What is MRC?

Technical issues on LAVA August 31, 2008

From LAVA website, click register now, click Download Responder Guide comes up ZIPPO – return to front page register.

From May 2008 PDF on LAVA

Click to access LAVA_May.pdf

MRC Units in Louisiana are community-based and function as a way to locally organize and utilize volunteers who want to donate their time and expertise to prepare for and respond to emergencies and promotes healthy living throughout the year. MRC Units are provided specific areas to target that strengthen the public health infrastructure of their communities. Please help support your local MRC unit in strengthening the public health infrastructure in Louisiana by volunteering. MRC volunteers supplement existing emergency and public health resources. MRC volunteers include medical and public health professionals such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, veterinarians, and epidemiologists. Many community members-interpreters, chaplains, office workers, legal advisors, and others-can fill key support positions. As we approach hurricane season, please contact your
local MRC for additional information about how you can volunteer in your community.

Acadiana Medical Reserve Corps (AMRC)
Post Office Box 60488
Lafayette, LA 70592
Dr. Andy Blalock
337-852-8771
Calcasieu Medical Reserve Corps
Lake Charles, LA 70601
Angela Jouett
337-475-3217
City of Baton Rouge, Parish of East Baton
Rouge
3773 Harding Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70807
MRC Coordinator
225-389-2100
Jefferson Parish Medical Reserve Corps
1887 Ames Blvd
Marrero, LA 70072
Kenneth Padgett
504-349-5360
New Orleans Area Regional Medical Reserve Corps
1300 Perdido Street
Ste. 8 E 18
New Orleans, LA 70112
Badwi Amin
504-371-2485
Northwest Louisiana Medical Reserve Corps
1511 Doctor’s Drive
Bossier City, LA 71111
Terry Strain
318-425-5351
Plaquemines Parish Medical Reserve Corps
8344 Hwy. 23
Belle Chasse, LA 70037
Benny Puckett
504-391-2004

From MRC website:

http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov/state.asp?state=22

Acadiana Medical Reserve Corps (AMRC) View on Map 825 Kaliste Saloom Road Brandywine 3, Suite 100 Lafayette, LA 70508 Jennifer Doucet 337-262-5644

Calcasieu Medical Reserve Corps View on Map 707- A Lake Charles, LA 70601 Angela Jouett 337-475-3217

City of Baton Rouge, Parish of East Baton Rouge View on Map 3773 Harding Blvd. Baton Rouge, LA 70807 MRC Coordinator (225) 389-2100

Jefferson Parish Medical Reserve Corps View on Map 1887 Ames Blvd Marrero, LA 70072 Kenneth Padgett 504-349-5360

New Orleans Area Regional Medical Reserve Corps View on Map 1300 Perdido St. Ste. 8 E 18 New Orleans, LA 70112 Badwi Amin 504 371 2485

Northwest Louisiana Medical Reserve Corps View on Map 1511 Doctor’s Drive Bossier City, LA 71111 Terry Strain 318-425-5351

Plaquemines Parish MRC View on Map 8344 Hwy. 23 Belle Chasse, LA 70037 Guy Laigast 504-391-2004

My so called blog pimping?! at LiveJournal

(This post is in reference to LiveJournal comments yesterday.)

