New Orleans, LA

This is a completely irreverent, completely hilarious parody of MTV cribs. Join the world’s greatest MC, mav-rick jae robokopp, in his crib in St Bernard. You can only get humor like this from the parish!

With sound bits like, “I’ve been living here for 45 years and I’m only 35 years old. What does that tell you?” The scene with the tasty bits in the fridge is guaranteed to amuse and disgust.

This is the height of bad taste and sick humor. Excuse, I’m going to go now and watch some more goatworthy videos.

Click on the video images at the bottom right to see more New Orleans videos. I’ll be changing them on a semi-regular basis. If you know of some good ones that you would like me to link to, leave me a note and I will.

Take care,

LewisC

new orleans, humor, video

The New Orleans Mint is reopening in October. The New Orleans mint was the mint that imprinted an O on coins. The mint shut down in 1909 but has been turned into a museum. It took some major damage by Katrina but has been renovated and is reopening for business.

For those collectors passing through New Orleans, the restored Mint Museum is well worth a visit. The former exhibit on the history of the New Orleans Mint has been totally revamped and expanded. It also now includes a section on the archeology of the Mint. The building served as both a U.S. and Confederate mint, but lack of bullion shut it down quickly under Confederate administration. Minting operations ceased once and for all in 1909 and in 1966 the landmark was transferred to the state. It opened to the public in 1981 as a state museum.

According to web sources, the old mint was built in 1835 and is the only mint in the US to server as both a US and Confederate mint.

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new orleans, us mint, o mint, tourism, history, museum, history, historical, numismatic

I couldn’t resist commenting on this news. From Workers World (tag line: Workers and Oppressed Peoples of the world unite!), comes the headline: Immigrants testify on exploitation in New Orleans. Excuse me, I have to snicker.

Ok. I’m back.

I agree that the government should have done more than it did. I agree that it is a tragedy that after two years New Orleans is in the state that it is in.

But, oppressed? Come on. Exploited? Please. Let’s get the ACLU and the NAACP and the Rev Sharpton to cry me a river.

Later, after he got out of the situation, Dennis stood on the corner at a Home Depot looking for work. Managers from the store called the police on the workers and armed police arrived in five patrol cars. The workers were not only arrested, Dennis described, but police stole $200 from him. In jail, he said, the Latin@ workers were terrified.

This article boggles the mind. Some dipstick head’s to New Orleans from a foreign country expecting to gouge the locals as day laborers. And we should feel sorry for him because he did not get what he was promised?

The recruiter promised the workers a good home, with a swimming pool, a television and telephone service. “But when I arrived,” Daniel said, “the reality was totally different.”

Duh! Ya think? A large portion of the local population was living in freaking fema trailers and you expect to have a good home and a swimming pool? Who’s exploiting whom?

The ruling class has successfully managed to drive down living conditions for the most oppressed workers in a way that can make heads spin. In addition, in every single facet of life, the community of New Orleans and all the Gulf Coast is being brutally and inhumanely hit. The horror the world saw in August of 2005 continues today in the wake of “Hurricane U.S. government.”

OH MY GOD. My mom and the rest of my family must be part of the oppressed. The man is keeping them down.

Ack. I need to stay away from rags like this.

commies, socialists, stupid

I read an article in CityBusiness this weekend, Jeff Parish plans Fat City makeover. They’re talking about a potential $300 million improvement. This is great news.

Sneed and the rest of the Council have made inroads to maximize the area’s potential. Fat City is softly bounded by Division Street to the west, Severn Avenue to the east, Veterans Memorial Boulevard to the south and West Esplanade Avenue to the north.

I used to live in Fat City. For a couple of years in my late teens, early twenties, I lived in an apartment on Edenborn. Talk about “living liquida loca”.  Anybody else remember “drinkin with lincoln?”  $5 all you can drink friday night.  I was even stabbed in Fat City once. Just a flesh wound.

