NOLA News from Today's Papers

Hey all. Here are some interesting articles about New Orleans from the last few days of papers:

1. Brad Pitt is starting his project of rebuilding the Ninth Ward with his "Make It Right" project of 100 green houses in the area wiped out during Katrina. It seems like a very good project, that is well funded through Pitt's wealth. For now, in order to raise some awareness, Pitt has installed a "pink city" to symbolize where the houses will be. Take a look at the pic from the T-P, which has the Claiborne Avenue bridge in the background. If you've been in the 9th Ward over the past 2+ years, you have to feel good to see this area at least have a little construction.


2. The NYTimes has an insightful article summarizing the rental shortage in New Orleans, time pegged to the announcement last week that FEMA was clearing out all trailer parks. The money quote here comes when a FEMA spokesman tries to justify the policy of kicking out residents without helping to provide housing:
   

   “We know it’s a tough decision, and that’s not lost on us,” he said, but “more and more housing becomes available every day, that’s a fact. The sooner you begin the process, the better. You want to start early and pick what’s right for your family.” He added: “We’re very sensitive to the fact that this isn’t an easy move. But it’s a necessary move.”

3. The NYT also ran an Arts article about the recent performance of Waiting for Godot in the Gentilly and the Ninth Ward about a month back. Though the article focuses on the artist himself for my tastes, it discusses what was supposed to be a great piece of art done in our city. The article was in the top-10 read at the site most of the weekend, which is good, as many people from around the country were reading and emailing it to their friends. The Times has been giving some very expert, nuanced coverage to relevant issues down here in the past few weeks.


4. Finally, a little more info about flood protection. There were a number of agencies investigating the levee breaches after Katrina, but the independent groups from the University of California and LSU are now alleging that their investigations were purposely disrupted by the Army Corps of Engineers. Read more about it at levees.org, which has nearly single-handedly kept the issue on the agenda.

Try out the comments section below. I'd love to get some discussions going.

That's all for now,
Bob

Interesting New Orleans articles from today's papers

A few interesting articles from today's newspapers:

1. This is from yesterday's T-P, but FEMA has announces it is going to close all trailer parks within 6 months.
   
   The FEMA spokesman frames the news as showing that FEMA is "being compassionate and making sure we have people taken care of with housing." But a Loyola law clinic lawyer says that FEMA has not helped previous trailer park residents find housing. The other issue about FEMA trailers is the never-answered questions about formaldehyde in the trailers. Testing has never been done on them.


2. On another housing-related issue for the poor/working poor, the housing projects around N.O. are slated for demolition December 15th. The article fails to mention any pending lawsuits/appeals to the demolition.
   
   One should also look at the blog comments below any public housing article on nola.com. There are some ignorant/racist comments on there, but there are also a few with different perspectives on the destruction of the projects, including the less compelling argument about important city architecture.


3. A T-P cover story marks the end of hurricane season.
   Anytime Mark Schliefstein writes something, you ought to read it. He is the T-P reporter about things like flood protection, wetlands, etc. He is always able to steer through the b-s peddled to him by the city, state, and federal bureaucracies and get to the heart of the issues. Here, he reviews how hurricanes avoided doing major damage in the U.S. this year, while pointing out the impossibility of predicting these things well.
   Most important thing here: the issue of hurricane forecasting is developing all the time. The predictions frequently are way off (as they have luckily been the last two years), but not because the scientists are bad at their jobs. Instead, the science is developing at such speed that every year yields new insights about how to more accurately predict hurricanes.


4. Finally, a nice travel piece from the NYTimes about some different places to visit around the city. It includes a few different places I haven't been before, in addition to Musician's Village (the go-to feel good place for tourists to visit after viewing the destruction), Ray's Boom Boom Room and Ignatius. Ignatius has good alligator po-boys.

That's all for now.