May 16th, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
Home Is Where the Heart Is by Bart Everson.
I’ve set out to introduce the concept of coworking as a means of organizing the grassroots information projects that drive this recovery. The initial focus was to capitalize on the donation of three ESRI ArcGIS 9 licenses to the effort, from the Broadmoor Project. I invited everyone to participate in an initial GIS Coworking session at Trinity Christian Community.
Since then, an initial project has begun to take shame. Jennifer Farwell of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization is conducting a block by block survey of Mid-City. I told her that to brace herself, because I was going to make her project a centerpiece for this GIS Coworking Center. At the same time I was speaking to two other local people about GIS and they’ve agreed to help on this project.
GIS Guided Neighborhood Surveys
Kathrine Cargo is GIS/Mapping Coordinator for the Orleans Parish Communications District. She works on keeping the 911 maps accurate. Kathrine got in touch with me to be on a panel at a convention of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association in October. Kathrine has offered to help me get the GIS Coworking Center going.
Kathrine had already made an effort to introduce GIS to the Beacon of Hope, but the learning curve for GIS was too steep. Beacon of Hope already has an established method for conducting neighborhood surveys, with a rich set of spreadsheet templates. We’re now looking at the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization survey as a model. Jennifer Farwell is technically adept and eager to introduce GIS to the Mid-City housing project. A refined survey, property documented, can serve as the basis for future Beacon of Hope surveys.
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May 16th, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
The organizers of the NetSquared Mashup Challenge are printing up the program. To describe City of New Orleans: A Mashup for Citizen Monitoring of the Recovery I was given a set of seven questions to answer in 200 characters or less. My co-presenter Francine Stock from the Tulane School of Architecture and keeper of the Regional Modernism blog helped me with these brief answers.
What problem are you trying to address?
Citizens feel besieged by an opaque city government making capricious decisions about recovery. A run away City Hall is demolishing homes out from under recovering families. We need further transparency.
How does your Mashup provide a solution to the problem?
By humbly serving the fantastic efforts of New Orleanians to photo document their recovery and mashing this photo record with new data sets generated by grassroots GIS efforts of local nonprofits.
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May 1st, 2008 Matt McBride
Rebuilding Trust in New Orleans
He talks about rebuilding trust with New Orleanians. He also says that New Orleans is the Corps’ top domestic priority. Then why wasn’t his Tuesday visit to New Orleans trumpeted all over the local media? In fact, the only mention I could find came in the middle of a NY Times article about the Qatari Emir’s visit on Tuesday:
Emir of Qatar Tours New Orleans to See Fruit of His $100 Million Donation
“Sheik Hamad said he was particularly touched by what happened here, as he explained in halting but resourceful English, in an interview at his hotel…Sheik Hamad, not used to the attention, submitted patiently to questions while aides swirled about him. Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, came to visit. Then it was off, police sirens blaring, through the streets of New Orleans.”
Compare that to the enormous attention Van Antwerp got during his well-choreographed two day visit on the eve of the 2007 hurricane season, when he held a press conference on the Old Hammond Highway bridge in front of the 17th St canal gates. That produced a front page article inthe T-P and TV stories galore:
How about briefing the citizens and taxpayers?
This time, there wasn’t even a press release from the Corps’ own New Orleans office.
Considering that the Qatari Emir was not in town to see earthworks, but hospitals, schools, and housing, I think it may have just been coincidence Van Antwerp met with him. Or perhaps he wanted to talk about base construction in Qatar. But it seems likely that if Van Antwerp really wanted to make a big deal of his visit to New Orleans and rebuild trust, he could have. But he didn’t.
April 29th, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
Announcing the Google/YouTube debate.
The strange events of the last few weeks are starting to make a little more sense.
The Mysterious Stranger
New Orleans is back on the map, as a part of the presidential campaign, and the strangest part, because of the Republican candidate. As Stephanie Gracie notes in her article Tour of Duty, New Orleans is an issue that plays into the Democrats hands.
He offered a few glimpses of his famous temper, showing the type of visceral anger that everyone here knows too well. Borrowing a refrain from those dedicated to preserving memories of the Holocaust, he said that “never again, never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way that it was handled.”
McCain spoke at length about the need for affordable housing, although he offered few specifics other than a commitment to “work with the governor on these issues.”
He even threw in a jab at Road Home contractor ICF, although not by name.
