Public vs. private education battle wages on

By Stephen Maloney, Staff Writer

There seems to be a strong bias within the New Orleans community regarding what type of school children attend.

Public school advocates seem to be willing to fight tooth and nail against even the prospect of sending their children to a private or parochial school, while parents of private and parochial school students are equally unwilling to send their children to public schools.

The long-standing feud over school vouchers highlights and defines this tension.

With at least 300 students on the ever-expanding waiting list to enter Recovery School District schools and the Rev. William Maestri, schools superintendent of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, publicly inviting those parents to enroll their students in private schools, the situation seems to have reached a flashpoint.

If the public schools are full, wouldn’t it be only logical for the private and parochial schools to pick up the slack, especially if they are willing to take in the excess students?

Haven’t New Orleans public schools been traditionally inferior to private schools, lacking textbooks and properly certified teachers?

Wouldn’t sending your school-aged child to a better school be considered responsible parenting, especially if not doing so means lingering on a waiting list for an indeterminate amount of time?

Wouldn’t getting teenagers off the streets and into positive educational environments with proven records of success help reduce crime in a city where multiple murders are an almost daily occurrence?

Where is the downside to the archdiocese stepping up and helping fill the gaps in the battered educational system of a city struggling to recover and stem a flood of violent crime and ineffective schools?

‘No excuses’ mantra not just good for Saints

By Greg LaRose, Staff Writer

The wounds of the New Orleans Saints’ loss to Chicago in the Jan. 21 NFC Championship are just starting to heal for many of us, but the spirit of the season is something we want to linger for as long as possible.

Whether it’s rebuilding in the devastated 9th Ward or coping with post-Katrina stresses in burgeoning Jefferson Parish, the Saints have motivated their fans to move forward with the recovery.

If you were watching the Saints game on television, you might have noticed Coach Sean Payton exchange words with players on the sidelines after a miscue. Without losing his cool, Payton repeated the same phrase — you could read his lips — “No excuses.”

What better mantra for our leaders and others tasked with steering the recovery process?

To the Bush administration, we refuse to accept excuses as to why the federal response to the 2005 storms was too late and too meager. But like a game that’s already been played, we won’t focus on a past we can’t change. Instead, it’s time to live up to your promise to foster the opportunity for improvement in the region.

To Congress, where a Democratic majority has promised to right the wrongs of the Bush administration in regards to adequate and equitable disaster funding, now’s the time to put your money where your mouth was on the campaign trail.

To Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, there are no plausible excuses as to why ICF International cannot implement more efficient operation of The Road Home program. Having authorized the contract without establishing incentives in the deal, it is your responsibility to hold ICF’s feet to the fire.
Your re-election likely depends on it.

To Mayor C. Ray Nagin, there are no acceptable excuses as to why crime is surpassing pre-Katrina rates. As the boss of the police superintendent, it’s your job to hold him and the department accountable. Our lives depend on it.

To Parish President Aaron Broussard, let’s find meaningful ways for Jefferson to live up to your forecast as the springboard of the region’s recovery — and not just a place where New Orleanians shop for groceries, clothing and building materials. Where have Jefferson’s resources truly been employed to assist the comeback of the Crescent City?

Saints fans will expect the team to compete for a Super Bowl again in 2007. Winning programs welcome such expectations and pressure as they raise standards among the individual players.

Haven’t we figured out as citizens in a state at the bottom of various national rankings that a higher standard must be demanded to receive it?

It won’t happen overnight. Heck, it took the Saints 40 years, some key offseason moves and the luck of the draft to get the right pieces in place.

But for those of us willing to embrace a winner’s attitude and put in the hard work — and not just watch from the sidelines — our goals are very much in reach.

There’s always next year for the Saints, but now is the time for those of us willing to rebuild better than before.

Saints parade bust is so annoying

By Deon Roberts, Social Media Editor

Let me get this straight: The city announced a parade for the Saints and didn’t call the team first?

Amazingly, I am not surprised that the city would publicize the parade while it was half-baked.

Yet it’s still annoying.