Getting comments on anything that I presented, of course, would be too much to ask from anyone here. I just wanted to hear you cry about how I SPAM everyone. I mean, really, the Katrina Memorial doesn’t spark any conversation around Christmas time. You didn’t have any family or friends to literally lose or a house to rebuild. You could care less if someone besmirches the memory of some anon. elderly woman who died in Katrina. The fact that a Columbia professor has allowed that disrespectful comment to infiltrate his research (on line no less) didn’t spark any comments, make you raise a moral eyebrow, or insight your rebuttal, or rebuttal from anyone who goes to UNO, or Tulane, or Loyola, or seminary school. I won’t include LSU, because the Baton Rouge community hates me and considers my post SPAM. LSU alumni don’t protest, anyway. The fact that some so called assistance agency, didn’t contact me until 2007, didn’t raise any eyebrows. Why the heck would you comment? I’m just SPAM. I never suggested that this was my most eloquent post – it wasn’t intended as such. ( I do not like to make stray comments, such as this: *(&*^%$#!), either. I apologize. It was a rant. I was upset. AND I bet your momandadinem bought your first car, paid your college tuition for you, and gave you an allowance, too. I understand thinking of others during Christmas wasn’t on your agenda. Consider my post, please, because I matter. Regardless of your opinions of me as a SPAMMER, I had something to say, that someone else thought was important. I am someone’s whole little world. I’m a mom. An x-wife. Your neighbor. An alumni. Community activist. Former community librarian. Former college librarian. Former healthcare worker. Veterans advocate. Military supporter. Former military wife. Housing advocate. And Columbia (dot edu’s) worst nightmare . . . if when I check that website, (http://www.katrinalist.columbia.edu/results.php), that lists the Victims of Katrina, and the comment hasn’t been removed yet. This community, and the other communites I’ve posted to, better start howlin’. And you better not be howlin’ at me, either. What do you wanna bet, LSU alumni and Baton Rouge community, cares about this one?

Please forward this, just because you hate ME to: (see my previous post for this jerks email address.) 

Who is Katrina bashing, California?

I should be upset about the recent comparisons of the California, San Diego fires to hurricane Katrina. The media would like to take every opportunity to degrade the state of Louisiana and what happened during Katrina. The fact of the matter IS California is one of the richest states in the Union if NOT THE RICHEST state in the United States. Louisiana is rural. It’s largest city is New Orleans. Comparisons between Louisiana and California should be limited to Hollywood fantasy. . They quite simply cannot be made legitimately. Why the media has chosen to bash Louisiana again for hurricane Katrina, I do not know. These media types have been struggling for news stories, have forged journalistic credentials, and are typically dense and careless with their reporting. Of course California would have better emergency planning than Louisiana. They have more money. Those reporting comparitively should be required to donate their personal time in helping rebuild in Mississippi and Louisiana. As for those families in California who have lost everything – they have my condolences.

This post goes into the Clueless Katrina comments file.

And a new catagory – Katrina bashing.

Update: Oct. 27, 2007 – Here are the links to a few comments from LiveJournal in MSGulf Coast Community and New Orleans Community. And this post from an account by “Feets” Binkowski in California link from jdquintette @ LiveJournal.

What happend two years later?

Two years ago on September 4th, 2005 we had no electricity. The streets were full of debris. It was hot. The trees lost all of their leaves. It looked like fall. Gunshots were fired a few blocks away. Two people were killed, “looting”. I was supposed to have surgery the day Katrina hit. That got cancelled. Red Cross was nowhere to be found, yet. Phone service was non-existant. Mail service was post poned. Grocery stores were taking cash only. Gas lines formed. The banks were closed. I didn’t see anything get any better in the following week ahead. Things just got worse.

After we finally evacuated, Louisiana said that the health insurance would carry over out of state. It didn’t. The pharmacy said that that the crisis was over now – a month later. It wasn’t. I had to fight the state for identification verification. FEMA mailed a letter to the wrong address and gave out several identification case numbers. It was a confusing mess. It took over nine months to get the SBA to respond. The SBA was a waste of my time. FEMA contracted employees, inspectors, were sent twice. This took months and months. FEMA can’t contact their contracted employees, either. They have no idea who is working on your case.

Two years later, I still haven’t had my surgery. Healthcare in Louisiana was really bad prior to Katrina. Now? I know its nearly non-existant. I still think of my children as 8 and 10, even though two years have passed. Now they have a sister. She was born nearly two years to the day of Katrina. She’s the only damn good thing that’s come out of this…aside from getting to evacuate alive.

UPDATE Sept. 5, 2007

CNN’s Ruins, deaths don’t stop family’s return – posts issues of the tourist industry capitalizing on Louisiana’s misfortune along with the USPS erasing addresses from their mail routes.  The comments are significant here as most agree the disaster tours are in bad taste.  Some of these come here people just don’t know any better.  Here are some comments on the CNN article.

