m.d. filter

Sharing Our Less-than-fair Share of Oil Revenue

2008-07-04T03:49:00.009-05:00

Thank you, bayoustjohndavid, for reminding me about this.

Sen. Mary Landrieu called the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (GOMESA) the “fair share” bill. Not quite, if you compare it to what states get for onshore drilling on federal lands.

A slide show from the Mineral Management Service outlines how offshore revenue in the outer continental shelf (OCS) - the federally administered seas - will be shared with the Gulf Coast states under GOMESA, just as onshore drilling revenue from federally administered land is shared with the states where it is generated. I am calling “unfair” on a few points.

UNFAIR #1: Gulf Coast states will get a decreased share of OCS offshore revenue off their borders until 2017.

The government will not share money generated from all federal leases in the Gulf of Mexico until 2017 (and we still won’t get any credit for leases sold before 2008). For the next nine years, Gulf Coast states will get a share of revenue in new federal leases in just two areas: 181 East and 181 South.

Starting in 2017, we get a share of revenue from all new leases – but just new leases.

The latest lease sale in March is a good example of what we are missing until 2017:

Two federal sales of offshore oil and natural gas leases in the Eastern and Central Gulf of Mexico attracted more than $3.7 billion in high bids today…

***

The first sale, the Central Gulf of Mexico Sale 206, attracted a record-setting $3,677,688,245 in high bids. This sets the record in high bids in U.S. leasing history since area-wide leasing began in 1983.

***

For Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 224, MMS received 58 bids from 6 companies on 36 tracts resulting in $ 64,713,213 in high bids with an estimated 37.5 percent of that amount going directly to four Gulf producing States.

Sale 224 had leases in the 181 areas, the areas that Gulf states get a share of. And, as the press release stated, we get 37.5 percent of those leases, or around $24.2 million – split between four states.

That’s a lot of money. But, if this were 2017, the Gulf Coast states would be splitting 37.5 percent of both sales, which would come out to $1.4 billion – a big difference, and one that would help us out in our attempt to pull together the required matching funds for federal flood protection projects.

UNFAIR #2: Four Gulf Coast states must share 37.5 percent of offshore revenue while onshore drilling states get (at least) 50 percent of the revenue generated on federal land in their state.

That speaks for itself. It just sucks.

Here is how the MMS divides onshore revenue from drilling on federally owned land:

Distribution of revenues associated with onshore federal lands is split 50-40-10, with 50 percent of the money going directly to the state within which the specific lease was located. Forty percent is sent to the Reclamation Fund of the U.S. Treasury. This special account finances the Bureau of Reclamation's water projects in 17 western states. The remaining 10 percent goes to the Treasury's General Fund.

One exception, Alaska, gets a 90 percent share of the revenues. The remainder goes to the U.S. Treasury.

Emphasis mine.

Not only does 50 percent go to the onshore drilling states (90 percent to Alaska), but if you live in one of the 17 western states that have Bureau of Reclamation water projects, then you get a share of another 40 percent.

The Gulf Coast states, in contrast, *collectively* get 37.5 percent of offshore drilling revenues.

For each individual state, that number is even smaller than it looks – split into 30 and 7.5.

The state governments get the 30 percent, then divide it further among the four of them (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas). And the oil-producing parishes and counties split up the 7.5 percent. This document shows the "42 subdivisions."

UNFAIR #3: Offshore revenue has strings attached. Onshore revenue doesn’t.

Half of onshore drilling revenue goes “directly to the state within which the specific lease was located.” According to a 2003 fact sheet, the onshore revenue can be “used as the States deem necessary, without Federal restrictions. Oftentimes the monies are used for schools, roads, public buildings, or general operations.”

Under GOMESA, offshore revenue can not be used for schools, roads, public buildings, or general operations, even if those projects are part of recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. GOMESA has federal restrictions (from the MMS slide show):

Coastal Protection
Conservation; Restoration; Hurricane Protection
Mitigation of damage to animals or natural resources
Mitigation of effects from OCS activities through onshore infrastructure projects
Associated planning and administrative costs

Now, these are excellent uses of the funds. But each onshore drilling state gets 50 percent of its revenue without restrictions. Gulf Coast states share 37.5 percent and we are told how to spend it.

On top of that, 17 western states get their non-restricted 50 percent plus a share of another 40 percent in water projects by the Bureau of Reclamation.

A similar arrangement for Gulf Coast states would be fair. Each Gulf Coast state could get 50 percent of the revenue generated from offshore drilling near its coast with no restrictions and then 40 percent could go to coastal protection projects along the Gulf.

Unfortunately, there is no Bureau of Coastal Protection for that 40 percent to go to.

UNFAIR #4: 12.5 percent of offshore drilling revenue goes to public outdoor recreation grants in the all the states and territories of the U.S. and Washington, D.C.

What?

A fifth of the federal government’s take (12.5 percent overall) of revenue generated from offshore drilling goes to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (see the revenue slide above).

In fact, according to the LWCF website, that share of offshore drilling appears to be its entire budget for 2009:

The President's budget for FY 2009 again proposed zero funding for LWCF State grants. However, for the first time in the program’s history, legislation has been enacted which insures that regular LWCF appropriations will be supplemented by proceeds from certain oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GMESA) designates 12.5 percent of the proceeds from leases in Areas 181, 181 South and the 2002-2007 planning areas to be dispensed to the States in accordance with Section 6 of the LWCF Act.

The Gulf States benefit from the LWCF. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas got about $2.2 million in 2008 from the fund. Texas got more than half of that money. And I am not saying the LWCF should not be funded.

But why is 12.5 percent of offshore drilling revenue going to fund outdoor recreation all over the U.S.? The 12.5 percent that goes to the LWCF is exactly *one third* as much as the 37.5 percent of offshore revenue that the four Gulf Coast states must share. That means at least one Gulf State will receive less money from offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico than the Land and Water Conservation Fund will get from those revenues. That is not fair.

UNFAIR #5: Basically, 100 percent of offshore drilling revenue goes to the federal government’s interests.

-50 percent goes to the U.S. Treasury General Fund.
-12.5 percent goes to the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.
-37.5 percent goes to protecting the coastal areas that support the infrastructure required for offshore drilling.

Add up those numbers and you get 100 percent.

Yes, Louisiana benefits from GOMESA. I am just saying we are still not getting our fair share.

Conditional UNFAIR #6: Offshore revenue available for the Gulf Coast states is capped at $375 million.

This UNFAIR is conditioned on 1) the assumption that onshore revenue is not capped for states and on 2) the assumption that I am reading the GOMESA bill correctly.

CONDITION 1) I can not find supporting information that onshore revenue is capped. If onshore revenue is not capped, then it is unfair to cap offshore revenue.

CONDITION 2)The way I read the bill as signed by the President, the money that can go to the states *and* the LWCF is capped at $500 million (look under SEC. 105).

Half the revenue generated by offshore drilling is distributed to the Gulf Coast states and the LWCF [SEC. 105 (2)(A) and (B)]. The states split 75 percent of that (37.5 percent overall) and the LWCF gets 25 percent of half (12.5 percent overall).

Under the title “Limitations on Amount of Distributed Qualified Outer Continental Shelf Revenues” [SEC. 105 (f)(1)], revenue is capped at $500 million. To me, that means the most the Gulf Coast states can get is 75 percent of $500 million, which is $375 million.

Also, the minimum revenue one of the four states can get in a year is 10 percent of the 75 percent of the 50 percent set aside to be distributed [SEC. 105 (b)(1)(B)]. So, if the cap on that 50 percent is $500 million, then three states have to get at least $37.5 million. That means the most any one state can get in one year is $262.5 million in revenue.

Once again, that's plenty of money. But the cap is unfair.

UNFAIR RECAP:

1) Gulf Coast states have a decreased share of revenue until 2017.

2) Four Gulf Coast states split a smaller percentage than each onshore drilling state gets from drilling on federal land inside its borders.

3) All offshore revenue that goes to Gulf Coast states has strings attached. Onshore revenue that goes to states doesn’t.

4) All 50 states, U.S. territories, and Washington, D.C., get funding from offshore revenue as part of the sharing agreement - besides half of the revenue that already goes into the U.S. Treasury general fund.

5) Basically, 100 percent of OCS offshore drilling revenue goes to the federal government’s interests.

6) There is a cap on how much Gulf Coast states can get. (conditional)

More on murder rates: Jefferson Parish and New Orleans

2008-06-16T03:19:00.003-05:00

So, going by my previous post, the FBI says New Orleans had a murder rate of 95 murders per 100,000 residents in 2007. That’s high - probably too high, because the US Census population numbers for New Orleans were low. My calculation is more like a murder rate of 80 (that’s what I am using here).

What about Jefferson Parish?

By my count, Jefferson Parish (including incorporated and unincorporated JP) had at least 55 murders in 2007. By the US Census’ count, Jefferson Parish had 423,520 people last year. JP officials say that number is too low. I am okay with it as an average for 2007.

That makes the Jefferson Parish 2007 murder rate 13 murders per 100,000 residents.

Wow.

Jefferson Parish had a murder rate of 13 last year. New Orleans – right next door – had a murder rate of 80 (going by my count).

Using my population numbers (260,000 for NOLA, which is different from the US Census, and 423,000 for JP), the combined JP/NOLA murder rate for 2007 is 38 murders per 100,000 – still in the top 10 highest 2007 murder rates according to the FBI:

1. Gary, IN – 73 (pop. 97,048)
2. Richmond, CA – 46 (pop. 102,471)
3. Baltimore, MD – 45 (pop. 624,237)
4. Detroit, MI – 44 (pop. 860,971)
5. St. Louis, MO – 40 (pop. 348,197)
6. Birmingham, AL – 38 (pop. 227,686)
7. JP/NOLA – 38 (pop. 683,000)
8. Newark, NJ – 37 (pop. 280,158)
9. Baton Rouge – 31 (pop. 228,446)
10. Oakland, CA – 30 (pop. 396,541)

A more optimistic calculation would use a NOLA population of 300,000 and a JP population of 445,000. Those numbers seem high to me. Nevertheless, the “optimistic” combined murder rate would be 35 per 100,000 residents – still in the top 10 highest.

My point here is to show that something is going on. New Orleans’ murder rate is way too high. Even factoring in JP’s 2007 population – anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000 more people – and JP’s lower murder total, the combined 2007 murder rate is still near the top in the country.

Something is going on.

The New Orleans murder rate is still really high

2008-06-15T11:28:00.005-05:00

I haven’t posted in a while, but I have continued to track murders in the city. As of June 15, we are up to at least 88 murders in New Orleans.

On June 9, the FBI released its Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2007, which “is based on information that the FBI gathered from 12,032 law enforcement agencies that submitted six to 12 comparable months of data to the FBI for both 2006 and 2007.”

For reported murders in 2007, here are the ten cities with the most murders, followed by their counts:

Total Murders in 2007
1. New York, NY – 496
2. Chicago, IL – 443
3. Philadelphia, PA – 392
4. Los Angeles, CA – 390
5. Detroit, MI – 383
6. Houston, TX – 351
7. Baltimore, MD – 282
8. Phoenix, AZ – 213
9. New Orleans, LA – 209
10. Dallas, TX – 200

New Orleans isn’t #1 when it comes to total murders. We’re #9. That’s good news.

But I am sure you noticed that one of these cities is not like the others. Here are the same ten cities in order of their official 2007 populations:

1. New York, NY – 8,220,196
2. Los Angeles, CA – 3,870,487
3. Chicago, IL – 2,824,434
4. Houston, TX – 2,169,544
5. Phoenix, AZ – 1,541,698
6. Philadelphia, PA – 1,435,533
7. Dallas, TX – 1,239,104
8. Detroit, MI – 860,971
9. Baltimore, MD – 624,237
10. New Orleans, LA – 220,614

That population difference translates into an incredibly high murder rate (murders per 100,000 residents) for New Orleans when compared to the other cities. Here’s are the same ten cities is order of murder rates:

1. New Orleans, LA – 95
2. Baltimore, MD – 45
3. Detroit, MI – 44
4. Philadelphia, PA – 27
5. Houston, TX – 16
6. Dallas, TX – 16
7. Chicago, IL – 16
8. Phoenix, AZ – 14
9. Los Angeles, CA – 10
10. New York, NY – 6

Now, an important note: New Orleans officials dispute the US Census number for 2007. They say the US Census number is too low. One local estimate put the year end population of 2007 at 300,000.

Of course, in the case of a rapidly repopulating city, you can’t use December numbers for the entire year. The number I like to use for New Orleans’ 2007 population is 260,000, which is in the middle of the US Census estimate and the year end estimate. But even with the higher number of 260,000, New Orleans sits atop the murder rate list with a rate of 80 murders per 100,000 residents.

In fact, if you use the year end population of 300,000, New Orleans still is atop the above list with a murder rate of 70.

Another important note: the above list is not the top 10 murder rates in the country going by the FBI numbers. I am using the cities with the top 10 total murders and reordering them according to their murder rates. I do this because the total amount of murders is a concrete number, a “real” number. It doesn’t change when you factor in percentages. If 209 people are violently killed in your city, 209 people are dead whether you divide it by the total population or not.

Here are the cities with the top ten murder rates in 2007 (going by official US Census numbers):

1. New Orleans, LA – 95 (pop. 220,614)
2. Gary, IN – 73 (pop. 97,048)
3. Richmond, CA – 46 (pop. 102,471)
4. Baltimore, MD – 45 (pop. 624,237)
5. Detroit, MI – 44 (pop. 860,971)
6. St. Louis, MO – 40 (pop. 348,197)
7. Birmingham, AL – 38 (pop. 227,686)
8. Newark, NJ – 37 (pop. 280,158)
9. Baton Rouge – 31 (pop. 228,446)
10. Oakland, CA – 30 (pop. 396,541)

One more thing. If you use New Orleans' population before the storm of 454,000 with 2007’s murder count of 209, we get a murder rate of 46. That would have still put New Orleans tied with Richmond, CA, at #2 on the top 10 murder rate list.

My point: the murder rate is really high in New Orleans. It’s a problem, no matter what population numbers you use.

The FBI numbers I used can be found here.

Anything change while I was gone?

2008-06-15T11:22:00.001-05:00

posted by m.d.

Okay, I think I’m back. Let’s see if I can post regularly again.

I’ll start off with an easy one:

The deputies and Drug Enforcement Agency special agents got permission to search the car, and a drug sniffing dog alerted them to the car's passenger side. The occupants were ordered out of the car, and patted down. During the pat-down, the U.S. Attorney's Office says, officers felt a large, hard object in the pants area on Keys.

Ashley Morris: the man

2008-04-03T22:33:00.008-05:00

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

2008-01-27T19:01:00.000-06:00

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?

2008-01-27T10:14:00.001-06:00

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

2008-01-25T21:53:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-20T10:35:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

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

Last Murder Victim of 2007

2008-01-18T00:03:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-13T09:49:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

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

The Mayor Is Wearing No Costume

2008-01-10T23:24:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-10T23:09:00.000-06:00

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.

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

Black and White

2008-01-08T22:44:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

New Orleans public school enrollment numbers as of Oct 2007:

Recovery School District (RSD) – 11,608 students
97.49% black
0.56% white

RSD Charter Schools
UNO - New Beginnings Schools Foundation – 886 students
98.42% black
0.23% white

New Orleans College Preparatory Academies – 120 students
99.17% black
0.00% white

Esperanza Charter School Association ¬– 322 students
50.00% Hispanic
48.45% black
1.55% white

NOLA 180 – 119 students
99.16% black
0.00% white

Broadmoor Charter School Board – 341 students
97.95% black
0.88% white

Pelican Education Foundation – 445 students
95.51% black
0.67% white

Dryades YMCA – 701 students
99.43% black
0.00% white

Friends of King – 554 students
100.00% black
0.00% white

New Orleans Charter School Foundation – 595 students
97.48% black
1.01% white

Choice Foundation – 613 students
98.21% black
1.79% white

Treme Charter Schools Association – 473 students
100.00% black
0.00% white

Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA) – 3,472 students
96.37% black
0.52% white

SUNO Institute for Academic Excellence – 320 students
96.88% black
1.25% white

Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) N.O. – 712 students
95.79% black
3.37% white

Middle School Advocates, Inc. – 367 students
98.64% black
0.82% white

RSD & RSD Charter Total – 21,648 students
96.76% black
0.67% white

Type 2 Charter Schools
International School of Louisiana – 452 students
46.46% black
27.43% white
24.34% Hispanic

Milestone/SABIS – 330 students
97.58% black
0.00% white

Orleans Parish & OPSB Charter Schools – 9,719 students
75.89% black
15.40% white
6.03% Asian
2.57% Hispanic

All New Orleans Public Schools – 32,149 students
28,855 black students (89.75%)
1,765 white students (5.49%)

It’s Hard Not To Be Morose

2008-01-06T14:31:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

Six days, five murders in New Orleans. All shot.

