Very interesting SUNG. Sub corporations to corporations are usually difficult to trace, the old adage of 'follow the money' applies. I understand the units to be built are apartments and each hum-drum apartment will cost a small fortune to construct. Now why would that be?

To Kem Patrick: Went to Columbia Residential website and it's very weak on corporate structure openness. New company too, created in 1991 and until this rebuilding gig in New Orleans, it only operates facilites in Georgia.

But I did find this little gem: "In an apparent conflict of interest, Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Alphonso Jackson, owns a stake in Atlanta-based company Columbia Residential, which landed major HOPE VI redevelopment grants with the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA), according to an article, "Questionable Contracts," published in the National Journal magazine on October 04, 2007. National Journal is a Washington, DC, based magazine for policy professionals". So HUD+Columbia Residential=Government (tax payer) contracts. Link below.

http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0238.html

I can sympathize with the NO residents displaced by Katrina, but you should know that this is simply disaster capitalism in action. Poor people from NO are NOT going to get to return to their former homes. They weren't welcome there to begin with, just pacified by former administrations and HUD. If there's more money to be made by gentrifying these old communities, that's what's going to happen...protests or not. When are these people going to wake up and acknowledge the fact that just like any other group of "marginal" citizens, they are going to be fucked in this environment of "winner take all" capitalism
fostered by the Bush administration.

They do have a home. They have section 8 vouchers. If they were homeless then they couldn't live in HUD homes anyway - they would not be allowed back in, that's a HUD policy.

I was forced against my will to leave my home. I live in New Orleans. I moved back and am still fighting for change and for my own place to live.

The situation here is getting bad - evidence the poster in the link below.

http://blog.nola.com/inyourownwords/2007/12/tensions_rise_over_public_hous.html#addcomments

I'm just saying that these places are not the answer.

John Edwards is the only presidential candidate to weigh in on this? Bravo, John Edwards!

Too bad the rest turn a blind eye to our working poor. Oh yeah, unless they are illegal migrants . . . then they need our compassion?!

"Katrina" ranks as one of America's darkest chapters. Disgrace and shame are mild terms. This was a true measure of our public leadership whose qualities are perhaps best described as absentee, indifferent and incompetent. But what is worst about all of this is that both government and big business have become such true predators to a large group of humanity that was made so vulnerable. This is the truest measure of where we are as a society -- not the telling of how the "well to do" are doing -- but how we treat those among us who are not doing well. The latter is the measure of a civil society. And it is this measure that shows a hell of a lot more than New Orleans is taking on water.

I really don't understand this protest.
The former residents get section 8 and tons of section 8 housing is ready and willing to be rented in town.

Also, B.W. Cooper was already empty before the storm and is completly run down, it needs to be torn down.

Something else can be done for those who need housing, but not these places. These places aren't for the homeless anyway... Homeless people can't live in HUD housing here.

I just don't feel the outrage...

Seems that NOLA-ites are more proactive in terms of fighting for their rights. If they monkeywrench all the construction (read "destruction)equipment and continue their civil disobedience I say more power to them.

It may very well be that this area is along a Mardi Gras parade route. It's all about tourism!

Perhaps the government continues to allow developers to slip in through the HUD cracks.

Hidden and shameful...
That is what the "reconstruction" of New Orleans has been.
A BBC show about cars, "Top Gear", had a show in which New Orleans was the destination of a "race". They were appalled at the destruction still widespread after 2 1/2 years. "America can't do better than this???" You don't see this on MSMedia.

And to evict the poor for development and "upgrade" to higher income earners???

I saw this coming when the VERY FIRST executive order made by Pres. Bush as per New Orleans was to overrule the law of Prevailing wages for gov't contractors. Thus they could bring in "migrant" workers to put up the blue tarps on houses and not pay living wages. By the way, the contractors made a killing in profits, because that's what America is all about.

Wait and see - New Orleans will become a theme park on the same level as Times Square - all commercialized and Disneyized and sanitized for safe WASP bourgeous consumption.

People don't matter - only profits.

Keep fighting the good fight!
Yay for John Edwards!

