News from Central Gulf Focus: La./Miss (Ala contributors)

[Audrey2Katrina]

ON THE MONEY

Can post-Katrina New Orleans afford a new City Hall and jazz park complex?

Sunday, June 04, 2006
By Rebecca Mowbray
Business writer

In the $716 million downtown revitalization plan pitched this week by the owner of the Hyatt Regency New Orleans Hotel, private financing would cover the largest share of the project's cost.

The sweeping jazz park proposal hinges on three sources of money: private dollars to refurbish the city's third-largest hotel, taxpayer dollars to rebuild a campus of government offices, and a mix of public, private and philanthropic money to finance a six-block jazz park and related arts facilities.

It also involves a checkers game in which office complexes jump from one location to another and parcels of land are swapped.

The big bucks to date -- $303 million, or about 40 percent of the project's cost -- have been committed by Strategic Hotels & Resorts, the Chicago-based owner of the Hyatt.

Private money would also be essential to paying for the second-largest chunk of the project, the $260 million jazz park and performing arts complexes, comprising about 34 percent of the plan.

Taxpayers would pick up the estimated $68 million cost for demolishing and rebuilding or relocating two local and two state office buildings, through a mix of money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, local bonding mechanisms and court fees.

Federal transportation money will be sought for extending the streetcar line from Canal Street to the new park, at a cost of $35 million.

The plan is still in the conceptual stage. While the Hyatt's contribution is solid, the government money has not been applied for, and the park and arts component is essentially a wish list.


Company is confident

Nonetheless, Strategic, which has spent $3 million developing the concept to see if it can improve business at its hotel by improving the neighborhood, said it believes the project can become a reality.

It plans to spend the next year firming up the rest of the deal, but will move forward with its component regardless of what happens, a stance that the company hopes will signal its confidence in the overall strength of the proposal.

"We believe we have on hand, or can easily access, about 60 percent of the total costs," said Aubrey "Copper" Hirsch, a lawyer with Baker Donelson Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, who is working on the project.

There's also the unexamined question of whether the public wants the project, or whether it's the right thing for New Orleans to tackle at a time when basic infrastructure needs remain enormous.

In recent days, while many have expressed excitement about the project, letters to The Times-Picayune also have questioned whether spending money on a new government office complex is wise, given the city's cratered roads and the broken sewer pipes that are forming geysers all over town.

Janet Howard, president of the watchdog Bureau of Governmental Research, declined to comment on the merits of the project, saying that she hadn't seen enough details.

But in previous BGR studies on economic development, particularly those that involve tax increment financing, or TIF -- a mechanism that skims tax revenue from a new development and dedicates them to its enhancement or financing -- the group has stressed the importance of having a comprehensive set of priorities to make sure that money is being spent where it's most needed.

BGR also advocates a broad planning process to anticipate how projects in one part of the city would affect other parts of the city, and the group believes that plans need to be designed by the community, not offered by private developers. Moreover, because TIFs take money out of the general fund for a special purpose, BGR says the community needs to have guidelines on using them to make sure they serve the greater good.

But the developers say the hurricane has created a limited opportunity to solve long-standing problems and make improvements with outside assistance.

"I know people will say, 'Why build a new City Hall? Fix the streets and deal with the sewer problems,' " said Wade Ragas, a private real estate finance consultant who crunched the numbers for Strategic. "Well, City Hall is going to have to be repaired. Now may actually be an opportunity for the feds to help. Five years from now, there might not be that opportunity."

Strategic Hotels says that what was presented this week was a well-developed architectural and conceptual master plan. The next step is to work out the details of the financing.

But is a $716 million park district -- more than the cost of the stalled $455 million Phase IV addition to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and in the same ballpark as the cost of a new football stadium with a retractable roof -- something the community can afford?

The developers say yes.


The public purse

The public pieces of the deal -- building transportation links, demolishing City Hall, Civil District Court, the old Supreme Court building and another state office building at 325 Loyola Ave. -- are less well-defined than the Hyatt's plans.

The financing mechanisms are there and new options were created by Hurricane Katrina, but until local courts, city and state government have a chance to figure out how much space they need in a shrunken New Orleans and how much they want to spend, the numbers are at best a guess.

For example, right now the city has about 426,000 square feet of office space at City Hall. The Hyatt development team has budgeted about $11 million to build out about 200,000 square feet of office space at Dominion Tower, plus $7.5 million to build out additional space for the City Council chambers and offices. The cost of relocating city offices would change, of course, if the city decides it wants to build a new government complex rather than move into a refurbished tower.

Meanwhile, the project budget lists $45 million for a new Civil District Court to stand in a corner of Poydras and Loyola. Before Katrina, Civil District Judge Michael Bagneris estimated that it could cost $90 million to redo the court. If the local civil and criminal courts are consolidated, as proponents of a more streamlined city government advocate, that would change the specifications and presumably drive up costs.

Another source of uncertainty is that the value of the land swaps included in the project also could change, depending on where the public buildings are located.

But Mike Siegel, executive vice president and leasing director of Corporate Realty, a commercial real estate firm that is helping the city sort through the financial contingencies, said earlier this week that he believes relocating City Hall can be done in a revenue-neutral way.

Because the city would save money on its utility bills by abandoning the 50-year-old City Hall for a more modern facility, it could sell municipal revenue bonds by earmarking the projected savings.


State and federal money

Bagneris said the courts would ask the Legislature for capital outlay money and would increase court fees to pay for the new buildings.

Jerry Jones, the state division of administration's director of facility planning and control, said his group had been on the verge of recommending demolition of the two state buildings before the storm and has banked $13.7 million for replacement space.

Portions of the money are an opportunity born of disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers financing to replace those irreparably damaged in the storm, FEMA spokesman Ross Fredenburg said. Through June 30, the federal government would pay for 90 percent of the damage caused by storms to public buildings; the federal participation drops to 75 percent next month.

Finally, the public portion of the project includes $30 million to extend the streetcar line from Canal Street down Loyola Avenue to Girod Street, and $5 million for a transportation terminal.

A second phase would connect the streetcar with the Union Passenger Terminal, a step toward the long-standing dream of light-rail service to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Until regional transportation officials get involved, the $35 million for the first leg of the transportation improvements is subject to change, but Ragas noted that federal transportation money generally pays for projects like this. "It's a really crucial idea," he said.


All that jazz

The accounting ledger for the $250 million in public-private financing for the park, the proposed National Jazz Center is a blank piece of paper, but developers say they are rich in ideas in how the money could come from a combination of federal grants, private philanthropy and tax-increment financing.

The anticipated increase in tax revenue generated by rising valuations of properties around the park could be bonded to help finance the project.

Some parts of the project, such as creating parking and downtown retail at ground level beneath the elevated park, would be supported by the parking receipts and rents that they generate.

Private fund raising by Wynton Marsalis, who serves on the Hyatt's advisory board for the project, and by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, which would be based at the park and play 40 dates a year there, could make a big dent in the price tag. Developers, saying there will be national and international interest in the project, plan to brand the National Jazz Center as the international headquarters of jazz.

Specifically, Hirsch, the Baker Donelson lawyer, said developers have identified a number of government programs that could be tapped.

Likely sources include the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Commerce Department, public works grants, empowerment zone programs, Interior Department programs for outdoor recreation, the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the Delta Regional Authority, an economic development group, as well as private arts foundations.

Ragas says the project has no plans to try for the scarce Community Development Block Grant money needed for the recovery of housing, critical infrastructure such as sewerage, and other billion-dollar needs. "We are not proposing that something from the existing block grant money be shifted to this project," he said.

Another gift of Katrina is the federal government programs created to assist the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

Gulf Opportunity Empowerment Zone, or GO Zone, tax incentives allow projects to take an additional 50 percent first-year depreciation on investments. "What that essentially means is that if your project qualifies for consideration, for every dollar you spend, you effectively get back 50 cents," Hirsch said.

A related program, the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005, allows private economic activity bonds to be issued by the project. Hirsch said developers will have to study which incentive is most appropriate for the projects under consideration.

