The article in the Times-Picayune, Failure of levee merger sparks outrage touches on a very sore spot for most people in the New Orleans area. The fact is, with Katrina and the subsequent flooding due to levee breaks, we’re getting what we deserved. Not because we live below sea level. Paul from Wizbang, another NOLA local, did a nice job of debunking that 60 Minutes episode the other day. If you’re stupid enough to believe 60 Minutes I have some great property near here to sell you. I don’t notice people calling for a mass exodus from California (earthquakes, mudslides, riots) or Florida, and there’s no prevailing reason most of the New Orleans area needs to relocate either. Just the same, I’m asking everyone who reads this to take a moment and contact their Congressional representation and ask them to turn off the tap for New Orleans Katrina recovery, at least until our local politicians clean up their act or we have elections to boot these people out of office. With a few notable exceptions, they simply cannot be trusted with your tax money. Don’t let them have it.
Does that mean people in New Orleans will be inconvenienced and even suffer? Yes. Including me; I live here and own (what’s left of) a business here. We’re getting what we deserve because we elected the local officials who got us in this position, in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. The T-P article expresses the frustration that has been building about the corruption and patronage that New Orleans is famous for. Whatever else you can say about Ray Nagin – and he certainly did make mistakes – before the hurricane he did a great job as mayor and cleaned out a lot of entrenched corruption. Now he’s trying to continue that process with the rebuilding.
As it stands now, each area of metro New Orleans has its own levee board, ostensibly responsible for keeping the levees in good repair. The Orleans Levee Board does pretty much anything but that, as I’ve documented in detail here on Dummocrats. While we were in Texas after Katrina, I read and summarized all of their 2005 minutes in an attempt to find out what led up to the levee breaks. They spent almost no time or money on the levees, instead focusing on the airport, marinas, and commercial rental property under their control. Blanco wants to create another layer of bureaucracy over the levee boards. If things aren’t bad enough, let’s add another layer of government… way to solve problems, Governor!
State Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Arabi, proposed to consolidate some of these levee boards into a new regional board. Sure, it endangered quite a few people’s personal fiefdoms, but, call me crazy, less bureaucracy + more accountability = improved flood protection. That math works for me, let’s give it a try. His bill was picked over and weakened, until debate on it was shut down by parliamentary procedure. From the Times-Picayune article:
At the urging of real estate developer Joe Canizaro, the Nagin commission unanimously approved a motion to do all it can to keep alive discussion of levee board consolidation before the Legislature convenes its next post-Katrina special session in January.
“We need to express our outrage that true reform was sought, but politics-as-usual has once again gotten in the way,” said Mel Lagarde, the commission’s co-chairman.
Nagin and business leaders backed Boasso’s bill because they saw it as an important overhaul measure of the fragmented levee governing system in the New Orleans area. Some business people even considered the bill a litmus test of whether Louisiana was, in their opinion, prepared for true reform of its political patronage practices.
Jay Lapeyre Jr., president of the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region, said Monday that the group was disappointed that the Legislature did not give a hearing for an initiative that deals with “what is clearly the most important problem this community faces.”
The House vote was an example of “deal-making by the political elite” that put patronage in front of public safety, Lapeyre said.
Lapeyre said the vote sent a negative signal, but he is hopeful that eventually the council’s recommendations will prevail because the group received such a strong response to its message of reform.
The left photo (with the car) is the home of a friend, about 2 blocks away from the London Avenue canal levee break. The right photo is of the house that was directly in front of the break. The house was picked up and moved clear across the street, slab and all. This is the result of patronage and corruption. Don’t encourage it. Call your Representative and Senators today.
UPDATE: Related article in the Times-Picayune on the tough-love recommendations from the Urban Land Institute. Some key suggestions:
- reform the tax code especially in light of the city’s practice of under assessing property
- create a temporary financial oversight board to oversee and approve the city’s budget, approve major contracts, and recommend financing options for redevelopment
- consolidate fragmented agencies to take a regional approach to levee protection, transit services, emergency response and economic development
UPDATE 2: Ernie The Attorney, while not calling for such radical action as I think is necessary to shake these political jerks up, has some comments on the “politics as usual” going on around here. He says:
A lot of people I’ve talked to think it’s a shame Katrina didn’t wipe out our state and local political structure so we’d be forced to rebuild that from scratch too. Hyperbole aside, it’s becoming obvious that the weakest link in New Orleans isn’t our levees, it’s our political system.
So, what are we going to do about it?
Linked to GM’s Corner, Stuck on Stupid, TMH’s Bacon Bits, Big Dog’s Weblog, Choose Life, Related Posts:
I’m from Australia and I feel for the people affected by Katrina – did lot’s of posts at the time including my own experience. I have heard accusations of the corruption in Louisiana politics and I applaud your efforts to do something about the corruption prior to the money pouring in. I think those three suggestions in the Update sound like the way to go if it can be achieved. Is it possible for you to get church leadership on side so that there is one Sunday where corruption is preached against and the suggestions taken up? If getting rid of the pollies (an Aussie word for politician) is not possible, perhaps you will have to add a layer of some sort but no under Blanco’s control – a panel of eminent citizens (not only from Louisiana) who are known to be of integrity and have demonstrated their competence and who can be seen to identify with or represent all sorts in the community: D and R, black and white, rich and poor. I’ll pray with you on this.
Thank you for your prayers! The money is already pouring in, unfortunately, but if it were stopped that would give them pause for thought… The Urban Land Institute is just such a panel as you suggested, but they have no power to implement anything, they can only recommend. And some politicians just refuse to see that, just like after 9/11, after Katrina, everything is different. The elections will be very interesting, and I think we’ll see some progress after that.