Also, two non-fatal shootings. One is not life threatening. One victim was in critical condition.

A year later, and we are still on our bloodied knees.

Once again, the murder rate is not a blip.

In decidedly less morose news, I can start eating king cakes again. As of last year, and with the demise of McKenzie’s, my favorite king cakes come from Hi-Do Bakery on Terry Parkway in beautiful downtown Terrytown.

And, yes, this post contained murders and king cakes in it.

Sunday Morning Bob Marley

2008-01-06T00:32:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

Said I'm a living man.
I've got work to do.

I Don't Care Much For Politicians

2008-01-05T22:23:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

But it worries me when they leave office to become Washington lobbyists, as Representative Richard Baker is considering:

In an interview, Baker said he will enter into talks with the Managed Funds Association, the Washington trade group representing the $1.8 trillion hedge fund industry. He said he could decide within "a week or ten days" whether he will take a job as president and chief administrative officer.

***

If he takes the job, Baker said he could step down by early February. His departure would be the latest in a sudden exodus from Capitol Hill of Louisiana lawmakers.

From MFA’s website, emphasis mine:

MFA meets regularly with policy makers and their staff. To date MFA has met with more than 140 Members of Congress and staff.

MFA testifies at hearings on Capitol Hill on a variety of issues, including systemic risk, pensions, and taxation:

March 13, 2007—MFA Director and Clinton Group Founder and CEO George Hall, MFA Member and Taconic Capital Advisors Co-Founder and Principal Kenneth D. Brody, and MFA Member and Kynikos Associates Founder and President James S. Chanos testified before the House Financial Services Committee for a hearing entitled “Hedge Funds and Systemic Risk in the Financial Markets.”

From Baker’s bio page, emphasis mine:

Baker also serves as a longstanding member of the House Financial Services Committee, where he is widely viewed as an expert on capital markets, insurance, and housing finance.

I know Baker filed some papers under the new Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. But, what about the one year cooling-off part?

MEMBERS AND OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES- (i) Any person who is a Member of the House of Representatives or an elected officer of the House of Representatives and who, within 1 year after that person leaves office, knowingly makes, with the intent to influence, any communication to or appearance before any of the persons described in clause (ii) or (iii), on behalf of any other person (except the United States) in connection with any matter on which such former Member of Congress or elected officer seeks action by a Member, officer, or employee of either House of Congress, in his or her official capacity, shall be punished as provided in section 216 of this title.

`(ii) The persons referred to in clause (i) with respect to appearances or communications by a former Member of the House of Representatives are any Member, officer, or employee of either House of Congress and any employee of any other legislative office of the Congress.

If he takes the job, whom would Baker lobby if not a “Member, officer, or employee of either House of Congress and any employee of any other legislative office of the Congress?”

Oh.

Although former lawmakers cannot lobby members of Congress or their staff, they can lobby executive branch officials and direct a firm's congressional lobbying efforts.

"It's a completely ineffectual restriction on the revolving door," said Craig Holman of the left-leaning watchdog group Public Citizen, which found that 18 members of Congress who left office in 2004 had lobbying jobs by July 2005.

That commentary was given before the final passage, though I believe it applies.

Baker is also Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment, which holds jurisdiction over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wetlands projects.

Yey, hedge funds.

The Skeletons of New Orleans

2008-01-05T13:02:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

Parts of New Orleans were abandoned before the storm:

The Orleans Parish coroner's office is seeking the identity of a person whose skeletal remains were found by workers in the unoccupied C.J. Peete public housing complex Friday morning.

***

The body was in an area where people apparently had taken up residence though the complex had been closed since before Katrina and was fenced in. There were blankets, food, a place where fires probably had been made, and an ice chest.

Related – two homeless people freeze to death.

A commenter on nola.com regarding the homeless deaths:

The freeze did not kill these people. Their decision to not accept shelter killed them.

Now the TP writer is putting freeze in the same class as guns and SUVs. They all need human participation to become lethal.

Freezing temperatures do not kill people. Human participation in freezing temperatures kills people.

The world keeps giving me more to think about.

Four Days into 2008, Two Murders

2008-01-04T12:48:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

First murdered person this year, shot and then burned. He had “RIP” tattooed on his arm.

The second, shot near his home in Algiers.

The violence continues at the same rate as last year – a murder every other day.

New Orleans Post-Katrina Murder Rate

The higher murder rate post-Katrina is not a blip, nor is it made up of a series of blips. It has been consistent.

Looking at NOPD numbers for 2006 and my count for 2007, we can see this in the quarterly results:

2006 Jan – Jun: 17 murders
2006 Apr – Jun: 38
2006 Jul – Sep: 53
2006 Oct – Dec: 53*

2007 Jan – Mar: 48
2007 Apr – Jun: 50
2007 Jul – Sep: 53
2007 Oct – Dec: 55

The population of New Orleans was still recovering through the first half of 2006, so the number of murders were thankfully lower. In July, the U.S. Census had the city’s population at 223,000.

To calculate the murder rate, you take murders per 365 days. Then, divide the population by 100,000 (murders per 100,000 residents). Now, divide the murders-per-365-days by the population-divided-by-100,000.

There have been 367 murders in 730 days (2 years), which is equal to 183 murders in 365 days.

Using today’s estimated population of 300,000 – which is high for 2006 through the first months of 2007 – I get a murder rate of 61 murders per 100,000 residents in the City of New Orleans in the first two years after Katrina. Using higher population numbers makes the murder count lower. But there is nothing low about a murder rate of 61.

And from July 2006 to the end of 2007, the quarterly (3 months) number of murders stays consistently around the average of 51, even with more people moving into New Orleans. What that suggests to me is that the people moving here are not killing anyone.

I want to say it could mean law enforcement tactics are starting to work because the numbers of murders are not going up with the growing population. But the murder rate is too high to say that anything in the criminal justice system is “working.”

It does support law enforcers’ claim that a small group of the usual suspects are causing all the violent crime problems, as was made in August 2007:

There have been more than ten shootings in the last five days, five of them fatal – and NOPD Sergeant Joe Narcisse said past trends reveal the same suspects.

"We have a small group of individuals that are committing most of the crimes, they are responsible for a large portion of the actual crimes that happen here in our city."

If that is true, then we need to put most of our resources into the area where this small group of individuals operates – and I don’t mean more police.

I’m talking more recovery resources. I’m talking CDBG money. I’m talking new schools, new community centers, new housing, new roads, new businesses.

That's it.

***

*I count one more than the NOPD because they count the last murder in 2006 as a 2007 murder. And for 2007, the NOPD count is three higher (209) than mine (206). I have not found a media report for the three I don’t count. Possibly, the murder I count in 2006 is one of the three 2007 murders I don't have.

Who Was Murdered in 2007

2008-01-02T22:45:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

They were mostly men.

Of the 206 New Orleans murders in 2007 that I could find reported on in the media, 188 were men, 16 were women. I could not identify two people’s gender. At least 91% of the people killed were men.

They were mostly under 30.

The average age of a person murdered was 28.

22.8% (47) were under 21 years old.
23.7% (49) were 21 – 25.
17.9% (37) were 26 – 30.

That makes 64.5% (133) of those murdered 30 years old or younger.

They were mostly shot.

194 were shot. 94% were killed by a bullet.

Race?

I don’t know. The media generally does not print the race of the murder victims. NOPD press releases gave the race at the beginning of the year, but quickly stopped. Of the few they printed, they were mostly black. Based on personal experience as a news photographer, my guess is that "mostly black" is accurate all the murders. But, I can not back that up with facts.

When I started as a freshman at Jesuit High School, I was 13 years old (I have a late birthday). I was 17 when I graduated. A lot of my friends were 18. So, high school age is from 13 to 18.

25 murder victims were 15 to 18 years old – high school age. That’s a classroom full of teenagers who died instead of graduating high school. 24 were young men.

Did they ever have a chance? I wonder if they sensed that they had lived half their lives or more when they turned nine. I am in my thirties and I expect to live another thirty.

Then again, to quote a recent commenter on a previous post: “Damn life really aint promised.”

The Parish Line

2008-01-01T14:40:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

The NOPD says 209 people were murdered in New Orleans in 2007. I found 206 media reports of murders in 2007. For the rest of this post, I will use my numbers because I know where they came from.

In Jefferson Parish, the Sheriff’s Office reports 30 murders through September. In this December 28 T-P article, JPSO says there were 44 murders in unincorporated Jefferson Parish in 2007. I found 13 murders in October, November, and December on the JP Crime Tracker map. Add the Dec 28 murder, and that adds up to 44 in 2007.

Kenner PD says there were 9 murders or non-negligent manslaughters through October there. I can find 8 media reports or KPD press releases for murders in the same period. Since I am not sure if there was one non-negligent manslaughter, I will only count 8. I found one more media report of a murder in Kenner in November, which makes 9 total in 2007.

I know of two in Gretna. I believe there were none in the other JP cities.

That makes at least 55 murders in Jefferson Parish.

206 in New Orleans. 55 in Jefferson Parish. That’s a big difference.

Here’s a bigger difference. New Orleans has an estimated population of around 300,000. Jefferson Parish has about 445,000 people in it (98% of pre-Katrina).

206 murders with 300,000 people equals a murder rate of 68 murders per 100,000 people.

55 murders with 445,000 people equals a murder rate of 12 murders per 100,000 people.

That's a big difference.

The combined rate is better – 261 murders with 745,000 people equals a murder rate of 35 murders per 100,000 people. But, it masks the problems in the New Orleans if you combine them. Geographically, only a parish line divides New Orleans and Jefferson Parish. There should not be this big a difference.

Official numbers will come out later this year. There might be more murders in Jefferson Parish than I am counting, but not enough to catch up to New Orleans.

Graphing the murders in JP and NOLA by month using my numbers, the second half of the year stands out. When murders went down in New Orleans, they went up in JP, and vice versa.
I’ll have to think about what that means.

Goodbye, 2007

2008-01-01T11:15:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

In 2007, there were at least 206 murders in New Orleans. That’s a murder every 1.7 days – basically, a murder every other day. In a city of 300,000 people, that is a murder rate of 68 murders per 100,000 residents.

On at least 147 days in 2007, a person – or more than one person – died a violent death on the streets of New Orleans.

We here about most of their deaths, but we don’t hear many of their names. Here are their names, or at least as many as I could find:

Corey Hayes
Cedric Johnson
Hilary Campbell Jr.
Randall Thomas
Kevin Williams
Helen Hill
Jealina Brown
Steve Blair
Jeffery Santos
Chivas Doyle
Christopher Ruth
Tyrone Andrew Johnson
Ronald Holmes
James McGittigan Jr.
Roy Warner Jr.
Eldon Gaddis
David Crater
Daniel Allen
Chrishondolaye Lamothe
Tamara Gabriel
Robert Dawson
Michael Dunbar
Damon Brooks
Ivan Brooks
Alden Wright
Harrison Miller
Roy Grant
David Cagnalatti
Lionel Ware III
Aaron Allen
Josh Rodrigue
Herbert Preston
Byron Love
Ronnie Keelen
Mitchell Pierce
Kevin Pham
Kevana Price
Warren Thompson
Glynn Francois Jr.
Sean Robinson
Larry Ramee III
Warren Simpson
Antoine Williams
Terry Despenza
Eldridge Ellis
Travis Johnson
Phillip R. Boykins
Charley Zeno
Carl Anthony McLendon
Terry Brock
Cleveland Daniels
Alexander Williams
Terry Hall
Dominic Bell
Gregory Singleton
Damont Jenkins
Troy Thomas
Artherine Williams
Keith Moore
Nicholas Smith
Eligio Bismark Espinoza
Daniel L. Prieto
Curtis Helms Jr.
Troy Dent
Curtis Brenson
Michael Combs
Jay Landers
Mark Oneal
Corey Coleman
Emanuel Gardner
Edward Charles Balser
Arthur Dowell
Montrell Faulkin
Anthony Placide
Ernest Williams
Harry Heinzt Jr.
Robert Billiot
Willie Simmons
Tammie Johnson
Larry Hawkins
Terrell Ceazer
George Hammond
Persale R. Green
Joseph Magee
Albert Phillips
Samuel Gonzales
Darryl Williams
Robin Malta
Jason Wynne
Jerrell Jackson
Christopher Roberts
Samuel Williams Jr.
Jeremy Tillman
Jennifer Williams
Gary Walls
Arthur Jackson IV
Henry Newman
Johnny Martin III
Travan Coates
Jeffery Tate
Jerome Banks
Eric Fobbs
Keith Page
Adrian Davis
Paul Burks
Leon Williams Jr.
Dallas Jerome
James Johnson
Anthony White
Dellshea LeBlanc
John W. Barrow III
Kevin Underwood
Pablo Mejia Jr.
unidentified man
Thomas Jackson
unidentified man
Demond Phillips
Michael Phillips
Luong Nguyen
Anjelique Vu
Terry Johnson
Chauncy Smith
Cornelius Curry
Nia Robertson
Kadeem Wise
Percy Read
Freddie Davis II
Edwin Stuart
Corwin Shaffer
Julio Benitez-Cruz
Wilford Holmes
Perry L. Oliver
Donald Gullage
Kong Kham Vongvilay
Wisan Inthamat
Boon Roopmoh
Louis Heim
Brandon Snowton
Carnell Wallis
Thomas Dominick
Larry Gooden
Gerald Howard
Larry Butler Jr.
Phillip A. Carmouche Jr.
unidentified man
Aaron Harvey
Mario Anthony Green
Jason Snyder
Perry Watts
Lionel J. Hills
Warren Martin
Dwayne Landry
Don Smith
Demetrius Gooden
Townsend Bennett
unidentified man
Thelonius Dukes
Gregory Hayes
Charles Miller
Eddie Bernard
unidentified man
Carmen Leona Reese
Cedrick Brooks
Waldon Howard
unidentified man
Antwon McGee
Jason Anderson
Archie Solet
Shana Thomas
Brian Lee
David Bryan Alford Jr.
Brett Jason Jacobs
Howard Pickens
Darryl Daggons
Matthew Qualls
Aubrey Powell
John Batiste
Toran Landry
Anthony Walker
Lester Denis
Cardero Davis
Javier Sanchez
Julian Mathins
Theodore J. Leach
Daniel Baham
Jubbar Scott
Tyrone Lanaux Jr.
Andre Toussaint
Eddie Spiller
Carlos Miller
Sheldon Dean
Rigoberto Dominguez
Angela Thomas Bryant
Brandon Brown
Jermaine Turner
Alejandro Pecina Ruiz
George Hankton III
Aaron Williams
Frank Whittington
unidentified person
Jesse Jones
Chanell Sanchell
James Jones
Wendell Millro
Elizabeth Chapman
Clayton Johnson Jr.

I write “at least” for my numbers because I am only counting murders I can find reported on in the media. I believe the NOPD official number is higher than mine at 209.

I Think I See the Problem

2007-11-09T00:03:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

From the T-P:

Six bank accounts belonging to the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office were frozen Thursday by a court order seeking payment for the $3.4 million judgment brought on by former DA Eddie Jordan's firing of scores of white employees in 2003.

The new D.A.:

In fact, just yesterday I met with the Mayor, City Council, business community, and other community leaders to provide a detailed analysis along with potential plans for finding a win-win solution.

The Mayor:

I have met with the new DA, members of City Council, business and community leaders to fully analyze the financial impact of the Federal judgment against the District Attorney's Office and to evaluate the steps needed to avoid a disruption in our criminal justice system.

Is any one talking to the plaintiffs’ attorneys?

Comparing Disasters

2007-11-06T11:49:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

It looks like Katrina in Mexico, except for one thing:

Images of filthy water engulfing Mexico's southern city as residents clung to the rooftops were reminiscent of the flooding that devastated New Orleans in 2005. But in the desolation of Villahermosa, there has been no widespread breakdown in law and order or four-figure death tolls. On the contrary, observers here say that Mexico's rapid response to its worst flooding in recent history was a factor in averting a catastrophe on the level of Katrina.

***

"You never felt that the government had totally disappeared even though our homes and city had been destroyed. You saw that officials were here and some help was coming in," said Javier Mendoza, 43, who fled his house with his family of eight on a navy boat.

The cynic in me wants to say, "Just wait two years."

NOLA's 40+ Under 21

2007-11-06T10:26:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

Not to take anything away from Gambit's 40under40 issue, but there is another 40 list I'd like to point out.

As of today, (at least) 41 people under the age of 21 have been murdered in the city of New Orleans in 2007.

View Larger Map

Just think about it. Instead of going to high school or college, they are dead. Nine in Central City alone.

And going by Greg Rigamer's new population estimates, New Orleans' murder rate for 2007 is 74 murders per 100,000 residents. 182 reported murders to date.

Like Katrina in Mexico

2007-11-04T19:03:00.000-06:00

posted by m.d.

