Section 8: Misdirected money, corruption, mismanagement by local officials, and preventable levee failures
This subsection is primarily about mismanagement before Hurricane
Katrina hit. There is a separate page about the FBI raid on the offices of Congressman
William J. Jefferson. The first item
below is just a sample from that page.
Black
politicians should be held to high standard. The [William J.] Jefferson case is
special. He has been on the legal hot seat for months. He's been the target of an
ongoing criminal investigation and a House ethics probe. He left a bitter taste in the
mouths of many New Orleans residents during the Hurricane Katrina debacle when he allegedly
commandeered a National Guard truck to check on his personal property and save personal
belongings.
New Orleans:
Death by Environmentalism. Preventing the disastrous flood in New Orleans would have
required a massive construction project necessitating many years to complete. Recent cuts in the
Corps of Engineers budget had nothing to do with the disaster. Even if funded by the Bush
administration, the work could not have been completed in time, nor would the planned levee
measures have been adequate. However, the enormous damage and loss of life that occurred could have
been prevented but for environmentalists who successfully blocked other flood protection measures
for over two decades.
$700 Mil in Hurricane
Recovery Funds Gone With the Wind. In yet another example of how the Obama administration blows the nation's tax dollars,
hundreds of millions earmarked for a failed housing program have vanished and the feds aren't terribly worried about recovering the lost
cash. The missing loot is part of a highly questionable Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program that liberally doled out cash
to Louisiana homeowners so they could elevate and protect their houses from storms. The feds came up with this brilliant idea after
Hurricane Katrina slammed the region in 2005 because the area, especially New Orleans, got flooded.
HUD report: Nearly
$700 million Katrina rebuilding funding missing. A report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office
of the Inspector General reveals that $698.5 million dollars in disaster recovery funds given to Louisiana homeowners in the wake of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were not used to fulfill the purpose of the funding — to elevate damaged homes. According
to the report, dated March 29, a total of 24,042 Louisiana homeowners who received up to $30,000 each were "noncompliant, including
those that had not elevated their homes; were nonresponsive; or did not provide sufficient supporting documentation" to show that they
had used the taxpayer funding to reconstruct their homes as of Aug. 31, 2012.
Experts
Say Faulty Levees Caused Much of Flooding. With the help of complex computer models and
stark visual evidence, scientists and engineers at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center have
concluded that Katrina's surges did not come close to overtopping those barriers. That would make
faulty design, inadequate construction or some combination of the two the likely cause of the
breaching of the floodwalls along the 17th Street and London Avenue canals — and
the flooding of most of New Orleans.
A Barrier That Could Have Been. In the
wake of Hurricane Betsy 40 years ago, Congress approved a massive hurricane barrier to protect New Orleans
from storm surges that could inundate the city. But the project, signed into law by President Johnson,
was derailed in 1977 by an environmental lawsuit.
Louisiana
Officials Indicted Before Katrina Hit. Senior officials in Louisiana's emergency planning
agency already were awaiting trial over allegations stemming from a federal investigation into waste,
mismanagement and missing funds when Hurricane Katrina struck. And federal auditors are still
trying to track as much as $60 million in unaccounted for funds that were funneled to the state
from the Federal Emergency Management Agency dating back to 1998.
Red Cross
Blocked Before Levee Break. Red Cross workers arrived in New Orleans
with enough food, water and blankets for thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims the
night before levees broke and flooded the city, but were prevented from delivering
the aid to stranded citizens by state officials.
Report: Louisiana
blocked Red Cross. The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security blocked a vanguard
of Red Cross trucks filled with water, food, blankets and hygiene items from bringing relief to
the thousands of hungry and thirsty evacuees stranded in the New Orleans Superdome after Hurricane
Katrina struck, according to a Fox News Channel report.
Multi-Layered
Failures. While the Red Cross and Salvation Army were able and eager to
deliver water, food, medicine, and other relief supplies to those suffering at the
Superdome and convention center, Louisiana officials rebuffed them, for fear that
hydrating and feeding these individuals would chill an already glacial evacuation
while encouraging others to get cozy and settle in for the long haul. In short,
Louisiana officials starved their citizens out of town.
What Caused the
Flood? Hurricane Katrina makes for a straightforward narrative for
liberals: Big government could have prevented the catastrophe, but President
Bush so distrusts government, he didn't spend enough on levees and other projects to
save New Orleans. Leaving aside that the free-spending Bush is hardly a miser,
this narrative has no connection to the grimy facts on the ground.
Money
Flowed to Questionable Projects. Before Hurricane Katrina breached a
levee on the New Orleans Industrial Canal, the Army Corps of Engineers had already
launched a $748 million construction project at that very location. But
the project had nothing to do with flood control. The Corps was building a huge
new lock for the canal, an effort to accommodate steadily increasing barge
traffic. Except that barge traffic on the canal has been steadily decreasing.
