Here's to Young People Taking Action in New Orleans

I think you will join me in being really impressed by these young people taking action to rebuild New Orleans. With young leaders like this New Orleans will survive and thrive! Let's give them the support they need!

You can still help New Orleans

Today, August 29th, is the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Today there are still tens of thousands of families without homes. 30,000 families are scattered across the country in FEMA apartments, 13,000 are in trailers, and hardly any of the 77,000 rental units destroyed in New Orleans have been rebuilt. And this is just one of the many issues the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are still dealing with.

Today, United for Peace and Justice re-affirms our commitment to the struggle to shift the use of our tax dollars away from war and toward the rebuilding of the communities still suffering from Katrina, and serving the many other needs of communities around the country. On this sad anniversary, we urge you to re-commit to this critically important work, a struggle that is interwoven with our efforts to end the war and occupation in Iraq.

We want to call your attention to a new short film produced Brave New Foundation, "When the Saints Go Marching In."
Here's what the filmmakers have to say: "During the making of this video, we heard the heartbreaking stories of good people unable to return home. We have heard the story of the Aguilar family who lost their home to the storm and only received $4,000 in payments from their insurance company. We have met Mr. Washington, an 87-year-old man and former carpenter, who owned three homes prior to the storm. He is still living in a FEMA trailer today. And we've met Julie, who could have returned to her job and normal life, if the government had opened up the public housing units that she had lived in prior to the storm."

After watching the film and hearing these voices, there is something very specific you can do to help. Sign the petition urging the Senate to pass the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill of 2007 (S1668). The bill is expected to come to a vote after Labor Day. Its passage will be an important step toward rebuilding the infrastructure in the Gulf Coast region.

- From United for Peace and Justice

From Habitat for Humanity, New Orleans:

Greetings friends of Habitat!

We have had a busy and productive summer! Thanks to all the volunteers who keep New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity going!

We are in need of volunteers through the fall!

If you have not volunteered with us in a while, now is the perfect opportunity! If you have never volunteered with us, now is your chance.


Remember: you do not need any construction skills to make a huge contribution!

Our new work week runs Tuesday through Saturday. To sign up to volunteer, please visit our website: http://www.habitat-nola.org/.

If you have a group of 15 or more, please email me directly.

Thank you for your support and the gift of your time!


In Partnership,

Melissa Manuselis
Volunteer Coordinator
AmeriCorps Supervisor
504.861.4121 p
504.866.6004 f
http://www.habitat-nola.org/

Admire the Resilience of New Orleans

Live music from Vaughan's in New Orleans! Go there and see for yourself -- a rebirth of music and culture!

Rebuilding New Orleans Ethically

I come upon this video, the same day I read in the Wall Street Journal that

"A group of homeowners filed suit against the City of New Orleans and Ray Nagin, seeking damages for houses they say were illegally targeted for demolition as part of the city's drive to clean up properties damaged by Hurricane Katrina...The suit alleges that the city plans to continue demolishing houses "without the permission of the homeowners, without securing legal authority, and without providing reasonable notice and/or any opportunity for the homeowners to be heard....residents say the city has demolished some houses that were already under repair, targeted others that were never badly damaged and repeatedly failed to give homeowners proper notice that their houses were scheduled for removal."

Over the last few years, I've heard a number of pretty incredible excuses for not helping the people of New Orleans. One of the most common was, "Why rebuild an area that's so dangerous, and that will just be hit by another hurricane in another few years?" Interestingly, that argument seems to hold only when the property owners are of lower income. If it's a hotel or resort developer interested in the property then suddenly, rebuilding is a great idea.

Note, this excerpt from August 2007 "House and Garden" magazine,

"Sean Cummings is asking for a major leap of faith. He wants people to believe that Reinventing the Crescent, a bold scheme to transform four and a half miles of riverfront, will be the cart that drags their city out fo the mud... (Cummings) has used his appointment by Mayor Ray Nagin as executive director of the New Orleans Building Corporation to fund a comptetion among world class architects and planners for a riverfront project meant to make New Orleans a world-class destination...After public review, and one assumes, the help of POWERFUL ALLIES, including recovery czar Edward Blakely, the plan in some form should be adopted. Then each project ... walking and bike paths, chapel performance space, culitnary institute, Tulane and Xavier's RiverSphere, cruise ship terminals, hotel, and condominiums -- will each have to be reviewed separately."

Ok, so what does this mean exactly? Are people who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina, now losing their property to developers who are going to profit off it by turning it into some fancy river front showpiece?

I don't know the answers to these questions, but they are certainly the questions we should all be asking!

I certainly hope that people who want to return to their home in New Orleans have that right and that those who choose not to will be fairly compensated for their property. Personally, if a homeowner sells to a developer, I think, they should try to build in a clause that would grant them a percentage of the developer's profits for a certain number of years. I would hate to think that these developers and architects would puff up their resumes and profits by taking advantage of people who suffered due to Hurricane Katrina.