Less lives lost, but it sounds pretty bad:

Rescue workers rushed to pick up victims of a catastrophic flood in the southeastern Mexican state of Tabasco over the weekend, where as many as a million people were reported to be homeless and the state Governor compared his capital, Villahermosa, to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Navy helicopters picked women and children up from the roofs of waterlogged buildings, while rescue workers on the surface helped elderly people into boats. Most able-bodied adults swam or waded through the filthy flood waters, which rose to four feet or more in the streets of the capital.

City of Souls

2007-11-01T23:40:00.000-05:00

posted by m.d.

October was a deadly month. 31 days. 26 murders.

Nothing is changing.

One day into November, one murder.

As of November 1, 2007, 305 days into the year, 179 human beings have died a violent death on the streets of New Orleans. All but eight were shot. All but 13 were men. The average age of the murdered was 28. Almost two thirds were under 30.

If nothing changes – and nothing has – 2007 will end with 214 murders. That’s a murder every 1.4 days – almost a murder every day and a half. In a city of 300,000 people, this comes to a murder rate of 71 murders per 100,000 residents.

October:

Dwayne Landry, 25
Don Smith, 45
Demetrius Gooden, 33
Townsend Bennett, 23
unidentified man, 37
Gregory Hayes, 18
Charles Miller, 19
Eddie Bernard, 23
unidentified man
Carmen Leona Reese, 18
Cedrick Brooks, 32
Waldon Howard, 19
unidentified man
Antwon McGee, 22
Jason Anderson, 27
Archie Solet, 32
Shana Thomas, 23
Brian Lee, 16
David Bryan Alford Jr., 21
Brett Jason Jacobs, 25
Howard Pickens, 51
Darryl Daggons, 40
Matthew Qualls, 27
unidentified man
unidentified man
Toran Landry, 25
Anthony Walker, 28

We Will Not Be Protected from a Hurricane Four Times More Likely to Hit Us than Katrina until 2011

2007-10-29T09:56:00.000-05:00

posted by m.d.

CORRECTION: The original title was wrong, as pointed out by mominem in comments. It said: "We Will Not Be Protected from a Hurricane 25% as Strong as Katrina until 2011." A 100-year storm is four times more likley to come in any year (if my math is correct here) than a 400-year storm. But, not necessarily 25% as strong. I hate being wrong. The following info is still worthwhile, however.

If that:

Dozens of construction projects launched by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect the New Orleans region from the most catastrophic floods are behind schedule by an average of nearly eight months, an internal audit shows. Local officials are concerned the completion date will have to be pushed back a second time.

***

Local officials worry that the corps now will miss its revised June 2011 deadline for getting the region protected against a 100-year flood — a flood so bad it has only a 1% chance of hitting in any year. The corps pushed back its original January 2010 deadline earlier this year.

Katrina was a 400-year storm. The US Army Corps of Engineers is building a levee system capable of handling a 100-year storm.

I just thought I would point that out to the rest of country.

Our New Governor Speaks Bubba

2007-10-29T09:37:00.000-05:00

posted by m.d.

I don't even speak Bubba:

WALLACE: Governor-Elect Jindal, you ran four years ago and lost in some part because of the discomfort of some people from your state with voting for the son of an Indian immigrant.

This time around there were bumper stickers, Bubbas for Bobby. Can you speak Bubba? And how did you reach out to them? How did you break down the barrier?

JINDAL: Well, two things. I think the reason we lost last time was more of a lack of familiarity. We came out of nowhere in the polls. We were polling at 3 percent when we got in, surprised a lot of people by getting in the runoff, had six weeks to introduce myself to a large portion of our population.

This time, we traveled to every of one of 64 parishes multiple times. We probably traveled and met with more voters than all my opponents combined.

I think once voters got to know who I was beyond what they saw on T.V. and read in the newspapers — they know I'm a fiscal conservative. They know that I'm pro-life, know that I've been endorsed by the NRA.

And Chris Wallace called Jindal "a GOP rock star."

Rock on, Bubba Jindal.

The Black and Gold Worked

2007-10-28T22:28:00.000-05:00

Saints won. Now let's try black and white.

I Am the One in Five

2007-10-28T10:18:00.000-05:00

I didn’t realize I was superstitious until the Kentucky game. And I didn’t realize the role of superstition in my life until the Auburn game.

I walk under ladders. I step on cracks. I curse the gods. I don’t eat black-eyed peas and cabbage on New Year’s Day.

I do or don’t do all these things to prove a point. Superstitions are for the superstitious. Not for me. And if the universe somehow does punish you or reward you for your adherence to superstitious ritual, then I like succeeding with the universe against me. And what better excuse for the occasional failure than “I was battling the universe. What do you expect?”

Though I am okay with what the Fates might have planned for me, I realized a couple weeks ago that I am not okay with my actions stepping on the happiness of others.

Before this year’s LSU/Kentucky game, I wore my LSU 2005 Championship t-shirt for every game. I didn’t really do it for superstition. It’s the only LSU shirt I have that fits me.

But, the day of the game, I had some friends over. We started the partying early, and when the evening game started, I just wore whatever I had been wearing all day. And LSU lost.

I needed an explanation for what happened. Why? Why Kentucky? LSU played good enough to win. How could they lose? What was different?

The shirt. I didn’t have the shirt on. My choice of apparel doomed my team.

Did it really? Doesn’t matter. Superstition exists because it served a purpose at some point in humanity’s social and biological evolution. Who am I to deny that which made me human?

So, the Auburn game comes along – another evening game. It is also election day, and, as a news person, I have to work. Guess what: I forget to wear the t-shirt again.

Before the game, I call my wife from work and tell her that she or my son – somebody – must wear the t-shirt. I or my family can not be blamed for destroying LSU’s championship hopes.

Confident that the Fates will be satisfied with my game day audible, I continue about my work. My job is to coordinate three live shots at the candidates’ headquarters by phone. I stay on the phone the entire night. There’s three problems with that:

1) I can’t hear. My right ear is worse than my left ear, which isn’t that great. And I really can’t hear on the phone, especially with all the background noise at the candidates’ headquarters, including some very loud congos at one of them. This resulted in quite a few exchanges like this: “What? Say it again. I can’t hear you. Huh? Nevermind.”

2) I pace around when I am on the phone. This is not good when using a phone with a cord. Fortunately, nothing expensive got knocked over.

3) One of the monitors in the control room was set to the LSU game. I could see them losing, which increased both my difficulty in hearing the live shots due to the distraction and increased my pacing due to the anxiety. (An aside: Patrick Swayze’s Roadhouse was on another monitor and a lot of us found ourselves watching it. Strange.)

LSU was losing. I didn’t understand. My wife was wearing the t-shirt. Universe, what more do you want?

I later learned that my wife forgot to put on the t-shirt, until the fourth quarter. She told me that she put the shirt on, and LSU then score a touchdown to go ahead. They fell behind briefly, and then the crazy touchdown pass with one second left. And the shirt was on.

A few days after, I read about this poll that says one in five sports fans have some superstitious ritual they perform for their team to win. While I am not superstitious in general, I am now the one in five. Until it doesn’t work anymore.

Also, since I can’t decide on a color scheme for my blog, I will travel the superstitious route and go with my team-of-the-day’s colors. Go Saints.

A Response Like No Other

2007-10-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

I have worked in the TV news business for almost eight years. In that time, I have never seen a staged press conference like FEMA put on Tuesday:

FEMA announced the news conference at its Southwest Washington headquarters about 15 minutes before it was to begin Tuesday afternoon, making it unlikely that reporters could attend. Instead, FEMA set up a telephone conference line so reporters could listen.

In the briefing, parts of which were televised live by cable news channels, [FEMA's deputy administrator Harvey] Johnson stood behind a lectern, called on questioners who did not disclose that they were FEMA employees, and gave replies emphasizing that his agency's response to this week's California wildfires was far better than its response to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

A press conference is itself a staged event, completely controlled by the people standing behind the podium. They choose the topic, they choose who to let in, they choose who may ask questions, and they even choose which questions will be answered.

But, at least the reporters who ask questions at a press conference don’t already know the answers. They are truly seeking information they don’t have. And, as that information is revealed question by question, answer by answer, it always leads to new questions, and eventually – in theory – leads to the story which must be told.

Those FEMA employees were asking questions that *they already knew the answers to*. Despite their noble intentions, they were doing no more than acting.

Then there’s this:

FEMA employees posed as reporters while real reporters listened on a telephone conference line and were barred from asking questions.

The reporters could not ask questions on the conference call? Does FEMA’s Southwest Washington headquarters not have a speaker phone? A simple email could have gotten the same information out, without the pretend questions.

I can only assume that FEMA’s purpose for the fake press conference – you can not have a real “press” conference without the press there – was for public relations. They wanted the public to see them doing a press conference. A simple email would not have accomplished this.

Why do this? If FEMA’s purpose is to clean their reputation after a disastrous disaster response to Katrina, then an effective response to the wildfires will not do it. With all respect and due empathy to the Southern Californians whose lives have been altered by the fires, the comparisons to Katrina are cosmetic, just like FEMA’s fake press conference. The wildfires are their own disaster, not another Katrina.

The numbers just don’t reach Katrina proportions. This example does it for me: As of last night, more than 1,800 homes were destroyed by the wildfires. As of last night, more than two years after Katrina, there are still more than 1,800 hurricane-damaged homes in New Orleans yet to be demolished.

If you want to know more about FEMA's response like no other, they have a page on their website.

ADDED: While that one statistic does it for me, if you need more, the T-P has it.

Fun with Colors

2007-10-23T00:34:00.001-05:00

...and fun with two sidebars.

The Mayor on the Pace of Recovery

2007-10-05T09:29:00.000-05:00

Comments made yesterday by Mayor Nagin on ABC26 News, 3 minutes 11 seconds into the video:

Well, you know, on a scale of 1 to 10, I think it is a six or a seven. It’s been hard. It’s been difficult. The dollars we thought we were going to get were slow to come. A lot of businesses and projects we thought we would move were hindered by insurance costs that are here.

I think that we are seeing the corner. We just haven’t turned it yet. Because the population continues to grow, we continue to improve on certain city functions everyday, and it’s just part of this long road that we’re on.

Link to video in Windows Media Player.

Link to ABC26 News website.

More Boots on the Streets

2007-10-02T11:25:00.000-05:00

Actually, the same amount of boots. They will just be out there longer, wearing out their soles a little more:

Starting this week, uniformed officers in most New Orleans police districts will be on duty 12 hours a day, five days a week.

The move to 60-hour workweeks, proposed last month by Police Superintendent Warren Riley, means more officers will be on the street to battle the city's seemingly intractable violent-crime problem. The mandatory overtime shifts, opposed by two of the city's largest police associations, are scheduled to end at the close of the year.

The overtime patrols will be in five districts only: 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th. These districts are the most violent districts. 136 murders out of the 151 murders in New Orleans this year (that I have counted going by media reports) occurred in these five districts.

Here’s the murder breakdown by district:

1st – 31 murders
2nd – 17 murders
3rd – 2 murders
4th – 13 murders
5th – 35 murders
6th – 27 murders
7th – 26 murders
8th – 0 murders

September had 13 murders by my count. That is the lowest number since February, which also had 13 murders (by my count). Interestingly, none of murders were in the 1st District, which has one of the highest totals for the year (31). There were six murders in August in the 1st District. I hope that is a sign of positive things to come.

At the end of the third quarter of 2007, I count 151 murders this year in the city of New Orleans. In a city with a population of 300,000, that comes to a murder rate of 67 murders per 100,000 residents. We are averaging a murder every 1.8 days, basically a murder every other day. We are on track for 201 murders by the end of the year. If nothing changes, 50 more human beings will die a violent death on the streets of New Orleans. Most of those who die will be black men under thirty, shot to death.

Even with two of the lowest monthly totals for the year, the third quarter still had more murders than the first or second quarters:

First Quarter – 48 murders
*Jan – 17
*Feb – 13
*Mar – 18

Second Quarter – 50 murders
*Apr – 15
*May – 15
*Jun – 20

Third Quarter – 53 murders
*Jul – 14
*Aug – 26
*Sep – 13

My numbers differ from the NOPD’s official numbers because the NOPD records a murder in the month that the victim dies. If a person is shot in February but dies in March, the NOPD records it as a March murder. I count it as a February murder.

Also, I count murders solely by media reports. If a murder has not been reported by the media, I don’t know about it. For example, the T-P article says there were 29 murders in August. I know one June victim died in August, so the NOPD would count that as an August murder. However, I can not find media reports on the other two murders. I can not count them if I have no evidence to cite.

Therefore, my count should be considered the lowest count possible. There are “at least” 151 murders in New Orleans this year. Unfortunately, there might be more that I don’t know about.

The Projects

2007-09-29T09:46:00.000-05:00

HUD says HANO can demolish four housing developments in New Orleans:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees HANO, announced that it had approved the application for demolition of 4,500 units of the aging brick buildings that have housed the city's poor for more than a half century.

Within two to three months, wrecking crews will descend upon the so-called "Big Four" developments: C.J. Peete in Central City, St. Bernard in the 7th Ward, B.W. Cooper off Earhart Boulevard, and Lafitte, which borders Treme.

Mixed-income housing, along the lines of River Garden, will replace the four housing developments. As HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said in November 2005, “We are not going to build traditional public housing anymore.”

In New Orleans, when you tear down a building, you are never just tearing down a building. Let’s see exactly how we built “traditional public housing” in New Orleans.

Lafitte Housing Development, built in 1941:

B.W. Cooper Housing Development, first phase (red) built in 1941, second phase (pink) in 1954:

C.J. Peete Housing Development, first phase (red) built in 1941, second phase (demolished in 2004) in 1955:

St. Bernard Housing Development, first phase (red) built in 1942, second phase (pink) built in 1943:

Iberville Housing Development, built in 1941, but not set for demolition:

Notice the layout of the first phases of the housing developments built in the 40s. The New York Times noticed in November 2006:

Built at the height of the New Deal, the city’s public housing projects have little in common with the dehumanizing superblocks and grim plazas that have long been an emblem of urban poverty. Modestly scaled, they include some of the best public housing built in the United States.

***

But if the sight of workers dynamiting an abandoned housing complex was a cause for celebration in Chicago’s North Side, the notion is stupefying in New Orleans, whose public housing embodies many of those same New Urbanist ideals: pedestrian friendly environments whose pitched roofs, shallow porches and wrought iron rails have as much to do with 19th-century historical precedents as with late Modernism.

More specifically, they were inspired by local developments such as the 1850s Pontalba Apartments and late-19th “Garden City” proposals, whose winding tree-lined streets and open green spaces were seen as an antidote to the filth and congestion of the industrial city.

The low red-brick housing blocks of the Lafitte Avenue project, in the historically black neighborhood of Treme, for example, are scaled to fit within the surrounding neighborhood of Creole cottages and shotgun houses. To lessen the sense of isolation, the architects extended the surrounding street grid through the site with a mix of roadways and pedestrian paths. As you move deeper into the complex, the buildings frame a series of communal courtyards sheltered by the canopies of enormous oak trees. Nature, here, was intended to foster spiritual as well as physical well being.

That care was reflected in the quality of construction as well. Solidly built, the buildings’ detailed brickwork, tile roofs and wrought-iron balustrades represent a level of craft more likely found on an Ivy League campus than in a contemporary public housing complex.

They would be almost impossible to reproduce in the kind of bottom-line developments that have become the norm.

The second phases, and the housing developments constructed after the 40s, do not embody those New Urbanist ideals quite as much in their layouts. Wanting to change that, HUD and HANO demolished some public housing and rebuilt it based on some of those ideals.

St. Thomas Housing Development, now River Garden:

The St. Thomas, built in 1941, was a contemporary development with the first phases of the four set for demolition. I can not find a map of the original development online. I assume its layout was similar to its contemporary developments. If so, the new River Garden as a housing development looks less appealing from above than the courtyards and walkways of the 1940s developments.

Desire Housing Development, now the New Desire; the Google map is old but you can see the layout of the new development:

Fischer Housing Development, the old high rise was demolished for the new Fischer homes (yellow) and the old Fischer low-rise complex (blue) is still there – once again, the Google map is old but you can see the layout:

Guste Housing Development, the new Guste homes (yellow) and old complex (blue), including the high rise – once again, old pics:

Why do I point this out? In another article written in February 2007, the NY Times explains:

The housing agencies’ tabula rasa planning mentality recalls the worst aspects of the postwar Modernist agenda, which substituted a suburban model of homogeneity for an urban one of diversity. The proposal for “traditional-style” pastel houses, set in neat little rows on uniform lots, is a model of conformity that attacks the idea of the city as a place where competing values coexist.

This is reinforced by the plan’s tendency to isolate the new housing from the rest of the city. Often arranged along dead-end cul-de-sacs, the proposed developments lack the mix of big and small buildings, residential apartments and retail shops that could weave them into the surrounding urban fabric.

