley has been picked up by racist blogs and websites. Where are they? Which sites is he talking about? I’ve been looking for about 2 hours on Google and I haven’t found a single one. Can anybody point one out?

A message to Nagin:

Here’s an idea…shut the fuck up and answer the multitude of FOIA requests which have been submitted to your office over the past 3 years from activists like Matt McBride and Karen Gadbois. Or better yet, from reporters like Gordon Russell and Lee Zurik. Or even better yet, how about providing the PUBLIC INFORMATION Inspector General Cerasoli has requested and not received from your office. He’s been forced to file subpoenas to obtain the information and you are legally challenging his right to do that….what are you hiding? -American Zombie 2/21/08

Hardly surprising that the Raylien has little taste for bloggers. In a city where the main newspaper seems obsessed with a kneel and pucker stance where he is concerned we have been actively scrutinizing his actions as well as his words. Unfortunately many of our number are weary of it due to the fish-in-a-barrel easiness of the endeavour.

Mayor C Ray Nagin aka the walking id lost it on WWL-TV’s morning news today. LINK. The Mayor whined about the Picayune picture story and painted a dark picture of powerful people conspiring against him. Of course, the TP has essentially fellated him for 6 years and is now very reluctantly taking a *slightly* closer look at his record. How dare they? Nagin ranted about the video of the gun picture as showing how careful he was being when it’s ambiguous at best. The video can be seen at WDSU.com and I’ve watched it several times and it’s subject to multiple interpretations.

Nagin claims that “aryan hate groups” are targeting him without, of course, providing any support for his fulminations. His weirdest claim is that an upcoming story on WWL about his SCHEDULE is a violation of his privacy and his family’s safety. This is, of course, nutty: he’s a PUBLIC OFFICIAL and the people have a right to know what tomfoolery their Mayor is up to. If Nagin is truly “busting his butt,” he should be thrilled to have people know how busy he is. This reeks of a desperate pre-emptive strike to make it look like THE MAN is out to get poor Clarence Ray. -Adrastos 02/21/08

What part of the phrase “public servant” is it that these clowns never seem to grok? Frank Zappa called the political class “jumed up used car salesmen in bad suits,” and abjured people to remind these idiots who they work for. Ray’s behavour makes him come off more like the homeless wino who used to be a jumped up used car salesman in a bad suit. Lucky for us, huh? Helps keep the brand out there, cher.

You’’ve got to see this interview with Ray Nagin on WWL. He is so full of shit. He believes that when the media publishes stories and photos of his idiotic behavior, it puts him and his family in danger. Ray, as far as I know, no one wants to harm you. You are the one who is talking about “cold cocking” people. We are all just impatiently waiting until you leave office. We know that we are stuck with you for the duration, and you don’t give a damn what we think. -Dangerblond 02/21/08

Threats of violence, “cold cocking” people, and old fashioned one on ones? The whole city would be way better off if you’d try that on some of the punk kids with guns who make life so cheap in our city?

The mayor has stated on television his intent of taking it outside with a member of the press and hitting someone if approached. Who should feel threatened now? -Maitri 02/21/08

Ray, I cannot wait to be rid of you. May you become lost in the bowels of the bureaucracy, doomed to an eternity of red tape and fruitless insurance paperwork, just as you have helped doom your fellow New Orleanians during your idiotic tenure.

Loki

Founder, HumidCity

If you’re not from here Google “Officer Cotton New Orleans murder”

If you’re from New Orleans or live in New Orleans then this says it all.

Hand seems to be getting stiffer, doctor Thursday. I’ll know how long I have to go easy on it then. I now return you to the other members of the team

-Loki

I spent a significant part of my day trying to acquire copies of my father’s death certificate that I need to deal with settling his estate. I would just like to note that the New Orleans Dept of Vital Records has at least one worthless waste of protoplasm working there.

When someone is calling about their father’s death you are not supposed to

• Interrupt them repeatedly
• Sigh in exasperation at every question
• hang up on them mid sentence.

