Christmas in New Orleans: Santa Drove a Bulldozer

Christmas in New Orleans

Santa Drove a Bulldozer

By SCOTT BOEHM

A thunderstorm engulfed the city this Christmas Eve morning, an apt--if ominous--metaphor for the city,s reconstruction nearly four months after Katrina came to town. A ghostly atmosphere haunts New Orleans, making Christmas seem more like Halloween gone wrong, than a celebration of brotherhood. Rubbish piles line abandoned city streets, hollowed out buildings resemble images of post-WWII Europe and military police patrol in the same Humvees that characterize the U.S. occupation in Iraq. Indeed, popular T-shirts sold on Bourbon Street call New Orleans "Baghdad on the Bayou."

Compounding the fact that hundreds of thousands of people remain scattered across the country and separated from each other without the ability to return home for Christmas, Greg Meffert, the city,s chief technology officer, announced on Friday that 2,500 homes have been scheduled to be demolished immediately. The majority of the homes to be bulldozed during this holiday season are located in the Lower 9th Ward, the part of the city most affected by Katrina when the levees of the Industrial Canal suddenly exploded, flooding the economically poor, black neighborhood.

Claiming that he has not heard of any complaints about these plans, which are to be put into effect immediately, Meffert fails to consider that displaced residents have not been informed of the crucial change in the status of their "red-tagged" homes. The Shaw Group of Baton Rouge, which won a no-bid contract from the government to oversee inspections of homes affected by the hurricanes, uses a color-coded system to tag homes for insurance and rebuilding purposes. Before the city had clearly stated to residents that red tags signified severe damage to a home"in lieu of yellow tags that indicate less serious damage. But now"without informing residents of the change"those red-tagged homes may be demolished before the ball drops in Times Square.

While FEMA possesses a database of contact information for most, if not all, New Orleans evacuees, no effort has been taken to inform affected residents that their homes are about to be demolished. If they were contacted, complaints would certainly be voiced, which appears to be what Mayor C. Ray Nagin, the city council, FEMA and Shaw Group want to avoid. Like Santa,s annual secret night run, this drastic and immutable move has been carried out under the cover of backroom maneuvering, rather than with transparency and accountability to the community. The result is that public opinion and the voice of citizens already traumatized by the hurricanes and the current diaspora are about to lose the most powerful symbol of their connection to this crumbling city without notice or recourse to stop the powerful Grinches running the city,s reconstruction.

http://www.counterpunch.org/boehm12262005.html

Looking for bodies or body parts that may be left? Compare this to after 911 when the debris was searched, and parts covered and taken out with ceremony. I hate this.

are going to be destroyed? I can't even believe that's legal, not that that would matter to these neanderthals. I suspect there are going to be many ticked off people-I would be livid. And what about any financial recompense? Someone's going to be lining their pockets off of this. :grr:

Now we learn there's a plan to bulldoze the homes?

Then we learn ... there's a plan to sell the land to developers and casinos?

Then we learn ... there's a plan to give funding to the develoeprs and casinos to build?

Then we learn ... there's no plan to help the people who were displaced, stolen from, and prevented from going back home?

Are these the rest of the things we'll learn about the PLAN?

but what should the city do? Have you been to the lower ninth ward? Should the "houses" be left to "stand?" If the residents have not come back, how long should the city give them to do so? Do we just chuck logic out the window? Should the EPA findings of toxicity just be ignored? If a resident is strongly desirous of returning and hasn't after almost four months, should the city just sit back and wait? The area is a tragedy but what is the plan of action? Should city fathers sit on their thumbs waiting for the poor and distraught to make a decision from afar?

"if contacted, complaints would certainly be voiced." So how fucking long does the city supposed to wait for those who may or may not complain to do so? My advice to those residents - get your ass back to NOLA now. And we would better serve them by not enabling them to bitch from miles away.