But one cloud on the horizon is that nonresidential GO Zone projects must be completed by the end of 2008 to qualify. Hirsch said there is a lobbying effort under way to extend the deadlines, and he is optimistic.

So is Mayor Ray Nagin, who said the GO Zone 50 percent depreciation would provide "instant equity" in the new City Hall. Nagin said the Pritzkers, the family that founded the Hyatt hotel chain, have the political pull to get Congress to extend the deadline. "The Pritzker family said, 'We got the best lobbyists in the country. We're going to get this fixed,' " he said Thursday after his inauguration.


Possible payoff

The Trust for Public Lands, a nonprofit organization that helps communities assemble parcels of land to build parks, said it is not involved in this project, but believes it could have a big payoff for the city in retaining residents, preventing companies from moving their offices out of downtown and spurring additional development.

"Investors look, developers look, at public amenities like this, when they consider making investments," said Larry Schmidt, director of the New Orleans office of the group, whose Chicago office was involved with that city's Millennium Park, a development with which the proposed jazz park is being compared. "Many communities view parks as a necessity as it relates to the health of their citizens and the economic viability of downtown. I think it's a great signal for New Orleans to have a project like this on board."

While the project may evolve, the bottom line, the developers say, is that Katrina created an opportunity to improve New Orleans.

"It is an opportunity. It's very hard to think of Katrina as an opportunity, but it's an opportunity to come up with new facilities that are better suited to the new environment," Ragas said.

Staff writer Michelle Krupa contributed to this report.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Neighborhood's architecture being pilfered piece by piece

By Brian Thevenot Times Picayune
Staff writer

In Holy Cross, the corner of the Lower 9th Ward given the best shot for rebirth, a silent rage rises up from the still-empty houses at the latest indignity of post-Katrina life.

“Keep Out Grave Robbers,” blares one in a collection of hand-painted signs scrawled on houses in the neighborhood, reflecting both its defiance and despair.

With looters having stolen what they can from in and around the houses, residents say thieves are now picking apart the houses themselves, making off with architectural detail work.

On a house where three of four foundation vents have gone missing, the sign reads: “Hey thief. You forgot one,” with a spray-painted arrow pointing to the lonely remaining vent.

On some blocks, the human buzzards have hit nearly every house, picking them clean of the authentic details that make New Orleans homes known the world over: doors, cornices, brackets, shutters, wrought iron fencing, decorative gingerbread work on porches, anything that will fetch a few bucks on a black market that police and even preservationists don’t fully understand. In many cases, the thieves, sometimes posing as contractors, have invaded the homes to lift the interior fixtures, as well, including the giant pocket doors that bisect shotgun parlors.
“They’re like termites, just eating and destroying everything,” said John Koerful, a Holy Cross homeowner whose French doors recently disappeared in one of countless thefts on his street.

From the moment the storm hit, looting of all stripes has infected the city, but the continuing and widespread theft of architectural detail strikes many homeowners as the final insult. One stolen shutter might not be such a big deal, but collectively, the pillaging amounts to theft of the soul and character of the city’s most heavily-damaged historic neighborhoods, mainly such as the 9th Ward and Mid-City.

Stephanie Bruno of the Preservation Resource Council fears much of that character will be lost forever, particularly in low-income neighborhoods like Holy Cross where homeowners and andlords might not have the money or will to replace what’s been looted. While architectural theft has cropped up citywide, the combination of Holy Cross’ architectural richness and the inability of its residents to return have made it uniquely vulnerable.

“It changes the character of the houses,” Bruno lamented on a recent tour. “Each piece individually is not that valuable. But when you go to replace them, it’s not like there’s a ‘cornice store’ or ‘bracket store.’ You have to have them custom-made.”

Money drives decisions

Donald Coello, owner of six rentals in Holy Cross, had the pocket doors pilfered in one of a series of thefts he’s endured. He won’t be replacing them.

“I don’t even think I can replace those,” he said. “I’ll end up just filling the holes and making a wall out of it and be done with it. I use these places as rental property, and I can’t be investing all that money when you don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

Like so many property owners, Coello has plenty of renovation work on his hands and not enough money to handle it. He’s selling one of his flooded houses for a mere $30,000 – he spray-painted the price on the front of it – even though it sits on a lovely corner lot, next to a large patch of green space fronting the Mississippi River levee.

If Coello reacts with resignation, others boil with rage. Koerful, one of many who have vented about theft at recent meetings of the Holy Cross neighborhood association, sees a conspiracy of neglect by police and profiteering by architectural dealers – after all, somebody’s got to be buying this stuff.

If, as Koerful believes, police consider his working-class neighborhood as a low priority for looting enforcement, he says that wouldn’t be so different than their general tolerance for cocaine dealing and related crimes in the neighborhood for years before the flood.

“We’ve never gotten the city services or the police protection we need. This community, which has been so abused by the levee breaks, with people not being able to come back, with the police presence uncertain and irresolute, what do you think is going to happen?” he asks. “You think it will come to a point where people can’t take it anymore and start killing looters? It’s at a critical juncture down there. We can’t put up with this anymore. If the authorities can’t handle it, there’ll be a new authority.”

Police concede that architectural theft and looting in general have plagued flooded neighborhoods, and remains a challenge. But every officer in the department is charged with looting enforcement, and they’ve taken aggressive steps and made some progress, said New Orleans Police Spokesman Capt. John Bryson.

“I’m doing it on-duty and off-duty,” Bryson said. “It’s a crime of opportunity in areas that are sparsely populated, and they (looters) know there’s a market. We’re checking the pawn shops and antiques dealers.”

He compared the problem to the epidemic of cemetery theft that became a high-profile issue for the department a few years back. “Until we put a lid on it, we were seeing items fenced as far away as New York City,” Bryson said.

Dealers helping police

Exactly where the pieces and parts of New Orleans homes are ending up, and what prices they’re bringing, remains largely a mystery, although there’s no shortage of suspicion among residents.

Some of that suspicion has been directed at local dealers like The Bank, a Felicity Street shop that essentially recycles the sorts of items that are being stolen in mass. Co-owner Kelly Wilkerson, who runs the business her father started with her brother Sean, doesn’t take kindly to the raised eyebrows.

Some in the Holy Cross neighborhood association accused The Bank of inviting the thefts when put up signs advertising its desire to purchase architectural pieces after the flood. But Wilkerson said The Bank does not deal in stolen goods.

“We’ve been made the scapegoat,” Wilkerson said, taking a cigarette break in the middle of a typically harried day last week. “The Holy Cross neighborhood is basically blaming us, saying our signs advertised to crackheads. But we’re not buying from crackheads.”

On the wall above her in her cluttered office hangs a clipboard full of photocopies of driver’s licenses, which she requires from the people who sell to her, along with the address where they got their merchandise and a description of what she bought.

Wilkerson also has a policy of waiting at least a month to strip wooden items of paint before restoring them, in case anyone calls. She said she will not buy from anybody in what her father always called the “buggie brigade” – walk-ups bearing merchandise in shopping carts (themselves stolen, of course). She won’t take anything freshly painted, either.

Wilkerson said she’s testified several times in theft cases and has offered to testify in another one soon, involving a man she helped apprehend. He brought her a set of doors from Mid-City. He gave her a fictitious name and said he’d gotten them from his mother’s house, a story vouched for by a woman claiming to be his mother.

“She was in on it, too,” Wilkerson said.

The real owner of the doors came in later with the cops, and Wilkerson returned them, no charge. Then she and the woman cut a deal for her shop to strip them for her.

In another case just before the storm, a man brought her a set of seven doors – some of which seemed to match a description she’d gotten earlier that day regarding some stolen doors. She put the guy off, told him she’d be with him in a few minutes, offered him a high price and told him to wait – then she went in the back to call the cops, she said.

“It’s all very exciting, you know, when the cops show up,” she said. “It makes me nuts when people steal, especially now, when there’s plenty of legitimate jobs out there.”

