MyDD :: LA-2: The "X" - Levees

LA-2: The "X" - Levees - Lower 9th Ward

by Tim Tagaris, Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 01:40:58 PM EST

There's no separating Hurricane Katrina from the race in Louisiana's 2nd. As one Karen Carter staffer put it, "Anything happening in the city of New Orleans is related to the storm." Most folks down here like to differentiate between "the storm" and "the flood" -- one being a natural disaster, the other a man-made one. I took the "misery tour" of the Lower 9th Ward yesterday with a few local bloggers; this was "the flood" ...

Tags: LA-2, William Jefferson, Karen Carter, Hurricane Katrina (all tags)

Permalink :: 6 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: (none / 0)

Did anyone see Comedy Relief last night?

by raginillinoian on Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 02:45:59 PM EST

The X (3.00 / 2)

I have a friend who goes down to NOLA for virtually every college break -- all 110 pounds of her -- to volunteer with an organization that guts these houses, removes toxic chemicals and harmful molds, and repairs them. They don't leave them in working condition, just so they are indefinitely protected from condemnation and demolition.

The sad fact is that it costs very little per-home to do this; all it would take is the govt (any government -- even the city of Charlottesville, Virginia could do this) to pay $5.15 an hour to people who want to help, and to pay the tiny bit of overhead it costs to house these kids and feed them. They live in abandoned schools and warehouses and get supplies shipped in, but the work they do is so compelling, and so tangibly rewarding that they can handle living in utter squalor, surrounded by nothing but broken homes and broken lives.

The people-power is there. But it goes to waste if no one will fund it.

I'll try and get you the name of the organization. You might want to check it out.

Progress is Personal | PCCC

by msnook on Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 05:24:22 PM EST

Re: The X (3.00 / 1)

Is the name of the group "common ground?" Those are the folks I saw down in the Lower 9th yesterday. Tim

by Tim Tagaris on Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 05:46:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The X (3.00 / 2)

There are a dozen or so big groups who do volunteer house gutting all over the city, and countless smaller groups. Common Ground is the group you're most likely to see in the Lower 9.

Most groups have been saying recently that given current volunteerism rates and their backlog of houses, it will take another year or more just to clean out, gut, and board up the remaining houses. Never mind even starting to rebuild, this is just the work remaining to clean out the ruin that the flood created.

Tim, how long are you in town? I do gutting pretty regularly, whenever I can get a day away from work and family, so if you'd like to I can hook you up with Common Ground and you can spend a day with a pry bar and a respirator and get really up close and personal with the results of the flood. Everybody I know who has done it says it's an overwhelming experience.

If CG is working tomorrow, I'll be gutting, and hopefully again one day next weekend. Shoot me an email if you're interested.

by ray in new orleans on Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 11:25:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

light (none / 0)

Great work! It's nice to see pictures from on the ground.

Just a suggestion that getting a portable light would really help your video quality. Here's a light that can run off a cigarette lighter, but I'd recommend getting a battery pack & cig lighter charger, too, for a total cost of $125.

end the occupation of Iraq

by aip on Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 05:48:22 PM EST

Re: LA-2 (3.00 / 2)

While it's always good to see some national attention paid to Congressional races in Louisiana by progressives, as Tim Tagaris noted in one of his first posts, having an outsider parachute in to provide instant analysis on local races can be hazardous. While there is no question that incumbent William Jefferson is ethically compromised, his oppenent Karen Carter is far from pristine. Ms. Carter's father is a long-time New Orleans political operative and businessman whose success has been surrounded by some ethical issues of his own. Today's Times Picayune http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/ind ex.ssf?/base/news-4/1163919390279090.xml &coll=1 raises questions about Ms. Carter's legal work while a sitting member of the Louisiana Legislature. Ms. Carter has made Mr. Jefferson's legal woes the centerpiece of her campaign. That has attracted national attention. But, the facts are that she is no grassroots candidate. She is part of the New Orleans political same political establishment that gave the Second District Congressman Jefferson. My point here is that the Second District race in Louisiana is further proof that choices are often more complex than sometimes appreciated.

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. -- Michelangelo

by Mike Stagg on Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 08:18:03 PM EST

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