New Orleans: A
Green Genocide. As radical environmentalists continue to blame the ferocity of
Hurricane Katrina's devastation on President Bush's ecological policies, a mainstream Louisiana
media outlet inadvertently disclosed a shocking fact: Environmentalist activists were
responsible for spiking a plan that may have saved New Orleans. Decades ago, the Green
Left — pursuing its agenda of valuing wetlands and topographical "diversity" over
human life — sued to prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from building floodgates
that would have prevented significant flooding that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.
Environmental Groups Opposed Flood Protection.
Amid the slow recovery of the Gulf Coast from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, a great deal of criticism
has fallen on the shoulders of the Bush administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an allegedly
insufficient commitment to fortifying anti-flood levees. Mostly unremarked upon, however, has been the
opposition of environmental activist groups to building levees in the first place.
Floodgate May Have Thwarted
Storm Tragedy. Hours after Hurricane Katrina passed, New Orleans was
underwater. Some experts say the flooding could have been stopped a quarter-century
ago — had environmentalists not interfered.
Louisiana
Officials in Flood-Money Scam. Nine months before the Hurricane Katrina
disaster, three Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness officials
were indicted for obstructing an audit into flood prevention expenditures.
The Levee board
was under federal investigation before Katrina hit. Rampant public
corruption was doing big business in New Orleans long before Hurricane Katrina
ever hit. What then Congressman, now Senator David Vitter calls "corrupt, good
old boy" practices were apparent in the New Orleans Levee Board just one year before
the collapse of regional levees, emergency communications and government services
brought the Big Easy to the brink of anarchy.
Unquenchable
appetite: Why did we ever think it would work? Whatever possessed us
to look for the ultimate in disaster relief from a governmental system that had dreamed
up public education, the agricultural subsidy program, Medicare, and Social Security? Why
did we think they would get this one right? Truth be told, all the whining about the
supposedly insensitive and slow response to Hurricane Katrina is off the mark.
Louisiana Federal Money Was Not
Spent on Levees. It turns out Louisiana has gotten more than its fair share of
federal dollars for infrastructure but its own lawmakers thought the New Orleans levees were
not a priority.
Army Corps of Engineers projects plentiful in
Louisiana. Over the five years of President Bush's administration, Louisiana has
received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about
$1.9 billion. … Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the chief of the Corps, has
said that in any event, more money would not have prevented the drowning of the city,
since its levees were only designed to protect against a Category 3 storm, and
the levees that failed were already completed projects.
Read this: Greens vs.
Levees. The national Sierra Club was one of several environmental groups
who sued the Army Corps of Engineers to stop a 1996 plan to raise and fortify Mississippi
River levees. … Nearly all flood-control projects — even relatively small
ones — are subject to a variety of assessments for effects on wetlands, endangered
species, and other environmental concerns.
Clinton slashed
spending on levees. While the Bush administration is sure to
get most of the heat for cuts in proposed expenditures to maintain and upgrade New Orleans
flood control system, the Clinton administration repeatedly cut congressional allocations
for the projects and the recommendations on spending by the Army Corps of Engineers.
New Orleans had
many warnings. Just a year ago, Hurricane Ivan caused a disaster plan
review. There were hours-long traffic jams. Those who had money fled, while
the poor stayed. The warnings were the same: Forecasters predicted that a
direct hit on the city would send torrents of water over the city's levees, creating
a 20-foot-deep cesspool of human and industrial waste.
They're
at it again. As Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies
at the Cato Institute, points out, the federal government has given billions of dollars to
New Orleans' poor since George W. Bush took office. Tanner estimates that
the Bush administration has spent some $10 billion in welfare assistance in Louisiana,
including $1.2 billion in cash assistance and $3 billion in food stamps, as well
as public housing, Medicaid and more than 60 other federal anti-poverty programs. But
all that money did not buy self-sufficiency, the commodity that largely differentiated those
who escaped the deluge from those who got stuck at the Superdome and Convention Center.
Poor Al.
Unfortunately [Al Gore] was addressing the Sierra Club, which was not the best place to bring
up the flooding of New Orleans. The very day he spoke a congressional task force reported that
the levees that failed in New Orleans would have been raised higher and strengthened in 1996 by
the Army Corps of Engineers were it not for a lawsuit filed by environmentalists led by who else
but the Sierra Club.
Flood
protection has taken a back seat. Though he spent eight years on the Orleans Levee Board,
Robert Lupo didn't spend much time talking about levees. Instead, the real estate magnate organized
a $2.5 million renovation of the Mardi Gras Fountain, tried to find takers for the district's vacant
real estate and helped lead a failed effort to find a private manager for Lakefront airport.
Engineers:
1985 test predicted levee break. Scientists working on an independent study of a floodwall that
collapsed during Hurricane Katrina said Monday [3/13/2006] that a government test 21 years ago predicted
the wall could fail.
Corps of Engineers Sued Over
Hurricane Katrina. Five people whose homes were flooded during Hurricane Katrina sued the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday [4/25/2006], accusing the agency of ignoring repeated warnings
that a navigation channel it built would turn into a "hurricane highway."
