Look to the future 2 years later: Shelley Midura

Image from Greg Peters.

Letter from our next mayor:

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An open letter to President George W. Bush:

August 28, 2007

Dear Mr. President:

Thank you for visiting New Orleans for the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the worst federal levee-failure disaster in United States history followed by the worst federal disaster response in United States history. We’re also grateful for the $116 billion federal allocation for the Gulf Coast. That $116 billion has served you well, as your spokesmen often cite it as an indicator of your dedication to our recovery. But, it hasn’t served us as well -- it’s not enough, it’s been given grudgingly, and only after our elected officials have had to fight for it. So I feel I must correct the record about you and your administration’s dedication to our recovery and implore you to take action to make things better.

Indeed, you have allocated $116 billion for the Gulf Coast, but that number is misleading. According to the Brookings Institute's most recent Katrina Index report, at least $75 billion of it was for immediate post-storm relief. Thus only 35% of the total federal dollars allocated is for actual recovery and reconstruction. And of that recovery and reconstruction allocation, only 42% has actually been spent. In fact, while your administration touts "$116 billion" as the amount you have sent to the entire area affected by Katrina and the levee failures, the actual long term recovery dollar amount is only $14.6 billion. This amount is a mere 12% of the entire federal allocation of dollars, billions of which went to corporations such as Halliburton for immediate post-storm cleanup work, instead of to local businesses. Contrast that to the $20.9 billion on infrastructure for Iraq that the Wall Street Journal reported in May 2006 that you have spent, and it’s an astonishing 42% more than you have spent on infrastructure for the post-Katrina Gulf region. The American citizens of the Gulf region do not understand why the federal obligation to rebuilding Iraq is greater than it is for America's Gulf coast, and more specifically for New Orleans.

New Orleans has more challenges and fewer resources than we've ever had in my lifetime in the City of New Orleans. Yet, other than FEMA repair reimbursements, the only direct federal assistance this city has received from you has been two community disaster loans that you are demanding be paid back even though no other city government has had to pay back a these types of loans for as long as our research can determine (at least since the 70’s). These loans are being used to balance the city budget to provide basic services to citizens who need far more than the pre-Katrina basics.

Despite this obvious contradiction, your administration blames local leadership for our continued need for federal assistance. But this argument is disingenuous, Mr. President. There are a host of tasks that only you and your administration can accomplish for our recovery. These are some concrete steps you can take to make good on your 2005 Jackson Square promise:
• Completely fix the federally managed levees
• Fully fund our expertly crafted recovery plan
• Give New Orleans all that you have promised to Baghdad - schools, hospitals, infrastructure, security, and basic services
• Forgive the community disaster loans, as authorized by the new Congress
• Appoint a recovery czar who works inside the White House that reports daily and directly to you and whose sole job is the recovery of New Orleans and the rest of the region
• Restore our coast and wetlands
• Work with Congress to reform the Stafford Act
• Cut the bureaucratic red tape
In turn Mr. President, the people of New Orleans are more than willing to do our part. We have already:
• Consolidated and reformed the state levee board system.
• Consolidated and reformed our property assessment system.
• Passed sweeping ethics reform legislation.
• Created an Ethics Review Board.
• Hired an Inspector General.
• Submitted a parish-wide recovery plan.

Much has changed in New Orleans for the better since the storm, and more progress is coming. Civic activism is at an all time high. For the first time in my lifetime, there is an actual reform movement in New Orleans driven by the people. "Best Practices" has become a City Council mantra. We have a new Ethics Board. Our incoming Inspector General, Robert Cerasoli, is considered one of the elite in the Inspector General world, as is our new Recovery Director Dr. Ed Blakely in that world and our Recovery School Superintendent Paul Vallas in the realm of public education. We are attracting the cream of the crop. Young people from around the country seeking to make a difference in their lives are moving to New Orleans to teach in public schools, provide community healthcare, build housing, work for nonprofits engaged in post-Katrina work, and, in general, do whatever they can for the recovery because they all know what I am not so sure that you know, mainly that what happens in New Orleans over the next few years says something about the very heart of America itself.