Just then the phone rang: A woman from Holy Cross looking for a set of pocket doors stolen from her home. Wilkerson agreed to come out to the woman’s house.

At 426 Delery Street, Deborah Ortego wearily cleaned the place, the former home of her recently deceased mother.

The house next door had its decorative gingerbread work stolen. On the porch of the house on the other side, a case of silver generic cans of water, probably dropped there by soldiers, sat untouched, an eerie artifact of post-Katrina suffering still there nine months later.

Ortega’s pocket doors had disappeared sometime in the last week. Earlier, somebody broke in and stole the claw feet off the tub, of all things.

“You’d have to be here 24 hours a day to stop it,” Ortega said. “And there’s all these people trying to buy houses on the cheap down here, trying to muscle you out, so you don’t know if they’re involved, since they’ll be renovating.”

After Wilkerson measured the door and recorded the paint color of the surrounding walls for a possible match later, she promised to alert Ortega if similar doors came her way.

“So what happens now if you find them? How do I get them back?” Ortega said.

“If we’re satisfied the doors are yours, and the paint matches, you just get a truck and come down and pick them up,” Wilkerson told her.

Headed out of town?

So if The Bank, one of the few architectural salvage operations back up and running at full steam after the storm, isn’t fencing the loot, who is?

The Wilkersons scratch their heads on that one. Sean Wilkerson said he had a recent conversation with another dealer, Angelo Ricca of Ricca’s in Mid-City, on the same topic. Neither man believed the thieves had tried to sell much of it to them, at least not in the quantities both of them knew have been stolen.

“He was baffled,” Wilkerson said. “He turned to me and said, ‘Where is this stuff going?’”

Ricca couldn’t be reached for comment. Wilkerson said he believes most of it is being trucked out of town. New Orleans’ architecture might be unique, but as with the rest of its culture, there’s a substantial demand for its artifacts nationwide.

“We get people all the time buying doors in bulk and taking them to Texas or wherever,” he said. “There’s got be some out-of-towners setting them up a little warehouse somewhere.”

He paused for a moment, then growled, “Carpetbaggers.”

Whoever it is, they’re determined.

Pete McHugh of Holy Cross has been hit three times. They first came back in October and cut into his cedar wardrobe with an axe. A week and a half ago, someone broke into his garage and stole a bunch of doors and shutters he had stacked there. Then a couple of days later, they stole the shutters off the front of his house.

McHugh cursed in disgust at the sight of it. He decided to remove the rest of the shutters himself and stick them inside the house. At least that way, they’d have to take some time and trouble to steal them.

To make matters worst, one of his kittens lay dead in the yard of unknown causes, near to where the thieves had trampled his sunflowers dragging doors and shutters out.

“It was just the whole scene,” he said. “The dead kitten, the sunflowers. Then I had to bury the cat and deal with the shutters and call the police.”

[Audrey2Katrina]

This was my old childhood neighborhood

Damn Shame!

A2K

[Audrey2Katrina]

Hurricane missing falls below 200

6/5/2006, 4:42 p.m. CT
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The number of people still listed as missing by state and federal officials after hurricanes Katrina and Rita has fallen below 200, officials said Monday.

More than 13,000 people were reported missing after Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29 and Hurricane Rita hit a month later. Nearly 1,600 people from Louisiana died during Katrina or immediately after evacuating.

Some of the people who remain on the missing list don't know that someone has reported them missing, said Louisiana Family Assistance Center spokeswoman Ann Barks. Others may be intentionally avoiding detection or died in the storms but no remains were recovered.

The number of missing who will never be found was expected to be in the hundreds earlier this year, but Henry Yennie, the deputy director of the Family Assistance Center, said authorities have been pleasantly surprised at how many people they've been able to locate.

"I seriously thought we'd be in the hundreds of people who would be permanently missing," he said.

Yennie said he couldn't guess how many might never be removed from the list, but he expects the center to remain open for several more months.

For many of the people on the list, officials have rough or incomplete information after the chaotic evacuations that dispersed southern Louisiana residents throughout the United States, Barks said.

The Family Assistance Center worked with about 25 pastors and chaplains over the weekend in a search with firefighters to help winnow the list. They went to addresses where reported missing residents lived and left information in case the resident or relatives returned, Barks said.

"A lot of people don't realize, because of the time that's gone by, there is still an active search going on," Barks said.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Nigerian wanted a cut, tape says

Unsealed probe records quote Jefferson identify vice president

Tuesday, June 06, 2006
By Bill Walsh Times Picayune
and Bruce Alpert%%par%%Washington bureau

WASHINGTON -- Rep. William Jefferson told a business associate that the vice president of Nigeria was demanding half the profits of a telecommunications partnership the congressman was involved with, according to court records unsealed Monday.
An alleged plan to bribe Atiku Abubakar to exert influence over the Nigerian state phone company NiTel had been alluded to in earlier court documents in the 15-month federal investigation of Jefferson, but the vice president had not previously been identified by name.

Prompted by separate lawsuits filed by The Washington Post and The Times-Picayune, judges in Maryland and Louisiana agreed to unseal parts of the FBI documents filed to support the Aug. 3 search of Abubakar's home in Potomac, Md., Jefferson's residences in New Orleans and Washington, and the New Orleans office of the congressman's accountant Jack Swetland.

Jefferson, D-New Orleans, has not been charged and has denied taking bribes to perform his public duties. His attorney declined to comment Monday.

Abubakar's attorney said the vice president has done nothing wrong and continues to cooperate with federal authorities in their investigation. Edward Weidenfeld said Abubakar had met with Jefferson out of the courtesy given between elected officials of different countries, but that was the extent of their relationship.


Another target identified


The court documents include excerpts of wiretap recordings of Jefferson's conversations with Lori Mody, a wealthy northern Virginian who was secretly working for the FBI.

One of the surprises in the court records opened Monday was the name of another target in the case: Suleiman YahYah, chairman and CEO of Rosecom.Net, an Internet service provider in Nigeria. Rosecom was to have been the Nigerian partner for Mody's company, which was called W2IBBS Ltd.

According to the transcripts, Jefferson told Mody that Abubakar was demanding 50 percent of the profits earned by YahYah's company. Jefferson said Abubakar had made the demand during a private one-hour meeting at the vice president's home.

"We have a deal with him," he told Mody.

He also told her in a separate wiretapped call that YahYah was critical to the success of the venture in Nigeria.

"We need him," Jefferson told her over dinner in Washington. "We got to motivate him real good. He's got a lot of folks to pay off."

Jefferson told Mody that it was best that the two of them didn't know what YahYah was up to.

"If he's gotta pay Minister X, we don't want to know," Jefferson said. "It's not our deal. We're not paying Minister X a damn thing. That's all, you know, international fraud crap. We're not doing that. . . . Whatever they do locally, that's their business."


Marked cash found


According to the affidavit used to search the vice president's house, the FBI expected to find a $100,000 cash bribe in a reddish-brown briefcase that Mody had given Jefferson. The cash was to guarantee Abukakar's cooperation, to ensure "the little hook is in there," according to wiretap transcripts.

A day later the FBI intercepted Jefferson's cell phone signal in the vicinity of Abubakar's home. And later, Jefferson assured Mody that he had given the money to Abubakar, referring to it as "African art."

But $90,000 of the cash, marked by investigators, was found in a freezer at Jefferson's Capitol Hill home during the August raid. A reddish-brown briefcase was found by the FBI during the search of Jefferson's New Orleans home on Marengo Street the same day.

The FBI says Jefferson was using his influence to help a small Kentucky firm, iGate Inc., launch its novel high-speed Internet technology in Nigeria. In exchange, the FBI says, Jefferson sought shares of iGate and cash payments funneled to companies set up in the names of his wife and five daughters.

In all, the government says Jefferson received more than $400,000, millions of shares of iGate and a 30 percent share of Mody's Nigerian company set up to run the operation overseas. In their search of his New Orleans home, FBI agents found a certificate showing that Global Energy & Environmental Services LLC, which Jefferson said he set up on behalf of his daughters, owned 1.5 million shares of Mody's Nigerian firm.


