A Quiet Progress in New Orleans

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Why are we even talking about rebuilding in the flood zone? It's lunacy to rebuild in these areas again. Just as it was lunacy to build there to start with! Demolish the areas and make them flood buffer zones. Give them back to nature!

Joe Knight of NC 11:38AM March 09, 2010

Major Nagin has done a subpar job leading this recovery effort; it's been already 5 years and people still in the mayor's office aren't doing all they can do. James Perry recently did an interview and seems to have a good sense of what the people really need down there.
http://www.flypmedia.com/issues/27/#1/1

anquan battle of NY 2:23PM April 23, 2009

How are Ms. McIntosh's comments racist? When poorer people recover slower, why is it a matter of racism and not just the reality that poorer people do not have the monetary resources that less poor people have? Is it appropriate that poorer people should live in flood prone areas without the financial ability to recover from flood damage? Ms McIntosh provides insight into the sentiments of many Americans of all races: why should Americans rely on the federal government at all?
America is best off without the 'help' of the federal government which really just translates to increased taxes, corrupt politicians and their government inefficiencies, and a reduction of freedom for Americans in general, all of which are approaches contrary to the "American Way". It is great that New Orleans is recovering in spite of the inefficiencies of the federal government, and I am excited to see that progress is being made in New Orleans, but the solution, as Ms. McIntosh pointed out, is not to increase federal assistance at home or to complain when federal assistance is not forthcoming. The solution is to decrease federal assistance abroad, and for those at home to quit feeding the monster that is the federal government, and to instead solve their own problems without the burden that federal 'assistance' imposes on everyone else.

R Broussard of TX 3:18PM February 18, 2009

Rather than point out the inaccuracies in your post, I'll just say that your comments betray both ignorance of the situation in New Orleans and a rather astonishing racist sentiment.
It's not often you get to see someone present themselves as a true "ugly American" - arrogant, bigoted, unsympathetic, uninformed. Sad.

Robert Vashko of LA 11:11AM August 04, 2008

Your ignorance is beyond belief Julie McIntosh. Have you been to New Orleans to see that we are not picking ourselves up? It is incredible to see the progress made by New Orleanians, civic organizations and volunteers that has come here from around the country. A good portion of the money the government claims it has sent here was federal flood insurance that we paid many years for. You have some nerve lady! You make me sick with your heartless and arrogant comments. Get your facts straight before you formulate any more stupid opinions. How dare you!

Louie Bonnecarre of LA 5:42PM August 01, 2008

The biggest thing that shocks me is that when something happens in some other part of the world this great country can send help within a few seconds. But when Katrina hit it took the goverment 5 days to help its own people. How can the U.S. expect to clean up the rest of the world when I can't even take care of its own house.

D of TN 9:59AM July 28, 2008

If a tornado comes and devastates my neighborhood in Michigan, is the US Government going to pay to rebuild our homes? Are they going to pay to house us in hotels for months at a time? Of course not. We'd be expected to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and take care of ourselves for anything beyond what the Red Cross or the government would generously provide to us, which is a lot more than is provided to disaster victims in any other country.
As a nation I am in NO WAY ashamed of how "we" as a people have responded to the need of the people of New Orleans. The people of New Orleans after Katrina have expected to be cared for by the government the way a three-year-old child expects to be taken care of by a parent. Many more cities than just New Orleans were devastated by Katrina. However, it's the people of New Orleans who can't manage to pick themselves up nearly three years later.
How about some personal responsibility? Where are the telethons for Iowa, folks? Where are the pre-loaded debit cards for the rural folks whose homes were destroyed when their levees broke? Oh, that's right... Iowa doesn't contain a populace that has almost entirely become dependent on the government for their food, clothing, shelter, and just about everything else.
I'm over Katrina. If the people of New Orleans can't pull themselves up with the MASSIVE government aid they've recieved -- government aid you'd never see handed out to any other demographic in any other part of the country -- then perhaps they deserve to stay precisely where they are.

Julie McIntosh of MI 1:45PM June 25, 2008

While I don't have a favorable opinion of Mayor Nagin, I think he's done enough to damage his reputation and legacy without people spreading falsehoods about him. His wife and daughter ARE NOT living in Texas, but are residing in New Orleans with his daughter attending either Newman or Louise McGhee (can't recall which one, but there were several parent events on the published version of his schedule that showed him attending events at one of these schools. And I doubt his wife would leave an elementary school aged child in the hands of her father just to live in Texas.
On another note: Stuart Wells brings a dilemma that has been created by the substantial reliance on volunteer labor for rebuilding--a lack of paying jobs. Imagine if the people who have money to rebuild, were using paid local labor to fix their houses--instead of using the money to buy stuff to put in them. Thousands of New Orleanians might have jobs to come back to.

of LA 2:05PM June 16, 2008

Habitat for Humanity is the largest home builder in post-Katrina New Orleans. Former President Carter and his wife were in town recently working in the heat and humidity. There was no one from city government on site, much less working with them.
Mayor Nagin is a repeated embarrassment. He cries for the return of our citizens but continues to house his wife and family in Texas where they have been since just after the storm.
New Orleans' historical and short-sighted approach to economics has never included the education of its public. The un(der)-educated children turn to illegal ways of making a living which in turn feeds the horrible violent crime problem in the city.
The city focuses on the easy and available: tourism and gambling. Service jobs are what it tends to offer its workers. It has enormous trouble attracting enterprise because companies have to bring their own staff, people have to put their kids in private school, and it can be a very dangerous place to live, especially if you don't know your way around.
If anything is to be done in New Orleans it will have to be done by the citizens. In the past folks fled to St. Bernard, Jefferson, and St. Tammany parishes rather than defend their city.
I don't see this leopard changing its spots.

Susanne Farrar of LA 5:42PM June 12, 2008

Most of the work on housing is being done by volunteers. Having just spent a week there along with 25 others, I am distressed about how little has been done. The Red Cross has been allowing $20.000 per house. They are out of money. New Orleans is stuck. People cannot come back without jobs. Jobs cannot be available without people. As a nation we should be ashamed of the way we responded to their need. As for FEMA, they have been worse that useless.

Stuart Wells of OH 1:21PM June 12, 2008