It has been two long, tiring years for those of us struggling to rebuild on the gulf coast. What has changed in these years, and did we learn anything from the painful lessons of Katrina?
Apparently, many of us have not. There are still too many spouting the self-proclaimed stupidity about why the city of New Orleans should be abandoned rather than rebuilt. Obviously the price crunches in those first days didn't make enough of us realize that an America without New Orleans would be a much more expensive place for all of us. The port of New Orleans combined with the port of SE Louisiana represents the largest port system in the world. Together with the oil and gas industry, it employs more than 300,000 people. These people need places to live; they need schools, hospitals, groceries and clothing. In turn, those that supply these services need housing and schools, etc. This city was built on what was once a festering swamp precisely because it had to be. New Orleans and the Mississippi River are the heart that feeds the industrial arteries of this country.
The Federal government and the Army Corps of Engineers take pride in stating that the levees have now been repaired to their pre-Katrina condition, as though that should be heralded as some great achievement. Less than 20% of the levees were ever built to the height authorized more than 40 years ago when the project was begun. Katrina's impact on New Orleans was a Cat2 by most estimates, yet the levees didn't hold. Should we take comfort in knowing that they will fail us again under the same circumstances? How many more lives have to be lost before we learn that this is not good enough?
Too many rant a lot about Nagin destroying the city and his re-election being a big reason why New Orleans should not be rebuilt. I for one am so tired of hearing the "you were all dumb enough to re-elect Nagin, so why should anyone help you rebuild?" line. As though one mayor could either make or break this so-called recovery of an area that spans across three states. It's a lame excuse for why the rebuilding has all but been abandoned. Nagin received 59,200 votes for his re-election, hardly an overwhelming majority, and representing less than 5% of the 1.4 million people who were displaced by Katrina.
We should have learned from the war in Iraq that profiteers will profit at anyone's expense, but we didn't. If you unravel the layers and follow the trail of the $116 billion dollar figure that was allocated for recovery, you find many of the same companies who have been in the business of war profiteering found disaster profiteering just as lucrative. The President can stand in Jackson square or the ninth ward and speak the words he thinks we want to hear, but they are only words. The reality is that politics will always dictate the actions.
We should have learned long ago that the Red Cross couldn't be trusted with our compassion. They have demonstrated again and again that they are an organization that puts their own needs above those they vow to help. This lesson should have been clear after the scandal of the contributions for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Yet, the powers that be continued to direct the generosity of the American people and the countries of the world to the Red Cross, who have once again proven they are not good stewards. Once again, they are embroiled in controversy over what they did with the billions of dollars they collected on behalf of Katrina's victims. Once again, they are unable to provide adequate answers.
Katrina, in her unknowing wisdom, blew off the cover of that desolate underbelly we try so hard to deny in this country. The realities of poverty, racism, and classism were painfully exposed. Though many turned away from this ugly truth, many others were shocked to action. The American people demonstrated unprecedented generosity. They opened their homes and their hearts, gave of their time and their money. Volunteers still flock to the area in record numbers to help us rebuild. Our government failed us, but our people did not.
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Comments: 46
That is not to excuse the ineptitude of the reconstruction but once again.....the same people are in charge of it. When people realise that their states have more power over their lives than the president they will finally see who is really screwing them over. When the blaming Bush stops and fire is put under the asses of Louisiana politicians things will get done. Until then blaming Bush only helps them AND the democrat party who relies on misery and hate to get elected.
"Big government" could be debated forever and we would never come to a consensus, but it is indisputable fact that the federal government was responsible for the man-made disaster that was New Orleans. The levess that failed were built by the federal government. If you broke it, you should fix it.
Perhaps our states have more power, but they certainly don't have the necessary money. And unless Congress changes laws, they do not have the authorization to build levees.
I do hope you got more out of this than "blaming Bush". Otherwise, you've really missed the point.