AND two years later some organizations are just NOW attempting to contact me by mail.  These people suck.  They want a long application and review process in order to assist.  They can take a flying LEAP … the JERKS.  Two years?! Give me a break!

ITEMS FROM THE NEWS TWO YEARS LATER

New Orleans, two years later…
By d.K.(d.K.)
On Wednesday, August 29, it will have been two years since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and caused the deluge that resulted in the worst natural (and, I’d argue, man-made) disaster in the history of this country. …
A Silent Cacophony – http://asilentcacophony.blogspot.com/

Two years after Katrina
By Molly Reid
NewhouseMiji Park sits back in a chair near a giant eraser board where she and her co-workers jot down their thoughts at The Idea Village in New Orleans. Post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans a beacon for entrepreneurs NEW ORLEANS — Five. …
Reports from The Birmingham News… – http://blog.al.com/bn/

Big Easy struggles 2 years after Katrina
Two years after Hurricane Katrina, much of the “city that care forgot” still lies in ruins. But Otis Biggs’ task as he shuffles his Tarot deck this moist August day is to peer into the future to 2015, the storm’s 10th anniversary. …
star-telegram.com: Breaking News – http://www.star-telegram.com/190/index.xml

Two Years Later…What have we learned from Hurricane Katrina?
By theexpositor
Newspapers this Sunday morning across the state of Mississippi are featuring stories measuring the effects of Hurricane Katrina two years after one of the most devastating disasters in American history. On my radio program, …
The Expositor – http://theexpositor.wordpress.com

Obama Outlines Plans for New Orleans
By rikyrah(The Angry Independent)
Strengthen the Levees: Two years after Katrina and despite a billion dollars spent to strengthen the levees, New Orleans is still not protected from a major storm. The levee rebuilding has been piecemeal and disorganized, …
– http://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/

Two years after Hurricane Katrina, a new lease — and view — on life
NEW YORK — Gulf Coast financial advisers are standing on higher ground two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated that region.
InvestmentNews Current Issue Headlines – http://www.investmentnews.com

Sense of optimism takes seed
By Mike Stuckey
A recent report from the Gulf Coast Business Council, titled “Two Years After Katrina,” paints a downright rosy picture on many economic issues, noting that annual retail sales in the three-county coastal area have increased 61 percent …
Rising from Ruin – http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/

Two years after Katrina
Two years after Katrina, several churches in the Diocese of Mississippi still struggle to rebuild:. Driving along what is left of the beachfront boulevard in Bay St. Louis, one sees a lot of green. Nature has reinvented itself; …
The Lead – http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/

Most Huggable: Two Years After Katrina, Carbon Trading’s Dark Side …
Two years after Katrina, New Orleans is still struggling to revive itself. The Daily Green looks into the devastation that still pervades… SolFest rocks “the greenest show on Earth.” Eco Libris tracked down Stephen Morris for a …
TreeHugger – http://www.treehugger.com/

FULL REPORT: Two years after Katrina, blueprint for a failed recovery
By Chris Kromm(Bill)
The study also features “Where did the Katrina money go?” — an in-depth analysis of federal Katrina spending since 2005. The Institute reveals that, out of the $116 billion in Katrina funds allocated, less than 30% has gone towards …
Facing South – http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/index.asp

New Orleans Two Years After Katrina:
By Orin Kerr
This Douglas Brinkley essay is a few days old but still a very important read. Here’s a taste:…
The Volokh Conspiracy – http://volokh.com/

Two Years After Katrina, Still Struggling With Healthcare
I’ve just returned from New Orleans where I visited Share Our Strength’s partners and friends to see firsthand the progress and challenges that the city faces two years after Hurricane Katrina. Having been to the city in February I …
Sharing Witness – http://www.sharingwitness.org/

