Art from Destruction

In March I ran a post about artists in Gulfport-Biloxi making lemonade from the lemons given to them by Hurricane Katrina.

This weekend hubby & I took a road trip to survey the coast almost two years since
that master storm. Among the hundreds of pictures we took are the following updates to the awesome work by these gifted artists.

We found several more examples of "art from destruction" along Highway 90. Here they are:
(click on each picture for full-sized versions)



Here are the original items shown in March. They have been stained and sealed.
































Each carving bore the name of "Dayton". Dayton Scoggins is "the chainsaw artist and he's given a little bit of happiness and awe to all who traverse Highway 90 in Mississippi where - less than two years ago - the only emotion known was sorrow.



These dolphins show the little bit of elation that will be felt in the years to come over here.
And I like to think that they give hope to all who can experience them first hand.

Thanks, Dayton!

The madness never ends in NOLA city Gov't

The Wall Street Journal ran this multimedia page that accompanies an article about the rampant ineptitude of Ray Nagin's administration.
(You can't read the whole article unless you're a WSJ subscriber, but Kim has the article here.)

City officials, trying to step up the struggling city’s comeback, have said they plan to flatten 10,000 hurricane-ravaged properties this year.

But the bulging list of doomed buildings includes some that weren’t damaged much by Katrina or that have already been significantly repaired — with building permits to prove it. Often, these property owners don’t even know they’re on the demolition list, because warning letters that are supposed to be mailed to them never arrive.

Thanks to the Library Chronicles for the heads up.

Scuzzbuckets of the Week

From the Times Picayune (8/9/07)
Under fire for how it spent millions of dollars in donations earmarked for rescuing and caring for animals in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a California animal rescue organization has agreed to relinquish the $4 million that remains to help the storm's animal victims, particularly those in hard-hit Slidell.

Noah's Wish, which spent several weeks in Slidell after the storm and received more than $8 million in donations from around the country, reached the settlement last month after the California attorney general's office investigated spending practices by the organization that included a mammoth pay raise and the purchase of new vehicles for the organization's executive director.

As part of the settlement, Noah’s Wish must hand over the $4 million to the attorney general’s office. The money will be placed in a special account and distributed to beneficiaries that assist animal victims of Hurricane Katrina. Of the $4 million, $1 million was contractually agreed to go to the City of Slidell, La., to construct a shelter to replace one that was destroyed in the hurricane. Money will be reserved specifically for that purpose to fulfill the agreement. In addition, approximately $125,000 will be used to reimburse the attorney general’s office for costs incurred during the investigation.

The settlement also states that Terri Crisp, board member and founder of the nonprofit, may not be employed or attached to Noah’s Wish in any manner. Crisp also is forbidden from serving as a director, officer or trustee with any other nonprofit for the next five years.


While I don't fault all of the wonderful volunteers for this organization and the awesome job they did for months after Katrina, I am pretty disgusted with the higher ups that made the decision to embezzle monies from donations for the relief of these lost and abandoned pets.

FEMA's Formaldehyde Cover-up

From the July 31, 2007 edition of Gambit Weekly, an article on the FEMA cover-up of
the impacts of the presence of formaldehyde in the thousands of FEMA trailers issued Katrina victims in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.


The article reports on the decisions made by FEMA attorneys to keep a lid on any talk of formaldehyde problems in the trailers.

FEMA knew about the formaldehyde problem a year and a half ago and engaged in a concerted effort to hide it from Congress, trailer residents, other federal agencies -- even its own field staff, which consistently raised the issue to higher ups. Fearing litigation, FEMA attorneys in Washington stopped the agency's field staff from admitting the problem, from testing trailers, even from relocating sick individuals who asked to be moved.

I certainly hope your fear of litigation turns into your worst nightmare. But knowing the track record of this dysfuctional appendage of George Bush's domestic policy, you'll probably walk away scott free.

Warning to the victims of future national tragedies: beware of presidents making empty promises and FEMA.

