Violence Against Women Before And After Katrina: It amazes me the crimes people, including NOPD, are willing to believe happened in the wake of Katrina. But, what angers me are the acts of violence faced with incredulity, namely rapes reported by the supposed victims themselves. And I say “supposed” because, unfortunately, there are liars who make it hard on the real victims.

NPR does a New Orleans “human” piece before 6:30AM almost everyday and manages to depress the hell out of me before the day has even begun – hey, at least it’s informative, better than Houston schock-jocks badmouthing New Orleanian evacuees and the price to pay before receiving the news of the day. Today, I woke up to Morning Edition investigating the veracity of the rape claims mentioned above (More Stories Emerge of Rapes in Post-Katrina Chaos). Through the course of the show, my brain performed its usual cautious fencesitting on such issues. However, this statement made by Judy Benitez, of the Louisiana Rape Crisis Group stood out to help beget a clearer view:

“The fact that something wasn’t reported to the police doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” Benitez says. “We know about all the other things that happened, all the thefts, all the robberies. There was all kinds of crime taking place on a much higher level than usual. Why would we think there was less rape typical of any given week in the city? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Regardless of whether an individual woman was raped or not, logic dictates that the number of acts of violence against women could not have decreased while other types of crime were on the increase. Our horribly-understaffed and strained police force had shooters and looters to contend with, and could not thoroughly patrol flooded neighborhoods and what they thought were safe havens. Yet, rape is a serious human violation, too, and leaves an indelible mark on mother, sister, wife, daughter and friend. At times of crisis and lawlessness, women need additional protection.

“We’re not downsizing anything,” [commander of the sex crimes unit with the New Orleans Police Department, Lt. David] Benelli says. “I’m telling you the number of reported rapes we had.

“I admit that rapes are underreported … I know more sexual assaults took place. I’ve expressed many times that we’re willing to investigate any sexual assaults that happened in this city at any time. We can only deal with what we know.”

While the police can only act on and the justice system can only prosecute that which they have evidence against, there has to be a way that unreported rapes are statistically recorded in the system, especially for this period of time in New Orleans history. The fact that Lt. Benelli “knows more sexual assaults took place” should count for something in the final reporting and prevention plans for the future. Otherwise, we should simply add Misogynists Who Look The Other Way to the growing list of derisive labels applied to New Orleanians today.

According to the NPR story, a series of rapes allegedly occurred in my greater neighborhood, Irish Channel, in a housing complex for the aged. The proximity of the attacks strikes a nerve and reminds me of the fragility of our safety and presumed civilized existence. Don’t even get me started on how a lot of this could have been prevented had the military shown up immediately after the hurricane hit. There is no pardon for that botch in a gaffe in a failure.

—

Reducing Agents: Why would I want to win a Katrina t-shirt?

“Enter to win the NOLA.com Katrina comemorative T-Shirt today!”

Arguably, this is an advertising move on the part of the T-P to attract readers and to keep them interested in the news. [What’s boring about it?]

There is also a certain feeling of kinship involved in this very American phenomenon – the wearer of a post-K New Orleans t-shirt shows ownership, participation and pride concerning the disaster and recovery efforts. Yet, if you know me, you know how I feel about causes reduced to t-shirts, rubber bracelets and slogans.

I give this one three-and-a-half out of five Bah Humbugs.

A magnitude 3.0 earthquake hit southeastern Louisana, west of Lake Maurepas and east of Baton Rouge at 6:52PM CST on Monday, December 19, 2005.

COOL!

Completely bypassing Locusts and Alien Attacks, we have moved to Earthquakes on the disaster list. So what if it’s just a 3.0, bring on the Emergency Declaration and FEMA money stat!

[Just for your reference, this is nothing but a tremor. My 130-year-old house probably experiences a 2.5 every time the Magazine St. bus goes by.]

Some details from the USGS page on the quake:

• Epicenter: 10 km (6 miles) ESE (110°) from French Settlement, LA
• Depth: 5K

An extremely shallow quake which was probably subsidence-related. This Louisiana seismicity map gives me all of squat in terms of a deformation trend, but looking at this (most rudimentary) structure map of Lake Pontchartrain leads me to surmise that the earthquake belongs to the en echelon fault trend shown on the map.

The largest earthquake LA has experienced was a 4.2 back in 1930, which “damaged chimneys and broke windows at Napoleonville and cracked plaster at White Castle” near the epicenter. “Many people in the area rushed into the streets.” Louisianans have practice with running amok, it seems.

How To Spend $29 Billion?: The Washington Post reports on the financial breakdown of the $29 billion aid package recently approved by US Congress. Please note that the money has been allocated for all 2005-hurricane-ravaged states on the Gulf Coast and not just New Orleans, as some people seem to think.

