HumidCity

If you’re leaving after 4am Sunday you need to look at these. Don’t get caught in the wrong lane unable to get where you’re going.

-Loki, hunkered down and watching the weather

Mandatory Evacuation will be called for St. Bernard Parish on Saturday afternoon.  Residents with special needs can contact the following number to register for the City Assisted Evacuation plan.  These residents with special needs will be bussed to a triage site and then taken to special needs shelters in the state of LA.  Those without transportation or resources to evacuate may also call this number to register. (504) 278-1593 Via Alli

Well it looks like Kevin Allman, a journalist colleague of mine who I have great respect for, has hit pay dirt on the great Nagin Award Controversy ™. Dig it (and Digg it when you go read the whole thing):

It was a perfect storm for outrage: The very week that the mayor’s office was under attack for its role in the burgeoning NOAH scandal, the entire city council was served with federal subpoenas, the FBI raided the former offices of NOAH, a formal investigation began over potential mismanagement of federal rebuilding funds, and the whole shiznit hit The New York Times…a pretty little party invitation went out.

The honoree: Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who was to be honored by a group called “The Excellence in Recovery Host Committee,” which was presenting the mayor with “The Award of Distinction For Recovery, Courage, and Leadership.” There didn’t seem to be much (anything, frankly) about “The Excellence in Recovery Host Committee” anywhere on the Web, and, in Clancy DuBos‘ words in a blog reaction, it “did not exist in official, corporate form according to the Secretary of State’s office.” Was it a charity? A fundraiser?

He got ahold of host and co-chair Stewart Juneau, a well known Louisiana developer/samaritan, and had a very interesting discussion. I highly advise checking it out. Not only did KA get a lot of answers, but he also managed to get invited and will be able to report back from the proceedings themselves. If there is going to be a journalist there I’m glad its him.

Go read.

-Loki, HumidCity Founder

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ON THIS - THANK YOU.
–
Davida Finger, Staff Attorney
Loyola University N.O. College of Law
Office: 504.861.5596
Fax: 504.861.5663
Cell: 504.292.6715

Here is an open letter a friend of mine just shot off to River Parish Disposal. I thought it could use a larger audience. -Loki, HumidCity Founder.

Dear River Parish Disposal,

Though I love your witty tv ads, I must complain. One of your front-load container system dumpsters is in the middle of the road in the 1000 block of Independence Street. It is parked on the street, blocking the road, next to a vacant lot and has been there for about 2 months now. I live across the street at [REMOVED] and have observed people using the dumpster to dispose of garbage. It has a lock on it so only authorized people can use it, however it is not associated with any house on our block. The dumpster is starting to stink. It smells like someone dumped a gallon of aftershave on top of a bunch of rotting vegetables. This is not good for the quality of life in my neighborhood, which is doing its best to rebuild.

According to Sec. 10-136 of the CODE OF ORDINANCES City of NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA (Neighborhood compatibility requirements) “No dumpster is permitted to be placed within the public right-of-way.”
This dumpster is DEFINITELY in the right of way. It’s in the middle of the street!

According to Sec. 146-584 of the CODE OF ORDINANCES City of NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA (Permit required for placement of trash containers, dumpsters, etc., in the public right-of-way.):
“The placement of trash containers, receptacles, and dumpsters, … in the public right-of-way by contractors, builders, or others requiring the temporary use of curb space to facilitate work conducted by them in the immediate vicinity shall be allowed only after the issuance of a permit by the director of the department of public works.” There is no permit displayed on or near this dumpster, nor is there any work going in the immediate vicinity. It’s parked in front of a vacant lot.

To reiterate, this dumpster:
• Has no visible owner.
• Is sitting in the middle of a public thoroughfare
• Stinks.
• Is a health hazard.
• Violates several sections of the municipal code

The only recourse I have is to ask you, River Parish Disposal, to remove this dumpster from our street. Perhaps you can move it to wherever the people who rented it are actually doing work. Attempts to communicate with the people dumping garbage in the dumpster have failed.

I called your offices earlier about this problem but was disconnected. Please, can you resolve this problem before a car smashes into your dumpster, creating more destruction in an area that has already had it share?

