New Orleans...

when I was there a couple years ago, someone referred to the city as the northernmost Caribbean city. Maybe that's why it doesn't run so well... remember that line about DC, "northern charm and southern efficiency"?

Karen Gadbois is a New Orleans activist focused on preventing the unnecessary demolition of damaged historic buildings, as well as proper management of city resources dealing with rehabilitation of houses damaged as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Her blog, Squandered Heritage (the name is based on a great series of articles from the Chicago Tribune on historic preservation and demolition in Chicago), is where she tracks these issues.

Last Wednesday, her efforts made the National section of the New York Times, in "Amid Ruined New Orleans Neighborhoods, a Gadfly Buzzes." Her blog entry "No Transparency, No Recovery" covers the topic, waste and fraud in a city-managed "housing rehabilitation" program. Reminds me of community development corporations in DC...

From the article:

Taking their cues from Ms. Gadbois, WWL [a local television station] and The Times-Picayune [newspaper] have documented business connections between the program’s former director, Stacey Jackson, and some of its contractors, one of whom was the mayor’s brother-in-law. The reports showed houses that were supposedly fixed up at the taxpayers’ expense but in fact were untouched, contractors who billed the city for gutting work that was actually done by church volunteers, “remediated” houses that were then demolished and poor and elderly residents mystified at turning up on the city’s list of those supposedly helped. Some of the houses did not belong to the poor and the elderly at all, but were actually owned by businessmen or landlords.

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(Over the past couple years I have provided some e-consulting to Karen and some of her colleagues.)