Thanks, Mr. Riggio

Barnes and Noble Chairman Leonard Riggio announced plans to invest $20 million in Gentilly at a press conference last Tuesday (February 27th).



In an initiative that should place at least 120 families into new houses built with energy-efficient features and elevated to a height that should protect them from future floods. Riggio plans to spend $20 million from his family's charitable foundation on the effort.

Residents who participate in the program will receive a new home at no cost, provided they surrender their flooded, uninhabitable house -- or the vacant lot where it once stood -- to Project Home Again, the nonprofit that Riggio spun out of his foundation. The charity will give each family a mortgage equal to the difference between their new and old homes and then steadily forgive the mortgage over a period of five years, after which the family will own the house outright.



A devotee of New Orleans music, Riggio said no flood could wipe out the music, food, culture and "genius" that New Orleans has bequeathed the rest of the country.

Project Home Again will construct single-family homes on 50-foot lots in three sizes: two bedrooms/two baths; three bedrooms/two baths; and four bedrooms/two baths. The homes, which will be offered at no cost to eligible families.

PHA is intended to be a zero overhead operation, with all $20 million going directly to building homes. Eligible applicants must have lived in Gentilly two years prior to the storm and own a home (or former home site) in Gentilly that is uninhabitable due to Hurricane Katrina. They must be willing to swap their old uninhabitable home or site for a new home, and have a family consisting of two to eight individuals. Here are the eligibility requirements

Bringing Nature Back

From the Sunherald dot com:

Live Oaks are being planted along the Gulf Coast.
It will take many years before their replacements reach the grandeur of the originals, but the new Live oaks being planted will be spread along the Coast from Gulfport to Pearlington.


Volunteers planted five Live oaks at the Humane Society of South Mississippi on U.S. 49 in Gulfport.

Other planting sites were Clower-Thornton Nature Park


Turkey Creek in Gulfport,


Railroad Park in Long Beach


War Memorial Park in Pass Christian,




as well as sites in Pearlington, Bay St. Louis, Waveland, Lakeshore and Henderson Point.

Three Live oaks are being planted at the foot of the Bay St. Louis Bridge.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

James E. Delancey of Gulfport, MIssissippi. A waste of oxygen, this drunk apparently passed out on Hwy 190 in Covington.

Here's the story:

Deputy Kerry Snaples, 22, of Ponchatoula, died at about 4:20 a.m. Sunday when his motorcycle struck a pickup that was stopped in the westbound lane of U.S. 190 near Covington High School. The Sheriff's Office did not release the deputy's identity Sunday because of difficulty contacting his family.

....the impact knocked the truck into a side ditch. The truck's tail lights were not on, and he says its dark gold and gray paint would have been difficult to see on the dark highway.

Covington Police, who are investigating the case, booked the driver of the pickup, James E. Delancey Jr., 37, of Gulfport, Miss., with vehicular homicide, DWI and driving with a suspended license.

Delancey's blood alcohol level was "several times" the legal limit and he admitted to taking prescription opiates before driving, Covington Police spokesman Lt. Jack West said Sunday.

Condolences to Officer Snaples' family.

Katrina continues to affect lives

Katrina continues to affect lives; media needs to acknowledge this

From an editorial from a Tennessee paper last week, an excerpt:


Now there's no use in beating a dead horse. But then again, you can't really ignore the elephant in the room either. Animal clichés aside, lack of media coverage of the Katrina aftermath is hurting recovery, because no one really knows how bad it is or how to help.

We, as mass media consumers, never got answers to the questions posed in news coverage. The matter was simply washed away.

The irony of this is we, as an editorial board of a newspaper, are complaining about lack of media coverage. Then again, it should be noted that we try to do the best we can, but just simply cannot afford the high-tech and in-depth coverage. But you, the reader, probably already knew that.

St. Bernard Project

St. Bernard Parish

At a Massachusettes news site, I ran across this
article entitled New Orleans still needs our help

~ In mid January, along with a group from the Boston College Alumni Association, I went to New Orleans as a volunteer to help in the reconstruction of homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

What we saw and experienced was far beyond our comprehension. I had expected to find small areas of unfinished homes in need of repairs. Instead, we found that the storm’s devastation is still very much in evidence today. We saw scores of people living in tents under a highway overpass. There were neighborhoods where most of the residents had not returned. There were sites where homes once stood and the only evidence left is the slab of concrete marking its location. In the community where we worked, only 20 to 25 percent of the residents have returned thus far.

Some interesting facts about this area are:
· More than 75 percent of the homes were owner occupied;

· In 2004, the unemployment rate hovered near 4 percent while the median income was $36,000;

· Families were working hard — as tradesmen, in the refinery industry and as fisherman;

· The Parish had a large community of retirees — nearly 50 percent of the population, many of whom owned their own homes and lived on fixed incomes;

· 200 people lost their lives in the St. Bernard Parish;

· 100 percent of the homes were officially “uninhabitable”;

The organization we worked with is located in the St. Bernard Parish an area outside of New Orleans encompassing a number of communities. We worked on homes in the town of Chalmette which is next to New Orleans’ Ninth Ward and is arguably one of the hardest hit communities. In the evenings after work, we had the opportunity to have dinner with different people in the community from church groups and education leaders to businessmen, doctors and people who had lost their homes. The stories were gut-wrenching as people described their challenges, their fight for survival and in many instances, personal losses. The amazing thing is, with all their losses, enduring complete financial ruin and having lost everything, not one person that we met ever asked for money or any type of donation.

But universally they asked for one thing. That we go back home and tell their story and that we not forget them. Their plight is no longer front page news and there are times we may not remember their challenge.

