Killing fields in poor communities encouraged by government laxity,availability of guns

“Satan himself lives here in San Pedro. People here kill people like they're nothing more than chickens." San Pedro Sula's continuous tragedy are the murders there, but even more than that are the financially and socially poor communities all over the world who live and die in those killing fields, a pattern in the world that increases violence in those areas where people are more vulnerable.



In 2013 San Pedro was listed as the most dangerous city in the world. It continues to have that distinction, and as the mortician quoted above in The Guardian maintains, it is a place of great tragedy with the numbers of people killed numbering about 173 out of every 100,000 persons annually, a consequence of government laxity.



What makes this Honduras city so dangerous? Drug trafficking, gang violence and political corruption are said to be the chief ingredients in a mix that has made the city a place where every day there are stories in the newspapers about gangland killings, drug deals gone bad and revenge murder everywhere.



Honduras is just one among a number of cities in Central and South America that has a high rate of homicide. The problem continues to be the trafficking of drugs, but it is also the politics where local officials are often close to the drug lords or afraid of the kings of the trade and therefore are ineffective in combating the violence that has engulfed many cities.



Indeed, as The Guardian says, the same problems that have made San Pedro a dangerous city are those that impact much of the rest of Latin America. According to reports the 20 cities with the highest homicide rate are in Latin America, with the sole exception of New Orleans.



In the United States Camden, New Jersey is said to be the most dangerous city in America with Portland, Oregon one of the least dangerous. Experts tell us there is also a high correlation between percentage of African American residents and crime, so New Orleans, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland and Atlanta are among those places.



The Grio, an African American newspaper, examines the problem of crime in the black community, by examining the statistics of Nebraska that has the highest rate of black murders. It has a murder rate higher than either Pennsylvania or Michigan. In general murder rates are increasing in the African American communities of the Midwest.



Violence is said to be tied to high poverty levels in these areas. That is especially true of Omaha. Nebraska is that exception in the sense it does not have a high African American population. But Omaha have many in the black community who are socially and financially deprived. And it is Omaha where the African American community is concentrated. Much of the violence is gang-related, just like the problems of Latin America, where the cities that have the highest rate of murder have gang wars and violence that makes certain areas particularly dangerous.



African Americans are four times more likely than other ethnic groups in the United States to be murdered, and most of the killings are done with guns, according to research discussed by the Grio. Guns remain the favored tool for violence of all kinds.



But even as black men are more likely to be killed by guns than white men, the National Rifle Association has been targeting the group for greater inclusion in its gun advocacy. A campaign last year focused on associating the Civil Rights struggle with the need to have guns to protect oneself from the government. The following is a related quote offered by Colion Noir, a YouTube celebrity:

“No one wants to fight for their protection, they want the government to do it. The same government who at one point hosed us down with water, attacked us with dogs, wouldn’t allow us to eat at their restaurants and told us we couldn’t own guns. [...] The only person responsible for your safety is you. Cops can’t always be there. Obama definitely can’t be there. Guy telling me to get rid of my guns when I need them the most, isn’t my friend, isn’t looking out for my best interests and doesn’t speak for me or the community that I’m part of. “

In Latin America corrupt officials in government turn a blind eye to drug trafficking and the crime associated with it. Government is considered part of the problem. In the United States, however, the FBI has been hard at work trying to undo the damage caused by gangs and drugs, yet the gun trade continues to flourish, especially in the poor communities populated by minorities, most especially African Americans.



And while the government itself may not have the type of corruption found in Latin America, it does have one thing that keeps the guns and gun sellers busy, the former with killing and the latter with making money, and that's gun advocacy and the message that it is every man's right, and need, to have a gun.



Don't trust the government is often the message of gun advocates, as underlined by the advertising seducing the poor and encouraging them to buy guns. The mantra of “don't trust the government” is repeated in conversations, in social media and by ordinary folk, even in those cultures, like the United States, that has a democratically elected government. The Gallup Poll found out, for example, that 72% of those polled either don't trust their government or only have a fair amount of trust in it.



Police are an arm of the government, and if that is the message of gun advocates that one must arm himself or herself against the government, that would include arming people against the police as well. The suspicion of authority continues to be encouraged by the political right, according to experts; and it is that suspicion that authorities and researchers tell us helps facilitate distrust even as the communities heavily populated with the poor continue to be the killing fields.

New Orleans future optimistic, weather experts predict

 

Ezra Boyd---Declarations of the death of an American city have given way to new reasons to be optimistic about New Orleans’ future.  Anyone who has visited the city recently will tell you that the metro area is well into a robust period of re-population and recovery.

Source: GNOCDC New Orleans Index and Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity -Click pic to enlarge-

The numbers support this view. New Orleans itself has regained 80% of it’s pre-flood population, while the larger metropolitan region has regained over 90% of it’s population.  A strong recovery has fueled a strong economy, and the tech sector in particular has gained national prominence.  While the neighborhoods continue to recover, the federal, state, and local governments have vigorously invested in improved flood protection and coastal restoration.  The Corps has spent $15 billion in structural projects, while local governments across the region continue to invest in levees, wetlands, and home raising.  At the state level, Louisiana’s ambitious $50 billion 2012 Coastal Master Plan has identified projects that contribute to multiple lines of defense for the coastal region.  While these positive signs have been covered extensively, this article examines another reason for optimism that has not gotten as much attention, but could prove to be the saving grace:  Climate trends.

In particular, there are early signs that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) could be entering the end of the recent period that spawned the memorable gulf coast storms of recent years. The AMO is a climate trend in the North Atlantic ocean that influences the frequency and severity of hurricanes in the Atlantic basin, while the NAO is a similar climate trend that influences the paths that hurricanes follow.  It is one of several periodic global climate trends, similar to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In general, periodic climate trends follow somewhat regular temporal patterns in severity, with a peak and a low point which are separated by many years. Climate studies have found that NAO influences hurricane activity … specifically along the Gulf coast. Generally speaking the high activity periods last for about 15 years and are separated by 30 years of low activity.