I have copied my Councilman, James Carter, in the hopes that perhaps he can assist my neighborhood in alleviating this problem. A copy of the municipal code, which can also be found here: http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=10040&sid=18 is available at the end of this message.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
dial_m

Sec. 10-136. Neighborhood compatibility requirements.
Under the provisions of this chapter, no permit shall be issued or renewed for any applicant who has not submitted evidence of complying with the following requirements:
(1) All alcoholic beverage outlets shall establish a litter abatement program, certified by the department of finance. Such program shall include the following items:
a. All trash receptacles, excluding dumpsters, shall be located inside of a structure and shall be placed in the public right-of-way on pick-up days only;
b. All litter shall be cleared from the site of the ABO, the adjacent public right-of-way and any accessory parking lot on a daily basis;
c. The applicant shall sweep the public right-of-way adjacent to the petitioned site and any accessory parking lot daily and shall periodically clear it with a watering hose as needed;
d. Assignment must be made of a particular individual, be it the manager, owner, etc., as the contact person to notify should a violation of the litter abatement program occur;
(2) The applicant shall screen any dumpster used in conjunction with the petitioned site which is visible from the public right-of-way or parking area with a six-foot opaque fence with gates. No dumpster is permitted to be placed within the public right-of-way.
(M.C.S., Ord. No. 19,389, § 1, 9-16-99)

Sec. 146-584. Permit required for placement of trash containers, dumpsters, etc., in the public right-of-way.
The placement of trash containers, receptacles, and dumpsters, hereafter referred to as dumpsters for purposes of this section, in the public right-of-way by contractors, builders, or others requiring the temporary use of curb space to facilitate work conducted by them in the immediate vicinity shall be allowed only after the issuance of a permit by the director of the department of public works, who is authorized to impose conditions on the issuance thereof. If the curb space to be utilized, or any portion thereof, is regulated by parking meters, then the space designated for dumpster placement shall be in coincidence with the confines of the metered space for such placement. The director of the department of public works shall collect from the applicant for such permit a fee in the amount of $700.00, in addition to a fixed application of $35.00. The permit issued by the department of public works shall be valid for a period not to exceed 45 days, and may be renewed for additional 45-day periods provided that the contractor, builder, or other applicant makes a request for renewal at least five working days prior to the expiration of the effective permit.
(Code 1956, § 61-131.1; Ord. No. 20,001, § 1, 1-18-01)

Jena 6

Originally uploaded by azrainman.

The Jena 6 Case is History Written in Lightning

Lady Justice is said to be color blind and free of racism, cept in Jena, LA and that’s on both sides. The lightning strike is coming for those who pervert or abuse justice for personal gains.

Guest Post crossposted from:

AZRainman : Photoshop Satire

This is horrible and should be passed on widely. Via LiveJournal New Orleans Community:

Compromise of FAFSA Data
A Boston-based company called Iron Mountain lost a significant number of Louisiana FAFSA records one month ago.

So, if you went to college in Louisiana anytime in the past 15 years, your personal data (name, SSN, etc.) may have been compromised. Mine has and I didn’t even go to college in Louisiana. You should check too, especially if you fall into any of the following groups:

• Anyone who has a Louisiana College Savings account (START Saving Program).
• Any resident of the state of Louisiana who has completed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
• Anyone who has completed a FAFSA and included a Louisiana postsecondary institution as an institution to which FAFSA data should be sent.
• Anyone who has applied for or received a Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) Scholarship.
• Anyone who has applied for or who has received student financial aid in the State of Louisiana.

The state has provided a tool to help you determine if your information was part of the compromise:
https://osfantweb.osfa.state.la.us/Notice.nsf/

In addition to following the instructions on the LOSFA site, everyone (even if your data wasn’t compromised) should consider signing up for a credit reporting service if you haven’t done so already. Also, make sure to sign up for one that will send you an alert within 24 hours; if we wait for a written monthly report, you won’t get the notice about the fraudulent attempt in your name until it’s too late. Here are the major offerings from each of the three credit reporting agencies:

• Equifax Credt Watch Gold
• Experian Triple Advantage
• TransUnion 3-Bureau Credit Monitoring

The original post and attendent comments can be found here.

New Orleans District 5 Senate Race

Metroblogging New Orleans has a brief aside on David Williams (Craig Giesecke attended the “meet the bloggers” gathering at Still Perkin.)

The inimitable Maitri over at VatulBlog has put up her Official Endorsements. I am happy to see that she is wholeheartedly behind my uncle David.

The Gambit’s Endorsements:They like David and Cheryl.

WWW.ELECTDAVIDWILLIAMS.COM

The Head Pelican’s thoughts on the District 5 Senate race, and it’s candidates.