This is where the St. Bernard Project comes in. The seeds of the St. Bernard Project were planted in March 2006 by four volunteers who went to St. Bernard Parish to do relief work. After working with people to help them rebuild their homes for a month, they decided to establish the St. Bernard Project. This is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide people with the resources necessary to rebuild their homes. They undertook reconstruction of their first home in August of 2006. Since that time, they have completed over 90 homes and today have nearly 30 more under various stages of construction. They provide construction materials, tools and volunteers to complete their projects. A FEMA trailer cost approximately $70,000. Because all the materials are acquired with donations and all the labor is completed by volunteers and the actual homeowners, the cost for this organization to reconstruct a gutted home is approximately $10,000.00 and takes about eight weeks.

Where do such incredibly dedicated and giving people come from? There are two co-founders of the St. Bernard Project.

Liz McCartney: Liz worked for a community-based nonprofit organization in Washington, DC for the past four years. Prior to that, she taught ESL and middle school for over five years. Liz is a graduate of Boston Collegeand recently received a Master's in Curriculum and Instruction from George Washington University.

Zack Rosenberg: Zack has been a criminal defense attorney in Washington, D.C. for the past three years. Prior to his defense work, he founded Linking Communities for Educational Success (LINK). Before law school he was the development director of Families Forward, a low-income housing and job training program in Washington, D.C. Zack grew up in Belmont and graduated from Belmont High School in 1991 where Zack’s mom still lives.
Michael DelRose works with RE/MAX First Realty of Watertown.


St. Bernard Project Accomplishments
(Updated 12/05/07)
Total Projects 115
Complete home rebuilds 100!
Current rebuild projects 33

Total Volunteers 4260
Americorps Volunteers 147
States Represented by Volunteers 52 (with DC and Puerto Rico)
Countries Represented by Volunteers 12

Here's a video of St. Bernard created a year after Katrina:

the deterioration of Nagin

Here's a link to the WWL TV video that shows Nagin losing his "composure" when discussing the local press abusing his personal safety.

He's truely losing it.

The Chicory has more

Ashley's reactions to Ray-Ray's on air mental meltaway is great, as usual

American Zombie: what racist websites?

Normalcy slowly returning

picture from wikimedia dot org


Prytania Waterline tells a great story of a night time car a the Streetcar in NOLA.

Thanks, NBA

Many thanks to all the people who volunteered this past weekend in the day of service related to the NBA Allstar Game.



Looks like the whole weekend was a huge success



People from around the country travelled to NOLA and a lot of them "get it"

After nearly three years, the headlines about New Orleans contain GOOD news. The city showed the rest of the world that it is an awesome host . As one of the articles said "you can't buy this kind of publicity".

TP lacks integrity

here's a link about the newspaper deleting comments from the hard copy of their paper and online site of all Nagin gun antics, including two letters to the editor. Perhaps they should've thought out the whole Nagin gun issue.

Schroeder discusses this issue better than I ever could .

I like Mike

Former NBA great and all-around class act Michael Jordan was in Slidell yesterday to present an extremely generous valentine gift to the Boys & Girls Club of Slidell.

From moneycentral MSN dot com:

Jordan Brand, a division of Nike, Inc., announced a donation of $500,000 to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Louisiana's Slidell Unit, to help build a new athletic gymnasium... The donation will go towards the construction of a state-of-the-art gymnasium named after Jordan Brand complete with a professional basketball court, scoreboard and bleachers to be used by the kids of the Boys & Girls Club and other related community events.


The Slidell Boys & Girls Club was damaged in Hurricane Katrina when it
took four feet of water inside the facility and required a total rebuild. On a daily basis the club provides education, athletic, and peer support for over 500 children. The rebuilding of the facility serves as a testament to the dedication of many contributions and countless volunteer hours to restore it in honor of the Boys & Girls Club. The Jordan Brand gymnasium will serve as a brick-and-mortar reminder of the contributions and volunteer hours spent rebuilding the facility that has helped and will continue improve the lives of children and families of Slidell.

"The Boys and Girls Clubs of America has been a visible contributor to the families and children of New Orleans, during and post Hurricane Katrina," said Michael Jordan. "Slidell is a community that has been somewhat overlooked in recovery efforts and we are proud to aid with its rebuilding and leave a lasting legacy for the community."

Michael Jordan and some Team Jordan athletes have a special connection to the Boys and Girls Club of America as some were once members and now continue to be involved with the organization in their respective hometowns and communities. Jordan Brand believes that physical activity plays a vital role in building character in youth, and the donation is dedicated to the children of the greater New Orleans area to inspire them to commit themselves to hard work in life and athletics in order to achieve their dreamed goals.

In 2006, Jordan Brand donated $450,000 to Habitat for Humanity to aid in the rebuilding efforts in Louisiana. By auctioning off 21 pairs of Michael Jordan autographed AIR JORDAN shoes to raise the funds, the money helped rebuild homes in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans.

Thank you Mr. Jordan

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Ray Nagin.....great example to kids everywhere on how to handle firearms.

Reactions:

Schroeder's

The Times Picayune, who are making a "big joke" out of it What's wrong with these people?

Adrastos

Varg is "blogless"

Swampwoman

Pistolette asks Why is it that people can drone on for hours about the "serious repercussions" of David Vitter getting some illicit nookie, but turn the other way with a "c'est la vie" smirk while Ray Nagin destroys us?


Suspect Devices offers his usual witty reaction

Maitri mirrors a lot of people's feeling about Mr. Nagin

Humid Haney rants....

More from WDSU, showing a video from where the picture was taken.

Update February 15th The TP apologizes for showing the picture out of context.

It still does not change my opinion on the wackjob in charge of New Orleans. Still a scuzzbucket.