The elegant Rising Tide V posterI am not an expert blogger. Hell! Does this even count as a blog?
Thank you, Open Salon, for designing something this simple and easy, so that I don't have to do much more than upload a photo and write.
In the aftermath of Katrina (the Storm), New Orleans bloggers had a lot to say.
Ashley Morris was the spiritual leader of the bloggers and spoke up in defense of New Orleans and her beleaguered residents whenever he could. He encouraged others to use the internet to express what they saw--the horror and the pride in recovery. The everyday triumphs of surviving in a city that had been laid waste. Ashley Morris is sincerely mourned by a lot of people who try to carry on his mission.
Ashley Morris The Glaringly Obvious:
There was a lot of government failure in the wake of Katrina. Bush. Our then-governor Kathleen Blanco (D, but pro-life), Mayor Ray Nagin, Army Corps of Engineers, Levee Boards, police, FEMA, local politicos who had been busy looting anything not nailed down, a School Board that promptly declared bankruptcy (at the beginning of the school year??) and fired all the teachers, etc.
The national and local media covered a lot of horror stories. Spike Lee's documentaries allow us to see what drowned bodies look like.
The Not-So-Obvious--Where Bloggers Labored:
1) Charity Hospital, owned by Louisiana State University and closed down post-Katrina, was in fact, cleaned and ready to provide at least partial services weeks after Katrina. LSU has spent 5 years arguing that FEMA owed them $1 billion to build a large research hospital complex, regardless of whether FEMA could or would, who would pay for it if not FEMA, and leaving former patients of Charity to rely on a network of small clinics for fewer services all these years.
2) The City of New Orleans used FEMA funds for gutting houses to pay a non-profit (for profit/could be either). This entity billed for gutting houses that either 1) never existed, 2) were never cleaned, or 3) were gutted by church volunteers. No hearings or indictments yet.
3) The city's crime camera contracts were extended over and over again to companies owned and operated by former partners of teh City of New Orleans IT director's. Our crime cameras were poorly designed, installed carelessly, and over budget by millions. A few indictments so far.
4) That millions of dollars (City contracts using FEMA funds) flowed out on "recovery projects" with nothing to show. Consultants paid on a contract with few details (for $25 to $45 million) whose usually undetailed invoices were paid relatively promptly. One of the rare detailed invoices from MWH charged the city for illegal "gifts" to city officials.
Bloggers found dozens of stories buried in the fine print of city contracts--beating the federal prosecutors, the NO Inspector General (funded only after Katrina), local TV investigators, and Times-Picayune reporters.
I spent Saturday at the Rising Tide V Conference, in the funky confines of the Howling Wolf Tavern. Rising Tide conferences have been organized by a loose association of bloggers five times since the storm.
Rising Tide brings in experts and "stars" of the post-Katrina landscape to inform and discuss and celebrate our recovery. We had a food drive.The day-long conference included panels on public safety, environment, HBO's Treme (and its inspirations), politics, and a 30-minute talk on the difference between dams and levees and how this federal definition means that levees can be built to far lower standards than any dam you can name.
Dam. Dam. Dam. I wish I were a better blogger.
Sources: Rising Tide V, American Zombie blogspot, The Lens (recently formed online investigative newspaper), Squandered Heritage, and more.
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Comments
I always find out about these things after the fact! I've been meaning to attend this conference for like, five years, I guess. Maybe next year.
A year ago I blogged on my personal observations. You can read it if interested.
http://open.salon.com/blog/trig_palin/2009/08/28/my_new_orleans_it_was_four_years_ago
The first home I worked on when I arrived was that of Renee Peck, a Times Picayune reporter (since retired) that wrote constantly about the aftermath of Katrina. I believe she had a weekly piece called "This Mold House." I was even mentioned by here there.
It's all still just so sad. My favorite city...
http://open.salon.com/blog/trig_palin/2009/08/28/my_new_orleans_it_was_four_years_ago
The first home I worked on when I arrived was that of Renee Peck, a Times Picayune reporter (since retired) that wrote constantly about the aftermath of Katrina. I believe she had a weekly piece called "This Mold House." I was even mentioned by here there.
It's all still just so sad. My favorite city...
Thanks. Lawless--it's the last Saturday in August. Last year was the first year I really considered attending--and didn't. They will be posting a video online somewhere--presumably in smaller chunks than 6 hours.
Trig baby, I remember This Mold House. It was something else. There was a lot of personal "testimony" from Times-Picayune people. A hardy bunch. Just lately, two of them posted a video on nola.com contrasting a bike tour of the flooded Lakeview and Mid-City with what it is today. Thanks, baby!
Trig baby, I remember This Mold House. It was something else. There was a lot of personal "testimony" from Times-Picayune people. A hardy bunch. Just lately, two of them posted a video on nola.com contrasting a bike tour of the flooded Lakeview and Mid-City with what it is today. Thanks, baby!
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