Blanco orders remodeling just after storms:Office tab: $564,838

my local paper described this as "lavish" if i remember correctly from the article that ran. this is just a shame.

having lived in new orleans for 3 years i also disagree with the decision to hold mardi gras this year, but that is another story.
 
Wow...this is kinda inappropriate huh!

Guess the workers really "needed" the improvments...they may not have homes to go to, after all....
 
Seems like more of the "let them eat cake" mentality. Hey, my state may be in a mess, but at least my office looks great. Blecchh. Of course, MY state governor is no prize either.
 
izzyB said:
my local paper described this as "lavish" if i remember correctly from the article that ran. this is just a shame.

having lived in new orleans for 3 years i also disagree with the decision to hold mardi gras this year, but that is another story.
Although I tend to disagree with Mardi Gras this yr,I can't help but wonder if perhaps the massive influx of cash which wiill come with it is not a needed thing.
 
This is a fine example of how this Governor thinks of herself and the common people that I am sure are looked at as "minions".

I read the description, even though the contract was signed 6 days before Katrina landing shore, I am appaled that this 'renovation" is so lavish with marble etc.

I hope they do have Mardi Gras this year, people just might decided to attend to show support with their presence and money for the City of New Orleans.

I know if I was available to go, I would, exactly for the fact that New Orleans needs the support and good will of all people.
 
CyberLaw said:
This is a fine example of how this Governor thinks of herself and the common people that I am sure are looked at as "minions".

I read the description, even though the contract was signed 6 days before Katrina landing shore, I am appaled that this 'renovation" is so lavish with marble etc.

I hope they do have Mardi Gras this year, people just might decided to attend to show support with their presence and money for the City of New Orleans.

I know if I was available to go, I would, exactly for the fact that New Orleans needs the support and good will of all people.

Good post, I agree the city needs support not the governor's offices. I just hope money earmarked for Louisiana's recovery is not put in the "general fund" or more of this kind of behavior will be forthcoming.
 
I read a story about this earlier today, and was completely floored. Despite the contract being signed 5 days before the storm, couldn't the contract be cancelled? Knowing bad things would happen?

Wouldn't Blanco be worried more about storm preparations 5 days before Katrina than signing a contract for the renovation of offices? 5 days before Katrina sounds a bit dubious to me...just seems like an 'out'.

I signed an online petition today, after reading this story, to have Blanco impeached. I'm fed up. I have been fed up for some time...just neglected to do anything about it. I'm not sure anything can be done. If enough of a groundswell of support for her impeachment is out there, why didn't it appear immediately after Katrina and Rita?

http://impeachblanco.org/
for all Louisiana residents. Registered/nonregistered voters alike.
 
Toby said:
I read a story about this earlier today, and was completely floored. Despite the contract being signed 5 days before the storm, couldn't the contract be cancelled? Knowing bad things would happen?

Wouldn't Blanco be worried more about storm preparations 5 days before Katrina than signing a contract for the renovation of offices? 5 days before Katrina sounds a bit dubious to me...just seems like an 'out'.

I signed an online petition today, after reading this story, to have Blanco impeached. I'm fed up. I have been fed up for some time...just neglected to do anything about it. I'm not sure anything can be done. If enough of a groundswell of support for her impeachment is out there, why didn't it appear immediately after Katrina and Rita?

http://impeachblanco.org/
for all Louisiana residents. Registered/nonregistered voters alike.

Although I am not a resident of Louisiana I do have a few friends there. If I can help in any way let me know. Kathleen is over the top (Ray too).
 
I can't completley fault Nagin for everything before, during, and after b/c there was only so much he had the power to do. Alot rested on her shoulders. As far as the renovations being planned a week before the hurricane, I'm sure there could have been a change of plans. The state and New Orleans are suffering financiallyand she does this. If you were broke and without income would you spend money to have your house remodeled? I loved Louisiana when I lived there and it is stuff like this that makes me glad I left there.
 
It seems like money should have been spent to maintain the levee system, way before this happened. Was that both a Louisiana/Federal problem?

If it had already been approved, I don't know. The article said some of the flooring needed to be "up to code". Who knows. With state and federal money, sometimes it's "no bid" and cronyisms, the workers and contractors are making ridiculous amounts of money.