The point is not to return people to the same housing conditions that existed before Hurricane Katrina, but to distinguish between failures of social policy and design policy. Architects can’t determine the economic mix of residents in public housing developments nor provide education and health services. Their job is to give physical form to social and cultural values.

New buildings alone will not accomplish the mixed-income housing that HUD desires. And new buildings aren't automatically better than the old ones.

If anything, the sturdy period construction of the older projects are the neighborhoods’ biggest asset. Like the old warehouses that attracted residents to the Warehouse District, so, too, could the older and better-planned projects, once renovated and modernized, possibly attract new residents and certainly could adequately house former residents.

If HUD wants to tear down anything, it could focus on the blighted housing scattered throughout the city. A lot of that existed before the storm. HUD could demolish those buildings and put up as many pastel-colored houses as it wants, at the same time contributing to the recovery of various neighborhoods by removing rundown property and replacing it with new development.

"Traditional public housing" in New Orleans is worth saving. A different issue is how public housing is traditionally managed in New Orleans. That is what needs to be changed.

[ADDED] Clay in the comments offers up this related link.

On Deuce

2007-09-25T19:07:00.000-05:00

The man hustled off the field last night with a torn ACL. I saw footage of his first ACL tear on the news today. He hustled off the field then, too.

With Deuce gone, the Saints are down more than just their best player.

The Librarian on Deuce’s replacement:

This inevitably means that we'll be watching Saints corporate spokesmodel Reggie Bush attempt to carry more of the rushing load. Last night, Bush carried 7 times for 15 yards and dropped a pass in the endzone.

Via Humid Haney, what Deuce’s replacement thinks the Saints need to do to make the playoffs:

Bush already has that answer.

"We can either go left or right," he said. "We have to make a choice."

Tellingly, Deuce’s replacement left out “straight” as one of the team’s options, as in straight down the field where the endzone is located.

Run straight, Reggie. Like Deuce.

Maybe I need to Give K-Ville Another Chance

2007-09-24T13:04:00.000-05:00

Add some machine guns, and this sounds like a plot element:

New Orleans police were chasing two men about 3 p.m. when the men jumped into the waterway at the Interstate 510 (Paris Road) bridge, said Sabrina Richardson, a public information officer for police.

Police took one man into custody. But the other man was not seen again, and police and the Coast Guard launched a search, including a Coast Guard helicopter.

I won't have a final opinion on K-Ville until the character of the Mayor is introduced. Then I will know if I can watch it again.

In Our Own Small Way...

2007-09-24T09:35:00.000-05:00

Rising Tide II and a few bloggers contributed to the first line in this NY Times article:

The schools here have fresh paint, the bathroom stalls have doors, the library at the largest high school has books again and the angry demonstrations that met last school year’s chaotic opening have not been repeated.

We may not have painted the entire school, but the trim on the third floor halls of A.P. Tureaud is pretty shades of blue because a few of you showed up.

Showing up is half the battle. (According to GI Joe, knowing is the other half. I would say showing up is the tougher half.)

ADDED: Front page, no less.

Nagin Annouces Future Location of Storm Shelters

2007-09-22T08:51:00.000-05:00

Just outside Dallas, TX:

Records show the mayor bought a 1,700-square-foot townhouse in Frisco, about 25 miles north of Dallas. Sales prices are not public records in Texas, but the developer's Web site shows that models like the one purchased by Nagin start at just less than $200,000. The Nagins took out a mortgage for $157,490, records show.

Nagin declined Friday to comment on the purchase, calling it a "personal investment."

Last year, Nagin acknowledged that he was investigating a piece of real estate in the Dallas area, where his wife has relatives.

"If I buy it, it will be like a second hurricane home," he said then, calling the property "a little two-bedroom townhome that's very modest."

(actual announcement here)

When We Go Marching In

2007-09-21T22:47:00.000-05:00

Tens of thousands of people marched in Jena Thursday to shine a light on the injustice done to six young men excessively charged, some charged with murder, for beating up a fellow student. Living in an environment that allowed a white-only tree, that called hanging nooses in that tree a prank, that allowed the DA to intimidate students and discourage them from speaking out about those nooses and that tree, that allowed white students to batter and threaten black students – possibly with a weapon – and not be similarly charged, the Jena Six deserved the attention of the marchers.

Countrymen and women, meet another group that deserves your attention. Meet the NOLA 148 and growing:

Corey Hayes, Cedric Johnson, Hilary Campbell Jr., Randall Thomas, Kevin Williams, Helen Hill, Jealina Brown, Steve Blair, Jeffery Santos, Chivas Doyle, Christopher Ruth, Tyrone Andrew Johnson, Ronald Holmes, James McGittigan Jr., Roy Warner Jr., Eldon Gaddis, David Crater, Daniel Allen, Chrishondolaye Lamothe, Tamara Gabriel, Robert Dawson, Michael Dunbar, Damon Brooks, Ivan Brooks, Alden Wright, Harrison Miller, Roy Grant, David Cagnalatti, Lionel Ware III, Aaron Allen, Josh Rodrigue, Herbert Preston, Byron Love, Ronnie Keelen, Mitchell Pierce, Kevin Pham, Kevana Price, Warren Thompson, Glynn Francois Jr., Sean Robinson, Larry Ramee III, Warren Simpson, Antoine Williams, Terry Despenza, Eldridge Ellis, Travis Johnson, Phillip R. Boykins, Charley Zeno, Carl Anthony McLendon, Terry Brock, Cleveland Daniels, Alexander Williams, Terry Hall, Dominic Bell, Gregory Singleton, Damont Jenkins, Troy Thomas, Artherine Williams, Keith Moore, Nicholas Smith, Eligio Bismark Espinoza, Daniel L. Prieto, Curtis Helms Jr., Troy Dent, Curtis Brenson, Michael Combs, Jay Landers, Mark Oneal, Corey Coleman, Emanuel Gardner, Edward Charles Balser, Arthur Dowell, Montrell Faulkin, Anthony Placide, Ernest Williams, Harry Heinzt Jr., Robert Billiot, Willie Simmons, Tammie Johnson, Larry Hawkins, Terrell Ceazer, George Hammond, Persale R. Green, Joseph Magee, Albert Phillips, Samuel Gonzales, Darryl Williams, Robin Malta, Jason Wynne, Jerrell Jackson, Christopher Roberts, Samuel Williams Jr., Jeremy Tillman, Jennifer Williams, Gary Walls, Arthur Jackson IV, Henry Newman, Johnny Martin III, Travan Coates, Jeffery Tate, Jerome Banks, Eric Fobbs, Keith Page, Adrian Davis, Paul Burks, Leon Williams Jr., Dallas Jerome, James Johnson, Anthony White, Dellshea LeBlanc, John W. Barrow III, Kevin Underwood, Pablo Mejia Jr., unidentified man, Thomas Jackson, unidentified man, Demond Phillips, Michael Phillips, Luong Nguyen, Anjelique Vu, Terry Johnson, Chauncy Smith, Cornelius Curry, Nia Robertson, Kadeem Wise, Percy Read, Freddie Davis II, Edwin Stuart, Corwin Shaffer, Julio Benitez-Cruz, Wilford Holmes, Perry L. Oliver, Donald Gullage, Kong Kham Vongvilay, Wisan Inthamat, Boon Roopmoh, Louis Heim, Brandon Snowton, Carnell Wallis, Thomas Dominick, Larry Gooden, Gerald Howard, Larry Butler Jr., Phillip A. Carmouche Jr., unidentified man, Aaron Harvey, Mario Anthony Green, unidentified man…

All of these people died a violent death in New Orleans this year. I count 148. The Times-Picayune says at least 150 people have been murdered.

I wanted to make the point that this, too, is an injustice. And that it disproportionately affects the African-American community.

But I couldn’t find the numbers to back that up, even though I am confident that by far the majority of those murdered in New Orleans are African-American, based on where the murders happen and my personal experience as a news photographer and seeing the murdered human beings myself. I get my information for this blog from media accounts, and the media does not think it is politically correct to reveal the race of the victim. Obviously, I disagree with this because I think race is part of the story.

The NOPD started off the year including the race of the victim in their press releases. But they stopped. It went from "This morning, members of the New Orleans Police Department are investigating the murder of a local 40-year-old African-American male" to "This morning, members of the New Orleans Police Department are investigating the shooting death of a 33-year-old local male."

I do know, of the NOLA 148, 140 were killed by a gun or guns. 135 were men. 97 were 30 years old or younger. 33 of those were 20 years old or younger.

148 murders 264 days into the year – a murder every 1.7 days, or basically a murder every other day. At that rate, we will end the year with 204 murders. If nothing changes, 56 more human beings will die a violent death on the streets of New Orleans. In a city with a population of 300,000, that comes to a murder rate of 68 murders per 100,000 residents.

That’s too many. It’s too much.

It’s worthy of a march.

Bring down your buses. Bring down your people. Bring down your t-shirts, your celebrities, your bottle water. Bring down your feet and wear comfortable shoes.

And join the people in the 9th Ward, the 7th Ward and Mid-City. Join the people in Gentilly, the East, and Hollygrove. Join the people Uptown, Downtown, and all around town.

From Central City to Carrollton, let us march on City Hall. From the French Quarter to the Bywater, let us march on Tulane and Broad. From the Marigny to Lakeview, let us march where we need to be seen, be heard, and be felt.

Maybe the Mayor will show up for this march, too.

This isn’t a city of 3,000. We are 300,000 strong. We are black. We are white. We speak English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and every other language you would expect to hear at a port. Including pirate.

If Jesse and Al come down with their crew, they might be surprised to see more of us here than them.

Even the Saints can come. Heck, let’s do it Monday night before the game. Monday Night Foot-All live from New Orleans. Are you ready for some marching?

Are you?

Shake Me at My Core

2007-09-21T00:11:00.000-05:00

Today is the next day. The day after you marched. How do you feel? Do you still feel it?

Can you tell me about it? I wasn’t there.

I am reading the media accounts. I am reading a lot about how people were anticipating something great. Something big. Something was about to happen.

Did it happen? Tell me about it.

Because what I am hearing is not shaking me at my core. Why did you march? What was the quality of your intent? The intent determines the results. What results did you hope to achieve?

Why did you march?

I wasn’t there. Should I have been? Why?

Why did you march?

I have heard a few reasons that make me wonder:

"This is our time to get on the bus."

"To some extent, what you can expect to see is a rebirth of the civil rights movement," said Ki-Afi Moyo, organizer of Dallas-based Internet community "Tx Supports Jena Six," which filled 20 chartered buses for the trip to Louisiana. "The grassroots response to this has been phenomenal.”

The Rev Sharpton, who arrived at Jena's courthouse with members of the defendants' families, said it was "the beginning of the 21st century civil rights movement", one that would challenge imbalances in the US justice system.

"Jena is a defining moment, just like Selma was a defining moment."

Tina Cheatham missed the civil rights marches at Selma, Montgomery and Little Rock, but she had no intention of missing another brush with history. The 24-year-old Georgia Southern University graduate drove all night to reach tiny Jena in central Louisiana.

"It was a good chance to be part of something historic since I wasn't around for the civil rights movement. This is kind of the 21st century version of it," she said.

"I want my children to be part of history," said A.J. Walker, 33, a black police officer from Houston who took photographs of her two sons and daughter outside the high school. "I want to show them they have to stand for something."

“This morning I was crying … when we drove into Jena,” said Nadonya Muslim, 40, of Detroit. “I was thinking, we’re a part of history.”

Why did *you* march?

Was to be part of history? Or was it to make history?

Did you march because you had to be there? Did you march because if this was beginning of the 21st century civil rights movement, then you couldn’t miss it?

Or did you march to *make it* the beginning of the 21st century civil rights movement?

Did you march so you can tell your grandchildren, “I was there?” Did you take a picture to prove you were there? Did it matter where “there” was?

I wasn’t there. That’s why I ask.

Did you have fun? Is that why you went? Was it hard? Was it easy?

Why aren’t you marching today?

Marching is a good thing. I wish I had marched. I didn’t.

If it seems like I am questioning why tens of thousands of people marched in Jena yesterday, I am. I am questioning them and challenging them to tell me why they marched. I want them speak and shake me at my core. I want the impact of their words to be shattering.

Tens of thousands of people at one march makes one impact on one day. Tens of thousands of people speaking tens of thousands of words in the tens of thousands of places, wherever they may be, makes tens of thousands of impacts.

Make that impact shattering.

Today I want to tell the city of Selma, (Tell them, Doctor) today I want to say to the state of Alabama, (Yes, sir) today I want to say to the people of America and the nations of the world, that we are not about to turn around. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. (Yes, sir)

Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. The burning of our churches will not deter us. (Yes, sir) The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. (Yes, sir) The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us. We are on the move now. (Yes, sir) The wanton release of their known murderers would not discourage us. We are on the move now. (Yes, sir) Like an idea whose time has come, (Yes, sir) not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us. (Yes, sir) We are moving to the land of freedom. (Yes, sir)

Let us therefore continue our triumphant march (Uh huh) to the realization of the American dream. (Yes, sir) Let us march on segregated housing (Yes, sir) until every ghetto or social and economic depression dissolves, and Negroes and whites live side by side in decent, safe, and sanitary housing. (Yes, sir) Let us march on segregated schools (Let us march, Tell it) until every vestige of segregated and inferior education becomes a thing of the past, and Negroes and whites study side-by-side in the socially-healing context of the classroom.

Let us march on poverty (Let us march) until no American parent has to skip a meal so that their children may eat. (Yes, sir) March on poverty (Let us march) until no starved man walks the streets of our cities and towns (Yes, sir) in search of jobs that do not exist. (Yes, sir) Let us march on poverty (Let us march) until wrinkled stomachs in Mississippi are filled, (That's right) and the idle industries of Appalachia are realized and revitalized, and broken lives in sweltering ghettos are mended and remolded.

Let us march on ballot boxes, (Let's march) march on ballot boxes until race-baiters disappear from the political arena.

Let us march on ballot boxes until the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs (Yes, sir) will be transformed into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens. (Speak, Doctor)

Let us march on ballot boxes (Let us march) until the Wallaces of our nation tremble away in silence.

Let us march on ballot boxes (Let us march) until we send to our city councils (Yes, sir), state legislatures, (Yes, sir) and the United States Congress, (Yes, sir) men who will not fear to do justly, love mercy, and
walk humbly with thy God.

Let us march on ballot boxes (Let us march. March) until brotherhood becomes more than a meaningless word in an opening prayer, but the order of the day on every legislative agenda.

Let us march on ballot boxes (Yes) until all over Alabama God's children will be able to walk the earth in decency and honor.

There is nothing wrong with marching in this sense.

***

I know you are asking today, "How long will it take?" (Speak, sir) Somebody's asking, "How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?" Somebody's asking, "When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South, be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men?" Somebody's asking, "When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against
the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, (Speak, speak, speak) plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? How long will justice be crucified, (Speak) and truth bear it?" (Yes, sir)

I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, (Yes, sir) however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, (No sir) because "truth crushed to earth will rise again." (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (Yes, sir) because "no lie can live forever." (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (All right. How long) because "you shall reap what you sow." (Yes, sir)

How long? (How long?) Not long: (Not long)

Truth forever on the scaffold, (Speak)

Wrong forever on the throne, (Yes, sir)

Yet that scaffold sways the future, (Yes, sir)

And, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow,

Keeping watch above his own.

How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (Not long) because:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; (Yes, sir)

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; (Yes)

He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; (Yes, sir)

His truth is marching on. (Yes, sir)

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; (Speak, sir)

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. (That's right)

O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet!

Our God is marching on. (Yeah)

Glory, hallelujah! (Yes, sir) Glory, hallelujah! (All right)

Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on. [Applause]

Not long now.

I have to think that, of all the signs that may have been present at Selma is 1965, none of them were like this one at Jena in 2007:

FREE THE JENA 6 T-SHIRTS ON SALE HERE

Why did you march?

Allow Someone Else to Whine

2007-09-19T22:26:00.000-05:00

I did the whining in this previous post.

Let an independent research group whine this time:

In February 2006, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration estimated Louisiana had 204,737 housing units with major and severe damage. This week's GulfGov report finds that Louisiana had 67 percent of the damaged units that are now eligible for CDBG money, but the state got only 62 percent of the block grant money.

By contrast, Mississippi's 61,386 housing units with major and severe damage represented 20 percent of FEMA and SBA estimates of storm damage -- but that state got a full third of the federal CDBG aid.

***

In all, 305,109 housing units suffered major and severe damage in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. If the Florida damage, mostly caused by Hurricane Wilma, is taken out of the equation, Louisiana's share of the damage jumps to 73 percent, but its share of the money increases only one percentage point, to 63 percent.

The picture becomes even more lopsided when severe damage -- units that are considered destroyed -- is given more weight. Counting the Wilma figures, Louisiana had 85 percent of all the destroyed units and Mississippi had just 12 percent.

And Louisiana had to lobby hard to get the second appropriation of CDBGs which added $4.2 billion to Louisiana’s total. And it is still not enough to fully fund our home assistance program.

