We told you about the cars donated by DaimlerChrysler to the City of New Orleans sometime after the hurricane, and how some of the cars were diverted to personal use by city council members. Now the FBI is getting involved.

DaimlerChrysler AG gave the city 40 vehicles and Ford Motor Company donated another 15. Some were trucks and the rest were sport utility vehicles. All were designated for the use of public agencies and government units such as police and fire departments. Dave Elshoff, a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler, said those instructions were given in writing and were stressed verbally to Renee Gill Pratt, city councilwoman who signed for 20 of the cars when they were delivered to Baton Rouge. She kept four for her own use, and gave two each to the remaining council members.

Now, eight months later, it comes to light that Gill Pratt arranged for her four vehicles to be donated to two charities with whom she has close ties, Care Unlimited and the Orleans Metropolitan Housing. The other council members say they scattered theirs around, too. Jay Batt gave one to the Audubon Nature Institute and one to the Lakeview Crime Prevention District. Jacquelyn Clarkson gave one each to St. Paul Lutheran Church and Greater St. Mary Baptist Church, saying both churches were deeply involved in disaster relief. Eddie Sapir gave his cars to Citizens Against Crime and Friends of NORD, both charities. The other councilmembers have kept control of their vehicles, saying they’re used for running errands and such. One of the pastors who received a car said he could never get the title transferred, so the expensive vehicle sits in the church yard unused.

What happened to the other trucks and SUVs? Most are being used as the donors intended, by police and fire departments, parish officers, and the like.

The New Orleans City Council–several members are brand new on the job and were not recipients of those vehicles–have called for the cars to be returned and for the local FBI to take a look. In Friday’s paper, the FBI admitted it is indeed getting involved. Jim Bernazzani, special agent in charge, said normally they would not make a public comment, but in this case the public interest has been aroused to the point he wants everyone to know they are investigating. However, he pointed out, “Being incredibly selfish is not a criminal act in itself.”

He was referring to the actions of Council member Gill Pratt who, a few weeks before losing her bid for re-election, donated her car and one other to Care Unlimited, a charity that claims to help the elderly and underprivileged with home repairs. Then, when she lost the election, she was hired by Care Unlimited and was assigned that same Dodge Durango, which DaimlerChrysler had donated 8 months ago. In Friday’s news, she says she and Care Unlimited are returning their cars. It seems to have started a trend because all the other non-profits are returning theirs, too.

Care Unlimited drew fire, too, since it receives government money for their charitable work, yet gives no financial accounting to anyone and has no papers on anyone they have ever helped, blaming Katrina for destroying the records. Someone might want to tell them it has been 10 months since that hurricane and there has been plenty of time for them to assist the poor and elderly of their choice in rebuilding homes.

Boys and girls, can you say “scam”?

A Washington-based legal center has issued a report which charges New Orleans with being rebuilt on the backs of the poorest and least skilled workers, the result being to perpetuate the poverty that existed pre-Katrina. A report by the Advancement Project and the National Immigration Law Center says 700 workers were interviewed over a number of months. Researchers found unfair labor practices, homelessness, and harassment by police and contractors. People in the construction industry are often migrant, many of them Hispanic, Asian, and African-American, and they are made to work long hours without adequate transportation, decent housing, or basic benefits. Many sleep in cars or in moldy, ruined buildings, subjecting them to health risks.

The report cites examples of workers living in a relative’s apartment or a FEMA village. Those in the Baton Rouge area say merchants there do not want to hire New Orleanians. “Once they see that state ID, they don’t want you.” If you get a job and work hard, some of the employers are slow to pay or even refuse to pay, they report.

The St. Bernard Parish Council voted Thursday to notify the owners of 7,833 homes and businesses that their buildings will be demolished since they are considered unsafe and beyond reclaiming. Hundreds of homeowners have made official requests for their places to be demolished, so the nearly 8,000 on the new list are people who have made no such request. The council is doing it for them. Anyone who knows a little law knows this vote does not mean the buildings will be taken down next week. Notices will be printed in the official legal journal, then a certain period of time must be allowed for owners to protest.

Some 4,000 homeowners have requested the Christian Contractors to take their homes down, and another 3,500 are enrolled in the FEMA-funded program. Ten years from now, barring another devastating hurricane, you will drive down Judge Perez Avenue and see neighborhoods of new homes.

This is neither here nor there, but an interesting bit of drama erupted in a downtown federal courtroom Thursday. The U.S. attorney’s office was prosecuting two nurses for running three sham medical clinics, where they ran patients through an assembly line and handed out prescriptions for addictive drugs. They are said to have taken in $300,000 every two weeks. Thursday, an assistant U.S. attorney collapsed in court, and one of the nurse defendants rushed to his side to revive him until the paramedics arrived. They determined he had a hypoglycemic fainting spell and was all right.

The U.S.Postal Service announced this week that three more post offices are reopening in New Orleans–one in Lake Forest, one in Bywater, and one on Chef Menteur Highway.

Little by little, we’re getting up off the canvas.