I’d also like to point out the League of Women Voters page that contains breakdowns on all the current candidates (David’s is down at the bottom due to our last name)

I would also like to share the one quote from Gambit that shows where I got my civic streak from: “Williams has a long record of public service devoted to reaching across racial and economic lines.” While he and I may differ in a number of areas I am convinced that my own history of civic and cultural work comes from the same source as his, my grandfather.

While Gambit does not endorse David it is because they cannot decide between him and Cheryl Gray. “We wish they could both win seats in the Senate,” reads the line in their endorsements page. As always, my endorsement is obvious.

Elect David Williams.Com

This afternoon in the Still Perkin coffeshop on Prytania Senatorial candidate David R.M. Williams met with several local bloggers including Maitri of Vatul Blog fame, Metroblogger’s Craig Giesecke, Becky Houtman and yours truly.

It was an enlightening two hours or so, but then I am prejudiced, he is my uncle after all. Since family ties make anything I have to say suspect I will instead be linking to any other pieces that float up through the blogosphere as I locate them. I will be paying particular attention to the bloggers who were kind enough to join us.

Also, since I am family, and am obeying strict transparency, I can be very direct about encouraging you to vote for David Williams. I think he is our best shot

Almost anything I could write on the race would end up being discounted due to my blood relationship with one of the candidates, my uncle David Williams. Instead I am doing my best to help him connect with that strange new medium called the blogosphere.

Tomorrow at a local coffee shop I will introduce a number of local bloggers to David and then sit back while they interact. (I think this is something we need to do more of in contemporary politics, and I would wholeheartedly support certain bloggers being accorded full press credentials, but that is another post.) Not quite a press conference, but it should result in a far more interesting and personal set of results.
Some of my fellow bloggers have already seen David speak at the forum last Tuesday, see what they have to say.

• The Changing of the Guard- Celcus
• The Scrim in the Gym- Adrastos

I will be posting links of the results of this little gathering as my fellow bloggers post, so check back here for updates.

If any bloggers wish to attend that have not contacted me yet, please email me at humidcity (at) gmail (dot) com before 12:15 Sunday and I will fill you in.

-Loki

It would seem that Harry Lee will not be running for another term when election time rolls around again, he passed away this morning, losing his ongoing battle with leukemia at 75.

Interesting development: David Bowie just donated 10K to the jena Six defence fund:

Bowie said Jena’s judicial process was “unequal”.

“A donation to the Jena 6 Legal Defence Fund is my small gesture indicating my belief that a wrongful charge and sentence should be prevented,” said the 60-year-old in a statement published on his website.

-Loki, who is now leaving on a much deserved vacation from NOLA, soon to return with more vim and vigor. In the meantime I leave you at the mercy of our other contributors.

Joy, joy, joy.

Keep your eyes open kids!

In case you didn’t hear, our very own Suspect Device, Greg Peters, is about to undergo open heart surgery. He is one of our best and brightest, acidic and observant both on the net and in print. In order to continue to produce during his convalescence he is in rather urgent need of a new laptop. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is one of the local voices we cannot afford to lose. Please help lend a hand by making a small donation, if enough of us do then we can get him the tools he will need. From what I gather we are almost halfway there already, and that in less than a day!

Need proof of why this man needs a laptop? read this(pdf)

Make your donations here.

A new Katrina Refrigerator post here. Its title is Walking to New Orleans.

This is Walking to New Orleans II.

Last night, while my grandson and I were playing a game, my husband and daughter were sitting in the front room watching TV and talking. The rest of the story comes from my husband as I didn’t know about it until today.

They heard a knock on the door. My husband opened it to find a 60-ish, emaciated, black woman standing there. She asked him if he could ask his wife to make her a sandwich. She had walked and walked to get to our neighborhood because she was so hungry, but found the church (probably the one up on the corner of Rampart and St. Anthony) closed. She was clearly unaccustomed to knocking on random doors in search of food, and according to my husband, clearly in need of the food. She didn’t look like a substance abuser, just a desperate, very poor, very hungry woman. My husband packed her a sack lunch with a sandwich, some chips, some peanut butter crackers, whatever he could find in our kitchen and gave it to her. When he gave it to her he said she was crying and then she disappeared into the night.

There are so few services here that we couldn’t think this morning of where we could have sent her and we’re going to look into putting a list together of shelters, etc. so that we will have that information for someone who needs it.

