New Orleans East Wetlands

Recently we took a trip down to Highway 90 in New Orleans East.

click photo's for full size versions



I drive some of Highway 90 going to and from work at the spaceship factory. Every day I notice how much damage the wetlands have suffered since Katrina. And the trees. Katrina killed thousands and thousands of trees .

For miles going east, away from New Orleans, this is the sight







This part of the swamps faces Lake Borgne, a lagoon in eastern Louisiana of the Gulf of Mexico. Due to coastal erosion, it is no longer actually a lake but rather an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Its name comes from the French word borgne, which means "one-eyed".



Before Katrina, the trees in the photos above hid all of the wetlands you see past the dead trees. A good number of these trees were killed by saltwater intrusion created by Katrina's huge storm surge.

While we were snapping photos along Highway 90 near Powers Junction, when we discovered that a leg of Bayou Sauvage Wildlife Refuge was open once again to the public.



Different from the Refuge Boardwalk a mile or so up the road , the Madere has a boatlaunch and a short boardwalk that transports you from the traffic noise from Highway 90 into what seems like the heart of a bayou.





There are so many channels that you can canoe out to to do some serious wildlife watching.











For more info on Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge Click here

Ike and the wetlands

Hurricane Ike was over two months ago.

I'm finally finding the time to post some pictures hubby and I snapped during our trek around Slidell on the Friday morning Ike made landfall.

Although Ike came ashore in eastern Texas, everyone along the northern Gulf of Mexico felt his impact. The tidal surge created havoc days before, with road closures in New Orleans East and beyond.

Here's what we saw back in early September.
[click on pictures for full-size versions]


The Bayou Liberty bridge


The boat ramp at Bayou Liberty


Here's what it usually looks like.


A tree swing in a yard facing the bayou


Here's what it looks like when it's not flooding


Along Rats Nest Road in south Slidell there was an abundance of marsh grass that had been uprooted and washed ashore during Hurricane Gustav a week before.

Lake Pontchartrain was sporting whitecaps that day.(that's the twin spans in the background)



This structure is a victim of three hurricanes, but still standing.


This is what back-to-back hurricanes can do to your neighborhood when you live on the shores of the lake.


Along Hwy 11 in the community of Northshore, water was coursing across the road from the lake into the marsh.


This house was an island during that weekend.


Over in Lake Catherine about a month later we spotted this house. It looks as if maybe it was in the process of being built when Gustav/Ike came along.


All along Hwy. 90 in Lake Catherine were moutains of marsh grass that had washed ashore during Gustav and Ike.


A trailer that was tossed around in the floods of Gustav and Ike, laid to rest in this marsh grass.

The thing that stands out in my mind after seeing the storm surge from Hurricane Ike was how much more water came ashore compared to pre-Katrina storms. Katrina destroyed so much wetlands that there is now nothing to protect us against future storms...even those that don't hit us directly. We have to save our wetlands now.

Sunrise

Haven't felt the urge to blog lately...nothing irritating me enough, I suppose.

Anyway, here's a picture taken by my hubby during our morning commute into New Orleans.



Morning Commute taken from the Hwy. 11 Bridge across Lake Ponchartrain

A Parcel of Scuzzbuckets

This really is nauseating. When I first moved into Slidell, almost 30 years ago, I ran across a group of KKK morons at an intersection. Being from up north, the sight of these racists made my blood boil. Then there were the David Duke years. Ugh.

Just when you think people have come up to 21st century intelligence, a story
like this shows up. It's really sick.

From the article:

a woman from Oklahoma was murdered by the leader of a local KKK group in the woods near Sun when she attempted to leave an initiation ceremony over the weekend.

...the victim was camping near Sun as part of the initiation ritual when an argument broke out between her and the group’s leader, 44-year-old Raymond “Chuck” Foster of Bogalusa....the woman asked to be brought back to town and Foster shot her once, killing her.

..in an effort to conceal the crime, several of the groups’ ...the first information on the crime came when investigators with the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office received information about a possible killing in the woods..they then called detectives with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit to alert them to a possible homicide and personnel from both agencies began a search for a crime scene, before discovering the victim’s body in a canal.


The woman’s body was located near the end of Lock 3 Road in Sun.


View Larger Map

St. Tammany and Washington detectives said they made telephone contact with five members of the group who were still in the woods....by that time Foster had split from the rest of the group and was alone in another area of the woods. Two other members had already returned to Bogalusa and were speaking with authorities.