It’s annoying for two reasons.

First, many people were let down after the parade was cancelled. The Saints had an awesome season, losing the one game that would have put them in the Super Bowl. So, many fans were looking forward to the parade as a way to thank the team for lifting our spirits at a time when we need some good news.

Second, and this is the particularly annoying part, it seems City Council President Oliver Thomas hastily announced the parade to win political capital with residents. All information about the parade came from Thomas’ office. Why was he so quick to announce the parade? Was he trying to do so before any other council members would steal the idea? What a great way to curry votes for future offices he might seek, huh?

Saints staff were perplexed when they learned of the parade. They flatly told the city that Saints players were not in town to participate. How can a parade honoring the Saints not feature the boys in black and gold? That’s akin to throwing a homecoming parade when the queen is not around.

Now, Thomas’ staff says the parade might be thrown at the start of next season.

What a debacle.

Can we trust Brownie?

By Deon Roberts, Social Media Editor

Former FEMA director Michael Brown has stirred the pot with his claims that unnamed White House officials wanted to seize control of Louisiana after Katrina because Gov. Blanco is a woman and a Democrat.

Brown’s comments, made Friday in New York to a group of graduate students, have lit a fire under Blanco, who apparently sees Brown’s tattling as proof that President Bush doesn’t take Louisiana’s plight seriously. Blanco blasted Bush’s Tuesday State of the Union speech, saying she was dissapointed “that the president had nothing to say about the Gulf Coast. He had nothing to say about Louisiana. And he had nothing to say about the massive recovery that still lies before us. Our recovery may be yesterday’s news in Washington, but it’s very real here at home.”

Brown’s comments should be investigated. This week, Blanco called on Congress to look into the White House’s response to Katrina.

But I wonder how much stock we should be putting in Brown’s comments. Indeed, Brown himself didn’t seem too concerned about Louisiana in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.

Remember those insensative e-mails he wrote when Katrina was bearing down on Louisiana?

“Can I quit now? Can I come home?” Brown wrote in an e-mail to Cindy Taylor, FEMA’s deputy director of public affairs, the morning of Katrina.

Clearly, Brown was more focused on his looks than the safety of Louisiana residents, as evidenced by another e-mail he sent to Taylor the day of Katrina. After Taylor commented on Brown’s attire, Brown wrote: “I got it at Nordstroms. … Are you proud of me?”

Brown was part of the unaccepatable, shameful response of the Bush administration. Ever since Brown resigned from FEMA after Katrina, he has tried to place the blame on others.

However, the president may have lent some credence to Brown’s comments when he failed to mention New Orleans in his State of the Union address.

What makes me skeptical of Brown’s latest remarks is that he doesn’t name the White House officials. Why won’t he? He’s not working for FEMA anymore. So, what does he have to lose?

Do you think Brown’s comments are true?

For trailer removals, FEMA must do its part

By Deon Roberts, Social Media Editor

Jefferson Parish leaders are giving residents in unincorporated areas until April 1 to remove FEMA trailers and other post-storm housing and storage units from their property.

But residents’ compliance with the order will do the parish no good if FEMA drags its feet on removals as it has in the past.

After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the parish suspended zoning laws to allow temporary use of the trailers and storage units for people who were rebuilding. Now, 17 months after Katrina, the parish says the zoning laws must be enforced.

From now until March 31, residents must either contact FEMA to remove the units or receive an extension from the parish. FEMA will need the homeowner to know the seven-digit trailer number on the back of the trailer. The parish attorney’s office will review extension requests.

Now that the parish has made the order, FEMA needs to do its part. But FEMA’s contractors have had less-than-stellar reviews when it comes to hauling off the used trailers.

Last year, Harahan Mayor Paul Johnston complained that it took at least five weeks for a FEMA trailer at Soniat Avenue and Wilson Street to be removed. Other officials in Kenner have had similar complaints.

Last year, FEMA contractor Shaw Group Inc. of Baton Rouge said installing trailers was a higher priority than removing them.

With most people in trailers at this point, it seems they should be removed quicker.

