It's time for the last Blogging New Orleans podcast. Each week I record a podcast about all things New Orleans on Tuesday evening and upload it for all of you to listen to on Wednesday afternoon. Comments, questions, concerns? Comment on this post or contact us via the tips link on the site. This week I give my podcast good byes and interview the most important expert I know, my dad. Mark Schleifstein is the co-author of Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans & the Coming Age of Superstorms (note: I am the current webmaster of the official book site and Mark is my dad) and a reporter for the Times Picayune who covers environmental issues and hurricanes (and more).
Welcome
Good byes and the reasons for the delay
the interview with my dad
The future of New Orleans
The Levees
Lakeview, Gentilly and the Ninth Ward
Katrina and Rita's effect on the Ninth Ward
Politics
Sports
A bright future with new engineering projects and lots of jobs
Thanks
Thanks for listening to the last 35 episodes of this podcast. Its been great telling you my thoughts every week and talking about the city.
Update: there was an error in the filename of the podcast, fixed now.
SUBSCRIBE to the Blogging New Orleans podcast in iTunes LISTEN to the podcast now ADD the Blogging New Orleans podcast feed to your RSS aggregator
Last Saturday night, local supporters of the internationally-known Jena 6 -- six young black men facing dozens of years in prison for a school yard beat-down of a white antagonist in the hamlet of Jena -- held a fundraiser and rally for the young men, whose initial court-appointed defense lawyers have been replaced with higher-caliber legal representation.
Their case is becoming a focus for activists concerned about racial justice in Louisiana. It's now a lightning rod for global criticism of the racial situation in the United States, attracting bogeyman-to-whites Al Sharpton (do any of the whites who believe that Sharpton is only exploiting the situation for personal gain understand that history is on his side?) and perrenial photo-op visitor to New Orleans Jesse Jackson (whose calls for racial unity are falling on the deaf ears of Jena whites in denial, who claim, of course, that they are not racist, therefore there are no racial problems in Jena; a white bus driver who spoke to one reporter said, "No, no no. It's not [racism]" ).
Perceptions, informed by history, are one of the foundations of racism in America. When a white person, particularly a white person in a position of power, does something to offend a black person, whites can't be surprised when that black person questions the white's motives. Racism does exist here, and denying this only makes racial prejudice harder to disembed.
Prosecutors in Jena postponed the sentencing of the convicted Mychal Bell, the first of the 6 to go to trial, in order to avoid publicity. This half-baked strategy has guaranteed that the sentencing, now scheduled for September 20, will be heavily attended. Postponement has only allowed activists to spread the word on the perceived injustice in Jena, and the more the word spreads, the more attention will be paid to the good people of Jena, and their tolerance of injustice in their midst.
By mid-August of 2005 there were 192 murders. I remember it being a deadly summer. With a smaller population, we are at 140 murders already for this year, 26 in this August alone. Mark over at m.d. filter sums it up pretty well on his site complete with quotes from our mayor and police chief.
I often wonder what would have happened if Landrieu had gotten those few extra votes to become mayor. I know that no politician is perfect but I feel like he would have been more involved with stopping crime -- he would have had more to prove in the new position. As it is now, I feel like we not only have an incompetent mayor but one that doesn't care. I'm sorry that Nagin is not running for governor as that would have at least gotten him out of City Hall.
We had a perfect opportunity after Katrina to quell crime here with the help of the National Guard. We blew it. Although i never would have said this three years ago, I think that the police need to knock more heads.
The second editorial in the Times-Pic today ("Share the excitement") gently took the Mayor and City Council to task for the secrecy surrounding the recently-approved plan for the first stages of redevelopment of 17 targeted zones throughout the city. The editors should have gone much further in their criticism. The secrecy of the elected leaders could be characterized as disingenuous at best, at worst, it is rife with the opportunity for corruption, influence-pedaling, and back-door politics. The kind of things that people living here are pretty sick of already.
If the plans to redevelop New Orleans are agreed upon by elected officials, then the democratic population who voted for these officials are entitled to see these plans, comment upon them, and above all, take hope from these plans.
