Volunteers Moving on in

Despite the lower-than-low opinions of some people, there are many many people out there that continue to help rebuild the Gulf Coast after Katrina.

From USA Today ....

Two years after Katrina, the spirit of volunteerism is stronger than ever: 600,000 people headed to the Gulf Coast in Year 2 vs. 550,000 the first year after the August 2005 storm, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that runs AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs. Most are short-termers whose sheer numbers have provided the muscle behind the rebuilding. But the brains are the long-term volunteers who have dedicated at least six months to New Orleans. They provide the expertise needed to direct volunteers to the right work sites, teaching them to drywall and varnish wood.

The exact number of long-term volunteers is unknown, but their effect on the rebuilding is not. "We've seen this as the largest volunteer response in American history. There's a huge diversity of volunteers, from retirees to people right out of college," says David Eisner, CEO of the community service agency. "The long-term people are the glue that holds volunteerism together."

Despite all its problems, New Orleans is attracting new residents.
David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, says a growing trend, dubbed "the brain-gain phenomenon," is getting traction in New Orleans. "Katrina offers a new frontier for people who care about social change," he says.

After two years of volunteering in AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps), Ashley Sloan, Greg Loushine and Jackie Smith decided to start their own non-profit group, Live St. Bernard.

"Many volunteers stay because they bond with and identify with residents," he says. "It's hard for the volunteers to leave and continue with their lives after bonding with the residents." The couple have decided to make New Orleans their permanent home.

"New Orleans represents the great optimism of America," Eisner says. "We've seen people turn their experience in long-term volunteering to inform their career paths. We've seen people move to change their lives of success to lives of significance."


Things are changing ever so slowly, but they're changing for the good.

Big Boys

Found the you tube video where those two large Houma men were kicked out of a restaurant



The video blacks out at about minute 5:30, but returns at about minute 7:03.

Good ol boys who eat too much.
Jeesh.

Trees for the wetlands

From the Times Pic, a little video showing how

Christmas trees restoring the marsh in Jefferson Parish.

For the next three Saturdays, volunteers are needed to help load the Christmas trees into the marshes. Numbers are provided at the end of the video above.

From the Jefferson Parish website
Louisiana is losing 25 - 35 square miles of coastal wetlands each year. The Barataria Basin is the fastest-eroding area of Louisiana's coast. Jefferson Parish once had 50 miles of near-solid healthy wetlands between it and the Gulf of Mexico. The wetlands protect developed areas against hurricane surges, provide natural treatment for storm water, and provide a rich nursery ground for fisheries. Now, a large percentage of these wetlands have been converted to open water, significantly reducing storm protection.





Facts from the
Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
The 2007 Christmas season will mark the 17th consecutive year of the PCWRP. About 40,000 linear feet or eight (8) miles of brush fences have been constructed, utilizing over 1,574,000 used Christmas trees. Fifteen coastal parishes and Southeastern Louisiana University will participate in the 2007–08 PCWRP. Most parishes will restock or refurbish existing fences. Participating parishes are Calcasieu, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Terrebonne, and Vermilion. Southeastern Louisiana University will participate in place of Tangipahoa parish. Trees will be picked up curbside or as advertised locally

Post K Mental Health blog

Some people may be familiar with Josh Norman thru the
"Eye of the Storm" blog which he co-authored from Mississippi following Katrina's landfall there.

Joshua has awarded the fellowship through the Kaiser Family Foundation to explore ways in which disasters affect people mentally, specifically the way Hurricane Katrina affected people on the Gulf Coast.

The new blog, called Post Katrina Mental Health

In one of his first posts, Josh tries to answer the question
at
What is a Katrina Victim ?. Here's a little piece of that post

There are certain story lines that many people seem to have followed, with only the details differing.
One story I keep hearing over and over again is this one: "My (parent, grandparent, elderly relative, etc.)
was doing fine before Katrina. They survived the storm. However, upon returning to their home in (the Pass, the Lower 9, the Kiln, Gentilly, etc.)
afterwards, their health started to deteriorate. They stopped (eating, sleeping, smiling, communicating, etc.) Eventually, they died.

Scuzzbuckets of the Week

First we have a post by a seemingly unhappy, unfulfilled individual entitled "Cutting Through the Katrina Krapola"


Written by Gerard Vanderleun, whom one blogger describes as " is an ugly man with an ugly soul ". That blogger seems to have hit the nail on the head.

In his latest diatribe against New Orleans, Gerard goes on and on and on using ideas that seem to come from the black hole where his heart may or may not have been. His commentors share the reign of SOTW for their input as well (see some below) Some excerpts:


I've considered the matter of New Orleans carefully.