Nothing to get to excited about. We’re all too well aware of the problems. We don’t cotton up to anything lacking specifics. But, as Stephanie noted, he’s saying the right things. The gaff about having a conversation aside, one could imagine that McCain is trying to be inclusive on his tour to places where he won’t really get any votes.
Bobby Jindal’s Jay Leno appearance and Netroots Nation ‘08 after the jump.
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April 28th, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
Extra! Extra! a photograph of a flood damaged Times-Picayune by an anonymous Flickr user.
Our latest scandal is unfolding daily. Intrepid television reporter Lee Zurik did a piece on newspaper in levees Floodwalls stuffed with newspaper?
“It’s like putting a Band-Aid on the hole of a gas tank of an airplane,” the resident said.
Instead of an airplane, it’s a floodwall, and instead of a Band-Aid, the witness says two years ago, he saw the contractor filling the expansion joint or opening between the floodwalls with newspaper.
“The whole length of the wall was stuffed with newspaper.”
And when he confronted the contractor, the contractor blamed Washington for the substandard work.
“He basically told me when Congress sent down the money, it would be repaired the proper way.”
The contractor is Ercon Corporation who’s website home page immediately raises the question who are these goobers? Their website seems to reflect their commitment to getting the job done.
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April 25th, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
Mr. Okra by Rhys.
| 3/4 Ton Truck for the Beacon of Hope |
$8,000 |
$5,999 (75%)
Make a tax deductable donation to the Beacon of Hope using PayPal or through their
donations page.
Beacon of Hope is a nonprofit organization in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans. The Beacon of Hope concept is simple. It is a rebuilding hub. For people rebuilding there homes, a Beacon of Hope is a library of recovery resources, it is a tool shed of physical resources. Rebuilding a home in a flooded neighborhood in New Orleans is an easily overwhleming task. A Beacon of Hope is a place to go to get your bearing, learn the hard won lessons of your neighbors who came before your, and even borrow the tools necessary to get your family’s recovery underway.
One of those resources is a truck. Each Beacon needs a truck.
The Beacon of Hope is reaching out and asking for a truck. A typical full sized pickup truck, 3/4 ton, V8 and automatic. They are seeking a truck and a sponsor who will run the truck.
Let me tell you more about the Beacon of Hope after the jump.
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April 24th, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
(Update, Update 2)
Senator John McCain by Wigwam Jones.
McCain Wants to talk footprint again. From a blog entry of Andante Higgins McCain to Tour Katrina-Damaged New Orleans Neighborhood.
He also told reporters he was not sure if he would rebuild the lower 9th ward as president.
“That is why we need to go back is to have a conversation about what to do -rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is,” he said.
You mean we’ve not had enough conversations already? The McCain administration is going to hit the ground talking? At least we now know what to expect. More canned civic engagement while the city moulders.
Basically, he doesn’t know what to do. The Lower 9th Ward will be rebuilt, because it is some of the highest, driest land in the city. The levee walls failed in such a way as to flood the Lower 9th Ward, but had the levees failed on the other side, the Faubourg Marigny would have got it just as bad. People don’t understand that the Lower 9th Ward is not low ground. It is high ground and prime real estate.
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April 23rd, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at last year’s Netroots Nation (nee YearlyKos) by Chuck Olsen.
I need your help assembling a panel for a major political conference this summer. The conference is Netroots Nation ‘08 on July 17th-20th in Austin, TX. I need your help reaching out to three national panelists and two local panelists who can discuss the topic “Can America Save New Orleans?”
Netroots Nation ‘07 (YearlyKos)
Last year I was invited to participate in a panel at Netroots Nation ‘08. I didn’t know what to expect, so I set my expectations low. I’m not a political blogger in the red/blue sense. My politics are the politics of wet/dry.
I was more than pleasantly surprised. I was amazed. I’m not much of a conference goer, I was swept up in the exictent of a 1,500 like minded people. These are people who are working to change the national dialog using social media, blogs, and the Internet.
It was not a technical conference, but a conference on politics and on media. It featured a debate between the full field (save Biden) of Democratic presidential candidates. Panels discussed political strategy, policy, and media.
People often mistake my efforts for technical efforts, when my work is really about marketing New Orleans, putting our issues in front of the nation using our voices. This conference was incredibly energizing. I felt at home with the people and the message.
These were people active in mainstream politics using grass roots strategies, like the ones that have been so successful in fund raising for the 2008 presidential campaign.
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April 21st, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
(Update, Update 2)
see more
Pressed for time, so enjoy an lolcat photo as the story caption.