Citizens like you and me won't be able to do this, though, until next month. This month is reserved for the New Orleans power structure to assure itself a profitable central role in the rebuilding effort. There are properties to be acquired, and little old ladies and blind old men to be unscrupulously evicted or bought out of their homes for a pittance by scheming developers.
There are dummy corporations to set up, in order to apply or bid for contracts (presuming, that is, that there are any contracts left to be claimed on the first $117 million in development funds; it's even money that big time disaster profiteers Halliburton and Bechtel had a seat at the table when these plans were shown to "other stakeholders" by Tsar Blakely. After all, there's federal money being poured around, and while many still suffer, there's no reason that good, highly-connected corporations like Kellogg, Brown, & Root or Fluor can't earn a buck or two million while shutting out local contractors until the cream has been skimmed from federal largesse.).
Admittedly, the bulk of planning was likely done long ago, and the REAL players didn't have to wait for the council's approval. They already have their schemes in order, you can believe that. Incidentally, this may be the reason why Nagin's office has been so insular lately; he and his cronies have probably been busy making calls and setting up deals with friends, family, and high-powered interests. There's a lot of loot on the way.
Which reminds me of the spray painted warnings after Katrina: You loot, we shoot. Only now, the shooting should be metaphoric.
But don't be surprised to find an awful lot of looting when the development money comes to town.
So its very possible I will be unable to make it to the polls on election day this fall (due to a new arrival) and my wife and I have decided to vote absentee. Why not just not vote you ask, well if you don't vote you can't complain. Voting is a right in this country that to few decide to use. To many out there think the system is broken and think not voting with change it. Little do those idiots (yes they are total morons) realize that their voter apathy is what is killing our political system. By not voting you are helping re-elect corrupt politicians and helping pre-picked bad choices make it into office when they have neither the experience nor the good of their state in mind. You are the reason why so many morons get elected and so many bad people control our system. Heck Tom Delay (supposed Bobby Jindal contributer) is a product of voter apathy and the general public's dis-interest in their country.
I was listening to a previously recorded Garland Robinette show this afternoon on WWL. I think that it was from last week and C Ray was the guest. He has a regular monthly appearance where Robinette throws softballs and Nagin dodges some of the tougher questions from the live callers. Today a caller asked, "in your personal opinion, what have been the biggest successes of your second term?" A good question, I thought. Nagin paused for a moment and this is what he came up with:
Bringing 300,000 people back into the city. I don't know about you, but I'm quite sure that Nagin didn't factor into my moving back into my home. In fact, I don't remember him filling my gas tank and I certainly don't remember him picking up the household trash that festered outside of my house for weeks on end.
Nagin pats himself on the back for cleaning up the city and lifting people's spirits. Do you remember how long those cars sat under the I-10 overpass? Months and months and months. In fact, I seem to think that it was over a year before the cars were cleared. It took Nagin that long to find the right towing company for the right price when it was rumored that one company offered to PAY US to take possession of the flooded vehicles.
Lastly, Nagin claims that he has succeeded in providing utilities to most of the city. I'm not sure what he had to do beyond give a single command to the Sewerage and Water Board and a nod to Entergy. Speaking of utilities, I'm not sure I'd want to take any sort of credit for what Entergy is doing right now given the sky-rocketing utility prices.
So, there you have it. Nagin himself can't come up with a good enough justification for his paycheck.
Today's Chris Rose column in the Times Picayune featured everyone's favorite columnist talking about a possible Oprah appearance. It seems that the big O wanted Rose to appear on her program as an example of local depression and surviving the effects of Katrina. She refused to allow him to pimp his book (though that makes no sense to me since the reason people will know about him is the columns contained in the book) and wanted to force him to sign away his rights to write about the experience. Needless to say he refused and we got a very entertaining feature on his experience (and what could be seen as an extended ad, if most of us didn't already own the book). Unfortunately for Rose, he wrote the column before the show was finalized and he doesn't realize that Oprah's website not only mentions the book, it links to it as an official 'Books seen on Oprah' book. I wonder if the column went to O's people before publication? Enjoy the sales Rose, careful about the apology in next week's installment.
What's going on here? Why am I posting so much? Today, in honor of Katrina I am attempting another 24 hour 24 post blogathon.