Anyway, it’s been a two or three years since I was last there but it was decrepit and run down then so I can imagine what it looks like now. I’m glad they are putting some thought into renovation.

“It goes against common sense that this area, with its proximity to viable real estate like Lakeside Mall, Causeway Boulevard and Interstate 10, has been able to languish,” Sneed said. “This is clearly the best real estate in the metro area.”

They are talking about high-rises and I’m not too sure about that. Keep the high-rises in the NO CBD. Fat City should be about architecture and open air. Make it an open air, walking mall like is common in San Diego. Or make it an shop/entertainment area like Universal City Walk in Orlando.

“It’s easiest in that area to build high rises,” Sneed said. “It makes it of value to developers because it makes it financially feasible for a (building like) Lakeway Center or a Heritage Plaza.”

But anything would be good for Jefferson and for Metairie. Boot out Broussard and rebuild Fat City. The future looks bright.

jefferson parish, fat city, new orleans, metairie, party, liquor, drinkin with lincoln

Set your DVR on Thursday, September 20 at 7PM to WYES for Reshaping New Orleans. It will repeat at 9pm on Friday.

Reshaping New Orleans is a discussion amongst several knowledgeable and involved people. They will be discussing the Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP). The Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP) addresses specific actions necessary to facilitate the recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans. The objective of this multi-level planning process is to successfully integrate community input and a set of deliverables from the district-level and neighborhood planning processes into a Unified Recovery and Rebuilding Plan that will be submitted to the City Planning Commission, City Council, Mayors Office and State of Louisiana. The plan culminates with a city-wide plan that encompasses all districts and neighborhoods.

Is the Citywide Strategic Recovery and Redevelopment Plan more than just thoughts and words on paper? Can it really serve as a practical, workable blueprint to rebuild the city into the community that all residents and neighborhoods want?

The discussion is being led by John Snell (WVUE) and includes:

Stephen D. Villavaso, local planner who worked on Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP); David Dixon FAIA, a Boston, MA planner who worked on the UNOP; LaToya Cantrell, President of the Broadmoor Improvement Association; David Voelker, board member on the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) and a Federal Representative; Dr. Edward J. Blakely, Executive Director of the Office of Recovery Management for New Orleans and Donald E. Powell, Federal Coordinator of Gulf Coast Rebuilding. Prior to his new appointment, Mr. Powell served as the 18th Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Tune your radio to AM 690 WIST Thursday, September 20 at 8pm after RESHAPING NEW ORLEANS with local hosts Eric Asher and Shane Warner as they discuss the program and take calls from locals. Watch on AM 690 WIST Inside New Orleans with Eric Asher weekdays from 12-3pm and don’t miss The Shane Warner Show weekdays from 3-5pm.

new orleans, planning, katrina, rebuilding, wyes, wvue, wist, reshaping new orleans

The NYT had a good write up about K-Ville, Cop Show Comes Calling in Battered New Orleans. I don’t particularly like NYT because, for many articles, you have to log in. This headline caught my eye though.

K-Ville starts next monday. Sept 17. I will be watching. I watched the preview and liked it. I have two hopes for the show.

1) I hope it doesn’t get too cheesy. They could easily get maudlin or they could go the other way and just get stupid with the violence and stereo types. I’m hoping for more.

2) I hope, keeping #1 in mind, that the series is very successful. I don’t know if you remember Frank’s Place but I hope K-Ville is much more successful. I think having a series every week that keeps New Orleans in people’s minds could be very beneficial.

The article says that some people are bothered that in New Orleans, people don’t refer to the city as K-Ville. That’s true but I have read it quite a bit. I read it from people natives and non-natives. I think the title is a non-issue. I mean it’s a TV show for christ’s sake. It beats reality TV and Dr Phil.

Best Quote: Employment and other economic benefits are at the heart of that welcome. Ms. Day said that 80 percent of the crew on the show is local. “It takes eight days to film an episode,” she said. “Over that eight days a little more than a million dollars is pumped into the local economy.”