See a clip from Greg Palast's documentary "Big Easy to Big Empty" --

http://www.youtube.com/GregPalastOffice

Some residents are still locked out of public housing that was in excellent condition (and still is) and was never under water.

I am surprised that no one has brought up what Naomi Klein has said about housing and New Orleans yet. Or maybe everyone who would have felt that they may have repeated it too many times.

Agree with Edwards.

Strange how it was the poorer areas of New Orleans that got flooded.

BTW - have any of you heard of Canadaville? Seems that the displaced residents of New Orleans are not really wanted in Louisiana at all.

Welcome to Canadaville

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/show/CTVShows/20071002/welcome_to_canadaville/20071009/

WPG Free Press Article on the Documentary

http://thomhartmann.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2051097651/m/4011020282?r=6781050282#6781050282

Okay, I live in New Orleans and I'm going to do my best to give the "man on the street" view from some of the citizens of New Orleans.

To start these "Housing Projects" as they are called here, or "Projects" for short were built when Pres. Johnson started his "War on Poverty"(WOP) as supposed "temporary" housing until the occupants could work their way into finding permanent housing. (the whole up-ward mobile thing I never bought into nor for that matter worked very well in the WOP either) Naturally it didn't turn out that way, residents moved in and went about making the Projects their preeminent homes. Even though many of the apartments in these projects were occupied by honest low income people many also became havens for criminals of all sorts. Disappearing into the Projects after a mugging was as common as sunshine. Of course this is nothing much different than any major city, ask a local were not to go and they'll tell you - here it was stay clear of the Projects. The authorities and social groups were always looking for a solution to the crime problem the Projects had manifested into. Having big ugly square buildings build like mazes wasn't easy to police.

So what we have now are the honest residents of the Projects who should be rightfully pissed that our government has always abandoned them and now stripped them of their homes, but putting them back in the same crime infested, run-down buildings isn't much of solution either.

Indeed it is an indictment of the failure of our government and society that we have a disproportionate number of people of getting the short end of the stick and that we treat the poor so shabbily, but to many here cleaning-up the Projects doesn't seem to one of the failures. And I don't have an answer for those that will be left without recourse - that's supposed to be the government's job. But looking for an intelligent solution to that in this administration is as close to absolute futility as one can get.

If the protesters are pushing to be located in the same neighborhood they have lived in before the storm, I hope they get to do that. But not in the same housing that was a problem then and for sure be guaranteed to remain one after. When the St. Thomas Projects were torn down they were replaced by single family homes with beautiful lawns and streets with what certainly seems to me the same people occupying them less the criminals. I use to be leery of driving through that area, now I ride my bike through it often. If indeed this is what they have planned for the B. W. Cooper site I see no reason for them to be protesting.

Yes, indeed, Disaster Capitalism in action.

I guess Mayor Naigan really wants a "White Chocolate City"

HUD is spending $762 million in taxpayer funds to tear down over 4,600 public housing subsidized apartments and replace them with 744 similarly subsidized units in New Orleans- an 82 percent reduction. Most of these contracts are to an Atlanta-based company, Columbia Residential. Vaudree has cited the wonderful Ms. Naomi Klein who has written numerous articles about this example of "disaster capitalism" in the US (and Iraq). She's worth reading.

A good link to this story including the HUD crooks and villans: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120307A.shtml

Youbetterwork: "I just don't feel the outrage"

I guess neither did Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge when they emptied Phnom Penh. Now America has it's own Khmer Rouge. It's called the Bush Administration.

If Kucinich and Gravel are not in tonite's "debate", let's not watch it.

Is there any chance at all, the contractor is a sub of Halliburton?

It's official, we are living in a third world country.

youbetterwork,

I guess you don't think these poor people who were forced out of their homes deserve a home? Just let them go someplace else, huh?

If you lost your home in a flood would you be feelin it, if you were forced against your will by strangers to abandon your home? Would you not be feelin it, and simply move somewhere else without another thought?

Thank God for Mr. Quigley and all he has/is doing for his fellow man. We all need to follow closely in his footsteps.

ezeflyer says: If Kucinich and Gravel are not in tonite's "debate", let's not watch it.

What station? Figure it isn't CNN because they had one already.

Com_n_sense says: Naturally it didn't turn out that way, residents moved in and went about making the Projects their preeminent homes.

