New Orleans Levees are Leaking

New Orleans Update

Warning: this is not at all about food; it’s about what’s going on in NOLA right now.
After my trip to New Orleans, where I fell in love with this wacky city, I’ve been staying in touch with bloggers from NOLA, and in particular with Bruce from New Orleans Ladder.

Here’s the deal: Hurricane season is coming up and the New Orleans levees are leaking and rotted and no one is doing a damn thing about it. In fact, they are spending time and resources on media spin to make everyone thing it’s all ok.  Last week, it was all over the news that Donald Jolissaint, the chief engineer for US Army Corps of Engineers; declared that the city of New Orleans had nothing to worry about, don’t fret about those wet spots on the levee.   Mr. Jolissaint is NOT the chief engineer; he is a rank and file guy in the technical support office. All the news agencies recycled the same story, and apparently no one vetted Mr. Jolissaint’s credentials. All I did was pick up the phone and make a simple phone call to the New Orleans office of the US Army Corps of Engineers, but I guess that was too much trouble for the syndicated news outlets.

Please read Bruce’s account of his visit to the levees. Be aware, Bruce calls it like he sees it and does not curb his language. In fact, his language is incredibly colorful and inventive.  Bruce sent me an e-mail that he has asked that I do not share, but let me tell you, this is a concerned citizen who is quaking.  He has no hidden agenda, he’s not going to make a dime, he’s not out to cover up or promote, he just loves New Orleans and is scared for his city.

Scroll down to Lee Iacocca’s quote, which begins, “"Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina.

One of the most telling photographs of how the US Government responded to Katrina wasn’t the one of the  Bush flyover, it’s a photo inside the Convention Center, which had been turned into the refugee center.  The photo shows the main, central escalator bank and on each and every step, going up, going down, is a National Guardsman with a rifle aimed at the refugees. Traumatized, mourning, shocked refugees with hundreds of guns pointed at them as if they were rabid animals. It’s a horrifying picture.

This is a news story that needs to get out, needs to get told. Let’s harness some internet power and get NOLA the attention that it needs and deserves.