Update August 8th, 2007 FEMA suspends use, sales of ‘toxic’ trailers... From MSNBC dot com:
Residents can get refund, new housing while agency tests for formaldehyde....
“Nothing is as important to FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security as ensuring that disaster victims have a safe and healthy place to reside during their recovery,” the agency said in a statement.

bullshit, you just got caught.

Bridge Ratings

Louisiana Bridge Ratings
in the aftermath
of the Minnesota bridge tragedy, the T.P. has put together an article on the health of SE Louisiana bridges
It's not good news for commuters from Slidell and Mississippi and beyond.

Update 8-8-07: MSNBC has a link to bridge ratings by parish

From the Times Picayune article:

The National Bridge Inspection System requires states to collect inspection reports at least once every two years on all public bridges longer than 20 feet. States use a scale of 1 to 9, with 6 meaning satisfactory, 5 fair, 4 poor, 3 serious, 2 critical and 1 forcing immediate closure.



The U.S. 11 bridge over Lake Pontchartrain,



the Interstate 310 Mississippi River bridge at Luling (aka the Hale Boggs Bridge),



and both of the Interstate 10 twin spans over Lake Pontchartrain were rated either "serious" or "critical," although the twin spans appear to be a special case, having been reconstructed since crumbling in Hurricane Katrina and inspected on a daily basis.

In December, inspectors found deteriorated and cracked girders, joints, diaphragms and caps in the 79-year-old U.S. 11 drawbridge, as well as exposed rebar, earning the bridge a "serious" rating. The Interstate 310 bridge is only 24 years old, but corrosion on girders above the roadway also earned it a "serious" rating, even though the structure below the roadway had few problems.


I commute over the 11 bridge daily. Have been for 25 years. It's always been in crappy condition and
I'm sure Katrina did a number on it based on the dips in the roadway and missing guardrails.

I stay away from the I10 Twin Spans due to crazy drivers who brake at the top of the hump. Gives me the
creeps.

I use the Hale Boggs bridge every time I take the trip to Thibodaux to see my daughter at Nicholls State.

Living in this part of the state we're surrounded by water. On my daily ride to and from work, its possible
to cross ten bridges on a roundtrip. I don't think of myself as a gambler, but I guess I'm always
playing the odds when I venture out from home, don't I?

browsing my favorite blogs, I found some interesting things to share:

From the Dead Pelican the story of
the continuation of nonexistant communication and the pain it causes.

FEMA and the city of NOLA mistakenly tear down a home
The last call I made yesterday, they told me FEMA did it. Then, a guy called me back from FEMA and said they're not in the business if tearing down homes,"

arrests have been made in the quadruple murder that happened last year.

Varg over at The Chicory tells a humorous but sad tale of the state of the city

Ashley posted an excerpt from Michael Irvin's Hall of Fame enshrinement speech in which Irvin related his feelings about the Saints' game on September 25, 2007. He gets it.


This house in eastern Slidell has finally been torn down. Nearly two years after the storm, demolitions have at last come!

Scuzzbuckets of the Week

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference president
President, Alabama Senator Charles Steele
recently announced during a news conference that the group will find a way to honor Atlanta Falcons
former quarterback Michael Vick
during its national convention that starts today in Atlanta.

Now, as I understand it, the SCLC is a civil rights group. In my opinion, Mr. Steele has very bad standards when it comes to honoring "upstanding citizens".
"We will recognize Vick for being an outstanding human being," said Steele. "We will work with anyone who opens their heart and arms to us."
Hmmm, perhaps Vick donated money to the SCLC to get some positive press to offset his misbehavin recently.
The 27-year-old Vick has pleaded not guilty to charges of sponsoring a dogfighting operation. His trial begins November 26.
Co-defendant Tony Taylor changed his plea to guilty earlier this week in a deal with prosecutors. He is expected to testify against Vick.