Records name daughter


For the first time, court records name Jamila Jefferson, one of the congressman's daughters, as the lawyer who Jefferson insisted do the legal work to set up Mody's Nigerian company. Mody paid the law firm Jamila Jefferson worked for "thousands of dollars for legal work," court records say.

The documents also suggest that Rep. Jefferson was involved with more than telecommunications deals in West Africa. In taped conversations, former Jefferson aide Brett Pfeffer told Mody that Jefferson would want a share of another company, Enterprise Information Management Inc., a Virginia information technology firm that he also had agreed to help. According to a wiretap transcript, Pfeffer told Mody on March 31, 2005, that Jefferson was in the Middle East to help EIM. Records show he was traveling in Egypt and Qatar at the time.

"He would want a piece of EIM if something happens," Pfeffer told Mody, who had agreed to invest $3.2 million in the company. "You know he ain't going over there to be nice to me and Bruce" Lyman, president of EIM.

Mody then asked what Jefferson would want.

"You'd probably have to put his brother-in-law on the payroll, or something. I don't know," Pfeffer said. "I mean, who knows. You know, Bruce says we'll take care of him any way we have to take care of him. I mean, he won't ask for anything crazy. He knows. . . . He's a businessman."

EIM's Lyman could not be reached for comment.

Pfeffer pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to commit bribery and abetting bribery of a public official. Last month a judge sentenced him to eight years in prison, although he is expected to serve less because he is cooperating with investigators.

Jefferson, Pfeffer and iGate CEO Vernon Jackson had been named as targets of the federal probe in documents released weeks ago. Jackson also has pleaded guilty and is cooperating but has not been sentenced.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Jefferson has been as much a disgrace to SE Louisiana, as Marion Barry was to Washington DC... and I'll leave it at that!

A2K

[Audrey2Katrina]

Juries back to work at Tulane, Broad

Judges face huge backlog of cases

Tuesday, June 06, 2006
By Gwen Filosa- Times Picayune
Staff writer

Tulane and Broad, the city's down but not out criminal court, rumbled back to life Monday, welcoming jurors back for the first time in nine months as judges began the massive task of dealing with thousands of cases left unresolved after Hurricane Katrina.

The first post-Katrina jury trial at Orleans Parish Criminal District Court was a brief, yet common affair: a 30-year-old man with a prior record accused of winding up in a stolen car last June. District Attorney Eddie Jordan's office relied on eyewitness testimony from a police officer. The other officer was a no-show.

A jury of six came up deadlocked after two hours of deliberations, hanging 5-1 in favor of convicting Clifford G. Pierce of possession of a stolen 2004 Dodge Stratus. Ad hoc Judge Jerome Winsberg declared a mistrial. Prosecutors set a new trial date set for July.

Public defender Bruce Whittaker, a polished veteran of 25 years, versus his less experienced counterparts manning the prosecution, convinced at least one juror with his argument that the state lacked any physical evidence and built its presentation on one cop's testimony.

"He sees a car in the parking lot and checks it out," Whittaker told jurors in his closing argument. "It doesn't make him a criminal."

Pierce, free on bond, has past convictions for possession of a stolen car, aggravated burglary and attempted simple escape. He traveled from Shreveport for his day in court. The case did draw Jordan's first assistant, Gaynell Williams, and his top investigator, Dwight Deal, to the audience, which without prosecutors and lawyers numbered four.


Capital case coming

Tulane and Broad rolled on, in pre-storm style, with its standard fare of narcotics cases and other non-flashy cases from the crime-scarred streets that raged before the floodwaters came.

"Business is back," said defense attorney John Fuller, recently appointed to the Orleans Parish Indigent Defender's board of directors. The all-volunteer outfit was completely replaced post-Katrina to sift through the broken system, which has left thousands of poor defendants waiting on a court-appointed attorney.

"Things are a lot better than they were," Fuller said in the court hallway. "It's good to see jurors back, to ensure the process picks back up for the people waiting so long for a day in court."

Others said little has changed since the storm, except the building's damage and fewer resources for defendants.

"We have a city with one third of the population we used to have and we've got the criminal justice system, the sheriff's department and the DA gasping for air to try to maintain the size of their fiefdoms," said veteran defense attorney Gary Wainwright as he left court Monday.

The first post-Katrina capital case, set for Wednesday, is that of Philip McKeon, 56, accused of stabbing to death Charles Shannon, 69, in May 2004. But, just as criminal courts were pre-storm, everything remains tentative.

With the courthouse still under repair and its neighboring jail turned upside down by the flooding, the building now keeps strict hours. Everyone must be out by 5 p.m. and the building is shut down during the lunch hour, all because of security concerns. While court officials would only say the limited hours are for "security reasons," many lawyers noted the obvious: A damaged parish prison means the inmates don't come into court through the "tunnel."

Inmates must now actually step into the light of day to enter the building, when in the past it was all done behind the scenes, with inmates kept inside. Only six inmates are allowed in each section at one time, defense lawyers said, and they must be returned to the House of Detention to receive lunch.

The city's criminal justice system has never lacked for obstacles, as it historically has dealt with a staggering number of cases and a dwindling number of resources.

But Katrina pushed it to the brink of catastrophe, leaving the courts with a broke public defender office, scattering defendants and witnesses all over and leaving questions over exactly how much evidence needed to try cases remains intact after the floodwaters seeped through the courthouse.

Katrina also pushed the schedule back nine months. At least one of the 12 sections of court has 1,000 open cases alone.

Inmates scattered

Criminal court judges made the best of the past months by borrowing courtrooms at the federal courthouse. But with pretrial inmates scattered about Louisiana, from the penitentiary at Angola to a jail in Caldwell Parish, logistics have stymied the system. Orleans Parish Prison remains largely closed. Instead, about 1,500 inmates are packed into the House of Detention, where air conditioning doesn't exist.

And while judges tried a number of cases, defendants who require or desire to exercise their constitutional right to a trial by jury were stuck waiting until now.

On Monday, the court received 78 jurors. Typically, about 100 showed up each day pre-Katrina. The jury pool, however, wasn't thick enough for a capital case, which holds the potential for the death penalty and requires a painstaking jury selection in Orleans Parish. A New Orleans jury has not sent any killer to death row since 1997 -- Phillip Anthony, convicted in the triple murder at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen in the French Quarter -- and it's not for a lack of opportunity.

As Pierce's stolen car possession case transpired, down the ornate courthouse hallway, the second jury trial of the day went off without a hitch: The six-member panel decided in about 15 minutes that 50-year-old Larry Williams had possessed crack cocaine. Williams was arrested Nov. 10 by police in the mostly storm-emptied 1400 block of North Villere Street with three rocks of crack and a pipe, prosecutors said.

As a repeat offender, Williams could get 40 months to 10 years in prison. Judge Darryl Derbigny will sentence him later this month. Both cases had only six-member jury panels, as Louisiana law deems, due to the type of felony and the possible prison sentence attached to the charge. Judge Camille Buras will preside over the first full 12-member jury trial, which begins this morning as Larry Martin and Bryan Larce face charges of dealing or possessing cocaine.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Most in N.O. uncertain of future

UNO researchers poll New Orleanians

Tuesday, June 06, 2006
By John Pope
Staff writer --Times Picayune

In the months since Hurricane Katrina turned every aspect of life upside down, New Orleanians are worrying more and sleeping less, and complaining about the difficulty of getting things done, especially mail delivery and home repairs, according to a University of New Orleans survey
"We don't expect this to be positive, because we've just endured the worst disaster in American history," UNO political scientist Susan Howell said at a news conference.

The findings, based on 470 telephone interviews in March and April, bore out her statement.

Pollsters found that slightly more than two-thirds of the New Orleanians interviewed said they are worried about what may happen in the next five years, and that nearly 40 percent are sleeping worse than they did before Katrina pummeled their city. In the week before they were questioned, at least 20 percent of the interviewees said that they had felt tired, irritable and sad; that everything was an effort; and that they had a hard time concentrating.