Wikipedia has a write up about K-Ville. Short but good. I’m sure info will be added to it over time.

new orleans, k-ville, cole hauser, anthony anderson, tv, series, fox, katrina, jobs, tourism

Ok, let me clarify. It’s not a comic book, it a graphic novel. An anthology, actually. From what I have seen of it, it looks pretty sharp. The book, Hope: New Orleans, is from Ronin Studios and says “100 comics creators joined forces to create an anthology to benefit the victims of the hurricane and subsequent flooding of New Orleans”.

The proceeds from the sale of this book will go toward the Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the Red Cross and its continued effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The front and back cover are painted by David Mack, creator of Kabuki. The pinups by Lark, Shinn/Barkmann, Stahnke, Villegas and Wachter are placed throughout the book, rounding it off perfectly.

Some of the stories in the anthology:

Persistent City
An ode to New Orleans by writer Alex Wilson and artist Mario Boon, this story was created for HOPE: New Orleans and first printed in The Florida Review, Fall 2006

Goth Ninja in New Orleans
Stepping off the pages from her Silent Devil book, the Goth Ninja takes on an enemy in the streets of New Orleans.

Brotherhood
A father tells his son about the power of music in a seemingly hopeless situation.

Epsilon Realm: A Reason to Believe
An international group of superheroes goes to help the victims of Katrina.

Lightning Squirrel: Terror in the Ruins
Lightning Squirrel and his friends help New Orleanseans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of the city.

Sweet Marie
The last story in the anthology is a tale of the indomitable spirit of New Orleans, symbolized by the Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau.

You can get more info from this discussion about the book. I haven’t been able to find it on sale yet. Doesn’t amazon carry things like this?

new orleans, katrina, comic, book, graphic, ronin studios, hope: new orleans

Stephen Sabludowsky of the BayouBuzz got a very honest and heartfelt interview with Soledad O’Brien. I’m not sure what I expected in the interview but it was very honest and sort of moving. She made a couple of comments that would not have expected from a journalist.

You can view the videos at the bayoubuzz, Interview With Soledad O’Brien. I get the daily email from the Bayoubuzz. While I don’t always agree with the editorial viewpoint, I do like the site.

I’ve got this interview bookmarked. I’ve always liked Soledad and she makes a few comments that should be mailed to all of the politicians at all levels. “It’s about justice and fairness” should be the Rebuild New Orleans tag line.

new orleans, katrina, soledad obrien, interview, bayou buzz

This is an odd twist to good news. This Old House is coming to New Orleans. From the Times-Picayune, PBS series ‘This Old House’ heads to New Orleans. I haven’t watched the show in a long time but I used to watch it religiously. Norm and Kevin O’Connor will be in New Orleans on tuesday.

Quote: The mini-season will tell “a multi-faceted story about the recovery and rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina,” according to a “The This Old House Hour” news release. “The show will track several personal stories, yet will primarily focus on a historic renovation in the neighborhood of Holy Cross in the Lower 9th Ward.”

new orleans, good news, this old house

Back in the beginning of August, I wrote an article about a Time Magazine article called Time: The Threatening Storm. After I wrote that, I got a comment from a reader named Corps Of Engineers Employee. Corps had this to day:

# Corps of Engineers Employee Says:
August 14th, 2007 at 9:45 am e

TIME magazine’s article, “The Threatening Storm,” undermines the real science and risk information citizens need to make informed decisions about rebuilding with its reckless disregard for the truth.

The Corps provided TIME magazine with engineering, scientific and risk information derived from the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force’s (IPET) study done in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The IPET study has been independently peer reviewed by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the National Academies. TIME chose to base their article on upon technical quotes that are not supported by science-based facts or the analysis done by IPET, ASCE or the National Academies.

For more info, visit:
http://www.usace.army.mil/response.htm

I promised that I would take a look at the link and report back. I have read the information and am now reporting back.