While I cannot remember the woman’s name, and was so furious I did not write it down, I will have to aim my curses and profanity at my memory of her voice. Here’s to karma, baby, hope you get yours!
This is how the city departments run. This is why We Are NOT Okay. The feds and the state bear more than a fair share of blame, but there is a whole lot to go around on the local level.

Dear New Orleanians,

The city’s notification process for demolitions has been notoriously ineffective. Lists of Imminent Health Threat and Imminent Danger of Collapse properties are posted to the city’s website, and then disappear within days. The city has been hauled into federal court in two separate cases since Katrina because of its poor notification procedures for demolitions.

However, one should realize that the city’s failure to notify homeowners about pending demolitions is not due to a lack of information. In fact, the city has a bunch of information about demolitions, but they are - for whatever reason - wildly reluctant to release it.

I have obtained two lists of properties cleared by FEMA in December 2007 for demolition. I believe they have been compiled by a company called Beck Disaster Recovery (BDR), which has a contract with the city for property management of demolition properties. BDR has offices in 1515 Poydras, across from City Hall.

These lists are different than any other lists previously published, because it is a near certainty that these houses are targeted for demolition. They have already been cleared by FEMA as “eligible” for federal funding. Also, the raw numbers of properties (about 1400) matches closely with what has previously been announced as a total still to be taken down (about 1800, according to a FEMA press release from November).

We have seen these lists validated over the past few weeks, as Safety & Permits has assembled HCDRC agendas from them, and permits have been granted based on them.

Here’s what I have done - I have taken the simple raw lists of addresses and have bulked them up with all the information I could glean about a given property. I have added whether the property is HCDRC- or HDLC-eligible, and if it is HCDRC-eligible, whether or not it has yet come before the Committee. I’ve added previous demolition permit dates, a comparison of IHT status between the information on the original list (shown in column B) and what has been released publicly by the city over the last year. I’ve added damage estimates. Basically, if there’s any public information I could get about a property, I’ve added it to these lists (which I combined into one spreadsheet) [I have converted the spreadsheet into a Google document you may view here. -Loki].

So here’s a key of the information on the spreadsheet:
Date of release: date of the list on which the property appears. The lists were released on 12-13-07 and 12-19-07

File/WO#: I’m not sure what this is - I assume there are work orders for each property. This was on the original lists as received.

Type of demo: this is information that came with the lists. The types are IHT (Imminent Health Threat), IMA (Imminent Danger of Collapse), VOL (voluntary, i.e. homeowner-initiated), and there are a few noted as COMM (commercial, though this is not really a type of demo so much as a type of building). Imminent Health Threat demos are quite controversial, since there is no objective standard for what constitutes an Imminent Health Threat, and the notification process is poor.

Street number, street direction, street name, street suffix, ZIP code: these make up the address for the property

Demo permit? Demo permit date?: Whether or not there is a demo permit on the property, and the date it appeared in Safety & Permits’ system

12-31-06 damage assessment, 11-1-07 damage assessment, Dam assess incr above 70%?: City damage assessments, obtained from the city’s website. Also, whether the damage assessments were increased above 70% (presumably to avoid review by the Housing Conservation District Review Committee).

Review type: The demolition can be reviewed for its impact on the historic fabric of the city. The review can be either HCDRC (just the Housing Conservation District Review Committee), HCDRC & NatReg (property is within a National Register District, which could entitle it to review by the Historic District Landmarks Commission if its damage assessment is greater than 70%, under Section 26-10 of the City Code), HDLC (review by Historic District Landmarks Commission), or “No review” (outside all historic areas). I’ve done my best to determine this based on city-produced maps.

HCDRC review date: if the property has come before the HCDRC, this is the date it happened.

Extra review under City Code Section 26-10: if the property has a damage estimate over 70% and is within a National Register Historic District, it is entitled to extra review by the HDLC before demolition.

Imminent Health Threat (according to publicly released lists): The city has released various IHT lists since the beginning of the year. There was a partial list in March, a list with IHT and voluntary demos mixed together in July, and at least four different IHT lists since late September (only two of which are available on the city’s website). I checked the addresses on this latest list against those IHT lists.

