$1 A BARREL
Let's stop begging Washington. After Bush's speech tonight it's obvious we are off the agenda.
We should impose a tax of one dollar on every barrel of oil produce in the state.
That would generate 985 million dollars a year, which we could then bond to build levees and coastal protection.
And the rest of the country would realize we are producing a huge chunk of refined oil.
There hasn't been a new refinery built since 1975 in the U.S.
Refineries have nowhere to go.
Tax them now and make our coast safe.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
This is a pretty good piece on Ray Nagin from a local lawyer.
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=6006
He was basically a black Republican before he ran for mayor, his first elected office.
As for his chocolate comment, most people Uptown including me were ticked off.
But the background is this: the Bring Back New Orleans commission was studying plans for redeveloping the city and recommended that harder hit areas (Gentilly, Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans East, Broadmoor and Lakeview)-- which are basically lower lying areas, should have a four month moratorium on development until the FEMA maps come out and people will know what they have to do to qualify for flood insurance.
At the meeting this met with very angry denunciations from both white speakers from Lakeview and black speakers from the lower nine. (It also met with a more interesting nuanced response from political boss and businessman Sherman Copelin, who represents New Orleans East.)
There is a feeling in the black diaspora that there's a plot among white residents in New Orleans to keep black residents from returning. (How that jibes with the same moratorium being proposed fro mostly white Lakeview, I don't know. But conspiracy theory is a substitute for thought.)
Nagin was already on the outs with parts of this community, and I think he was pandering to that base, and was pretty damned awkward about it to boot.
He was faking it up like a preacher when he really doesn't ever talk like that, and by referencing Uptown he really played into the conspiracy theory paranoia that's already out there. As one guy said, he stuck his foot in his mouth and then he shot himself in the foot.
New Orleans was about 2/3's black before Katrina, and I believe it will be majority black within a year, but with a substantial Hispanic and white minority. None of the more hysterical predictions or reactions about the city will come true.
Nagin will probably survive this unless a really formidable Democratic candidate comes along. He owned the white vote in teh last election; he's done all eh can to alienate it with this statement, but in the end I think unless Mitch Landrieu steps in , Nagin will win. If he really wants it... If we really have an election...
And that's how uncertain things are here on a late January day in the city that care forgot.
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=6006
He was basically a black Republican before he ran for mayor, his first elected office.
As for his chocolate comment, most people Uptown including me were ticked off.
But the background is this: the Bring Back New Orleans commission was studying plans for redeveloping the city and recommended that harder hit areas (Gentilly, Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans East, Broadmoor and Lakeview)-- which are basically lower lying areas, should have a four month moratorium on development until the FEMA maps come out and people will know what they have to do to qualify for flood insurance.
At the meeting this met with very angry denunciations from both white speakers from Lakeview and black speakers from the lower nine. (It also met with a more interesting nuanced response from political boss and businessman Sherman Copelin, who represents New Orleans East.)
There is a feeling in the black diaspora that there's a plot among white residents in New Orleans to keep black residents from returning. (How that jibes with the same moratorium being proposed fro mostly white Lakeview, I don't know. But conspiracy theory is a substitute for thought.)
Nagin was already on the outs with parts of this community, and I think he was pandering to that base, and was pretty damned awkward about it to boot.
He was faking it up like a preacher when he really doesn't ever talk like that, and by referencing Uptown he really played into the conspiracy theory paranoia that's already out there. As one guy said, he stuck his foot in his mouth and then he shot himself in the foot.
New Orleans was about 2/3's black before Katrina, and I believe it will be majority black within a year, but with a substantial Hispanic and white minority. None of the more hysterical predictions or reactions about the city will come true.
Nagin will probably survive this unless a really formidable Democratic candidate comes along. He owned the white vote in teh last election; he's done all eh can to alienate it with this statement, but in the end I think unless Mitch Landrieu steps in , Nagin will win. If he really wants it... If we really have an election...
And that's how uncertain things are here on a late January day in the city that care forgot.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
ING 4247
This is the barge that was left in the Industrial Canal in New Orleans, and that came unmoored, crashed through the levee wall and caused part of the flooding of the lower ninth ward. As we approache dit we could see it sitting on top of a school bus.
It appears to be registered with the Ingram Barge company:
http://www.ingrambarge.com/additional/Ingram_Draft_Registers.pdf
But responsibilty for the barge may lie with its particular operator. So far I haven't found out who that is.
Here is another shot of the barge on top of the school bus:
This home or what's left of it was in the path of the barge. Their stuff is still out in the street. The day I was there an idiot tourist from Texas was wandering around laughing, sitting on top of a car posing. Just chuckling her head off. But what I felt was, this was someone's home. Mo said: There are ghosts here.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Lower Ninth Ward
We took a ride to the lower ninth ward today. First we rode across the Claiborne Avenue bridge and headed towards the river.