Rebuilding New Orleans: Humans along
the Mississippi determined to live directly in the path of — and contrary to the natural
order of — nature. However, once the levees broke, Katrina, the storm of our lifetime,
sent water again down its natural path, and in addition to the overwhelming human tragedy, also
set in motion political changes of great consequence. But it all began with the far left
environmental activists.
Mississippi
withholds Katrina money amid audit. Mississippi is withholding nearly $17 million in federal
reimbursement money from its most populous coastal county while authorities probe a "multitude of discrepancies"
in bills that contractors submitted for Hurricane Katrina debris removal, according to officials and documents
reviewed by The Associated Press.
146 U.S. levees may fail in
flood. The Army Corps of Engineers has identified 146 levees nationwide that it says pose an
unacceptable risk of failing in a major flood. The deficiencies, mostly due to poor maintenance, are
forcing communities from Connecticut to California to invest millions of dollars in repairs. If the levees
aren't fixed, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could determine that they are no longer adequate
flood controls. If that happens, property owners behind the levees would have to buy flood insurance
costing hundreds of dollars a year or more.
Corps proposes
voluntary buyout outside levees. The draft document, which details work the agency already should
have completed, has not yet been released to the public. The corps missed a Dec. 31 deadline to make
recommendations to Congress, angering the state's congressional delegation, as well as state officials and
advocates for coastal restoration and flood protection.
Leaky New
Orleans levee alarms experts. Despite more than $22 million in repairs, a levee that broke with
catastrophic effect during Hurricane Katrina is leaking again because of the mushy ground on which New Orleans
was built, raising serious questions about the reliability of the city's flood defenses.
The U.S. Treasury — A Once and
Everyman's Oyster. Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) asked Congress for something like
$250 billion — fixer upper money — to throw at New Orleans after Katrina. Whatever they got, many of
the dollars went to Louisiana crooks, some of whom refused to pay Mexican day laborers hired to help with the
cleanup. Criminally, Louisiana's thieves rank right up there with Washington's crooks and are often
compared on the corruption scale with Mexico, which has no law at all.
A quarter of
Katrina aid money still unspent. More than a quarter of the $20 billion in Housing and
Urban Development relief funds that were earmarked for Gulf Coast states after Hurricane Katrina remains
unspent five years after the storm, a fact noticed by at least one congressional leader who's eager to
spend it elsewhere.
Section 9: Odd news items connected to Katrina or New Orleans:
This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here.
Section 9A: Post-Katrina politics and election plans
New
Orleans Elected America's 'First Progressive Sheriff' To Run Its Jail. Then 10 Inmates
Escaped. Ten prisoners, including four charged with murder, escaped from the New
Orleans jail on Friday after the city elected as sheriff a progressive activist who had never worn
a badge. Orleans Parish became a trial run in a plan by left-wing billionaires to extend
George Soros' campaign of installing anti-police prosecutors even further, into electing
anti-law-and-order sheriffs. Susan Hutson was elected in December 2021, with New Orleans
Public Radio saying at the time that "a Susan Hutson win could give New Orleans — and
the U.S. — its 1st progressive sheriff." [Advertisement] Hutson had never
served as a law enforcement officer, but rather worked as an "independent police monitor" who
criticized police, New Orleans Public Radio said. The outlet stated she would "reform the
criminal justice system with a left-wing ideology." The primary role of the sheriff in
Orleans Parish is to run the jail. Hutson squeaked into office after the incumbent, another
black Democrat, got 48% in the primary compared to her 35%, which led to a runoff since the incumbent
did not get 50%. In the runoff, the dynamic flipped with the assistance of big-money out-of-state
groups, including PAC for Justice, which wants to divert the jail budget to "social programs."
Emergency Authority:
The Katrina Conundrum. [Scroll down] The nightmare that was Katrina was broadcast on network television
to a shocked public. Symbolic of the breakdown of civil order was that a group of Australians found themselves targeted
inside the Superdome by locals who thought foreigners would get special treatment. Sixty foreigners huddled in a mass
inside the Superdome; had they integrated they would likely have been killed. Two Aussie couples were rescued under a
bridge by an Australian television crew. Bush's political Waterloo was that the public blamed him for failing
to take actions he lacked clear statutory authority to take. The public, unschooled in such arcana, blamed the
president — aided by a national media that presented a purely anti-Bush/Republican picture. Thus the Katrina
Conundrum: Though preeminent statutory authority rests with the States, the public holds the president primarily
accountable.
Election Postponement Gives
Democrats Time to Regroup. Is the postponement of the Orleans municipal
election a form of political engineering? Secretary of State Al Ater announced
Friday [12/2/2005] that the February 4th New Orleans election is impossible, given
the physical destruction in that parish. But this buys more time for the state to
track down displaced New Orleans voters, most of whom are democrats.
The Editor blurts out...
Yes, and it will give them time to find all the dead and fictitious voters, most of whom are Democrats.
The politicians may have to face the fact that many potential Democrat voters were
evacuated to Texas and may never return.