Mr. President, we are in fact doing our part locally in New Orleans despite contrary comments by your administration. Our intense civic activity and government reform initiatives are serious indicators of our local commitment to do our part for the recovery. But we are drowning in federal red tape. We are being nickel and dimed to death by your Federal Emergency Management Agency. We are resource-starved at the city level. The mission here is not accomplished. What we need is Presidential leadership, not just another speech filled with empty promises. Our recovery's success, struggle, or failure will be intimately woven into your legacy, for better or worse. What Americans think about America is deeply affected by how this country rises to national challenges, none more significant than post-Katrina New Orleans. Fully restoring New Orleans to its formerly unique and permanent place in American culture is this nation's greatest domestic challenge. Your leadership of our country through this difficult time will serve as an American character lesson for future generations.

Sincerely,

Shelley Midura
New Orleans City Councilmember
District A

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – In an open letter to President Bush, Councilmember Shelley Midura responded to the assertion by Recovery Chairman Donald Powell that the federal government is doing everything it can and that the problem is with local leadership. In her letter she challenged the “$116 billion” allocation as “misleading” and further implored President Bush to assert a larger leadership role in the recovery of New Orleans and the Gulf region on the eve of his visit to New Orleans for the 2nd Katrina anniversary.

“Mr. President, we are in fact doing our part locally in New Orleans despite contrary comments by your administration,” said Councilmember Midura. “Our intense civic activity and government reform initiatives are serious indicators of our local commitment to do our part for the recovery. But we are drowning in federal red tape. We are being nickel and dimed to death by your Federal Emergency Management Agency. We are resource starved at the city level. The mission here is not accomplished. What we need is Presidential leadership, not just another speech filled with empty promises.”

The Bush administration has frequently argued that their $116 billion allocation is evidence of their commitment to the recovery of the Gulf region. But further analysis in Councilmember Midura’s letter indicates that the actual number of dollars spent on long term recovery for the entire Gulf region is closer to $14.7 billion, less than 13% of the entire federal allocation. In contrast the Bush administration has allocated hundreds of billions of dollars for Iraq, of which $20.6 billion has been spent on recovery and infrastructure – over 42% more than has been spent on recovery for the Gulf region of the United States for our nation’s greatest natural disaster.

“Our recovery's success, struggle, or failure will be intimately woven into your legacy, for better or worse,” said Midura. “What Americans think about America is deeply affected by how this country rises to national challenges, none more significant than post-Katrina New Orleans. Fully restoring New Orleans to its formerly unique and permanent place in American culture is this nation's greatest domestic challenge. Your leadership of our country through this difficult time will serve as an American character lesson for future generations.”

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KATRINA: TWO YEARS LATER
FACT SHEET

1. REBUILDING
• 22% or $7 billion of FEMA’s 2005 disaster relief budget was spent on administrative costs, not rebuilding(Institute for Southern Studies)
• The figure used consistently by the Bush administration when discussing the amount of federal dollars allocated to Gulf Coast recovery is $116 billion. Of that amount, only 30% or $35 billion goes to long-term recovery projects (Jeffrey Buchanan, RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights)
• Of that $35 billion, less than 42% has been spent to date(RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights)
• The City of New Orleans has received approximately $187 million from FEMA and $150 million in Community Disaster Loans (City of New Orleans)

2. LEVEE REPAIR
• Currently, the United States Army Corps of Engineers has spent only 20 percent of the $8.4 billion allocated for New Orleans levee repair (Institute for Southern Studies)

3. COASTAL RESTORATION
• Since 1932, nearly 600 square miles of protective wetlands surrounding New Orleans have been lost (Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation)
• 30 square miles of these wetlands were lost since the US Army Corps of Engineers built the MRGO (Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation)
• 80 square miles of these wetlands were lost during Hurricane Katrina (Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation)
• The cumulative impact of these lost wetlands is a New Orleans with no natural protection against storm surges from tropical storms and hurricanes (Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation)

