“As elected officials have said many times, the federal government is responsible for this hurricane damage because of the failure of the levee system. And now nearly half of the federal funding is going to homeowners that experienced no levee-related damage,” he said.
Are you waiting for the Road Home Program?
CHaT is an organization that is doing advocacy work for Road Home Recipients. Please join
The first Katrina-related hearing of the 110th Congress is scheduled for Monday, January 29. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a field hearing in New Orleans, entitled Outstanding Need, Slow Progress Witnesses on the 1st panel will include officials from HUD, FEMA, the Office of Gulf Coast Rebuilding, SBA, and GAO. The 2nd panel will be Mayor Nagin, the Chair of Greater New Orleans, Inc, and Walter Leger (Director of Housing for the Louisiana Recovery Authority).
The hearing will take place at at the Louisiana Supreme Court, at 9am CST.
PRELIMINARY NOTICE AND AGENDA
STATE BOND COMMISSION
MEETING OF DECEMBER 21, 2006
10:00 A.M. - SENATE COMMITTEE ROOM A
STATE CAPITOL BUILDING
TAB - INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD - PRELIMINARY APPROVAL - GO
ZONE BONDS
40. L06-567 - Industrial Development Board of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, Inc.
(Carrollton Revitalization, LLC Project) - Not exceeding $8,000,000
Revenue Bonds, to
finance the cost of restoring to commercial use the corner of Carrollton
and Claiborne
Avenues in the City of New Orleans, Louisiana by building a Walgreens
retail store in its
place.
Recently a new group has formed to address issues of inequity with the Road Home Program. Alan at Think New Orleans has written a post about as well as working with this group on communication and outreach.
Even if you think you do not qualify for Road Home money this program affects you. It will set a standard of recovery and it is important that we all keep our eyes on this.
I invite the people of New Orleans to take some time out to think about the political history of New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana.
New Orleans has always been Louisiana s largest city.
We are not anymore. We are now 3rd behind Baton Rouge and Sherveport.
The rest of the State of Louisiana, especially those above the South Louisiana Cajun/Catholic line, has always had a love-hate relationship with the City of New Orleans. We in the New Orleans area were different, our faiths, our racial mix, our culture, our flavors, our music. We are different from other areas in Central & North Louisiana. We are different from the rest of “the South”. The relationship has always been a little uncomfortable. Historically the New Orleans generated significant tax revenue for the State of Louisiana and there has been more than on occasion when New Orleans had to fight to have that tax revenue returned to provide services, because once that tax revenue got into the state coffers it belongs to the whole state, regardless of where it was generated.
Take a look at the LRA.
Why is Orleans parish the only parish that has been required to have a master plan before the dollars that the Federal Government has provided to assist recovery can begin to flow and allow repairs to essential services? In December, the federal government provided recovery dollars to the people of South Louisiana who were affected by Katrina and Rita. Why is it that the State of Louisiana is still holding on to the money? Perhaps the are those in power in Baton Rouge that are hoping that the victims of Katrina and the Corp of Engineers will give up trying to jump through all the hoops the LRA puts before us and then the recovery dollars can end up in the hands of other Louisiana cities.
Nah, our government wouldn’t do that to us.
I found this qoute on the LRA website:
We are dedicated to creating quick and equitable solutions to help renters and homeowners alike rebuild their lives, said LRA Housing Task Force Chair and Board Member Walter Leger. These clarifications provide a clearer picture for how this program will be implemented and represent our commitment to de-concentrating poverty , a critical step on our road to recovery.
Seems a little late in the game for the LRA to use quick in any context.
UPDATE
Blanco has said that the Louisiana Recovery Authority, which oversees the program, expects eligible homeowners to begin getting checks by late summer
Of what year?.
There is a lot of back tracking and mumble mouthing but here is where you go when you try and apply on-line for the Road Home Program
Now the LRA officials are calling it a massive Real Estate project. Huh?
When asked how long the site would be down they said, “if it is more than a few days we will be mad”
Well how about getting mad now, they have been talking about the careful way they are constructing this plan and then they shut it down after 6 days and then Blame the Applicants
Why is the LRA running the show?
Who is the LRA?
According to the LRA website
33 Board Members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate
UPDATE
Here is the LRA Support Board
Just familiarize yourself with a few of the names.
Walter Isaacson
He lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC, and in Aspen, Colorado.
Boysie Bollinger
He even won an award named after himself
Boysie Bollinger was awarded the Louisiana Republican Partys “Donald G. Bollinger Award
Walter Leger
Leger is a co-owner and past President of the New Orleans Zephyrs Triple A Professional Baseball Team and is also a partner in the law firm of Leger & Mestayer. He was appointed by the Governor to serve on the NFL Stadium Advisory Commission and is a member of the New Orleans Saints Community Advisory Committee
Linda Johnson
Johnson is co-owner of the Off the Rack dress shop and DIA-LIN Corporation.
Kim Boyle
A lawyer with Phelps-Dunbar in New Orleans, Kim Boyle is actively involved in improving the city of New Orleans, serving on the Bring New Orleans Back Commission
and Oh by the way on the Board of GNOF
AND the CSO
How does she find time for her day job. 3 Board positions !!
Mary Matlin
Mary and her husband who is from New Orleans reside in Virginia with their daughters.
actually he is NOT from New Orleans, but they may have been to a crawfish boil here once.
David Voelker
He is also on the CSO
Now if you have nothing to do or you fear for the future of the City, play the cross refrence game.
It is fun and easy and all you need is a computer
Spend an evening cross refrencing Board Members and help out the New Orleans Acronym Wiki
Since I am supposed to be on vacation for 4 days I am just sending out a little food for thought.
Who is it that is pulling the strings?
While the rest of the country seems to be aware of the lack of planning in New Orleans most of us who live here are so busy trying to fix and reclaim properties that we are unaware of what is going on. According to the Sunday New York Times it would seem that we are a rudderless ship. While we talk about Planning and Meet about Planning the real planning is going on behind our backs. It is time to call a halt to all new development, get a grasp of the task at hand and proceed forward with a clear and unified vision.