Odds of Governor Blanco
Recall. At the heart of the recall effort against Louisiana Governor Kathleen
Blanco comes massive frustration. From the pundits to the public, everyone can agree
on one thing: There appears to be a strong desire to appoint blame sooner rather than
later; and lots of it.
NAACP: Postpone
New Orleans Election. The Department of Justice should postpone upcoming elections in
New Orleans until displaced voters have been located, NAACP officials said Saturday [2/18/2006].
In response, the editor says...
Those who were displaced can vote in their new places of residence, if they are inclined to vote at
all. But this isn't Cuba. In a free country it is not the government's responsibility to
round up voters and make sure they vote.
Justice Department OKs New Orleans Election
Plan. Over the bitter objections of some black leaders, the U.S. Justice Department
approved a plan Thursday [3/16/2006] for New Orleans' first elections since Hurricane Katrina.
Prominent blacks
want N.O. satellite voting. Displaced New Orleans residents deserve the same voting
privileges as the people of war-torn Iraq, several black leaders argued Friday [3/24/2006] in pushing
for satellite voting from locations outside Louisiana.
Judge Refuses to
Delay New Orleans Vote. A federal judge on Monday [3/27/2006] refused to delay New
Orleans' April 22 mayoral election, telling both sides to solve any problems that might hinder
displaced residents' ability to vote. "If you are a displaced citizen, like I am, we have a burning
desire for completeness," said U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle, whose own New Orleans home flooded after
Hurricane Katrina.
New Orleans Business
Leaders Sour on Nagin as Mayor. New Orleans business leaders who helped bankroll Mayor Ray
Nagin's political career before Hurricane Katrina have given at least $279,600 to his two strongest
opponents in this month's election.
Voting
to begin for New Orleans mayor. Hundreds of Hurricane Katrina evacuees from as far away
as Texas and Georgia have signed up to board buses and return to Louisiana in order to vote on the
future of New Orleans.
[The buses in New Orleans seem to run really well when there's an election at
stake. What happens after they vote? Will they be re-evacuated?]
All politics is local. In New Orleans and
satellite sites around Louisiana, voting has begun in a mayoral election that may well blow incumbent Ray
Nagin out of City Hall. Twenty-two candidates are challenging the reelection bid by Mr. Nagin,
a black man whose post-hurricane leadership many critics said consisted more of finger-pointing
and race-baiting than practical policy.
Losing the Race: Nagin
says win would send racial message. Mayor C. Ray Nagin says a victory in tomorrow's election
will send a message on race that "will echo throughout America." "This election will say in spite of
American prejudice, I was able to attract votes from all races and classes and move forward with the process
of healing," said Mr. Nagin, who has hinted that whites locally and nationally are working to unseat him from
the post, which blacks have held for nearly 30 years.
Update: Nagin
wins re-election as Big Easy mayor. Voters re-elected Mayor Ray Nagin, the colorful leader whose
blunt style endeared him to some but outraged others after Hurricane Katrina, giving him four more years to
oversee one of the largest rebuilding projects in U.S. history.
Why Spend More Federal Money To
Rebuild New Orleans? Ray Nagin, the man who completely ignored his most-important responsibilities
as Mayor of New Orleans over the past few years, has been reelected. The man who would not order a
mandatory evacuation of New Orleans because he was afraid of lawsuits from the hospitality industry will be
leading New Orleans again. … The primary blame goes to the voters, many of whom voted by absentee
ballot and will never make New Orleans their home again.
White House suitors deluge New
Orleans. Although New Hampshire and Iowa hold the first-in-the-nation presidential primary and
caucuses, the Gulf Coast region ravaged by Hurricane Katrina has emerged as a crucial stop for 2008 contenders.
Louisiana Democrats
Suffering After Katrina. Katrina's floods then scattered thousands of residents from New Orleans,
normally a Democratic stronghold. "Welcome to post-Katrina electoral politics," said Silas Lee, a New
Orleans-based political analyst. "Displacement is going to be a factor. How important that will
be remains a big question."
Nagin
Suspects a Plot To Keep Blacks Away. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has suggested that the
slow recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina — which has prevented many black
former residents from returning — is part of a plan to change the racial makeup and political
leadership of his and other cities.
Nagin
raising cash but mum on plans. Just a year after he won a second term, speculation is swirling that
Mayor Ray Nagin is looking for another job — perhaps governor or congressman.
Updated 11/18/2007: NOLA Council Wins White
Majority. A former councilwoman won an at-large seat on the New Orleans City Council on Saturday
[11/17/2007], creating the first white majority in more than two decades. … Analysts had said the race
could set a baseline for the changing political landscape in a post-Hurricane Katrina city in which the gap
between white and black voters is narrowing. Blacks remain the majority but are now about 58 percent
of the population, down from 67 percent before Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.
Citizen
Nagin a sporadic voter. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin recently pronounced himself "disgusted" with
apathy among city residents, saying it was "unacceptable" that only about a quarter of registered voters bothered
to cast a ballot in the Oct. 20 primary. Turns out the mayor himself has skipped a few
elections, according to state records.
