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I'm missing me a good muffuletta right now. I'm envious.
Gallery for Fine Photography on Chartres was one of my favorite rainy day time killers.

Alan Evil wrote:Can you imagine if at the WTC FEMA had stopped looking for bodies because "the right paper work wasn't filed?" We can't ignore those white financial workers that have been ground to dust but some poor restaurant worker's mama dead in her living room in the south? Fuck 'em.

Before you go throwing around false statements, please do your homework.

Most of the body recovery at the WTC site was done by the FDNY and the City of New York over about a 6 month period while debirs removal occurred. FEMA Urban Search & Rescue Teams were only on site for about 21 days post 9/11, with all teams being de-mobilized by 10/2/01 when no hope for live rescues was determined by the State and City of New York. DMATs (Disaster Mortuary Assistance Teams) were on scene until the site was cleared in April of 2002.

In contrast, FEMA US&R Teams were on scene in New Orleans from 8/29/05 till 10/14/05 (45 days), with DMAT teams on scene until, I believe, sometime in November. Teams are only released when the State and FEMA determine that search, rescue, and recovery efforts from FEMA US&R are no longer needed.

Body recovery is, generally, not a function of FEMA US&R. This task is left up to the local juristictions to mitigate, unless they request help from outside agencies. As I understand it all local juristictions in Louisiana retained this function, so FEMA US&R efforts could be focused on rescue of people who were still alive and trapped. Mississippi retained this function, as we were directed by the State to visually mark and GPS all bodies we found for future removal by them. This would have been the same procedure for the teams working in New Orleans.

Everybody involved (including local leaders) conceded the fact that some bodies could not be recovered until the hundreds of thousands of debris piles were moved (the same process that occurred at the WTC site). The only reason these bodies are being found now instead of being found last year is the fact that most of the debris removal was held up by lawsuits and the bulk of the removal has just started in the last couple of months. These lawsuits were filed on behalf of "poor African Americans" who could not travel to their property to recover their belongings because they were displaced (do a google search for the articles on this issue if you think I am wrong).

Place the blame where it rightfully belongs, lawyers.

damn it piper..why you gotta ruin a good alan rage attack. please leave your facts at the door when visiting the "evil zone".

I'm usually all for a rage attack. As long as someone sitcks to the facts, it's all good. I put too much blood, sweat, and tears in before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina to let something like that go untouched.

I'm glad you helped out, for all the right reasons.


nothin blows like a bagpipe

Artsay and Scin, let me know when you will be here for Jazzfest. Kevin and I will try to meet up with you one day.

Alan, while for the most part everything that you type annoys the shit out of me, I am grateful that some people are still concerned about us down here in this shit hole. The media has lost interest in post Katrina areas yet there is still so much help needed. There are still people sleeping in tents! Raising awareness is a positive step.

It was kind of numbing to see my old home like that. Most of the city is just sitting empty. There are little pockets of the way it was sprouting up here and there, like snowball stands. But Camelia Grill is still closed. Got to have an excellent oyster po-boy, though!

heard an interview with a fellow from there this morning on NPR, amazing upbeat and postive personality, busy planning their family Easter weekend festivities but in utter dismay at the neccessity of raising the home 3 feet to maintain insurance- tough situation

cfdpiper, I was actually kind of paraphrasing some of that NYTimes article and personal stories. Unlike the WTC situation, the entire city of New Orleans is devastated. The cops, firemen, EMS, etc. have no homes for the most part so there is no way they could take over from FEMA. We're also talking about an entire city, not a few city blocks. It's a fucking mess. Whether it's FEMA's or Mayor Nagin's fault that the search for bodies stopped it DID stop and that is shameful. And can you blame people for wanting to search their own homes themselves before they get bulldozed? You quote "poor African Americans" as the people that brought the lawsuit but if you look at my pictures of the city, the house with "no bulldoze" spraypainted on it is in Lakeview, not exactly the center of poor blackness.

Whether or not we agree on the details I think we both agree the New Orleans problem is not being handled well and probably never will be. Between the ineptness of the Feds, the ingrained corruption of the locals, and the lack of anyone who will take responsibility for anything what we'll be left with is another giant bowl full of really nasty water next hurricane season.

Did I mention how good the oysters were? Or that people still smile and ask you how you're doing as they pass on the street?

Oh, I think Paul said something about N.O. stinking and oddly enough it wasn't too bad. Every once in a while we'd pass a house that was particularly rank smelling (and now I shudder to think what or who might've been the source) but for the most part it smelled better than it does on Ash Wednesday. Another odd thing I noticed was there were hardly any mosquitoes. That's a little scary.