We walked around the Holy Cross neighborhood. They still haven't got any electricity, water or gas. Forget about mail. We met a woman from Mississippi and her friend James and son Buddy. She owns about an acre just at the foot of the levee where the Mississippi meets up with the Industrial Canal. She kept horses there. She has a gorgeous view of the whole city just a short walk up the levee. Her house is over 100 years old, made of barge board, it was only minimally damaged. According to her, adn I heard it repeated later, the Army Corps of Engineers has been fighting with the neighborhood for 30 years trying to expropriate more of the land near the Industrial Canal (which is little used) so they can widen the lock. (The lock is extremely narrow and a bottleneck for barge traffic.) She believes the plan is to use this disaster to expropriate the Holy Cross neighborhood adn build industiral sites alongside the widened canal.
(For more info and history of the neighborhood go here. http://www.gnocdc.org/orleans/8/20/snapshot.html
What's clear is that with a few bobcats, some trash pickup, some electric power and gas, you know normal decent services, the people here could begin to rebuild their homes and reclaim their lives. Only that isn't happening and doesn't seem like it's going to happen.
The Holy Cross neighborhood is historic, and the housing similar to what you might find in parts of Bywater. Built on the natural levee near the river, there is no reason why it shouldn't be a safe area. But only if the Corps properly maintained the canal. You really have to wonder how a barge was allowed to be in the canal during a hurricane.
I went over to that part of the lower ninth ward, which is between Claiborne and Florida avenue. This is the absolutely most devastated, horrifying sight. This makes you angry. This should never have happened in the United States of America. Whole blocks are completely smashed up, you see where houses have moved across the street. I was photographing a clock which was stopped at 5 pm. A woman stopped and told me that was her clock. She pointed across teh street, she said I love my enighbor, but I guess too much, because now her house was on top of her neighbors. She said when she went inside she had a piece of crystal which was amazingly untouched. She was afraid to touch it. She said what the lady from Holy Cross said, that the Corps has wanted this land for years and years.
I didn't know what to say except, I wish you the best. Which was hardly adequate.
We went to see the barge. ING 4247 is written on the side. This huge rusty barge came sideways over the levee wall, completely smashed two homes and a school bus. AS we walked around, Moira said, there are ghosts here. I expect people died in this area. It is grotesque and horrifying, and to this day, we don't know who owns this barge. A whole huge section of the canal wall was taken out and you have to imagine that this played a large role in the devastation.
We took a ride to the lower ninth ward today. First we rode across the Claiborne Avenue bridge and headed towards the river.
We walked around the Holy Cross neighborhood. They still haven't got any electricity, water or gas. Forget about mail. We met a woman from Mississippi and her friend James and son Buddy. She owns about an acre just at the foot of the levee where the Mississippi meets up with the Industrial Canal. She kept horses there. She has a gorgeous view of the whole city just a short walk up the levee. Her house is over 100 years old, made of barge board, it was only minimally damaged. According to her, adn I heard it repeated later, the Army Corps of Engineers has been fighting with the neighborhood for 30 years trying to expropriate more of the land near the Industrial Canal (which is little used) so they can widen the lock. (The lock is extremely narrow and a bottleneck for barge traffic.) She believes the plan is to use this disaster to expropriate the Holy Cross neighborhood adn build industiral sites alongside the widened canal.
(For more info and history of the neighborhood go here. http://www.gnocdc.org/orleans/8/20/snapshot.html
What's clear is that with a few bobcats, some trash pickup, some electric power and gas, you know normal decent services, the people here could begin to rebuild their homes and reclaim their lives. Only that isn't happening and doesn't seem like it's going to happen.
The Holy Cross neighborhood is historic, and the housing similar to what you might find in parts of Bywater. Built on the natural levee near the river, there is no reason why it shouldn't be a safe area. But only if the Corps properly maintained the canal. You really have to wonder how a barge was allowed to be in the canal during a hurricane.
I went over to that part of the lower ninth ward, which is between Claiborne and Florida avenue. This is the absolutely most devastated, horrifying sight. This makes you angry. This should never have happened in the United States of America. Whole blocks are completely smashed up, you see where houses have moved across the street. I was photographing a clock which was stopped at 5 pm. A woman stopped and told me that was her clock. She pointed across teh street, she said I love my enighbor, but I guess too much, because now her house was on top of her neighbors. She said when she went inside she had a piece of crystal which was amazingly untouched. She was afraid to touch it. She said what the lady from Holy Cross said, that the Corps has wanted this land for years and years.
I didn't know what to say except, I wish you the best. Which was hardly adequate.
We went to see the barge. ING 4247 is written on the side. This huge rusty barge came sideways over the levee wall, completely smashed two homes and a school bus. AS we walked around, Moira said, there are ghosts here. I expect people died in this area. It is grotesque and horrifying, and to this day, we don't know who owns this barge. A whole huge section of the canal wall was taken out and you have to imagine that this played a large role in the devastation.
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