[FoCHAT] Is Adam Nossiter a Tool????

[Johnny Adriani]

In response:

Better days for New Orleans and an increase in population could well  
lie within our future.  The largest obstacle before us is a lack of  
foresight and an overabundance of complacency.  What is even more  
troubling is the fact that the media throughout the metropolitan  
community cannot accurately focus upon the real issues which prevent  
people from returning, rebuilding and resuming their lives within  
Orleans Parish.

Probably the most terrifying issue which faces each and everyone of  
us in the City of New Orleans is the threat of another flood.  If we  
cannot guarantee an elimination of the threat of catastrophic  
flooding, we may as well end our dialogue at this juncture and move  
onward to the North Shore.  Be we, as a whole, seem to care little  
about the fact that the breach of the 17th Street Canal has not been  
repaired.  Oh, yes, it has been patched – but it is far from being  
repaired.  Should we be concerned?  Let examine the following  
statement from December 22nd’s Times-Picayune:

“There was some concern, too, that the Army Corps of Engineers might  
order S&WB pumps throttled back so as not to let ejected drainage  
water climb too high in the 17th Street and London Avenue Canals,  
whose famously fragile floodwalls must be protected from overstress.”

If we have any doubt that the levee system is an issue, the above  
statement should reassure us that it is.  Nevertheless, no one seems  
to be pushing this agenda in the very least.

During the 2005 Mayoral election, the problems with the levees were  
major issues.  It was pointed out however that this is Federal  
jurisdiction.  Then, I propose we place some serious pressure on our  
Congressman, want-to-be- Governor to lead the issue to resolve.

Another pertinent issue during the 2005 Mayoral election was  
evacuation plans.  Where are they?  Way back in 1998 when Hurricane  
Georges lunged towards us we realized several problems.  First,  
evacuation plans and routes were not adequate.  Moreover too many  
people remained within the City in the waning moments before a  
hurricane’s landfall.

Shortly after Georges grazed the Crescent City a telltale study was  
conducted by the University of New Orleans entitled: "Evacuation  
Behavior in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes." The University sampled a  
little over 850 registered voters, 417 in Jefferson and 442 in  
Orleans, between the dates of October 14 and 26 and documented  
something that everyone already knew: most people chose to evacuate  
too late and only about one third of those actually left the  
metropolitan area.

On July 19, 2004 Category 3 Hurricane Pam crashed ashore striking New  
Orleans directly with 120 mile per hour winds, storm surge which  
topped the levees and inundated eighty percent of the buildings and  
the City with upwards of 20 feet of water. No-one evacuated. Most  
people did not even know that the storm arrived until it was reported  
the following day in the Times-Picayune. Pam was a fiction.

"On Monday, at the outset of an eight-day tabletop exercise, more  
than 250 emergency preparedness officials from more than 50 federal,  
state and local agencies and volunteer organizations began using that  
catastrophic scenario -- dubbed Hurricane Pam -- to develop a  
recovery plan for the 13 parishes in the New Orleans area," said the  
Picayune's July 20th edition. The exercise prognosticated funneled  
flood waters which were eventually seen during the 2005 Hurricane  
along the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, the fact that it would take  
two to three days for emergency personnel to reach many inundated  
areas, and that mass evacuation should be stressed.

The Hurricane Pam scenario also brought to light the need for  
emergency shelters, debris removal as well as long range housing  
issues, the potential toxicity of the flood waters and the impact on  
healthcare and education. The exercise was well thought-out. It  
forecast many issues which were yet to come but, regrettably, solved  
very little.

And yet, even as we discuss rebuilding the City, not one person has  
come to terms with the issues of evacuation.  Moreover we cannot seem  
to connect the Causeway with a limited access road between  
Interstates 10 and 12.  The I-49 Project is at a standstill for  
environmental and social studies.  Louisiana Highway 3127 has never  
been even considered as an option for travel towards Baton Rouge.   
The Twin Span is going to be rebuild adding a meager one lane extra  
in each direction.  And when it is complete the old Interstate Twin  
Span will be demolished rather than maintained for evacuation purposes.

Healthcare was another large issue during the 2005 Mayoral race.  You  
get shot or stabbed while walking out of the door at Galotoire’s and  
guess what?  You’re going to the Emergency Trauma Center at Elmwood;  
that is, if you survive the trip.  People claim that Big Charity  
Hospital is doomed.  The problem is that the building will have to be  
gutted of all the asbestos before it is leveled.  If we had used our  
heads we would have been gutting the building and refurbishing as few  
floors so that we have some semblance or real Healthcare in the City  
while a new hospital is constructed.

Foresight.  We don’t appear to have it.

It should boggle our minds that we live in a City with one of the  
largest ports in the world and we do not have a booming economy.  Why  
is this?  Because the infrastructure does not support a thriving port  
economy.  Throughout the years we have failed to upgrade our roads,  
rail and passenger service.  It can take you an hour to go the eight  
miles from the Orleans Parish line to the airport on any given day.

We seem happy to lay the blame upon the political leaders.  The  
article want to somehow place the blame at Hale Bogg’s feet for dying  
in an airplane crash.  The politicians reflect the will of the people  
and they reflect our composition.  If we really cared about anything  
more than ourselves as individuals we would not be using this board  
for discussing how to fill out forms and file paperwork.  We would be  
discussing how we can have the ICF removed from their position and  
place forth a diligent investigation to why billions of dollars have  
been sitting around in the State coffers and can not be delivered to  
us based upon simple calculations (such as the tax rolls and assessed  
values) and minimal constrictions.  I guarantee you (and I am sure  
that you will all agree) that if each property owner had received a  
percentage of the billions in congressional aid, six months agon,  
based upon the taxes they paid throughout the years, the economy in  
New Orleans would be booming.

But here we are, the dialogue on this Fo-Chat site has become a  
mundane acceptance of the Status quo.  No-one even bothered to look  
at my post regarding First American Title.  No one could be bothered  
with the facts.

The expectations that New Orleans would return back to its original  
population were not incorrect.  What we failed to head off was the  
bureaucratic nonsense in Baton Rouge.

Those of you in Lakeview look around you.  Where are your neighbors?   
Has anyone gone to New Orleans East where the middle class black  
community once thrived?  Where are these individuals?  We need to  
strenuously encourage our productive residents to return.  Without  
the middle class the situation is dire.

Adam Nossiter is not a tool.  He seems to be reporting fact.  We are  
just too complacent to get up on our own two feet and raise our  
voices en mass.  We could go to 720 Myrtle Street in Lafayette, or to  
the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge and crowd the streets with New  
Orleanians carrying water buckets.  Each of us should inundate the  
Picayune with letters demanding true investigative reporting into ICF  
and all the subcontractors.

But I waste my breath.  I have been down this path before.  But be  
advised of one thing, and you all may not appreciate me highlighting  
this fact: we are our own worst enemies because we fail to take any  
serious action.








Johnny Adriani
67 North Park Place
New Orleans, Louisiana 70124
(504)421-1854 mobile
(504)482-6898 home

818 North Boulevard
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802
(225)381-9448 office