Those of you who have not been in NO during or shortly after Katrina - please get a bit better informed before you judge. Nobody and nowhere on this planet is immune from a catastrophe. Next time it might be you - not that I wish that on ANYBODY. Then we'll see how well your leadership handles it. I remember some very snide remarks coming from Florida when Katrina happened. Guess what? When Wilma got them - and it was nowhere like Katrina - people were without power, water etc. for SEVERAL WEEKS. That much for being so superior....
I am just so sick and tired of all the finger pointing and condemnation and accusations...The bottom line is this and if it doesn't fit your ideal/idea/viewpoint tough s**t...Nagin, Blanco, Jefferson and Thomas are all pieces of s**t...PERIOD!!!!!
The majority of the people that were displaced were (notice I said majority, not EVERYONE) were pieces of s**t, they had been mooching off the state and federal govt for far too long and once they got a dose of reality and the world they had stolen from the taxpayers of this city and state came crumbling down they started crying...And still had the nerve to DEMAND we continue to house, feed and school their sorry asses in $400 dollar a day Bourbon st hotel rooms and then in their FEMA trailers all along still collecting Welfare and food stamps and not even attempting to get a job...
Yeah I said JOB....Post Katrina offered the highest paying job situation in the history of New Orleans...McDonald's was paying $10.00 an hour, never mind what labor and skilled positions were paying, and their were and still are PLENTY of them...Don't tell me you can't find a job in this city because that's pure BULLS**T!!!
I hate Bush with a passion but the leaders let this state and this city down. The people allowed it to happen, which in turn caused the people to let themselves down.....Nobody else is to blame but the citizens and the govt they re-elected for the disaster that has been post-Katrina....
On a (slightly) different vein, is anyone seriously suggesting that New Orleans not be rebuilt? Or are politicians just talk talk talking and dragging their feet in the usual non-productive way? The first is almost inconceivable to me; the second is somewhat less so.
I found this article quite informative; I'd like to know more.
In New Orleans we had a bunch of people sitting around waiting for the federal government to help. The mayor of New Orleans started pointing the finger at Bush almost as soon as the levies broke which turned a real time tragedy into a political spectacle. Any acts of heroism (which has a funny way of inspiring more like a wildfire) were old news because now the media had red meat. Thus telling everybody they were victims until Bush did something.
What the hell is that? A community? Where was the humanity and compassion? Florida has shown time and time again what the human spirit can achieve in times of crisis. Inspirational stories are endless. New Orleans when put in the spot light showed the worst of humanity in my opinion. So sad..... So un-American.....
I think you have said what a large part of the problem is. Though this year has certainly demonstrated that disasters can and do happen everywhere, too many people judge the distaster that still is Katrina without really having seen for themselves the magnitude of it.
Forbes magazine wrote a great article on why it should matter to everyone.
"The realities of poverty, racism, and classism were painfully exposed."
So true.
Everybody failed NO and politics is still failing them.
Did bush's photo opt visit help with your misery ?
The great decider doesn't care any more for NO than he did two years ago.
The politicians that showed up today should be truly ashamed.
Even more than usual.........................................
With all due respect...I think your line of thinking is more a part of the problem than the solution. You live in Gretna...that town that stopped people from crossing the GNO to get out of the godforsaken place that New Orleans had become. Your house did not sit in 12 feet of water for a month. Your community was not washed away. It in fact saw an economic boom as the businesses in Jefferson Parish benefitted via increased sales from all those lost in the surrounding areas.
The politicians you name are indeed doing us not a bit of good, but many more names from the local to federal level should be added to that list.
And I definitely take issue with your supposition that the "majority" of those displaced were "moochers". I lived in St Bernard Parish. Everyone I know lost their homes and most lost their jobs. Too many (myself included) lost our businesses...businesses that generated tax revenue for our Parish and our state. If you were to enter St Bernard Parish and call the people there "moochers", you'd better come armed. The same can be said of many of the other places afected....Slidell, Lakeview, Gentilly, Metairie, Buras....I can go on and on. These people were working class, they did not rely on the government for handouts. What they did rely in the government for was adequate levy protection, which we now know was only wishful thinking.
