Voice of the Wetlands

Under sunny skies and dry, cool weather we ventured south to Houma to
attend the Voice of the Wetlands Festival.



Held at Southdown Plantation, this somewhat small festival was chock full of information,
displays and handouts discussing the dangerous situation that our wetlands are facing, particularly in Louisiana..

This was the fourth VOW festival and I'm hoping that in the near future that it becomes more well-known around the world.

During Katrina and Rita Louisiana lost over 215 miles of wetlands due to the erosion caused by the storms. This affects not just the people who live near the wetlands,
"but the whole country. From the VOW website The wetlands of Louisiana fade daily due to erosion - at the rate of one football field an hour. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Mississippi with levees, it cut the river's ability to hold back the power of the Gulf. The Gulf has been winning for nearly 100 years - and its spoils are lost land. In the early 1700s, 215 million acres of wetlands existed in the United States. Now in the beginning of this century, 90 million acres are left. That number is decreasing at a staggering rate.

"


Besides the wealth of information provided at the festival, there were opportunities to buy the poster, hat and T-shirts. Additionally, for $35, you can
take a Voice of the Wetlands discovery flight over the wetlands just outside Houma to witness the deterioration first-hand. I believe that the opportunity to take these flights extends past the festival. Call Hammonds Air Service at (985) 876-0584 to schedule a flight. It's eye opening.


The music was entertaining. Early in the evening was a band from Lafouche/Terrebone called Southern Cross. They were very good.


l-r Johnny Sansone, George Porter, Tab Benoit, Johnny Vidacovitch, Anders Osborne
Can someone help me with the sax player?



At 8 the VOW Allstars took the stage. Comprised of Tab Benoit, Anders Osborne, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, George Porter, Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, Waylon Thibodeaux and Johnny Vidacovitch the VOW Allstars kick ass.
"
NO matter what your taste in music, if you can't appreciate the beauty of Waylon Thibodeaux's playing, you're missing something.

I'm hoping that more aggressive marketing is done for next years fest to get the word out about the dire straights that our wetlands are in.
Right now our useless president is promising to veto the Water Resources Bill
that would put us in just a little more of a precarious situation.

H.R. 1495: Water Resources Development Act of 2007 needs your help. Please send your comments to comments@whitehouse.gov

The Wetlands affect everyone. There are many grass roots efforts taking place to restore our wetlands
Helping restore our wetlands is not a pipe dream. It's a necessary job.

Further reading on the importance of our Wetlands
" Nature's Revenge: Louisiana's Vanishing Wetlands
- September 2002
- From Joshua Clark via the Boston Globe - "Disaster is only One Marsh Away"


From the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank :
We are the Student Hurricane Network, one thousand law students from over 70 of the nation's finest law schools who traveled to New Orleans and other affected areas of the Gulf Coast to provide legal services between semesters and springs breaks. We have been to the source. We have born witness to the incredible effects of the greatest "failure of state" in American history, and we are deeply concerned. Now, we are calling on the legal resources of the nation to build a single, complete case to prove responsibility, force accountability and demand a comprehensive and sustainable solution.

Stuffage

Signs of progress in NOLA


Wishful thinking

If they'd done
this earlier, Nagin wouldn't be a problem




VOW fest starts Friday.
How can you say no to a FREE festival featuring The Voice of the Wetlands Allstars?

Get Gambit this week if you like to eat out The October 9th issue
has a Fall Restaurant Guide

The Brock Project

I stumbled across this website this morning.

Initiated by the Mayor of New Hyde Park, NY and the Principal of The Road School in the same town, the fine folks there are hoping to raise one million dollars to assist in the rebuilding of Brock Elementary School in Slidell, Louisiana.


Wow. How many other projects are under way for this whole area that - unless we search day and night on different news venues - we don't know about.

As the first public school in Slidell, Brock Elementary School was the oldest school in the parish still in use as a school when Hurricane Katrina devastated it.
It's scheduled to reopen in August 2008. A construction contract has been awarded and repairs to the facility have already begun. The school serves 300 students in grades K-5. Students are currently being educated in temporary facilities.

Damages to the school were significant enough to warrant a replacement facility. However, due to the school's historical significance and eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, St. Tammany education officials decided instead to repair the school, which first opened in 1942.

Because South Slidell suffered the greatest devastation from Katrina, many of the same families who attended the school and have children who attended the school lost their homes and belongings as well. With the School System announcement that Brock Elementary School would be restored, a groundswell of gratitude, joy, and hope from the community has surfaced.

To date, FEMA has obligated over $8.3 million toward Brock Elementary School, which includes emergency protective measures and permanent repairs.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Dan Petruccio, Mayor of New Hyde Park
and Peggy Marenghi, Principal of The Road School as well as all of the wonderful giving, caring people throughout the world who still continue to give to help this area recover from the storm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More from the Times Picayune


With construction under way, school and FEMA officials say flood-damaged Brock Elementary School is on track to reopen for the 2008-09 school year.