The good thing about deciding to not run for re-election is Governor Blanco can say whatever she wants and be as direct as she wants about what actually happened before and after Katrina. She doesn't need to pull punches and her testimony at yesterday's trial in St. Bernard Parish of two owners of a nursing home that failed to evacuate showed her resolve. Before taking the stand she rebuffed a defense supena and accepted an invitation to testify for the procecution. Her testimony is one of the few times you will here honesty about Katrina's prep from a politician. She doesn't need to slant anything to get people to see things her way. She can be truly honest and was.
She said, "I wanted people to understand that this is potentially the biggest storm we will ever deal with, and I urged people over and over to protect themselves and their families by evacuating."
And, "We were relying on individual responsibility during Katrina."
Yes that was a mistake, unfortunately a few in positions of authority proved they couldn't be trusted to do the right thing and get those in their care to safety before the storm. And this could have been prevented. The only question now is, are the owners of the home going to be held responsible?
What's going on here? Why am I posting so much? Today, in honor of Katrina I am attempting another 24 hour 24 post blogathon.
With a title like that, you would think this was a podcast, but alas I will not be uploading a podcast today. The Blogathon schedule and a baby prep class last night kept me from finishing the recording, so I'm delaying for a day or so. FYI, I recorded every lecture at the Rising Tide 2 conference and I hope to edit down my recordings to something cool. In the mean time, to tide you over til tomorrow I've gone through the old episodes of the podcast and picked out a couple of good one for you to head back to nostalgically.
Podcast 16 featured an interview with a friend of mine, Troy Grzych. Troy is a professional Graphic Designer who returned to the city right after the storm for his family, job and his wife's job (she is my hero, a teacher in Jefferson Parish at a Title 1 public school). The podcast is a real normal New Orleanian discusses why he came back.
Podcast 14 features an interview with MattVaughn Black and Robert Starnes. The interview includes music from the New Orleans BINGO! Show and joking around about the state of music and the recovery. Lots of cool stuff in this one.
Podcast 4 is one of my best interviews so far (and the first). I sat down with the President... of Basin Street Records and talked about Katrina's effect on the New Orleans music industry and listened to some of his label's music. Plus I got to hear the real story behind the music tent at Jazz Fest in 2006.
Well, enjoy all the old podcasts. If you would like to be interviewed on a podcast (and talk to me about New Orleans and more) feel free to contact me with the tips page on the right.
What's going on here? Why am I posting so much? Today, in honor of Katrina I am attempting another 24 hour 24 post blogathon.
[This is a continuation of the author's series on New Orleans lessons, to commemorate both the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina as well as her 10th anniversary of living in
New Orleans .]
"New Orleans: Third World And Proud Of It!" states the popular bumper sticker. And it doesn't take long for the new resident to realize that this statement declares two uncomfortable truths. The first: New Orleans is Third Word in so many ways, not the least of which is the amount of litter that tosses about our streets, parks, and vacant lots. Chris Rose, Times-Picayune columnist, loves bitching about our litter, to the point where I expect he'll eventually suffer from a litter-related gunshot wound.
And the second truth: people here are proud of being slobs. Really! In truth, we're not a third-world country, because we actually have regular sanitation services. Granted, right after the storm, we had to fight to get these services back, but they're here to stay (knock wood.) Because we have regular trash pickup, there's no excuse to throw your bullshit on the street. Put it in a can, or -gasp!- carry it with you. Keep it in your damn car. But people don't do that because they're too proud. The city looks like hell, but their hands are sparkly clean and you can eat off their car seats.
Does anyone else remember the absurd variant on the sign at right? Last summer, when they posted signs with a $1000 fine for littering? Now, the city can't deal with its murderers - how are they going to keep on the litterers? And if someone's low-class enough to litter, you really think they're going to pony up $1000 for a littering fine?
Umm, ok. Looks like former FEMA director Michael "Heck of a Job, Brownie" Brown's nickname is finally going to come in handy. Former Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards is looking to enact a law that would require anyone who takes an appointed job in the federal government to be... qualified for that job. Like all employees who have to turn in a resume before being hired and prove that they are able to do what they are asked to do, this law would make sure only qualified people took the helm of federal agencies instead of the current 'political hacks.' Of course he would try to enact this legislation once elected... and of course he did announce said bill while at UNO on Monday... and of course we was speaking to an audience personally familiar with the mistakes of unqualified people... What do you think? Would this actually work or would more unqualified candidates be able to get jobs by explaining that running a horse breeding program is much like running an emergency management agency, both require you to hang on for dear life and may need you to step in some horse manure from time to time...
