July 31, 2006 – My pictures of Sunday’s UNOP rodeo are up in this gallery. The ever-growing line to get in, pictures of each district’s booth, gratuitous still-life shots – they’re all in there.
July 31, 2006 – Kuwait Gives $694 To Each Citizen to help them with “life’s expenses.” To quote D, “Ahhahahahaha! Yeah, living expenses!” As of this writing, 1 Kuwaiti dinar is roughly $3.5, i.e. $694 is equal to 200 dinars (damn, the dollar has slid since I was a kid living in Arabia). The average Kuwaiti goes through 200 dinars in under five minutes or less. Also note that only citizens, not all of the people living (and doing the bulk of the labor) in Kuwait get this money. On the bright side, at least the wealth is shared inside the country as opposed to poured into large international boondoggles.
New Orleans will take as much as you can give. So, when you read this post, don’t think there’s nothing going on. There is SO much going on (and I am still reeling from yesterday’s 4.5-hour Unifed New Orleans Plan meeting) that I need to take a mental break and smell the roses. My dad is such a rose.
If every daughter were to have a father like mine, the world would be a much mellower place. Retirement and his kids’ busy lives haven’t been easy on Dad who loves projects and lots of time with his family – he’s had his ups and downs. For the most part, though, he is the epitome of “live and let live.”
Conversation with my father this past Saturday night:
Dad: “Hiiiiii, area code 504, tell me, what are you doing?”
Me: “On my way to dinner with some friends. What’s up?”
Dad: “When mom and I talked with you earlier today, you didn’t bring up the recent shootings. It’s all over CNN.”
Me: “Sadly, I’m used to them. The crime is simply moving from Central City to the relatively unpatrolled parts.”
Dad: “Where do you live relative to these shootings?”
Me: “Nowhere close. Why?”
Dad: “I know you go to the French Quarter a lot, and the shootings happened by there, so I just want you to be careful when you go out at night.”
Me: “The shootings happened in a neighborhood called Treme on the other side of the Quarter and Marigny – an area where I don’t normally hang out, dad. But, I will be careful.”
Dad: “We drove through there once when touring New Orleans, didn’t we?”
Me: “Yes, in fact, we did.”
Dad: “Ok, have a nice time … Love you.”
Me: (smiling) “Love you, too, dad.”
How simple was that? My mom would have heard the words shootings, New Orleans and French Quarter and immediately launched into a fit of perma-worry, never mind the scientist that she is. Dad’s … just dad. He knows I will continue going out with my friends at night, and that I probably have the common sense to watch myself. I do.
However, I do believe in the wrong place at the wrong time and that anything can happen anywhere in this city, or even in Ohio for that matter. For that reason, it’s nice to have a quiet guardian angel who lets you go about your business while caring for you from afar. It might just save me and probably has so far.
Capt. Harry Mendoza axed from NOPD
Police Chief Warren Riley on Friday fired Capt. Harry Mendoza, the department’s high-profile traffic commander, ruling that the 30-year veteran regularly spent large chunks of his workday on the tennis court, in the gym and, at times, just relaxing at home.
[Mendoza's attorney Eric] Hessler suggested that politics played a significant role in the case, starting with the Police Department’s decision to investigate Mendoza. Mendoza is a longtime friend of Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and openly supported Landrieu during his bid to unseat New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin … When it appeared that Landrieu had a good chance against Nagin in the mayoral runoff, speculation within the department had Mendoza in line for a major promotion under a Landrieu regime. Landrieu made it clear during the campaign that, if elected, he would conduct a national search for a new police chief.
Recently having read Dambala’s exposé on the Meffert-Kurt-Nagin Tech Triangle, I’m not surprised at either outcome of Hessler’s appeal to the Civil Service Commission: that Mendoza’s pink slip was power play or Harry was indeed stringing up his racket on city time.
VatulBlog Bottom Line: While systemic corruption in city government is an impediment to our progress, this is yet another useless witchhunt to distract the city from its real problems. Firing one or two cops here and there isn’t going to help things, especially when NOPD morale suffers and internal schisms are the last thing we need. The summer heat plays great tricks on our list of priorities.
