THE NIGHT I KINDA, SORTA MET THE CANAL STREET MADAM

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 05:01:13

How’s that for a teaser? And no I did not frequent her bordello. Get your minds out of the gutter folks. And that means you blondie.

T’was the night before the 2004 Presidential Election. Dr. A and I joined a group of friends,  Romans and countrymen at the corner of Napoleon and Magazine to wave Kerry-Edwards signs and encourage people to vote out the dolt. We all know how that turned out.

At one point I was on the neutral ground across the street from Miss Mae’s bar. There was a tall brunette who a tabloid writer would call statuesque. I suspect that Ashley or Ray would call her something else. Anyway I chatted with her for a few minutes about how horrible Bush was and I predicted that Kerry would win. We all know how that turned out too.

 

A few minutes later someone (I can’t recall who but it might have been Bob, Cookie Tom,  Julie or Jen) said to me: “Did you realize who you were talking to?”

“Nope. But she looked kinda familiar.”

“It was the Canal Street Madam.”

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MUDDLING THROUGH

 Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:50:10

There’s a lot of angst in the NOLA blogosphere this summer. Progress in the city seems to have come to a standstill: the charges against Dinneral Shavers’ accused killer have been dropped and looming in the background is Hurricane season and whether or not the levees will hold. Things do indeed look grim but I remain more sanguine than most about the future of New Orleans. Am I crazy? Well I’ve stayed despite manifold misgivings so I’m at least semi-crazy. The reason I think we have a shot at being okay is that New Orleanians are experts at muddling through. We’ve done it repeatedly throughout our history.

Before the Civil War,  New Orleans was one of the richest cities in the world. Of course antebellum NOLA’s prosperity was built on the rotten and sordid foundation of slavery. The city fell early in the Civil War slavery was abolished and many believed the city would die. It didn’t. We muddled through.

 

The 20th Century brought a series of  calamities: the flood of 1927; Hurricane Betsy; economic stagnation; middle class flight; crime corruption and crack. New Orleans has been declared dead many times. It’s hung in there. How? We muddled through. 

 

Most of our long term problems-crime incompetent leaders bad schools corruption to name but a few-have been with us forever. We’ve survived by learning how to muddle through. Surviving isn’t as uplifting as thriving but there are worse things than muddling through; like giving into despair. I always thought that the post-K  recovery would be a slow and painful process given the profound problems we had before the levees broke. New Orleans was a glorious mess pre-K and now it’s even messier. It’s going to take time patience and above all else the ability to muddle through. It’s one of the things we do best after all.

DOLLAR BILL’S HOUSE OF CARDS…

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:58:38

…appears ready to fall down and go boom-boom after the latest shoe dropped. Jeez talk about tortured as well as mixed metaphors. Former NOLA School Board President and Jefferson ally Ellenese Brooks-Simms had pled guilty to taking a bribe from <drum doll> Dollar Bill’s big brother Mose. Mose Jeff was paid $500K as a “consultant” by a software company and he in turn slipped $100K to Ms. Brooks-Simms.

Brooks-Simms was <you guessed it> first elected to the School Board as a “reformer” and “fiscal watchdog.” So her plea washes away the alloy of hypocrisy that clung to her during her tenure on the board. There’s nothing worse than people who steal from school children and I’m glad to see her hoist on her own petard. But at least she’s not a cheap crook: $100K is a nice piece of change.

This story is reminder of why we have the cumbersome bifurcated post-K public school system. The NOPSB cannot be trusted. Like Ms. Brooks-Simms they all claim to be “reformers” when they run for office but the reformist urge seems to pass upon victory.

It will be very interesting indeed to see who in Dollar Bill’s extended family will follow him and Mose Jeff into the dock. Dollar Bill’s allies (and enemies too) have treated the Orleans Parish school system like their own private piggy bank for years. I think those who steal from children should be placed in the stocks at various locales throughout town to be pelted with rotten fruit and veggies.

Oyster has more on this delightful delicious and de-lovely development. LINK.

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LETTEN NAGIN OFF EASY?

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:33:18

The NOLA blogosphere’s lone investigative Zombie Ashe Dambala has yet another interesting post. It’s based on the comments of an anonymous reader about *why* the otherwise hyperactive US Attorney Jim Letten has left C Ray and his cronies alone. The information is unverified but it makes a world of sense. What follows is informed (I hope) speculation.