There is one caveat to keep in mind, human induced global warming and sea level rise will almost certainly influence the NAO and AMO trends, specifically in terms of the both intensity and duration of the peaks. Indeed, we ran our post by Dr. Jeff Masters at Wunderblog, and he promptly, kindly replied: “The proper pattern to refer to is the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillaion (AMO), which entered a positive phase in 1995, launching our current active hurricane period.While the NAO is important for steering hurricanes, it is not important for influencing the total number of hurricanes, nor how strong they get. Since the AMO is tied to sea surface temperatures (SSTs), and SSTs were above average in the tropical Atlantic again this year, I think it is unlikely that we are seeing early signs of an end to the active AMO period that began in 1995. The inactivity this year was due to atmospheric circulation patterns that brought much dry air to the tropical Atlantic.”

The last 20 or so years have certainly been a period of high activity in the Atlantic basin and specifically in the Gulf of Mexico.  Starting with Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the peak period of the NAO also includes many memorable storms: Georges (1998), Ivan (2004),Katrina (2005), Rita (2005), Ike (2008), and Isaac (2012).  Of note, if you take 1992 as the start of the peak period, we are now 21 years into that peak period.  Going back into recent history, the previous peak period of high hurricane activity consists of Hurricane Audrey in 1957 which killed over 400 in southwest Louisiana, Hurricane Betsy (1965) which caused levee breaches in the Industrial Canal and caused 75 deaths in Louisiana, and Hurricane Camille(1969) which was similar to Hurricane Katrina in intensity and killed over 250 along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  After enduring the 12 years of devastation between Audrey and Camille, the Gulf coast breathed a sigh of relief as the low period in the NAO meant no major storm impacts for almost 30 years between 1969-98.

What will the next 20 to 30 years for the Gulf coast be like?  This year could be some indication.  Despite predictions of high hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin, the year included no major storms in the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico.  Just two storms, Tropical Storms Audrea and Karen, took aim for coastal Louisiana at some point.  However, in both cases the storms were sheared apart by a jet stream that extended south over Louisiana and that sent most of their remaining moisture to Alabama and Mississippi.

Other storms either followed tracks across the southern Gulf of Mexico or up the Atlantic coast.  While the 2012 Hurricane season certainly generated memorable events along with widespread devastation in Southeast Louisiana, it is important to keep in mind that Hurricane Isaac was not a strong storm.  It was a slow moving storm with a track that exploited the vulnerabilities of Louisiana declining coast.

Source: LSU Earth Scan Laboratory -Click pic to enlarge

While it is difficult to predict trends in the complex atmospheric dynamics that influence hurricanes, their strengths, and their intensities, the available data does support the notion that the NAO is entering a possible 30 year period of lower hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico.  If so, this period provides a unique and important window to finish our recovery and build upon the momentum toward enhancing protection and fostering mitigation.  It also potentially provides a period to implement important coastal restoration projects, such as those in the Louisiana Master Plan.

However, there are also two lessons to keep in mind.  One, global warming and sea level rise could change everything that we think we have learned about climate trends.  And, two, during the last period of calm we focused on just structural protection through levees, floodgates, and pump stations.  We made a fatal error in neglecting measures to enhance coastal and community resiliency.  When the peak of last NAO cycle brought Hurricane Katrina, this error taught us a powerful lesson that focusing on just structural protection was a mistake.  Even though many of engineering shortcomings have been addressed, the catastrophic levee failures of 2005 can happen again.

To reinforce that lesson, Hurricane Isaac was not a strong storm.  Rather, it was a deadly and destructive storm partially because it’s path produced a storm surge in areas where our coast had lost its resilience due to erosion and wetland loss.  Perhaps, the biggest lesson from Hurricane Isaac is that we cannot repeat this mistake during the next 30 year period of potentially low activity.

~Dr. Ezra Boyd, is a hazards geographer, disaster scientists and co-founder of DisasterMap.net, which provides real time disaster monitoring along with consulting in risk analysis and hazards geography. Prior to launching this business, he worked with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation as a coastal scientist and GIS specialist. At the Basin Foundation, his major projects include the Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy for flood protection for greater New Orleans, monitoring and assessing the impacts of the 2012 BP Oil Well Blowout, the Bohemia Spillway, and Mardi Gras Pass, an emerging distributary of the Mississippi River. His research on the preparations, response, and impacts of Hurricane Katrina has been published in Risk Analysis; Public Performance and Management Review; Risk, Hazards, and Crisis in Public Policy; and the International Journal of Systems Biology and Biomedical Technologies. An upcoming article in the Journal of Emergency Management will describe a coordinated surveillance program in response to the 2010 BP Oil Well Blowout. In 2011, he earned his Ph.D. in geography with a minor in disaster science and management from Louisiana State University.  His dissertation presented a comprehensive assessment and analysis of deaths associated with Hurricane Katrina and the catastrophic failure of the Federal levee system for southeast Louisiana.. While at LSU, he participated in the Team Louisiana report for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and co-authored the Health Care and Disaster Planning book for the Louisiana State Medical Society.

~Special thanks to Dr. Jeff Masters at Wunderblog for his prompt response, helping us better understand the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and Climate Trends.

Hurricane Katrina survivor Chris Watts offers 'personal and engulfing' new music

[caption id="attachment_20652" align="alignleft" width="300"] Chris Watts[/caption]

Kelsey Trautman-Nashville, TN /GHN  – Central Louisiana native Chris Watts introduces his “Crescent City Country” to the world with the independent release of his debut album CENLA on September 10, 2013. Grammy Award-winning producer Jack Miele (Zac Brown Band, Cee Lo Green, Ani DiFranco) called Chris’ songwriting “so personal and engulfing that it’s almost impossible to not find yourself entrenched in his storytelling right from the first listen.”