Seems as if the officially more permanent homes are far too expensive for them. This means that homes bulldozed because they were unlivable are replaced with homes to expensive for the original residents to afford comfortably.

Com_n_sense says: Even though many of the apartments in these projects were occupied by honest low income people many also became havens for criminals of all sorts. Disappearing into the Projects after a mugging was as common as sunshine. / The authorities and social groups were always looking for a solution to the crime problem the Projects had manifested into. Having big ugly square buildings build like mazes wasn't easy to police.

Seems as if you are touching on two separate issues here:

a) Law abiding people and criminals both living in low rental.
b) Non resident criminals running into the maze of low rental units because it is easier to lose the person chasing them there. You mentioned cops, but criminals may also have need to escape from other criminals there.

The first issue has to do with whether the landlord can evict a tenent for criminal activity - and, if New Orleans is like every place else, grow ops and crystal meth labs are located in both poor and wealthier areas - and tend to make the residence unlivable after the offending tenent is evicted.

The second issue is to do with the lay out of the low income housing units and tearing them all down to change the lay out seems like overkill. Anyone remember Rachel Corrie?

KEM PATRICK says: Is there any chance at all, the contractor is a sub of Halliburton?

sung425 says: New company too, created in 1991 and until this rebuilding gig in New Orleans, it only operates facilites in Georgia.

Kem that is a very good question and sung, that is a very intelligent way of saying that you don't know the answer but have a few clues might lead us closer to it.

sung425 says: But I did find this little gem: "In an apparent conflict of interest, Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Alphonso Jackson, owns a stake in Atlanta-based company Columbia Residential,

And they only consider that an apparent conflict of interest!

Is a "United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development" a Secretary the same way Robert Gates is the Secretary of Defense and Condi Rice is Secretary of State? If so, these seem to be appointed positions in the US, but, in Canada, the people who fill these positions are elected Members of Parliament. What I am trying to say is - was this person appointed by Bush?

Seems as if your Secretaries are not Congresspersons any way.

Jackson replaced Mel Martinez who, according to the Wik, "supports" something referred to as "Indigent Housing." Seems that he stepped down of his own accord to run some candidate's campaign or other and has been involved in a few ethics problems unrelated to this issue since then. Don't know anything about Michael Hollis. Martinez seems to be discredited for a reason and Hollis seems more involved in this than is hinted.

youbetterwork says: I was forced against my will to leave my home. I live in New Orleans. I moved back and am still fighting for change and for my own place to live

I'm just saying that these places are not the answer.

Do you think that those wanting to bulldoze these places Gaza style are really looking for answers? They may not be the answer - but they have to do until someone seriously starts looking for answers.

The other issue raised is compensation - how many years ago was this and people are still waiting for compensation! I think that they are trying to wait you guys out - hoping that people just abandon their land or end up selling it to pay for the rent in the condos and then end up moving out with nothing.

All I had to do was mention the name Naomi Klein! Getting the book for Xmas. Strange that all you have to do is mention the name and other people will fill in the connection. ;)

Bill Quigley says: Affordable housing is at a critical point along the Gulf Coast. Over 50,000 families still living in tiny FEMA trailers are being systematically forced out.

FEMA trailers are not the answer either, but as long as no one is really looking for answers, they are better than either nothing or overpriced condos one can't afford to live in honestly. If you are moving from a trailer to a condo and you don't seem strapped for cash, I would check for a grow op.

Bill Quigley says: But no one will say openly African-American renters are not welcome. Supporters of the destruction of thousands of apartments have come up with a series of stated reasons for their actions, but it clearly looks like political gain and economic enrichment for contractors, lawyers, architects and political friends are the real reasons.

It more than looks like political gain and economic enrichment - strange how these two things tend to go together.

Any one following The Karlheinz Schreiber Story? If Schreiber was handing out envelopes of money to Mulroney in New York, that can't be all that he was doing in New York. According to Schreiber, Franz Strauss gave money to Schreiber money to travel the world and get Conservatives elected. You remember Mulroney - he gave the eulogy at Ronald Regan's funeral. Ronald Regan is another one who figures that everything he did was for the good of the country.