4. ECONOMY AND JOBS
• Two contracts of the 140 FEMA awarded for travel trailers, pre-fabricated homes, and other items, went to Louisiana and accounted for less than half of 1 percent of the $1.6 billion total (Times Picayune, Bill Walsh, “Fema Isn’t Hiring Louisiana Companies, Workers; Out-of State Firms Get Most of Business”, Washington bureau)
• According to Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., 75 Louisiana electricians working at the Naval Air Station in Belle Chasse are out of a job as Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, now holds the contract (Bill Walsh)
• Four contracts, let by the US Army Corps of Engineers, for removing debris created by Katrina, worth a total of $2 billion with an option for $500 million more, went to Florida, Minnesota, and California (Bill Walsh)
• US Army Corps of Engineers contracts specified that the award process should give preference to local companies hit hardest by the storms (Bill Walsh)
• Although $4.5 billion in Gulf Opportunity Zone projects have been approved in Louisiana, only 1 is located in New Orleans. Strangely, a 10-unit luxury condo development in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (approximately 4 hours from the coast) is the recipient of GO Zone tax breaks (Institute for Southern Studies)
• The Small Business Administration finished processing loan applications for Katrina-impacted businesses in May of 2007, 21 months after the storm (Institute for Southern Studies)
• Federal agencies claimed that 259 contracts went to Louisiana small businesses but were later discovered to have gone to big companies or ineligible recipients (Institute for Southern Studies)

5. SPENDING IN IRAQ
• The federal government has currently spent over $455 billion on the war in Iraq (MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olberman, August 3, 2007 and www.nationalpriorities.org ) vs. $116 billion for the Gulf region’s recovery.
• The Bush Administration has spent $20.9 billion to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure (Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2006) as compared with the $8.4 billion allocated for New Orleans levee repair (Institute for Southern Studies)
• Congress has authorized $44 billion in funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in Iraq, yet Bush has threatened to veto due to cost the $21 billion water resources bill being considered by Congress of which only $1.9 billion would be devoted to restoring Louisiana’s coastal wetlands (Institute for Southern Studies and www.voanew.com )
• USAID (United States Agency for International Development) has created a $4 million program to save Iraq’s Mesopatamian Marshlands (The Iraq Foundation)

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Any doubt she should be our next mayor?

Comments

[chrissieroux]

It takes a ridiculously self-centered person to talk nonsense about New Orleanians on 8/29. I mean, seriously.

[Me_Myself_N_I]

"research into more than ten years of reporting on hurricane and flood damage mitigation efforts in and around New Orleans indicates that local and state officials did not use federal money that was available for levee improvements or coastal reinforcement and often did not secure local matching funds that would have generated even more federal funding.

"By 1998, Louisiana's state government had a $2 billion construction budget, but less than one tenth of one percent of that -- $1.98 million -- was dedicated to levee improvements in the New Orleans area. State appropriators were able to find $22 million that year to renovate a new home for the Louisiana Supreme Court and $35 million for one phase of an expansion to the New Orleans convention center.

"the levee board did complete a $2.5 million restoration project. After months of delays, officials rolled away fencing to reveal the restored 1962 Mardi Gras fountain in a four-acre park featuring a new 600-foot plaza between famous Lakeshore Drive and the sea wall. Financing for the renovation came from a property tax passed by New Orleans voters in 1983. The tax, which generates more than $6 million each year for the levee board, is dedicated to capital projects.

Note: Ignore the above if you don't want any blame to go to the local/state government.

[ashley]

If you want to read more of this tripe, feel free to go here: http://lonestartimes.com/2007/08/29/katrina-anniversary-banning

They'd love to have you.

[Matt Bramanti]

"and that's why thousands died"

There were not "thousands" of deaths from Hurricane Katrina.

[ashley]

4081 deaths, due to Katrina and the Federal Flood, as of May, 2007: http://wetbankguide.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-mans-land.html

But who needs facts?

[Carmen]

Philosophically, the "consistent welfare-state mentality" exists in CORPORATE America. By which I mean, the stockholders who panic sell and hoard purchase at every code word the government heads punch through the media, which is really what media is being used for these days. You just don't have separate collective mentalities; you view the whole through its subsets. Every time interest rates have to be adjusted so certain parties or companies don't incur loss - it's not really about inflation or the masses - the trickle down effect will create one more homeless, one more middle class destitute. Of course, "disasters" create many "victims" at once, but that's a market correction in the same way an earthquake or other foundational shift rebalances the paradigm.