CENLA was recorded at Fudge Recording Studio in New Orleans, LA, by Miele and funded through Watts’ successful Kickstarter campaign. “With a voice so natural and believable, anything that Chris sings will be eternally his,” Miele said.

With country music’s top superstars grabbing headlines over social media feuds, critics are calling CENLA a breath of fresh air. According to Gainesville Times’ Brent Holloway, CENLA “resurrects an ethos that is noticeably absent from the country charts of 2013.” Southern-fried in sincerity and grit, CENLA blends boot stompin’ country rock with ten small-town tales of beauty and heartache.

Whether it’s the Bonnie and Clyde police chase in the outlaw anthem “Cenla” or the soldier who never returned in “Fireworks Over Buhlow,” CENLA gives listeners the honesty they’ve been deprived of by many of today’s country albums.  “It is a hard-living, swaggering and bent-but-not-broken sound taken from equal parts Texas Outlaws and Neo-Traditionalists. This is the sound we've been missing,” Holloway said.

Chris describes his music as “Crescent City Country,” paying homage to New Orleans, the city he lived for years honing his craft. In 2005 Chris was shot in the New Orleans Superdome while on Louisiana National Guard duty for Hurricane Katrina. “New Orleans is inside me forever. Crescent City Country is my way of keeping her spirit alive everywhere I go,” Chris said.

Chris currently resides in Nashville, TN, and will begin touring in December with CD release parties in Alexandria, LA, and New Orleans, LA. CENLA is now available on CD copy and digital download.

For full biography, multimedia, and press:  http://www.chriswattsband.com

Stream the album CENLA:  http://chriswattsband.bandcamp.com

Official “Cenla” music video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwyr8Y31Bz0

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Editors Note:  Chris Watts' writing skills have been lauded by everyone from his University instructors to fellow professional writers and musicians.  His music is just one among many of his talents.

New Orleans being sued by Innocence Project

[caption id="attachment_19843" align="alignleft" width="300"] Trial by Jury[/caption]

Carol Forsloff---The Innocence Project is suing New Orleans and its Police Chief Ronal Serpas for requiring $1800 for the release of public records on about a dozen arrest reports.  The Innocence Project was organized to help prisoners investigate and prove cases of wrongful conviction and to assist by providing information from sources like public records.

Louisiana statute provides for this information to be given free of charge, the attorneys for the Innocence Project maintain.

On a slideshow on its website the Innocence Project shows the names and faces of people who have been exonerated as a result of the organization’s work.

But there are conflicts with respect to the behavior and attitudes related to the Innocence Project.  Criticisms levied against it include the summation that the Project is directed more towards advocacy and reform as opposed to the situation regarding any given individual’s guilt or innocence.  There have been many discussions referencing In Praise of the Guilty Project: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Growing Anxiety about Innocence Projects, a treatise in the  University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change (2010)).  In it Georgetown Law Center Professor Abbe Smith states his concerns about the innocence work, summed up by one writer as indicating “A House Divided” when it comes to the defense of those who may be wrongfully convicted of a crime that says those in the Project have an – “arrogance of purpose, the change of focus from prejudice to innocence as the currency of reform, and a focus on innocence clinics as opposed to traditional criminal defense clinics – are at odds with, and even threaten, core values of indigent defense.  "

The Innocence Project, however, has won high praise for its work.  An example is in one of the student academic journals where a speaker, Clarence Elkins, spoke as a free man and his experience with the Project and their helping him to gain his freedom.

Portland has the blues real good

[caption id="attachment_15578" align="alignleft" width="300"] Buddy Moss Green, the type of image of the blues given in the music history of the play[/caption]

It was a balmy evening in Portland, Oregon on Sunday and at the local downtown theater was a performance based on the blues  that made folks want to dance, sing and celebrate, as the crowd was doing tonight.

Portland, Oregon inherited a number of jazz musicians from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. As a result, it now has a solid fan base for jazz. Every summer Portland has a major jazz concert and is known to be one of the best venues for jazz on the West Coast.   That's because that fan base extends to almost everyone who appreciates good music in the authentic way it is performed in New Orleans. That city, of course, birthed many of the blues musicians, and is often the topic of songs that are identified with blues and jazz.

It Ain't Nothin But the Blues played to a packed audience at Portland Center stage Sunday night. This was its final performance in the town. The play looks at the history of the blues from its African roots and continues the thread of discovery through mountain music and those other music forms that are derived from the blues and gospel identified with African-Americans. But the musical.   But the play makes sure that folks recognize the blues as a form of musicthat belongs to everyone. Even so, its heart beats in the black culture of America

A fine cast that included Mississippi Charles Bevel, Eloise laws, Sally Mayes, Sugarray Rayford, Chic Street man, Jennifer Leigh Warren and Trevor Wheetman presented the kind of performance that brought the audience to a standing ovation several times.   Classic favorites included Danger Blues, Black Woman, Child of the Most High King, St. Louis woman, Sweet home Chicago, and Crawling King snake as well as rendition of Good night, Irene in a rocking blues form. Many other songs rounded out the program that gave the audience an opportunity to see some talented performers sing these traditional songs in ways that were thrilling to the audience and blues fans. A standout performance by Jennifer Leigh Warren of Strange Fruit showed serious skill of the vocals in this musical. The rest of the musicians were of the same category of wonderful

So if you're in a town where It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues is offered, waste no time to get a ticket for one of the best performances you will find anywhere, and the joy of listening to your favorite blues songs by some of the best musicians around.