Here's a shot of the brains who committed/abetted this crime


Sickening.

This is not right

From the Times Pic:

Because some shippers are worried about losing an area where "parking spots" used by as many as 30 ships near Pilottown at Head of Passes near the river's mouth, the most effective existing sediment diversion in fighting coastal erosion may become bankrupt. Pilottown as a base for river pilots to guide ships across the bar and up and down the Mississippi River. It is located a few miles above Head of Passes, the point considered to be the mouth of the Mississippi River. Below there the River splits into multiple branches. This is part of the active delta front that has, over time, built up the larger Mississippi River Delta.


Space-shuttle photograph of the Mississippi Delta region, southeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi.
A = Grand Isle,
B = Head of Passes, Mississippi River,
C = Chandeleur Islands,
D = Mississippi Sound.
Adapted from NASA JSC, STS-51C-143-027, 1/85

The Breaux Act Task Force voted to close the West Bay diversion on the Mississippi River. The Army Corps of Engineer officials estimated it will cost $140 million -- about 20 percent of all money available in the remaining life of the small project coastal restoration grant program -- to dredge the anchorages through 2023.

The Breaux Act program -- whose official title is the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act -- will have $682 million available through its authorized life, which ends in 2020.

Now let me get this right: The Army Corps of Engineers is suggesting that they use $140 MILLION dollars from a Coastal Restoration Program to dredge parking spaces for boats? Do the citizens of Louisiana get a vote on this farce?

More from the TP:

The West Bay diversion allows 20,000 cubic feet per second of sediment-laced water to flow into the bay, with a goal of creating 10,000 acres of wetlands during its first 20 years of operation. The original plan was to expand it to 50,000 cubic feet per second in a few years to speed the filling process.

A Plaquemines Parish official warned the state board that threatening the diversion sends the wrong message to Congress at a time when Louisiana needs billions of federal dollars for coastal restoration projects.

You bet your ass it sends the wrong message! Louisiana is lucky if it has ten years left to restore the wetlands devastated by Katrina, Gustav and Ike.

I realize that shipping is a major industry for this area, but this area won't be here if we don't actively pursue REAL coastal restoration now.




Several state and national environmental groups also criticized the decision.

"Restoration projects will change the coastal landscape. We can't back off from inevitable trade-offs, " said Maura Wood, of the National Wildlife Federation. "We must solve these problems, not just give up."

"The fact that this decision contemplates closure of this diversion without more substantial scientific review is shocking and cannot be allowed to stand, " said Steven Peyronnin, executive director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.

The corps' New Orleans district commander, Col. Alvin Lee, said state officials earlier signed a cost-sharing agreement that made the Breaux Act program responsible for those costs.

Even without the signed agreement, Lee said, existing congressional authorization language prohibits the corps from paying to keep the anchorages clean of sediment because they sit outside the river's navigation channel.

The corps already has developed three alternatives for closing the diversion.

A team of officials from Breaux Act agencies -- the corps, Environmental Protection Agency, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the state -- also will conduct a study looking for financing alternatives or ways to reduce shoaling caused by the project.

George Duffy, president of NSA Agencies Inc., a marine shipping firm, urged the task force to pay for the dredging of the anchorages, saying the line of parking spots near Pilottown is important for ships seeking shelter from storms and hurricanes.

Duffy said the anchorage area never required dredging before the West Bay diversion opened in 2003.

"We could anchor over 30 vessels there, " he said. "Now we're down to five or six deep draft, and in some parts of the lower end, we're down to 12 feet of water.

"Even offshore supply boats can't get in that area."

I wonder how much all these huge shipping firms are willing to kick in to search for alternatives. Mr. Duffy's company certainly has a stock in restoring the wetlands, as it's located in St. Rose, Louisiana.




.

Scuzzbucket of the week

....or maybe he's a WACKO of the week.

from the Times Pic:

FRANKLINTON, La. -- A 61-year-old Franklinton man is accused of killing four small dogs belonging to his neighbors and setting their bodies on fire.



Melvin Holmes has been booked with resisting an officer and with four counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. If convicted on all four counts, he would face at least four years in prison and a $20,000 fine, and up to 40 years on those charges.


The Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office learned about the incident when it received a call from Sandy Boudreaux at around 6 p.m. Saturday.


