Thursday, October 18, 2007

I've got property on the brain.

Michael's post about the funding follies surrounding the raising of his house got me thinking about it. To raise or not to raise? To "stay historic" or acknowledge the fact that one cannot rely on folks such as the Army Corps to keep the water out of your home if you leave it at the height at which it currently sits?

E summons some righteous, and rightful, outrage at the plans for a strip mall (obtained from Karen)...to be put on a swath of land on which a mall and a tire and car repair shop are currently silently rotting. Nobody rushed in to clear out those spots and make them viable retail or residential property shortly after the storm, and the businesses that are still in the surrounding areas are just barely holding on by their fingernails. A massive mall just got demolished further up the street from where the proposed mall is to be...so why put in a new one?

The folks at Audubon Place, the only gated community in New Orleans, want to isolate themselves even further from reality than they already are. Let's contest those property assessments, O people of privilege! Save that money from going to the city in which you reside! More on all of this, and some hefty, heated discussion in the comments, from Oyster.

And, finally, in the category of more property left to rot, I give you Ray's commentary and photos on the horrific state of the SUNO facilities. Why? Why is this happening? Who has decided that these buildings are so low on the totem pole that they can't even be gutted, only fitted with an ineffective ventilation system and left to sit?

Questions, questions...and nary an answer in sight.

Maybe these folks might have a solution to the rotting property woes. From what I saw yesterday (and Dangerblond as well), large groups of people will come if food is involved, music is a-playin', and everything is organized properly. Today a playground, tomorrow....SUNO!

Except...well...we've been short on the competent organization thing.

Ugh.

5 comments:

E said...

My friend on the Hullabaloo staff told me to expect a piece detailing the upcoming Coulter appearance at Tulane. It will detail Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week and its connections to the Horowitz people, a la my original post. He was unaware of her most recent anti-semitic comments and also those against interracial couples. I told him to chase after black fraternities, the local NAACP, Hillel and the uptown synagogues to see if they're planning to lodge some sort of protest or anything.....

anyways i think i remember reading from you that you got some emails re her comments from your congregation. i'm not official in the Jewish community here, do you think you could fwd those over to me? or i might not be remembering correctly....

Leigh C. said...

I didn't get any email about a demonstration of any sort protesting Coulter's talk. I simply said I'd try to check with some people I know are connected to the New Orleans Hillel, and I'd also see about people at my synagogue. So far I've come up with nothing. I've come across many who have no clue that she said anything like that, and many who have said, "Who?" I don't know if I should keep 'em in blissful ignorance or what.

What I HAVE dug up are sooo many erroneous statements Coulter made on Sean Hannity's show shortly after 8-29:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509120002

The woman is a walking disaster. If only the Tulane U. College Republicans had some kind of memory, they wouldn't even LET this woman near New Orleans.

Maybe if she gutted the SUNO buildings, things might be different...

E said...

its nice to know they've never heard of her. that's the worst insult she could receive.

Leigh C. said...

That's why I was kinda hesitant to explain further...heh...

Anonymous said...

She's sure worth a protest, but y'all are right in that the best insult is never having heard of her. I keep thinking she'll open her mouth one more time and say something so stupid that her fifteen minutes end.

I couldn't believe the historic / not historic, to raise or not to raise, how high is historic saga over at Michael's blog. When is enough finally enough?

Peace, darlin'.