"These are not typical questions you would ask in a survey of Americans," said Howell, who organized the poll with researchers from Louisiana State University.

Pollsters set out to establish a baseline of responses, she said, so subsequent surveys can be compared with the first to reflect changes in attitudes.

"I obviously hope that these indicators are going to improve over time," Howell said. "If there's no improvement, that's the reason people may leave."

The survey was the 20th in a series of polls measuring quality of life that Howell and her colleagues have conducted in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. Although more Jeffersonians seemed satisfied with life in general -- 70 percent, compared with 48 percent of New Orleanians -- exactly the same number of people in each parish -- 67 percent -- said they worry about what the next five years might bring.

People in both parishes had the same priorities when they were asked what they expect from government. In order, they said, they want: better levees, housing and help in making home repairs, and financial aid.

Orleanians and Jeffersonians also expressed frustration with getting mail, making home repairs, buying groceries and getting medical care. Howell said the last complaint was "most troubling."

"It's more difficult if you live in New Orleans," she said. "Recovery will be measured by these things getting easier."

More than 70 percent of the people in each parish said health problems they had had before the storm were "staying the same or getting worse."

Although the findings may seem grim, the New Orleans numbers could have been worse: Howell and her colleagues interviewed only people with land lines -- no FEMA trailer residents -- who are living in their own homes or in other people's dwellings in relatively stable neighborhoods, such as Uptown, the French Quarter, Algiers and Bywater.

"That was where we could get people," Howell said, adding that none of the New Orleans interviewees lived near Lake Pontchartrain or in the eastern part of the city, two areas that Katrina hit hard. The Jeffersonians, however, came from all over that parish.

One question that was not asked was whether the interviewees were considering leaving the area.

"I don't think there's any stability in what people are thinking right now," Howell said.

In terms of losses, about 30 percent of the interviewees in each parish said their homes were flooded, and about one-fifth said they weren't living where they had lived before Katrina swept through. About 60 percent of the people in each parish said they lost possessions, and about 40 percent said someone in their households had lost work because of the storm.

Housing and other economic problems were worse among African-Americans in both parishes, the researchers found.

Working with Howell on the study were LSU sociologists Jeanne S. Hurlbert and John Beggs. Both work with the LSU Hurricane Center, as does another study participant, Valerie Haines, a sociologist at the University of Calgary in Canada's Alberta province.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Home-elevation rules up for vote

St. Bernard weighs strict new guidelines

Tuesday, June 06, 2006
By Karen Turni Bazile
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau --Times Picayune

The St. Bernard Parish Council could pass a law at today's meeting setting strict guidelines for residents building elevated homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"I think we have to be proactive in establishing some criteria," said Parish Councilman Craig Taffaro, who sponsored the measure that drew spirited debate at a public hearing last month.

Taffaro said the final measure to be voted on at today's 10 a.m. meeting in the council office in Chalmette "represents a reasonable compromise that satisfies the aesthetics and safety issues while addressing a reasonable cost-effectiveness for homeowners."

The council also discussed the issue at last week's Executive-Finance Committee meeting and decided that the homes that owners choose to raise by more than 5 feet should be enclosed on all sides.

The measure also outlines various types of materials that owners can use to enclose either the pilings or the entire ground-level floor.

Taffaro said the range of options would make it more affordable for owners wanting to elevate, while maintaining the integrity of neighborhoods of mostly slab houses that weren't originally built with the camp-style look of exposed wooden piers.

After parish officials issued about a half-dozen permits for homes to be elevated more than 8 feet on exposed pilings, Chalmette attorney V.J. Dauterive filed a lawsuit in state court last month saying the issuance of those permits had damaged the value of neighboring property by not retaining the neighborhood's integrity. District Judge Manny Fernandez issued a restraining order at Dauterive's request May 12, stopping the parish from issuing any permits for elevated homes until the Parish Council could craft specific requirements.

The council last fall amended the parish's building code -- while offering no specifics -- to require that houses be rebuilt to at least pre-Katrina standards to maintain the integrity of neighborhoods. But at the public hearing last month, several residents said they are afraid of any costly requirements.

The new law would require the columns or pilings to be covered with a finish such as brick, stucco or siding.

As requested by some residents, the law would allow the homeowner to enclose the remaining ground level with latticework, using an older home on Riverland Drive in Chalmette as a model, Taffaro said.

Taffaro said Monday that he also plans to amend the law to require vented skirting on homes raised less than 5 feet.

Councilman Lynn Dean -- the only council member to oppose any additional requirements for elevated homes -- said dictating such specifics to property owners is wrong.

"Where is your freedom when you have to start dictating how a house has to look?" he asked.

But Taffaro told Dean that the measure applies only to people who want to elevate their homes and that there are separate laws on the books about specific requirements for slab homes as well.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Gulf Coast News Summary Update:

Updated from GCN: June 6, 2006

Burn bans are in effect along the Coast...DuPont is asking the DEQ for permission to dump a chemical into the Pascagoula River that is believed to be a health hazard...A Kansas City Missouri contractor is the low bidder to build the new Biloxi/Ocean Springs Bridge. The company bid $338.6 million on the project...The bridge is scheduled for completion in late February 2008...Harrison County has been cleared of any problems with debris contracts. FEMA and MEMA has stopped reimbursing the county until the issue was resolved...The challenge to rebuild in east Biloxi is proving too much for many residents. Insurance issues, height requirements and low income jobs make rebuilding difficult... Nine months after Katrina, FEMA reports that More than 102,000 people are housed temporarily in more than 38,000 FEMA-provided travel trailers and mobile homes... The Coast is still in relief mode not recovery nine months after Hurricane Katrina. 6/6/06 11:14 AM

[Audrey2Katrina]

Barbour: Be prepared

More evacuations likely for those in trailers

By MELISSA M. SCALLAN--Sun-Herald. June 6, 2006

BILOXI - Emergency management officials throughout the state are talking about lessons they learned from Hurricane Katrina and firming up plans for this season at the state's annual conference.

Emergency officials received accolades Monday from Gov. Haley Barbour and Robert Latham, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Latham said the cooperation between government officials before the storm helped everyone, as well as Barbour's leadership.

"The local, state and federal partnership was established before landfall and helped after landfall, and it continues today," Latham said.

Barbour gave special thanks to the first responders and said planning is even more important now because Coast residents are even more vulnerable because of the devastation.

"Obviously, nobody ever had a disaster plan prior to Katrina that envisioned a disaster like that," he said. "Everybody here thought Camille was the gold standard. We're going to have to meet the challenge of preparing for a hurricane season that's likely to be busier than normal."

The conference, which runs through Wednesday at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center, is sponsored by MEMA and the Mississippi Civil Defense/Emergency Management Association.

Barbour said the 38,000 families living in FEMA trailers will have to evacuate for much smaller storms because those trailers aren't made to withstand hurricane-force winds. He reminded everyone that it is illegal for residents to take their trailers with them if they evacuate.

"There will be more evacuations," he said. "And evacuations will have to take place earlier. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Barbour said while it's important for state, local and federal governments to be prepared, it's just as essential for residents to prepare themselves.

"No government can take care of every need for every person," he said. "People have to be prepared to take care of themselves."

Barbour said the state is now taking applications for the second phase of its homeowner grant program. Anyone who owned a home that flooded can apply by calling 1-866-369-6302.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Gulf Coast Update:

Dated: June 5, 2006 --Gulf Coast Network

A Kansas City Missouri contractor, GC Constructors, is the low bidder to build the new Biloxi/Ocean Springs Bridge. The company bid $338.6 million on the project. MDOT chose to wait to remove the destroyed bridge, leaving the work the contractor. The new bridge is scheduled to be completed late in February 2008. This bridge is a critical element for the Coast's recovery and the lack of work on it by MDOT has angered many. The new bridge will tower 95 feet above the water.