Mississippi River Blues: The adaptations of song along the Mississippi

[caption id="attachment_15368" align="alignleft" width="300"] Mississippi River Blues[/caption]

Carol Forsloff --The Mississippi River forms the backdrop of much of music history, with Louisiana at the center of the blues.  Blues came from those old gospel songs, woven into a new fabric that made musicians sing of hard times.  The genre, from the African American community, spread to folk and country, then to contemporary standards.  The types of music flowing from the river reveal the intertwining of words and melodies reflecting the history and culture that has moved with those mighty waters.

Mississippi River Blues is one of those songs that was done first by an African American singer Big Bill Broonzy  who wrote of that river in bluesy ragtime tones.   He introduces it by telling us that old river is "so deep and wide," as one listens to the strings and resonance of ragtime.    He put this out in 1934, at a time when the blues had edged itself into the mainstream, having ridden into the world on the voices of Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, John Lee Hooker and the folks who got down into the depths of human feeling, to pull out those blues from where hurt really came.

Country singers, with their classic three-chord melodies, did not make those complicated blues strings make the same sounds as in New Orleans, but they were able to make the blues authentic as well, because many of the performers of that genre in the early days understood hard times and sang of them.  That was true of Hank Snow who composed his own version of Mississippi River Blues, with an almost replica of Boozy's first line, but then lyrics and melody that were different afterward.  Jimmie Rodgers  came along, recorded Snow's song, and made it his own in his personal style.  It was a time of trading, of music crossing the borders of type and style, to be embraced by a growing population of people who love to play and listen to the blues.

The blues is now performed everywhere there is a guitar, piano or some other instrument that can make the sounds so familiar to the fans of the blues.  But along the Mississippi the old-time tunes can still be heard, even becoming part of a PBS special on the songs of the Mississippi.    That Mississippi River Blues, claimed by male vocal artists, is part of that tradition, but women are making more and more of a claim to the music around the world.  Blues is reminiscent of those slow, rhythmic, mysterious and dark currents that make us all sit back and think about how the rivers, like the Mississippi, represent our image of the flow of life as well.

Jindal, Landrieu issue emergency plans for Tropical Storm Lee

[caption id="attachment_8670" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Tropical Storm Lee"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of New Orleans has recently announced an emergency situation in New Orleans, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Lee’s arrival through the Gulf Coast this weekend.  Governor Bobby Jindal has reiterated warnings for citizens to be vigilant and prepared in 10 Louisiana parishes.

In a take-charge presentation, Landrieu tells New Orleans residents that nursing home residents and other vulnerable populations will be cared for and that key agencies are preparing themselves to deal with any emergencies caused by anticipated flooding.  Weather experts anticipate 20 inches of potential flood waters in areas of the city.

Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency for 10 of Louisiana parishes.  The Governor’s office issued a press release from Jindal where he observes,, “”This storm system is currently parked in the Gulf, meaning we expect it to drop a significant amount of rain totaling 10 to 15 inches in some areas and up to 20 inches in isolated areas. The system is expected to affect South and Southeast Louisiana with the most rainfall, however many areas that are susceptible to backwater flooding are also expected to be impacted by the high rainfall.

“The National Weather Service told us that the center of this storm system is very broad, unlike the narrow center you see in a hurricane formation. This is what they call a ‘hybrid’ system with rain and some bands of tropical storm force winds with squalls spinning out of the center. Rainfall is expected in Louisiana through Tuesday night, including some tropical storm force winds and the potential for tornadoes. Tides could be 2 to 5 feet higher than normal.”

The following parishes are under a state of emergency as the storm is poised to strike the coast.  These are:  10 parishes have already issued their own declarations, including:
• Terrebonne
• Lafourche
• Jefferson
• St Charles
• Vermilion
• St John
• Tangipahoa
• Assumption
• LaSalle
• St. Tammany

Much concern has been voiced about the status of New Orleans levees as it faces new flooding threats.  In May the New Orleans Times-Picayune wrote that the levees have a failing grade if river floods are greater than the design heights of the Mississippi River levees and levees on both the east and west banks of the city.

While officials believe the new pumping system and other protections will ensure the safety of the city from the type of flooding that occurred following Hurricane Katrina, Levees. Org. remains watchful.  The advocacy group continues to highlight the major problems of levee construction and stabilization for the United and as critical for the city’s long-term safety, even as a storm is imminent that may not impact New Orleans with the level of severity occurring after Hurricane Katrina.

Witness Protection Program as refuge for N.O. detective

[caption id="attachment_7085" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Danziger Bridge"][/caption]

A detective involved with the Danziger Bridge shooting decided to open up to authorities,  and there is speculation whether he can be hidden  in the witness protection program for testifying about police shooting of  innocent people who were seeking  help during Hurricane Katrina.

Wbrz.com relates the story of a conversation that occurred between Sgt. Robert Gisevius and a former detective who had been cooperating with the FBI, where the detective speculated about what was going to happen to him after the trial.   Gisevius is also said to have wondered if a “weak link could sink the ship,”  in reference to Sgt. Arthur Kaufman who had agreed to speak with federal authorities about what happened the night of the shooting.

While Casey Anthony, recently released from jail after being declared not guilty in the death of her two-year-old daughter, Caylee, has gone into hiding, according to media reports, witnesses who testify on behalf of the government can be protected under a special program called the Witness Protection Program.  This has some similarities to Casey’s assistance from her lawyers and others to hide her from angry people who may be outraged enough to harm her following the controversial verdict.  Her security, however, is not the same as the type the government affords for witnesses.   Whether that lifetime security will be available to a police officer in the case of the policeman involved in the Danziger Bridge incident that occurred in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina may only be speculative on the part of those who talk about it now.

The Witness Protection Program is a service that protects witnesses in special, major criminal cases from intimidation and harm.  It is a security program that allows the person to be given a new identity and place to live.  It not only applies to witnesses but close family members as well.  The evidence the witness provides must be substantial and related to a major felony.  If a witness’ life is threatened after giving such testimony, witness protection can be offered.