This related quote by Donald Powell is interesting:

"Tell me exactly what you need, and I'm happy to sit down and listen, but the evidence has to be based upon the need, not a comparison," Powell said last month in reaction to complaints from Louisiana officials about the distribution of aid.

The need is there, and the comparison is evidence of an injustice. Either Mississippi got more than it needed, or Louisiana still needs more.

I don’t think Mississippi got more than it needed.

Creoles: Not Like Unicorns

2007-09-19T15:29:00.000-05:00

And there will be plenty of them in one place this weekend, in case anyone still thinks they don't exist.

Allow Me to Whine

2007-09-18T22:22:00.000-05:00

…about Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour:

During a recent meeting with the Sun Herald, Barbour went off on what he called the "whining" in Louisiana that Mississippi got too large a share.

"One of the things they used was that the number of schools in Mississippi that were still closed by December in 2005 compared to the number of schools that were closed in Louisiana was just a tiny fraction," Barbour said. "Of course it was, because we had all our schools back open. We worked our tails off. We had all our schools back open before New Orleans had one back open."

And though Mississippi schools were open, children were, and are, attending in temporary trailers used as classrooms because their schools were destroyed.

"So what's the idea? Are they supposed to punish us for getting our schools back open quickly? That's their mentality: 'Somebody do this for me,'" Barbour said. "Down here, people said, 'We're going to do this for ourselves, and we hope you'll help us,' and that's what happened."

But, Barbour said, he doesn't bear any ill will toward New Orleanians.

"New Orleans was a very important part of many people in Mississippi's lives," Barbour said, noting he "went to New Orleans seven times" during one semester of college which, "is probably why my grades weren't what they should have been."

I missed this. It was published two weeks ago. I can’t believe that two years after the storm, someone can say these things. On the anniversary, no less.

First – and I know Gov. Barbour is aware of this – Katrina’s destruction along the Mississippi coast was different from the destruction wrought in the New Orleans area. After the storm, Mississippi was faced with a recovery mission. The New Orleans area was faced with a recovery along with a repopulation mission. Due to the nature of the damage along the coast, Mississippians were able to return to their communities comparatively faster than New Orleans area residents. Mississippians were able to get their schools up and running faster because Mississippians were *there* to get their schools up and running.

I do not doubt that the good people of Mississippi “worked their tails off” to get their schools rebuilt. How blessed they were that their tails were there to be worked off.

Second, as far as the “We're going to do this for ourselves” attitude, bravo! But that’s real easy to say when your recovery plan is fully funded from the beginning. I commented on this last January:

For perspective, consider that in January 2006, one year ago, the first round of Community Development Block Grants was given out.

Mississippi received $5,058,185,000.

Louisiana received $6,210,000,000.

Mississippi got 86.8% more in that first round of CDBGs than it has paid out more than halfway through their housing plan. If we had paid out at the same rate at Mississippi’s lower average payment, we would have used up over half (61%) of our first allocation. In fact, assuming our average calculated payment remains consistent at $82,581, we will completely use up that first allocation about three quarters of the way through our total applications.

What is my point? Though Mississippi and Louisiana are using similar grant programs, their progress can not be similarly compared. Louisiana’s destruction was greater in scale and complexity and was grossly under-funded at the offset.

My point remains valid today. As of September 13, 2007, Mississippi has given out $1.1 billion in 13,837 home assistance grants, which represents 87 percent of its eligible households. That comes to about $79,500 per household. At that rate, Mississippi will need $1.26 billion to *fully fund* its home assistance program.

Mississippi received almost four times that much in January 2006. Let me repeat: Mississippi received almost four times more money than it needed to fully fund its home assistance program. That meant the state could plan to use the other $4 billion or so for other recovery projects starting in January of 2006.

As of this month, September 2007, Louisiana is still fighting to fully fund its home assistance program. Our average benefit calculated is less than Mississippi’s at $68,000 per household. And we have far, far more recovery projects to consider other than home assistance, as well as repopulation concerns.

So, the governor of Mississippi tells us that we have a “somebody do this for me” mentality. DIY, indeed:

Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute for Government, notes the irony of any state being envious of Mississippi.

"For once in Mississippi's life, I think we were in the best position to take advantage of who we are and the people we know," Wiseman said. "It was how the stars were aligned - we had as our governor the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, who has helped a number of powerful people in Washington. We had the chairman of the Appropriations Committee and a powerful former majority leader.

"For once, we were standing first in line. Gov. (Kathleen) Blanco was a Democrat coming before what was then (2005-'06) Republican-held (Congress) with a Republican president. She had to introduce herself at our family reunion."

Does this mean Mississippi had a “some politician do this for me” mentality?

K-holes

2007-09-18T11:49:00.000-05:00

"K-Ville" is bad. That's it.

We Forced the People of the United States to Build Our Levees

2007-09-17T13:55:00.000-05:00

No, seriously. Don’t laugh. We did:

Government is not a business that is funded by entrepreneurs with the intent of making a profit by meeting the needs of consumers. It built the levees and maintained them with money taxed from the people. People who will never benefit from the levees and may never even see the levees were forced to pay for their construction and maintenance. The people had no choice whether to pay the tax bill or not. The people could not negotiate with the government to build the levees to a different standard, nor could they inspect the levees themselves and demand that they be better maintained.
Likewise, the citizens' decision to live in New Orleans was skewed by the fact that the levees were built by government and not by a private contractor. First of all, the citizens of New Orleans did not pay for the entire cost of the levees. The entire people of the United States kicked in tax money. This changed the decision-making process in a substantial way. Had the citizens of New Orleans been forced to build the levees with their own funds, it is questionable whether they would have been built.

Dammit. Stop laughing! We forced them to build the levees.

And, worst of all, the people who were forced to build them “may never even see the levees” and stand next to them and admire them and take a picture with them. They couldn’t even “inspect the levees themselves and demand that they be better maintained.”

I can think of nothing more un-American.

Seattle's Finest

2007-09-17T08:17:00.001-05:00

Recruiting in New Orleans last week. They advertised on nola.com:

Notice the Times-Picayune article on the page: “Two killed in separate Sunday shootings.”

Seattle Police comes down Thursday and Friday trying to lure our police away. Saturday and Sunday three people are murdered, two people are shot downtown, and five people are stabbed on Bourbon Street.

Damn.

Seattle is offering $47,334 a year for an officer. The NOPD offers $42,170.

Through May, there were nine murders in Seattle according to the SPD website. In the same time period, there were 78 murders in New Orleans. And, eight of the nine Seattle murders were “cleared” according to the SPD website.

Must be nice.

August’s Murders

2007-09-08T21:53:00.000-05:00

I have been busy lately with a new job. Since I focus a lot on crime and murders with this blog, I can’t let August pass without comment.

August was the deadliest month in New Orleans this year with 26 murders.

What stands out looking at the map is the ten murders in New Orleans East, six of them in the Village de l’Est neighborhood, five on the same street. Of those, at least five were home invasions or robberies, possibly seven:

On Aug. 4, Pablo Mejia Jr., 29, was fatally shot while working at a house in the 5200 block of Sandhurst Drive. In that case, three gunmen approached the house and demanded money from Mejia and a co-worker.

Julio Benitez-Cruz, 42, of El Salvador, was killed on Aug. 22 inside a house in the 4800 block of Nighthart Street. Robbers invaded the home and shot Benitez-Cruz and two other men.

Seven people were shot -- three fatally -- in a robbery on Aug. 24 in the 4800 block of Savoie Court. On the same cul-de-sac two weeks before, a gunman fatally shot Anjelique Vu, 35, and Luong Nguyen, 38. Police have declined to say whether that double murder was a robbery attempt.

At one point in August, there were 25 murders in 25 days – 26 in 25 days if you count the August 24 victim who died in September, which I do.

There were those murders that some may have seen coming, and those that no one could have seen coming.

Three people shot, two died after a basketball game in Treme.

A 15-year-old shot on his porch. A 48-year-old shot in one of the home invasions.

Five people killed were under 20 years old.

I just want people to remember what our leaders were saying at the beginning of August:

MAYOR NAGIN: I know one murder is way too many. We are going to continue to try to bring this city to a zero point. But, just to give you an indication of the trends, this past July – which July historically has been our most violent month as relates to crime – this past July, we recorded 14 murders. Four of those murders were carryovers from somebody being shot in a previous month. Compare that to one year earlier, and there were 23 murders.

So, as you can see, we are starting to see some trends. And we’re not happy with it. But we’re starting to see some trends that suggest things that we put in place are starting to have some impact.

CHIEF RILEY: “And one thing that we have made some progress in, but we still certainly have a long way to go, is that you will see that our murder rate has dropped by 8.75%.”

At the beginning of August, they thought we were seeing some trends and making some progress.

I am running out of things to say. I keep writing the same thing about murders over and over again. There are just too many. Too many. Two more in September. 140 in 2007.

My brain fails me and my keyboard won’t write for me…

2010 Reappraisal

2007-08-30T09:54:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, when this was happening…

An eleventh-hour effort Wednesday by the New Orleans City Council to extend deadlines for challenging assessments failed Wednesday, leaving property owners with just a few more days to file paperwork disputing land and building values.

As hundreds of property owners waited in intense heat to appeal assessments, the council passed a resolution asking the Louisiana Tax Commission to suspend deadlines for the public inspection of the tax rolls and filing of tax rolls "for as long as legally permissible."

The tax commission, however, doesn't have that authority.

…this was happening:

Tyler Technologies, Inc. announced today that the Parish of Orleans, Louisiana, has selected its CLT Appraisal Services to conduct the first ever complete reappraisal of real property in Orleans Parish. The contract is valued at approximately $12 million.

***

The project consists of two separate phases. In the first phase, Tyler will collect data for all real properties in the parish over a two year period. In the second phase, Tyler will perform a reappraisal of these properties in which the data previously collected is analyzed, and values are calculated. The company expects to establish new market values by mid-2010, followed by a period of informal reviews where property owners will have an opportunity to discuss values. Final assessment of property is expected by late 2010.

While the Parish prepares for the most comprehensive revaluation in its history, it is no stranger to Tyler Technologies. In 2003, the Orleans Parish Board of Assessors purchased Tyler's integrated property assessment and tax software in preparation for eventual reappraisal.

The 2003 contract was a $1 million contract [pdf].

In 2010, when this $12 million contract is finished, there will also be an election for one assessor to take over for the seven assessors we have today. Similar appraisal/assessment craziness would make for an interesting election.

$116 Billion

2007-08-29T01:34:00.000-05:00

That’s the number I expect to hear today.

It has already been thrown about by the media:

$116 billion in recovery dollars have been earmarked for the Gulf region, almost $60 billion of it to Louisiana alone.

Of the $116 billion appropriated by Congress to Gulf Coast recovery, $34 billion has been earmarked for long-term rebuilding.

Then there is another number I’ve seen, too:

In the two years since Hurricane Katrina, the federal government has provided more than $114 billion in aid.

As I said at the beginning of the briefing, the federal government has provided $114 billion to the region, of which $96 billion has been disbursed or is available to the states. [via oyster]

Then there is the real number which, surprisingly, at least one person in the media is using:

Overall, Congress appropriated $94.6 billion for hurricane restoration.

In a former blogging life, this number was my obsession. Back then, it appeared in the form of “$110 billion.” That number was around $22 billion too much.

The new number adds $6 billion more, but is still $22 billion too much.

My break down of money Congress has allocated to the Gulf Coast recovery:

* September 2, 2005 – $10.5 billion in a disaster relief bill

* September 8, 2005 – $51.8 billion in a disaster relief bill

* December 31, 2005 – $5 billion in a spending bill (along with $24 billion diverted from already authorized funds, but not new money)

*June 15, 2006 – $19.8 billion in a spending bill

*May 24, 2007 – $6.3 billion in a spending bill

Unless I missed a major appropriation bill somewhere (and please point that out to me if I have), that adds up to around $94 billion dollars.

The WRDA bill has more ~~appropriations~~ authorizations in it, but it hasn’t been passed yet and Bush has threatened to veto it anyway.

So, they are still counting the $22 billion (or $23 billion – the numbers are real fuzzy when everyone starts rounding off) paid out in flood insurance claims.

In the past, I have argued that this money is not recovery money. It is money due to the people who paid to have that coverage. I am sticking to that:

You can count on your claim being paid in the event of a flood loss because NFIP flood insurance is backed by the Federal government.

That’s all.

[ADDED] The official line:

The Federal Government Has Provided More Than $114 Billion In Resources – $127 Billion Including Tax Relief – To The Gulf Region.

Personifying New Orleans

2007-08-28T23:47:00.000-05:00

I have often personified New Orleans when speaking about her. She has been many people to me at different times, but mostly a family member whom I love and feel an intense duty to protect and fight for.

I have never thought of her as a murderer:

It has been almost eight months now since the early morning silence of the Marigny district was broken by the sound of gunfire from inside Helen Hill's tidy white house on North Rampart Street.

Eight long, frustrating months since the acclaimed Canadian filmmaker was killed by a bullet wound to the neck. No clues, no arrests and no closure for family members desperate for answers.

Still grieving, Hill's stepfather has come to his own painful conclusions.

"I felt right away that New Orleans killed Helen," says Kevin Lewis. "In my bad moods - my worst moods - I don't care if New Orleans gets flooded out again and is just plowed over." Lewis says he knows "in the long run" he can't hold the city itself culpable in the death of his daughter, but his assessment holds more than a kernel of truth.

Two years after Hurricane Katrina brought this historic city to its knees, murder is coming to define New Orleans's personality as much as jazz funerals, Mardi Gras parades and French Quarter debauchery.

The title of the article is “Did New Orleans kill Helen?”

At the risk of causing more hysteria over crime and therefore eclipsing the hysteria over more important issues, I just want to point out that there have been 25 murders in the last 25 days in the city of New Orleans, from August 4 to August 28. August has been the deadliest month in 2007 with its 25 murders, making 137 murders for the year.

Violent crime affects the recovery on a very personal level:

Dear New Orleans: I’m Leaving You

***

They don't understand that I'm in love. I talk to friends about New Orleans like a dysfunctional romance. I gush over it one day, then call up bawling and heartbroken the next. Why can't it change? Stop being self-destructive and violent? It has so much potential.

Recently, my blinders started to come off. It was building for awhile. My friend Helen Hill was murdered in her home;other friends have been mugged. We don't go out much any more...

But then there was this hot Friday night last month. I went on the perfect date with New Orleans . Saw live, local music, danced with friends on the stage, then headed home through my neighborhood of craftsman cottages and angel trumpet trees.

A block from my door, I was attacked from behind by a stranger. I escaped, with the help of my roommate. The case is moving forward, so I can't say much more than that.

Now I'm a jilted lover of the city. I'm angry and confused. Which is the real New Orleans? The one that's violent and desperate? Or the one that coos softly, and caresses me? The answer, of course, is both.

I just hauled my things out of New Orleans in a big truck. I am still in love with the city, but it's hard to trust it. Maybe we'll both heal, and the relationship will rekindle. I don't know what - or how long - that might take.

I wish that person would stay. I wish that her city loved her back. I wish that this were an isolated experience.

Once again, 25 murders in 25 days.

When do we march?

“And tell me where I’m wrong.”

2007-08-23T22:04:00.000-05:00

Okay.

I don’t have cable, so I don’t watch Glenn Beck’s show. But Ashley directed me to My Two Sense, who does watch Glenn Beck, and I see that Glenn Beck really does not like New Orleans:

New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen, and it`s going to happen again. Two years after Katrina, I`m not sure still that we should bother rebuilding it. Here`s the point tonight.

As we see yet another deadly hurricane season, can we please ask the question, in the aftermath of Katrina, if we`re going to rebuild cities like New Orleans, can we at least do it right? And if not, I say we cut bait and not bother doing it at all, and here`s how I got there.

Category 5 storms are rare, but they do happen. There were five back in 2005, making it one of the deadliest hurricane seasons on record. New Orleans and a huge amount of America`s gulf region left in ruins. We all remember seeing the footage, and so many of us are -- have lived through it.

It seems his point is that he has seen some footage of a rare disaster on the Gulf Coast, therefore we should not rebuild New Orleans unless we rebuild it to his standard of "right."

Obviously, I do not agree with Mr. Beck. But that’s not my biggest problem with what I saw in the video on My Two Sense.

As Mr. Beck was interviewing Douglas Brinkley, these banners ran on the bottom of the screen:

New Orleans’ population is currently 484,000, half of its pre-Katrina total.

New Orleans is 15 feet below sea level and sinks one inch per year.

Both of those statistics are wrong.

New Orleans’ population before the storm in the 2000 census was, in fact, 484,000. It certainly is not right now. The 2006 census said New Orleans had 223,000 people, which is about half the estimated 2005 population (usually stated as 454,000), but not half of the 2000 census. I assume Beck’s producers were using US Census numbers. Current estimates put the New Orleans population at 273,000 to 300,000, which would be more than half of Glenn Beck’s number even if it were the correct pre-Katrina population.