"The project is going well," said Gayle Sloan, superintendent for St. Tammany Parish schools. "We're still very hopeful that it will be ready to return students to in the fall."

Brock has not reopened at its campus on Brakefield Street in Slidell since the school building was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Its 300 students in kindergarten through fifth-grade are attending classes in modular buildings at St. Tammany Junior High School in Slidell's Olde Towne district.

The damage sustained after the storm was significant enough to warrant building a new facility, school officials said, but they chose instead to renovate the school.

Brock, which opened as a grammar school in 1942, was granted historic status by the National Register of Historic Places last year. Because of that listing, officials handling the restoration must follow a strict set of federal guidelines.

"Brock is an important community institution, and local residents are eager to see the reconstruction of this school, which has served several generations," Deputy Superintendent Trey Folse said.

"The school is not only an important landmark but also a positive, effective center of learning. The rebuilding of Brock will be an inspiring example for a revitalized community hard hit by disaster."

FEMA has obligated more than $8.3 million for construction at Brock, which includes emergency protection and repairs.

Independence contractor Frank A. Anzalone was hired in June to do the repairs, which will cost a little more than $8.5 million, Folse said.

Renovation plans include replacing the wooden gymnasium floor with a synthetic floor, replacing the building's wooden doors with water-resistant fiberglass ones and using stainless-steel hardware for the doors, he said.

The site has undergone many changes since the community's first high school occupied the space and graduated its first class in 1909. In 1911, a three-story brick building was constructed at the site, according to the Brock Elementary School Web site.

That building housed the first through 11th grades until 1925, when a new high school was built on Third Street. During this time, a teacher and librarian at the grammar school began the first elementary school library in the state, according to the school's Web site.

Undergoing extensive repairs in 1939 and then destroyed by a fire in 1951, the school was renamed in 1972 in honor of Glynn H. Brock, who served as principal from 1932 to 1951.

Odd Beauty

A photo over at Slimbolala's blog shows the beautiful individuality of a New Orleans neighborhood.

Mr Cerasoli

Prytania Waterline has all I need to say posted
here.

The Chicory dicusses the IG's interview on WWL radio

Schroeder dicusses this issue here

kville

I thought I'd give "Kville" another chance last night, but the episode started out with a voodoo-themed murder .

What a piece of crap. New Orleans has so much to offer, they wouldn't need writers for this program. Ah, Hollywood, your head's up your ass once again.


I'm not alone in my opinion, it seems

Some good stuff

If you're not an animal lover, you may not enjoy reading this, probably thinking that the dollars discussed below could go to "something better". To each his own, I guess.


From the HSUS website, the article
Stronger Than Before: Two Years after Katrina, Gulf Coast Animal Groups Rebound

The metamorphosis of the LA SPCA is perhaps the most spectacular example of revitalization and renewal that has emerged from the wake of Katrina’s ruinous assault. Once housed in a rundown building of mid-twentieth century vintage on Japonica Street in the poverty-plagued Ninth Ward, the organization now occupies the 12-acre Dorothy Dorsett Brown Louisiana SPCA Campus, with an $8 million dollar, 21,000 square foot central building.


In October 2005 Louisiana SPCA director Laura Maloney recalls

an incredible sadness that fills me daily for the animals of New Orleans. The rottweiler, the pit bull, the German shepherd mix that died in flood waters after being left tethered to a fence or a porch or a balcony. The animals whose owners did not have the means to evacuate and who were left behind as their caretakers were rescued from the roofs of homes overcome with waters from breached levees. The dogs whose top coat peeled away as easily as a banana skin after days of swimming in pools of contaminated waters, slick with oil, silt, and salt from Lake Pontchartrain. When I think of the animals, I’m filled with an incredible sense of loss, sadness, and even anger. Katrina brought our pet overpopulation problem national attention and exposed the high level of neglect and lack of care for a large portion of New Orleans’ furred friends.



The Humane Society of the US has sent $8.35 million in reconstruction grants to 45 facilities in the region. And that money has gone a long way.

Some examples include:

The Ascension Parish shelter renovated its puppy and kitten nursery, with the goal of increasing its adoption rate. An animal evacuation facility which exhausted all of its supplies during Katrina is now stocked with the equipment and material necessary to meet the next disaster.

Avoyelles, a cash-strapped parish on the route of escape from storms threatening the Louisiana coast now has a pet-friendly evacuation shelter.

The Clearwater Wildlife Sanctuary in Covington, Louisiana facility has a new barn with housing for domestic and wild animals and a visitors center that gives children access to humane and wildlife conservation education.