First off, I have to admit, I am not an engineer. I’m a computer neebish, though. Anyway, I mentioned (complained?) in my original post that I would like to see where Time got their info. This page from the Corps has links to that data. This page was basically released like a press release and if you are interested, I would recommend that you read it and the links provided. I will post some, what I consider significant, information from the release here.

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Joshua Clark, author of Heart Like Water, recently told me about a new Katrina news site. The site is HurricaneKatrinaNews.org and it is a very comprehensive news story site.

The name of the page is Hurricane Katrina 2007, your go to page.

This is the description:

We present here the latest articles of note, and include a brief synopsis and quotes from each below its link, so you need not go any further unless you want to delve deeper about a particular subject. This is not a site not of outdated, archived news items. These pieces include breaking news, highlighting the ongoing debates, resources to better understand the hurricane—what we can do about both healing its wounds and preventing a future disaster—as well as resources for those still in need. Sadly, despite the fact that the storm’s second anniversary is approaching on August 29, 2007, Hurricane Katrina’s devastation is far from over.

Katrina made landfall just before dawn on August 29, 2005, seventy miles south of New Orleans. Largely because the wetlands that make up Louisiana’s coast had been eroded, the storm surge pushed unabated into southern Louisiana, breaching New Orleans’ levees at multiple points, leaving 80 percent of the city submerged, tens of thousands of victims clinging to rooftops, and hundreds of thousands scattered to shelters around the country. Many have yet to return. The devastation to Mississippi and Louisiana by hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been called the greatest disaster in our nation’s history.

The images of anguish and anger from Hurricane Katrina have been forever burned into the hearts and minds of all Americans. They must be the catalyst for change. Prevention of a future disaster of similar proportions is both possible and practical. But the United States must act now to restore the wetlands.

There are links here to current Katrina-related news stories, a Katrina info central with timelines and graphics, a lessons learned section (including myth busters). The page also has links to additional resources, important phone numbers, and some very impressive details on the Louisiana wetlands and what has been happening to them.

This site is a bookmark for sure.

new orleans, katrina, rebuilding, news

Taking the lead from several of my co-bloggers here at 451Press, I have decided to start a Photo of the Week. The others do a photo of the day but I think I will reserve Sunday as my photo day. If I get several good ones in one week, I may also post a photo on Saturday.

French Quarter, Window of a store, Christmas Day 2005
Photographer: Gina Cunningham

To submit a photo, send me an e-mail at lewis.cunningham@451press.net with the subject line of New Orleans Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo. Include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo.

By emailing me the photo, you are explicitly declaring that you are the copyright holder of the photo and that you are giving me permission to post the photo.

I can hot link to your site, or upload the image and link from this site. Tell me your preference.

Thanks,

LewisC

new orleans, photo, image

I am feeling somewhat melancholy and homesick today. More so than last year. I’m not sure why. Things have gotten better in New Orleans but for some reason I am more depressed this year as the anniversary rolls around. Maybe it’s because two years later and things aren’t further along.

My mom is moving out of her trailer at the end of this month. Housing is outrageous. My nephews have jobs. I have two less siblings this year than I did two years ago. I didn’t think it was possible for New Orleans to have fewer IT jobs than it did several years ago but that is the unfortunate truth.

So, today, I will leave you with two NPR stories. You can follow the links to hear the recordings.

The first is titled: Dear New Orleans: I’m Leaving You. This is the story of a reporter, a non-native, who had adopted New Orleans as her home. A female representative of Generation K. Eve from K-Ville. Maybe that makes her a native.

The story isn’t so much about her as it is about the sadness and the crime permeating the city two years after Katrina. The big easy that is less easy. Her feelings about New Orleans seem to be a lot like mine:

They don’t understand that I’m in love. I talk to friends about New Orleans like a dysfunctional romance. I gush over it one day, then call up bawling and heartbroken the next. Why can’t it change? Stop being self-destructive and violent? It has so much potential.

