prytaniawaterline.com Blog

I wasn’t surprised when I read the T.P. article about a private security firm, hired by the road home was finding squatters in abandoned homes owned by the road home. I would think that this problem will get worse since the crackdown of the Hooverville under the interstate.
reading the usual vulgar comments that follow such stories I have to award my ungly american trophy to this guy.

Posted by mcmurphyrp on 07/20/08 at 10:58PM
The Road Home program is socialism at its best. People who do not have insurnace and when a catastrophe hits, the Federal Gov’t bails them out with taxpayer money. Many other people pay homeowners insurance and did not get a handout. Is this not penalizing the people who sacrifice to carry insurance. Why should anyone pay for insurance if the Fed Gov’t is going to provide “Road Home” money for those that don’t have it. Especially idiots who live below MSL that do not have flood insurance. Only idiots live next to a large body of water where their house is below the surface of the water, and then blame the U.S.A.C.E. because the levees broke. Similar to those that build on side of a cliff and rebuild on the same cliff after it collapses.

The real reason that the U.S. is having problems is because we have become selfish, and self centered. Compassion and a sense of doing the right thing do not seem to be a concern of Ugly America.

It would be nice to be able to lump everyone into the ugly American category but I know too many fellow Americans who do not think that way. Those who take the selfish route just make it harder on those who don’t to convince the world that we do not all feel that way.

As far as blaming the U.S.A.C.E. for levee failure, the failed levees were not what they said they were. The construction was flawed and the corps should have recognized this and fixed the problem before they were put to the test. Yes the corps a government agency should be blamed for much of what happened here. I only wish I had the confidence to say that they have learned their lesson.

Maybe it’s because they don’t have anything better to do. Many of the parks and recreation areas that would normally host baseball leagues and other activities to keep our thirteen year olds occupied are still trashed after having been used for trailer parks. Of course the city and FEMA are still haggling over who should pay to clean and restore these recreation areas.

From T.P.

The park sits idle because of protracted negotiations between the city and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Citywide, none of the 15 parks used for FEMA trailers have been returned to service. Instead, the parks stand empty, surrounded by fences draped with raggedy green fabric, topped with crushed stone and crisscrossed by electric lines and white PVC sewer pipes. Metal thieves have nabbed many of the electric boxes, neighbors say. Other than that, nothing’s been touched.

So the next time you hear about a thirteen year old being arrested or murdered, lets put the responsibility on the heads of the people who are responsible for it. FEMA and the government of the City of New Orleans. They only think of themselves, I guess they have forgotten that their primary purpose is to serve the people. Maybe they can come up with a solution when they have their next power lunch at Commanders.

This is wonderful the company that had the contract for the crime cams is suing the city. Nagin said in his speech the other night that they had walked off the job.

The company, Southern Electronics and partner company Active Solutions were hired in 2004 to install and maintain the cameras. And their lawyer told WDSU that they didn’t walk off the job. He said the city’s old chief technology officer, Greg Meffert, tried to steal their design and concept.

The result: Southern Electronics has sued Meffert, companies with which they allege he was affiliated and the lawsuit names Nagin too.

Never a dull moment at New Orleans City Hall.

This is very upsetting to me, Betsy McDaniel has died from her injuries from a brutal robbery at her home on Monday. I have not been to Betsy’s since I took some friends there on Ash Wednesday. Betsy waited on us that morning. That was the last time I saw her.

I was really saddened to hear about Betsy McDaniel being robbed and beaten in her Marrero home. I know Betsy, I have eaten at Betsy’s Pancake house many times. I don’t understand why whoever robbed her felt the need to beat her so severly. I hope she can make a full recovery from this.

I was pleased to see that David Bonds has been caught. David is a regular at parish prison, he was recently aquitted of the murder of Dinerral Shavers. This time Bonds is charged with attemtped murder for a shooting that occured on May the 4 near Canal and St.Charles. Let’s see if our DA’s office can make this one stick. This guy needs to be removed from the street. Up to now it would seem that he has a get out of jail free card.

Three people were killed in a nine hour period , a couple of more people were shot. You would think our Mayor would show some interest in this problem. The theory is that if you are white and don’t do drugs your chances of being murdered are about the same as anywhere else. That doesn’t play very well with me. I am one of those citizens who wants to see it stop. It is going to take a lot more than good police work and incarceration to solve the problem. It is going to take a change of conscience by the City of New Orleans including it’s citizens. Many who look at the murder problem as a process of the bad killing off the bad. A fifteen year old kid was one of the murder victims, I find it hard to believe that this kid deserved to die. We are talking about children here, it is sad to see the loss of another generation of young people in this city to the dark side.

David Bonds is a wanted man again. After being acquitted of the murder of Dinerral Shavers last month he alledgedly shot a man in the 700 block of Canal Street. There were witnesses to the shooting who identified Bonds as the shooter. There were witnesses in the Shavers’ case too. Bonds is obviously a dangerous person. If and when they catch him, will he escape justice again. The criminal justice system in this town continues to suck. Whether it is blamed on a lack of competenence or culture of violence, bad boys continue to get away with murder.

We also have the murder trial of Clarence Johnson getting under way today. You all remember Clarence, he is the young man who was bested in a fight. Went home his mama alledgedly gave him a gun and told how to take care of his rivals. What a good mom, she is in jail awaiting trial.

Another blip in New Orleans East. Add to that the crack stealing janitor who cleaned up at the court building in a big way. Loki has more on this at
Humid City in his Justice on Crack Post

Add to it the Times Picayune article on the uptick in crime (according to the paper and uptick is 20%) and you wonder how this city can be considered a fit place to live.

Maybe the mayor should start calling the local thugs to the parking lot instead of local news producers.

Please do not confuse upticks with blips.

There seems to be a problem with the young’uns in New Orleans, They must not be getting allowances or something. Around the 17th of April a fourteen year old was arrested for a string of French Quarter robberies. In todays T.P. there is a story about a thirteen and fourteen year old being arrested for armed robbery.

Officers believe two boys from the 1100 block of Columbus Street, ages 13 and 14, took to the streets at 10 a.m. that day, one of them toting a .410-gauge sawed-off shotgun.

Haven’t these kids ever heard of going to a movies for entertainment. Maybe that’s why they are robbing people, so they can get money to go to the movies.
Add to that eighth killing in a week, and you might think we have a crime problem here.

The Nagin administration needs to put crime on the front burner. All of his junkets to promote New Orleans as a good place to do business won’t help if 13 and 14 year old kids are terrorizing the streets.