Countdown: Two Years After Katrina
By Nicole Belle
Keith Olbermann and Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter look at the major thudding with which Bush’s quick jaunt to the Gulf Coast on the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was received and the slow recovery process for Katrina victims.
Crooks and Liars – http://www.crooksandliars.com

Q&A: Operation Photo Rescue, Two Years After Katrina
As the Gulf Coast region marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week, a photography group remains hard at work restoring family photographs damaged in the floods. Operation Photo Rescue is a network of volunteers who use …
Digg / Design / upcoming – http://digg.com/design

Two years after Katrina, New Orleans recovery stalls
NEW ORLEANS | Two years after Hurricane Katrina almost nothing seems the same in New Orleans, but one thing has not changed — a cool regard by business for what was once a major Southern commercial center.
Business Feeds – http://www.datasystemsplus.net/

Two years after Katrina, an insurance nightmare
By bhounshell@ceip.org (Blake Hounshell)
Many people are probably wondering today why, two years after Katrina, New Orleans remains something a little less than a shining city on a hill. The news on the Big Easy’s recovery is not all bad, but it’s certainly disappointing for …
FP Passport – blogging on global… – http://blog.foreignpolicy.com

Bush: “Better days” Ahead Two Years After Katrina
President George W. Bush on Wednesday declared “better days” ahead for New Orleans despite complaints over slow rebuilding and amid lingering political fallout two years after Hurricane Katrina’s destruction. via 102.5 KIAK-FM.
US News – http://www.topix.com/us

New Orleans Residents Still Furious Two Years After Katrina
Not all residents of New Orleans are “furious”, but some of us are.
Digg / World News / upcoming – http://digg.com/world_news

Two Years After Katrina Entrepreneurs Return To New Orleans
By Jessica Stillman
Two Years After Katrina Entrepreneurs Return To New Orleans It’s two years today since Hurricane Katrina raged across the Gulf Coast, bursting levies and leaving large portions of New Orleans flooded. President Bush led a moment of …
BNET Intercom – http://blogs.bnet.com/intercom

Two Years After Katrina (The Leonard Lopate Show: Wednesday, 29 …
Rose’s columns that detail not just the city’s dislocation but his own. He joins Leonard to assess where New Orleans is two years after Katrina. If you want more info about ongoing relief efforts for Katrina victims, check out these …
WNYC New York Public Radio Most… – http://www.wnyc.org/

Two years after Katrina
By Sarah van Gelder(Sarah van Gelder)
There are way too many questions remaining two years after Katrina. An International Tribunal is meeting now in New Orleans to look for answers to why a moderate natural disaster became an unspeakable human tragedy that continues two …
Sarah van Gelder – http://www.yesmagazine.org/svgblog/

Two Years After Katrina: Race, Political Relavence, and Survival …
By mole333(mole333)
This diary was originally written once the lessons of Hurricane Katrina had sunk in a bit. This week is the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Two years ag…I remember watching on the weather channel as a category 5 hurricane was …
Mole’s Progressive Democrat – http://moleprogressive.blogspot.com/

Two years after Katrina…
By Nikita
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/news/katrina/ http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows…omocode=cnnkat.
Comic Book Resources Forums – http://forums.comicbookresources.com

Building Back: Two Years after Katrina
After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, many coastal Louisiana horse owners said “enough’s enough” and moved farther inland, while others stayed behind to reclaim their farms that were battered and drenched by the storm. …
TheHorse.com News – http://www.thehorse.com/

Two Years After Katrina
By Ryan
Tonight I was kicking around my place killing time before Canada battles Puerto Rico and I was amazed by an article that Alexander Wolff wrote called “Two Years After Katrina.” The article is phenomenal and makes it worth buying this …
HoopsAddict.com – http://hoopsaddict.com

NOLA: 2 years on article compilation
By hupcollective(hupcollective)
“Two years after Katrina, our nation has an opportunity to change course and demonstrate its sincere commitment to those being left behind in the faltering recovery,” says Sue Sturgis, a co-author of the full report. …
hupcollective – http://hupcollective.livejournal.com/

Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
By vjack(vjack)
Two years after Katrina, less than half of previous New Orleans residents have returned. Those who have remain concerned about the levees. There is a palpable and realistic fear that this could happen again. …
Atheist Revolution – http://atheistrevolution.blogspot.com/

Q&A: Operation Photo Rescue, Two Years After Katrina
As the Gulf Coast region marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week, a photography group remains hard at work restoring family photographs damaged in the floods. via Photo District News.
Photography News – http://www.topix.com/arts/photography

New Orleans, Drop Dead (two years after katrina and thousands are ...
By angryindian
New Orleans, Drop Dead (two years after katrina and thousands are still without homes_new. I guess I’m really a hard-hearted person, but as a survivor of Florida’s Hurricane Charley, which tore my roof off and forced me to spend many …
The News is NowPublic.com – NowPublic… – http://www.nowpublic.com

After Katrina, and after Hugo, and after Andrew…
By Fausta(Fausta)
Two years after Andrew hit journalists weren’t going to Florida to interview people whose rent was still being paid by FEMA. Interestingly, a large influx of illegal labor went to work in the rebuilding effort after Andrew, Hugo, …
Fausta’s blog – http://faustasblog.com/

Two Years After Katrina, Billions in Relief Funds Are Missing
By bubba2
Less than 42% of the money set aside has even been spent, much less gotten to those most in need. Channel: Do No Evil Tags: hurricane Katrina Gulf Coast long term recovery missing relief funds Bush.
Netscape.com Do No Evil Stories – http://www.netscape.com

Kinship Circle: [GULF COAST] Two Years And Still Counting
By Kelly
Unbelievably, nearly two months after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, animals are still being found in houses. (November 2005). Kinship Circle – 2007-09-01 – 07 – Don Corsmeier of KAT 5. PHOTO: Rescue volunteer Don Corsmeier rides in …
easyVegan.info – http://www.easyvegan.info

New Orleans: Two Years After Hurricane Katrina
It’s now been two years since the destruction of New Orleans caused by defective flood protection built by the US Army Corps of Engineers following Hurricane Katrina. Check out the video of the “progress.”
Digg / upcoming – http://digg.com/

KATRINA
By Ann
-One year after the disaster there were still approximately 100000 people still living in more than 38000 FEMA-provided trailers. Two years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. In the days following the …
BEAUTIFUL, ALSO, ARE THE SOULS… – http://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com

Two years after Katrina, New Orleans job recovery stalls
Two years after Hurricane Katrina almost nothing seems the same in New Orleans, but one thing has not changed – a cool regard by business for what was once a major Southern commercial center.
– http://www.LoHud.com

Hurricane Felix: The 8th Category 5 Atlantic Storm in Just 5 Years
By Dan
There have now been eight Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes in the past five years (Isabel, Ivan, Emily, Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Dean, Felix); There have been two Atlantic Category 5s so far this year; only three other seasons have had more …
The Daily Green – http://www.thedailygreen.com

Racism and Criminal Justice in New Orleans
By jodietonita
Two Years Post-Katrina: Racism and Criminal Justice in New Orleans By Jordan Flaherty August 29, 2007. Two years after the devastation of New Orleans highlighted racism and inequality in the US, the disaster continues. …
She muses – http://shemuses.net

MediaStorm: Finding the Way Home: Two Years After Katrina by …
MediaStorm: Finding the Way Home: Two Years After Katrina by Brenda Ann Kenneally.
While Seated (2point8 linklog) – http://whileseated.tumblr.com/

FROM NY TIMES:
But two years after Hurricane Katrina hit, Ms. Cassin and her husband, Joseph, are still stranded far from home; their insurer has offered them just $41000. Emile J. Labat III, a funeral home owner and real estate investor, …
– http://defendneworleans.tumblr.com/

Katrina and New Orleans Demographics
By johnibii
Two years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina we have an opportunity to look at how the victims and displaced responded in a crisis. A Vietnamese-American friend who lives in New Orleans said to me: “Mother fled North Vietnam …
Peace and Freedom II – http://johnibii.wordpress.com

Why would I buy all that if I wasn’t fixing it?