I wouldn't call what she did "corruption", but it seems lack of good judgment and "excess". Louisiana has had a history of terrible governors, of course. But this excess and corruption is going on lots of places - Texas, I'm sure other states, and in the Federal Government. And in Iraq.

It is our tax money, and it's a shame; I wish there was a way to have some honest people monitoring all this waste, and spend the money where it SHOULD be spent. "Oh, fairy godmother, please appear".

Bridge to Nowhere, pork barrel projects? But no levees maintained. Sometimes I wish our country were just smaller, like Israel or Switzerland, so things could be monitored better.
 
Until farsighted, intelligent people with character are elected into office, this cycle of throwing money into the wind will always continue. Both locally and federally. :behindbar
 
proadvocate said:
Although I tend to disagree with Mardi Gras this yr,I can't help but wonder if perhaps the massive influx of cash which wiill come with it is not a needed thing.
Mardi Gras is more than money coming in for the city. It is also SPENT by the city. Police, sanitation, crowd control, EMT, etc. All of it overtime/double overtime. Where the hell is that going to come from? The city's badly understaffed and fired a lot of its employees. Plus there is always a "undesirable" element attracted to the city with each Mardi Gras-pickpockets, muggers, rapists, plus your run-of-the-mill ugly drunks. Do you REALLY want these SOBS running loose in a city with a weakened police force and large stretches of neighborhood that might only have one or two houses occupied per street? Not to mention the fact there is still a LOT of garbage sitting on the street corners already. Nagin and co. clearly have NOT thought this through. I forsee a real clusterpluck.
 
BillyGoatGruff said:
Mardi Gras is more than money coming in for the city. It is also SPENT by the city. Police, sanitation, crowd control, EMT, etc. All of it overtime/double overtime. Where the hell is that going to come from? The city's badly understaffed and fired a lot of its employees. Plus there is always a "undesirable" element attracted to the city with each Mardi Gras-pickpockets, muggers, rapists, plus your run-of-the-mill ugly drunks. Do you REALLY want these SOBS running loose in a city with a weakened police force and large stretches of neighborhood that might only have one or two houses occupied per street? Not to mention the fact there is still a LOT of garbage sitting on the street corners already. Nagin and co. clearly have NOT thought this through. I forsee a real clusterpluck.

The first step in a healing process is to move forward.New Orleans has the opportunity to pick itself up and move on,or they can lay back and pity themselves.Yes there will be issues there both during the upcoming Mardi Gras,and in the forseeable future.It will not be an easy challenge to get the city back to its former ways,nor will the attempt to do so be problem free.But do you let a few drunks stop ya (never have before)Cops like the rest there need money so extra time will not be a bother.And as for the grbage....well as evidenced by the looting and such New Orleans is quite used to garbage on its streets....So used to it in fact that they have termed the garbage CITIZENS.
 
proadvocate said:
The first step in a healing process is to move forward.New Orleans has the opportunity to pick itself up and move on,or they can lay back and pity themselves.Yes there will be issues there both during the upcoming Mardi Gras,and in the forseeable future.It will not be an easy challenge to get the city back to its former ways,nor will the attempt to do so be problem free.But do you let a few drunks stop ya (never have before)Cops like the rest there need money so extra time will not be a bother.And as for the grbage....well as evidenced by the looting and such New Orleans is quite used to garbage on its streets....So used to it in fact that they have termed the garbage CITIZENS.
Well, if the drunks think it might be fun to light up a couple of empty houses because, hey, it ain't their damn city, yeah, I would let it stop me. I lived in New Orleans for 10 years, and some of the "tourists" it attracted even in the best of times were often exceptionally destructive/psychotic. The fact it's widely known that NO's LE has been cut significantly and is spread thin is going to attract not just troublemakers, but a special breed of professional /career criminal from all across the region, looking to score while the NOPD is distracted.
But basically, my problem is that the city should try and look beyond rebuilding an economy based nearly 100% on tourism and try to figure out a way to restructure the city so that they can attract industry and create a lower middle class workforce that has something more to look forward to than making beds and flipping burgers for minimum wage. Also, a LOT of the refugees coming back into the city and those working to rebuild the city are actually LIVING in the downtown NO hotels. Are the hotels going to give them the bum's rush to accomodate "paying guests"?
This a case of a plan sounding okay on paper, but the logisitics involved are going to bite them in the *advertiser censored*. Because NOTHING in NO ever goes to plan.
 

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