Race and Crime in New Orleans:
For many critics, the disarray in the DA's office can be traced to a decision [District Attorney Eddie]
Jordan made shortly after being elected to a six-year term in 2002. During the campaign, Mr. Jordan
pledged to make the DA's office look "more like New Orleans," code words, many assumed, for hiring more black
staffers and attorneys. Using a "cultural-diversity report" compiled by his transition team, Mr. Jordan
proceeded to systematically fire veteran white staffers and replace them with African Americans with
little or no experience.
Is violent reputation
hurting N'Orleans? In the last two years, New Orleanians have been killed at a rate well above
pre-Katrina years when factoring in the city's huge population drop. That's giving New Orleans a
reputation as a national murder capital, even though it was listed as the 65th most dangerous U.S. city in a
recent report based on FBI crime statistics, which were analyzed by Washington-based CQ Press. Last
summer, Mayor Ray Nagin drew harsh criticism from activists when he said violence "helps keep the New Orleans
brand out there."
New Orleans
Cracks Down on Corruption. Fed up with crime and political corruption, New
Orleans' business leaders in 1952 organized to flush out the twin poisons they believed were
harming economic development. It was a time when illegal gambling and the Carlos
Marcello crime family operated openly in a city that was a bustling business hub.
Frustration
and Optimism in New Orleans. [Scroll down] "I think it's bad," said Merline Kimble, 59, a
music promoter from the Treme neighborhood who recently returned to New Orleans. "For people who want to
come home, rent is more expensive, utilities are more expensive, everything's more expensive. Nobody's
doing anything to get people home."
The Editor says...
Billions of dollars have been spent on New Orleans since hurricane Katrina, and yet there are people who
say "nobody's doing anything." Why would anyone want to return to New Orleans, knowing it is at or
below sea level and the same thing could happen again? More importantly, the taxpayers in the
other 49 states now realize how easily New Orleans can be flooded. After the next big storm hits,
why should Uncle Sam pitch in and help ungrateful people who see reconstruction as an entitlement?
Back to normal, at last! New Orleans ranks highest in crime, survey
finds. A controversial ranking of U.S. cities' crime rates indicates New Orleans, Louisiana,
has the worst crime rate, while a New York exurb has the lowest. The CQ Press "City Crime Rankings"
list named New Orleans its most crime-ridden city based on a reported 19,000-plus incidences of six major
crimes — including 209 murder cases — in 2007. The Gulf Coast city of about
250,000, still grappling with the aftermath of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, was followed in the rankings by
Camden, New Jersey; Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; and Oakland, California.
Obama hates white
people and wants them to die. With nearly 1.5 million people in the mid-west without power
during a cold snap, what other possible reason is there that this new "competent" administration and FEMA
would be failing so spectacularly in helping in this natural disaster? ... Of course, I am just aping what
lefty blogs were saying about Bush less than 24 hours after Katrina's hurricane winds stopped
blowing. ... Isn't it interesting that now that we have a Democrat as president that all of a sudden,
disaster relief is a state and local matter and the federal government should stand aside and allow
them to do their jobs?
Kentucky: No Power, No FEMA. When a
million people in flyover country are suffering, and 42 people have died, we don't hear much about it. If this
was New York, Washington, Boston, [New Orleans,] (or if the president had an R after his name) you'd see non-stop reports,
and the press would be roundly criticizing FEMA's absence, and the White House's disregard. Right?
Fedzilla Goes Quack. Amazingly, the
stooges who bitterly complained about the slow response of Fedzilla to Hurricane Katrina are the same morons
who are clamoring for Fedzilla to take over the nation's health care. If you are one of these terminally
dumb logic-challenged buffoons, please do America a favor and do not breed.
The Louisiana purchase: The $100 Million
Health Care Vote? On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal
Medicaid subsidies for "certain states recovering from a major disaster." The section spends two pages
defining which "states" would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that "during the
preceding 7 fiscal years" have been declared a "major disaster area." I am told the section applies to
exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard
to get on the health care bill.
The Editor says...
Oh, I see. It's the Katrina people again. Look, Hurricane Katrina was not the first
storm to hit Lousy-ana, nor will it be the last. If you don't like hurricanes, you
shouldn't live in a city that's several feet below sea level. Move to higher ground,
or just get over it! In any event, stop asking for more and more money to
recover from a storm that blew in years ago.
New
Orleans City Hall dysfunction leaves specialist 'shocked'. Calling New Orleans city
government the most dysfunctional he's ever seen, a leading turnaround specialist delivered a report to
Mayor Mitch Landrieu this week identifying a long list of problems at City Hall, as well as a 10-point
plan on how to right the ship. Since taking office in May, Landrieu has identified many of the
problems outlined by consultant David Osborne, including decades-old computer systems, civil service
rules that beget mediocrity, senseless red tape and staffing shortages dating to Hurricane Katrina.