The people left stranded in the dome and the city were no doubt the poorest of the poor. I'm sure mnay of them were unemployed, living in government housing, or on govt subsidies. But they were 50,000. A small percentage of the people affected by Katrina. People who lost their homes were by definition home owners. As meager as those homes may have been, people spent their lives working to pay for them.
Your painting all of these people as, in your words, "pieces of s**T", is wrong in so many ways, and does us all a great disservice. It saddens me that even so close to home, people insist on painting "the majority" of us with this big brush that couldn't be further from the truth.
Should the next storm blow in the opposite direction and break the levees on your side of the river, I know those on my side will have more compassion for you than you seem to have for them.
You asked is anyone seriously suggesting that New Orleans not be rebuilt?
Sadly, yes. According to the last poll, 55% of Americans think New Orleans should not be rebuilt. I can only assume it's because they don't understand the geopolitical and economic importance of New Orleans.
And more than anything, you have to have adequate levee protection so people can feel that the rebuilding won't be in vain.
the difference in the examples you give and New Orleans was that most places are not inacessable for months after the disaster. Most don't comprise an area of 90,000 square miles like Katrina did. Many places here still don't have electricity or other basic services. It's much harder for any community to rally together when they are all scattered across the country with no way home.
The finger pointing went both ways. The Feds were as eager to blame it on the locals as the locals were to blame it on the feds. What should have been painfully obvious to anyone paying attention was that neither the city nor the state had adequate resources to handle the aftermath, as much as they may have not wanted to admit it.
New Orleans did not show only the wrost of humanity, it just made better news. There was the best of humanity evidenced all over...but the cameras didn't catch it, or didn't think it made as great a story as the examples they chose instead to show.
I can only speak for myself, but I think all the politicians should have stayed the hell out of the limelight today, cause they all made the situation worse rather than better.
The most troubling thing to me is that the buses that were flooded out and not used to evacuate the ones who believed in big government, were all used on election day to get the democrat vote.
The federal government issued an evacuation warning and the local politicians didn't see the same urgency that they do on election day. I guess blaming Bush is more convenient. Resources are all relative to importance......
Penny the sad thing is that yes.......I believe it is true. I believe there were many acts of selflessness and help. But DEMOCRATS had an opportunity to politicize suffering so who cares? Democrats getting power in Washington is way more important to hicks in Louisiana. Where the hell have you been?
Good article, Penny.
For your information my father-in-law owned a house in Chalmette, just so happens he died about 6 months before Katrina. The house was left to my wife, myself, and my sister-in-law. I hate to burst your bubble but the only thing you could see of that house the day after the storm was the roof....Actually 3-4 days after the storm.
We have been through all the red tape bulls**t that everyone else has and in one form or another with the exception of being homeless experienced a lot of the frustration that came in the aftermath of Katrina... The RHP is a bunch of crap, it has done nothing but raise the hopes of many and came to the aid of few. The rest of the programs have also been little help.
I said in the beginning I really didn't want to get into this on a blog site but if you insist...
As far as your reference to me calling people moochers, re-read the comment...I specifically said the "MAJORITY, NOT ALL". To be quite honest, I wasn't talking about the places you pointed out....As a matter of fact I'm quite sure you know EXACTLY the areas I was talking about, so don't even try and twist my words or insert what wasn't there. I am quite aware of the financial breakdown of the communities you mentioned "vs" the ones I was commenting about....
I don't regret or feel shame about my opinions or my attitude, as far as people being stopped on the GNO....Tough s**t... Our police dept did what they felt was the safest for the citizens of Gretna, like it or not, in retrospect they were right...Those people at the time were not in any state of mind or any shape to do anything but cause more problems, so the point in them being here or being allowed here.....NADA....It just would have caused more headaches...There is a reason that Gretna is considered along with Westwego, the two safest communities in Jefferson Parish, because our law enforcement ensures it!!!
My whole point was simply this, the state and local govt's are to blame for this catastrophe, obviously the aftermath not the hurricane. Don't want you to take anything else I say out of context. Yes, Bush could have moved quicker and more efficiently and could have done a better job, but the bottom line is our local politicians need to be replaced and as long as the voter base (majority) continues to be what it is we are gonna be in deep s**t. You can take that the way you want, but I'm quite sure you are intellegent enough to read between the lines....