Lolis Elie was interviewed by On The Media on NPR this past weekend and he had a lot to say about the national media coverage of Katrina. In part he thinks the story needs to be made important by a paper in order to become important to another paper or other media outlet. It the catch 22 of the main stream media, unless someone else is covering a story, I don't need to cover it. Luckily the Times Picayune (for all the faults some in the blogosphere have seen with it) has been able to stay consistent with its coverage of Katrina, rebuilding and New Orleans in such a way that the national media can only hope to hold a candle to them. In fact many members of the main stream media must turn to our local media 'elite' to get 'the rest of the story' as the locals know it. There is no other media group in the nation that is closer to a story right now than the New Orleans mass media. Gambit, the TP, and others are intertwined with the best ongoing national story since Edwin Edwards got into a runoff with an ex-grand wizard of the KKK. The rest of the interview going on the explain the difference between the percieved natural disaster and the actual federal flood. Very interesting stuff and definitely something to pass on to your contacts outside of the Katrina area to add to your argument for staying in a city that has the same right to exist that mudslide and blizzard prone Denver does and Earthquake filled San Francisco does and flood prone New York city does.
Brian Schwaner of the Louisiana News section of the Associated Press has written a long editorial that has been distributed across the world. The editorial carries a stern warning in the name of our recovering city. He says "People should pay attention. The next time, it could be your town." In other words, if you are in another of our historic cities or towns or anywhere in this strangely selfish (and yet not) country you should remember the saying, "But by the grace of Gawd, there go I." His article talks about the broken process of our recovery and how we feel the federal crunch. How we worry that the promised aid with not be the same as the delivered aid and how even two years later we are not anywhere near finished recovering. He writes about the anger of city sitting amongst abandoned buildings, fema trailers and Political Photo-Ops. He says what we are all thinking, "This could be you down here in the muck. Hope you never have something this bad happen to you."
Is this what the country and the world wants for our city, our state, our coast? Is this how they leave us? Or are we too close to this? Yes we are down in the dirt, but I think the real story here is how we have been forced to bring ourselves forward and to ignore the pain in order to survive. Sure the country should have been there for us and many have been, but we should not have expected to much from an executive branch that picked a guy to head FEMA with no experience and then refused to visit the most effected part of disaster area until over a week after the devastation. Maybe we are putting to much faith in a party who would rather listen to our phone calls then listen to our needs. Or are we just a cautionary tale?
As seen on the blogs of Ashley Morris and Oyster, Shelley Midura has decided to welcome our streetcar stopping president with arms a swinging. She has written an open letter to the president asking him to stop half-truthing the public with money numbers that don't actually represent reality. She is saying some of what Nagin was saying off the cuff almost two years ago, but with research and intelligence to backup her position. She rips into the $116 billion line with a point that New Orleans and Louisiana and all effected by Katrina are being forced to do what no other part of the USA has been forced to do, take out huge loans for most of the cost of a recovery. Midura asks W to make good on his 'promise' in Jackson square with the following:
These are some concrete steps you can take to make good on your 2005 Jackson Square promise: • Completely fix the federally managed levees • Fully fund our expertly crafted recovery plan • Give New Orleans all that you have promised to Baghdad - schools, hospitals, infrastructure, security, and basic services • Forgive the community disaster loans, as authorized by the new Congress • Appoint a recovery czar who works inside the White House that reports daily and directly to you and whose sole job is the recovery of New Orleans and the rest of the region • Restore our coast and wetlands • Work with Congress to reform the Stafford Act • Cut the bureaucratic red tape In turn Mr. President, the people of New Orleans are more than willing to do our part. We have already: • Consolidated and reformed the state levee board system. • Consolidated and reformed our property assessment system. • Passed sweeping ethics reform legislation. • Created an Ethics Review Board. • Hired an Inspector General. • Submitted a parish-wide recovery plan.