Here’s the gist of the post and my extrapolations therefrom: C Ray was a Republican until running for Mayor. His former aide and ex-Repub State Legislator Garey Forster (who also brokered the Couhig endorsement) spoke to Karl Rove about NOLA politics and told him that C Ray was the best Mayor they were going to get in NOLA. The upshot of this conversation was that C Ray has been left alone whilst they’ve investigated the hell out of the Morial administration which has the added benefit of bugging Senator Mary Landrieu. Landrieu as you may recall was elected by a whisker to her first term in 1996 and went through a Senate investigation as to whether her victory was due to Morial based voter fraud. A Senate committee chaired by John Warner (R-Va.) didn’t find any voter fraud and Mary was seated.

Back to Jim Letten. In the last few months we’ve learned a lot about how the Bush Justice Department is run. The US Attorneys who did NOT play ball politically were fired by Gonzo and his henchmen at the behest of the White House. Jim Letten who is a career prosecutor survived the Gonzo gate purge. He must have been playing ball on the focus on Morial scheme which also made sense from a prosecutorial sense: the Morial administration was rife with patronage and corruption. In short Letten could have his political cake and eat it too without becoming a complete Bush sycophant and whore. He appears to be a very gifted bureaucratic infighter as well as a talented courtier.

The recent raid on the LIFT production company offices indicates that any forebearance that Letten had for Nagin and his cronies may have ended. The Nagin regime was actively involved in the Treme film studio scheme that may be part of the Federal investigation into LIFT.

As I said at the beginning of the post I’m drawing inferences and trying to connect the dots on this thing. Dambala’s information comes from an anonymous source but it makes sense. I also don’t mean to cast any aspersions on Jim Letten: on balance he’s been a very good US Attorney. BUT career prosecutors are rarely appointed US Attorneys; especially not in the Bush-Ashcroft-Gonzalez years. Letten was in fact acting US Attorney for years after then Governor Foster’s choice Fred Heebe withdrew after giving everyone the heebie jeebies over allegations that he abused his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend.

Anyway it’s going to be very interesting to see how the LIFT story unfolds and how Letten’s office handles cases involving C Ray’s cronies in the future. Jim may no longer be Letten Nagin off easy.

Jeffrey and David have more on this story.

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MAYOR DUCK

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:30:11

I don’t usually post panels from comic strips but Monday’s Pearls Before Swine reminded me of a certain shiny headed faux hipster Mayor. Stephan Pastis is one of the most interesting cartoonists to come along in some time: he’s sort of like a sick and twisted version of Walt Kelly of Pogo fame. The series about Mayor Duck continues and can be found at Comics.com. LINK.

Now that I’m on the subject of Nagin man you may be wondering why I haven’t dived into the speculation about what if any higher office he may run for. It’s simple: C Ray is boring. As my friend Schroeder has pointed out many times C Ray is quite like the  incompetent simpleton who is the Current Occupant of the White House. He’s simply not a very interesting character. Nagin is a guy who lucked his way into success; it had nothing to do with his abilities or intellect both of which are limited. He’s Mayor Duck man.

If Nagin reminds me of George W Bush Dollar Bill Jefferson is downright Nixonian. He’s an awkward somewhat shy man with a powerful intellect and even more powerful character flaws. In Tricky Dick’s case it was resentment and paranoia Dollar Bill is quite simply the greediest sumbitch around. But like Nixon he *could* have done great things with his talent but instead Dollar Bill feathered his nest.

If you’re interested in what C Ray may be up to politically check out among others Conventional Wisdom Dubos,  Bayou Saint John David,  Oyster, Celcus, and Jeffrey. If Nagin actually decides to run for something I’ll have plenty to say but until then I’ll yawn and pass the buck.

See ya in the funny papers…

THE FAMILY JEFFERSON

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:44:44

It took a very long time due to the FBI’s arrogant decision to raid his Congressional office but a massive 16 count indictment has been handed down against Dollar Bill Jefferson. I’ve skimmed the indictment online and the case looks solid. It seems NOT to rely on the evidence gathered in the still under appeal search.

 Like Maitri I’m a bit sick of the endless Dollar Bill controversy but I do think it’s worthy of ongoing discussion. Jefferson   his family and associates have been major players in NOLA politics for some 30 years. Dollar Bill has *always* been ethically challenged which is why nobody was surprised about the frozen dough in his freezer. His re-election was equally unsurprising his main opponent Princess BOLD d/b/a Karen Carter ran an incoherent and inept campaign which consisted of proclaiming “I’m a reformer” over and over again. Her refrain was unconvincing and her campaign was as they would have said in the 1930’s from hunger.