“The lady was getting ready to move, and she had her dog running around and playing in the yard with some other dogs,” said Deputy Chief Shannon Lyons. “Then she discovered her dog had gone missing, so she checked around. She smelled a strange burning smell, and investigated. She found a fire and (four) small dead dogs in the fire. One of them looked like hers. She called the sheriff’s office.”

She was in the midst of moving to Abita Springs when she returned to her Cypress Road residence to pick up a load. She brought her 18- month-old rat terrier/Chihuahua mix, Maggie, so the dog could have a visit with her puppy friends from the old neighborhood

By the time the vehicle was loaded up and ready to go, Maggie had disappeared. Boudreaux searched the neighborhood. She saw Melvin “Bubba” Holmes, who lives in a FEMA trailer behind her house.

“He said he hadn’t seen her, then he changed the conversation,” said Boudreaux. “He said it was going to be lonely when we moved. I asked him, if he did see her, to keep her and I’d be right back.”

When she returned about half an hour later, she took up the hunt. She noticed an odd smell, and she went to check it out.

“I went down on my knees,” said Boudreaux. “I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t quit crying. I couldn’t really tell what it was. I had to get a stick. Then I realized it was a little puppy head. Maggie was under one of the puppies.

“I didn’t even want to believe it. That was just about all there was to the fire. Two or three branches were on top of them. And it had been a while. They were almost unrecognizable. When I asked him earlier if he’d seen her, she must have already been there.”

“Holmes admitted to the complainant that he shot the dogs,” said Lyons, reading from the WPSO report.

Boudreaux has a couple of questions about that.

“He said ‘we’ did it,” she said. “I think there was another guy involved, but he’s not saying. And I couldn’t tell if the dogs were shot. Maggie was almost in a fetal position. If she was burned alive, that’s what would happen.”

Boudreaux said she did not hear shots.

“I did hear kind of a yelp, but they were playing,” she said. “Maybe the dogs wandered into his yard, but they weren’t doing any harm. He could have called me. I would have gotten them all. We never had any problems before.”

Holmes, 61, of River Road, was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals and resisting an officer.

The penalty for the cruelty charge is “not less that $5,000 and not more than $25,000, with or without hard labor for not less than one year or more than 10 years, or both,” said Lyons.”

And that goes for each involved animal, he said. If the owner of the puppies decides to also press charges and he is convicted of all counts, Holmes faces those penalties times four. He could potentially owe $100,000 in fines and 40 years at hard labor.

That’s small consolation to Boudreaux.

“I’m devastated,” she said. “My 13-year-old son is devastated. My 83-year-old mother; It was her dog. I kept her at my house because she just couldn’t. My whole family is devastated.

“She was such a precious little dog. I’m horrified that someone could do something like this.”

Boudreaux buried all of the dogs near one another in her Cypress Road yard, though she said she might eventually move them.

“We put Maggie where the baby pool was,” she said. “She liked to get in and bite at the water.”

Boudreaux said the cross marker reads: We love you. Maggie and her friends;murdered by Bubba Holmes (in the FEMA trailer) on November 1, 2008.

Holmes could not be reached for comment.

Louisiana Wetlands Documentary on tonite.....

WATCH HARVEST TO RESTORE AMERICA'S COASTAL HEARTLAND THURSDAY 11/6, 8PM ON WLAE New Orleans

How often do you put gas in your car?  Do you enjoy coffee every day?  Looking forward to Louisiana-caught shrimp for dinner tonight?

If the devastation of Louisiana's coastal erosion isn't addressed immediately, all of those things, and more, will simply not be available when you want them.  

The new wetlands documentary,Harvest to Restore America's Coast Heartland,  which airs on WLAE Thursday, November 6th at 8pm,  addresses the far-reaching effects of Louisiana's coastal land loss and what needs to be done to address this environmental catastrophe.

It took seven thousand five hundred years for the Mississippi River to create the wetlands of Southeast Louisiana.  It took about seventy-five years for Man to effect the environmental changes that would destroy them.  Scientists estimate that there's only a decade, at most two, before it's too late to save coastal Louisiana.

With the massive land loss along Louisiana's Gulf Coast finally being widely recognized as a nationally-critical environmental disaster, the decades of studying the problem are finally, fitfully, shifting into implementation of large scale restoration.  But when a problem is so
massive — a thousand square miles of coastal lands have already disappeared — exactly what can we do to stop the damage?

