This diary is about NOLA residents' (angry) reactions to the "rebirth" Plan formally released today in NOLA by the Bring New Orleans Back Commission appointed by Mayor Ray Nagin in October.
Yesterday I diaried about the advance notice that had been floated about some of the details of the Plan:
NOLA issues its Rebirth Plan. That diary gives some of the backstory as the Commission went about its edict to propose a formal Plan.
The rest of this diary on the flip...
As I said, this diary is about the residents' and some organizations' reactions (and I write this with Andy Card's blackboard screeching voice just screeching in the background, addressing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier today (on C-SPAN now), and sounding like a repeat of Bush's flowery, misty-eyed NOLA speech in September.....we know how that commitment on the part of the WH turned out):
Here are two of today's Times-Picayune articles posted at NOLA.com (the first is an AP article, the second article is by a T-P staff reporter).
First, some excerpts from the AP
article:
Residents react angrily to first part of rebuilding ideas
Angry residents vented frustration Wednesday at the debut of rebuilding proposals for this devastated city. Some vowed to defend their land from possible government buyouts and others said the city needs to get out of their way and let them rebuild.
Residents were not the only ones to lash out at the recommendations. City Council members, the New Orleans chapter of the NAACP and former mayor and National Urban League president Marc Morial all vowed to fight the plan.
The thing that pisses folks (white and black, poor and non-poor) off the most?
The proposed rebuilding plan caused so much anger in part because it suggests a four-month moratorium on new building permits in areas heavily flooded by Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, such as parts of the Ninth Ward, Lakeview and east New Orleans. The idea behind the moratorium is to ensure that enough people would move back to a neighborhood to avoid large expanses with isolated houses.
[NOTE: In my diary yesterday, I didn't mention this 4-month moratorium because it wasn't in the article I used; thus, I referred to the 1-year bounceback period (with no waiting period upfront) since that was the idea that had been floated out for public consumption by the Commission previously). I'll post a crosslink in that diary to this one.]
A few choice quotes:
"Our neighborhood is ready to come home," said Jeb Bruneau of Lakeview, which borders Lake Pontchartrain.
"Don't get in our way and prevent us from doing that. Help us cut the red tape."
At times the meeting became acrimonious, with one angry Lower Ninth Ward resident, Harvey Bender, pointing his finger at members of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission and accusing Joseph Canizaro, the urban planning committee chairman and a prominent New Orleans developer, of plotting to take land from people.
"I don't know you, but Mr. Canizaro, I hate you," Bender said. "You've been in the background scheming to take our
land."
As it says, Joe Canizaro is the President of the Commission and a local real estate developer. His feelings are hurt (but, in all fairness, I would not want to be him right now...tough job balancing the factions of NOLA politics and players, no matter how you slice it):
After the meeting, Canizaro met with Bender and promised to meet with him to explain the commission's
recommendations in greater detail.
"He doesn't like what I stand [sic]. What is that? White, successful, Republican," Canizaro said later after a news
conference. "I told him I want to do everything I can to help this city. I'm not going to make a dime off this."
Canizaro and the other members of the commission have pledged in ethics statements not to profit from their positions on the panel.
Meanwhile....
Today, Another resident, Caroline Parker, said: "I don't think it's right that you take our properties. Over my dead body."
And....
Despite the residents' complaints, the rebuilding recommendations have actually been characterized as too liberal and unrealistic by many urban planners. The Urban Land Institute and other planners have said it would be unsafe and unwise to rebuild those sections of the city where the flooding reached roof tops and which could be flooded again by another hurricane.
Because just like Supreme Court judges apparently, they are viewing it through a lens devoid of human considerations, or at the least their view is based on "rational" human considerations. Well guess what folks? HUMANS ARE NOT RATIONAL. That is why we have laws
(or are supposed to). And frankly, New Orleans has some unique human considerations....we are NOT a transient population people. Folks want to go back home. Hotels are not fun. Tents are less fun. (And, remember that there is an incredible housing shortage for those returning, and a lot of people relied on having their driveways available to them to put a FEMA trailer in while they set about getting their house rehabilitated or rebuilt.)
These are "interesting" times, in the sense that: Do ya notice how Republicans want us to be a democracy until the shit hits the fan and government has to finally, actually govern....then they have no qualms getting all socialist-communist (New Orleans) or totalitarian (Bush) in the way they go about doing that? Interesting...and funny how those of us with socialist tendencies (like me) when things are fine and dandy, become very not socialist when the government has to go about doing things to keep said shit from hitting said fan. Hmmmm..... How many of us, liberal or conservative, are really intellectually honest and free of internal inconsistencies these days? During my time in the military, I always said it was a socialist institution that WORKS very well indeed. But that did not mean I liked someone actually watching me pee in a plastic cup (those random things), and so I got the fuck out in order to LIVE in a democracy, not pretend to defend it (yeah, yeah -- the military protects our capitalism folks; our activist protesters protect our democracy).
Back to the article:
The commission offered a phased-in approach for rebuilding. It said each of the city's 13 neighborhood
development districts should come up with a rebuilding plan by May 20, and that a citywide picture should be formed by June 20.
The neighborhood groups would need to figure out if and how their sections of the city could be built. The commission envisions setting up a federally funded land bank that would have the power to buy homes and land that residents choose to abandon.
Sounding just like the (Richard) Baker Plan [HR 4100] that has thus far crashed and burned in Subcommittee in Washington because Republicans think we are just fine and dandy down here (not that I like the Baker Plan, mind you).
What does Mayour Nagin have to say about the Plan (which he can accept or reject before it then moves up the food chain):
Nagin sought to assuage residents fears that the recommendations are the final word on rebuilding.
"This is a process," he said. "This is a journey."
w
Here are excerpts from the 2nd
article at NOLA.com (there are others there as well):
The commission's Urban Land subcommittee recommended a ban on development in the flooded areas for of the city until at least May 20. Between now and then, the commission expects proposed planning groups to present plans for redeveloping flood-damaged neighborhoods. If no viable plans emerge, or if it becomes clear most residents won't or can't return to a specific neighborhood, the commission proposed using eminent domain "as a last resort" to buy and tear down damaged properties.
That could result in a shrunken city footprint, a prospect that brought fiery responses from some in attendance during the session's public comment period.
[...]
Committee members, however, said the moratorium on building permits for devastated areas is necessary while the planning groups gather grassroots input and come up with development plans for each area. They vowed that no one would be left out of the new New Orleans.
Though most speakers spoke overwhelmingly against the plan, the crowd in a standing-room-only ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel downtown applauded at several points during the presentation.
[...]
In comments before the presentation, Nagin praised the plan but did not indicate whether he would accept all its
recommendations, calling the planning process "a journey" to seek input from the entire city. The mayor's comments seemingly sought to offer solace to both sides of the polarized debate.
"The realities are, we have limited resources to rebuild," he said, adding that, "We have some areas that still aren't safe."
But he hedged that comment with a commitment to "people's property rights" as the ultimate guide in rebuilding.
"The other reality is that this report is controversial," the mayor said. "It pushes the envelope, and it says some things to some people that they might misinterpret right now."
In that, he is correct. It will be a long-haul, folks. I don't know how much more I will diary on the specifics of this sausagemaking process. It may be time for us to just squabble among ourselves for awhile on some things at least, as every City/State/Country does, on tasks that are much less overwhelming. Goodness, now I am using self-censorship language. Hell, we are ALL whacked out by the last 5 years, in so many ways that we can no longer recognize.
As always, thanks for reading....