Unhappy Anniversary--2 Years After Katrina

[CentreHice]

Would it be this way in Canada? The poor forgotten, the rich looked after. Corporate friends getting contracts? Somehow, I think it would. Money and privilege create quite a rift.

All I heard/saw in the mainstream as the 2nd Anniversary came and went, was how the French Quarter is booming....the resolve of the "New Orleaners"...the Saints are going to have a great year, (insert other positive spins here).....

Nothing like this.....

Will We Ever Get It Right?

[Skilly]

I'm not sure how to approach this CH .....

From an engineering perspective New Orleans is still a disaster waiting to happen. It is built in a "bowl" .... it will always flood because of that. I was watching a show a few weeks ago about the new "levies" (dykes) being built around the city. They are going to build as much of them out of concrete now as they can supposedly. Well whoopdie do ... concrete is not going to stop rising waters. It will contain it for a little longer, but each and every year that area gets hit with Katrina-like storms. All it takes is for another to blow up through New Orleans and they are back at square one.

When the engineers were interviewed they were suggesting forgetting about the bowl portion and start to rebuild outside the flood water areas. Thats the area that is "savable". It is probably (I really dont know) the area where the rich live too - but in my mind that is a coincidence from an engineering analysis of the area.

The people who return to New Orleans and live in the bowl should not be able to get home owners insurance. They are knowingly building inside a flood zone. Thats cruel I know ..... but from an engineering perspective, hundreds of millions of dollars is being spend to save something that is really not possible to save.

[CentreHice]

I understand the engineering side of it.

I'm talking about how fast the (paddle)wheels move in terms of how much money you have.

There's talk of developers getting a lot of the "land" near the water for condos. etc. i.e. "Good, now that the lowlife is gone, let's pretty this area up and make some money."

Look at this from September 10, 2005:

The latest elected official to step into the swamp was Rep. Richard H. Baker, a 10-term Republican from Baton Rouge. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that he was overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."

Of course, after it was reported, Baker clarified (backtracked):

"What I remember expressing, in a private conversation with a housing advocate and member of my staff, was that 'We have been trying for decades to clean up New Orleans public housing to provide decent housing for residents, and now it looks like God is finally making us do it,' " Baker wrote. "Obviously I have never expressed anything but the deepest concern about the suffering that this terrible catastrophe has caused for so many in our state."

Article

My questions is, "Where is that decent housing for residents that 'God' had in mind?" Formaldehyde trailers 2 years later wouldn't be it...would it?

And I'm not thinking for a minute that anything would be different here in Canada.

[Skilly]

centrehice said:

And I'm not thinking for a minute that anything would be different here in Canada.

You are probably right.

I guess the "closest" analogy we have in Canada is Newfoundland. We are the poorest province. Maybe not on a per capita basis ( ) but in terms of unemployment, lack of affordable public housing, and such we probably are the worst off.

In the last two years we have had several communities experience flooding catastophes. The most recent was Tropical Storm Chantal a few weeks ago. The town of Dunville here was devastated.



Harper came to visit the damage. Now I am not sure how fast the Canadian government is going to supply money to help, or if they are at all ... but I do know that some communities (the town of Badger for one which had a huge flood on February 15, 2003) are not happy with the "aid" or with the slow process of getting the aid.



I'll post any news items related to the expediency of receiving money by these communities ...

[Disgruntled70sHab]

skilly said:

centrehice said:

And I'm not thinking for a minute that anything would be different here in Canada.

You are probably right.

I guess the "closest" analogy we have in Canada is Newfoundland. We are the poorest province. Maybe not on a per capita basis ( ) but in terms of unemployment, lack of affordable public housing, and such we probably are the worst off.

In the last two years we have had several communities experience flooding catastophes. The most recent was Tropical Storm Chantal a few weeks ago. The town of Dunville here was devastated.



Harper came to visit the damage. Now I am not sure how fast the Canadian government is going to supply money to help, or if they are at all ... but I do know that some communities (the town of Badger for one which had a huge flood on February 15, 2003) are not happy with the "aid" or with the slow process of getting the aid.



I'll post any news items related to the expediency of receiving money by these communities ...

Odd how these concerns aren't all that well publicized Skilly. I think it's good that Harper went out to survey the extent of the damage but there has to be some sort of significant follow up.