Harvest to Restore examines in depth the technology that a growing consensus of scientists believe is the only workable solution to the Gulf Coastal land loss crisis.  Pipeline sediment delivery — no, it's not a name that rolls easily off the tongue —holds the promise of
expeditiously recreating the natural system of barrier islands, marshes, and ridgelands that provide the only practical long term hurricane protection both to America's energy hub and to the port of New Orleans (through which comes almost half of the coffee America drinks, along with a surprising amount of consumer goods!).

The documentary looks at how pipeline sediment delivery works, how it's being used in other countries around the world, and how it might be implemented in the Louisiana coastal zone.

Award-winning writer/producer/director Michelle Benoit, along with co-producer/husband Glen Pitre, are lifelong residents of the Louisiana coastal zone.  Their films have been shown nationwide and around the world and have been translated into more than sixteen languages.

Harvest to Restore is a co-production of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, and Cote Blanche Productions, inc.

For more info call BTNEP at 1-800-259-0869, visit www.lpb.org or contact michiebenoit@gmail.com.

Obama's Speech

"Hello, Chicago.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

"It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

"We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

"It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

"It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America.

"A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.

"Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

"I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor (Sarah) Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

"I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

"And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years, the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.

"Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.

"And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

"To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.

"And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best - the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.

"To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way. To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics, you made this happen and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

"But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

"I was never the likeliest candidate for this office.

"We didn't start with much money or many endorsements.

"Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

"It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give 5 and 10 and 20 to the cause.

"It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy, who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

"It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organised and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

"This is your victory.

"And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.

"You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

"Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

"There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.

"There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

"I promise you, we as a people will get there.

"There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

"But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

"What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

"This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

"It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

"So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

"Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

"In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

"Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

"Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

"As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

"And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

"And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

"To those - to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

"That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

"She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the colour of her skin.

"And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

"At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

"When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

"When the bombs fell on our harbour and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

"She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that 'We Shall Overcome'. Yes we can.

"A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

"And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

"Yes we can.

"America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

"This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

"This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

"Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America."


Here's a beautiful audio slide show with snippets from the speech

And here is the entire speech:

November 4th is here

Here's an open letter to America which reflects my feelings on this historic day.




graphic courtesy of
Greg Peters

Chris Rose

Times Pic columnist Chris Rose was recently mentioned in the paper and it wasn't something that he wrote, although he probably will write about it soon.

When I read the article, I was saddened. It seems that he's been on a tailspin since the storm and he's hopefully hit the bottom.

You can read about it at this link: Revolutionl-21.

Here are reactions from the NOLA blogsphere.

Oyster

Toulouse Street

Swampwoman

Wishing you rest and recovery, Chris.

Lighting of the Graves

I last posted about this two years ago .

This weekend, a beautiful tradition will carry on in the Slidell/Lacombe area. The day after Halloween, All Saints Day, is a day set aside by the locals to clean up the graves of their family members and "visit" with the departed.

From an article in the St. Tammany News Entitled Lacombe man trying to keep La Toussant tradition alive is the story of a seventy-two year old Lacombe man, Matthew Cryer.


Like he’s done since he was 6, Cryer is keeping the tradition of La Toussaint alive. Also known as “Lights of the Dead” or “Lighting of the Graves,” Cryer and about 200 people will help clean graves, light hundreds of candles and spiritually reunite with loved ones who have passed.



The day is similar to Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. And Lacombe is one of the only places in the country where the tradition, started in the 1880s by his Creole ancestors, exists.

“I’ve never missed one, and I don’t intend to start now,” Cryer said, sitting on a wooden chair outside his country home. “It’s our tradition.”

The tradition was launched in the 1880s when Choctaw Indians living in Lacombe lit ritual bonfires every November as beacons to guide ancestor spirits home. The Creole people, descendants of those Indians, eventually adopted the measure.

Now, other areas such as Slidell and Lafitte, and even Covington and Mandeville, perform similar rituals, but nothing like in Lacombe, where generations look forward to it every year, Cryer said. It’s a way of life.

And now he’s afraid it may be dying.

I hope he's wrong. It's quite beautiful.

Good stuff for NOLA

Here's a link to a website that will make you smile about New Orleans coming back post Katrina . Fastcompany dot com which details ideals like "New Orleans Kid Camera Project" and Green Coast Enterprises, a small real estate services firm that aims to build sustainable, storm-proof homes along the Gulf Coast. Current work includes Project Home Again, a project of the Riggio Foundation that plans to build energy efficient homes for families whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Finally, a website designed to make New Orleans FEEL GOOD about their recovery.

Thanks to Humid Haney for the link and smile.