I don’t live in New Orleans anymore. I don’t know if I ever will. But I am still a local. I always will be. There is something about New Orleans that forces that on you. Even through the embarrassment of re-electing Nagin, I will forever be a child born in Mercy Hospital.

The reporter, Eve, is leaving New Orleans after a friend being murdered, after friends being mugged, after being mugged herself. I wish her the best. Go to the link above and listen to the audio. It’s worth a few minutes.

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Fox and NOLA.com have gotten together and you can watch the k-ville premier right now. Go to the NOLA Entertainment section to see it.

Spoiler Alert: I am discussing the new K-Ville show on Fox and I have seen the ending. If you have not seen the premiere (the link above) and don’t want to be spoiled, do not continue reading. You’ve been warned!

Unless you’ve been under a rock (or have absolutely no interest in New Orleans topics), you have heard of K-Ville. If you haven’t heard, it’s a cop drama in New Orleans about two years after Katrina hit. New Orleans now. Crime drama. Just like real life. Only here the bad guys are rich white women and mercenaries that work at casinos. And I thought there was enough crime with the scum bag murderers, gang bangers, dopers, pimps, etc.

From the blurb on fox.com:

From writer and executive producer Jonathan Lisco (“NYPD Blue,” “The District”) comes K-VILLE, a heroic police drama set – and filmed – in New Orleans. Two years after Katrina, parts of the city are still in chaos, but hope has emerged. Battling an upsurge of violence, understaffing of police forces and a lack of crime labs and other facilities, the cops who remain in the New Orleans Police Department have courage to burn and a passion to reclaim and rebuild their city.

MARLIN BOULET (Anthony Anderson) is a brash, wry, in-your-face veteran of the NOPD’s Felony Action Squad, the specialized unit that targets the most-wanted criminals. Even when his partner deserted him during the storm, Boulet held his post, spending days in the water saving lives and keeping order. Now, two years later, he’s unapologetic about bending the rules when it comes to collaring bad guys. The stakes are too high, and the city too fragile, for him to do things by the book.

Boulet’s new partner, TREVOR COBB (Cole Hauser), was a soldier in Afghanistan before joining the NOPD. He’s tough and committed, but if he’s less than comfortable with Boulet’s methods, it’s because he’s harboring a dark secret. Cobb has come to New Orleans seeking redemption, but redemption can be dangerous. Will Boulet be able to trust him? Will Cobb’s past endanger them both?

Rounding out the crew are wisecracking JEFF “GLUE BOY” GOODEN (Blake Shields), the team’s comic relief; tough-as-nails GINGER “LOVE TAP” LeBEAU (Tawny Cypress), the only female on the squad; and CAPTAIN JAMES EMBRY (John Carroll Lynch), who wrangles the eclectic personalities of his squad with equal parts humor and tenacity.

Through its no-holds-barred crime stories and dramatic personal stories, this intriguing series will take viewers from the Victorian mansions of the Garden District to the rubble of the Lower 9th Ward.

K-VILLE, executive-produced by Lisco and Craig Silverstein (BONES, “Standoff”), is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. Deran Sarafian (HOUSE, “CSI”) directed the pilot.

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As we all know, Ray Nagin believes that the New Orleans murder rate is part of the city’s “brand”.

“It’s not good for us, but it also keeps the New Orleans brand out there, and it keeps people thinking about our needs and what we need to bring this community back,” he said. “Sure it hurts, but we have to keep working every day to make the city better.”

Well, as reported as that was, what is more disturbing is how the murder rate is viewed across the world. New Orleans’ life blood is tourism and a “brand” of murder is not good for anyone. Stories are cropping up across all of the many media about the crime rate.

From MSNBC, New Orleans murder rate on the rise again:

Last year, university researchers conducted an experiment in which police fired 700 blank rounds in a New Orleans neighborhood in a single afternoon. No one called to report the gunfire.

From Medical News Today, Already High Murder Rate Increased In New Orleans After Katrina:

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