Some NO Water Safe To Drink: nola.com says that tap water in New Orleans west of the Industrial Canal has been declared potable. “The Department of Health and Hospitals, the official regulatory agency for the State of Louisiana, certified the water quality, the mayor’s office said.”
This means all water in a small sliver of eastern Orleans Parish remains undrinkable. As for me, I’ll stick with the bottled water during return trips and then purchase a new filter when I go back. Anyone living on the Mississippi between Baton Rouge and the Gulf of Mexico should be drinking filtered tap water anyway. Chemical plants and refineries, anyone?
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Nagin’s Economic Townhall: Around 1500 business representatives attended a meeting convened by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on the economic future of the city. Nagin blasted business predators whom he likened to looters (call them “carpetbaggers,” Ray, it’s more cathartic) and suggested a reduction in no-bid contracts.
Nagin called for full public disclosure of all recovery spending, holding no-bid contracts to a minimum, hiring Louisiana residents instead of importing “Mexican workers” and an end to minority set-aside contracts, which have long been a source of abuse in the city.
Also, Nagin called for fair worker wages: “If you’re hiring people below the 8 to 10-dollar range, you’re not going to be playing the game for long.”
Let’s see. Our president temporarily suspended the minimum wage in storm-ravaged areas after Katrina. This will only aid in the hiring of super-low-income workers into the no-bid contract system, usually not New Orleans residents but these “Mexican workers” Nagin refers to. So, which contractor/employer is going to pay more than $8-10 when they are not expected to by the law? Can someone help me out here?
