HumidCity

From the T-P:

The Jindal administration’s plans to reassess the details of a proposed $1.2 billion, 484-bed teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans are raising some concerns about the future of the facility designed to replace the city’s hurricane-damaged Charity Hospital.

Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said this week that he wants to hire outside experts to “challenge the assumptions” in a business model developed last year that said the new hospital would be financially viable.
Levine, who is Gov. Bobby Jindal’s point man on the project that Louisiana State University would build in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said he is worried that the hospital’s current configuration is too expensive and might not qualify for bond financing.

He did not identify which consultant he plans to use, nor did he lay out a time frame for when the review might be finished. He said the money to pay the consultants would likely come from a $74.5 million financing pool that the Legislature approved last year for land acquisition and design of the hospital.

“I don’t think it’s a lot to ask to make sure that the project makes sense financially,” Levine said, adding that he wants to make sure there is enough money to not just build the hospital, but also to cover its operational expenses over the long haul.

“You’re talking about 1.2 billion dollars. You’re talking about effectively encumbering our state’s safety-net money for 30 years. So I don’t think it’s inappropriate to ask,” Levine said.

But some lawmakers, noting that the original report was commissioned by the state and touted as an independent assessment by a major consulting group, said another review raises questions about the Jindal administration’s commitment to the project.

“There are rumors that this is a delaying tactic,” Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, said Friday. “We know that LSU is now solidly behind the project, but after the session the governor will be able to make new appointees to the LSU Board (of Supervisors).”

Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, said he didn’t know the details of Levine’s plans for a review, “but I don’t know how you go against the findings of a reputable consultant.”

Who stands to gain? Just follow the money.

- Bigezbear

is there a revolution in our midst? i doubt it…
should there be? but of course…

it seems that we as a citizenry, as a nation, as individuals have become complacent. we’re not cut from the same fabric as our forefathers. no boston tea parties for us, hell, we have starbucks (personally, i prefer ishmael) we have no MLK’s or JFK’s, just KFC’s and BMW’s…initial this! would our founders or past leaders have put up with this bureaucratic red taping and pecuniary foot dragging? Hmmm? NOT! so why do we? Is it our short attention span? is it our firm grasp of denial? is it hope for a hollywood ending or just our laziness?

i remember the talk the talk and the walk the walk of the vietnam era. i remember political rallies and secret service men as the republican party nominated george sr. at the superdome in 88. there was a still some talk though slurred, there was still some walk though limping. but i no longer see it. we chat the chat, we blog the blog. perhaps? but can we force the cyber into a concrete reality: sim city? sin city? our city?

yesterday a survey pointed out that the many new orleanians plan to leave the city within the next two years. but where to go? does the location change the frustration? does the new zipcode suddenly fix the broken nation? does the big picture get smaller? or for that matter, does the big picture even matter any more? do we cut bait and leave? or as frank zappa asked,” does the torture ever stop?”

for those of you planning, packing, and leaving, i can relate to your dilemma as i bang my bloodied head and live out my own dented doubts daily. but… let’s stay. let’s fight. let’s force a change.

don’t run, phidippides, because you just die at the end of the marathon. stay, talk, walk.

DON’T BLOG THIS, DO SOMETHING INSTEAD!

So how hard can the mail be? Rain. Snow. Sleet. Barking dogs and brown paper subscriptions. A relatively gruntled situation. No reason for dissing the grunt. No reason to wield firearms or kill coworkers. Likewise, for the average resident or mail recipient, the mail is part of life that is both assumed and presumed; well, sometimes, if a nutty fruitcake or holiday beef log then even consumed. A few pieces of treasure snuggled in a mound of junk mail and solicitations. Perhaps the wife’s VS catalog, maybe a chance to win the sweepstakes and a visit from Ed McMahon. Usually the day’s delivery is just a loquacious love-note from an unrequited bill collector or a diatribe from an emotional, ersatz musically, disturbed fan. Oh the joys of semi-fame!. Despite the joys of e-mail, the crisp physical letter from a stalker is always a sensory joy. The smell of cheap perfume on a tear, lipstick, or occasionally blood stained letter. Tsk. Tsk. Oh the good ole days pre Katrina when my fans and stalkage were a blur of body parts, threatening letters, and packing peanuts! Where have all the flowers gone? Well, I just know they have not been delivered here… by the way, I hear that the cemetery is not receiving packages either.

Somehow all that is forgotten in the Big Easy on October 2, 2006. One year and one month and a few sheckles post Katrina (nice polysyndeton, eh?), my mail service is still sketchy, as my home floats from second city to third world but not quite back again. Two packages are M.I.A. My headshots and xylophone (??) were recently returned to senders because, according to the USP (and UPS), I no longer exist. It’s as if I’m out of bizniz. It’s as if I’m dead. But trust me, my voter registration and tax bills will miraculously arrive even after I shed this proverbial mortal coil. Heck in certain parts of the state I’ll probably still be able to and shall vote. How’s that for suffering suffrage? How’s that for purple prose?

Anyway … it’s as if the paperwork and bureaucracy and cluster fudge of FEMA has spilled over into other seemingly efficient operations. Houses, blocks, neighborhoods, and apparently small dynasties (aka the kingdom of me) have disappeared from the map - literally, figuratively, and rand mcnallishly. The computer GPS has erased us. What can Brown do for me? Bring me my friggin’xylophone (why I ordered one or why I’m upset now that it is lost I don’t quite know… but I have the right to bear one, play one, bang one, and even ship and receive one .) Has the Brown of UPS been replaced or re-regulated by the Brown Michael of incompetence? I know UPS and USP are notb the same. But they are. They are. They both function on the same misinformation about whether we exist and where we exist. The postman may only ring twice, but the gov’t seems to keep screwing up again and again and again, Ad infinitum. Ad nausea. Add postage. BLOG THIS!

In an attempt to add some images of New Orleans as it appears now I am pleased to offer a slideshow of pictures ranging from Mardi Gras to today. Humid City slideshow on Flickr

If you have Post K pictures of New Orleans and would like to contribute to the pool of pictures please join Humid City on Flickr