Some of the people who have been given witness protection are known criminals.  It may be surprising to learn that crooks are protected by the government when they give testimony aiding the prosecution in a case, but that evidence they provide has to be substantial, as the cost of protection is considerable.

Naked Law has examined the Witness Protection Program and observes that whereas the US marshals maintain that no one under their security has been harmed, the problem arises when a witness moves outside the rules that are set forth in the program.  That program requires the witness not contact others, return home or be involved with past acquaintances or even family members.  The website also points out that 14 states have witness protection programs and despite the promise of security a number of witnesses have been harmed.  Naked Law cites Colorado where at least 16 witnesses in the state’s witness protection program have been killed.  Furthermore the conditions for security are not the “Club Med” type of environment, but that it does provide 24 hour security.  Unlike television dramas, witnesses are not required to change their appearance or fake their death in order to receive protection.

The policemen in the Danziger bridge trial may have been under duress in the trial, but the Witness Protection Program has strict parameters for an individual to be included and no guarantee that any given individual will receive that protection in exchange for testimony unless there has been strong evidence provided, threats against the witness' life and a previous agreement for that protection.

New Orleans levee failures and the nation’s floods

[caption id="attachment_6147" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Hurricane Katrina flooding - wikimedia commons"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Nearly six years ago a terrible storm hit the City of New Orleans, flooding major areas and destroying lives and property while displacing and injuring thousands, in a story of a failed infrastructure the type of which occurs nationwide.

Half the United States is protected by levee systems. A North Dakota town is now nearly submerged because of its lack of protection from flooding rivers. .  The same has been true of great floods in the interior of the country.  Levees decades ago were built for a different world, based on facts known at the time.  But like science and medicine, environmental information changes, requiring adjustment to decisions.

The town of Minot, North Dakota is nearly under water, barely missing being completely drowned in waters that have risked the town over many days.   Folks rushed to prevent the flooding by building levees, but lacked the time and resources to protect the town in time The value of good levees, and good maintenance,  is a reminder in what happened to this town.  Failure to protect by advance planning in many ways is reminiscent of what has occurred to other towns and places since Hurricane Katrina banged up New Orleans in a fashion people still feel.

The New Orleans levee system was built to protect the town from Category 3 storm, but the system did not protect the town, as it failed to meet that level determined years ago, as pointed out by the Washington Post and other media after some time had passed.  Recorded levels for Hurricane Katrina at different points around the town put the Category at Level 2, while others were at 3.  Suffice to say, all arguments about those differences aside, the engineering failures and lack of oversight created a system that could not protect the City of New Orleans from the blows of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Not long after folks questioned why New Orleans residents continued to complain, to organize, petition and ask the nation for remembrance.  While on the surface it might have appeared to be irrational protest, the fact is the levee systems of the United States have failed citizens around the United States, as the nation’s infrastructure has been given short shrift in Congress.

As the nation is forced to make choices, both at the local and national level, the weather conditions, unpredictable  as they are, need to be acknowledged in future planning, according to environmental experts.  We have to adjust our wants and needs to conform to the snowball effect that takes place as a result of disasters.  For New Orleans, it means a town still staggering in some quarters, listed as one of the dirtiest towns in America, with abandoned buildings and poorly constructed repairs.  It has meant families missing members essential to their core, displaced persons trying to find their niche in some new place, businesses uprooted in ways that cannot be replaced, and political strife that continues to plague the state.

In short what happens as a consequence of disasters has everything to do with what happens to the economy, as the Risk Institute points out in its examination of Galveston, Texas after Hurricane Iniki.

The cost of environmental disasters is passed along from one segment of the economy to the other, in that snowballing style that hits the social order and weakens it, especially where it is most vulnerable.  Those who lived in the most exposed disaster locations are the rural poor, the city’s struggling middle class and indigent as well, the elderly, the children, persons with serious medical conditions and the marginalized among us.    But these disasters change the economy of the areas where they occur, taking jobs and livelihoods upon which folks depend and for the nation to recover from its economic uncertainties.

While the Congress debates what needs to be done and the politicians prate, knowing the essential needs of the country, especially its infrastructure and how it impacts all of us, is essential in what happens.  New Orleans is central in that process, setting as it did a modern precedent for the nation’s failures to maintain a system of protection for the town, the type of which is failing everywhere, and drowning other people in its wake.  By keeping New Orleans in our memories, by consistent reminders through symbols and discussion, we keep the message that protection systems are paramount to economic recovery and to the progress of the United States.

Midwest weather emergencies, Hurricane Katrina and the 'blame game'

[caption id="attachment_4647" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Super cell"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Weather emergencies remind us that many people in the United States are not far from disaster, which is reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina and the accusation that the people of New Orleans were somehow at fault for living in a dangerous area.  What has been found, however, is that the citizens of that great city are no more responsible for the tragedy that befell them 5 ½ years ago than the people of Joplin, Missouri, recent victims of a major tornado.

After Hurricane Katrina struck the great Louisiana flagship city, New Orleans struggled with its reputation.  Media images of African Americans clinging to life from rooftops mixed with other images of youth wearing sagging pants banging on the windows of jewelry stores were shown regularly in a way that seared the drama into the consciousness of many.  Those images, however, did not tell the story.  The real story came with the information about neglected levees and lack of government responsibility in making sure safety promises were kept concerning promised protection by the Army Corps of Engineers.  People were secure in their belief the government and the levees would not fail.

But that failure in fact did happen to the detriment of many New Orleans residents and the reputation of that city even now when many people still believe residents themselves were in part responsible for their own misfortunes.

In recent weeks formal recognition has been made of the two levee breach sites, the 17^th Street Canal and the Industrial Canal, as a reminder that New Orleans citizens have had to struggle for years to cope with a weather tragedy that will forever remain part of the history of their great city.

