I got into an extended rant on Twitter when Dambala posted the LSED grant "autopsy" list of which local politicians got what Superdome grants between 2000 and 2004. I got angry at our Democratic organizations in this state for not vetting their candidates...but the problem is much greater than that. Go read the list, check out all the names and where their grant money went, and chew on what one commenter realized:
Boissiere gave UJAMAA $325,000,
Irons gave them $25,000
Aren't they in Treme??? What did/do they do??? Others (Murray) donated to Treme cottages.
Morrell gave some group called Forever Our Children, Inc $405,738!
This group supposedly tutored...
I did a search and found this auditor's findings:
Link 1
Link 2
the audit pointed out payroll and tax issues in both. Who was on the board????? As of 2008, they had $47. See here.This is the story that is bigger than Cedric Richmond or, indeed, this year's Congressional race...but it does not excuse him or the Democratic Party entities in this city or this state just because it happened six to ten years ago and everybody was doing it. This speaks to how broken our government is at all levels, and to how it has hurt us all.
Gill pratt gave care unlimited (mose's charity $218,000
Richmond gave Scholarship Foundation of Sigma Lamba a phi a $227,000
and N.O. Community Enhancement $183,000 and
Ray avenue baptist church got $50,000 from him.
Swilling gave $112,000 to La. Community Developer
Willard Lewsis gave $468,600 Family Advocacy Newtork (FAN)!!!
It is no wonder the city looks like shit!! Everyone gave $ to these little groups that mostly used the money to keep their lights on rather than make a meaningful impact on the city.
Disgusting!!!!!!!!!!
Not to mention how it keeps hurting us. Just look around you and think about the last part of the above comment. Many of the same people mentioned in the homework that the commenter did are still active in local government. It is, sadly, why an anti-choice, anti-health care reform, and anti-Fair Pay Act GOP candidate is in Congress and is garnering support from people and places that would never have dared six to ten years ago.
And then the effort to attempt to change things and give us more of a voice in them is shot down after years of hard work and weekly meetings? I know they're weekly because I got on their email list two years ago. Judging by that, the Citizen Participation Project folks are a busy lot.
“It is very puzzling to the many citizens who worked for two years – at the request of the City Planning Commission to develop the New Orleans Citizen Participation Program – that a City Council member (Jackie Clarkson) would direct the Planning Commission to ignore their work.”Looks like Jackie is just trying to keep some lights on, to me, but so many sockets need replacing. In fact, there needs to be a complete rewiring. Get with it, councilwoman.
You, too, liberal party entities. The tone-deafness to what the community wants and needs is astounding.
2 comments:
We live in a representative republic. There is an accountability verification mechanism we call elections. Our system only reverts to this kind of feudalism when the population refuses to engage constructively or effectively.
But voting is the least that can be done, at this point. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Greens, hell, everybody needs to start showing up. The time is now.
I know it ain't easy to do, but at this point, staying home is actually, tangibly making our lives more difficult.
Well, of course. We all snooze, we all lose. We do need to get out and vote. And pay attention as well.
This is also about interpreting the information that is set before you, not using it for your own ends. Following the money, however, gets people to some dangerous, thorny places.
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