Ashley Morris: the man

posted by m.d.

I echo jeffrey's words. The few times I met Ashley in person, the dude was real.

When I mentioned in a post that I played tuba in high school, he asked me in an email if I still had the tuba. He said he had a drum and we could do a brass band thing.

I regret I did not still have that tuba to have shared that experience with the man.

Damn.

Help his family and donate to the Ashley Morris fund.

A website is being set up: rememberashleymorris.com.

A Recovery that Doesn't Work

posted by m.d.


If there are no workers:

Thousands of blue-collar workers like Washington who never lived in publicly subsidized housing increasingly have no place to live in New Orleans. The planned demolition of 4,500 publicly subsidized apartments is less significant to the future, policy experts say, than Katrina's destruction of nearly 41,000 inexpensive rentals that once housed the city's self-sufficient working class.

With no concrete plan to replace those apartments, some say the city's economic base erodes with every blue-collar worker pushed out by higher living costs.

***

Amid predictions affordable housing could be indefinitely out of reach for blue collar workers, state and federal agencies offered landlords a subsidy to accept lower-income tenants. The effort is falling short because landlords can get high rent in the post-Katrina free market without dealing with bureaucratic red tape. To date, there are only 550 of these subsidized apartments.

Long term, the Bush administration has offered tax breaks to developers to build mixed-income housing. Two and a half years after the storm, little such construction is evident.

No apartments, but plenty of homes:

More than 8,800 houses are for sale in the New Orleans area – almost as many as were sold in the last 12 months, according to one of the city's leading real estate brokerage firms. High insurance costs and the crash in the mortgage market nationwide have slowed sales.

Thousands more damaged houses are being bought by the state of Louisiana through its Road Home program. It pays homeowners for their losses in the 2005 hurricanes. These houses will be turned over to local governments for redevelopment or resale.

Meanwhile, 27,500 families, mostly from New Orleans, are still living in tiny, tinny government-issued travel trailers across the state.

If you have been waiting for rebuilding help that never came and now you want to sell, that's tough too:

A new study of home prices around the New Orleans area shows that buyers rewarded sellers who gambled and rebuilt in devastated areas like Lakeview, eastern New Orleans and Chalmette. Renovated homes in those areas recovered much of their pre-storm value last year, while prices continued to tumble on homes that were gutted but otherwise left untouched.

Wade Ragas, the retired University of New Orleans professor who prepared the study, said buyers have gotten wise to the amount of money and drudgery it takes to bring a damaged house back from the dead. Heartsick from being displaced for two years, distrustful of contractors and insurance companies, buyers are shopping for houses that have already been repaired for them.

Tipping point? What tipping point?

[Federal coordinator for Gulf Coast rebuilding Donald] Powell disagreed with Mayor Ray Nagin’s assertion that 2008 will be a tipping point in New Orleans’ recovery from the levee breaches that put most of the city under water and left behind massive destruction.

The recovery seems to have entered a new phase, with Nagin and other local officials who had decried the pace of federal aid saying money is starting to flow more freely and that the responsibility now falls on them to put it to smart use.

I've heard that something's "getting ready to explode."

Duck.

A Connection?

posted by m.d.


Anthony Amato resigns as the Kansas City School District Superintendent in a similar way that he left New Orleans.

The last I heard, Sandra "18-Wheeler" Hester was living in Glasgow, a small city about two hours away from Kansas City.

Could it be... Sandra?

What a Wonderful Thing to Say

posted by m.d.


Rev. Jack Battiste of the New Testament Baptist Church in the 9th Ward on why his church will make a comeback:

"The love of the city exceeds the hardship."

I just liked that. I liked it because I read it two ways. First, that the reverend's love of the city he lives in is greater than the hardships he faces. Then I looked at it again and read it as the city's love - the love the city feels for her residents - is greater than the hardships we face.

The city's love exceeds the hardships. I think that is important. The residents already love New Orleans. That's why they are here.