Extremely dry conditions are again sparking wildfires along the Coast. Monday afternoon, Harrison County firemen were called to a large woods fire just north of Biloxi near Lamey Bridge Road and Highway 67. The fire sent a huge plume of smoke into air and the prevailing winds blew the the cloud over the Biloxi peninsula. The cloud filtered the sunlight making the light an eerie gold color on the ground. Signs along Lamey Bridge and White Plains roads advise motorists to be cautious because of the smoke.

Bay St. Louis firemen were called to a fire at a small FEMA travel trailer Sunday evening. The fire destroyed the trailer, a home to a resident at the corner of Seventh Street and Turner Street. Fire Chief Bob Gavagnie said they received the call at 7:29 p.m. and were on the scene in a fast three minutes, but not in time to save the trailer. The trailer's occupants were not at home at the time of the fire. Neighbors say they heard the sound of a small boom and within seconds, a choking black smoke billowed from the trailer. The fire burned more than 50 percent of trailer.

A state conference on emergency management is being held this week in Biloxi. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and state Civil Defense and Emergency Management Association's are hosting the annual conference at the Gulf Coast Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi. It ends Wednesday. Hurricane Katrina will be the talk of the conference with the theme "Katrina: America's Worst Natural Disaster - Mississippi's Greatest Challenge." Speakers include Gov. Haley Barbour, Federal Emergency Management Agency Undersecretary David Paulison, and directors of the Mississippi and Alabama emergency management agencies.

Many east Biloxians are finding it hard to rebuild as economic realities sink in. East Biloxi was torn to shreds by Katrina's storm surge, which destroyed homes in the densely populated section of town. Most of the homes were older, wood-frame structures that were reduced to their foundations by the hurricane's storm surge. Many owners did not have flood insurance and were low income families. Nine months after Katrina, only a few homes are being rebuilt. Many of the residents have moved. The area was a mix population of white, black and Vietnamese families.

One of the largest federal grants ever issued to an airport was announced in a formal ceremony Friday at the Gulfport/Biloxi International Airport. In an event attended by top federal and local officials, Senator Trent Lott and Representative Gene Taylor were joined by Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, and Federal Aviation Adminstrator Marion Blakey in announcing a $44 million federal grant to repair the Gulfport/Biloxi International Airport (GBIA), heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

"This grant won't just repair, rebuild and revitalize this airport, it will also bring new passengers, new business, and new energy to this storied region," said Mineta. "This grant will lay the foundation for the Gulfport/Biloxi International Airport of tomorrow, and what an airport it will be."

Nine months after Hurricane Katrina struck -- and with another hurricane season in place -- less than half of the Gulf Coast small businesses that were granted federal disaster loans have converted them into cash, according to the Small Business Administration, reports Inc.com. The SBA has processed nearly all of the 57,133 business loan applications it has received since Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29 -- approving 21,132 loans worth over $2.1 billion for small businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, and Alabama. Monday marked the deadline to apply for economic injury loans related to the storm. So far, only 9,936 of those loans have been either fully or partially disbursed.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Senator Lott, Secretary Mineta, Administrator Blakey Announce $44 Million to Repair Gulfport/Biloxi International Airport

Story and Photos by Keith Burton - GCN Filed 6/2/06

One of the largest federal grants ever issued to an airport was announced in a formal ceremony at the Gulfport/Biloxi International Airport. In an event attended by top federal and local officials, Senator Trent Lott and Representative Gene Taylor were joined by Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, and Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey in announcing a $44 million federal grant to repair the Gulfport/Biloxi International Airport (GBIA), heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

"This grant won't just repair, rebuild and revitalize this airport, it will also bring new passengers, new business, and new energy to this storied region," said Mineta. "This grant will lay the foundation for the Gulfport/Biloxi International Airport of tomorrow, and what an airport it will be."

Mineta praised Lott, Taylor and the airport's administrative staff and board for working hard get the grant. "These were all powerful voices to make this project come along," Mineta said. (Mineta, photo left)

“I’m very pleased that Secretary Mineta and Administrator Blakey have come to Mississippi to see this facility and the progress we’re making toward its enhancement,” Senator Lott said. “The Gulfport/Biloxi airport already was experiencing remarkable growth prior to Katrina. Now in Katrina’s aftermath, the airport is a key component in the Coast’s recovery.”

The money will be combine with two other grants already received by the airport to total just over $51 million dollars.

The funding was made possible through legislation introduced by Senator Lott last September and shepherded through the Congress by him a month later. His bill, S. 1786, authorizes the Transportation Secretary to make emergency airport improvement grants for repairs associated with hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Senator Lott and airport administrator Bruce Frallic took Mineta and Blakey on a tour of the airport’s general aviation, tower, rental car, air cargo and terminal facilities before announcing the grant.

The funding will build new air cargo and general aviation facilities, and provide for the main terminal’s ongoing renovation, and build a new control tower that will be relocated on the west side of the airport and nearly twice as high.

This grant is a follow-on to a previously announced $4.65 million award from DOT for planning and engineering work.

Senator Lott, working with Administrator Blakey, led efforts to secure emergency funding for hurricane damaged airports after discovering that current law lacked the flexibility to use existing FAA funds for recovery efforts.

“Of all the federal agencies, DOT and FAA were two of the most responsive in Katrina’s wake,” Senator Lott said. “Mississippians are grateful for the steadfast support we’ve received from Secretary Mineta and Administrator Blakey, and as a result the Gulfport/Biloxi airport is destined to be rebuilt better than ever, as a world-class facility that will enhance our economic development and recovery.”

While the number of passengers arriving at the airport suffered in the months immediately after the hurricane, airport officials say the number of passengers arriving now are higher than prior to Hurricane Katrina and all air carriers are back and doing business as the airport.

(Photo above right shows Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey, left, then Sen. Trent Lott, airport Director Bruce Frallic, and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.)

Also on hand at the announcement was Congressman Gene Taylor, Southern District Highway Commissioner Wayne Brown, Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr, and Harrison County Board of Supervisors President Connie Rockco, and Supervisor Marlin Ladner.

The work on the airport is already underway. Airport officials say most of the work, including a new terminal, parking garage, control tower and general aviation center, should be completed within 18 months.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Alabama Power ready for hurricane season

Last Update: 6/6/2006 1:52:24 PM

(UNDATED) June 6 -- June 1 marked the beginning of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, which extends through Nov. 30. Summer is also the time for severe thunderstorms.

Alabama Power employees are prepared for this summer’s severe weather, and will work as quickly and as safely as possible to restore service after storms strike. During the past two hurricane seasons, Alabama Power suffered historic damage from Ivan and Katrina. And yet, despite numerous challenges, the company restored power to the majority of customers in two to three days and to 99 percent of customers in eight days.


Despite our successes, we’re always looking for ways to improve our storm restoration efforts. Over the past several months, a number of activities have taken place in preparation for hurricane season:


The company has reviewed all aspects of its storm plan and has made adjustments in staffing, logistics and communications designed to improve response capabilities. Expansion and equipment upgrades are also under way at the company’s Storm Center in Birmingham.
On staffing, the company has boosted the number of trained employees available for the Storm Center, to make sure it has the personnel needed for 24-hour operations over lengthy storm-restoration efforts. The company has also expanded the number of employees available from other departments who can play a variety of supporting roles in storm recovery operations.
The company has purchased satellite communication equipment to improve communications with remote staging sites. The equipment will provide key employees with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service, intranet service, as well as computer-based data tracking and mapping capabilities between company offices and field personnel at remote locations. The satellite equipment is expected to strengthen communications capabilities across the system during storm recovery operations.
We’ve increased our inventory of materials for storm season, including the number of pre-packaged material kits that are ready for storm restoration. The kits contain hardware – including clamps, nuts and bolts – plus fuses, lightning arrestors and other material typically needed by crews that are making storm-related repairs. We’ve also expanded the company’s list of vendors who are ready to quickly provide materials and supplies during storm recovery operations.
We’ve conducted frequent discussions with other utility companies that comprise our regional, mutual assistance program. Under the mutual assistance program, other investor-owned utilities in the region pledge to provide crews to assist Alabama Power when a major storm strikes, depending on their availability, and Alabama Power pledges to assist others when they need help.