I love New Orleans. One of the greatest cities on the planet and we need the folks from the lower ninth ward to come back to continue the cities greatness, but how long do we wait?

forms at the p.o. and given a time frame in which to respond before perhaps the only thing they own of value is destroyed, without their knowledge?

but if I were sitting in a FEMA hotel or whatever in Texas, Kansas, Arkansas or whereever and not making any effort to return to my "home" I wouldn't be surprised when folks wondered where the hell I was and I was not making any effort to recover what was mine. Humans can't wait to be asked to help themselves. If the social makeup of New Orleans changes it won't be because anyone was forced not to come back to the city. And again, I must question the story. I've heard Ray Nagin speak on the subject and the story does not sound right about bulldozing homes without the homeowners consent.

"While FEMA possesses a database of contact information for most, if not all, New Orleans evacuees, no effort has been taken to inform affected residents that their homes are about to be demolished."

Just like FEMA won't assist with the missing children, or anything else for that matter. This is an opportunity for the ownership society, not a disaster. It's an opportunity to implement the Mariana "petri dish" and rebuild the south the way the plantation class has always envisioned it. With the new slave labor from south of the border that can be pushed back over the border as soon as they're no longer needed.

Its been four freaking months. Does fema have to notify residents of that area of anything? What are those residents supposed to do - sit on their asses for how long - six months, three years? If I had property in that area, I would not have to rely on fema to tell me anything. And I'm still not sure of the veracity of that story relative to my hearing ray nagin chat on the radio not too long ago. Homes will not be destroyed without the owners consent per the Mayor. Who to believe? And, have you been in the lower ninth ward lately? Would you want to live in a home that is still there? Casting dispersions is such an easy function.

And if FEMA is the only agency that has the database of current evacuees, then yes FEMA is obligated. I don't know whether I would want to live in a NOLA home or not. Personally, I'd have my own ground testing and home assessment done because I wouldn't trust anything anybody told me anyway. I think what an awful lot of people are forgetting is that for some people, a roof you own or can afford to pay for is better than the alternative. What about the elderly who owned their homes and could get by on their social security? What are they going to do now? The risk of living out their lives in one of those homes may look better than homelessness to them. So much for the self reliance and private property rights crowd.

New Orleans to begin razing storm-wrecked homes

Lawsuit to stop demolitions is being prepared

Sunday, December 25, 2005; Posted: 6:58 a.m. EST (11:58 GMT)

The largest concentration of red-tagged houses is in the Lower Ninth Ward.

NEW ORLEANS, Lousiana (AP) -- The city is ready to demolish some 2,500 houses deemed threats to public safety because of damage from Hurricane Katrina, but opponents said Saturday they will sue to stop the work to make sure homeowners' rights are respected.

City officials said inspectors had examined roughly 128,000 homes on New Orleans' east bank of the Mississippi River. About 4 percent, or 5,534 homes, were marked with red stickers as being unsafe to enter and must be razed, said Greg Meffert, the city's chief technology officer, who also oversees the department of safety and permits.

<snip>

"The city of New Orleans knows full well that they are bound by the constitutions of the United States and the state of Louisiana," said Loyola Law School Professor Bill Quigley. "Both constitutions require real prior notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard before the government can take or destroy anyone's property."

<snip>

City inspectors were deliberately conservative in tagging homes, Meffert said, maintaining that he has not received a single complaint suggesting that a red-tagged house should not be torn down.
"If he hasn't heard anything it's because the city stated unequivocally in the past that red tags did not signify impending demolition," said Meg Lousteau, director of the Louisiana Landmarks Society. "If that has changed, they need to make that very clear. Owners of these buildings need to be made aware so they can plead their case or make repairs."

http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2005/US/12/24/katrina.razing.ap.ap/

The State and Federal Government will not make a heroic or dogged effort to locate people whose homes/properties are to be usurped for development. They are required by law to do so. They will trample the law and later come up with paltry compensation plans for the disaffected. There WILL be heroic efforts made to give tax abatements and zero percent interest loans to developers who will gentrify the place. Bank on it. The Bankers are.

Nagin has been obfuscating and talking out both sides of his, well to be nice, "mouth" all along the way. It's what he's paid to do.