I understood that New Orleans and Louisiana, in general, had affordable housing issues prior to Katrina. Unsightly housing, or blighted housing has affected many in Louisiana. I’ve seen the old barge board, shot gun homes that people are actually living in today. I’ve walked through them before they were scheduled to be demolished. I’ve seen these places all over Louisiana. People need a place to call home, a place to live, and work, and rear their children. Regardless, of the substandard housing…they pay their rent and work and play like everyone else. Sure they complain to the landlords about the structural problems of their home. All of these landlords have one excuse or another as to why they never fixed the leaky roof, the plumbing, or the stove. The rent was cheap and so possibly some tenants did not complain. They were thankful for a place to live. The issues in New Orleans post Katrina are not new, unfortunately. It appears, as far as affordable housing is concerned, that they were only, and I use that term loosely and with sarcastic undertones, exacerbated after the disaster.

Some parishes, cities, or towns, have housing inspectors and some do not. Not everyone affected by Katrina lived in either Baton Rouge or New Orleans. It is an overlooked and under-exploited fact. Most of the inspection issues are applied both at the town, city, or parish level and require little else but an ordinance and the staff to conduct the inspections. Of course, the fees for the inspections are likely the responsibility of landowners. Inspections are just another financial issue for the homeowner/ landlord to deal with that they may not be able to afford.

The post office in the year since Katrina (now two years) had issues in delivering mail to the appropriate person(s) due to the mail forwarding time limits, names, families, etc. For those of you familiar with the postal services’ rules and regulations with regards to forwarding – you understand. I’ve sent letters off in the mail to Katrina damaged neighborhoods only to find the letter back inside my mailbox several weeks to a month later. I’ve had to call local Post Masters in order to verify addresses and tell them how silly they are being, all the while knowing that these people still live at the address I’ve listed, but I have received the letter stamped, “forward expired”.

The WAFB article dated June 2007 states that the city of Baton Rouge gave her six months in order to respond. The article was written in June, and said that the woman was given notice in August of 2006. The home was not damaged by Katrina according to the article, but was damaged by a fire after Katrina in the summer of 2006. The journalist was quick to point out that the original owner of the home, was dead, but did not go into detail. Assuming that the daughter kept her maiden name, which is a large assumption, there are a number of “Davis'” on the Katrina Victim list.

Did the journalist provide pertinent and adequate detail? “Woman Upset the City of Baton Rouge Bulldozed Her Home”.

Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine points out, “We’re here from the government, we’re here to help you.” August 6, 2007 A story from the Ninth Ward’s Jason Banks on KSAT San Antonio, Texas news online.

No One Knows Why Family’s Home Torn Down – Local News Story – KSAT San Antonio: “NEW ORLEANS — Jason Banks got his trash hauled away, obtained a building permit, gutted his Ninth Ward home and was ready to renovate.

But then, the brick house vanished, reduced to a slab in an unwanted demolition.

‘I was heartbroken. I was in tears. I was furious,’ he said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said orders to tear down the house came from City Hall — but no one in City Hall is answering questions about Banks’ home.

‘They don’t know why. It happened it wasn’t on the blighted list. The last call I made yesterday, they told me FEMA did it. Then, a guy called me back from FEMA and said they’re not in the business if tearing down homes,’ Banks said.

Jason Banks said he kept his grass cut, paid his taxes and had the home appraised at $147,000. He was just waiting on money from Louisiana Road Home rebuilding program to make repairs to his house.”

• Then there is Library Chronicles posting on August 3rd the same article, but from WDSU.

And still more housing demolition articles gathered from The Truth Laid Bear.