Match col B & col Q: I then checked the IHT status from those publicly released lists against the status that was on this list when it arrived. They don’t always match, as indicated by “NO MATCH.”

GPS coordinates: these came with the original list

Owner: these were on the original lists.

Due to some of the methods I’ve used to compile information, occasionally I’ve had to split addresses into two rows. So sometimes a property which is a fourplex with an address like “932-34-36-38 Smith Street” will appear across two rows. I didn’t have to do that very much, but it did happen a few times. I apologize for any confusion.

I am not going to claim that this list is 100% correct. I’ve had to correct typos and clean up information as best as I can, but there are almost undoubtedly errors. Plus, I can’t necessarily vouch for some of the raw information, like ZIP codes and GPS coordinates. However, I feel it’s best to get the information out so that people can have something in hand, as well as understand the scope and breadth of the entire demolition effort.

I hope you find this useful.

Best regards,

Matt McBride

[Syndicated from the email -Loki] 

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

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I spent a significant chunk of my day today sitting it work down in the Bywater listening to the pounding of torrential rain on the window behind me. It was about 11:30am that a text message alerted me to the fact that strange things were afoot at City Hall. Moments later I was making the prior post.

Now I have had some time to dig through a variety of footage and punditry, windbags of the internet and the cathode tube alike. As usual I found jackal like barking on both sides of the argument. Sound and fury and extremism with little evidence of reason. In short a true bipartisan effort.

I would be a liar if I claimed to understand all of the intricacies of the situation, and a fool if I honestly thought I had the solution. What I do know is that I am weary with the vitriol that New Orleans has produced so copiously since that fateful August of ‘05.

As usual the few voices I found making sense were in the local blogosphere. If you want intelligent analysis I highly advise going to the source posts these excerpts are taken from and read them in their entirety. Lets start with Schroeder over at People Get Ready:

I hope to have time to say more about what is shaping up to be one of the worst defeats in the history of New Orleans for racial harmony — the public housing controversy. For now, I’ll just say that I think that the most egregious offenders against the interests of public housing residents have been the uninformed lefty white poseur anarchist intellectuals who swooped into the city to save it from the uninformed right-wing white reactionary bourgeoisie.

True — there are a number of locals in the mix as well — white and black — who have called for action, and action is necessary to force people to the table in search of compromise, instead of yelling at each other. I guess I’ve just decided that I won’t make a fool of myself by standing again with braggard activists who wouldn’t themselves choose to live in the public housing projects, and who aren’t so much struggling for better lives for public housing residents as they’re trying to champion their own egoistic hero complexes, and to confirm their distorted world views inspired by some manifesto they read somewhere.

On the other hand, I’m equally repulsed by the rhetoric issuing forth from conservative ideologues, mainly heard sqawking their boot-strap doctrine on Clear Channel Fox-affiliate 99.5 FM and the redundant Entercom stations 870 AM/105.3 FM/1350 AM.

He goes on to make a statement that I believe everyone reading should take to heart and work towards:

Once again, the presidential candidates who emerge to represent their respective parties need to commit to an additional debate in New Orleans, to debate the future of New Orleans as the most important venue where the future crises of the rest of the nation are being staged today.

So that is a small fragment of a passionately brilliant post from our favorite Peanuts Character. Now on to my favorite bivalve, Oyster from Your Right Hand Thief (a former HumidCity contributor), as he waxes eloquent on the photo from todays Times-Pic which shows Sharon Jasper, who wishes to return to her public housing. “I might be poor but I don’t like to live poor. I thank God for a place to live but it’s pitiful what people give you.” This is the quote that appears under a picture of her sitting next to a HUGE widescreen TV that most of the people I know could not afford. Instead of quoting him I’ll just send you over to read the post (its short) and see the picture. Draw your own conclusions. I’ll wait here for you.

Back now? Good.

