Smoke and Mirrors and a Little Honey

First.

A federal judge has refused to stop the demolition of four public housing developments in New Orleans that have been the focus of pickets, prayers, lawsuits, and sit-ins in the two years since Katrina damaged them so heavily and expelled all their residents. Ever since, they have been boarded up, wired off and locked down.

These four projects–C. J. Peete, St. Bernard, Lafitte, and B. W. Cooper–are, to my mind, symptomatic of what was wrong in New Orleans for the last half-century. They were poverty centers, hot-beds of discontent, high-crime areas, and a paradise for drug pushers.

In their place, the city will be erecting mixed income developments to include subsidized housing for the poor at the market rate. The cost of renting living space in New Orleans is through the roof these days.

To be sure, the new developments will accommodate far fewer residents that the crowded tenements they replace. That fact is drawing criticism as well as promises from plaintiffs to appeal the decision of the judge. The next level for this matter would be the U. S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals which meets in our Hale Boggs Building downtown.

Friday’s Times-Picayune reports that demolition could begin as early as December.

Second.

The Corps of Engineers has announced plans to close MR-GO. This is the waterway that cooperated with Katrina to flood the Ninth Ward and take so many lives. Residents of that area and St. Bernard Parish have called for its closing ever since, and are celebrating the announcement.


A little history here. In 1921, the Corps of Engineers built the Industrial Canal, a 5 mile swath connecting Lake Pontchartrain on the north with the Mississippi River on the South. This huge waterway runs just to the east of our New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is crossed by what’s call “the highrise” on Interstate 10 and the Danziger Bridge on Chef Menteur Highway (U.S. 90). The idea was that marine traffic coming in from the Mississippi Gulf Coast could enter Lake Pontchartrain, go south to the river and then to all points north, thereby cutting out the 100 miles of the lower Mississippi which can be treacherous and hazardous.

After that, the Corps got an even brighter idea, sometimes in the 1960s, I think. Why not skip shallow Lake Pontchartrain altogether and build a large east-west canal that will intersect the Industrial Canal, and would allow bigger, heavier, deeper vessels to enter the Mississippi River at this point. The massive and expensive project–called the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet or Mr. Go–was supposed to open up the area to great economic development, which, we’re told, did not materialize.

The MR-GO will not be filled in, the Corps says, but would be blocked by what the Times-Picayune calls “a rock dike at Bayou la Loutre.” This would cost $24 million and would require $172,000 annually to maintain. Congress will still have to fund the venture.

I haven’t heard of anyone who wants to keep the outlet. In addition to providing a funnel for hurricane winds and storm surges into the heart of the city, this boondoggle is said to be responsible for the destruction of wetlands in the eastern section of our state.

Once again, we note that the U. S. Corps of Engineers has been at the same time the best friend and the worst enemy of our city.

Third.

With the convention of mayors and city council members from around the country meeting in New Orleans this week, we were treated to a visit from New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg. This was his first visit since Katrina, so he was given the obligatory tour. In his speech later to the National League of Cities, Bloomberg said the lesson for New Orleans of NYC’s recovery after 9-11 is that “cities can recover from catastrophe if they are guided by a strong executive.”

No argument there. Just wish we had one.

Saturday newspaper says in material distributed to the distinguished visitors purporting to show the progress in rebuilding our city’s economic and residential structures, maps overstated the case. In some neighborhoods where innovative plans had been made and announced to re-establish “retail meccas,” and thus speed up the rebuilding of those neighborhoods, the maps had the word “Victory” stamped atop the street grid. Not so fast, critics said.

In the Mid-City neighborhood, for instance, representatives of Victory Real Estate Investments–who had the assignment of restoring that shopping area–have told Councilwoman Shelley Midura that they are suspending their work for unspecified reasons. Likewise, plans for a $185 film studio in the area of the Lafitte housing development have been held up as the FBI probes the abuses in our state’s film-industry tax-credit program.

And yet, on the recovery maps handed out to the conventioneers, both those projects appear as fait accompli with “Victory” in prominent letters. When the office of Mayor C. Ray Nagin was asked about these and other unsubstantiated claims on the handouts, they hedged a little, insisting these are the plans, the priorities, the program.