The Humane Society of Louisiana in New Orleans, the Ascension Parish shelter in Sorrento, Louisiana, and the Washington Humane Society in Bogalusa, Louisiana have new vehicles for animal transport.

Take Action, New Orleans residents!!!

via email from a coworker who lives in New Orleans East:


Dear Residents of Eastern New Orleans,

I am emailing you to inform you of a zoning docket that will be up
for public comment on October 9 at 1:30PM in the City Council
Chamber, in regards to a zoning change
from RD-2 (Residential Housing) and C-1 (Commercial District)
to LI (Light Industrial)in order to permit a trailer park at
9901 Chef Menteur Highway (Chef and Read).

This zoning change will hinder our efforts to revitalize the
Chef Menteur corridor to be a vibrant gateway into
Eastern New Orleans by placing a trailer park in a vital area
of development. The businesses this proposed site such as
Crystal Palace, Winn Dixie have and will return to better
than what they were before the storm adding to the charm of
Eastern New Orleans.

Chef Menteur Highway also serves as one of the routes to the
Plaza and a trailer park would be nothing but an eyesore.
Furthermore we want to make sure that there is quality safe
housing available for residents of Eastern New Orleans not
temporary housing. This zoning proposal comes at a time when
our communities have returned, rebuilt our homes, have brought
a wealth of businesses back to Eastern New Orleans, and have
committed to rebuilding a stronger, safer, and more economically
vibrant neighborhood.

I am urging each of you and your members to oppose this request
by writing a letter of opposition and attend the City Planning
Commission Public Hearing on October 9 at 1:30pm to
express your concerns.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you for your help.

Mai Thuy Tran Dang
Community Organizer
MQVN CDC, Inc.
504.255.9170 office
504.344.7806 cell
504.255.9001 fax



express your concerns to:

Cynthia Wilaard-Lewis:cwlewis@cityofno.com
The City Council also has oversight in regards to zoning changes.

Ms. Leslie Alley
Assistant Director
City Planning Commission of New Orleans
email : ltalley@cityofno.com
1300 Perdido Street
Room 9W03
New Orleans, LA 70112

or

Ms. Yolanda Rodriguez
Executive Director
City Planning Commission of New Orleans
email : ywrodriguez@cityofno.com
1300 Perdido Street
Room 9W03
New Orleans, LA 70112


click here for a form letter

==

Resurrection

Multi-faceted artist and Slidell native Phil Galatas has created a beautiful poster detailing the area's recovery from Katrina.


From his biography, written by Bernadette Duet, we find his inspiration for this poster

He saw a shadow of a noble, majestic, fleur de lis rising from the calm waters of
Pontchartrain surrounded by the glorious, vibrant hues of a Louisiana sunset. In contrast, he poised another shadow of a fleur de lis in the murky waters below, giving it an ominous edge – a subtle reminder of the ravage of Hurricane Katrina

This painting, sure to touch the hearts of many, shares a little piece of each of us who were affected by the hurricane. It is a prominent symbol of hope in desperate times. It is an affirmation that, amidst the trials and the tears, we will survive and truly resurrect our hearts, our minds, and the spirit of the land we know so well, our beloved Louisiana.

The poster will be used as the label for a merlot that will be available on October 16th at the Wine Market in Slidell.
What the above picture doesn't show is some of the beautiful detail that Mr. Galatas has included in the iris itself. What appears to be an orange top of the flower is actually a live oak tree, representing the oaks that survived Katrina's carnage. Word is that another "Resurrection" poster will soon be available for the label of a white wine and the live oak will be a cypress, representing all of the cypress trees that withstood Katrina's onslaught. I have purchased a poster and can tell you that the picture above doesn't do the real thing justice.
The poster is currently for sale and can be purchased by contacting Donna Penny at pennyiii@bellsouth.net. It's available as a poster, a signed poster or a signed and numbered print.

Scuzzbuckets of the Week

MESA, Arizona Oct. 3 (UPI) -- The sight of an old man being hit by a truck in Arizona touched off a feeding frenzy among witnesses who allegedly stole the dying victim's groceries.
sick sick sick sick sick people.

Thru Childrens' Eyes

Katrina Through the Eyes of Children is a sampling of the cathartic art that has been created in a collaborative effort between the children who live in Renaissance Village, (in Baker, Louisiana)

currently the largest FEMA trailer site in the country, and teams of registered art therapists who have been working with them since October 2005.

An eye opener for us all, this project brings home what the children affected by the storm were/are feeling. It wasn't just what was shown on CNN. Katrina profoundly touched everyone in the Gulf Coast area. And only the future will show us the long term affects of this disastrophe on the kids.

Related link:
Two Years After the Storm