There is nothing to set straight....I'm quite aware of the way things were mismanaged. You need to be set straight...If you weren't here to experience it first hand. It was a combination of all levels of Govt from Federal down to local....First and formost it was local and state...
As far as my piss poor brush of sleaziness....Spencer....Put a sock in it...Unless you live here you don't have a clue!!!
I do know exactly the places you are talking about....your talking about the inner city and all of the people who lived in the housing projects and section 8 housing. My point to you was that they do not represent "the majority". They are in fact a small portion of those whose were affected. All of those people you speak of are ok, whether here or somewhere else...they are okay because the govt continues to assist them. It is all those who worked to build their lives but did not have the means to start over again with nothing that I speak of and fight for. They are the "majority".
Whether your donations were able to get through or not, I thank you on behalf of all of those who so desperately needed them for trying.
But DEMOCRATS had an opportunity to politicize suffering so who cares? Democrats getting power in Washington is way more important to hicks in Louisiana. Where the hell have you been?
If you think politicizing any plight, cause, or suffering is something Republicans don't also do, where the hell have you been? Politicians politicize everything, regardless of their party affiliation. Republicans also politicized Katrina. The only difference between the parties which wasy their finger was pointing.
Well give me an example where republicans were using the suffering of Americans to their advantage. Did you forget that the "rich" don't suffer? How did republicans politicize Katrina other than falling for the bullshit and throwing money at it as democrats demanded, most of which was wasted or embezzled by the great state of LA politicians!
I know your not dumb, your just playing politics. The republicans pointed as many fingers as the dems did. Powell is constantly blaming the lack of recovery on Blanco and Nagin, as much as they are blaming it on Bush. Mississippi and Florida received aid a lot faster, and in the case of MS much more than was proportionate to their share of the damage (depsite being the most coorrupt state in the nation). If you don't think that has anything to do with their well connected republican governors, you just refuse to accept reality.
The money "thrown" was mostly to federal no bid contractors (haliburton, anyone?). And please back up your statements with fact. What recovery money was embezzled? That's one I haven't heard before. wasted...oh, yeah there was a lot of waste. Locally, at the state level...and a helluva lot of it at the federal level. Do a little research. Start here , or here, or even here.
I happen to live a stones throw from Todd and I was not as fortunate to have his luck of being untouched. I am trying my best to see this difference of opinion fairly. I think his original comment was changed somewhat by his later clarification. However, if he chooses to hold to the "majority" statement, he is mistaken. Had a differently levee failed, his opinion may have been swayed in a different direction. Fortunately we will never know and I hope he never has to find out. Loosing property in Chalmette is unfortunate, but losing your home, place of business, your job, your income, uprooted for months, etc. is a much different proposition.
As for Jeff, I AM ONE OF THE HICKS IN LOUISIANA AND PROUD OF IT. Put your politics and your wallet down for a minute, climb off your white, mid-western stallion and attempt to see your fellow AMERICANS (11th generation) as an equal, with all the empathy and compassion you can muster. If that is not possible for you to do, state as much and I will certainly understand your remarks and have compassion for you. Either way, what is your definition of a "hick." I would like to know how much of Louisiana's, this country's, and the world's population you cover with that term.
Thanks again for trying Penny. . .unfortunately, if someone takes a position on an issue and then marries it, the position becomes a part of them and chances are that all attempts at finding a middle ground with them are a waste of time and emotional effort.
I would like to add a GIGANTIC THANK YOU to the untold number in our country and beyond who have and continue to reach out in their volunteer efforts, donating your hard-earned resources, opening your hearts and homes, as well as giving us your thoughts and prayers.
Thanks for commenting. Regardless of how Todd or anyone lese may feel about our city and its people, none of us should have anything but gratitude for those like Spencer who had the compassion to help.
Penny, how much money that was sent to new Orleans in aid is unaccounted for? If you don't think that money is embezzled you must be the last person on earth looking for it.