The claim that New Orleans is 15 feet below sea level is ridiculous:

"LIDAR elevation data show that 51 percent of the terrestrial surface of the contiguous urbanized portions of Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard parishes lie at or above sea level (with the highest neighborhoods at 10-12 feet above mean sea level), while 49 percent lies below sea level, in places to equivalent depths."

While a part of New Orleans may be 15 feet below sea level, by no means is the City of New Orleans 15 feet below sea level.

Also, the claim that New Orleans is sinking one inch per year is equally as ridiculous:

Most of New Orleans is sinking at an average rate of 6mm a year. In some areas, subsidence is occurring at a rate of as much as 29mm/year. That’s according to research published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature by scientists from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

According to this widely publicized study, most of New Orleans is sinking 0.236 inches (6mm) a year. Not one inch.

It also states that “some areas” of New Orleans are sinking 29mm a year, which is 1.14 inches. Those areas are represented as red dots on this map:

Not a lot of red dots.

Glenn Beck is not a credible source of information about New Orleans.

I admit that I could not watch the entire interview. If he corrected those stats later on in the interview, please let me know.

19 Murders in 19 Days

2007-08-23T13:44:00.000-05:00

Three more murders yesterday, two men shot and one victim died who had been shot on Friday.

Starting from the first murder in the month of August 4 to the most recent one yesterday August 22, there have been 19 murders in the city of New Orleans in 19 days.

That’s Our Brother

2007-08-22T01:23:00.000-05:00

Four more murders. Three yesterday, and one man shot in June died Saturday.

Heartbreaking vignette from the recent Times-Picayune article:

Schaffer lay on a stretcher with his arms folded, shirtless and wearing jeans and construction boots. Nearby, a huddle of bereaved family members wept and cried out in anger. A shoeless boy of single-digit age stared at the body on the stretcher. "That's my brother," he repeated over and over. He did not cry.

Yes, his brother was just released on parole for a narcotics charge. But, the child did not see a “bad guy” when he looked at the body on the stretcher. He saw his brother.

A murder is hard to prevent, unless you know it is going to happen. I can safely assume by the murder rate that NOPD officers are not psychic and do not know when and where murders will happen. So, how do you effectively prevent them?

One way is to look at every person as a potential murderer and act accordingly – more “boots on the street,” more cameras on the streets, more guns, more traffic checkpoints, a cop on every corner.

Or, you can look at every person as your brother or sister. Think, “What do I want my brother and sister to have?” and make sure every person has those things, be it food, education, health, opportunity, hope, etc.

The solution to our violent crime problem is not a law enforcement solution. We have plenty of laws and enough enforcers. As much as I want the criminal justice system to function after a crime is committed, I would much rather the crime never happen in the first place.

Sure, a functional criminal justice system is a deterrent. But, is there a better deterrent than not having a reason to commit a crime?

This goes back to valuing every life as equal.

Once again, my goal:

NOLA will have the lowest per capita murder rate in the United States for cities with populations between 250,000 and 300,000.

And some solutions:

Better and more effective policing strategies (problem-oriented policing), a city which provides functioning social and municipal services (health care, education, electricity, water, maintained streets, flood drainage, doesn't wrongly demolish your house), and a community that values every life as equal from birth to death.

We can do it. It will take a “no excuses” attitude and a lot of work. And it starts with us, which is why I am digging Rising Tide 2.

A Meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers

2007-08-18T14:10:00.000-05:00

At a meeting last Thursday in Lakeview, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials updated residents on the status of projects west of the Industrial Canal.

Around 9pm, about two hours after the meeting started, Col. Jeff Bedey walked in the room at St. Paul’s Episcopal, and removed his beret. Where his black cap had pressed against his skin, a deeply set, slightly red indention formed a crown around his head.

He walked around silently, looking for a place to stand and trying not to interrupt a Lakeview resident who was speaking as he entered. As Commander of the Hurricane Protection Office, his place was at the front of the room, and he took that place when the resident was finished.

Without a microphone, he addressed the room. He explained that he came two hours after the meeting started because he was attending a similar meeting in New Orleans East. He thanked those in attendance for being there even though they did not have to be there, noting that the USACE staff were the only ones in the room that had to be there.

The sense I had gotten from the residents in attendance was that they felt they had to be there. They felt they had no choice.

Col. Bedey explained that this was part of the USACE’s mission to engage the public – the “stakeholders” – in decisions that affected them.

The first raised hand that Bedey called on addressed this mission directly and bluntly. The Lakeview resident said, “With all due respect. You have failed in your mission.”

By that time, I had already realized that I was an outsider at that meeting. Not because I don’t live on the East Bank west of the Industrial Canal, though.

I came there for an update on the levees. These residents didn’t come for an update. They didn’t come to be informed about decisions that had been made already. They came because they wanted to be a part of the decisions that were going to affect them. They have a stake, and they wanted to have a say.

Up until that point in the meeting, they hadn’t felt like they had any say in what the federal government was going to do to their neighborhoods.

The problem was a report set to go to Congress on August 26, 2007, ten days after the meeting. Congress directed the USACE to develop a report analyzing three alternatives to providing flood protection with the outfall canals:

Sec. 4303. The Chief of Engineers shall investigate the overall technical advantages, disadvantages and operational effectiveness of operating the new pumping stations at the mouths of the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue and London Avenue canals in the New Orleans area directed for construction in Public Law 109-234 concurrently or in series with existing pumping stations serving these canals and the advantages, disadvantages and technical operational effectiveness of removing the existing pumping stations and configuring the new pumping stations and associated canals to handle all needed discharges to the lakefront or in combination with discharges directly to the Mississippi River in Jefferson Parish; and the advantages, disadvantages and technical operational effectiveness of replacing or improving the floodwalls and levees adjacent to the three outfall canals: Provided, That the analysis should be conducted at Federal expense: Provided further, <> That the analysis shall be completed and furnished to the Congress not later than three months after enactment of this Act.

The three alternatives being considered:

1) Pumping stations at the Lake and keep existing pumping stations
2) Pumping stations at the Lake, remove existing pumping stations, and use gravitational drainage
3) Improving the floodwalls (parallel protection)

Only option number three would not require the temporary pumping stations at the lake not becoming permanent. The USACE also proposed replacing the open canals with a pressurized box culvert system.

Where did these alternatives come from? Col. Bedey explained how we got here.

Before the storm, the USACE had floodwalls on the outfall canals, and thought they worked. Then, Katrina came. They didn’t work. Two canals had breaches in three areas of the floodwalls.

The federal government worked hard and fast to make sure the area was protected from future storms in the short term. The USACE built the interim closure structures and temporary pumps to protect the city from storm surge coming from Lake Pontchartrain.

In the middle of this charge, Congress directed the USACE to rebuild the entire levee system to protect against a 100 year storm and evaluate how to achieve higher protection.

It all happened so fast, Col. Bedey says, they are “playing catch up with the technical analysis.”

The “fifth supplemental” appropriations bill asked for the report on the three alternatives with “coordinated efforts with academia and stakeholders,” as one slide said. And the USACE was standing in front of the stakeholders that night.

But the stakeholders couldn’t understand why the advantages and disadvantages of three options they had just been informed of would be presented to Congress only 10 days from the first time they ever heard they even had any options. One resident said, “We need to see the options you are giving us from which someone else will choose the best one.”

USACE officials before Col. Bedey arrived had stressed, “This is not a plan.” It’s just the advantages and disadvantages of various options, implying that the report was not of critical importance and that all options were still on the table.

Also, a website had been set up to receive comments on UASCE projects for environmental reports (NEPA requirements) that would be used before a plan was finalized in April 2008. An official 30-day comment period would begin for each project in the area, though residents could leave comments on the website any time.

A slide in the presentation showed the official comment period for IER 5, the outfall canals project, started 2/29/08. When the 30-day official comment period ends, it would be April 2008 – the estimated date for the final decision. To the residents, that did not leave much time for officials to consider their concerns.

“Your timeline is a little different from a homeowner’s time frame,” one resident said to the USACE officials from the back of the room.

One fear that the residents consistently expressed was that decisions had been already made and this discussion was merely “window dressing.” Before Col. Bedey arrived, the USACE officials present did not directly answer the question of which option the USACE felt had the most advantages and least disadvantages. When asked the same question, Col. Bedey straightforwardly stated they gave higher priority to the gravitational flow to the pumping stations at the lake. Option 2.

Now, here’s where I need to point out something that I learned at the meeting, and I am embarrassed that I didn’t know it. Many people who live by the Lake don’t want those big pumping stations in their neighborhoods. I thought it was a done deal that we would keep the closure structures and build permanent pumping stations.

I think the residents there that night also thought it was a done deal, contrary to the USACE’s protestations to the contrary, which fueled their opposition and mistrust of the USACE’s intentions. That mistrust continued until the last question, with murmurs of disapproval all around, not loud enough to disrupt the meeting, but loud enough to be heard and most likely agreed upon by the residents present.

The only point resolved by the end of the meeting was that Col. Bedey gave his word to meet with every neighborhood association leader who wanted to meet with him in his office. And one neighborhood leader commented that Col. Bedey’s word was the only person’s word he trusted, a comment that was backed by another leader who knew Col. Bedey personally and vouched for his honesty.

And that's how the meeting ended. With a promise made to listen, and a hope that a community's voice might be heard when that promise is kept.

[EDIT: Some spelling errors corrected]

Matt McBride on Silt

2007-08-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

At Humid City:

So the canal bottom, for nearly half its length (from I-10 to the railroad bridge, whichÂ is the southernmost part of the canal, right in front of Pumping Station 6) is nearly half full of silt.

Thoughts on a Saturday Morning

2007-08-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

A Civilized Tragedy

Not all lives are valued as equal in civilized human cultures. Some lives are expendable to keep civilization going.

I can’t help but think about that when I read the news of miners trapped in Utah and China. They mine coal. Coal is fuel. Fuel runs the machinery of civilization.

We will not change our civilized ways in response to these mining accidents. Civilized humans will not stop putting their brothers and sisters at risk to mine our fuel. Civilized humans will make a value judgment, and decide that the risk to our miners is worth less than the need to have fuel for our machines.

The tragedy is in the miners who lost their lives trying to save their brothers. They, who we also value less than our desire for fuel, valued their trapped brothers as equal, and risked a similar or worse fate to save them.

To civilization, the miners who died in the rescue were expendable – just a as the trapped miners – because we value their lives less than we value fuel. Civilization will not stop mining in dangerous areas in response to their deaths, nor in response to the trapped miners’ plight.

The miners who died in the rescue considered themselves expendable, too, in a way. They valued their trapped brothers’ lives as equal to theirs, or even more important than their own lives. And in the end, their values led them to make decisions that cost their own lives. If anything, theirs was a more honorable value system, though one that produced more tragic results.

We who were not there will laud the dead rescuers as heroes, claiming that we value them highly. Yet, we value their fellow miners, to whom the dead rescuers saw themselves as equals, as not worth more than the fuel they supply. Those who we define as heroes are at the same time expendable in the civilized value system. They are valued as high and low. Is this not a paradox?

I have similar thoughts when I read about the deaths in Iraq, all the deaths: Americans, coalition members, military, private sector, civilians. It is a war being fought so that civilization’s value system will continue to operate. Under those values, some humans are expendable.

And I think about values when I see a murder every other day inside the New Orleans city limits. I wonder if the murders are acceptable. I wonder if those who are dying are expendable, and we will not change our civilized ways to stop the murders.

If civilization needs the deaths of some of its members, I don’t know how to stop those deaths without changing civilization. Civilization sustains itself. It can not be changed, except maybe by degree. The only option I see is to opt out of civilization.

These are just thoughts on a Saturday morning. It’s too early to start drinking, so I can’t numb my thinking.

Oh, yeah, there's a big ol' hurricane in the Caribbean.

Go Saints.

Wake Up. Check Dean.

2007-08-18T07:26:00.001-05:00

There he is.

The models look good.

I am a little worried that Dean seems to be slowing down, and when storms slow down dramatically, models change. But things look good for us. Bad for Texas and Mexico.

Life on the Gulf Coast.

Battle of the Deviant Computer Models

2007-08-17T14:36:00.000-05:00

Deviant blue line vs. deviant yellow line.

I am rooting for the yellow line.

The other models do not deviate much, which is always a good sign.

*UPDATE* 4pm: The deviant blue line continues.

Another Gadfly

2007-08-17T13:10:00.000-05:00

First, it was Karen Gadbois in the Times-Pic:

"That's a massive amount of housing to take out of a neighborhood as a neighborhood is trying to maintain its vitality," said Karen Gadbois, a preservation-minded gadfly who maintains the Web site www.squanderedheritage.com, where the discussion is taking place.

Now, Matt McBride in the New York Times:

Matt McBride, an engineer who became an anti-corps gadfly on flood-protection issues, left the city along with his wife after deciding he simply did not trust the new system.

Hooray for gadflies.

I understand that gadfly is a compliment. But it just sounds weird. I don’t know if everyone, including me, gets the classical allusion.

According to Wikipedia:

During his defense when on trial for his life, Socrates, according to Plato's writings, pointed out that dissent, like the tiny (relative to the size of a horse) gadfly, was easy to swat, but the cost to society of silencing individuals who were irritating could be very high. "If you kill a man like me, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me," because his role was that of a gadfly, "to sting people and whip them into a fury, all in the service of truth."

How about "active citizen" or "citizen-activist." Or, "blogger," to give us a little credibility.

Rhinoceros Head vs. Technology

2007-08-17T11:24:00.000-05:00

A quote attributed to Frank Lloyd Wright: "If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger."

I am now tracking Dean on Google Maps, and by extension, Google Earth. It is cool.

And, so, my refrigerator tracking map and goofy magnets go the way of my Commodore 64.

But, I must fight this. I must pass down the refrigerator tracking map to my son. I have fond childhood memories of tracking hurricanes on those free maps from Wendy’s or wherever.

Of course, no Katrina ever hit when I was young. If one had, then those memories may not have been so fond.

One way I have dealt with my son and hurricanes is to explain EVERYTHING to him. I hope that the more he understands, the more power he feels he has. Many decisions will be made in this and future hurricane seasons that will directly affect him, and I don’t want him to feel powerless. I want him to understand what we are talking about and why we are making whatever decisions are being made.

He likes Google Earth, too, though. So he might opt for the push-button rather than the goofy magnets.

Thinking about it, it would make more sense to see a point on a computer-generated map rather than a big rhinoceros head in the middle of the Atlantic headed for the Gulf.

Although, in reality, I would prefer the rhino head to be headed to the Gulf.

Another Murder Early This Morning

2007-08-17T10:27:00.000-05:00

What's the excuse for this one?

It happened not long after midnight in the 1000 block of North Salcedo Street. Officers found the body of an unidentified man lying in the street.

Police said he’d been shot in the chest and died on the scene.

I think this is right around the corner from Pal's bar.

I am no expert in criminology. I am not posting about murders all the time because I like it. I am also not posting about murders to point out the negative.

That's not my goal.

Mayor Nagin said at a recent crime meeting:

Most intelligent people out in our community are looking for that balance. Some folk is just negative and that’s just the way they going to be. And there’s nothing we can do about that. But for the majority of our citizens, it’s incumbent upon us to give you the truth and to give you the facts so you can really understand what’s going on.

And to my friends who keep trying to portray the city in its worst light: Stop. Even when they talk about murders and violent crimes, they link it up to other parishes around this area to make it seem like New Orleans is totally out of control.

I hope that I am not one of the negative folk. I am trying to be a member of the positive folk. I want "to give you the truth and to give you the facts so you can really understand what’s going on."

And murders are going on.

The NOPD, the city, the state, the federal government, and the community are doing what they can to stop the murders.

But they are still going on. That's all I want to point out.

17 days into August, 13 murders. 229 days into the year, 124 murders. A murder every 1.8 days, about a murder every other day. At this rate, 73 more people will die a violent death this year.

That's too much. Right?

12 Days, 12 Murders

2007-08-16T18:17:00.000-05:00

From August 4, 2007, to yesterday.

Pablo Mejia Jr., August 4
A man in the Iberville projects, August 5
Thomas Jackson, August 6
A man in New Orleans East, August 7
The Philips brothers, August 8
Luong Nguyen and Anjelique Vu, August 11
Two men in Treme, August 13
Cornelius Curry, August 14
Nia Robertson, last night

Are you mad, yet? I am.

Today, the NOPD released the official 2007 2nd Quarter statistics to the media. The 2007 1st Quarter statistics popped up on their website at the beginning of the week.

The official analysis:

Looking at just the numbers, violent crime is up 49%, non-violent crime is up 23% and total crimes are up 13%.

If you look at the crime rate as a percent of the population, violent crime is still up by 12%, non-violent crime is down 11% and total crimes are down 8%.