As the rest of the NOLA Blogosphere thinks, this letter is something that should have been served up by a public official months ago. This is a letter that could make her mayor, if she keeps pushing the points within. If she is willing to challenge the pres everyday from now on and is willing to take up the good fight in partnership with the rest of our leaders. But I wouldn't expect anything less from one of our newest council members and one of our most politically vocal.
Full letter after the jump.
What's going on here? Why am I posting so much? Today, in honor of Katrina I am attempting another 24 hour 24 post blogathon.
To look at the Bush administration in DC these days is to see a political house falling apart, a dynasty of power coming to an end. Kingmaker Karl Rove, an unelected force behind American politics, recently fell from the White House after years of screwing up US foreign policy and arrogantly projecting unjust American power overseas. Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the utter failure that has become American involvement in Iraq, was kicked out after years of complaints from soldiers in the field as well as high-ranking politicians of both parties. And now, Bush's second Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez, is out under the pressure of the investigation into the politically-motivated dismissals of several US Attorneys.
If political scandal is the creator of such upheavals in the halls of power, it could be that New Orleans is on the same kind of path towards a new political regime as is taking shape in the nation's capital. If the flurry of recent Federal investigations and admissions of guilt from several corners of the local political scene are any indication, the feds are sinking their teeth into the area's long-standing misdeeds. Just as Democrats revolted by the Iraq War never stopped their calls for Rumsfeld's resignation, so too may we hope that the feds will be as diligent towards getting the 20th political corruption and malfeasance rooted out of Orleans Parish.
Some parts of the two political situations -- that in Bush's DC and in Nagin's New Orleans -- are ironically similar. DA Eddie Jordan, like his counterpart in Washington, is in hot water over some attorney firings of his own. These were allegedly based on the race of those fired, according to some, and that could well be the truth. But the fact that the chief law enforcers of the US and NOLA are both embroiled in allegations of abuses of power has a certain lyricism to it.
Bush will be out of office in less than a year and a half at most, less if he manages to get himself impeached. Nagin will probably be here for a while. Unless the shadow of scandal touching all sundry aspects of New Orlean's political culture somehow crosses his door...
It's time for the last Blogging New Orleans podcast. Each week I record a podcast about all things New Orleans on Tuesday evening and upload it for all of you to listen to on Wednesday afternoon. Comments, questions, concerns? Comment on this post or contact us via the tips link on the site. This week I give my podcast good byes and interview the most important expert I know, my dad. Mark Schleifstein is the co-author of Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans & the Coming Age of Superstorms (note: I am the current webmaster of the official book site and Mark is my dad) and a reporter for the Times Picayune who covers environmental issues and hurricanes (and more).
Last Saturday night, local supporters of the internationally-known 
By mid-August of 2005 there were 
nd City Council to task for the secrecy surrounding the recently-approved plan for the first stages of redevelopment of 17 targeted zones throughout the city. The editors should have gone much further in their criticism. The secrecy of the elected leaders could be characterized as disingenuous at best, at worst, it is rife with the opportunity for corruption, influence-pedaling, and back-door politics. The kind of things that people living here are pretty sick of already. 
I was listening to a previously recorded 
Today's 
The good thing about deciding to not run for re-election is Governor Blanco can say whatever she wants and be as direct as she wants about what actually happened before and after Katrina. She doesn't need to pull punches and 
With a title like that, you would think this was a podcast, but alas I will not be uploading a podcast today. The Blogathon schedule and a baby prep class last night kept me from finishing the recording, so I'm delaying for a day or so. FYI, I recorded every lecture at the Rising Tide 2 conference and I hope to edit down my recordings to something cool. In the mean time, to tide you over til tomorrow I've gone through the old episodes of the podcast and picked out a couple of good one for you to head back to nostalgically. 
[This is a continuation of the author's 
Umm, ok. Looks like former FEMA director Michael "Heck of a Job, Brownie" Brown's nickname is finally going to come in handy. Former Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards is looking to enact a law that would require anyone who takes an appointed job in the federal government to be... 
Lolis Elie was interviewed by 
Brian Schwaner of the Louisiana News section of the Associated Press has written a 
As seen on the blogs of 