Brad Pitt buys a piece of the Big Easy

By Deon Roberts, Social Media Editor

So, Brad Pitt and his significant other Angelina Jolie and three children, are moving to New Orleans.

According to news reports, “Branjelina” have bought a home in the French Quarter and moved in about a week ago.

But are they here to stay? Is this a PR stunt?

Is Pitt going to send his kids to New Orleans public schools? Is he going to ride out hurricane seasons and evacuate with the rest of us?

It clearly is convenient for Pitt to be in New Orleans at this time, as he stars in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

But what happens when the movie wraps up?

Time will tell.

Nonetheless, the move is great news for the city as it struggles to convince the rest of the nation that it should be rebuilt.

And Angelina, who loves going traveling the globe to perform social work, will certainly find no shortage of social work here.

Are you ready for more planning?

Since Hurricane Katrina, it seems the region has not stopped planning for hurricane recovery, from the Bring New Orleans Back Commission to the nearly complete Unified New Orleans Plan.

Get ready for even more planning.

From Jan. 22 to Feb. 10, Louisiana Speaks, the long-term planning initiative of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, will allow residents to use the Internet to weigh in on “a variety of options that will impact the recovery efforts and future prosperity of South Louisiana,” according to a press release today from Marty Mayer, president of Covington-based real estate company Stirling Properties.

During the past year, local and national planners have gathered ideas from citizens and elected officials on land use, transportation, economic policy, housing and wetlands loss. Those ideas will shape Louisiana’s Speaks’ long-term vision.

“After holding meetings across the state, Louisiana Speaks has developed several scenarios for the future,” according to Mayer’s press release.

Resident will be able to give input on four subjects:

●Coastal protection and restoration
●Community development and transportation
●Safety
●Economic development

Online polling will take place on the Louisiana Speaks website, www.louisianaspeaks.org.

“The Louisiana Speaks Regional Vision address issues that will affect the region’s future for the next 50 years,” Mayer said.

“The results of the opinions gathered during the three-week period will be delivered in early April as a roadmap for the future of the region. It can become a tool for a strong unified voice in decision making and future investments.”

When everything else fails, Saints give us something to count on

By Deon Roberts, Social Media Editor

New Orleanians have become used to failures in the months since Hurricane Katrina.

Many have been let down by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, elected leaders and others.

Along come the Saints.

The Saints, a team many over the years have come to expect little out of, have given New Orleanians results.

One game from the Super Bowl? Is this for real?

With so much else failing post Katrina, the Saints could have let everyone down. It would have been a get-out-of-jail-free card. After all, does anyone around here expect anything to be going right these days?

Instead, the Saints have become the one thing many people are turning to for hope. Our team is giving us that boost we all need to get through the post-Katrina haze that still surrounds us.

Based on the franchise’s history, the Saints were supposed to fail. But they haven’t.

Has the Saints’ unprecedented season made life a little less stressful for you, too? How so? As for Super Bowl wins, was there ever a time when we needed one more?

Rallying cries; Voices from Thursday’s march on City Hall

Compiled by Richard Webster, Staff Writer

“This is not a new problem. This is not a Katrina problem. Katrina just provided a momentary interruption. This wave of violent crime has been on the rise for years and has left us feeling sad and scared and very, very angry. And I’m still sad but they tell me in time you learn to cope with that. Well, I’m still scared but anyone who has lived in New Orleans knows you learn to cope with that too. But the anger sticks around for a while and that’s why we’re here. Fear keeps you in your house but anger drives you to the streets. But there’s another feeling that’s not just anger. There’s another feeling that doesn’t get talked about as much and that’s shame. I think we all feel a deep sense of shame. Well, we should because this murderous violent society is our society. How can we be proud with the good things in our society if we can’t take responsibility for the bad? Fueling our anger is the perception that our leaders don’t share our fear and our sense of shame. And so today I want to say shame on you Mayor Nagin, Superintendent Riley and District Attorney Jordan. You have really let us down. You have failed us.”

── Bart Everson, a member of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization.