Tomorrow, May 26,  Levees.org and Council Vice President Arnie Fielkow of New Orleans will hold a short press conference to announce several updates regarding Levees.org’s nomination of two major levee breach sites - the 17^th Street Canal and the Industrial Canal (east side north) – to the prestigious National Register of Historic Places.

Confirmed to attend is City Councilmember Jon Johnson for District E, Scott Hutcheson, Advisor in Cultural Economy to the Mayor of New Orleans (who will speak on behalf of the Mayor) , and Charles Allen, III, director of the New Orleans Office of Coastal and Environmental Affairs.

Last August, with the Lower Ninth Ward as backdrop, Levees.org first announced that the Louisiana State Office of Historic Preservation had determined that it believed that two levee breach sites may be eligible for inclusion on the National Register.

Last week, before a crowd of over 100 people, Levees.org unveiled a Louisiana State Historic Plaque near ground zero of the London Avenue Canal breach site in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans.

The plaque is also a reminder of the pain and tragedy that others will face without levee protection, which means many areas of the country.  The people of the Midwest will experience for months, if not years,  the grief from severe weather tragedies.   For the people who as a result of Hurricane Katrina have had to battle first the elements and then the prejudices, it is also hoped that the blame game might end with the recogntion that weather emergencies happen and the failure is in not ensuring people are given adequate warning and proper protection when they occur.

Delta, Central Mississippi disaster potential from its history

[caption id="attachment_4187" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Levee in West Memphis"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - People worry now in the South and Central areas of the country for good reason.  They have faced disasters before, great floods in the 1920's and 1930's and the earthquake that impacted much of the Central US in 1811 - 1812, the type experts say could happen again this year.

This year the government has decided to use planned levee removals in certain areas of the South and Central areas to relieve the potential of more disastrous flooding in major population areas.  But the promises made today are not unlike those made in the past, when people were told the levees would hold, and they didn't.

Earthquake issues may be the focus of the Pacific Northwest, but experts tell us that a deep fault under the earth, with a much greater and wider potential for damage, lies in the Central Mississippi region, a place hard hit in the winter of 1811 - 1812.  It was then the mighty Mississippi literally swamped whole areas of the region, across farmlands and small towns, as three earthquakes of the time, estimated 7.5 - 8.0 brought fear and destruction.  This too is a fear to bring government focus about the need for protecting populations, especially in the areas surrounding major cities.

Memphis and New Orleans have felt the floods from these periods of history.  They are the places of a romantic past, unique in music and culture, and major attractions in the South.  They represent the great plantations, the sweeping history, the images of people singing, swimming joyously along the riverbanks.  But this year the river's tributaries aren't look upon with welcome, as the flooding threatens farmlands once again.

TV stations in Memphis and other areas tell us residents fear the same type of flooding that occurred in 1927 could happen again.  Many residents have evacuated; others are poised to leave.  The Mayor of Memphis, John Holden, has warned residents in those areas anticipated to be most impacted.  Haley Barbour, Governor of Mississippi, has also ordered evacuations in low-lying areas, while Bobby Jindal has voiced an alert for 19 parishes in Louisiana, most especially Vidalia, a place that could be hard hit from floodwaters.

Memphis saw the Mississippi reach 43.8 feet on Tuesday, poised to reach 48 feet on May 1, just below the record set in 1937 at 48.7 feet.  In Louisiana it is expected the waters may top the levee walls with heights over 50 feet.  Already hundreds of people have taken to shelters.

The regions called the Central Mississippi area has seen the pain of floods before, and this year it has reeled from tornadoes.  An earthquake potential concerns government authorities and has created predictions from faith groups that it will come this year and create the kind of havoc that could be part of an Armageddon scenario, with people fighting each other and the demonic wrath of Satan there to help.  Some scientists say there is no certainty an earthquake will occur this year or even in the very near future, although the potential is there, given the number of quakes in the area.

The New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) is the most active seismic area in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and is located in southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, western Kentucky and southern Illinois. Some believe the 3.8 earthquake in Arkansas in February of this year is a harbinger of what is yet to come.  FEMA is setting up a disaster preparation drill for this month.

In the meantime, the South is preparing for the worst from flooding, as the areas considered to be among the most beautiful treasures in American history, in Memphis and New Orleans,  folks hope won't face Mother's Nature's wrath as happened many times in a place where people fear it may occur again.  In the Mississippi Alluvia Plain scientists tell us habitat, already under threat, can be seriously hurt by events that upset its delicate ecosystem, as has already occurred from oil spills and the topographical nature of the area itself.

The people fear a repeat of the floods of 1927.

Authorities see problems happening in greater magnitude now and in the future, as a result of climate change.

Mental health New Orleans biggest problem post-Katrina

PRN - GHN Editor -NAMI, the nation's largest mental
health organization, looks at the City of New Orleans and its recovery
issues and refers to it as a
"mental health disaster."


It has been five years since
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast taking with it the homes, jobs,
health and even lives of thousands of people.



The rebuilding of New Orleans and
the rest of the Gulf Coast continues to take place, with professionals
examining the consequences of that storm at the time and now five years
later.



Television specials deal with
replays of Hurricane Katrina, the major storm of two that hit the Gulf
Coast in 2005.  Flooding of New Orleans came after the critical hit of
the hurricane had passed, and the levees were breached due to design
failures and flooded the city.  It took nearly five years for that
determination to be made by a judge regarding the Army Corps of Engineers failures to take care of the levees as mandated by law.



The National Alliance on Mental
Illness (NAMI) is looking at how the children have fared.  This
organization's evaluation follows the Kaiser survey, where residents had varying opinions on how much conditions had improved in tangible areas such as medical care and housing.



Housing and medical care are
fundamental to mental health, so NAMI has followed up Kaiser's surveys
of New Orleans residents to examine the impact on mental health after
these five years.



USA Today had already reported children from Katrina to be five times more likely to have severe emotional problems.