I think the problem with democrats is that they hate the rich so much they expect government to go after them and use the stolen money to do all the things democrats are too lazy to do. I am a libertarian which makes me vote republican. Sad but true. But I volunteer to do things for free. I makes me feel good. Democrats seem to think being a volunteer is pathetic if you can make the rich pay for it. I swear to God that I used to be a democrat but I seriously can't believe that this is how they always thought.
Perhaps you did not see the question I asked you in my post above. If its not too much trouble, could you provide an answer? Whether you choose to or not, thank you for your consideration.
I have no idea what you are talking about, haven't heard anything about missing money sent to New Orleans. Wasted? Uh HUh, lots of that on every level, for which I've provided links. So if there is moeny missing, please enlighten me as this is the first I've heard of it.
Thank you, coming from you that means a lot.
P.S.: this is not about Democrats and Republicans. I'd be hard-pressed to name any politician out there who is doing the job they are supposed to do, whether they are Dems, Reps, Indies or pink poodles. Your hate the rich, volunteering is pathetic diatribe makes absolutely no sense. This issue is so much bigger than that. It's about an American city that is as importnat to this country as Washington DC, probably more so cause you could alwasy set up the government elsewhere, but you cannot recreat New Orleans and what it means to the US economy anywhere else.
In the Netherlands they have massive, levees...you would not believe how huge and efficient they are... 40 feet high and completely automated..opening and closing perfectly when need be. all paid for by their government...yet we are the richest country in the world???
what a joke we have become.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702400.html
every time there is a catastrophy outside the US we send enough money to buy that country 10 times over... where is the help for us???
I suspect we will one day know the answer to that question.
Please don't think I am not compassionate. I am. Katrina brought much heartache and difficulty and I am glad that I did not go through it personally. It is just that there were abuses.
All that being said, it was horrible how the government failed in responding. It is ridiculous that the Red Cross failed miserably in handling the situation properly. It was absurd that contracts were given under teh buddy system.
The trailers brought in are still sitting unoccupied.
There is still so much to be rebuilt.
There were abuses by residents, businesses, and government; the money has been misused, and NO still suffers.
Mississippi was actually hit harder, but NO suffered because of the Levy--a whole other set of corruption.
We need reform reform reform, and it is yet to be done.
Jeff - Republicans are supposedly the party of small government, so I don't completely get your point. Bush's Republican administration and Congress were in power at the time of the Katrina catastrophe.
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A Scandalous Overture
The government should not, repeast: SHOULD NOT, be run like a business. Business has different goals and methods: profit and economic efficiency. Government has the public good and job creation as goals, and should be run with those foremost in mind.
The failure of the levees never being built up to standard cannot be placed on Bush, though he most assuredly did make matters worse with his funding cuts for the project.
The SE LA flood protection project started in 1965, and 40 years later was still not finished. Whether it was ignorance, apathy or anatagonism, no President in the last 40 years has been able to comprehend the importance of New Orleans, and so it was never a priority to properly protect it.
The govt. most definitely SHOULD NOT be run like a business....unfortunatley, with the present administration, it is run like Enron...full of embezzlers that make sure their friends get rich while the stock holders (We the People) get the shaft.
I couldn't agree with you more.
Great article.
Although the talk has died down, the two pervasive opinions that floated on receding floodwater were Should the City be rebuilt and Should the displaced have the same rights of citizenry as before the storm. I doesn't take too much imagination to understand that the two questions are related and find their motives not in environmental logic nor social justice. Those who sought to lay claim to this jewel of a city (at bargain-basement prices, enabled, in fact, by the infusion of public money) needed only to ask those two questions. Devalue the land and marginalize the citizenry.
And in doing so, one actually makes Penny's point: OF COURSE the City of New Orleans has value. Enough value to confuse the process, to politicize it, to demonize entire neighborhoods, to wipe out areas of perceived "blight" because the land it sits on has even more value.
As time fades memory and urgency, the land grab can now begin in earnest.
(I have yet another opinion about the UPSIDE of corruption, but that is another subject entirely).