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Speaking of thieves … *cough* … I mean, attorneys, Amanda wrote the last of her Louisiana Bar Exam yesterday after which we celebrated with sushi and champagne. Her grandfather quips that there isn’t a bar Amanda can’t pass (up), but I hope to attend my special blondette’s swearing-in ceremony soon. Here’s to you, sweetcakes!
Due to this afternoon’s storms, there are numerous reports of stopped traffic, signals out, wires down and live wires on vehicles. Additionally, a semi-truck lost a load of corn, closing the Beltline between Fish Hatchery Road and Park Street.
Cars are reported covered in water up to their windshields in the Randall-Monroe street area.
Yikes, no place is safe from the vagaries of Weather. D writes from the University of Wisconsin Division of Information Technology, “Our platform is flooding and we have to shutdown our servers, this is bad, I will most likely be offline in a little bit. I’ll call you tonight and give you the details.”
All I can think of is Ashley’s reaction to this, “They should have known better than to live there.” I’m sorry you’re getting rained on so badly. However, “when I tell people in the US that I live in New Orleans, that’s the kind of thing they tell me.”
The UW is probably smart enough to have backup data in another geographic location and the backbone will be up and running in no time. Once every last drop of water has been sucked out of the platform location. Hope you have a lot of blow dryers, wet-vacs and generators handy.
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Speaking of wet neighborhoods, I am miffed that almost no one knows about the New Orleans Community Support Foundation’s meeting and its vital importance to neighborhood associations who need LRA and Rockefeller money to plan community revitalization. I’ve written about it at NO Metroblogs in the hope that it will get more advertising:
The upshot of this post is that if you don’t make it to the New Orleans Community Support Foundation meeting this Sunday, your neighborhood will have a planner picked for you. The abject lack of advertising for this very crucial meeting doesn’t sit well with me. You may ask, “So what if a planner is picked for my neighborhood?” Your input was not actively solicited, it’s supposedly a city-wide meeting and where’s the democracy in the process if it isn’t advertised far and wide.
… This is something that should be blared from the TP, nola.com, TV and radio stations and flyers all over the city and evacuation centers. As a friend remarked today, “So much for democracy.”
If the NOCSF truly supports communities and acts on their behalf, the least they can do is better advertising. City-wide means exactly that and not “some people.” I hope a lot of individuals show up as well as nascent and well-established neighborhood associations. Sunday – July 30th – 12-4pm – Pavilion of Two Sisters in City Park – drop whatever it is you have planned and assist in your neighborhood’s planning and recovery process.
Also see:
- Unified Planning Process at ThinkNOLA Wiki
- Bayou Buzz: New Orleans Citizens, Planners Question Neighborhood Rebuild Process
- New Orleans Rebuilding Plan Essay Contest
- Becky Houtman’s Post On The UNOP Meetings
- Mark Folse’s Flowchart Of The Plan
And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s going to rain in New Orleans. Again.
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The southern Wisconsin – southern Louisiana connection grows: 2 Millionth has a degree from UW-Madison! Also, don’t forget that City Councilman Arnie Fielkow hails from Appleton, WI and has a JD from the fabulous UW as well. (His wife, Susan, is a sweetheart and very generous hostess.) We’re everywhere!
I thought of posting this to New Orleans Metroblogs but scratched that idea out of respect for Saints fans and the fear of a beating from the same.
Tagliabue impressed by Superdome repairs
Before he left, Tagliabue asked Tom Keller, the project manager for Brazos Urethane, Inc. who oversaw the recently completed $32 million roof replacement, for his yellow hard hat, featuring Saints and Green Bay Packers logos. Tagliabue said he plans to include it in an exhibit at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio commemorating the stadium renovation.
Go PACKERS! (No one would get my hard hat with Packer logo, though. Never!)
Whose mug advertises the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Akron Canton Regional Airport? Why, that of my boy, of course!
NFL talk makes any rainy, malfunctioning-software-filled day better. Forget basketball and golf, I can’t wait for football season.
Help Oiled Birds
Please help some innocent living things by supporting the efforts of The International Bird Rescue Center in locating, rescuing, and cleaning wildlife affected by the ongoing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Click on the pelican to donate.