As unaccustomed as she was to knocking on random doors in order to eat, we are also unaccustomed to having our door knocked on for that reason. It is shocking to us. I wish we knew who she was, where she was. Maybe we could help her in some other way than just a sandwich and some chips if we knew that, but the whole thing transpired fast and my husband, in his shock, didn’t get any information from her. How many others like her are there out there?

For sure they’re “out there”—-not in an apartment.

There was help for the very poor right after Katrina, but now so many services are just not up and running, and there are grants for homeowners coming through, but this city has been a city of renters for a long, long time. There has been no help at all for renters (Section 8 aside, but that’s another story). We regular Joe’s in the middle are at the mercy of “the market.” There is no chance for a woman like her to find an affordable apartment as rents have doubled in many cases, and the number of apartments available has declined.

Yesterday’s Times Picayune had an article on rising rents. While I understand that some landlords have extraordinary refurbishment expenses, there are others out there who clearly raised the rent to a number that would be close to what the Section 8 voucher amount is, even though the apartment would have rented for half that much last year, or certainly the year before Katrina.

Businesses can’t get workers, workers can’t find affordable housing. Without the workers there is no business—-who’s not GETTING this? It seems so obvious.

No one is saying that landlords should give away their rentals free, (there is a story in the article of one landlord who waived the deposit—that’s fabulous! What a novel idea!) but as one woman in the article said, who was now making $500 more a month than she was pre-K, she thought she could do better and fears she “missed the market.” C’mon! You’re already making more than you were before so what are you griping about? The rest of us are paying you all the money we have to keep a roof over our heads. And Entergy is raping us for the rest of our paycheck. Throw in paid utilities and maybe your apartment would be worth it.

I fear that if something isn’t done to cap rents in this city, that our labor issues will only get worse, and more people will leave, especially those who work in the service industry. The tourism and convention people need to get involved in this or they’re gonna tout our culture and music and party town only to have the conventioneers find that they hafta make their own hurricane at Pat O’s and bring their own pots to make red beans. There won’t be anyone here to make it for them. The bartenders and cooks won’t be able to find an apartment.

The woman who knocked on our door last night might be a harbinger of things to come if we don’t get services together, figure out what HANO is thinking, and get some rent controls in here.

None of that makes you think? Okay, how about this: What if that woman was YOUR mother?

-NOLA Slate

We are too much a rabble, leaderless and increasingly dispirited. I heard nothing in the mayor’s 100-day remarks Wednesday to remedy that. We lack the charismatic leadership we need to see us through this dark hour, our Henry V to rally the tired few to the great battle that will remake the world. Instead, we get Mayor Hamlet, Prince of Denmark or somewhere, anywhere else but New Orleans, wandering the ramparts of Perdido Street and wondering how to proceed.

I see more and more on-line commentators, and some in the newspaper, remark that they are starting to have thoughts of moving on, of leaving the city, of giving up. No one I know personally is ready to leave, and people I thought lost to Texas continue to trickle in despite all the challenges. Still, the conventional wisdom of the street points to the sprouting forests of For Sale signs as indication that many who haven’t yet returned, and more than a few who are back, are making other plans.

I wasn’t surprised to hear this sort of chatter in August. The first serious month of hurricane season was filled with an endless tide of contrary news, the threat of a storm in the Gulf, and the looming anniversary. Even for the most heavily medicated population in the developed world, it was a depressing prospect. Can we make it, people asked each other with the breathlessness of exhausted swimmers struggling to make their way to the shore.

The mayor and his circle give us no confidence. Leadership is the rescue we need now every bit as much as the people on the roofs of last year, watching the helicopters circle then leave; the 100-day promise was another lifeline tantalizing dangled before our eyes and then withdrawn. Perhaps we should drape our houses in bedsheets roughly lettered: Mayor Nagin, Please Help Us.

I remain convinced the city will survive. We the 200,000 who have come home can be enough if we do not surrender, if we insist that our leaders step up to the difficult challenges we face as a city, as a collective. We only ask they they work as hard and as ingenously as those who labor all day to save their businesses, and still go home at night to work on ruined homes, that the mayor and his cohorts navigate the paths of Entergy and RTA and recovery finances in the same way the majority of us hack our way through the jungle of insurance, SBA and LRA.