A few days ago members of the New Orleans City Council went public with something we’ve been feeling for some time now. They criticized the city’s recovery director–they used to call Dr. Ed Blakely a Recovery Czar, but we don’t hear that any more–as mainly talk and very little action. Now, I’m in no position to see what he does or doesn’t do, and readers will frequently notice me saying that most of what I know on some of these matters is from news reports (newspaper, radio talk programs, and television news). But with all his outside interests–public speaking, university teaching, and outside consulting–it’s no wonder he hasn’t gotten anything done. When he does announce progress, he appears to take the credit for what others do.

Fourth.

In New Orleans, people on both sides of the issue are trying to come up with ways for the District Attorney’s office to pay the $3.4 million judgment against them, left over from a lawsuit involving Eddie Jordan’s firing of a large number of white employees in order to hire black workers. Records show the bank accounts hold only $900,000 and the office has a big payroll to meet. A reluctant mayor and city council are having to get involved in this matter in order for the DA’s office to be able to function.

Meanwhile, one of the conditions for Eddie Jordan’s resignation a couple of weeks back was that he would be given a job as consultant with a local police organization. Those who worked out the deal agreed that he would need a job and that his attractiveness as a potential employee was diminished, and the only way he would resign would be to make it worth his while. Nothing was announced at the time, but when the news came out as to his new job, the expected complaints were quick in coming. “How can we pay anything for such incompetence?” No details as to his income were revealed, and I don’t blame them.

Fifth.

Algebra teachers, take note. When students ask what possible value can come from studying these formulas and graphs, tell them what the Corps of Engineers did in the Lakeview section of New Orleans. In June, they announced that new floodgates would protect the area from floodwaters in what is called “a 100 year hurricane,” and residents should return and rebuild, safe in the knowledge that they would be protected.

According to the Corps, the flooding would be reduced by 5 feet, 6 inches. Oops.

They were off by 5 feet, they now admit. The reason? “Someone put a minus sign in a calculation that called for a plus sign.”

(Note on Monday, November 19. The morning paper says the Corps now realizes that their initial figures were correct. Take note of this sentence: “After two days of checking and rechecking, (the Corps spokesman) said Sunday that the numbers in a table in the task force’s long-awaited risk study were wrong, but the numbers used to make the maps were right.” Say what? I don’t have a clue. But the bottom line is they say Lakeview is every bit as safe as they originally said it was. And that, children, is why algebra is so frustrating!)

Six.

The Baptist church downriver in the Plaquemines community of Port Sulphur is dedicating their newly rebuilt sanctuary tomorrow (Sunday November 18) at 10 am. Pastor Lynn Rodrigue tells me guests from Virginia Baptists will be on hand. These good folks have meant so much in re-establishing the Lord’s work in this area. Some of my family and I will be joining the happy occasion. You’re invited, too. Lunch follows.

How to get there? The great thing about Plaquemines Parish is that there’s only one highway through it, reaching all the way to the end of the Mississippi River. State highway 23 goes from the West Bank Expressway south to Belle Chasse. Stay on it and after 20 miles or so downriver–maybe 30–you’ll enter Port Sulphur. Watch for the church on the right.

Seven and Last.

Late Friday afternoon, I was looking for a movie that might provide some laughter, which has been in short supply in recent days. “Bee–The Movie” seemed the logical choice, and I enjoyed it immensely. While the house lights were up, I noticed children and young parents as well as white-haired folks like myself. My opinion is that this is not about the popularity of Jerry Seinfeld, but an indication of a desire for good healthy fun movies. If there was a negative at all–and you have to really be looking for something to stumble over this–it would be the thought, expressed several times, that every living entity has as much a right to exist as humans. This touch of Hinduism does not wash with anyone I know, and no thinking movie-goer will buy into it. Who among us does not slap a mosquito or swat a fly or flush a cockroach? Honeybees? Okay, they’re different.

I confess to leaving with a craving for honey.