I've weighed the never-ending, and now maudlin, saccharine suffering of its people against my now limitless cache of compassion fatigue. They have been found wanting.

To be fair and just, here's what I propose we give New Orleans from this day forward. Nothing. Niente. Zip. Zero. Nada. And a full-scale barium enema just for asking for one more thin dime. Did you send money to this barrage of bozos? I did and I want it back. With interest.


If that doesn't set the hair on the back of your neck to a stand, some of the comments from his readers will...


Wouldn't it be worth it in the end if we could somehow turn this Democrat-controlled city into an ally in the war on terror?
Posted by: Gagdad Bob

Maybe it's time for a new t-shirt:
"Nuke Nawlens"
with the Super Dome and a mushroom cloud.
Posted by: tkdkerry

It's time these lazy thugs got off their bottom heavy behinds and did for themselves instead of wanting everyone else to do for them...talk about a microcosm of the "nanny state" in action...

GREAT article!
Posted by: Miss Beth

Real Americans are not money grubbing leeches that are too useless to earn their own keep.
Having been to NO, I see nothing worth keeping.
Blow the levees and let the River wash the filth away.
Posted by: goobersnot


It goes on and on, but you get the picture. Now there are responses by NOLA bloggers and others who take offense to this article, but when you're dealing with
people as closed minded as those above, it's not worth the effort to try to show them the error in their small-minded thinking, IMHO.

For more local reaction on this article, here are a few links:
Varg

Oyster

Gentilly Girl

Ashley

Animamundi

Hurricane Radio

Slidell Votech gets help

From the Times Picayune, 1-13-08:

FEMA to give college $2.2 million

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has pledged $2.2 million to replace the ruined contents of Louisiana Technical College's Slidell campus, which has been closed since Hurricane Katrina.



The money will go toward replacing furniture and equipment for the college's culinary, nursing, welding, automotive, drafting and computer technology programs. The items were destroyed after the storm inundated the campus off Canulette Road with more than 7 feet of water.

Steve Zeringue, senior compliance officer for the college, said the money will be "of great benefit" to the school.

"The residents of St. Tammany Parish need all the equipment necessary to train for job opportunities," he said. "FEMA has been very cooperative. They've done a good job addressing our needs."

Sending a team to the inundated campus after the storm, FEMA initially estimated the damage to be $160,000, Zeringue said. After school officials provided a more detailed list of the furniture, computers and technical equipment destroyed in the storm, FEMA came back with the revised cost of $2.2 million.

The school will relocate north of Lacombe to a consolidated educational campus that will include Delgado Community College, Southeastern Louisiana University and the University of New Orleans, as well as an advanced studies high school.

View Larger Map

St. Tammany Parish will finance construction of the colleges through a bond issue and repay the debt through lease payments from the universities, which will be given ownership of the buildings once they are paid off, officials have said.

With plans to open the campus in two years, parish officials are waiting for final approval from the Legislature to start construction, said parish spokeswoman Suzanne Parsons Stymiest.

Rough estimates have the construction costing $30 million.

"It may take three (years) but this is a project that (Parish President) Kevin (Davis) is fully committed on, and he is pressing everyone to move forward as quickly as we can," she said.

Still Not Okay

Check this out

Russel Honore

Russel Honore is retiring from the military.


He came to "fame" in the days following Katrina when Ray Nagin, talking to Garland Robinette on September 2, 2005 said this
Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the president some credit on this -- he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and his name is [Lt.] Gen. [Russel] Honore.

And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving. And he's getting some stuff done.

They ought to give that guy -- if they don't want to give it to me, give him full authority to get the job done, and we can save some people.


Notable Quotes from the fine gentleman who is Russell Honore

America needs to get over it. We can't control everything. We can't control the storms.


By-and-large, these are families that are just waiting to get out of here. They are frustrated; I would be, too. I get frustrated at the cash register counter when the paper runs out.

I can't swing a dead cat without hitting a reporter.


I told myself I'd stay in until I reached major, and then go on and do something else.


The preparations are what they are. We're here. The storm is coming. We are as best prepared as we can be as the eye of the storm approaches.


They went into stores to get food to stay alive. Looting isn't the right word. I call it survival.


This is a Disaster. This isn't something somebody can control. We ain't stuck on stupid.


We've got a plan, but don't confuse the plan with execution. We're doing something that is very different. Nobody goes around with 50 tons of water.


Who is affected more when it's cold? Poor people. Who is affected more when it's hot? Poor people. Who is affected more when it's wet? Poor people. Who is most affected when the economy is bad? Poor people. Poor people are the most fragile.


Worse things have happened to America. We're going to overcome this, too. It's not our fault. The storm came and flooded the city.