The
border crisis isn't Obama's Katrina — it's worse. Many have parsed what
President Barack Obama's critics mean when they charge that the handling of the crisis on America's
southern border is "Obama's Katrina." [...] It is impossible to know how many children crossing the
American border have died as a result of their trek across forsaken deserts. At least one
15-year-old Guatemalan boy lost his life as the result of dehydration, but there has not been a
death toll comparable to Katrina. In terms of body count, these two crises are not comparable.
But this is all Obama's supporters have going for them. The president's approach to this crisis is
distinct from George W. Bush's approach to Katrina insofar as the current president is comfortable
campaigning on, rather than addressing, an ongoing disaster.
10
years on, Hurricane Katrina's lessons still resonate. Katrina killed over 1,800 people
and left millions homeless. The events surrounding the hurricane, which caused $108 billion
of damage, are still hotly debated as its 10-year anniversary approaches.
10
years on, Hurricane Katrina's lessons still resonate. Katrina killed over 1,800 people and left
millions homeless. The events surrounding the hurricane, which caused $108 billion of damage, are
still hotly debated as its 10-year anniversary approaches.
Louisiana
shooting spree leaves 3 dead; armed citizens credited with saving lives. Armed citizens were credited with
limiting fatalities in a shooting in Louisiana on Saturday [2/20/2021] that left three people dead, including the suspect,
according to authorities. The outburst, at a gun store and range just down the road from Louis Armstrong New Orleans
International Airport, also left two people wounded, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. [...] "At this time,
it appears a suspect shot two victims inside the location, then was engaged and shot outside the location by multiple other
individuals," the sheriff's statement continued. "The suspect is one of the deceased on scene." Employees at the
Jefferson Gun Outlet typically carry sidearms at the facility, but it was not immediately clear whether the good Samaritans
were customers, outlet employees or other individuals.
Louisiana
man selling bike online killed after meeting up with suspect. A Louisiana man trying to sell a dirt bike on
social media was fatally shot after meeting up with a potential buyer over the weekend, authorities said Monday [3/9/2021].
Joseph Vindel, 29, left his New Orleans home around 10 a.m. Sunday to meet up with Jalen Harvey in the town of Harvey, where
he planned to sell the bike, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said at a press conference. "Mr. Vindel never
returned from that transaction," the sheriff said.
Louisiana
Man Fatally Shot While Trying To Sell Dirt Bike On Facebook Marketplace. A 29-year-old Louisiana man, who was
trying to sell a dirt bike through Facebook, was shot dead by an alleged buyer Sunday afternoon [3/8/2021]. Jefferson
Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said Joseph Vindel left his home between 10.00 am ET and noon to meet up with
20-year-old Jalen Harvey at an apartment complex in Manhattan Boulevard to sell the bike. [...] Harvey was arrested Monday and
charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, and obstruction of justice. [...] The suspect has a past arrest record for
burglary of an inhabited dwelling and illegal carrying of a firearm, but hasn't been convicted.
New
Orleans man found dead after trying to sell dirt bike on Facebook Marketplace. A 29-year-old New Orleans man
was shot and killed Sunday [3/8/2021] while trying to sell his dirt bike over Facebook Marketplace. [...] "Our deputies went
to that location and were able to find the dirt bike in one of the patios in one of those apartment complexes. At that
point in time they made contact with Mr. Jalen Harvey," Lopinto said. Harvey was arrested Monday morning for
Vindel's murder. JPSO said he admitted to shooting Vindel multiple times in his car in Harvey and then driving the
vehicle to Coliseum Street in the Garden District in New Orleans. Police say he abandoned Vindel's vehicle with his
body inside. He drove the dirt bike back to the the apartment complex in Harvey.
The Editor says...
The suspect's surname is the same as the name of the New Orleans suburb in which he was arrested. If you're just
skimming, it's a bit confusing.
Grandmother
fatally punched in French Quarter; brother has 'no earthly idea why'. The brother of an Alabama-born
grandmother who was fatally punched on a French Quarter street last week is trying to understand what motivated her killing,
but he expressed relief Wednesday that police had captured a suspect. "We have no earthly idea why this happened," said
Jeffrey Johnson, brother of Margaret "Jane" Johnson Street. "It won't bring my sister back, but it helps knowing who
did it and that they have him." New Orleans police say Johnson Street, 61, got into an argument with Jeremiah Mark, 23,
in the 100 block of Royal Street on April 18 at about 7:45 p.m. Details about the argument haven't been available,
but Mark punched Johnson Street in the face, causing her to fall backward and hit her head on the concrete, police wrote in a
sworn statement filed in Criminal District Court.