And speaking of Frank Stronach and Canadaville, I wonder what daughter Belinda Stronach (or even the openly jilted David Orchard) thinks of Mulroney's characterisation of Elmer MacKay's son Peter! There are reasons why people consider Schreiber more trustworthy than Mulroney and I think this type of gross exaggeration is one of them!

Ok, seems unrelated, but what New Orleans is really about is economic opportunism and it is hard for Canada to be involved in anything dirty unless there are also players in the States - many of them still operating. Canada is your Eva Braun Americans! Our scandals tend not to be completely self contained!

I'm with Com_n_sense and youbetterwork on this one. The St. Thomas Project demolition and "renewal" (or whatever name you care to give it) has been a net positive for this city. Prior to the demolition of the projects, it was an area I would have been terrified to be alone in at night. Now, one can indeed bike through it without fear. It's become a pretty little neighborhood, with a modern apartment complex which was sorely needed in this city. (Granted, that complex was shut down after Katrina when they discovered its foundation was flawed, but it's re-opening soon. Ahh, what do you expect in New Orleans?)

I understand posters concern for the residents of public housing, but truly, they don't have a right to public housing in the city of their choice. They have been provided with Section 8 vouchers for rental assistance- they're not being dumped without help. And New Orleans is, and has been, a mess. If the residents of public housing are truly as vulnerable as advocates and posters suggest, they are better off in areas of the country that can provide them with better education, job opportunities, safer homes. They certainly won't get those here. Many have found this to be so, and are not returning. I love New Orleans like most who live here, but it is probably the most disfunctional city in the U.S, and was even before Katrina.

And with crime already rampant in this city, reopening project complexes that have been crime hotspots in the past makes no sense. THe rest of us in this city also have rights, specifically, the right to be safe(er) from the random, roving, DEADLY crime which plagues us.

And forextrader, brilliant twist on the argumentum ad nazium. Unfortunately, its corollaries suffer from the same falacies it does. Both the project residents and their neighbors face a problem that requires something more than a weak combination of pithy insult with poor comparisions.

MannieDavis, having a roof over one's head is not a human right?

The Projects are probably not the best answer - housing meant to be temporary is probably not going to withstand the elements for too long without falling apart. But are you really advocating that those who have called New Orleans home for generations should either be able to afford the new higher rents or get out of the city altogether? There needs to be affordable housing in New Orleans posibily even more than there needs to be more of it in Winnipeg or Toronto.

Are you also against the tendency of gun sellers to sell to anyone? Do you think that there should be stricter gun control laws or do you also feel "safer" if you have a gun on you? Are you also for a greater safety net so that people don't become tempted turn to crime to feed their families? Or do you vote for people who boast about how many people they took off the welfare roles without caring what has happened to them or where they are living?

The following is the result of an influx of workers (creating a greater need for shelter) and a lack of rent controls. But it does deal with the issue of working and not being able to afford higher rents:

Unaffordable Housing

The Parmar family found work in Fort McMurray, but a shortage of affordable housing and a tragic fire have left them, and hundreds of working families, without a permanent place to live. Kim Trynacity reports on one unpleasant side-effect of Alberta's oil boom.

http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/politicseconomy/unaffordable_housing.html

tlcs_3 December 13th, 2007 1:15 pm

"Wait and see - New Orleans will become a theme park on the same level as Times Square - all commercialized and Disneyized and sanitized for safe WASP bourgeous consumption.
People don't matter - only profits."

You've got that right. Do you remember after Katrina hit, the Supreme Court ruled that state governments could "now" confiscate private property for "business" use? The rationale was that business development would create needed jobs in the area.

Prior to this Supreme Court decision, states could only take (by eminent domain) personal property for "public" use.

My goodness...... how things have changed since our corporate-loving president took office in the White House.

Bob K. John Edwards is the only presidential candidate to weigh in on this? Bravo, John Edwards!

Hey, Edwards is the guy progressives should be supporting - that's been clear for a long, long time. He's the only one who speaks with any passion at all about the economic divide in this country... (well, except for Kucinich.. but you know, he's just not going to be elected, regrettably. Edwards, on the other hand, has a real chance.)