NAMI sees the problems as having compounded from the problems related to the hurricanes Katrina and Rita.



"New Orleans is a bell weather," said NAMI Executive Director Michael J.  Fitzpatrick.



"Deep structural problems exist for mental health services and housing throughout the region."



"The BP oil spill and the national
economic crisis are factors that need to be added to the equation. The
total impact is a mental health disaster."



Other organizations have made similar findings.  For example an Institute of Medicine meeting held in New Orleans maintained mental health problems continue to predominate the problems of the area.  



A press release
from NAMI states nearly 183,000 adults have serious mental illness in
Louisiana but less than 20% are receiving treatment.  49,000 children
also have serious mental health issues, and treatment is wanting for
them as well.



The foundation for mental health,
observed by NAMI, are impacted by Kaiser survey findings that only about
half of New Orleans residents see improvement in medical care and
housing and nearly 70% believe America has forgotten them.



"Americans must not forget
challenges in the Gulf region," Fitzpatrick said. "Mental illness does
not discriminate. It can strike anyone at anytime. As a nation, we need
to help each other."

Revisit New Orleans: commemorative plaque tells Katrina story

[caption id="attachment_11254" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Hurricane flooding"][/caption]

Judith Martin -      Survivors of the man-made, post-Katrina floods of August 29, 2005 in New Orleans, are torn on how to mark the fifth anniversary of the event.  But one way to do it it came this week with the dedication of a plaque that
tells the story.

Civic groups, religious organizations, and community leaders wonder: Should there be a full memorial

program, with lots of singing songs like "Just a Closer Walk with
Thee" or "Amazing Grace?" Or, should there be a program with
more emphasis on the rebuilding of New Orleans and the anticipation of a brighter
future?   

 One
group, Levees.org, decided to make a visible as well as spoken statement about
its members feelings about the upcoming anniversary.

 Levees.org
is an activist group in New Orleans that demands accountability and the truth
about the levee failures, and is led by Sandy Rosenthal. As the group's way to
mark the occasion of the levee break in the 17th Street Canal, that led to the
flooding of much of ZIP code area 70124, also known as Lakeview, it decided to
set up a historical marker plaque at the site of the breach as it occurred on
August 29, 2005.

 On August 23, 2010, at 10:30 AM, when the
outside temperature could be described easily as sweltering, such a plaque was
formally unveiled by Levees.org just outside the high fence that blocks access
to that part of the levee that failed, and then was rebuilt.

 As
can be seen in the panorama photograph taken August 24, 2010, the area behind
the plaque at the canal is a bleak place. Sometimes during the dedication,
brown pelicans could be seen flying above the levee, which to many is a sign of
hope. The brown pelican was an endangered species for many years, yet it has
made a modest comeback in the New Orleans area.

  On
that morning of August 23, present at the dedication of the plaque were approximately 40 to 60 local residents, civic leaders, media representatives, news
reporters and cameramen, and of course, members of Levees.org.

 There
were speeches, mostly very short, given by various civic leaders. Their message
(some would call it a mantra), spoken by the civic leaders altogether was:
"The Corps did it."

 These
sentiments were backed up by facts stated plainly in the text on the plaque:

"On
August 29, 2005, a federal floodwall atop a levee on the 17th Street Canal, the
largest and most important drainage Canal for the city, gave way here, causing
flooding that killed hundreds. This breach was one of 50 ruptures in the
Federal Flood Protection System that occurred that day. In 2008, the US
District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana placed responsibility for this
floodwall's collapse squarely on the US Army Corps of Engineers; however, the
agency is protected from financial liability in the Flood Control Act of
1928."

There
was and still is much more to be considered, of course. One point upon which
all the outspoken parties agree is that no one in New Orleans can let the call
for an 8/29 investigation commission, about the levee failures, fall away to
nothing. Comparably, it is very plain that in regards to the recent BP oil
spill, an investigation committee was assembled with "alacrity".  No such committee has yet been assembled to
investigate the full extent of what happened on August 29, 2005, and how that
affects New Orleans and the surrounding areas up to the present day.

 A
major concern is the condition of the levees as they are allegedly being
strengthened and made more secure. However, as stated as his opinion by Jed
Horne in his book Breach of Faith (Random House, 2008), the levees are being
strengthened only to the equivalent of where they were in the 1940s, when the
levees were needed basically to keep cows safe. (Much of Lakeview and what is
now ZIP code 70124 had been given over to dairy farming until after World War
II, when suburban development began in earnest.)

The
plaque at the 17th Street Canal is intended to be only the first of several
that will eventually be placed at the sites of other main levee breaches that
occurred in New Orleans on August 29, 2005, in New Orleans. And Sandy Rosenthal
with Levees.org is determined to have a part in setting up each and every one.



Editor's note:  Judith Martin is one of those Katrina survivors.  Her voice of authenticity is part of the treasure of this newspaper and the validation of how people rise above uncertainty and make their way forward.

FEMA boneyards near New Orleans, ready to move in again?

[caption id="attachment_10987" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Metairie FEMA trailers"][/caption]

NEW ORLEANS - Judith Martin - If you had been one of the thousands of people who spent months and years in a FEMA trailer park after being evacuated from flooded areas of southeast Louisiana in post-Katrina 2005, you would understand why I think my story is important.



I became very anxious yesterday afternoon while driving eastbound on Interstate Highway 12, on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain.  Let me tell you why.

I lived in a FEMA trailer, first in Elm Grove Village from 2005 to 2007, and in front of my own house for most of 2007. I never wanted to see any one of those monstrosities ever again, for many reasons, far too numerous to recite in a simple article.  Suffice to say, they were tight, crowded, hot, ugly and every other description of the worst you can imagine.

