Why are we here in New Orleans a tad obsessed with garbage?

Well, aside from the fact that I'm cleaning the house today and finding all sorts of crapola in the nooks and crannies of the living room alone... Just think about this a little, people. When you live in a city that had piles of debris from flooded-out houses all over the place not too long ago, and in which there are still many blighted properties dating from before 8-29, garbage is indeed an issue not to be taken lightly.

Seems City Hall is certainly treating it as a lark, however...and as an excuse to give the trash haulers some extra moolah, according to Matt McBride:

There are many irregularities in the Richards and Metro address lists provided to the City Council. While at first blush it would appear that both firms are actually underbilling the city, it would appear Metro is definitely overbilling, and Richards is borderline.

Among the irregularities are:

- thousands of duplicate addresses being counted in the billing totals,

- billing the city for apartment buildings with more than four units, commercial buildings, and non-existent trailers (even double billing a trailer park in one case)

- billing the city for properties that have been demolished, targeted for demolition by the city, determined by the city to be in imminent danger of collapse, or which have had demolition permits granted to them.

With this many irregularities, it seems the skepticism some have expressed over the contracts' cost effectiveness is justified.

Ummmm, yep, it is.

Thanks, E. When and how will the petition to remove Veronica White be presented? Let us know, please. 562 signatures as of today!