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  •  Where to begin.... (4+ / 0-)

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    Sharoney, pontificator, mem from somerville, sarahnity

    I'm Nolan.  I'm the Logistics Director for this convention and have been since March '05.  You can read about who we all are here.  (and, for the record, I'm a male :) )

    I lead the site selection process and the decision was made by our organizing committee (see link above).

    A few reactions....

    By the way, isn't Austin either the site of, or going to be the site of, the George W. Bush presidential library?

    NOPE.  The GWB library is going to be somewhere else in Texas.  It is, however, home to the LBJ Library and the former home of Molly Ivins.

    Maybe Netroots Nation or at least their convention site selecters are not real progressives who support New Orleans and would hold a convention there. Perhaps this organization has even been infiltrated by BushCo supporters who want to finish in Louisiana the job that Katrina started.

    I take real offense to that.  I would never say you're not a real progressive because you did one thing with which I disagree and while I'll admit this is a large decision (which I had a hand in, but did not make alone), it doesn't warrant personal attacks.

    I'm not sure how many times I can say this but I'll say it again WE WANTED TO GO TO NEW ORLEANS.  I literally traveled to Chicago in August with a contract for a hotel in New Orleans that I had planned to go over with the committee at that time.  I had every reason to believe that is where the 08 convention would be.  I was nearly certain of it.  We didn't have time to go over the contract in Chicago so I prepared a report for the committee after, and it was very quickly obvious when I sat down to write that report that the hotel we had in mind was too small.  The main ballroom could hold about 2/3 of the number of people we expect to have in Austin.  We discussed having the main events broadcast live in overflow rooms but we decided that was simply too much of a burden to put attendees through.  You may disagree, but I hardly think that decision makes us Neo-Cons.

    We went BACK to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau and tried to find space that would fit us and there was not any available.  It is very easy for you to make claims that we should have tried harder or whatever, but we need a very large ballroom for main events and many breakout rooms of different sizes for several days in a row.  It is not easy to find that kind of space on such a short notice.  There was none available in New Orleans for summer of 2008.

    In fact, the only reason we found space in Austin is because another group canceled their convention around the time we started looking.  It was really a shot in the dark that we got that even got that.

    I understand that you are hurt but please don't dream up tinfoil hat scenarios that involved a BushCo infiltration of NN.

    Finally, if you'd like to contact me, my email is in my profile.  It has been in there for years, feel free to drop me a line.

    by Nolan on Mon Nov 26, 2007 at 08:31:42 AM PDT

    •  Nolan (1+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:
      Nightprowlkitty

      I'm about to email you.

      White woman over 50 for OBAMA!! (Endorsed 6/07)

      by nolalily on Mon Nov 26, 2007 at 08:35:30 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    •  Thanks for your... (2+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:
      Nightprowlkitty, chigh

      thought-provoking response. First of all, my bad for having said the George W. Bush library was in Austin. I'd recently heard of its being planned and I guess, having missed hearing the city, I'd thought Austin would be a good place for it.

      Also, my apologies for having thought you were female. :)

      As I said in an above post, I only found out about Netroots Nation 2008's being planned for Austin after the fact from an angry NOLA Kossack who'd posted about it and that upset me.

      Then only a few days later I read the distressing news that the Presidential Debate Site Selection Commission has rejected New Orleans. Which made me even sadder and angrier that Netroots Nation had also rejected New Orleans. Because these two hits in a row that New Orleans sustained have been devastating. These are a blow that a recovering city that seriously needs the business and attention would find it hard to stand.

      And after that--back to Netroots Nation--I read your article and was bothered by the gap between your looking at New Orleans and then starting to look elsewhere. So since I hadn't been aware that

      We went BACK to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau and tried to find space that would fit us and there was not any available... It is not easy to find that kind of space on such a short notice.  There was none available in New Orleans for summer of 2008.

      I wrote what I did. Had I known these things, perhaps I would not have written this diary--or at least would have toned it down and not said some of the things I said in it.

      My apologies for the personal attacks (No, I don't think you're a NeoCon) and for dreaming up

      tinfoil hat scenarios that involved a BushCo infiltration of NN.

      But you have to understand how I'd been feeling between my not having been completely informed as to what exactly happened at NN and my being seriously pissed off over how the presidential debate site selection commission has treated New Orleans. I've been more than a little upset over the past week.  

      So thanks for the fuller explanation for what happened at NN, and please accept my apologies for having said those things.

      Don't miss my blog! "We are all New Orleans now."--Barbara O'Brien Geauxbama!

      by Louisiana 1976 on Mon Nov 26, 2007 at 09:10:16 AM PDT

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