Great Campaign Commercial

hattip to The Humid Haney Rant

There's another good one here

The Gray Ghost Sucks

Read about it here, at Humid City.

In a post written by NOLAREX, it details how this self serving asshole has taken it upon himself to paint over this artwork by British grafitti artist Banksy.

BEFORE

AFTER


He even went so far as to use people to pose as employees at New Orleans City Hall to convince building owners that they had to remove the work.

From the above link:


Before I could recover from the shock that was more chagrin than anything, another man who lives almost facing the wall of the store, confirmed. “Yeh, it’s that guy that goes around painting grey all over the neighborhood.” I was obliged to take a tour of the area where this gentleman showed me grey splotch after ugly grey splotch of the style of the Grey Ghost that I am already too familiar with. Indeed, the “woman from City Hall” arrived in a white van with the man who painted grey on the building across the street. What a coincidence!

Bigezbear: Does the RNC Something We Don't Know

From Bigezbeara discussion of the sad state of the mindset of the GOP but ends the post with a laugh (for me, anyway)

Progress

The Army Corps of Engineers has proposed spending $66.4 million to rebuild wetlands along the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and in Lake Borgne and also armor part of the lake's shoreline.






The plan is divided into three projects, each of which will take about 18 months to complete, and are expected to be built in succession:

-- The first project would use limestone rock to armor the shoreline of Lake Borgne at Shell Beach, with material dredged from within the lake brought in to rebuild wetlands between the shoreline and the MR-GO.

-- Next, the corps would use rock to protect the lake shoreline in two stretches at Bayous Dupre and Bienvenue.

-- The final project would fill in open water areas on the northwest side of the "golden triangle, " an area of wetlands sandwiched between the MR-GO and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. That project would be completed last to coordinate with the construction of a storm-surge barrier across the triangle that is part of the corps's "100-year" levee improvements, designed to protect the New Orleans area from surge caused by hurricanes with a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year.

The corps announced Thursday that it had authorized Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Inc. to prepare for construction of the barrier and levee project, clearing the way for it to begin staging equipment and supplies in the area.

Some land acquisition in the footprint of the barrier project must still be completed, corps officials said.



The corps also has embarked on a broader study of how to restore wetlands and land features lost to erosion caused by ships and barges using the MR-GO and by construction of the ill-fated shipping channel itself.

That study was authorized by the 2007 Water Resources Development Act, but Congress must still approve and appropriate money for any projects it recommends.

The 2007 water act also ordered deauthorization of the MR-GO as a navigation channel. A $24.7 million rock dike is to be built across the channel at Bayou la Loutre in St. Bernard Parish by June 1, 2009.

The corps already has spent about $5 million of the $75 million appropriated by Congress in 2005 for a small wetlands-restoration project and some armoring along the MR-GO.


This brings us one step closer to realizing our goal of reducing risk from storm surge for the citizens of the greater New Orleans area,” said Lt. Col. Victor Zillmer, resident engineer for the project. “Mobilization efforts include staging equipment, conducting surveys, fabricating steel batter piles and spun cast piles used to anchor the barrier.”

The next steps include real estate acquisition and then the start of construction, which could begin in November with dredging, the corps said.

“Dredging will take about two months, and then we’ll begin driving piles to support the surge barrier,” Zillmer said.


View Larger Map

The surge barrier will extend from the Michoud floodwall north of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to the levee on the west side of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet just south of the existing Bayou Bienvenue control structure. The barrier will include a 150-foot surge gate and a 150-foot barge gate to facilitate navigation along the GIWW.

“The system will also feature a new navigable flood control sector gate at Bayou Bienvenue, a braced concrete wall across the MRGO and a concrete floodwall across the marsh between these waterways,” said Rick Kendrick, the corp's Hurricane Protection Office chief of program execution. The existing Bayou Bienvenue flood control structure would be maintained in its existing condition and could continue to be used to regulate high tides.

The corps expects to complete the project in 2011.

Iowa & FEMA

from an AP story:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday questioned a TV station's findings of high formaldehyde levels in agency-issued trailers and said the lifestyles and habits of the flood victims living in the trailers may be to blame.



Hmmm….sounds familiar, doesn't it?

For three years the residents of the Gulf Coast have been dealing with FEMA foolishness.

We've had the FEMA blame game

FEMA trying to selling surplus trailers to the general public to "raise money" to purchase more emergency housing.

