Squandered Heritage

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Gustav

September 6th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 3 Comments

I took a trip today with Maitri, Jacob and Ariella down to the United Houma Nation. The team from the Beacons of Hope went down in their truck to UHN Headquarters.

UHN

I encourage anyone who see’s the Wetlands as a major issue to take a ride down and see what we are losing.

Isle De Jean Charles

Because when people say we are losing a football field a day it makes you think of some vast space that does not include people, but that is not the case. This was a front yard last week.

Isle De Jean Charles

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First Tier

September 3rd, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 2 Comments

If you look at this photo you will see the people who are cooking and serving the food outside Commanders are citizens of New Orleans.

These are the people who did not leave, these are the people who stand this City back up after it falls down. These are the people who clean the storm drains, pick up the debris, patrol their Neighborhoods and make it a CITY

So next time you think about shutting people out, think again.

Commandos at Commanders

Someone at City Hall said that what Katrina did to the Levees, Gustav did to Entergy. If that is so we need to have the same level of scrutiny applied to Entery that we have had to the ACOE. A system that has widespread failure is not what we need, and just like after Katrina I am sure Entergy is positioning itself to get what they can.

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Still here, loitering…

September 2nd, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 1 Comment

Never left….

Lower 9

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America, Fix your Wetlands

August 31st, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · No Comments

Fix our wetlands

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August 29th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 4 Comments

2807191405_b86ea8477b_o

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Gustav

August 27th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 1 Comment

Maybe or maybe not….

You have got to be kidding me...

But the anxiety levels are palpable…

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The City of New Orleans

August 23rd, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 7 Comments


Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him nine years’ lease of a garden, and he will convert it into a desert. ~Arthur Young, Travels in France, 1792

This quote should be broken up a bit here.

This house was a “bleak rock” after a gunman took the life of the son of the owner..she turned that bleak rock into a garden

davids house

It seems the City has claimed that “9 year lease of a garden” and is determined to turn it into a desert.

City Hall

Down the street from me we have houses who have not been touched since the storm, people who have never cut the grass..people who care not one whit for the City and those of us who live here and Robert Mendoza chooses this woman”s house as an offense..

So perhaps we should all just buy cans of paint and start to embroider the City with sidewalk art..it’s a thought.

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School Master Plan

August 20th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 5 Comments

Morris FX Jeff School rally

What is the fate of Morris Jeff? And what is the fate of Wheatley? and on and on down the list..

The Times Picayune writes of a building boom but if there is any boom it will be the demolition boom.

For a recap on last night’s meeting as an aside after the meeting I asked Jimmy Farenholtz why he decided that public comment was innapropriate at this time. His answer was aggressive and dismissive.

Why anyone would consider him a viable candidate for anything is beyond me.

Lockett Demolition

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Today’s Headline

August 17th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 5 Comments

Worthless

Today’s TP

If the demolition of the DeJean house was an isolated act then perhaps the level of anger and frustration would be much less, but months ago a homeowner left this comment on my blog. You would think the City would educate itself to process and procedure by now.

DSC04798

Several paragraphs from the TP stuck out but these 2 more than others.

So it came as a surprise Friday when Erica DeJan, who is nearly eight months pregnant with her fourth child, found a sticker on the house stating that Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration had declared it a public health threat and planned to tear it down. She high-tailed it to City Hall, city-issued building permit in hand, and left with a letter stating that code-enforcement officials would consider her objection and, if they still deemed the property a candidate for the wrecking ball, would schedule a public hearing on the matter

There would have never been a public hearing on this matter because the house was outside of any Historic District. This is just another devastating example of the poor information disseminated by City Hall Employees. This issue is not about red tape or the owners fault to notify them she did not want her house torn down. This is the result of people who 1..Don’t care 2.Don’t know what the rules are.

UPDATE

The City should have provided the family with a “public hearing” which would have been more along the lines of a hearing before Code Enforcement and Safety and Permits. This did not happen and leaves many more questions as to the mechanisms at City Hall. If a building permit is pulled it should render the demolition permit inactive. What are the safeguards?

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Come hear the real stories..

August 12th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 7 Comments

NOLA

link to Insitute

“Out of all the stories in the recovery there are none as powerful as the stories of Citizens who came back and demanded more, join us at UNO to hear our stories and tell yours.

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NCDC {formerly the HCDRC}

August 10th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 7 Comments

I have started to photograph the houses on the NCDC agenda.

One of them is a NOAH house

4516.00 paid to S&A Contracting

2816 4th

Here is the next agenda

I will be adding photos over the next few days. So check back later.

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Ray Nagin Speaks

August 7th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 2 Comments

Ray Nagin

audio of the Mayor at Council

h/t Schroeder

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NOAH

August 6th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 13 Comments

NOAH

How is it that Matt McBride had the data to support this article and the Office of Recovery Managment is still grappling with this issue.