Section 10: People who helped, and people who didn't
Charity
that agreed to bail out Brad Pitt's foundation for $20.5 million owed to Hurricane Katrina victims
STILL hasn't paid up. The nonprofit that bailed out Brad Pitt's foundation for more
than $20 million owed to Hurricane Katrina victims still hasn't paid up after new homes backed
by the actor fell into ruins. The 59-year-old actor's organization Make It Right built more
than 100 homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. But the victims sued, alleging that
the homes were poorly built after giving way to rot, mold and structural defects. Global
Green, who previously worked with Pitt, agreed to pay $20.5 million in an August 2022
settlement with the Bullet Train actor's foundation. However, CEO Bill Bridges claimed the
nonprofit was told it would not have to follow the tight 10-day deadline.
COVID-19
Panic Buying Reminds Us 'Price Gouging' Is Good. One of the most absurd and infuriating stories that
illustrates how foolish it is to crack down on entrepreneurship comes from 2005's Hurricane Katrina disaster. When John
Shepperson saw many had lost power from the storm and needed generators to restore electricity to their homes, he was
inspired. The Kentucky resident bought 19 generators, rented a truck, and drove "600 miles to a part of Mississippi
that had no electricity," John Stossel reported. While he could have probably charged more, he offered to sell the
generators for twice what he paid for them. "People were eager to buy," says Stossel. "But Mississippi police
said that was illegal." So Shepperson was arrested for the crime of selling a legal good to willing buyers. Who,
then, benefited from Mississippi's anti-price gouging law? Not those who needed power. The police confiscated
Shepperson's generators, said economist Mark J. Perry, and they "never made it to consumers with urgent needs who desperately
wanted to buy them."
Brad
Pitt's Hurricane Katrina homes are rotting, leaking and caving in. Walking around New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward
neighborhood, people are still angry at the impact of Hurricane Katrina and how unprepared the city was for the massive storm
nearly 13 years on. [...] Among the first to lend a helping hand was [Brad] Pitt, who — along with his then wife Angelina
Jolie — owned a house in New Orleans and set up the charity Make It Right to help regenerate the area. Pitt was lauded
as a humanitarian who willing to put his money where his heart was. But according to residents interviewed by DailyMail.com,
Pitt hasn't been seen in the Lower Ninth Ward in years and the last Make It Right home was built in 2016, giving up on its
promise to construct 150 new homes — as stated on its out-of-date website — with just over 100 being built.
Obamacare is Obama's
failure by choice, not fate. Katrina was an act of God and/or nature, a phenomenon beyond the control of mere human
beings, a catastrophe not of choice, but of nature's necessity, outside the realm of man's will. George W. Bush didn't
cause it to happen, nothing he did could have made it not happen, and he surely did not make it worse. The federal response
wasn't inspired, but the reason this mattered was that the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana were not only perhaps
the two stupidest people ever to hold public office, but the stupidest people to ever draw breath.
Religious Leaders
Quit Katrina Fund Panel. Their ranks included rabbis, imams and ministers, including the man
hailed by some as the next Billy Graham. But as of Thursday [7/13/2006], seven of the nine religious
leaders serving on a committee created by the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to disburse money to churches destroyed
by Hurricane Katrina had quit their posts, claiming their advice was ignored.
Bush-Bashing
Black Charity Sits on Katrina Cash. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which slammed
the Bush administration for its allegedly slow and racially insensitive response to Hurricane Katrina, has
yet to spend any of the estimated $400,000 that it raised for the victims of the Aug. 29 storm.
Update: Congressman
Linked to Katrina Charity Controversy. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, criticized
on Dec. 22 for admitting that it had not distributed any of the estimated $400,000 it raised for
Hurricane Katrina victims, now claims to have handed out most of the money on Dec. 9. However,
a Cybercast News Service investigation has uncovered a possible conflict of interest between the chairman
of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the group that received the $290,000 grant.
Americans
Atheists: Don't Pray for Katrina Victims. The American Atheists
say that government officials should stop encouraging prayer for victims of Hurricane
Katrina because it violates the Constitution.
"Dirty Harry"
Christians. Many people, including Muslims and atheists, are getting their
hands dirty in post-Katrina help. So are government and nonprofit professionals. But
everyone knows that church groups are key.
249 New Orleans Police
Officers Left Their Posts. Nearly 250 police officers roughly 15 percent
of the force could face a special tribunal because they left their posts without permission
during Hurricane Katrina and the storm's chaotic aftermath, the police chief said.
New Orleans police chief
resigns. New Orleans police chief Eddie Compass has unexpectedly resigned,
four weeks after law and order broke down in the city following Hurricane Katrina.
Reagan Beats Nagin. Earlier
in the day, the department said that about 250 police officers — roughly
15 percent of the force — could face discipline for leaving their posts without permission
during Katrina and its aftermath. … Sally Forman, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said it is not
clear whether the deserters can be fired. She said the city is still looking into the civil
service regulations. … What we see here is Democratic big government at work. Employees
walk off their job when they are most essential, and weeks later their bosses haven't figured out if
that's a firing offense!
NOPD
investigation of Cadillac cops may involve brass. Acting New Orleans Police
Superintendent Warren Riley said Thursday [10/06/2005] that as many as 40 officers from the
department's 3rd District, including the commanding captain, are "under scrutiny" for
possibly bolting the city in the clutch and heading to Baton Rouge in Cadillacs from a
New Orleans dealership.