FEMA offering to sell the trailers to residents for $13K

Luckily, there are the KatrinaRitaville Express activists out there, trying to educate people on what life is like in a FEMA trailer.

Dummy of the Day

Danny Willingham of eastern Slidell.




According to WWL TV
The wife told deputies that a family acquaintance told her that on three different occasions Danny Willingham offered him $10,000 to kill his wife. Strain said that none of the offers were accepted and no attempt was ever made on the wife’s life.



The couple co-operated the now closed Blue Dog Bait Shop on Hwy. 90 near the Mississippi state line. They were in the process of getting a divorce, but their community property agreement had not yet been reached.

The couple, who had a history of fighting, were in the midst of a “contentious property settlement,” when the murder-for-hire plot unfolded, Bonnett said.

The couple frequently fought over the ownership of the bait shop as well as the couple’s home, a tugboat parked on the Pearl River behind the shop at 47611 Louisiana Highway 90 in Slidell near the Mississippi border.

Willingham is no stranger to domestic violence arrests. In January 2006, he was arrested after he locked his wife inside the bait shop and used his backhoe to push “mounds of dirt and debris” against the door, preventing her from escaping, Bonnett said.

Stuck inside, she called authorities, who eventually arrived and opened the door.

But before Willingham was handcuffed, deputies allowed him to eat a sandwich and drink a Coke inside his store to quell his diabetes. He then asked to use the restroom.

He was granted permission, but only if a deputy escorted him to the bathroom.

Willingham “didn’t like that idea,” according to police reports and said, “I might as well just (urinate) on the floor.”

With that said he unzipped his pants and used the bathroom in front of deputies. In addition to false imprisonment and battery charges, the stunt also landed him obscenity charges, Bonnett said.

In January 2008, he was also arrested on domestic violence charges, including disturbing the peace, false imprisonment and resisting arrest.




Sounds like a real piece of heaven, doesn't he?

Scuzzbucket of the Week

From WWL TV:

A Slidell woman has been arrested and charged in connection with a case where the car she was driving struck and killed a Slidell man who was riding in his wheelchair along a Slidell area road, according to the St. Tammany Sheriff's Office.
St. Tammany Sheriff's Capt. George Bonnett reports that 40-year-old Kimberlin Edwards has been charged with vehicular homicide, driving under the influence, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and having an open container in the vehicle.

The accident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. along Donya Drive in the Slidell area. Capt. Bonnett says that deputies received word that a vehicle struck a man in a three-wheel motorized vehicle.

Witnesses told deputies that they saw a white Buick Rendezvous, driven by Edwards, traveling at a high rate of speed along the roadway when the accident occurred. The 53-year-old victim died at the scene. His name has not yet been released by the St. Tammany Sheriff's Office.

According to Capt. Bonnett, Edwards and a female passenger were located nearby. He adds that both Edwards and the passenger were taken to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Capt. Bonnett says that Edwards failed an intoxilyzer test.

NOLA provides an example on surviving the latest American "tragedy"

True to form, Mark over at Toulouse Street "writes a letter" to America regarding how to handle the stress the last few weeks have brought in his post " Buddy can you spare some bootstraps "




New Orleans has rehearsed the complete collapse of the American Dream for the last three years, and yet every day you can find us at the neighborhood bar sipping a cold one while discussing the Saints and the venality of politicians, or at that restaurant around the corner getting a po-boy. Life goes on. Come the Fourth of July, you’ll find Going Fourth on the River, a bit choked up as we watch the bright red, white and blue bombs bursting in air. No, we don’t believe in that old American Dream anymore, at least not in the way you still do, America. We have a clear-eyed take on what government has become, what insurance companies (for us) or banks (for the rest of you) are really about.........If you want a lesson on how to survive the next few years, I suggest you hop on a plane or gas up the car and come on down to New Orleans–before someone cuts up those credit-cards–and we’ll show you how it’s done, and throw in a good time to boot.



thanks, Mark.

The November 4th Ballot

You'll be voting for more than the next president on the ballot in two weeks.

There are several amendments on the ballot which will require you to do some homework to make an intelligent decision.




Here are some websites that explain the ballots in plain english:

The Bureau of Government Research"
The Bureau of Governmental Research is a private, nonprofit, independent research organization dedicated to informed public policy making and the effective use
of public resources for the improvement of government in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

They have created a comprehensive report that details - in everyday English - each of the four constitutional amendments on the ballot. This is the place to go to make a wise decision on the amendments.