We have brought this to the attention of the Neighborhood Conservation District as each NOAH house has been apprised for demolition, there was no response to my question of how it was possible that these house were remediated and then demolished. We asked and no one ever answered.

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Let the inevitable finger pointing begin..

August 2nd, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 2 Comments

2912 Broadway

Times Picayune

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August

August 1st, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 5 Comments

Last year at this time we were working feverishly on the issue of the illegal demolition of people’s homes.

This year we have been working just as feverishly on the non existant home gutting program.

Ray Nagin, Ed Shanklin, Penya Moses Fields

Our Mayor, strongly admonished the reporter and myself. The Chairman Ed Shanklin was equally as aggresive in his presentation and denial of culpability.

Several Council members asked for answers but some members were noticably absent.

And then today, the NOAH Board met in an Emergency Session and in 5 minutes took action to shut it down. As you can see in the video Mr.Shanklin has much less to say in defense of this organization.

New Orleanians deserve better.

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Gambit Editorial

July 29th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 5 Comments

Assesors Office City Hall

The Mayor has a choice here, he can engage or he can disengage. The Citizens of this City have steadily pushed this Recovery forward. For all the bombastic noises coming from The Mayor’s Office and Our Recovery Office those of us are most actively engaged know who has done the heavy lifting for no compensation other than the rebirth of the City we love.

The Gambit sums it up

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“the list that counts”

July 28th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 1 Comment

This report grew out of the Mayors admonishment that investigating NOAH was hurting the recovery

CITYHALL

With further scrutiny the questions continue to pile up.

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Out of the Shadows

July 28th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 1 Comment

Skeleton Krewe

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No Transparency, No Recovery

July 24th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 23 Comments

All the usual suspects

These last few days have really proven that our Recovery is guided by a person who refuses to accept that the city is owned not by those who wrangle contracts out of City Hall, or those who believe the public is a body to be mocked, scorned and ignored, but rather the Citizens who have worked tirelessly and for no compensation but for the love of a City.

While I was unable to attend today’s meeting I was able to keep stay in direct contact with people attending. The fact that folks came in to jeer at Council members who are trying to uncover this mess leads me to believe those who jeer loudest stand to lose the most. There is no honest and reasonable Citizen in this City who would behave in such a fashion unless they had 1. something to hide/gain 2. were protecting those who have something to hide/gain.

And if anyone of you are reading this I would like you all to look at a photo of this woman.

2827 Conti

This photo was taken almost one year ago today, Sarah Lewis and I visited this woman in her trailer. She was trying to sort through her belongings on a hot summer day with no help from anyone but her friends on Conti Street. They had dubbed themselves the 3 Musketeers.

Sarah did her best to get the fetid debris removed from the front of her home, we didn’t tell Miss Dolores the reason we were there was because her house was on a demolition list.

2827 Conti

This woman was a perfect candidate for the NOAH program. But of course that program was not created for Miss Dolores, because in order to deal with her NOAH would have had to do actual work.

She died a few months after we visited with her, she had told us she was waiting for help.

R.I.P.

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we are the ones we’ve been waiting for

July 22nd, 2008 by Sarah · 3 Comments

For more information visit www.theneworleansinstitute.org

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The Buck Stops here…

July 22nd, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 4 Comments

Ray Nagin

If our reform Mayor is really interested in reform he may want to start with NOAH.

His first stab at reform was in 2002. We are ready for another stab at Governing the City. And if C.Ray can’t do it what about Ed Blakley. In the report last night he said NOAH was something that was enacted before he got here. Well that is not completely true, the funding for this program came through in 2007, and he was here then, correct? The agency itself was {mis}operating before his arrival. But so was the City itself, in another words you can’t shrug off responsibility when it suits you and take the praise when it does.

Look at the contracts

Watch this report and then tell me that this type of thing can continue?

This is by no means the only agency worth looking at. But it is, as they say,low hanging fruit.

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NOAH and “the file”

July 21st, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 4 Comments

Here is one thing that stuck out in my mind from tonight’s report



I think they did a pretty good job of gutting a lot of the housing in the city, Blakely said. Whether their job was absolutely thorough or pristine, I’m not certain of that.

Well then perhaps they should consider sharing that information.

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Tonight on WWL TV

July 21st, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · No Comments

Be sure to watch this report tonight at 10

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“Squandered Heritage” In Texas

July 20th, 2008 by Karen Gadbois · 1 Comment

Just back from a trip to Netroots Nation in Austin Texas.

DSC04586

The last time I was in the Convention Center in Austin it was to register for Red Cross relief. This time it was under much better circumstances.

Thanks to Al, Eli
John and Marshall for putting together an interesting panel.

Allan got us all on the same page.

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