John Edwards, our only hope right now.

His is the main progressive movement through which we might hope to derail this inhumane action. All others--Obama, Hillary, etc., are big money operations.

And what is Edwards' health care plan? It's mandatory health insurance, just like insurance for drivers. Those who can't afford it still won't have it. Kucinich is the only candidate with a brain and a heart on this issue.

The social and corporate welfare wings of the capitalist duopoly agree that the people should not be taught how to fish.

MannieDavis: THe rest of us in this city also have rights, specifically, the right to be safe(er) from the random, roving, DEADLY crime which plagues us.

It's progress just to have this issue raised in a public forum so we can pick it apart. MannieDavis is basically saying that the upperscale residents of a city have rights to be safe from crime smouldering in the lowerscale districts, and thereby justifies demolishing the lowerscale district. But this only shifts or disperses the problem elsewhere along with those lowerscale residents.

Again, we're fortunate that MannieDavis offers this assessment in a public forum because such debate is simply suppressed all too often in the "good ol' USA". Katrina placed the magnifying glass on the class problem in the USA. The rampant crime in New Orleans has everything to do with the wealth differentian in thishideous gilded age - the rich on the hill versus the poor in the gulch.

In the Santa Clara valley in California the difference between the average house size in cheap South San Jose and expensive Palo Alto is really not that large. In Los Angeles the mansions are fifteen times larger than the bungalows. Which area is known for its extra violent street gangs, and hyper racial animosity?

Nobody wants to talk about the class problem in the "good ol' USA" like the drunk doesn't want to talk about his drinking problem. The crime problem in New Orleans is spawned by the upper class contempt for the lower class and resulting classist policies enacted. Face the capitalist fire, people.

In the SF Bay Area? Join us tomorrow, Friday at Oakland Civic Center 13th St. & Broadway, right near the 12th St. BART.

Walkin' to New orleans- Survivors and Veterans March used the slogan," Every bomb that drops in Iraq explodes in the Gulf." That's because the Bush Administration declared war on the poor of New Orleans. And the rest of the country too.

Bill Quigley also represented anti-torture demonstators in the SW. Bill Quigley for Attorney General. That's an idea that would give Bush and Cheney nightmares like the ones they've given us.

" During an April 28th speech, Secretary Jackson told of a conversation he had with a contractor with whom HUD had already decided to do business with. Apparently the contractor said "I have a problem with your president." According to the Dallas Business Journal, Jackson thought to himself, "If you have a problem with the president, don't tell the secretary." Jackson continued: "He didn't get the contract. Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president?" Jackson's conduct appears to be in violation of federal law. The Federal Acquisition Regulations (48 CFR 3.101-1) state that government business "shall be conducted in a manner above reproach and, except as authorized by statute or regulation, with complete impartiality and with preferential treatment for none." "
http://tinyurl.com/36846z

"The FBI and the department's internal watchdog are examining Jackson's ties
http://tinyurl.com/ywk43h
to a friend who was paid at least $392,000 in federal money after Jackson passed along the man's name for a job as post-Katrina construction manager at the Housing Authority of New Orleans."
http://www.banklawyersblog.com/3_bank_lawyers/2007/10/time-for-alphon.html

Bill Quigley for Attorney General somehow doesn't give me nightmares.

That is a good point - the greater the discrepancy between rich and poor the greater the crime rate tends to be.

The US is a country which tend to figure some lives are more valuable than other lives. Mike Harris and Stephen Harper think the same way.

My mother commented that the different disaster responses in California and Louisiana were because it was the wealthier people who were hit most in California. Part of me would like to think that it was because FEMA worked better and Arnold would have acted the same way no matter who was hit. Seems that Arnold was able to get his Canadian friends in right away instead of Canada having to wait for permission for days and days before we could get in to help.

Here is the Backgrounder on New Orleans after Katrina including a list of legitimate places to donate money for help at the time. In the US, there were people pretending to be seeking donations who just pocketed the money:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/katrina/

In Canada, the Mayor is elected separately from the councillors. You can have a left-wing mayor but if the majority of councilers are right wing they can vote him down or even pass their own agenda. Sometimes the Premier (ie Governor) can overrule the Mayor or do things that the Mayor doesn't want done.