STORM PREPARATION TIPS

Alabama Power employees take severe weather seriously, and customers should, too. Here are some things that Alabamians can do to be better prepared for the summer’s storms, and their potential aftermath:

Before the storm

1. Charge cell phones, pagers and other electronic devices.


2. Have several flashlights with extra batteries on hand, as well as a first-aid kit.

3. Keep a three-day minimum supply of water – one gallon per person per day, plus three days’ supply of food and drink that does not have to be refrigerated.

4. Use a battery-operated weather radio to stay informed.


5. Turn down the thermostat to cool your house. If you keep doors and windows closed after the storm, you can keep your house relatively cool for about 48 hours.


6. Seek shelter inside a sturdy building. In the event of a tornado, the safest place is on the lowest level. Choose a small room with no windows, such as an interior closet, hallway or bathroom.



After the storm

1. If power is out, call Alabama Power’s automated reporting system at 1-800-888-APCO (2726). It is the fastest way to report an outage or a hazardous situation, such as a downed power line.

2. Turn off appliances to avoid any potential safety hazards when power is restored.


3. Stay away from downed lines. Do not drive over lines or under low-hanging lines. Keep children and pets away from downed lines. Do not attempt to remove tree limbs or anything else caught in power lines. Call Alabama Power at 1-800-888-APCO (2726) or contact a local law enforcement agency if downed lines are spotted.


4. Stay clear of areas with fallen trees or debris where downed lines can be hiding. Stay away from areas where repair crews are working.


GENERATOR SAFETY TIPS

More and more people are purchasing portable generators to keep appliances running during outages. While generators can be a convenience, they can also be deadly when used improperly.

1. Read and follow carefully the manufacturer’s instructions before using a generator.

2. Do not plug in portable generators to your household wiring. This can cause serious injury to you and to Alabama Power employees working on the lines in your neighborhood. Connect only essential appliances – such as freezers and refrigerators – directly to the generator.

3. To avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, operate generators outdoors in a well-ventilated, dry area that is away from air intakes to the home, including window air conditioners. A good location is an open shed. Never use a portable generator indoors or in attached garages.


To learn more about how Alabama Power responds to storms, and how individuals can prepare for the season, log on to http://www.alabamapower.com . Click on “News & Issues” and then “Storm Information.”

[Audrey2Katrina]

Undocumented workers rebuilding New Orleans face abuse, study finds

By John Pope
Staff writer--Times Picayune

Illegal immigrants make up about one-fourth of the laborers rebuilding the New Orleans area, according to a study that also suggests they are less likely than their documented counterparts to get protective gear and be informed about health hazards such as asbestos and mold.

These workers are paid about 40 percent less than legal laborers, and they are much less likely to get help for medical problems, according to the report released by Tulane University and the University of California, Berkeley.

In more than 200 interviews conducted in March, researchers found that nearly half of the hurricane-repair workers are Latinos and that 54 percent of those laborers are illegal, making up nearly one-fourth of the workers helping to rebuild the area.

Although these people are not documented, the report’s data shows they aren’t new arrivals to the United States even if they were not in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29 of last year.

While the study says two-thirds of the Latino construction workers have moved to the New Orleans area since the hurricane, interviewers found that 87 percent of them had already lived in the United States, refuting the notion that the storm had triggered a surge of illegal border-crossing.
The study’s data were based on interviews with 212 randomly selected people of all origins working around New Orleans, said Phuong Pham of Tulane, one of its authors, in an interview.

To back up their findings, interviewers talked to 148 selected Latino workers, as well as 25 people representing government agencies and organizations that work with immigrants in such fields as legal advocacy, social services and health care.

Pollsters found that illegal workers were paid, on average, $10 an hour, compared with $16.50 for documented workers. Moreover, interviewers found, the illegal workers had a more difficult time collecting what they were due.

There also was a disparity in the availability of protective supplies. While 84 percent of the documented workers said they had such gear, 72 percent of the illegal laborers said they were given such equipment.

Such a situation is problematic, the data show, because undocumented workers were much less aware than their legal counterparts of such hazards as mold, asbestos and unsafe buildings.

“Reconstruction after natural disasters exposes workers to some of the worst on-the-job hazards in situations where services, especially access to health care, are scarce,” said Laurel Fletcher, a clinical professor of law at Berkeley, in a statement.

Consequently, she said, “public officials at all levels . . . need to strengthen monitoring and enforcement of worker health and safety protections.”

Only 9 percent of the illegal workers had health insurance, compared with 55 percent of the documented workers, researchers found, and only 38 percent of the undocumented laborers received medications when they needed them, compared with 83 percent of the legal workers.

Although only slightly more than one-fourth of all the workers sought medical help, the proportion of legal workers treated was more than three times as high as the number of undocumented laborers, the data shows.

The study, “Rebuilding After Katrina: A Population-Based Study of Labor and Human Rights in New Orleans,” is being prepared for publication in a scholarly journal.

But the group decided to release the results “right now because this is a hot topic,” said Pham, an adjunct assistant professor of international development at Tulane’s Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer.

“The report tells us that the Latino populations are here, and we need to do something,” she said.

The report arrives as the country is embroiled in a debate over establishing a policy for dealing with illegal immigrants. The Senate last month passed, with President Bush’s blessing, a bill that would strengthen security along the U.S.-Mexico border, establish a program to let immigrants come in temporarily to work and create a procedure to let illegal immigrants apply for citizenship after paying fines and back taxes.

It faces stiff opposition in the House of Representatives.

“We really can’t have it both ways,” Pham said. “We either enforce immigration laws, which means we can’t permit them to work (in the United States), or we develop a process where we can issue them working permits in an expedited way that allows them to work and be covered by worker’s comp and all the benefits that come with working legally.”

Such workers should be encouraged to come to the New Orleans area, she said.

“If we’re entering into a vicious cycle of hurricane seasons, I think we need all the workers we can get,” Pham said.

Before last year’s hurricane, Louisiana had one of the smallest Hispanic populations in the country — 2.5 percent of residents compared with 12.5 percent nationally. Census data indicates nearly 100,000 Hispanics moved to the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Planning meeting set for huge West Bank residential development

Times Picayune: June 6, 2006

A residential development that could bring as many as 20,000 units to the West Bank is on the agenda of the Jefferson Parish Planning Advisory Board this week.

KB Homes of California, in a joint venture with Shaw Group of Baton Rouge, is proposing the community on 3,000 acres near Avondale.

KB Homes officials have said the houses could sell for $150,000 to $250,000, with the market aimed at first-time and move-up buyers. The Planning Advisory Board meets Thursday at 5 p.m. at the General Government Building, 200 Derbigny St., Gretna.

[Audrey2Katrina]

St. Bernard residents can sign up for free home demolition at council meeting today

Times Picayune: June 6, 2006

St. Bernard Parish residents who want free demolition of their storm-damaged home by the Christian Contractors Association are urged to attend the St. Bernard Parish Council's meeting this morning in Chalmette, a parish news release says.

The council's meeting began at 10 a.m. in the trailer office behind the parish government building.

Robert McKee, coordinator of the nonprofit Christian group has been signing up St. Bernard residents who want their home demolished and will be at the council meeting. They began taking down homes and breaking up foundations several weeks ago.

Residents who want the free service must provide proof of ownership.
The Parish Council has encouraged McKee to continue the work and he has reported that more than 4,000 homeowners have contacted his group but they need to sign them up and see proof of ownership.

Residents who can’t attend the council meeting can contact McKee’s group by sending him an email at robertm@ccaministry.org or calling his national office at 1-800-278-7703.

Parish government also has a free demolition program for residents that began May 10 by Unified Recovery Group, which has done 237 demolitions, company officials said Monday. But the deadline for signing up for the parish program is this Friday.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Census tallies Katrina changes

But the changing New Orleans area is a moving target

Wednesday, June 07, 2006
By Coleman Warner
Staff writer --Times Picayune: June 7, 2006

In a sweeping collection of demographic information showing how Gulf Coast communities were reshaped by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the U.S. Census Bureau will release data today showing that the storm's impact left the New Orleans area somewhat older, whiter and more affluent, even as more people temporarily found themselves in food stamp lines.