I'm not all that up on it so if any of our western members know a better way of explaining it please jump in. I've never lived in Winnipeg before but when we visited friends there back in '97 they were quick to show us how high the waters rose the previous winter. It wasn't hard to tell because we could see the water stains left behind. However, what manages to save Winnipeg the years they get excessive flooding is the floodway they've built that bypasses the city. I guess it diverts water from the Red River around Winnipeg.

New Orleans doesn't have anything like this, however. You'd know more about this than me, Skilly, but being in a "bowl" New Orleans may not be able to build such a structure. Again, I really don't know. However, I also remember reading that those levies or dikes that were made to hold back the water, had been deteriorating for years prior to Katrina hitting and nothing was done about them.

CH, your link suggests quite a few things to me. Firstly, it looks as if those folks who lost everything have been forgotten. Secondly, no major network has picked up their stories. As it is now, people aren't only getting back some of what they lost, they're dying from defects in the housing they've been provided. Again, I haven't heard anything on any of the major news networks that would make this a big story (then again, I only check out the odd American news web site when I have time to at work).

Though I'm not familiar with ZNet, CH, there's other things in the article that made me re-read it. Thanks.

Cheers.

[Skilly]

disgruntled70shab said:

Odd how these concerns aren't all that well publicized Skilly. I think it's good that Harper went out to survey the extent of the damage but there has to be some sort of significant follow up.

This is a little off topic Dis ... but yes Harper came. The flooding occured in Fabian Manning's district (a PC MP). But Harper was here and gone before many knew about it ... and he never informed the provincial government that he was coming or that he was here.

This disaster was a time to leave politics aside ..... too bad it wasn't. Not sure how the people are going to get aid if it doesn't come through the provincial government. I am after puttting together about 20 projects due to this storm ... I always thought that the protocol was the provincial governement would get everything on the ground fixed, the emergency bill was then submitted to the federal government. Strange how the provincial governement is getting left out of the loop, makes me think that maybe is was all a huge publicity stunt from start to finish.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

skilly said:

This is a little off topic Dis ... but yes Harper came. The flooding occured in Fabian Manning's district (a PC MP). But Harper was here and gone before many knew about it ... and he never informed the provincial government that he was coming or that he was here.

The very first thing I thought of when I read that Harper made the trip to survey the damage was, "... that's exactly what the US president is expected to do." Consistent for Harper if nothing else.

This disaster was a time to leave politics aside ..... too bad it wasn't. Not sure how the people are going to get aid if it doesn't come through the provincial government. I am after puttting together about 20 projects due to this storm ... I always thought that the protocol was the provincial governement would get everything on the ground fixed, the emergency bill was then submitted to the federal government. Strange how the provincial governement is getting left out of the loop, makes me think that maybe is was all a huge publicity stunt from start to finish.

This is puzzling Skilly. But, it does seem to explain the politics of the situation. Harper is floundering in NFLD right now. And given what you've been able to post recently, his reputation isn't the greatest. It might be the motivation behind the visit and whatever his government might be doing about this later.

However, there are losers in this scenario ... like the town of Dunsville. And when you think New Orleans is still losing ...

This depresses me.

[CentreHice]

Dis,

ZNet is a hub for articles from various sources....usually truly embedded in the situation....and they give a different angle from the cheerleading rah rah we get in the mainstream.

In this example, North Americans are too busy wanting to know about Vick, Spears, and Hilton...than to care what's happening to their fellow citizens in the wake of disaster. And, somehow, you know that's exactly how the politicians (ruling interests) like it.

Now, I do realize that a lot of the articles on ZNet are from mid-to-far left.....but not all of them. I go there occasionally to read that different perspective.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Well, you're certainly right there, CH. I remember Hilton's imprisonment taking a front seat to Conrad Black's trial. In Canada this was the trial of the new millennium. Not so south of the border.

I don't mind reading left-wing opinions. It's a good balance to the radical bow-tie-wearing right. Best to get the whole perspective for sure.

Still, it's hard not to discuss politics in either situation here. But, it's politics that has prevented things from progressing. Bush blew it with his lack of response to the initial crisis, and Harper might be looking at Dunville as a vehicle to restore some of his lost credibility in NFLD.

Like I say, it's hard not to discuss this but it's even easier to be diverted from the actual crisis. And the losers are those who were hit by the storms.

Cheers.