Comments on People Get Ready: It's a year later, and Ray Nagin can't fix a hole ...

Yes, ahem ...anonymous -- it's one of the principl...

2006-08-29T04:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, ahem ...

anonymous -- it's one of the principles of institutional economics that large groups of people have more difficulty organizing themselves around issues than do small groups -- in particular when the small groups have more resources. It's a good point you bring up.

Karen ... ditto ahems above.

Z -- fascinating article. Thanks for the link. I'm going to read it and may comment later in an upcoming post.

here is what I have been talking about. I am sure ...

2006-08-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

here is what I have been talking about. I am sure you will find it interesting, IF you have not already seen it.

Review Roundtable: is New Orleans a Resilient City?; The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster; Discussion

"The panel did not agree on whether New Orleans is a resilient city. They predicted the new city would resemble more than differ from the old New Orleans, and would probably have more Latino residents than formerly. Their conclusions were based on many of the unique characteristics of New Orleans including:
* its politics; (Burby refers to Banfield and Wilson's 1963 distinction between a "public regarding ethos" that strives for good government, efficient administration, and nonpartisanship for the good of the whole community, and a "private regarding ethos" that stresses personal gains obtained through individual favors and advantageous policy [City Politics, Harvard University Press].)
* its insular culture and impenetrable elite;
* multigenerational social ties;
* the city's slow growth and lack of immigrant populations;
* an economy based on tourism that provides mostly low-wage jobs;
* the fragility of its ecology; and
* the city's iconic status.
The panel felt that New Orleans may not have been the worst place Katrina could have hit. Despite its ecological sensitivity, the city's strong social ties, insular culture, and iconic nature may allow it to recover. But these same traits may hinder opportunities for real reform.
To enable both reform and recovery to be successful, the panel observed that rebuilding the city's human and social dimensions must precede physical rebuilding, though it is difficult to separate the two.They favored empowering all residents through the political process,teaching lower-income residents skills that would be useful both during and after reconstruction, and taking steps to prevent a future disaster."

Review Roundtable: is New Orleans a Resilient City?; The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster; Discussion

I guess the answer is unwritten, It is up to folks like you; but, I too believe we have to restore democracy first.

We need to teach Peggy Wilson to blog... maybe set...

2006-08-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

We need to teach Peggy Wilson to blog... maybe set her up with watchingthemoneynola.blogspot.com

I disagree with her on many things, but the dame is a bulldog about the dollars!

Ahem 2...

2006-08-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

Ahem 2...

and ths State is not far behindhttp://www.nola.com...

2006-08-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

and ths State is not far behind
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?%2Fbase%2Fnews-16%2F115674460012300.xml&coll=1

The truth is the money is not all making it here. ...

2006-08-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

The truth is the money is not all making it here. A lot of folks are being ripped off. Once money does get here we need to keep an eye on what is happening. That is why we need more watchdog groups like this one: here and here too

In fact most of the money is just being stolen.

“There is big money in disasters,”
"Huge money," Nagin stated. He said that a few months ago, but he even noted that garbage collection is big business. With "huge money" involved, it seems fair to comment on the lack of transparency in city government. a strong sign of corruption and cronyism.

Where is our local watchdogs?

"While I appreciate the sentiment, some politician...

2006-08-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

"While I appreciate the sentiment, some politicians are plain incompetent, or pay lip service to community issues while getting paid off to work for other interests.
"

Not if you have enough people making enough noise. Government works for you. But you do have to compete with other interests. Since other interests are usually organized, know what they want, and persistent they end up getting what they want. And they usualy provide patronage jobs to politicians and their families..

so you have a lot of work to do, I hope no one told you guys this was going to be easy?

Ahem...

2006-08-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

Ahem...

Great post! Hope Ray takes your advise.

2006-08-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

Great post! Hope Ray takes your advise.