Back to the indictment: in perusing it I was struck by how much evidence there seems to be against Andrea and the Dollar Billettes. (Sounds like a doo-wop group doesn’t it?) I suspect that the prosecution will dangle threats of family indictments as a means to get Dollar Bill to cop a plea. Thus far he shows no signs of doing so BUT he does have Big Daddy/Pater Familias syndrome: his relations are the only people he seems to care about. He certainly doesn’t give a rat’s ass about his constituents. The Picayune has once again demanded his resignation but I assume they know that it’s as likely as C Ray going four sentences without saying man man.

For other views of the indictment check out the TP’s Stephanie Grace Schroeder Oyster and the only person who thinks Dollar Bill will walk Mr. Gloomy Pants of the yellow blog. I’m sure others will chime in soon as well.

 

UPDATE: Celcus pulls out his 12-string guitar and strums up a helluva post about Dollar Bill. LINK.

 

UPDATE TOO: Josh Marshall has an amusing clip up at Talking Points Memo about the Fox Noise Channel’s inability to tell one African-American Congressman from another. LINK. 

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QUARTER NOTES: RAINY DAY EDITION

Thu, 24 May 2007 18:02:08

It poured buckets or (fill in your favorite rainy day cliche) in the Quarter yesterday. For some reason the rain brings the weirdos out in droves or perhaps it just drives them under the balconies seeking shelter from the deluge. Two moments in particular tickled my funny bone wherever the hell that’s located:

• A large group of very wet and rather frantic Russian tourists entered the shop. A brassy and aggressive blond woman (no not Dangerblond she’s a Yank but not a Yankee) demanded that I sell them rain coats. We don’t sell soft goods plastic or anything remotely serviceable as rain gear. After deciding that they weren’t Russian mafia types who would curb stomp me Tony Soprano style I laughed and said: “I can’t sell what I don’t have.” She looked puzzled and somewhat irate  but one of her peeps looked around and started laughing as well. I told them how to swim over to Walgreen’s. Slosh slosh.
• Some very tall joker dressed in a black suit sought shelter under the Upper Pontalba’s balcony during the downpour. I thought nothing of it until a customer informed me that he had a lizard on his nose. I looked for myself and sure enough it was a genuine bona fide live lizard. But by the time I saw him the lizard had crawled up his face and was resting comfortably on the top of his head. I resisted the temptation to ask the Lizard Man if he’d escaped from a side show…

 

NO, NO JOHN BREAUX

Wed, 23 May 2007 18:42:06

I wanted John Breaux to run for Governor and was disappointed when he did not. That is until I read a letter to the editor from the former Senator in Tuesday’s Picayune. What bugged me about  Breaux’s letter? Breaux came out against the Charity Hospital System and by implication the plans to build a large teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans.  This is the passage that bothered me the most:

“And we should applaud all of the private and non-profit hospitals and community physicians that have stepped up to serve all patients including the uninsured often without compensation. These providers have brought high-quality convenient care to uninsured and underinsured patients since Hurricane Katrina and want to continue to do so. I am proud to be working with the Coalition of Leaders for Louisiana Healthcare a group of health care and business leaders who have made it their priority to continue the work of the Louisiana Health Care Redesign Collaborative. “

It all sounds very lofty doesn’t it? Sneaky is the right word: Breaux fails to mention that the law/lobbying firm he works for Patton Boggs represents the Wal-Mart wannabe of local medicine: Ochsner Clinic. So John Breaux is out to help Ochsner and the insurance companies line their pockets in the name of  “patient choice.”  I put quotes around the last phrase because it’s a fictional conceit; especially in physician-lite post-K Debrisville. In the past I avoided going to Ochsner docs because of the clinic’s convoluted and inept billing system. But Ochsner has swallowed the competition in its quest to become the Wal-Mart of New Orleans metro area medicine. Some choice.

The Charity Hospital system ain’t perfect but it’s necessary. Doctors around the world get their training in public hospitals treating poor people.  Louisiana is NOT the only state that has public hospitals but that’s what anti-Charity interests want people to believe. The proposed downtown teaching hospital is important for the future of our state and city. If Ochsner gets away with its attempt to monopolize health care in our area we are screwed.

Back to John Breaux. He has the right to sell out to the highest bidder but he shouldn’t cloak the interests of his lobbying firm beneath highfalutin words and noble sentiments. I’m glad that he’s not running for Governor.  He might have been the temporary savior of the Louisiana Democratic party but he would have destroyed the Charity Hospital system in the name of reform. I’m not sure what Bobby Jindal’s position is on the downtown teaching hospital BUT it couldn’t be worse than John Breaux’s.