The rousing speech Shakespeare puts into the mouth of his Henry V is something I have carried with me through the years, the product of most of a degree in English Literature from the University of New Orleans, and a number of years spent working alongside a Shakespeare enthusiast. Henry’s position was bleak. He was at the end of a long land campaign, surrounded by the French who had cut off his line of supply and retreat, facing a choice between victory and defeat, with no place for retreat. It is a marvel of motivational speech, a statement that rings true to the American ear across the centuries with its martial setting and its celebration of exceptionalism.

It is the speech I would hear from Perdido Street, but have no reason to expect; the sort of speech we must demand of our own leaders, if they wish to be counted among the 200,000 who saved the city. It is the speech we must all give to ourselves, should post on our shaving mirrors or on the doors of our new refrigetarors, to remind ourselves we are here because we have chosen this place to fight.

Its opening words are the best response I could offer to Mayor Hamlet’s vacuous remarks, and the truest antidote to them. If you read this blog, you are among the 200,000, the happy few. I do not mean to indict those who have not returned, by choice or happenstance. It is mostly beyond their control. Instead, I mean to remind the 200,000 that they are living through a special place and time in history, one that will be long remembered. When people look back on this time, they will read of the president and the governor and the mayor and laugh, or perhaps cry in catharsis at the tragedy of hubris strutting to its doom. There’s nothing we can do now to remedy the leaders who hobble us, except to prove them wrong, to write for ourselves the scene that ends not in tragedy but in triumph.

…proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
and say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
-Mark Folse, Wet Bank Guide 

Greg Peters hits it!

Suspect Device Blog

And Atrios (and Kos) are correct in that Louisiana’s legislature and Governor have better things to do. I suspect that Blanco signed this ridiculous bill without a peep as a measure of political payoff for some of the surprising gains she was able to push through this session. Still: Lousiana is dying on the table, and these assholes are obsessed with sex and ghost stories, as per usual.

What disgusts me more than even the venality of our leadership, though, is how quickly the lefty-liberal rabble (see the comments on both the atrios entry and Kos’s) have decided that THIS is the straw that will ensure they willl (sniff) NEVER visit Louisiana! (follow the links in Greg’s post to the comments made on Atrios and Kos. The replies show an amazing array of rampantly emotional and kneejerk reaction as they confuse Blanco’s idiotic stance with the harsh realities of living in New Orleans. -Loki)

But no fish, no nuts knocks it out of the park!

To cut New Orleans off from tourist dollars because of the fundamentalist bent of red Louisiana and the realpolitik decisions of Gov. Blanco is like refusing a rape victim the morning after pill because her Daddy’s a Bush-supporting Baptist preacher.

New Orleans is NOT the rest of Louisiana. We do not vote the same way, live the same way, or have a whole lot in common. And right now there is, to our detriment, a fight to survive getting bogged down by this crap. Oh, Atrios? Kos? Deciding you are going to leave us to rot over this is self indulgent on your part as well as showing up the mere lip service paid to the values you claim to espouse. Liberals talk. Conservatives act. Thats a major reason we are in such a mess right now, both here in NOLA and in the White House.

Gay marriage amendment carries new support - Yahoo! News “We’re building votes,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., another new supporter. “That’s often what’s required over several years to get there, particularly to a two-thirds vote.”

You know David Vitter was in my class at De La Salle back in the 80’s. We did not share many classes (I was in Advanced Placement,) but I knew him. Back then he struck me as a dumb jock with a sophomoric sense of humor and I see he has not progressed much. I guess it is not surpirsing that he is insecure enough in his masculinity to jump on the bandwagon for this divisive foolishness.
Why we are wasting time on attempting to push discriminatory BS like this when we have more pressing things, like rebuilding New Orleans and Violet and De LA Croix and Mereaux, on the docket is quite simply beyond me. Then again why Vitter is in office is beyond me as well.

Haven’t we as a nation had enough of the distraction tactics? Gay marriage, scary! Ooh look, a birdie! New Orleans needs to be rebuilt? Ooh look, a colorful birdie! Mississippi is blasted into the stoneage by Katrina? Ooh look, the colorful birdie is having gay sex! Americans have been abandoned on their own soil while the Feds consolidate their corrupt power grabs? Ooh look at the birdie *POW*, oh thanks Mr. Cheney…..

Absolutely disgusting.

EDIT: I think the following sums it up for me:

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

(Thanks to Prince of Fishes for finding this on Folafex’s LiveJournal)

The Shreveport Times The grim population outlook also all but assures Louisiana will lose another seat in Congress, thereby reducing its clout and influence in Washington.