What is it like over there?

Why is formaldehyde put into building materials? For that matter, why is there so much toxic junk in our homes to begin with? I used to work as a cabinetmaker, but I quit because of the constant exposure to all of the toxins. I think we've always thought of the toxic properties of useful materials as economic externalities since the health of blue-collar workers was disposable as was the entire lives of the poor. Decent, affordable non-toxic homes should be a universal human right. Employment that doesn't cause disease should also be.

Toxicity is normal for all homes, it is said that the air inside your home is probably more polluted than outside. Fighting structure fires is deadly without Self Contained Breathing apparatus.

--------------

Don't rebuild in the path of destruction!

Finally! Everybody should have a job that wants one! Emergency management should oversee this; in place of giving money away. No matter your ability, someone will be there to find a place for you.

Somebody had plans for NO before Katrina. Everybody profiting from these people want to shove activists in the dark while they suck up these government contracts.

Bring in the contractors, but employ and train the locals! What should have been a growing experience has turned into a greedy nightmare for the people left with nothing after the storm.

Crime may be symptomatic of poverty but it much more symptomatic of corruption at every level. Moral people raise moral children. People with few or no morals raise criminals, and set them loose on the streets, and get defensive and nasty if their babies are criticized or brought to justice.
The wealthy are every but as guilty of this as the poor. The children of the wealthy are out there getting high on expensive drugs and committing white collar crimes as they move into the business world. The children of the poor are selling the drugs and committing petty larceny, theft etc.
The problem isn't the buildings they happen to reside in. The problem is a thoroughly corrupt, immoral society.

It can't be any clearer than this. The powers that be, including Ray Nagin, do not want the people of New Orleans to live in their homes. These powers want those people gone so they can proceed with the disnification/trumpization of NOLA into a nice amusement park for the wealthy.

This country is a feudal kingdom, and the land barons are grabbing grabbing while their profit making industries are poisoning the planet. What's happening in New Orleans is part of a much bigger picture.

Follow the money!

John Edwards is the only Dem candidate who is against marihuana legalization.

re: youbetterwork's statement

The statement implies that unaffordable housing is fair, which is gross; and, this situation is particularly aggregious in light of the fed. govt.'s abandonment of the working poor in New Orleans.
Neoliberal policies that result in "beautification," "slum clearance," and "urban renewal" needs be met with great suspicion and then, most often, combated. I am proud of the attorney and the protestors. I'm with them in spirit.

For god's sake people of Louisiana! Get your "leaders", (that aren't on their knees in front of the corporations) To have a general vote to secede from the Evil Empire, then CHARGE for all the oil and natural gas the swine are taking for free now. You'd quickly become another Dubai. But then you'd have the protein swilling swine knocking at your door for "donations" OR the CIA would topple your government and put a puppet in power who would allow the U.S. Corporations to rob you of your natural resources anyway......never mind.

From the WPG Free Press:

Landlord accountable

The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act was the first of its kind in Canada to help neighbours get rid of problem houses and their tenants.

It works by holding property owners accountable for threatening or disturbing activities that regularly -- not just occasionally -- take place on their property.

These activities include:

* unlawful drug use, dealing, production or cultivation;

* prostitution and related activities;

* unlawful sale of liquor;

* unlawful use or sale, for consumption, of intoxicating substances (non-potable and solvent-based products, like hairspray);

* sexual abuse or exploitation of a child or related activities; or

* possession or storage of an unlawful firearm, weapon or explosives.

Once a complaint is investigated and proven, the act compels landlords to evict the tenants responsible for creating the problem.

Police can be and usually are also involved in this process.

The act also gives the province the power to get a judicial order to board up a house.

Those who violate the order are subject to fines and a possible jail sentence.

Saskatchewan, Yukon, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Alberta have passed safer communities legislation modelled on Manitoba's. Similar legislation is under consideration in the Northwest Territories.

For more information go to www.gov.mb.ca/justice/safe/scna.html

Another very good reason to vote for John Edwards EZEFLYER.

KEM PATRICK, what do you think of Marc Emery - if you think this is a good reason to vote for Edwards?

Primer on Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot:
http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=713