Look, boats were sent to all those Midwestern towns that recently flooded, but in many cases when the "rescuers" got out of their vessels to help the people on their roofs, cameras were showing the waters were ankle deep. Other areas may recover faster or with less "handouts", but their damage was not comparable, there was not the government-facilitated obstruction to reentering the entire urban area even for rescuers, there was not the mass communication fallout (9/11 withstanding for the NYC area) and perhaps worst for the beginning of recovery hopes, there was not the massive msm rumourmongering. As I said above, the government uses the media to indicate where it prefers investment, so to destablize New Orleans with false reports or exaggerated ones, to impart the toxicity of air and water (and I was here to witness the truth a week after the levee breaks, if just for a bit) when pollution in some cities is worse on an ongoing basis, and to fearmonger gunshots as alarms turning them into people killing each other on the streets, that is downright SINFUL.

Elsewhere in the NOLA blogging community, some wonder if blogging itself is just hamstering a wheel. But climb the corporate or political ladder, and what do our leaders really do for their work? They commune, they make plans, they dictate, they discuss, they decide... and largely the delegation of work goes to those appointed or elected for the labor. This is democracy in action, what "average citizens" here have taken on, reconnecting public service officials to the ideals of public service. There is a need to constantly remind the "leaders" that if Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, their own feet ought not be dancing under restroom stalls looking for another to service THEM. Higher morals, indeed.

Oh, and we're blaming the local governments too. We're just not using that as a free pass to not blame the federal one.

[Matt Bramanti]

Ashley, the methodology is flawed. That study took a year-over-year increase in obituaries and attributed all of them to the hurricane.

Do you honestly think that Katrina killed more than two thousand people this year?

[JustVisiting]

I appreciate you're perspective, and am glad to have found another blog to visit.

To the point "Take a look out of the window of your own glass house and imagine everything and everybody gone, and then you tell me how you would fix it?"

It brings to mind Andrew. Which celebrated it's unsung anniversary just last week.

Those affected by Katrina are not alone in their loss. Even if Katrina caused more damage, the people affected by other hurricanes or natural disasters are no less important or grief stricken.

And yet to hear the leadership of New Orleans, Katrina was the only hurricane to ever rob people of their homes and livelihoods.

I just wanted to say that. Thank you for your time ... and I appreciate your point of view.

[KamaAina]

Hey! I've got an idea! 9/11 is coming up in a couple of weeks. We could all go over to the NYC blogs and talk trash about their city! I'm sure we'd all get a warmhearted welcome... um, NOT.

Back to Shelley: She had me going right up until the very end.

"Fully restoring New Orleans to its formerly unique and permanent place in American culture is this nation's greatest domestic challenge."

"Formerly"? "Formerly"??!! Aaaauuugggghhh! Delete and close up, please. I would, however, still be happy to serve in the Midura Administration in whatever capacity is called for, and without the six-figure salaries; about $60K ought to do it.

Oh, and of course I want to shoot Glenn Beckkk in the head. Thing is, it'd just explode like a pinata, except nothing would come out.

[Matt Bramanti]

From Wet Bank Guide:

Our obligation is this: to rebuild the city they despaired of seeing saved, a city recognizably New Orleans; a city protected by levees that work, with good schools for everyone and safe streets and a transparent government that works for us.

Which is it? Does Mark want a city recognizably New Orleans, or one with good schools, public safety and the like?

[ashley]

Matt: this year, no. In total, yes, I believe that Katrina and the federal flood killed over 2000 people, easily.

One small anecdotal example: Gatemouth Brown. He did not die in the flood, but died within a week or so of being evacuated.

Also, the drastic uptick in suicides, I blame on Katrina and the flood.

I understand that you may believe that the methodology is flawed, but there must be some cause for the drastic uptick in deaths during that particular period. When data is available for another 12 months following the end of that study, then we'll have a more accurate means of assessment.

Just Visiting: I understand your perspective. Once again, New Orleans was decimated by the failed federal levees. We survived the hurricane.

[Mike Chinni]

Ashley, I don't doubt that a large number of people died, and despite what has been noted earlier, it is a tragedy. But how can accurate counts be gotten when Katrina survivors are scattered to the four winds? working with reief efforts (Operation Compassion) in Houston, I personally arranged transportation for evacuees three states away.