But there, yesterday afternoon, along the west-bound roadside, and stretching back almost to the horizon, were fields full of used FEMA trailers, all of the sort shown in the picture. The location was even more peculiar, because it originally had been a sales lot for luxury trailers and motor coaches. The luxury products seemed to have been moved to another sales lot further to the east, while the FEMA trailers occupied the lot I came upon
first.

When the trailer parks around Baton Rouge began to be dismantled, as was Elm Grove Village in 2007, it was said that the trailers
were all going to be sold for scrap and crunched up for the aluminum that could be salvaged from them. Remember, these trailers are the ones that had been the basis of the lawsuits about toxic chemicals leaking from the glue and materials used in building them, and making evacuees sick.

It was known to all the trailer park residents that the used trailers were being stockpiled in "boneyards" around Atlanta, Georgia in particular. There were boneyards further out in the country around Baton Rouge. I had actually seen such trailers being transported on Interstate 10, from New Orleans back up to Baton Rouge. But this was the first time I had seen a boneyard in so close to New Orleans, which was only about a 24 mile drive across the Causeway, give or take a few miles, due south.

Evidently, the trailer lot is not selling these old "hulks" from FEMA. They are just sitting there, at all odd angles, dirty and some with windows and doors hanging open.

The most eerie idea came to me. What if all these trailers are being stockpiled in case there is another disaster, where large numbers of
people have to be evacuated and housed quickly? Could the U. S. Government insist that such evacuees accept housing in such trailers, or lose the ability
to get other kinds of benefits later on?

Perhaps it is a sign from above, this "Cloud of Doom", drifting above a FEMA trailer park. No good is liable to come out of such places, just more complications, lawsuits, and misery for the people who will be forced to live in them.

We all need to wonder why they are there. 

What do you do when you live in New Orleans with 'neighbors from hell'

 

[caption id="attachment_10907" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sign warning about prostitution"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Most folks believe it is important that everyone have equal rights to freedom of expression and lifestyle, but at what point does that become license and end up with a corrupt system?

New Orleans is a melting pot of the “regulars,” the middle-class ordinary guys who mow lawns, greet neighbors, go to work and enjoy the ambiance of city life.  New Orleans is also a disarray of different character types.  It is a place, of course, where everything goes and that some folks believe needs changing for the city to fully recover.In this atmosphere the best can thrive, and so can the worst.

Richard Socarides has written for the Huffington Post about "A Summer for Gay Rights", and certain court cases aimed at making marriages for "gay" couples legal.   The article stirs for some readers the issue of gay rights and neighborhood rights and what do folks do in what might be an ordinary neighborhood conflict anywhere else.

The issue of "gay" rights goes far beyond "marriage" if taken too far into breaking the law, as some neighbors maintain, given their experience.  While minority groups exercise their rights, should that occur at the expense of the rights of others?

It becomes worse when the perpetrators of neighborhood problems are attorneys, using their power of persuasion and their status at times to do what they please.  Add the fact they are gay, and whereas that is no issue in most discourse, it becomes an issue if the gayness is used as the issue when people complain of behavior that is loud, boisterous and so over-bearing in showing the worst side of social interaction at times that it becomes a bad issue, because of bad behavior.  

In sum, it is not the gayness; it is using it as a shield for doing things that folks would not do in a middle class neighborhood anywhere without complaints.  

“How can I have peace of mind, do the right thing and not be harassed myself?” a citizen asks, someone who is not anti-gay but who would complain if a noisy 16-year-old dominated the block with loud radios, as anyone would.

In this case it is reported these men of the law set up a bordello to flaunt their lifestyle.    It is an “in your face” place, similar to what would be  in a  “straight” neighborhood if some neighborhood ladies put a red light over the doorstep and sat in front of windows advertising the business we all would understand simply by the “advertising.”

People who need peace and quiet and  the old and ill have problems in these cases.  That is true when the noise is high and the parties loud.

In New Orleans, however, the police are intimidated at times by people they consider important or in authority.  There are investigations into this type of corruption right now even as there were investigations about the Danziger Bridge that brought racism still present in New Orleans out into the open.

In this case attorneys, and anyone else in a position of power, can do as they please because paybacks and personal connections mean a lot in this Southern version of a city that never sleeps.  It only becomes a problem when some people need to sleep, and others simply don’t care.  Then neighbors are set against neighbors when a simple phone call to the police department should ordinarily suffice.

In New Orleans, calling the police is often not what folks can do and have the attention they need.  When trust is not there with the police, an ordinary problem takes on extraordinary dimensions.

The neighborhood becomes a war zone in situations like these.  The accuser can become the victim; the problem grows.  The police are nowhere to be found because, again, calling them might make the problem worse.

The stress of the times, with a city still healing from Hurricane Katrina and worried about what might come next with potential hurricanes this season and an oil spill at the door, increases the potential for confrontations between neighbors that might otherwise rely on each other for support.

Having a gay neighbor is no problem at all, but when using a minority status and police and public influences to dominate, then it is.  

There has to be a legitimate way to complain about social problems without being accused of being a social problem as well.

In New Orleans, these are the complications, of ordinary living.

Those complications will continue until the clean up of the city is more than building restoration, but within the very agencies that run it.  Whether this is an idle story, or not; it is likely true because that’s the way it is when laws are broken in a city where who you know can be more important than what you know.  That might be the problem in other cities, certainly; but in the Big Easy it goes on so easily in some places it has become culturally ingrained.

In the meantime, in this city that never sleeps, the citizen that can’t sleep when sleep is important and can’t live without being targeted as well ends up, asking wearily, and warily as well,

“When will New Orleans be the neighborhood where when “anything goes” some of it is not allowed.”

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This is the newspaper rendition of a narrative of a Hurricane Katrina victim, a neighbor, a person of good education and one who says she has no bias against gays as well, but simply wants some sleep and has been arrested and charged without seeming recourse because of the power-broker system for simply complaining about it.