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| N.O. locals not waiting to be told what to do | |
| 2006-03-14 | |
"It didn't devastate us; it pissed us off," said Virginia Saussy Bairnsfather, a board member for the Broadmoor Improvement Association. Within weeks of the map's unveiling in January by Mayor Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back Commission, membership in the neighborhood group jumped 400 percent. The January rollout of the commission's land-use plan set a clock ticking that gave sections of the city four months to establish their viability. But weeks have passed and the city's formal process for helping about 80 neighborhoods chart a new future has yet to begin. Professional disagreements over differing visions of the city's future are one snag. Another has been a lack of money to finance the planning process, a problem that may have been alleviated Friday with members of the Louisiana Recovery Authority pledging to help find $7.5 million needed to get the process moving. But Broadmoor residents, like grass-roots community groups all across the city, are moving ahead on their own without waiting for the expert-laced planning exercise promised by Nagin's commission. They are polling residents, creating planning committees and enlisting the help of an unnamed Ivy League university in writing a redevelopment plan. Fearing they may lose control of what happens to their communities -- especially with some areas at risk of being declared no longer viable, and subject to clearing -- activists in Lakeview, Gentilly and eastern New Orleans are calling meetings, mulling issues, debating what kinds of changes they will favor or oppose. Much of the work is brainstorming and data-gathering. In some cases it has taken a sophisticated turn, involving architects or planners who donate their time. "There has been no direction given (from City Hall), so neighborhoods have to fend for themselves," said Latoya Cantrell, president of the Broadmoor group. "We're on our own." Snipped the bits about FEMA and state authorities not knowing a** from elbow; we knew that already. | |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #4 "We were sold a bill of goods by the federal government," Manning said." All due sympathies to the folks on the Gulf coast but at some point they have to realize the Federal government is tertiary behind state and local entities when it comes to solving local issues. FEMA is correct to deny the multi-million dollar request to pay for the extremely ambiguous “technical assistance” program. Hats off to the people that have taken the responsibility to move the process along in lieu of government ineptitude. Government (at all levels) struggles to meet the needs of people even in the best of times, it is delusional to believe it would be otherwise during and after a crisis. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2006-03-14 09:14 |
| #3 I read that the Vietnameese community is doing their usual bootstrapping number. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-03-14 08:34 |
| #2 Em, thanks for posting. So far the steeliest group to emerge is called "Women of the Storm", an eclectic group of about 150 women that includes Olivia Manning (if you watch professional football you may have heard of her sons.) "Women of the Storm" is to public officials what Jack Bauer is to terrorists. When you think of New Orleans (or the Missisippi Gulf Coast, which has gotten a lot less publicity, or the coastal parishes of Louisiana) the image you should have is of a couple hundred thousand women working their fingers to the bone day and night to put homes back together for their families. (Osama thinks he's going to put burqas on American women? Good luck with that, pal.) |
| Posted by: Matt 2006-03-14 07:24 |
| #1 an unnamed Ivy League university in writing a redevelopment plan If it involves Sharia and women in burkha's I think we can guess which Ivy Infested university. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-03-14 00:21 |