Let’s check in on Varg over at The Chicory, shall we? The pertinent post (go read it all, you know you want to) starts off kicking:

But one theme is emerging above all others:

Don’t depend on the government for housing. As we learned in August of 2005, don’t depend on the government for ANYthing. It’s a losing proposition. Nagin said there was no win-win situation. The Chicory says for the residents, it’s a lose-lose situation.

We have all seen it. We have all done the paperwork, endless reams of paperwork. The powers that be have been worse than useless, they have been self serving at the expense of the people they are supposed to lead. They are, as Frank Zappa so eloquently put it, jumped up used care salesmen in bad suits whose paychecks are drawn from our taxes. They work FOR us and need to be reminded of it.

He goes on to sum things up beautifully:

I saw another photo that claimed housing as being a basic human right. This further drove me away from the protesters. It’s a responsibility isn’t it? I understand the situation many people find themselves in. I understand the various circumstances that can lead to someone finding themselves homeless. What I can’t understand is the point one reaches when they feel as though the government has a responsibility to provide them housing when they don’t accept that responsibility themselves. The government is an uncaring, globular institution which can be swayed in many different directions and will often leave its dependents without roofs over their heads. People of all classes should be strongly encouraged to become independent of it.

So leave a comment, even if you are a confirmed lurker leave a comment. Give me some more viewpoints. It is a complex issue and one that we all need to get a grip on ASAP.

Loki
HumidCity Founder

EDIT/UPDATE: There is a very worthwhile discussion of this going on in the New Orleans LiveJournal Community Here END UPDATE 

As we go back and forth over the issue of public housing in New Orleans we get the joy of scenes like the one currently being enacted downtown. It seems that things have tipped in the direction of violence between protesters and police down at the City Council.

Why is it that we, as a species, cannot seem to escape the urge to be just plain shitty?

A Little Xmas Pepperspray to go with the SWAT teams deployed to City Hall

Joy.

Joy to the [CENSORED] world.

-Loki

The above flyer has been posted all around downtown, from the encampments of homeless across the street from City Hall to trashcans on Poydras Street.

Dangerblond thinks those responsible should be sent to Gitmo.

Laureen at NOLA Metroblogging fills us in with a well researched post giving tons of background on the situation. She also is the first I’ve found that has picked up on the fact that crime stats have not been significantly impacted by the closure of the projects.

Michael Homan’s position mirros my own. As he eloquently puts it:

I have no doubts that the powers that be are using Katrina to do away with the large public housing projects. Many of these units never flooded and they could have reopened in October of 2005. But how do I feel about large concentrations of poverty in the projects versus mixed-income neighborhoods with subsidized rents spread throughout? I don’t really know. I do know that poor people need a place to live in New Orleans, and the increased rents have kept many from returning.

Ray In New Orleans has posted his open letter to the powers that be.

Two pictures of the flyer on Flickr have developed extensive discussions in their comments here and here. (And at least one of the photos have been filtered so that you have to agree to view objectionable content before actually seeing it.)

But the real venom comes out when you read the comments on the NOLA.com article. This is where you can see the soul sickness that has gripped our city. This is where under the veil of anonymity, the racists and the classists on both sides of the ideological divide come out in force hurling epithets thick and fast.

Last comes one from the national arena. You see, while I will not commit to support of any candidate for the Oval Office as yet, I will give John Edwards some points. He is to be congratulated for being savvy enough to actually try to use the internet effectively as outreach. The upside of this has been steady communication with his blogmaster. She was kind enough to forward this my way just as I began typing this up. So here you have it, John Edwards take on the demolition situation, straight from Chapel Hill, NC:

EDWARDS STATEMENT ON HUD PLAN TO BEGIN DEMOLISHING PUBLIC HOUSING IN NEW ORLEANS THIS WEEK

Chapel Hill, North Carolina — Senator John Edwards today called on HUD to reverse its plan to begin demolishing public housing in New Orleans this week and urged the New Orleans City Council to stand strong in defending housing for city residents. Edwards said in a statement:”There is a housing crisis in New Orleans today — the result of government policies that have failed the people of the Gulf since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Rents have doubled, families are being evicted from FEMA trailers and now the current administration is now trying to make a bad situation worse.