Too long ago, Keith Twitchell got in touch with me to ask me to get out the word for yet another Internet poll that would determine yet another grant award. This time it is the Case Foundation. There’s $25,000 at stake for the Citizen’s Participation Program.
Many of you have told me about the Citizens’ Participation Program, so I’m telling you, here’s your chance to help out by helping the program jump through a funding hoop. Vote for the Citizens’ Participation Program at the Case Foundation.
You only have one day left to vote. Because I’m a total goob, I’m telling you this right now, and it is almost too late. Vote now.
- Go to Case Foundation - Make It Your Own.
- Choose Citizen Participation, Kieth Twitchell, New Orleans, LA.
- Choose three other things to vote for (see below).
- Click the Submit Your Vote button. You will go to a new form.
- Enter your email address twice and fill out the little test that checks to make sure you are not an auto-voting robot.
- Check I agree to the TERMS and CONDITIONS.
- Click Submit Vote.
- Check your email. You must click the confirmation link in the confirmation email that is sent to your email address.
You must vote for four programs. You might dally as I did, wanting to make sure you chose three commendable programs. If you’d like to cheat and crib from my ballot here’s how I votes.
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April 21st, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
First there was the comments and stars. Then there was the voting. Now we’re at round 3. The project that I’ve proposed for the NetSquared Mashup Challenge has been made a finalist.
The Accidental Tourist
Now I have to go to San Jose, California and give a presentation at the 2008 NetSquared Conference. Three winners will share in a $100,000 prize to implement their mashup. I’m going to be joined by Andrew Turner of Mapufacture.
Andrew Turner is a friend of a friend. (Well, after this he is most definitely my friend too.) I know Andrew through Edward Vielmetti and the Ann Arbor Bi Bim Bop mailing list. It is a mailing list for a standing lunch of a group of Ann Arbor types. After all this time, it’s hard to say what they have in common exactly, except that they all know Edward Vielmetti.
I’ve gotten to know these people better through my blogging, but primarily by following updates using Twitter. As I was leaving updates about my mapping work, some of the people who follow me on Twitter took note. One of those people was Andrew Turner.
Andrew called me and told me about the NetSquared mashup challenge. He told me that I should throw my hat into the ring.
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April 21st, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
Jon Steward interviews Lee Seigel author of Against the Machine.
A few days ago in the bloggers listserv, local blogger Mominem shared an email message he received. It was a press release from a man from Memphis, Tennessee who runs a website where he humilates and torments the homeless. The press release was announcing his pending arrival in New Orleans.
The nice thing about the bloggers listserv is the collective processing power, because I only took a cursory look and found it tasteless. I did not realize that it was so aggressive. Then Greg Peters posted the mission of the organization.
Um.
“Street-People.com was created to chronicle the stories of the homeless and raise awareness of the continuing problem of homelessness through the use of humor. Here they are entertainment, like creatures in an online petting zoo without the urine smell.”
I think this is about one step removed from Bumfights.
Wayne Andrews is a 40 year old employee of a Mephis marketing firm who uses his business trips to fuel his hateful little blog, where he posts his stories and photographs of the most disturbed homeless people.
Our departed friend Ashley Morris as moniker for people like this. Yet, I want maintain the Think New Orleans G rating. So, I’ll call him simply a mook.
He is an example of an growing cadre of like minded people. People who are holding up New Orleans as an story of a moral failing and city and people deserving of their fate.
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April 17th, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
Nakita Shavers, Ken Foster, Jake Hill by Bart Everson.
Dinneral Shavers’ accused murder David Bonds was acquitted last week. Times-Picayune reporter Gwen Filosa wrote an opinion piece about the murder and about the trial entitled Case bewilders a seasoned observer.
I also don’t know whether a juror saw Bonds make a threat while she testified. I only heard the man tell the judge that Bonds was “fidgeting” during the girl’s time on the stand, and that at one point he rested his clean-shaven face in his hand by pantomiming a handgun with his index finger and thumb.
I just reported what the juror said. I didn’t see it. I was watching the teenage witnesses, who told of living on Dumaine Street without parents, taking care of a toddler and a 1-year-old baby while accepting visits from young boys they liked. The verdict was the story, along with the glimpse into a lonely 6th Ward life for these girls.
A year and a half ago, Dinneral Shavers was murdered in the 2600 block of Dumaine St. Dinneral Shavers was a drummer for the Hot 8 brass band. The Hot 8 played for us at Ashley Morris’ funeral.