You can't vote that water out of the city of New Orleans.


And the classic Honore quote, one that made me actually put a bumper sticker on my car:



The man

Thanks to Mr. Clio for the reminder of this gem.

Katrina Cottage

I noticed a lot of hits on my website resulting from searches for Katrina cottages, so I decided to do a post with a little more info about them.
First, the history:

Five days after Hurricane Katrina, when Andres Duany and Steve Mouzon of the New Urban Guild met in Miami to conceive what would become the foundation concepts of the Katrina Cottage. Andres said early in the meeting that "this disaster is simply too enormous to depend on one type of delivery system to rebuild. We have to have all hands on deck. Houses must be site-built from stock house plans, panelized, modular, and manufactured.

Originally created to take the place of those nasty FEMA trailers, Katrina Cottages are suddenly becoming popular for camps, weekend homes and other uses across the country. Compared to the 23-28 foot temporary travel trailers that FEMA spends roughly $75,000 to deliver and install for Katrina victims, the 400 to over 1,000 square-foot cottages can be set up in days for less than $60,000.



Blueprints for the Katrina Cottages can be purchased at
Lowes online for $700.
The smaller homes have metal roofs that can withstand 140-mph winds. They also have termite and rot-resistant siding, and moisture-resistant interior wallboard that makes them suitable for flood-prone areas. The house can be built in as little as six weeks, according to Lowe's.


The smallest of the cottages, with 544 square feet of living area, will cost around $29,000 for the kit, which contains all materials above the foundation -- including studs, insulation, fixtures, plumbing and appliances. The homeowner must pay for construction, a foundation, and a heating and cooling system, which could add more than $80,000 to the cost, depending on local construction costs.




Katrina Cottages are being constructed to house the members of the Louisiana National Guard, at Jackson Barracks , a fixture in the neighborhood for more than 170 years. The 100-acre, 100-yard-wide Barracks straddle the Orleans/St. Bernard Parish line for about a mile from north to south. They took on water, too, from Katrina and Rita: varying in depth from about 4 to 22 feet.



Katrina Cottages dot com offers a description of the "kernel cottage"

A Kernel Cottage is a seed, or kernel, of the larger house it will grow into effortlessly through the Grow Zones. Thomas Jefferson built Monticello this way, living in one of the little cottages at the back of the house for several years as he built the larger main house. Much of America's traditional architecture is charming precisely because it has grown piece-by-piece over the years.


There are several different versions of the Katrina Cottage:


Cottage I - architect Marianne Cusato - located in Ocean Springs, Miss. - 308 Square Feet


Cottage II - architects Steve Oubre-Andrés Duany - location: Chalmette, LA - 770 Square Feet



Cottage III - architect Eric Moser - located in Pass Christian, Miss. - 1182 Square Feet


Cottage IV - architect Marianne Cusato - located in Ocean Springs, Miss. - 544 Square Feet


Cottage V - architect Andrés Duany - located in New Orleans, La. - 612 Square Feet


Cottage VI - architect Andrés Duany - located in Sarasota, Fla. - 480 Square Feet


Cottage VII - architect Steve Mouzon - (it travels) - 225 Square Feet



Cottage VIII - architect Steve Mouzon - located in Silver Spring, Md. - 523 Square Feet


Katrina Cottages are not new. For years it seems, people have traded in living in huge mansions to simplify their lives in very small homes.

The Small House Society provides links to existing Small House Communities, people offering land for small house communities, designers and builders for small houses as well as other links.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Umatilla Florida firechief Richard Shirk.

The chief of this small central Florida volunteer fire department was asked to resign after he e-mailed pictures that showed the exposed breast of a 26-year-old car crash victim, officials said Monday.

Umatilla Fire Chief Richard Shirk told city officials he e-mailed images of crash and the woman, who later died, for training purposes. Shirk told officials he did not notice the woman was partially nude in at least one of the photos.

City Manager Glenn Irby said Shirk initially sent the e-mail to representatives of three nearby fire departments and it was forwarded to other people.

Shirk was hired in October as the city's first paid fire official, earning $55,000 a year to oversee volunteer firefighters.

Irby said Monday that Shirk was being offered three-months pay in exchange for his resignation.

Katrina Cough

Got the Katrina cough still? I know I do.

From the above link
Led by Henry Glindmeyer, a professor of pulmonary, critical-care and environmental medicine in Tulane's medical school, researchers are keeping tabs on the respiratory health of 1,000 local workers.

The project, which is underwritten by a $1.86 million grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, consists of annual follow-ups. During these sessions, each volunteer will answer a questionnaire, undergo a noninvasive breathing test and wear a monitor for five or six hours to detect workplace exposure to dust, bacteria and mold