“I am calling on HUD to postpone its plans to destroy affordable public housing until replacement housing is ready. Knocking down historic and livable housing today that withstood the winds of Katrina with the bulldozers of Bush is counterproductive to the goal of giving residents a home to which to return.

Decentralizing poverty by encouraging new mixed-income income makes a lot of sense — I’ve proposed creating 1 million new housing vouchers to do exactly that. But eliminating housing where people could live in a city where a desperate shortage of shelter exists makes no sense at all.

“I urge the City Council to reject the demolition permits HUD needs for its plan to destroy hope for current and displaced New Orleans residents.”

Please take a moment and leave us a comment. Please let us know what your thoughts on this…..

Loki
Founder, HumidCity

so it’s as if i’m charlton heston walking down the beach…. DAMN DIRTY APES! DAMN DIRTY BUSH! DAMN DIRTY FEMA! but somehow that post-apocalyptic analogy is missing something… no witty or insightful sequals (thank goodness), no action figures (although the t-shirt biz and faux fleur de crap is still blooming), and no great tie-ins (apologies to brinkly, rose, spike lee, and the cast/ ace bandage of k-ville)

no it’s hard to survive new orleans… you know the day in/ day out life in a trailer or the previously unheard/ unreported/ or downright ignored gunshots, the visits for katrina related illnesses or the lack of understanding and loss of jobs, the strain on relationship, the self doubt, the suicides and countless others contemplated or attempted…hard indeed, but are you really that happy to see me?

new orleans has become a forgotten city perhaps except when luminaries like brad pitt draw the media or criminals too numerous to hold office get elected and re-elected… it’s hard geetting to sleep, it’s hard getting out of bed… and yes, i remembered to take my medicine,

BLOG THIS!

phfred@notthat.com

Let the Good Times Roll

Originally uploaded by Karen Apricot New Orleans.

Karen has managed to sum up the housing situation and all of its attendant woes in this simple chart. (Click the image, as usual, to see it larger or leave her direct comments.)

Shelly Midura vs. Cynthia Hedge Morrell the fight of the minute!

So tell me if you’ve heard this one: The city council goes on retreat…

“I don’t buy it, Cynthia!” Midura shouted from her chair. “It’s to cover your political backside and I don’t believe you!”

Hedge-Morrell, who by now had risen from her chair and was standing over Midura, shouted back, “You think you’re Miss Goody Two Shoes,” her voice rising and face tightening, “and you sit there on your damn high horse!”

Ah professionalism, you’ve got to love it! The whole story is here on nola.com, be sure to read the comments. A few excerpts from the vox populi response:

NOLALARRY: A divided City Council, rotten DA office, Choc City Mayor that is M.I.A., Police force that can’t keep up with crime,…. what a dysfunctional mess.

1NOLANATIVE: You all miss the point. They were in a retreat. NONE of what was discussed during the retreat should have made it out of the hotel room, let alone into the newspaper. A retreat is supposed to be a place where you can vent, argue, cuss - whatever it takes - to get the tension and skeletons off their chests IN PRIVATE.
They’re going to argue. But, it should not have been made public.

MINDS: A retreat — how riduculous — what does that mean — we drink and then we tell each other you stink! How riduculous. I hope she went home to do something better than that! Get these fools on video. We want to see how you act in private. Have you got a different face?

So this did not seem to make the news in the splashy way it should have. More lies and incompetence from the people who hold our lives in their hands. Maria Garzino is a hero, and should be treated as such. I encourage you to read on and see what the latest from the Corpse of Engineers holds:

WASHINGTON, DC, October 9, 2007 (ENS) -  The main pumps protecting New Orleans in the event of a major hurricane or flood are “inherently flawed” due to poor design and still have not been properly tested, according to whistleblower disclosure documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER.