SOS LOUISIANA DOT GOV
The Louisiana Secretary of State
skip to main | skip to sidebar Thanks, Katrina
Observations from Slidell, Louisiana, where - along with the rest of the Gulf Coast - we are coming back from Katrina's wrath
Trying to keep the world aware that we are still not okay 3 years post Katrina.

Showing posts for query BGR.ORG. Show all posts Showing posts for query BGR.ORG. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
This Saturday's Election

Curious about all the stuff the ballot this Saturday? Here are some resources.

BGR.ORG
The Bureau of Governmental Research is a private, nonprofit, independent research organization dedicated to informed public policy making and the effective use of public resources for the improvement of government in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

They have created a comprehensive report that details - in everyday English - each of the constitutional amendments on the ballot. This is the place to go to make a wise decision on the amendments.

SOS.LOUISIANA DOT GOV
The Louisiana Secretary of State
Here you can find sample ballots by Parish

Vote Smart dot org.
By typing in your zip code on the left hand of the page, you will
be presented with all the information you need in making decisions in
this election. It doesn't include the amendments, but is chock full of
information about the candidates and incumbents.

CABL dot org
The Council for a Better Louisiana
In depth information of both the candidates and the amendments.

LA-PAR dot org
Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council
For a pdf guide to the constitutional amendments click here

Vote LA dot org
By putting in your address at this website you will be given a sample ballot
to familiarize yourself with the candidates and amendments. This site doesn't explain the amendments, though.


Proposed Amendments

1. Term Limits for Members of State Boards & Commissions
2. Time Limits for Calling Special Sessions
3. Temporary Successors for Legislators Ordered to Active Military Duty
4. State Severance Taxes to Parishes
5. Transfer of Special Property Tax Assessment Level
6. Re-Sale of Certain Expropriated Property
7. Investment of Non-Pension Benefit Trusts

So there you go. Vote informed.

addendum: I went and voted on the first day of "early voting" and it took an hour from when I arrived at the polling place. Lots of people interested in this election.

Time for a Smile

With thanks to Greg over at Suspect Device, I present to you how life is over in New Iberia, Louisiana.

Seems that a Mr. Mike Romero was in a quandry about what to do with his cows during Hurricanes Gustav & Ike after watching his calves die in Hurricane Rita in 2005. Well, sir, let me tell you....Mr. Mike has stirred up a hornets nest down there.




Y'all think the comments in the Times Pic are bad?

Get a load of some of these (and I haven't edited anything:


Are you people thinking about this??? Go ride by the neighborhood those "innocent" cows were housed. See how close the houses were to the fence (maybe 2ft if that) then imagine all the dung seeping through the fence onto your yard, along with the smell, flies, mosquitos. Remember there was no electricity, so the windows had to be raised. The cows pushing your fence, because there hungry and want to eat, because poor, innocent Mr. Romero didn't feed his precious animals for 3 days. That is why he choose not to bring them to the sugarena. He would of hadtotakecareofthem

" well i evacuated my animals!! some to New Iberia & some to Broussard! so i wouldn't be charged & no one is picking on me do we leave the animals drown like in hurricane Rita?? or do we take them out during a mandatory evacuation?? "

" Good ole Mike has once again proven that he's about as smart as a bucket of hair. A real close race with his sister Nancy ROFL! "

" If we can tolerate the smell of the horses in the parades, which quite frankly, serve no entertainment value in a parade, then surely these neighbors should tolerate the emergency situation this man found himself in! Get over it already! "


Thanks, Greg for the Monday smile.

Joe Six Pack

Found at Humid City, cross posted from Copperwise:


Sarah Palin et al like to call us "Joe Six-Pack," and they think we like it too. They think it sounds folksy and homey and cute.

Sure. It's a folksy, homey, cute way to euphemistically call us something very close to trashy, ignorant hillbillies. We're just not supposed to be smart enough to realize it.

See, JSP isn't referring to our rock hard abs. JSP literally means "the blue collar guy who picks up a six pack of cheap beer every night after work and goes home to watch Nascar (and probably beat his wife/kids and light a cross on the black neighbor's lawn but we won't say anything about that wink wink nudge nudge)." That is the message that they are trying to get across to America.

There's a lot more to the post. Read it all, you will love it.

Not Katrina Related, but...