• b.rox “Razing New Orleans”- July 30, 2007

Map with housing scheduled to be demolished in and around New Orleans. Disregard some misinformed, un-educated commentors who believe the map is a “propaganda” tool. The housing crisis before Katrina was too obvious to those who attempted to solve the problem. . . I wish it were all just propaganda! Internet maps are kewl and their display (ie linked icons – pins, circles, etc. ) oftentimes must be sized largely to create the internet link. Some of the comments here reflect extreme ignorance to both internet map making, and housing issues. Karen, listed below, also has a map of her photographed homes on the chopping block.

• Squandered Heritage’s “Dead House Walking” – July 22, 2007
  There are photos here of homes on the, “Today’s Imminent Danger List.” It was posted to flickr July 17, 2007, by Karen Apricot New Orleans.

Still there are people who believe the housing crisis and issues in New Orleans are exclusive to the “African American” community. I have to give them credit for their media coverage, but I also have to interject that the short sighted focus on larger cities, and racial prejudice is getting into muddy water. Everyone deserves a place to call home – is my point exclusively. Others choose to make housing in New Orleans a racial issue. They can. It is their right. However wrong I feel about making this a racial issue, – the majority rules… and they are not home, yet.

Update: 11:25AM See also : Library Chronicles “It’s about G8d d*mmed time”

Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal – It’s on today’s front page – link views actual paper.

Various Flickr Groups Photos
New Orleans
BloggingNewOrleans
louisiana
New Orleans Recovery
Hurricane Katrina
Defend New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina Photos – Pool
Humid City

Who is fighting poverty in Louisiana? Anonymous “stakeholders and community organizers” .

The Advocate printed an Opinion article, “Fighting Poverty in Louisiana”,  on how Louisiana is addressing its poverty issues.  It lacked depth.  First of all, its goals from 2004 are out of date.  Secondly, it states that there are “stakeholders” in all 64 parishes addressing the “problems” in their communities.  Lies, lies, and more lies. If they had published the names of these so called “stakeholders and community organizers” I’m sure the local OFS DSS offices would have distributed the information.  This is the first I’ve ever heard of the SToP Movement from DSS.  It’s a crock of bull designed to assist DSS employees in making themselves feel like they have made a difference.  The social workers before Katrina, from what some have said, had an overwhelming case load.  Like I’ve stated.  If there is still such an organization – it isn’t organized.  The article also mentioned the American Community Survey from the Census.  There will be, from what I can see from their website, a release of information in August and September 2007.  The information is based on populations 65,000+.  Now that leaves out rural areas, doesn’t it? Especially with populations under Census guidelines of 65,000+.   Good grief!  LSU AG Center defined this as “persistent poverty” and identified its sources.  It didn’t define those areas of populations at or above 65,000+ as 20% of Louisiana.  Sure, that 65,000+ slice has a 20% poverty rate.  This information leaves out rural areas of under 65,000 as in every rural community in Louisiana.

I dig statistics and information sourcing, but I don’t dig half baked articles making claims at a FIGHT!

“Fighting Poverty in Louisiana” published July 31, 2007, The Advocate, Opinion

Acting together as concerned citizens, we will address a chronic problem that is more pressing now than ever before. This problem affects hundreds of thousands of Louisiana families, costs uncounted millions of dollars, destroys our children’s potential and tarnishes our state’s image. This problem is  poverty.

According to the 2005 American Community Survey, approximately 864,277 Louisianians, or about 20 percent of the state’s population, live in poverty. Through a one-of-its-kind movement joining grass-roots stakeholders with state and federal partners, Solutions to Poverty is making strides in alleviating poverty in Louisiana, and we need people’s help.

During the birth of the Solutions to Poverty movement in 2004, education was identified as the No. 1 solution. We are grateful to Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco for her commitment to education and the $700 million new budget investment, especially $30 million for pre-kindergarten.

In other legislation backed by SToP, the governor recently signed into law two powerful new tools for fighting poverty in Louisiana: a School Readiness Tax Credit for quality child care and a state Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor.

The SToP movement, led by the Department of Social Services’ Office of Family Support, has created a statewide network of programs to help our fragile families achieve self-sufficiency. More than 10,000 Louisiana citizens have signed up so far to participate in this three-pronged effort:

    * Community: Grass-roots stakeholders in all 64 parishes seek to identify and own solutions.