“As a community we must confess that we have allowed murderers to feel comfortable and families of victims to go uncomforted for too long. For far too long the cries of grief have echoed off the walls of our silence. For far too long our tolerance has signaled an unwitting nod of approval to those who inflicted violence upon our neighbors and who terrorize our neighborhoods. We confess our negligence of days gone by but this day we declare that we will no longer sit silently in fear and indifference. We declare today that enough is enough. It is then we look into the mirror of our own responsibilities that we recognize the need not only for confession but for compassion. Regardless of the emotional vehicle that drove us through the streets of New Orleans this day our indignation can only find legitimacy if it is steeled on the wheels of compassion. New Orleans may be the city that care forgot but today we declare that New Orleans will never again be the city that forgot to care.”

── The Rev. John Raphael Jr. of New Hope Batist Church.

“I’m encouraged to see all the hues of colors out here supporting the nonviolence movement. But we must be mindful to remember that we can not police ourselves out of these problems. We can not build enough jails or put enough police officers on the streets to stop this wave of crime and violence. We hope this march will show to the powers that be that we need to address the problems in New Orleans in a holistic fashion and begin to recognize unless we take care of the least of us, then the most of us will not have any peace.”

── Minister Joseph Recasner, dean of students for the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School.

“I’m going to make this statement and I mean this. You see all the young black people right here: We preserve New Orleans history and music all over the world. Not all of us are murderers. I don’t have no ambition on going to Angola for the rodeo or nothing else. I don’t go around talking about killing people. You see all of these people right here? Ain’t none of us over 30 and we all making a statement for young black people. And I’m going to make this statement and I’m very serious: I’m scared to death of the police. I’m gonna tell you that straight up. I’m coming from Preservation Hall and the police say, ‘You come here.’ Can’t you see I got on a black suit with a horn? Do it look like I’m selling rocks? Do I look like I’m trying to rob somebody or does it look like I’m playing traditional jazz?”

── New Orleans musician Glen Andrews

City Hall to receive rebuilding plans soon

By Deon Roberts, Social Media Editor

Mayor C. Ray Nagin spent much of last year blaming state officials for taking too long to get rebuilding dollars into the hands of homeowners.

Now, the world gets to see how quickly he can get projects funded.

A long-awaited list of projects, from street repairs to neighborhood plans, is expected to be in the hands of City Hall by the end of the month.

For months, residents across 13 planning districts have dedicated countless unpaid hours to crafting plans to rebuild their neighborhoods destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. At the same time, citywide planners have drafted lists of infrastructure needs, such as schools and hospitals. Many devoted themselves to planning, even though they could have used the valuable time to repair their flooded homes.

All planning will soon wrap up, and the ball will be in City Hall’s court.

District meetings will be held from today to Sunday in Districts 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13. Final plans for each district will be presented.

Those meetings will be followed Jan. 20 by a citywide meeting scheduled to be held in New Orleans, Houston, Atlanta and Dallas.

A Community Support Organization meeting will be held Jan. 25.

After that, planners will bundle months’ worth of planning and hand what will be called the Unified New Orleans Plan to the City Planning Commission. It will be up to the CPC and Nagin’s administration to act quickly on UNOP and get it to the City Council, which will also mull over it.

The sooner the layers of city bureaucracy approve the plans, the sooner funding can be sought from the federal government, philanthropists and other sources to make the plans a reality.

Steven Bingler, whose New Orleans company, Concordia, coordinated the city’s planning process, said the Louisiana Recovery Authority as well as state and federal agencies and private sources can be tapped into to fund portions of UNOP. For example, the LRA has allocated roughly $200 million for schools, Bingler said, adding that $169 million in block grants is another possible funding source.

But City Hall needs to act on the plans, prioritize projects and aggressively shop them around for funding.

Residents have worked tirelessly on planning. City Hall now needs to work tirelessly to bring the plans to fruition.

“Everybody’s worked really hard over the past year and a half to get the plan done,” Bingler said. “Now’s not the time to stop having meetings. Now’s the time to refocus those meetings on funding and implementation.”•