Some highlights:

• $11.5 billion in Community Development Block Grants to spur economic development and help homeowners without flood insurance rebuild or repair their homes
• $4.4 billion for storm-related Defense Department expenses and facility damage.
• $2.9 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers to continue storm and flood repairs, begin reconstructing levees and accelerate studies on improving Gulf Coast flood protection.
• $1.6 billion for education, including $645 million for schools that took in students, $750 million for schools affected by the hurricanes and $200 million for higher education.

Two glaring thoughts:

1) Businesses and homes will be rebuilt using $11.5 billion, while only about a quarter of that amount goes towards storm and flood repairs. Again, repairs and not protection over and above. Tell me if the phrases temporary solution and recurring expense don’t occur to you.

[I say this while fully understanding the Catch-22 of populating New Orleans and finding these people suitable employment, while simultaneously repairing and rebuilding flood protection. No people => no rebuilding; no rebuilding => no people. However, how about beginning to pour some of that money into a larger-scale redesign of the entire levee system? All I’m asking for is some futuristic thinking.]

2) The grant technically derives from a Defense Department appropriations bill. However, $4.4 billion for “storm-related DoD expenses” has been approved with no questions asked, but Congress continues to argued over a quarter of the amount set aside for education.

“Public school districts that took in hurricane-scattered students would get $6,000 for each displaced student and $7,500 for each special education displaced student. The state reshuffled its own education spending to give school districts that took in students an extra $1,250 per student, but the districts had said that would not cover the expenses for educating them.”

*sigh* Education is our best defense against citizen apathy; energy is wasted on that kind of thought in the short term (and the long one in the case of New Orleans), isn’t it?

—

A Streetcar Named Canal: With a 100,000 residents currently in the city of New Orleans and the population expected to double in the new year, public transportation is once again in motion. YatPundit reports from the scene on the December 18 test of the Canal St. line. St. Charles service is still not available, but that’s just a matter of time.

“The testing went so well that RTA approved limited operations of six Perley Thomas streetcars on a hybrid line consisting of the Riverfront trackage and a portion of the Canal line.”

ABC News article with two-minute video segment on the streetcars of New Orleans and some footage of the Friday test.

On my last trip back, I saw the Magazine St. bus dropping passengers off by the D-Day Museum and heading up towards the direction of my neighborhood. Now I know that I can at least get home from work!

—

Seasonal Migration: Choices, choices. A day spent in Chicago wandering the hallowed halls of the Art Institute (hence re-adopting an old annual pilgrimage), shopping on Michigan Avenue and photography at Millennium Park, followed by spending time with friends in Madison, a Christmas Day dinner cooked by Aunt Candy and a Packers-Bears game at Lambeau Field? [Please don’t lose this one, dearest Packers, even if it means sending the Vikings to the playoffs.]

Or spending five days at home in NO with most of my friends having left town to be with their own families, after months of staying in the city?

Hmmmmm …

Let’s just say that given the limited police and fire services in the city, I don’t want to add to their burden by setting the turkey and pie on fire. Instead, I’m going home to the midwest – to good food, good fun and, as Jorge says, “to where the most number of people who love you are.”

Most fly south in the winter, this bird heads north.

—

This post is dedicated to Garrett Armand Alley, age 16, who passed away on Saturday in his temporary Houston home. My heart and hope go out to his mother, Beverly, who is not only a great colleague but also a brave and ever-cheerful Louisianan. Please keep the Alley family in your thoughts and prayers this holiday season.

One Voice For New Orleans: Another comprehensive website designed to help New Orleans back on its feet with links to problems, other aid organizations, Times Picayune pictures, local webcams and their main mission, getting Americans to write letters to their government representatives on behalf of New Orleans. Be patient during the page load – their server tends to get overwhelmed easily.

OVNO asks Americans to write their representatives and tell them you care about the future of New Orleans, and that you expect your leaders to care, too …

• Tell your congressional leaders right now that you support every effort to preserve one of this country“s most captivating cities.
• Tell them that the failure of the levee system was not a natural disaster.
• Tell them that Katrina did not discriminate …
• Tell them it could happen to you.

Communicating with federal, state and local government is an underestimated tool of citizen participation. Believe it or not, constituents and their problems still matter to politicians. The squeaky wheel gets greased … I mean, gets the grease.

—

katrina.com: Donated to the Hurricane Katrina cause by a woman who named the site after herself, katrina.com provides a long list of resources and how you can help families in need this holiday season. The Katrina Angel Tree program helps you “adopt a family,” if you ignore all of the kitschy caramel and the Filling Of Forms associated with it. No, it’s not exactly secular and is a bit tedious, but I have a feeling all of the money gets to the intended party by using this method. A little bit of work to help a family in need is not a bad thing at all.