Insane McCain


From the huffingtonpost dot com


In military parlance, Mr. McCain -- the candidate -- is now behaving in a manner "unbecoming an officer" -- notably the highest-ranking officer, as Commander-in-Chief of the United States military and as the President of the United States.
His campaign is guilty of inciting crowds to hatred against a political opponent by intentionally spewing racist lies and fabricated vitriol, questioning our next President's patriotism in a time of war, tacitly approving his own campaign's spokespeople and advertisements' specific statements that his political opponent is "palling around with terrorists," Mr. McCain indelibly stains the "honor" he has been accorded from years of public and military service.
He has now earned the ignominious fate of a public "court martial" in polling places all across America on November 4th.
Article 133 stipulates that the maximum punishment for violations of this code of conduct is:
• "Dismissal,"
• "Forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and"
• "Confinement for a period...for which a punishment is prescribed in this Manual, or, if none is prescribed, for one year."

Just how many of these infractions has the esteemed former Navy flyboy committed? According to the U.S. Military Code's complete list of punishable "conduct unbecoming" offenses: 10 out of 10.
John McCain has run a dispirited, dishonorable, duplicitous, wedge-issue driven and erratic campaign during a time when his country is at war and faces the gravest economic crisis since the 1930's. His political stunts -- the most egregious of which is named "Sarah Palin" -- are more than cagey electoral strategy. They are hazardous to the health and welfare of this nation.
The conduct of his 2008 campaign should alert the nation as to what kind of White House he would champion and this should disqualify him for the highest office in the land.

As Rolling Stone author Tim Dickinson writes in the October 16, 2008 issue, the true story of the "make-believe maverick...reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty." There were hints of these troubling character flaws in his youthful pre-war years. Dickinson notes that even as a young man, McCain wasn't particularly popular. "His friends seemed to dislike him, with one recalling him as "a mean little fucker." That "mean little fucker" is still quite alive and well in McCain's shrinking, 72-year-old, 5' 9" frame.

Both articles are worth reading, IMHO.

Katrina Memorials

St. Bernard Parish President Craig P. Taffaro Jr. reads his opening remarks before he and city council members took turns reading the names of the victims killed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina August 29, 2005 at the rededication ceremony of an updated monument at Shell Beach Saturday October 11, 2008. The event was originally scheduled for the third anniversary but was delayed due preparations for Hurricane Gustav.



Other Katrina Memorials along the Gulf Coast:

Here is a link to photographs of Banksy's Katrina Memorial to the 9th Ward (before a lot of them were painted over in gray…what a waste)




Biloxi, Mississippi

New Orleans


Ninth Ward (2007)



Pascagoula, Mississippi

Ninth Ward's Slow Recovery

Slow repopulation strands 9th Ward businesses
From New Orleans City Business dot com:


Three years after the storm, the Lower 9th Ward remains a shell of its former self. Basic services such as grocery stores or easily accessible health care are virtually nonexistent.
So Sankofa Marketplace organizers decided to bring these services into the community, even if it’s only once every 30 days. In addition to spotlighting local businesses, it offers fresh fruit, vegetables and seafood, free health screenings, arts and crafts, and live music.


The Sankofa Marketplace is held on the second Saturday of the month with the second scheduled for Saturday. Its scope goes beyond assisting local businesses.
The goal is to not only provide vital services lacking in the storm-damaged neighborhood but also to spur economic development by highlighting the growing demand for such services.



The concept of SANKOFA is derived from King Adinkera of the Akan people of West Afrika. SANKOFA is expressed in the Akan language as "se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki."
Literally translated it means "it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot".
"Sankofa" teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.
Visually and symbolically "Sankofa" is expressed as a mythic bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg (symbolizing the future) in its mouth.


City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis said the Lower 9th Ward has been neglected in a recovery process bogged down by too much planning and not enough action. And private investors won’t come until the city begins to inject recovery dollars into the area and revitalize its two main corridors — Claiborne and St. Claude avenues.
But there is hope.
“We finally have the recovery dollars in the city budget, so things are going to start happening,” Willard-Lewis said. “I’m so disappointed that the process has taken this long but the commitment has been made and now it’s about execution.”
Until that happens, Ferdinand and the other Sankofa Marketplace organizers know it will be left to community members to bring their struggling neighborhood back from the brink. She just hopes that by the time the city jumps on board it won’t be too late.
“It’s been three years we’ve been waiting for something to happen and I can see three years becoming four years, becoming five years. If it’s not time to start now when is it? The Lower 9th Ward became this symbol of disaster, but it hasn’t come to represent a symbol of recovery as well.”•