Finally Oyster has an excellent post about Breaux’s Gubernatorial campaign tease. LINK.

WALKING THE PRESERVATION BEAT

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 04:59:59

In Wednesday’s Picayune there was a rosy report about changes at NORA (New Orleans Redevelopment Authority) and how it’s going to save the city by dealing with blighted properties. Picayune man Frank Donze swallowed whole the assertions made by the Nagin Administration that NORA’s authority has been dramatically expanded, which is, to say the least, an exaggeration. NORA has long had the authority to deal more aggressively with blight but it has been an underused, underfunded and ignored agency. The presence of authority in its name is the oxymoron’s oxymoron. Btw, C Ray entered office pledging to fully fund NORA; yet another unkept promise. I hope he means it this time around.

I did get a kick out of Donze’s thrill over the new show horse NORA board appointed by Nagin. Sarcasm alert: Scott Cowen will obviously be deeply involved in NORA’s activities. I’m sure that Jim Singleton will do an excellent job representing political hacks and his protege, Oliver the Actor. Rob Couhig was probably appointed to keep his developer pals in the loop so they can swoop down and claim seized property and add to the city’s supply of luxury condos. Btw, who the hell is going to live in a luxury condo at the site of the soon to be demolished Winn-Dixie across from St. Louis Number One and the Iberville Housing Project? That’s just what the Quarter and Treme need: pricey condos instead of a grocery store. I expect that the project won’t be long for this world either in spite of all the money the feds have spent on it. Wasting money is what the federal govmint does best, after all.

Back to NORA, let’s hope that the new-n-improved NORA won’t allow the sort of demolition by neglect that occurred at 1139 St. Philip Street in Treme. This classic demo-by-neg culminated in a fire that dealt the coup de grace to this historic building last Saturday. The tragedy of this episode is that all sorts of people wanted to renovate and thereby save the building. But legal maneuvering, politics and NORA’s ineptitude aided and abetted the demo-by-neg. Morial/Nagin crony (yes, chirren, Satan and “Mr. Clean” have many mutual cronies) Roy Rodney helped put the kibosh on one particularly promising potential purchase. (I love the smell of alliteration in the morning, y’all.) I’ll let NOLA preservation diva Meg Lousteau have the last word on this sorry affair:

“So this extraordinary building, which could have been sold and renovated many times over given the immense buyer interest, will be reduced to a pile of rubble,” Lousteau said. “NORA is directly responsible for this shameful outcome. They have had the power for years to put it back into commerce, but instead perpetuated its blight until this sad event. I don’t think there’s any better illustration of the utter failure of NORA to carry out its mission of removing blight.”

Now let’s talk about demolition by boom boom. (Yes, I know most small scale demos aren’t done by explosives but demolition by boom boom has flair or is that flare?) There have been reports of unauthorized demolitions throughout Debrisville post-K.  It’s even happening in neighborhoods designated as historic districts as reported recently by the intrepid  Editor B. The City commission charged with reviewing demolitions should change its name from HCDRC to the Blow Stuff Up Commission or BSUC. Post-K the HCDRC hasn’t met a demolition it doesn’t love. Wearing my neighborhood leader hat, I’ve opposed a series of demolitions and they’ve all been approved. KAPOW. KABLOOEY. BOOM.

Finally, for anyone who’s interested in learning more about the wanton post-K destruction of our architectural heritage, check out Karen Gadbois’ swell web site, Squandered Heritage.

UPDATE:  I neglected yesterday to link to an excellent piece from the Third Battle Of New Orleans. Also, Bayou St. John David has added his distinctive voice to the chorus, such as it is.

PROGRESS IN JACKSON SQUARE?

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:06:39

Jackson Square has been a mess post-K: cars parked everywhere people driving through going 35 MPH and corner boys selling drugs in plain view of General/President Jackson on his steed. (For the uninitiated Jackson Square is supposed to be a pedestrian mall.) It’s made me nostalgic for the days when the main problems in the Square were too many tarot card readers and hurling frat boys.

A few moments ago I beheld a beautiful sight: a tow truck arrived to remove an Audi that was parked smack dab in front of the Upper Pontalba Building. I don’t usually get verklempt over tow trucks but I did this time. If there is indeed a parking crackdown I hope that they’ll keep it up even when there’s not a Saints game on the horizon. If they want tourists to return Jackson Square needs to be returned to its pre-K status as the car free hub of the Quarter. Otherwise General/President Jackson might dismount and start kicking some ass…