Just "sponsoring dog fights" is bad enough. But this sick puppy abused the dogs
thru shooting them, drowning them or even electrocuting them.

I'd like to understand how this "civil rights" organization considers sick Vick and outstanding human being. I'd say their values are a little tainted.

Remember this come elections

From Bayoubuzz website
Today, it was confirmed that a veto override session will not occur. A majority of Louisiana legislators returned ballots to cancel the session, which means that legislators will not be reporting to Baton Rouge next week to override the horrible vetoes made by Governor Blanco. Legislators are now free to participate in a junket in Boston, a national legislative convention, which many of them were looking forward to attending.

Other legislators will be campaigning for re-election. Yet, any legislators that voted to cancel this session should not be re-elected. Voters should not forget this momentous decision.

Unfortunately, the publicity campaign waged by the Louisiana Chemical Association failed. A more effective intimidation campaign was waged by the Governor's office, which threatened New Orleans legislators with retribution if they supported the veto session. New Orleans legislators crumbled in the face of this threat.

The override session could have restored necessary tax cuts for parents of private and parochial school students and businesses who face high taxes on utilities.

What is truly sad is that $32 billion was spent in the last session, but only a paltry amount was allocated to tax cuts. Then, several of the meaningful tax cuts approved by legislators were vetoed by Governor Blanco.

Our priorities are wrong, at least with this administration and this legislature. Hope springs eternal however, for elections are coming soon. These tax cuts should be restored by the next legislature, who will most likely have a much more cooperative Governor to work with.

Following is a list of Senators who voted not to hold a veto session.

No Veto Session Declaration List 2007 RS

Robert Adley

Diana Bajoie

Walter Boasso

Sharon Broome

Ann Duplessis

Reggie Dupre

Noble Ellington

Clo Fontenot

Butch Gautreaux

Nick Gautreaux

Francis Heitmeier

Ken Hollis

Don Hines

Lydia Jackson

Charles Jones

Art Lentini

Joe McPherson

Ed Murray

Ben Nevers

Derrick Shepherd

Mike Smith

Not Okay at all

For those that feel like it's time for us to "get over it" and "move on",
read what's STILL going on , complements of Cliff.

Still Not Okay

Coming up on two years post Katrina. A lot of people think everything back to being "hunky dory" down here (a phrase my from my Mother's generation). If it's not on Nightly News, it's forgotten.

The diverse group of bloggers living in New Orleans are doing a fantastic job of keeping the city on the radar, covering all aspects of their hell on earth, from runaway crime to national opinions of our local politicians and "working women "; from our undying love for the Saints to the evil, money grubbing bastardly judges who give the city a black eye ; from the state of necessary and unnecessary housing demolitions in the city to the camraderie that Katrina created among those talented people, the NOLA bloggers are truely awe inspiring.
One NOLA blogger, who writes in a style that makes you see, smell and hear his visions writes about life in Debrisville in late July 2007.

On this side of the lake, I'm beginning to construct a chronicle of what we that live here view as progress.
Here in the Bayou Liberty area, we are seeing positive progress


as well as negative progress

the construction of an I10 interchange, two years late

The depressing sight of people still living in those FEMA trailers

Debris trucks are still an every day sight SOMEWHERE in our daily commutes

In the Bayou Liberty Marina, new boat slips are being constructed.

Nope, things won't be "Okay" for a long time. To all of you who've been down here, working on helping please know that we will always be appreciative.

We love living here. We pay the price of our love.

New Orleans Levee

If you're looking for something irreverent that'll make you laugh at the state of this state, check out The New Orleans Levee
magazine.

An excerpt:

Jesus happy Louisiana's recovery complete
A joking and jovial Jesus Christ, choosing The New Orleans Levee newspaper for his first interview since the crucifixion, said issues such as courthouse religion, lame-duck politics, and other make it to him that Louisiana has, in less than two years, rebounded “beyond pre-Katrina levels.”
,