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April 17th, 2008 Matt McBride
According to this:
Corps holds hurricane preparation exercise today
The Corps will be running pumps at all three lakefront floodgates this morning.
As you know, they have not run the hydraulic pumps (smaller units) for an extended period since they were installed. The direct-drive pumps (the much bigger ones installed last summer) do not have this difficulty
It is very important to know how long the hydraulic pumps run during this test. The Corps has been very reluctant to release specific information about testing.
At the Orleans structure, there are only hydraulic pumps, so it is a good place to determine how long those types of pumps will run.
I would appreciate it if anyone could get out there and see if the pumps are running at Orleans, and for how long they run. Pictures would be helpful too.
Any information anyone could pass along from the floodgates would be most helpful.
April 14th, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
Two weeks or so ago, on March 28, 2008, I sent an email message to Stacy Head. This was about the time that Eli Ackerman posted his article A Poor Choice of Words and a Shameful Worldview on Think New Orleans about the FEMA trailer campaign.
Stacy or Staff
Anyone put out any clarification on the quote from yesterday’s Times-Picayune?
“At what point are we going to say New Orleans is not a place where you can live in a trailer as a lifestyle choice?” she said.
Curious.
Alan
The weekend passed and I got this response on April 2nd.
The quote was accurate. There are people who should have moved out of trailers by now who have not. There are trailers being RENTED on Freret Street as we speak. Frankly, I find that disgusting. What kind of a cretin takes a FREE FEMA trailer and RENTS IT to someone. If you have a friend or relative that needs housing, let them use it for FREE! Attack that kind of behavior rather than challenge well-studied and thoughtful policy discussion! As was made very clear (if anyone listened), the council wants to assure that people who are in trailers because of Road Home delays, insurance issues, construction nightmares and the like have time to resolve their issues. We also made it clear that we are urging FEMA and churches and non-profits to help those people resolve their issues.
Stacy Head
Councilmember, District B
I’m told that there are some pretty disastrous FEMA trailers in Carrollton and Riverbend. I’m now even more curious about the “well-studied and thoughtful policy discussion” that has informed the decisions about the FEMA trailers.
What concerns me though, it that the city seems be defining a new process, along the lines of the demolition list, where FEMA trailer inhabitants have the burden of proof, where they must justify their FEMA trailer need. City Hall has not had the capacity to handle these appeals.
Shouldn’t the enforcement of FEMA trailer eligibility be the responsibility of FEMA itself?
April 3rd, 2008 Alan Gutierrez
Ashley Morris and Alan Gutierrez by Alan Gutierrez
(Ashley Morris: This Is the Last Post)
The written work of Ashley Morris has led me though the emotional stages of the recovery, from the muddled hope, to the outrage, to the concentrate of conviction that makes us a city defiant.
Ashley Morris embodies the fantastic love that one feels for this City of New Orleans and this great American society and the trauma one feels when it collides with the self-serving lies and the childish sentiments of petty people stoking the national cancer of apathy. The people who rationalize the fates that befall us to relieve themselves of their obligations to their society.
This apathy is a devil.
Ashley Morris would remind me that, each time you shake the hand of this devil, a part of your humanity dies forever and can never be reborn.
In the time I lived in New Orleans before the flood, I did not live in New Orleans culture. I lived in a culture removed.
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March 31st, 2008 Eli Ackerman
Monday Morning at Baronne and Jackson by Derek Bridges.
Late last week, an article appeared in the Times Picayune that detailed a new potential plan to rid the city of New Orleans of FEMA trailers by June 1st. Now, on the surface, we’d all love to get rid of the FEMA trailers. Indeed, the trailers are poisonous: FEMA has recently admitted, after a few years of refusing to conduct tests, that many trailers distributed to Hurricane victims have exposed occupants to dangerously high levels of formaldehyde, a carcinogen. Certainly, we can all agree that the trailers are not a suitable place to live. The sooner our neighbors can move back into their own homes or can move to a proper apartment, the better.
But what does it mean if the city sets a deadline?
There are many reasons that FEMA trailers continue to remain a fixture of our street-scape. One is that people rebuilding their homes have not received adequate insurance payouts. Another is that the bureaucracy of Louisiana’s Road Home Program has been such an immense failure that actual payouts to aspirant rebuilders have been sparse. Third, because the city suffers from such an incredible shortage of affordable housing, even our most proactive neighbors attempting to escape further formaldehyde exposure will struggle to find an apartment they can afford.
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