Determining the rate is a function of dividing by the population. So, a bigger population lowers all the raw data. The population the NOPD used was 294,000.

The article cited above states: “There were 48 murders in the city from April to June. That number is up 26% over the same time period last year.”

I count 49, and I have links to all of the news stories done on them. Rather than post them here, you can count for yourself on the Times-Picayune 2007 Murders blog which corresponds to my numbers. I want to double check the NOPD’s number, but the 2nd quarter stats are not on their website as of this post.

[UPDATE: Arthur Jackson was shot on the last day of June and died the first day of July. The NOPD might count that murder in the next quarter.]

Katrina devastated the city. And everyone in the criminal justice system can point to all the ways Katrina made their jobs harder.

Criminologist Peter Scharf addresses this:

"The hurricane theories, morphing of drug groups, or that the NOPD is in a trailer, really don't make sense," Scharf said. "You look at the leadership in this city to the leadership in cities that have been reasonably successful, and it's night and day."

It’s two years later. No more excuses. And we should champion that person who stands up and gives none. When that person stands up…

And *we* need to stand up to. When’s the next march? It was 5,000 strong then, and there is all the more reason to march today. Make that yesterday.

We are 123 murders into this year. Will we keep making excuses? What will be the excuse for the next murder? The one after that?

Here’s my goal:

NOLA will have the lowest per capita murder rate in the United States for cities with populations between 250,000 and 300,000.

How do we get there? Think about that.

It’s not: “What can we do?” It’s: “What will we do?”

Tear Down the Projects, and Build a Golf Course

2007-08-15T22:45:00.000-05:00

I mean two golf courses. And a YMCA:

The wrecking ball hasn't been ordered for the vacant complexes -- the St. Bernard in the Seventh Ward, the C.J. Peete in Central City and the Lafitte near Treme -- and the partially re-opened B.W. Cooper.

But at its regular monthly meeting Wednesday, HANO officials checked off a few more bureaucratic chores needed for the massive redevelopment, approving four "pre-development agreements" with the firms they have chosen to redesign public housing in New Orleans.

Those plans call for a vastly different landscape for low-income housing in post-Katrina New Orleans: A revitalized St. Bernard with two 18-hole "championship" golf courses and a 45,000-square-foot YMCA, free for the complex's public housing residents, and two charter schools.

How about we build affordable housing where housing existed before Katrina, and build golf courses where golf courses wait to be fixed, like at City Park:

The Park made an initial claim for damages to the three courses (not the buildings or golf equipment, which are the subject of separate claims) at approximately $4.0 million. FEMA’s initial estimate of eligible damage was $350,000. To date, three different damage estimates have been calculated and given to FEMA to evaluate.

I Am Paying Attention This Time

2007-08-15T15:19:00.001-05:00

Not just because TS Dean shares my last name (without the "e" at the end).

11am EDT Wednesday, August 15, 2007

New NOPD Official Crime Statistics

2007-08-15T11:12:00.000-05:00

On their website.

They released the official stats for the first quarter of 2007 (Jan-Mar). Then they compare those stats to the first quarter of 2006 with an asterisk:

The population in the City of New Orleans was significantly reduced during the first quarter of 2006 as compared to the population of the City during the first quarter of 2007.

I don’t think the comparison with the same time period last year is important. But they are useful for watching trends.

The NOPD murder totals are the same as mine, except they count one less in February and one more in March. Aaron Allen was shot on February 27, but died later in March.

At the Crime Prevention Roundtable II, Chief Riley told the audience the statistics would be released this week and added:

“And one thing that we have made some progress in, but we still certainly have a long way to go, is that you will see that our murder rate has dropped by 8.75%.”

I am not sure what his comparison is to say that.

What I do know is that August has been a violent month. Today is 15 days into August, and we have had 11 murders this month. In fact, we have had 11 murders in the last 11 days.

We certainly do have a long way to go.

Mayor Nagin told that same audience at the Crime Prevention Roundtable II:

I know one murder is way too many. We are going to continue to try to bring this city to a zero point. But, just to give you an indication of the trends, this past July – which July historically has been our most violent month as relates to crime – this past July, we recorded 14 murders. Four of those murders were carryovers from somebody being shot in a previous month. Compare that to one year earlier, and there were 23 murders.

So, as you can see, we are starting to see some trends. And we’re not happy with it. But we’re starting to see some trends that suggest things that we put in place are starting to have some impact.

Well, that was July. The month before, June, had 19 murders by my count, the highest of any month this year. And now we have August.

Here are the murder trends by quarter:

2006 3rd Quarter (Jul-Sep): 53

2006 4th Quarter (Oct-Dec): 52

2007 1st Quarter: 48
-January: 17
-February: 13
-March: 18

2007 2nd Quarter: 49
-April: 15
-May: 15
-June: 19

2007 3rd Quarter (Jul-Aug 15): 25
-July: 14
-August: 11

The 2006 stats are NOPD. The 2007 stats are mine.

We have had an average of 50.5 murders per full quarter since Jul 2006. As the population rises, the murder totals are staying the same. That is good in the sense that the murder rate goes down.

But, we are hovering around 50 murders per quarter (three months) and we have steadily averaged a murder every other day, even with more people moving back.

One possible explanation is that the new population is moving into the safer areas. That would mean the crime hot spots are just as dangerous as they have always been. If that were true, then our murder totals will stay around these numbers, even though our murder rate will go down.

Also, we now know where murders happen and where they don’t. This would support the assertion that the safer areas are remaining safe, as it regards to murder, as the crime hot spots are staying hot.

Solutions? Better and more effective policing strategies (problem-oriented policing), a city which provides functioning social and municipal services (health care, education, electricity, water, maintained streets, flood drainage, doesn't wrongly demolish your house), and a community that values every life as equal from birth to death.

Simple as that.

GO Zone Projects Not Coming to New Orleans

2007-08-14T22:48:00.000-05:00

Ed Blakely calls foul:

Projects in New Orleans are getting only a tiny fraction of the low-interest bond money aimed at jump-starting Louisiana's post-Katrina economy, and officials plan to ask for a larger share, commensurate with the city's massive flood damage, recovery director Ed Blakely recently told a City Council panel.

Blakely's beef relies on the numbers: Just one New Orleans GO Zone project has gotten off the ground. That project, listed on State Bond Commission records as "Carrollton Revitalization," has a price tag of $4.5 million. That amounts to 0.1 percent of the $4.5 billion in projects that have received final approval from the commission.

As usual, when someone from the city calls foul, someone from the state calls fouler:

Kling also said the anemic amount of GO Zone money headed to New Orleans thus far is in large part due to a lack of applications, not because the city has been passed over in favor of other locales. Overall, the Bond Commission has received applications worth about $12.8 billion.

Yesterday, the GO Zone story was the condos in Tuscaloosa. Possibly related to that, via Hurricane Radio, I read in the comments to this post that Louisiana has built some college-related condos with GO Zone money as well:

$5 million in Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds for the Louisiana Community Development Authority to finance the cost of a 35-acre apartment, retail and condominium development adjacent to Tiger Stadium.

The only project close to Tiger Stadium that I could find was this:

LSU fans weary of returning to New Orleans after a Tiger game will soon have an option that lets them enjoy the spirit of the game for a weekend or longer.

Birmingham, Ala.-based Capstone Development Corp. plans to build FieldHouse Baton Rouge, a luxury sports-themed condominium to be built at the north gates of Louisiana State University, less than half a mile from Tiger Stadium.

Now, the bonds were approved for the LCDA, one of the largest issuers of tax-exempt financings in the state. So, if the Fieldhouse project is benefiting from GO Zone bonds, I don’t think anything nefarious is going on here. I just found that interesting.

GO Zone Projects

2007-08-14T16:32:00.000-05:00

As long as it doesn’t deny funding for projects more in the spirit of hurricane recovery, my biggest problem with these Alabama condos is that the color scheme is not purple and gold:

With large swaths of the Gulf Coast still in ruins from Hurricane Katrina, rich federal tax breaks designed to spur rebuilding are flowing hundreds of miles inland to investors who are buying up luxury condos near the University of Alabama's football stadium.

About 10 condominium projects are going up in and around Tuscaloosa, and builders are asking up to $1 million for units with granite countertops, king-size bathtubs and 'Bama decor, including crimson couches and Bear Bryant wall art.

Here in Louisiana, since the end of last month, we have had a different GO Zone problem:

The State Bond Commission temporarily derailed projects seeking low-interest post-hurricane bond financing Thursday after the panel was told there is only $97 million left in the $7.8 billion program and more than $4.5 billion in projects on the list to be financed.

The commission voted 6-3 to put the brakes on approving developers' requests to use the tax-exempt Gulf Opportunity Zone Bond Program to help finance projects ranging from refineries and car dealerships to shopping centers, hotels and residential developments.

Bond Commission Executive Director Whit Kling said the panel's vote means that $3.4 billion in projects on Thursday's agenda have been shelved for now. Some of the big-ticket items in the New Orleans area placed on hold are:

--$1 billion to expand the Valero Refinery in St. Charles Parish.
--$900 million for Entergy to rebuild or construct "public utility property" in St. Charles Parish.
--$250 million to build an ethanol plant in St. James Parish.
--$200 million for commercial and residential development near Slidell.
--$100 million to expand a liquid logistics center operated by International-Matex Tank Terminals in St. Rose.
--$60 million to build a crude-oil storage complex in St. James Parish for NuStar Energy Services Inc.
--$24 million for a retail shopping center near Covington.
--$15 million for a 180-unit development in Slidell.

I wonder if any inland luxury condo projects in Louisiana already got their bonds before these "big-ticket items?"

Developer Proposes Tearing Down Woolworth's Building on Canal St.

2007-08-13T23:01:00.000-05:00

To construct a parking garage and apartments:

Metairie developer Mohan Kailas, in plans filed with the New Orleans Industrial Development Board, is proposing building two towers on either side of the old NOPSI building at 317 Baronne St. Separately, Kailas is planning to build a 550-space parking garage and a 200-foot apartment tower at the site of the closed Woolworth building at 1031 Canal St., which would be demolished to make way for the new structure.

During the 1960s the Woolworth building was the site of numerous sit-ins organized by civil rights workers attempting to end the city's segregation of lunch counters. Some of the original stools and counters are in storage and would be used in the project to memorialize the site's significance in the civil rights movement, Kailas said.

A picture of the Woolworth's counter and interesting history about the building's construction from Blake Pontchartrain:

The next year, 1939, saw the construction of another in the F.W. Woolworth 5-and-10-cent-store chain. But the building of this store created quite a disturbance among preservationists. You see, the store was built between 1031-1041 Canal St., and in order to do this many old buildings had to be demolished. But these were not just any old buildings. The area was the gateway to the famous Tango Belt area.

Located in the French Quarter just across Basin and North Rampart streets from Storyville, the Tango Belt was practically the center of nightlife in New Orleans in the first two decades of the 20th century. There you could find many cabarets, saloons, nightclubs, and theaters where jazz flourished. One of the buildings that was destroyed had housed the Arlington Cabaret. once operated by Tom Anderson, a state legislator and prominent political leader who was also known as the unofficial Mayor of Storyville.

Problem-oriented Policing

2007-08-13T16:24:00.000-05:00

Dr. George Capowich of Loyola University spoke at the Crime Prevention Roundtable II last Saturday about establishing a university-based research consortium at Loyola involving all the area universities to produce research that law enforcement can use to craft a problem-oriented approach to policing. He talked about the importance of research and using it to fight crime and to pursue a holistic approach to crime fighting.

What he said about problem-oriented policing was not really specific, but is sounded good to me. He said it does three things:

1) It broadens the information police use to understand crime, like census data and other information that criminologists and sociologists use.

He said, “One of the characteristics about violence is that it is very situational. It happens at the spur of the moment. It’s based on past relationships and the circumstances that are present on the street. Problem-oriented policing tries to find, does find the information that bears on that, it uses that, it analyzes that whole gamut of information to try and craft responses and solutions.”

2) It relies heavily on active engagement of law enforcement with the community, including the people who live in the communities and the organizations, non-profits, and city departments that operate in the communities.

He made an interesting point about the relationship between non-profit organizations and the city: “The non-profit sector in this community accounts for 12% of the employment in social services in this city. That is very high. In many cities around the country those are things that citizens expect to get from their government. In New Orleans, you get it from the non-profit community.”

3) It has very specific implementation: scanning (analyzing information), crafting a response, implementing it, and evaluating it.

Capowich rated the three ways to reduce violence:

1) Law enforcement only: least effective
2) Law enforcement strategies coupled with good community relations: more effective
3) Law enforcement strategies, with good community relations, and police problem-oriented approaches: most effective

This approach uses reactive as well as preventive strategies. I like it.

Perception of Corruption, Corruption of Perception

2007-08-13T15:07:00.000-05:00

Keeping with my goal of staying positive, Oliver Thomas’s plea is not the “black eye” that “could hinder N.O. recovery aid” as the Times-Picayune headline may suggest.

The perception game is silly, as others have pointed out.

But, let’s assume that America and Washington, DC, thinks New Orleans and Louisiana is full of corrupt politicians and always has been, the type of perception we are trying to avoid. Then, it would be consistent with that perception that there should be plenty of corrupt politicians for the US Attorneys to find. In fact, if they were *not* prosecuting a bevy of politicians for corrupt practices, *then* America and her politicians may be able to say that we tolerate corruption in this part of the world and can not be trusted with millions of dollars in recovery aid.

Thomas’ plea shows that, whether or not we did so in the past, the new New Orleans, or at least its federal enforcement arm, is not going to tolerate corruption. Not even in a popular politician like Oliver Thomas.

That’s a positive.

D.A. Jordan's Crime Update

2007-08-13T10:22:00.000-05:00

At the Crime Prevention Roundtable II Saturday, New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan gave the small audience a D.A.’s office update.

Here are the highlights of his highlights, with a few quotes. I took these from an audio recording I made, so you may cite the figures and quotes safely. I worked seven years at a TV news station, so I know a thing or two about accurate reporting. I also assume the Roundtable has been or will be broadcast on public access television, so you can check me.

The sound quality of my recordings is not broadcast quality. Otherwise, I would post the audio. But, if you really want to hear it, you can email me (email address is in the sidebar) and I will send it to you.

New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan’s Update at the Crime Prevention Roundtable II, August 11, 2007

Screening Division – Keva (Kee’-vuh) Landrum appointed chief of Screening Division; screening division is where case begins: initial appearance of offender, bond set, D.A. receives police report, then screening process begins; specialized screening assistants (narcotics, sex offenders)

6,304 arrests for state charges, Jan 1-Jun 30 – “While I fully respect the assistance provided by the federal government, you can see that our numbers are much, much, larger.”; screening division has screened 6,660 cases, Jan 1-Jun 30; charges accepted in 56% of those cases; “…the national norm with regard to local prosecutors is roughly around 50% or so. So, we’re certainly within that range…”; “before the storm we were up to 70% in our acceptance rate”; 3,750 cases accepted, 2,910 refused

Witness participation still problem in victim crimes – trying to provide more than temporary housing; “We have relocated individuals to other parts of state and as well as to a safe house in another state that we maintain as a safe place for, a safe haven for our crime victims and witnesses. And we don’t relocate individuals. We relocate families many times. And many times we’re talking about single parents with several children. And it is a tremendous challenge because my office has never been allocated any funding for this kind of service.”; the most recent federal appropriation has money for victim/witness assistance

701 releases – “The 701 release problem… which had pretty much come to an end before the storm. We had very few cases resulting in 701 releases.”; “The 701 release period is the 60 day time period after an arrest occurs during which the police and prosecutors have an opportunity to get the information into the D.A.’s office so that the prosecutor can make an informed decision about the merits of the charge. And, if insufficient information I available, then of course the case cannot be accepted. The problem since the storm has had to do with drug cases and the unavailability of our drug lab. And, that problem continues to exist but it is not as great a problem as it once was.”; Jan: 580 releases; Jun: 118; Jul: 150; 74% decrease from January; “The overwhelming majority of these 701 releases are still drug related, even with our acceptance of the field tests that’s been talked about. The field tests were never the issue. It’s always been a problem of the crime lab. But, the crime lab is more functional now. And so, the 701 release problem is going away. That’s a good thing.”

Economic crime – D.A. has received 2,000 complaints of contractor fraud; 88 active investigations; 20 outstanding arrest warrants; 45 cases pending trial; $222,000 obtained by D.A. office in restitution

Trial Division – at least 2 prosecutors assigned to every section (12 sections) of court; “It is our goal always to closely supervise our young prosecutors, many of which have less than two years experience as trial attorneys.”; salaries higher; 177 cases tried since Jan 07; 67% conviction rate for judge trials; 63% conviction rate for jury trials; 1490 convictions; 1384 convictions in pleas; 106 convictions in trials

Violent Defender Unit – “Violent crime is, I believe, the number one concern of the citizens of New Orleans. And, certainly, homicides are part of that. And, I have always believed that every life – every life – is valuable. Every life is important. And, it’s not that a person has a particular title or a particular status in the community.

