New Orleans, LA

From the DailyKOS on August 29, 2007:

New Orleans: Mission NOT Accomplished

The more I read about Shelley Midura, the more I like her. She is an incredible writer. In this article she skewers just about everyone that needs skewering. She also makes some very good points.

The first point is that the government in New Orleans is fairly busy right now with three primary jobs: Rebuilding the city, Reforming the city government and running the day to day operations of a fairly large city.

In other major cities, item number three is a full-time job for a fully-staffed City Hall and city officials. Imagine trying to accomplish all three of these things with half of city government laid off due to crippling budget cuts.

Keep in mind that as elected officials, we get paid to perform these tasks as we are public servants. The citizens of New Orleans however are going through this painful recovery voluntarily and doing so because of a deep love for the City of New Orleans.

I also hear, way too often, people not understanding why anyone would choose to live behind levees. Forget the fact that much of the country depends on levees to hold back rivers, but also, New Orleans is:

A city that is rebuilding not due to help from the federal government (Who, by the way, just so happens to be the designer, the builder and the owner of the levee system that failed our city), but is rebuilding in spite of government.

As much as I enjoy skewering Bush, Shelley makes points out some good things too:

Civic activism is at an all time high. For the first time in my life, there is an actual reform movement in New Orleans driven by the people. “Best Practices” has become a City Council mantra.

Young people from around the country seeking to make a difference with 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 President Bush knows, mainly that what happens in New Orleans over the next few years says something about the very heart of America itself.

We are in fact doing our part locally in New Orleans despite contrary comments by the Bush administration. Our intense civic activity and government reform initiatives are serious indicators of our local commitment to do our part for the recovery.

I hope Shelley Midura can, and will, continue leading by example. She is in a difficult job, not one that I envy that’s for sure. While no one is perfect, she has had a near perfect response to the second anniversary of Katrina. Her open letter to Bush was an awesome response to Bush’s arrogant and insincere response to the same event.

One last quote form Ms Midura:

But we are drowning in federal red tape. We are being nickel and dimed to death by Bush’s 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 Bush’s 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.

new orleans, politics, bush, katrina, recovery