New Orleans must love her residents back.

The article is written by a journalist from Northern Michigan. She also maintains a blog on her newspaper's website. In it, she writes of her experience in the Lower 9th and St. Bernard Parish:

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than two years since Katrina, judging from the state of neighborhoods like these. And seeing the devastation firsthand makes it seem all the more real.

Journalists keeping having that same reaction when they come down for the first time.

I must keep reminding myself that this year is the "tipping point."

Sunday Morning Peter Tosh

posted by m.d.


When stuff like this happens, I think of this song.

Last Murder Victim of 2007

posted by m.d.


I hope.

Nearly five months after robbers opened fire on seven people in an eastern New Orleans home, fatally wounding three, a fourth victim has died, the Orleans Parish coroner's office said.

Kiengkay Chomsy, 42, of eastern New Orleans, died Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Canon Hospice, a day after he was transferred from University Hospital, chief coroner's investigator John Gagliano said. Chomsy died of complications from gunshot wounds to his head.

Another name on my list, which is now 207 murders in the city of New Orleans in 2007. I count murders that I can find reported on in the media. The NOPD’s official number was 209. I do not know if they will count this death as a 2007 or 2008 murder.

As for this year, we have 11 murders in the first 18 days. Once again, about a murder every other day. That rate has been fairly consistent, even with more people moving into the city. If the population growth is slowing down, that might be the rate per day we are stuck with.

Cliff’s Crib directed me to the field negro’s blog (that is the title of the blog – I feel like I need to point that out). On it, the field negro (once again, that’s the blogger’s name) is tracking media reports of murders in Philadelphia which he calls the “Killadelphia Murder Count.” When I visited yesterday, there were 11 homicides in “Killadelphia,” three of which were vehicular homicides.

Philadelphia has around 1.4 million people in it. I prefer the New Orleans estimate that's around 300,000 people.

I don’t expect the total of Philadelphia murders (not including vehicular homicides) to stay lower than New Orleans for long. Last year, the city had 392 murders.

But my first reaction was: “Wow. We have more murders than a place called Killadelphia. What does that make us?”

At a ceremony to reopen NOPD headquarters yesterday, Superintendent Warren Riley:

"We will reduce our violent crime by year's end," Riley said.

I wonder if he means total numbers or per capita. It makes a difference.

Sunday Morning Bob Marley

posted by m.d.




I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you.

The Mayor Is Wearing No Costume

posted by m.d.


At the end of an article entitled "National Guard patrols slated for Endymion parade":

Chatting with reporters in a hallway, Nagin said he hasn't decided what his Fat Tuesday costume will be.

"Last year, people were asking 'Where is the mayor?' so I came as myself, " he said.

Is there a "C. Ray? Here I am!" t-shirt in the works?

Ensuring FEMA Reimbursements

posted by m.d.


The City of New Orleans hired MWH, formerly known as Montgomery Watson Harza, to guide city rebuilding:

MWH's role will include monitoring the work; ensuring uniformity in documentation provided to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for reimbursement; and making the process more transparent, company chief executive Bob Uhler said.

I assume MWH will be trying to avoid situations like this:

The deal with Montgomery Watson Harza, however, has sparked questions from FEMA officials, who say it violates federal rules by tying profits to costs. The agreement also has raised eyebrows at the FBI, which issued subpoenas last year for documents related to a subcontractor linked to longtime water board member Benjamin Edwards.

The alleged problem with the contract's structure, which critics say provides no incentive to keep costs low, has spawned another reimbursement feud, which S&WB officials say has retarded further the progress of sewer system repairs.

More:

According to a Nov. 3 letter by Public Works Director Robert Mendoza, state officials are using the findings of the fiscal review as a reason to hold back $9.6 million that they already have received from the feds for the Montgomery Watson contract. The state department serves as the pass-through agency for disaster appropriations to local entities.

(All above emphasis mine.)

h/t jeffrey and his commenters