    * Policy: These groups create initiatives and suggest program improvements that enhance quality of life.

    * Legislation: Community organizers are mobilized into lobbyists for legislation that helps citizens move from poverty into self-sufficiency.

SToP solutions include promotion and implementation of the following program components: the state and federal Earned Income Tax Credit, the School Readiness Tax Credit, the Individual Development Account program, the Quality Rating System, the Microenterprise Development program, the Head Start Collaboration project, the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention initiative.

Poverty affects all of us, and everyone can be part of the solution. To join the grass-roots effort to eradicate poverty in Louisiana, contact OFS staffer Kim Lacour at (225) 342-6030.

Adren Wilson, Assistant Secretary
Office of Family Support
Department of Social Services
Baton Rouge

If you have questions or comments about the American Community Survey, please call (888)346-9682 or e-mail cmo.acs@census.gov.

Links from The Advocate
http://www.gov.state.la.us/
http://www.crt.state.la.us/ltgovernor/
http://www.legis.state.la.us/
http://www.ag.state.la.us/
http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/
http://www.ldaf.state.la.us/
http://www.dps.louisiana.gov/dpsweb.nsf/

http://www.dotd.state.la.us/

Hey, mister…where’d ya get that gas?

Last month the Houston Chronicle printed a story on the plans being made to get gas to evacuating residents. I’m wondering given the absence of articles in daily Louisiana papers if there are any plans in local parishes along the hurricane evacuation routes to get generators to those gas stations that have gas during evacuations. Here are two stories on the issue that I’ve found on line. There are no others to date that I have found. Let me know if you have found other stories on the gas lines and shortage on the Louisiana Hurricane Evacuation routes from your local parishes.

Plan aims to get gas to evacuating residents -Houston Chronicle
June 24, 2007, 3:09PM
Oil industry helped Texas craft storm strategy
Plan aims to get more gas to evacuating masses
By TERRI LANGFORD
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
3 stations are ready to pump
Hammond Daily Star Online – By Brennan David
Monday, July 9, 2007 11:09 AM CDT

“…Cashio’s Chevron and Quinn’s Texaco Service own generators in Hammond, as well as Harris Gas and Liquor in Ponchatoula – all three were open after the hurricane hit this area Aug. 29, 2005…

In fact, all three stores claim they were the first to start their generators to supply gas.

No other gas stations have come to own generators since Katrina.

Demand for gasoline was so high at the time that the City of Hammond approached Charles Cashio of Cashio’s Chevron about opening his store. Cashio did not own a generator at the time, but he was allowed to use a welding machine that could power the pumps…”

“…Gasoline was pumped throughout the day, supplying both public, private and government vehicles by all three providers.

“The city asked if we had gas in the tank,” Cashio said. “So they let me use a welding machine. The city needed the gas to clean the streets and clean things up. I had the gas and was willing to sell it. I just needed the power.”

Cashio said once the gas was pumping, the main obstacle was to not run out of gas. If emergency vehicles needed gas in the evening, he might not have any to give.

In the week after Katrina, Cashio said times were so busy that he was asking other gas stations to open their doors to lighten the load.

Across town at Quinn’s Texaco Service, owner Davey Quinn was also open for service after Katrina, and today has the capability to power all six pumps in the event of a power outage.

“We had people from Washington Parish that needed gas to milk their cows,” Quinn said. “I gave away a lot of free gas. Some people would drive up with nothing. I would fill them up and tell them to leave.”

Like the other two owners, Quinn said a supply truck would refill the station’s empty tank each day. Everyday for almost a week Quinn ran out of gasoline but would reopen once resupplied…”

KATRINA DAYS – Traffic backs up along West Thomas Street near Quinn’s Texaco Service in the days after Hurricane Katrina. Quinn’s is one of a few service stations in the area that has a generator to power gas pumps during extended power outages. Daily Star File Photo by Kari Wheeler