Faith under
siege: Extremists at the grandiosely named Americans United for Separation
of Church and State are at it again. The group, best known for trying to drive religion
from the public square, now wants to make sure no faith-based organizations are reimbursed for
rescuing and caring for thousands of victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
New
Orleans needs more freedom. When Hurricane Katrina struck, private citizens wanted
to help, but often the government got in the way. The doctors who wanted to heal people in
New Orleans, but were told to fill out tax forms instead, experienced just one of many horror
tales. Government seemed to have declared a monopoly on helping people — but
then its insane bureaucracy made certain it did a lousy job helping.
Head of New
Orleans' Levee Board Quits. The head of the Orleans Levee Board has quit amid questions
about no-bid contracts to his relatives in the days after Hurricane Katrina. The final days of board
president Jim Huey's tenure also had been marred by his collection of nearly $100,000 in back pay several
weeks before the storm. Huey had led the board for nine years.
N.O. Police Fire 51 for
Desertion. Fifty-one members of the New Orleans Police Department — 45 officers
and six civilian employees — were fired Friday [10/25/2005] for abandoning their posts
before or after Hurricane Katrina.
N.O.
cops get chilly reception in Dallas. As many as 10 New Orleans police officers suspected of
desertion during Hurricane Katrina have been rejected for employment by the Dallas Police
Department. Dallas Deputy Chief Floyd Simpson said his department's screening process
for new applicants exposed about 10 New Orleans officers who vanished during the storm.
Two officers
fired for their role in taped New Orleans beating. Two police officers were fired
Wednesday [12/21/2005] for a beating in the French Quarter shortly after Hurricane Katrina that
was videotaped by The Associated Press. A third officer was suspended.
Americans gave $260 billion
in 2005. US charitable giving rose 6.1 percent to $260.28 billion in 2005, fueled by a
record response to three major natural disasters, a study showed on Monday [6/19/2006].
Seven New Orleans
officers indicted in post-Katrina killings. Seven police officers were indicted Thursday [12/28/2006] on
murder or attempted murder charges in a pair of shootings on a bridge that left two people dead during the
chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The district attorney portrayed the officers as trigger happy.
Former
Leftist Activist Pulls Back the Curtain On ACORN. [Scroll down] Over the following years, that
particular style of political attack was prominent in New Orleans. Anytime that ACORN was displeased, the other
party was deemed a racist. If the other party disagreed with the label or with ACORN's agenda, they were met
with "of course you feel that way. You are a racist." Though it is clearly woefully inaccurate and
unethical to use such an accusation as a political attack and as a means of shutting down philosophical debate
and discourse, some at ACORN didn't let that stop them.
Years later... Ex-FEMA
worker, cousin charged with Katrina fraud. A former Federal Emergency Management Agency employee
and her cousin have been charged with allegedly stealing more than $721,000 in Hurricane Katrina money that was
meant for storm victims.
Ex-New Orleans big:
Charity vowed Katrina aid — but never delivered. The promises Congressman Gregory
Meeks made to the victims of Hurricane Katrina were broken as badly as the levees, a former official in New
Orleans told The [New York] Post. The man chosen by the Queens Democrat to identify needy families
displaced by the monster storm said the pledged financial assistance never arrived.
Former police officer
pleads guilty to Danziger Bridge shooting cover-up. Admitting a cover-up of shocking breadth, a former
New Orleans police supervisor pleaded guilty to a federal obstruction charge on Wednesday, confessing that he
participated in a conspiracy to justify the shooting of six unarmed people after Hurricane Katrina that was
hatched not long after police stopped firing their weapons.
New
Orleans Shooting Cover-Up: The Worst Type of Police Corruption. It has been nearly five
years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans. ... But even as things appear to be looking up
for New Orleans, there remains in the Crescent City a stubborn stain, one that won't be as easily painted over
or washed away as the high-water marks still visible in some parts of town.
Meeks
de-files his pledge to reveal all. Under intense grilling about missing money from a Hurricane
Katrina charity fund, Rep. Gregory Meeks had offered to open his files to show all he'd done for the victims —
but slammed the door when a [New York] Post reporter arrived at his Queens office yesterday [3/16/2010] to
take him up on it.
Coffins Made With
Brotherly Love Have Undertakers Throwing Dirt. Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina gave the
Benedictine monks at St. Joseph Abbey a new calling. After the storm pummeled much of a pine forest
they had long relied on for timber and income, the monks hatched a fresh plan: They would hand-craft
and sell caskets. But now, local funeral directors are trying to put a lid on the monks' activities.
Haley
Barbour Is One of the Heroes of Katrina. What we learned from Hurricane Katrina is that good
leaders become great leaders and others are shown to be empty suits. It also became clear that government
has a job to do but only local communities can implement those tasks. Locals know who needs what and how
to cut through the bureaucracy.
Section 11: Red Cross issues
This subsection has moved to a page of its own,
located here.