The top U.S. Army Corps of Engineers specialist assigned to oversee the city’s new pumping system says that key safeguards were circumvented and “there is an erroneous assumption that…hydraulic pumps are fully operational, and hence, the risk to the public remains high,” in the words of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

Maria Garzino, a veteran Corps civil engineer, who was the team leader of pumping systems installation for New Orleans, has filed for federal whistleblower status with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, OSC.

In a September 21 letter, the OSC notified Defense Secretary Robert Gates that it found Garzino’s charges credible.

Writing from the OSC’s office, Scott Bloch informed the defense secretary, “I have concluded that there is a substantial likelihood that the information she provided to the Office of Special Counsel discloses violations of law, rule or regulation, gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, and a substantial and specific danger to public health.”

By law, Secretary Gates must respond within 60 days.

Bloch’s letter states, “My office has received serious allegations which cast doubt on the integrity of costly pumping equipment installed in three main structures by the USACE and its ability to protect New Orleans from further flooding.”

The three structures are located at 17th Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue.

Read the rest at the original Environment News Service Article!

If my lunch hour were not dwindling so rapidly I would write more. Watch for future posts!

image courtesy of Greg Peters

The second annual Rising Tide conference will be held August 24-26, 2007, at the New Orleans Yacht Club. This is a NOLA blogger-organized and supported conference featuring speakers, panels, breakout sessions, and other dialogs on the future of the city of New Orleans.

This year’s emphasis is on ground-level, grass-roots efforts. It has become clear to those of us in south Louisiana that we will have to watch the watchmen, as well as take the upper hand is setting the city back on track. To that end, there will be presentations on local politics and how to influence them, making civics sexy, sustainability, levee engineering, and media outreach.

The keynote speaker is Dave Zirin, author of Welcome to the Terrordome, published by Haymarket Press, a columnist for SLAM Magazine, a regular contributor to the Nation Magazine, and a regular op-ed writer for the Los Angeles Times. Timothy Ruppert, president of the Louisiana Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, will give a comprehensive report on the status of our levee protection two years after the failure of the federal levees brought catastrophe to New Orleans. Matt McBride of Fix the Pumps will present via video conference. Panelists will include community activists Karen Gadbois of Squandered Heritage, Bart Everson of b.rox, and Peter Athas of Adrastos, muckraking blogger Mark Moseley of Your Right Hand Thief, New Orleans political sage Michael Duplantier and author Joshua Clark Heart Like Water

On Friday, August 24, there will be a party at Buffa’s Lounge featuring the work of New Orleans videographers, and Sunday is reserved for a hands-on service project in aid of the NOLA school system. At the Buffa’s party, we are serving cocktail party-type food, but there will be a cash bar.The weekend’s events costs $20 per person. This includes admission to the Friday night party at Buffa’s, Saturday’s events at the New Orleans Yacht Club (including morning coffee and croissants and lunch from Dunbar’s), and participation in the Sunday service project. Please register to attend using the PayPal link on the website. If you don’t use PayPal, feel free to call or e-mail me to reserve your space at the conference and, more importantly, your lunch from Dunbar’s. We have no problem with people paying at the door, we just need to know that you are coming.

There will, f  course, be liveblogging of the event, and materials available online. If you can’t come, there is also a paypal link if you&#39;d care to donate (this is a non-profit endeavor). Feel free to contact us through the website, or ask questions by replying to this e-mail. Rising Tide’s toll-free phone number is: 866-910-2055.

Although I am sending this e-mail to over 200 people, I’m sure I’m missing some. Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested. Unless they have a blog or have expressed interest in the past, they are probably not on my e-mail list. Also, bloggers, please spread the word on your blogs!

Mayor Nagin on the murder rate:

“Do I worry about it? Somewhat, it’s not good for us, but it also keeps the New Orleans brand out there, and it keeps people thinking about our needs and what we need to bring this community back. So, it is kind of a two-edged sword”

Branding??? Two-edged sword??? THESE ARE PEOPLE’S FUCKING LIVES YOU IDIOT!

Ambrose Bierce is constantly proven right by the modern world. God, please make it stop!