I did not know Dinneral Shavers. I didn’t have the privilege of knowing him. But I know that he was, based on all accounts, he was a man of tremendous importance to this community.

But we have many people who have criminal histories. Maybe homicide victims who have criminal histories. We treat their cases with the same respect and professionalism that we treat Mr. Shavers’ case.

It’s important in every case that we have witnesses come forward. And, when we do have sufficient evidence, we will accept that case for prosecution and we will do everything in our power to make sure that that person is brought to justice and justice is served.”

Violent Defender Unit (con’t) – assign homicide cases to violent defender unit; 9 violent defender prosecutors; most experienced prosecutors; average experience is 10 years in violent defender unit; 92% conviction rate

Child Support Division – $27 million collected in child support in 2006

Public Corruption Unit – majority of cases resulted in successful prosecutions

Commentary to come later.

Chief Riley's Crime Update

2007-08-12T20:41:00.001-05:00

At the Crime Prevention Roundtable II yesterday, Police Superintendent Warren Riley gave the small audience an NOPD update.

Here are the highlights of his highlights, with a few quotes. I took these from an audio recording I made, so you may cite the figures and quotes safely. I worked seven years at a TV news station, so I know a thing or two about accurate reporting. I also assume the Roundtable has been or will be broadcast on public access television, so you can check me.

The sound quality of my recordings is not broadcast quality. Otherwise, I would post the audio. But, if you really want to hear it, you can email me (email address is in the sidebar) and I will send it to you.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley’s Update at the Crime Prevention Roundtable II

In-car camera system – 70 cameras have been installed out of 109

Attrition rate – lost 500 police officers after the storm; were losing 18-19 police officers a month; two weeks ago, largest recruit class in NOPD history started; 160-170 officers are back on the streets; right now, losing about 11 officers a month; before Katrina, losing 10 officers a month; “We’re beginning to stabilize that situation.”

Check points – “have been highly effective”; placed in high crime areas and highly trafficked areas where drugs come in; “It’s been successful in us taking over 70 hardcore wanted subjects off the streets of New Orleans.”; “Our largest drug bust this year came from a traffic check point.”; 14 officers on check points

Statistics for 2007 – will be released next week comparing last six months of 2006 and 2007; “And one thing that we have made some progress in, but we still certainly have a long way to go, is that you will see that our murder rate has dropped by 8.75%.”

Training – officers have been trained in what the D.A. wants; D.A.s went through same training

10-point plan with D.A. – meet every two weeks with D.A. staff

Crime Lab – “Our crime lab is now up and running.”; at UNO; about 40% of equipment is in; have run some drug and ballistics tests

Evidence Room – two weeks ago signed a new lease on a property to store evidence

New interoperable radio system – “We should never ever have a problem handling an emergency with the radio system like we had during Katrina.”

Neighborhood Watch organizations – 155 total; 36 are new

NONPAC meetings – well attended by citizens

Focus on youth – over 500 kids in Cops for Kids summer program

Focus on domestic violence – Domestic Violence Unit went from 4 to 7 officers

Mental illness – trained over 125 officers to deal with mental illness; NOPD handles 200 mental illness transports a month to hospitals

Schools – officers at certain schools at bus stops; officers will check places where truants hang out; working with RSD Superintendent Paul Vallas to open a truancy center; “Last year, truants were brought back to the schools. It is not a successful way to deal with truants because, basically, they go back to school and they leave out again as soon as we leave.”

Partnership with federal government – since February, 85 cases have been turned over to the U.S. attorneys office; “Of those 85, 75 have been indicted, 40 have been convicted.”

Reaching out to Hispanic community – handing out pamphlets (I assume in Spanish, although Riley did not specify); identifying and using officers that speak Spanish; “Right now Los Angeles has a major gang war between the Hispanic community and the African-American community. A very violent situation. We’re trying to get ahead of that.”

Sex Crime Unit – located 912 out of 1350 that were registered pre-Katrina

New Crime Mapping Tool on website – info goes back to Jan 2005; some information is on it within 24 hours; every crime is reported within ten days

RAND study on officer retention – adopted recommendations; “The New Orleans Police Department is now the highest paid police department in the state. That has a lot to do with our highest recruit class ever that we started two weeks ago. That has a lot to do with our attrition rate dropping from 18 to 11 a month. And, within that 11 a month, 5 or 6 are retiring because they have 28, 29, 30 years on. But they are no longer just leaving for other departments.”

Working with juvenile court – Judge David Bell and the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative

$6.6 million from the State Appropriations Committee – will begin ordering equipment over the next couple of weeks

Commentary to come later.

Care Forgot Update

2007-08-12T14:52:00.000-05:00

I added all the information I have on 2007 murders in the city on the New Orleans Wiki page for Care Forgot.

I need some victims' names, which I will get when I have time from the Times-Pic 2007 Murders blog or just from other T-P articles.

As of August 11, 2007, there were 119 murders in the city of New Orleans.

Inspiring Posts

2007-08-12T14:45:00.000-05:00

In case you're wondering, my positive pledge was inspired after reading Cliff's Crib, starting with this post.

And, yes, the picture had something to do with it, though I don't watch much pro wrestling. Maybe I should.

Lives Gone, Lives Valued

2007-08-12T11:58:00.000-05:00

Staying positive isn’t easy:

There were moments when the tears would stop just long enough for Mejia to see clearly what had happened to her life. Her arms rested across her round belly -- her first child, Mariana, is due this month. The body of her husband, Pablo Mejia Jr., lay in a casket an arm's length away from where she sat in the funeral parlor on Wednesday, the bullet wound in his forehead patched over in a way that the family's grief can never be.

A handmade rosary of yellow roses from an aunt, notes from friends and family, and a drawing from a 10-year-old godchild had been tucked into the coffin of a young man who had been actively pursuing the rebuilding of New Orleans. He was the third generation of a Hispanic family in New Orleans. The birth of his daughter would begin the fourth generation of family with roots in the city and a determination to stay and contribute to its rebirth.

Mejia was working on his house, with a friend, at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Three gunmen robbed them, then shot Mejia, in his home, as he was rebuilding, in the daytime.

Further east in New Orleans East, a man and woman were shot yesterday morning:

Nguyen and Vu, who lived together at the Savoie Court address, owned three companies including a real estate firm, LA Properties of Slidell LLC, formed in May 2004. The company had purchased several properties in the Castle Manor neighborhood of eastern New Orleans.

Not only is violent crime killing our recovery as a metaphor, it is actually killing those who are staying to rebuild.

I am trying to stay positive. Staying positive doesn’t mean you have to say something positive about everything, or find something positive in everything. There is nothing positive in these stories.

The positive goal I would like to set for myself and the media: Treat every murder as the murder of a human being; treat every human being as equal; therefore, treat every murder as equal.

By the media account, Pablo Mejia was a good man. His family and friends know this. And, from what I read in the article, our community has gained from his presence, and will lose something in his absence.

But we lose something in every violent death. And we need to recognize this. Every murder in the city of New Orleans should be treated equally. Every murder should have an above-the-fold picture on the front page of the Living section of the Times-Picayune, with the story continued on a full page inside.

Part of the reason why we have as many murders as we have is we don’t value every human being’s life as equal in our city.

Let’s take Central City as an example.

Standing in the 2500 block of 3rd Street, in the middle of Central City, you are surrounded by violent death. Walk less than a mile (0.7 miles) in every direction from that point, and you encounter the scenes of 20 murders in 2007 (see the image below).

After a brief internet search, I found no two-page Living section articles about the people murdered inside that circle of violent death. Please, let me know if I am wrong.

If you think that they do not deserve a two-page Living section article revealing who they were beyond simply how they died, then how about at least a one-page article? How about a blurb other than “An unidentified man was shot to death…” or “The Orleans Parish coroner's office has released the identity of a man who was shot to death…” or an article that may as well be titled “A bad man gone,” listing all the times the murdered was shot or arrested or both?

Indeed, the bad is part of the story just as the good is part of the story. But the “bad guys” weren’t always bad. You are not born bad. You are taught bad.

We need to value every life as equal.

If we don’t, then we don’t value a child enough to make sure he or she is *not* living a home life that isn’t much better than a homeless life.

If we don’t, then we don’t value a child enough to make sure he or she does *not* go to a school where no learning occurs.

If we don’t, then we don’t value a child enough to make sure he or she receives preventative health care and enough (and nutritious enough) food to stay healthy.

If we don’t value every life as equal, then we don’t value a child enough to make sure he or she does not choose the street over the community and then dies a violent death.

That is how you teach bad, by not valuing every life as equal.

I have added a Goal for New Orleans in my sidebar that reads:

NOLA will have the lowest per capita murder rate in the United States for cities with populations between 250,000 and 300,000.

If we value every life as equal, we will achieve that goal.

If we had valued every life as equal, we would be there already.

As a goal for myself, I will become active in Care Forgot, an idea communicated to me by Ray and Alan Gutierrez. The idea is to remember every life lost to violent murder in New Orleans equally - a truly positive goal.

Breakfast. It’s the Most Important Meal.

2007-08-11T20:59:00.000-05:00

I forgot to mention in the previous post this part of Mayor Nagin’s address to the Crime Prevention Roundtable:

We’ve had an incredible criminal justice dialogue, about every segment of the criminal justice system. Recently the District Attorney and I had a wonderful breakfast where we talked very frankly about our mutual frustrations and what we were going to do to solve some of those going forward. And we have both consistently followed up on those issues to make sure that everyone understands that we are moving forward.

Once again, my transcript.

I hope to have a wonderful breakfast tomorrow morning where I solve a few frustration-inducing problems and move forward. I am inspired. I am also out of coffee. Off to the store.

Mayor Nagin Has Taken the Positive Pledge, Too

2007-08-11T20:23:00.000-05:00

As I make an effort to be positive, I want to surround myself with people also trying to stay positive. I attended the Crime Prevention Roundtable (pdf) at Gallier Hall today, and I am glad to see that Mayor Nagin also wants to stay positive:

The media keeps beating on everything that happens that’s wrong. If we have a sensational event as it relates to criminal activity, that’s all you here about over and over and over again. And it’s rare that we have any balance to this. So this is our opportunity for us to provide some balance.

Most intelligent people out in our community are looking for that balance. Some folk is just negative and that’s just the way they going to be. And there’s nothing we can do about that. But for the majority of our citizens, it’s incumbent upon us to give you the truth and to give you the facts so you can really understand what’s going on.

And to my friends who keep trying to portray the city in its worst light: Stop. Even when they talk about murders and violent crimes, they link it up to other parishes around this area to make it seem like New Orleans is totally out of control.

Why are you doing that? I don’t know. But it would be nice if you would stop.

That’s my transcript and my emphasis.

Nagin also provided an accountability moment that BSJD or any other blogger might want to fact check when he commented:

So many of the initiatives that we talked about many months ago, six, twelve months ago, we have put in place. If you go back and check the record, just about everything we told the public we would do, we’re either doing or have done. And it’s starting to make some impact in our city.

He was, of course, referring to crime initiatives, of which here are the highlights:

Increased pay for police.
A record breaking 71 recruits in the latest class.
New police cars.
“Crime cameras up in most areas of the city.”
In-car cameras.
“…latest and greatest in technology to the NOPD.”
$7 million from state to NOPD.
Crime walks.
Increased checkpoints.
Federal partnerships.
Focus on kids, like the Cops for Kids Program.

I am not sure where the crime cameras stand. I am also not sure if they are “up in most areas of the city.” That’s one for Dambala.

Mayor Nagin also took the positive route on population figures, which is nothing new:

We as a community have to unite. We are 300,000 strong in this recovery and the numbers are growing everyday.

The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center estimated the New Orleans population at 300,000 using mail delivery numbers. But Greg Rigamer set the population at 274,000. Nagin has said in the past that Rigamer’s number does not include migrant workers.

Nagin also shed some light on maybe why he’s only “somewhat” worried about the New Orleans brand when it comes to the murder rate:

I know one murder is way too many. We are going to continue to try to bring this city to a zero point. But, just to give you an indication of the trends, this past July – which July historically has been our most violent month as relates to crime – this past July, we recorded 14 murders. Four of those murders were carryovers from somebody being shot in a previous month. Compare that to one year earlier, and there were 23 murders.

So, as you can see, we are starting to see some trends. And we’re not happy with it. But we’re starting to see some trends that suggest things that we put in place are starting to have some impact.

July had the second lowest number of murders of any month this year. February saw 13 murders by my count, but had three less days than July. So, yes, that is positive.

One month earlier in June, however, there were 19 murders by my count, the most of any month. And we are averaging a murder every other day for 2007 even with the lower total in July.

The fact that the population is going up but more people are not being murdered is a good thing. That could mean that our violent crime prevention initiatives are working. Or it could mean that the new population isn’t moving to areas where they might be killed.

I heard a lot of good things at the Crime Prevention Roundtable. If I have time, I will post more transcripts and good things.

And heed the Mayor’s words. Stop the negativity!

Go Team Gray!

2007-08-10T23:29:00.000-05:00

Positive news from Pistolette about a local team with a chance to show up the big boys in a national competition. What makes it better is some of the team members are Tulane Engineering and Computer Science graduates... some of the last Tulane Engineering and Computer Science graduates maybe?

And she asks:

They have been featured in several national science publications, and two months ago the Discovery Channel came to film them work for several days (that show will air in February). So where is the local press on this story!?!

The local media has not made the positive pledge that I have made. Maybe they should.

Of course, if Team Gray succeeds, the Dept. of Defense will have more and better ways to kill people:

The DARPA Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles conducting simulated military supply missions in a mock urban area. Safe operation in traffic is essential to U.S. military plans to use autonomous ground vehicles to conduct important missions.

But the science is certainly cool, if not the application. I am one who feels like humans can both have this knowledge and use it wisely. Some day.

The Positive New Orleans Brand

2007-08-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

Mayor Nagin defined the brand he thinks we can use to market New Orleans’ murder rate to the world:

Responding to a TV reporter's question about whether New Orleans' murder rate hurts the city's tourism economy, Mayor Ray Nagin on Thursday called the phenomenon a "two-edged sword."

"Do I worry about it? Somewhat. It's not good for us, but it also keeps the New Orleans brand out there, and it keeps people thinking about our needs and what we need to bring this community back. So it is kind of a two-edged sword. Sure it hurts, but we have to keep working everyday to make the city better," Nagin said, according to a transcript of provided by FOX8.

So the headlines from this marketing campaign would look like this:

New Orleans’ Murder Rate Highest Per Capita; Mayor Says “Help Us.”

Here’s the headline I would like to see:

New Orleans’ Murder Rate Lowest Per Capita; Mayor Says “We Did It.”

What marketing campaign gets us those headlines? Let’s hire the ad agency that can make that the New Orleans brand.

Let’s make that our goal: Lowest Per Capita Murder Rate. Not “Lower.” With that as our goal, every time our leaders must make a decision related to murders and the criminal justice system, they can ask themselves, “If we do this, will it help us achieve the Lowest Per Capita Murder Rate?”

If Mayor Nagin had asked himself that question before he answered the reporter, he may not have responded that he was “somewhat” worried about the murder rate.

What is New Orleans’ current murder rate? According to the Times-Picayune, there have been 117 murders this year as of Wednesday, August 8, 2007. August 8 is 220 days into the year. If the murder rate remains the same, we would end the year with 194 murders. With a population of 274,000 people as of July, that gives us a murder rate of 70 murders per 100,000 residents.

According to 2006 FBI statistics, Plano, TX, had the lowest murder rate per capita of cities with between 250,000 and 300,000 residents. Its murder rate was two. There were four murders in Plano in 2006. That’s our goal: a murder rate of two. That would be only five murders in the City of New Orleans for an entire year (at the July population numbers).

I hear the doubters already. Yeah, I know. I hear you.

“Plano is this; Plano is that.”

“New Orleans is this; New Orleans is that.”

“A hurricane hit us!”

No excuses. It is just harder for us, but not impossible.

This is all part of my new positive outlook. I am not sure how long it can last. But I’m keeping positive about it.

First Attempt to Stay Positive

2007-08-10T14:50:00.000-05:00

I am going to Rising Tide 2.

My Attempt to Stay Positive

2007-08-10T11:23:00.000-05:00

I blogged anonymously. Now I don't. This change coincides with my attempt to stay positive about where we are and where we are going in the NOLA area. If I am positive while being honest, then it's okay if everyone knows my name.

I am still the blogger you all know and love, except you might not know who I am and you might not love me. But, my anonymous self may have still been on your NOLA blogroll.

By the way, it took forever to copy and paste my NOLA blogroll from my old blog onto this one. There are a lot of us. Wow. If I missed you, let me know.

So, hi. My name is Mark. I post as m.d. I'll be sure to introduce myself to you at Rising Tide 2. Be there.