And this will be diaried again in 2008. Happy New Year.
There's a lot of hoopla here at Daily Kos because Markos wrote a post criticizing Obama and Miss Laura has come out for Edwards. Yes, these two folks are so very powerful that the sun will not rise tomorrow if they proclaim it so!
Eh.
What makes the Front Page of Daily Kos so powerful is not any one person but a team of folks. The proof of that power is that they are endlessly exhorted by most of us at one time or other to cover our stories and our views on the front page.
I am joining this grand club. See below for details.
I wrote a diary not long ago entitled This is a National Issue. The diary was about the City Council of New Orleans unanimously voting to demolish public housing.
Fact is, I've written several diaries about this issue. This national issue.
If the Front Page of Daily Kos can write about the Iraq War and consider that a national issue that directly affects our goal of electing Democrats, then I would put forth that the story of what is going on in New Orleans is the domestic version of that kind of national story that affects all Democrats, and should be covered equally.
It is not a single issue. What has happened on the Gulf Coast is a national issue with national implications.
Everyone is very excited about the Presidential primaries. Yay.
Let me illustrate this national issue with an extremely local story out of New Orleans.
From the highly respected New Orleans weblog, Ashley Morris: The Blog, comes the story: Bye Bye Lindy Boggs Medical Center.
See, Lindy Boggs, formerly Mercy Hospital, suffered damage from the Federal Flood. There were community meetings over whether to restore it to serve the community as it had before. It was full when Katrina hit.
I make not even the slightest claim to know the intricacies of this local story. But it is a fact that the land was bought by a real estate outfit known as Victory Real Estate.
From the Times-Picayune Ashley links to:
A deal struck between Ochsner Health System and Tenet Healthcare Corp., which sold Lindy Boggs to Victory in May for $9.4 million, prohibits the facility's reopening or the development of a new hospital on the property. Ochsner's contract last year to purchase three other New Orleans-area hospitals owned by Tenet hinged on a promise from the publicly traded Dallas firm to prevent acute care on the land. A full-service hospital would be off limits, while "sub-acute" services, such as a clinic, would be allowed. Warner Thomas, Ochsner's president and chief operating officer, said the arrangement with Tenet stemmed from a desire to protect the health system's investment in Memorial Medical Center. That Uptown New Orleans hospital, now called Ochsner Baptist Medical Center, was one of the three sites Ochsner acquired from Tenet.
The pact between Ochsner and Tenet stymied at least one attempt to revive the Lindy Boggs. A group of doctors last year offered to buy and refurbish the damaged hospital from Tenet, according to Dr. Robert Kenny, the former president of Lindy Boggs' medical staff and a member of the group. But according to Kenny, Tenet rejected the doctors' offer and instead sold to Victory. (emphasis mine)
Ok, nothing illegal here. I'm not trying to call out any villains. The former owners of the Lindy Boggs Medical Center, Tenet Healthcare Corp., has other hospitals in the area and didn't want the competition. So of course as a business decision, they're not going to sell to a group of doctors who will in fact rebuild the facility but go with a group of real estate developers who will agree not to compete in the area that Tenet has claimed its own.
Nothing illegal there. And the community spoke with Victory, they had a lot of meetings, at this point, they're kind of resigned to the fact Lindy Boggs will be demolished - they are willing to work with Victory and hope that Victory will be responsive to the community.
Ashley's take on this?
A Georgia real estate firm planning to build a sprawling mixed-use development in New Orleans' Mid-City neighborhood won city approval Monday to demolish the Lindy Boggs Medical Center, which now stands vacant on a chunk of land considered crucial to the project.
Blame Victory Real Estate, blame Ochsner, blame Tenet.
Just look at Victory's website (Don't miss the ever-pleasant Alton Darby, and his mook-de-camp Kent Cost, and check out their enlightened idea of appropriate architecture.
I call it strip mall hell. I'm not necessarily against development, and God knows we could use some in mid city, but please, make it look like it belongs there.
Never known for marching in lockstep, in a comment to Ashley's post, Mr. Clio of World Class New Orleans provides a different viewpoint:
I was born in that hospital (Mercy), so I guess I have some standing to speak on this.
On most of these "development" issues, I get pissed off by both sides. I don't understand the people in teh neighborhood (and in the media) who speak as though one must have a hospital a few blocks from one's house for "access to healthcare."
Huh? How long does it take to drive, ride a bus, or bike from Mid-City to downtown?
On the other hand, I don't have illusions about the intentions or aesthetics of the "developers." Carpetbaggers.
The thing that usually tips me over to being pro-"development" (as it were) is the vision of all those Orleanians who drive to Metairie or the Westbank to go to Target or Wal-Mart. Why not keep your tax money in Orleans?
If those stores are part of contemporarly living for people (right or wrong), why let Aaron Broussard collect the bucks?
Why do only people in the 'burbs deserve a cheap box of Tide? Why should people in Orleans pay the rip-off prices of convenience stores?
So I end up with the putrid developers. Gross, but an effective way to keep money in Orleans.
And a succinct comment from the fabled NOLA blogger Gentilly Girl:
I've checked out Victory's projects months ago. Putrid shit barely covers my feelings about the designs.
Let's go all out and get some information from the fabulous Wiki on Victory Real Estate:
Already a major presence in the region, Victory is currently in the process of acquiring large land holdings in areas of New Orleans, Louisiana, that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina with the intention of bringing major national retailers into parts of the city that were previously either unsuitable or unavailable for development of retail shopping centers due to land values and historic local development patterns.
The first major acquisition announced was the property that was the Lindy Boggs Medical Center, formerly a Tenet Healthcare facility, which was never reopened after it was flooded following Katrina.
Ok, so that's the story. We know that New Orleans has not been treated well either by our traditional media or our federal government. The Republicans would love to turn all of Louisiana a nice bright red. The mistakes that have been made and the downright crimes of the federal government in this national disgrace have, for some odd reason, not been a big priority of the committee of which Senator Joseph Lieberman is chair.
And this is just the beginning of the city planning that will be going on in this year of 2008, city planning and environmental decisions, one day, hopefully, a report by the Army Corps of Engineers. Houses will be demolished, others will be built.
There will be a lot of money being flung about.
Regardless of who wins the primary and who wins the Presidential election, no one is going to hear the real story unless we tell it. And this story is happening now, not in November of 2008.
Frankly, that's why I think it is so important to have a Presidential Debate in New Orleans. For national reasons.
Do you really believe that even if a Dem is elected President and we have a nice big Democratic majority in Congress, our traditional media is going to all of a sudden start accurately covering what happened in New Orleans and what's been happening for over two and a half years?
Because if we don't cover this story and make it a big deal now, not in November, it will, shamefully, become only one of many vying for attention, and those of us who know beyond doubt that this national story is important to all Americans, will be scrambling to get in line.
Not this kitty.
I will pound the drum as often as I can about this national story. I think it deserves to be covered from the Front Page of Daily Kos.
I won't demand or throw tantrums. I'll challenge and fight and struggle to make this happen.
Because if it does, then this national issue will be put at the same level as the national issue of the Iraq War as something which deserves to be understood and that folks need to be held accountable for their role in these disgraces to our country.
What is happening right now in New Orleans is a fight -- not about whether or not to have a Home Depot built instead of a hospital -- but about who makes these decisions and who is held accountable for the results of those decisions.
It is a national story because right now New Orleans has to deal with federal agencies with Bush incompetents in charge such as FEMA and HUD. That won't change after the Iowa or the New Hampshire primaries.
It is a story that deserves to be covered on the Front Page of Daily Kos.
So now everyone knows my New Year's resolution.