HumidCity

Once more HumidCity is proud to syndicate the emails of engineer Matt McBride, the man who formerly helmed Fix The Pumps.

Dear New Orleanians,

Those of you who followed my blog might have remembered my post about the 17,000 feet of rusty, unpainted hydraulic pipes at all three lakefront floodgate sites.

For over two years, the pipes have sat there, corroding away in a marine environment. All the while, the Corps did nothing.

Until last Friday, when this solicitation popped up:

New Coating System for Hydraulic Pipes-Cleaning and coating hydraulic and fuel lines Interim Closure Structures-Orleans Avenue, London Avenue, and 17th Street

It’s about time!

When I wrote about the rusty pipes, I only concentrated on the lines between the pump engines and the pumps themselves, which carry 3000 psi hydraulic fluid. I noted, but never wrote about, the fuel lines which feed the generators from the huge, 20,000 gallon fuel tanks. They also are very rusty, and are just as critical to the operation of these facilities.

Finally - FINALLY - the Corps will do the right thing and hydroblast and paint the things. When they will do so is not clear, because the synopsis does not give a timeline. And this will still not correct the problem with inadequate sizing of the pipes. That could only be corrected by replacing them.

The fact this is coming two years after their installation should make people think very long and hard about the reassurances the Corps has given over that period that everything was just fine. Everything was not fine, and it still is not

Matt

Dear New Orleanians,

I have confirmed that there is a written policy change to the Relocation Assistance program now making its way through the Disaster Assistance Directorate at FEMA. I do not know the exact contents of the change, but have strong indications that the eligibility date for reimbursement of moving expenses has been moved to a date earlier than February 1, 2006, potentially making many thousands of people eligible for up to $4000 in FEMA funds.

The policy change has to go through five layers of bueracracy before it is issued. It has currently made it past two of those layers:

5) Individual and Households Program (which is where it originated)

4) Human Services Division

As of Friday, September 14, it was on the desk of the policy shop for the Disaster Assistance Directorate:

3) Program Management Section

After that, it has to work its way through two more layers:

2) Individual Assistance

1) Office of the Director for Disaster Assistance

In terms of how the government works, this is pretty speedy. I’ll keep you updated as events warrant.

Matt McBride via email

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'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!

The Infamous memo that Matt Mcbride leaked to the media, the one that caused all the media outlets to jump on the “defective pumps,” bandwagon. Where is it, what does it actually say?

Well, if you go here you will find it. How much “mea culpa,” on paper does it take before we can force the Corps to be held accountable?

This is a great example of why blogging is important, the media has consistently been months behind on most stories nd usually seems to cull their material from the local blogs. Damn fine to see a local blogger once again being the whistle blower. Tell him thanks when you stop by his site, he more than deserves it!!!

powered by performancing firefox