[ashley]

I agree Mike, it is difficult if not impossible to get accurate counts...but we have to try.

Matt disputes the methodology in the study I mentioned, and he has a point -- I don't think the numbers from that study will be conclusive until a year after that study, when we can use the following years numbers as more of a 'control' to compare and contrast the numbers with 2005 and 2006.

There is no good way, but the study I mentioned seems like the most reasonable thing we currently have.

[Aaron]

A lot of trolls today. Someone must have rolled over a rock in Houston.

[ashley]

...and some of the trolls even learned how to use the Google.

[Mike Chinni]

Aaron, Ashley, if you consider a Troll to be someone who does not share your opinion, then I guess I am one.
However, if you are open to a free exchange of ideas, then I haven't seen any yet.
I have seen some rather virulent blasts coming from the NOLA side which I really do not think your neighbors deserve.

[Aaron]

Mike, today is a day to commemorate the losses this city suffered. We did not invite you here. We did not invite a discussion. This is a holy day and you and yours are wearing your fucking cowboy hats in church. How much clearer can we be that we aren't looking for people who are out to piss off the locals with spite-filled accusations? Go away. If we want to talk about this with you, we'll come to your website, it's clearly put up in the comments section and you can consider that your forum to discuss whatever idiotic musings come to you.

[Me_Myself_N_I]

WARNING!!

I actually agree with Ashley regarding the number of Katrina related deaths being much higher...in the several thousands!! I also agree that it will be difficult to accurately asses the TRUE number of deaths.

You must also look at the cities that took in Katrina evacuees. You cannot exclude the significant increase in Post-Katrina homicide rates in those cities.

That has to cause a significant increase in Ashley's quoted numbers!

[Howie Luvzus]

As a New Orleanian, I am appalled at those who believe they can make rational, objective observations about what should be done here. My religious convictions preclude me from spewing profanity at insensitive jerks. However, this IS a particularly difficult time for us.

So...unless you've cried with us or for us--leave us alone. If you want civil discourse give us a while.

We aren't all lazy and corrupt any more than you are all hypocritical and arrogant.

God help us. God help them.

[Aaron]

MMNI, is there ANY WAY IN THE WORLD that your comment could be construed as anything but trolling to find an angry New Orleans resident? You are a sick person.

[Mike Chinni]

1. I do not, not have I ever, owned a cowboy hat.
2. This "forum" is commemorating a disaster by slamming virtually everyone, except your local governments and blaming them for the disaster.
I have cried with my neighbors, your brothers and sisters, both poor and destitute and middle class and destitute. In the days following the exodus to Houston, all were destitute. Do not presume to know either my heart or my motivations. I spent my vacation assisting my neighbors. A small donation, at best, but along with hundreds of my brothers and sisters here in Houston, we did our best to show our neighbors that we cared.
For you to consider reasoned discussion in answer to diatribe and misinformation disrespectful of the situation is insulting at the very least.
I will now leave and not darken your door again.

[Me_Myself_N_I]

I've not seen a single word from anyone in NOLA commemorating the losses of the Post-Katrina-related homicide victims in other cities. Nor any assistance from anyone in LA to offset the increased costs and burden of absorbing the evacuees.

Not trolling...just stating the facts.

But, as Ashley stated, "don't let facts get in the way of your argument."

[Aaron]

And fishing for an argument isn't trolling how? You didn't come here to add to a discussion, you came to inflame New Orleans residents. But we aren't mad today, so you won't get what you came for. Today we're in mourning, so all you will get is a deep sense of shame from your fellow Americans that you would stoop so low. Why don't you go bash 9/11 widows while you're at it?

[Markus]

Matt, don't misconstrue my words. A city recognizably New Orleans could have transparent government, good schools, etc.

And by all reliable estimates far more thatn 1,400 people died as a direct result of Katrina and the Federal Flood, many more if you look at incidental deaths after the fact in Orleans Parish alone.

[Markus]

Me_n_myslef, then you haven't look very hard. Why not start by Googling up the new story on the Episcopal Church on Esplanade, or some of the blogger efforts to do just that (commemorate murder victims).