New population estimates for July 1, 2005, and Jan. 1, 2006, offering pre- and post-Katrina benchmarks, give heft to the notion that, while there was widespread devastation along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the storm's human toll was concentrated in the New Orleans area.

Population losses in the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines in the months after Katrina totaled 385,439, roughly nine times the combined losses for Mississippi counties hit hard by the storm.

The population estimates and an American Community Survey report -- each covering 117 counties and parishes in four states -- largely buttress what was already known anecdotally or through studies more limited in scope. But the census reports provide much-needed detail for planners and others trying to gauge the storms' impact, experts said.

But there are weaknesses in the reports. The data is several months old, at a time of fluid change as areas recover, and the Census Bureau was unable to include data from group housing, such as emergency shelters and motels.

While the Census Bureau, tapping a U.S. Postal Service change-of-address database, estimated Orleans Parish's Jan. 1 population at 158,353, New Orleans demographer Greg Rigamer estimates that the city's population more than five months later has rebounded to at least 221,000. Meanwhile, information provided by Entergy New Orleans regarding the number of electrical hookups showing usage translates to a population of about 210,000.

"It's a mistake to think that these numbers provide a comprehensive look at the effects of Katrina," Steve Murdock, a demographer at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said of the census. "They provide a certain snapshot, but they are clearly only a partial picture."


Race, cars, income


While an inadequate household survey sample didn't allow for release of demographic data for many individual parishes, the Brookings Institution, which publishes a Katrina Index report, finds that "the whole metropolitan area of New Orleans is becoming whiter and less poor and more mobile," said William Frey, a demographer for the organization.

The American Community Survey, which contrasts data gathered in the first eight months of 2005 with data collected in the year's last four months, shows that the percentage of New Orleans area residents identifying themselves as African-American or black declined from 37 percent to 22 percent, while the white percentage rose from 59 percent to 73 percent.

The percentage of any race who identified themselves as Hispanic rose slightly to more than 6 percent. Across the region, tens of thousands of Latinos have taken up residence, eager to take on storm-recovery tasks.

José Rios, 36, a Mexican immigrant from Texas who runs a food trailer in New Orleans near a spot where Latino workers are picked up for daily construction jobs, said, "Every time you look up at the roofs, the guys doing the hard work, they're all Hispanic."

Low-income people made up a smaller percentage of the metro-area population after Katrina and fewer households reported that they had no access to a vehicle, while the typical household income rose by thousands of dollars, according to the census survey. However, the survey also reflected the widespread use of Louisiana Purchase cards by residents of various income levels, with the estimated percentage of households receiving food stamps rising from 10 percent to 39 percent, according to the survey.


High margin of error


The survey pointed to longer commute times for local workers and to a rise in the median age of New Orleans area residents, a result of the temporary relocation of more than 100,000 school-age children. That trend has been partly reversed since the fall.

"We all know anecdotally of many, many people whose children went to school either in other Louisiana locations or out of state, and are gradually coming back," said Karen Paterson, a demographer with a Louisiana state data center.

The survey provides a preliminary set of data to show a dramatic rise in vacant housing units, a decline in the percentage of working-age population holding jobs, a decline in the percentage of people living in the home where they resided a year earlier and a slight uptick in the average household size, among other gauges.

Census officials concede the findings have significant margins of error, because of the difficulty of finding residents who were included in a survey list developed in early 2005. Bureau representatives didn't seek out temporary housing when they were looking for local residents after Katrina.

Because of the difficulty in reaching people after the storm, demographic results were released for only 22 counties or parishes out of the 117 labeled severely affected in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas, said Lisa Blumerman, deputy chief of the American Community Survey office.

Demographers said the new data sets have clear limitations, but are still valuable to those involved in recovery planning.

"The fact that there's any information in this kind of detail is important," Frey said. "Their best use is to show what was the immediate impact of the hurricane on these areas. It gives you sort of a low benchmark to start from."


The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Levee districts overhaul under fire

Lawmakers trying to scale back changes

Wednesday, June 07, 2006
By Robert Travis Scott
Capital bureau - Times Picayune:

BATON ROUGE -- Landmark legislation passed in February to consolidate authority over the New Orleans area's fragmented levee districts came under surprise attack Tuesday by opponents of the initiative.

Amendments placed on unrelated bills in the House and Senate would peel back some provisions in the levee board overhaul championed by the governor and Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Arabi, setting the stage for a reprise of the emotional confrontation that characterized the issue four months ago.

Supporters of Boasso's plan, which would be implemented Jan. 1 if voters statewide approve the measure in a Sept. 30 referendum, are calling on Gov. Kathleen Blanco to stop lawmakers in the current legislative session from chipping away at its provisions.

"I'm just concerned about the message this sends to Washington when we still have our hand out for money for levees," Boasso said.

A spokesman for Blanco said the administration will "review the amendments thoroughly."

The Legislature has been considering a number of levee bills this session, but none of them sought to repeal the Boasso plan, which would replace the boards overseeing each New Orleans area levee district with a single board covering an area of the east bank and north shore and another single board over the West Bank.

The plan includes a proposed constitutional amendment, which needs statewide voter approval to enable statutory changes that specify how the boards would be set up. If the constitutional change passes, those changes will go into effect Jan. 1.


West Bank wish list

Business leaders and citizens groups had called for a single regional levee board, but West Bank lawmakers succeeded in keeping a separate board on their side of the river. Still, the West Bank authorities did not get all the provisions they wanted.

On Tuesday morning, the Senate Judiciary B Committee attached one of the items on the West Bank wish list to House Bill 829 by Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma. Baldone's bill would give all levee districts greater authority to take over private property to build levees. At the urging of Rep. Ernest Wooten, R-Belle Chasse, Baldone asked the Senate committee to amend his bill to specify the new West Bank authority in Boasso's plan would take over Dec. 1, 2007, instead of Jan. 1. The amendment would not affect the new east bank and north shore authority.

Wooten said the existing board and staff of the West Jefferson Levee District are in the middle of a major upgrade of the levee system thanks in part to a $147 million infusion of emergency federal money last year. The delay would give the district time to implement the levee program.

Voting for the change were Sens. Nick Gautreaux, D-Abbeville, Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, and Bob Kostelka, R-Monroe; panel Chairman Sen. Art Lentini, D-Kenner, opposed the change.


Board makeup

On Tuesday afternoon, Rep. John Alario, D-Westwego, added two changes to Senate Bill 89 by Sen. Reggie Dupre, D-Montegut. Adopted on the House floor without objection, Alario's amendment would change the composition of the West Bank levee board and also delay Boasso's plan on the West Bank until Dec. 31.

Dupre's original bill sought to restructure the board for a levee district in Lafourche Parish.

Alario's board change goes to the heart of the differences felt by both sides about the oversight of West Bank levee matters. Boasso's plan calls for a seven-member West Bank board, with two each from Orleans and Jefferson parishes and three from outside those parishes. Neither parish would have majority representation on the board and the three outside members would provide greater objectivity on levee decisions, under Boasso's vision.

But Alario and West Jefferson Levee District officials say that Jefferson Parish's West Bank population is much greater than Orleans' and the geographical area is much larger, so Jefferson should not be outnumbered 5-2 on the new board.

"I don't know how you get anything done in Jefferson Parish if those five members have a different agenda," said Chip Cahill, president of the West Jefferson Levee District.

The Baldone and Dupre bills both are near the end of the legislative process and would not have to face more hearings. That means the amendments have dodged the possibility of a public hearing in a committee setting in which supporters of Boasso's plan would have advance warning to testify against the changes.

"If Alario succeeds with this, I just can't fathom what the governor is thinking," said Jay Lapeyre, president of the Business Council for New Orleans and the River Region, a powerful group supporting Boasso's plan. "Otherwise, she just encourages everything."

If the governor does not send a strong message that she will not tolerate changes to the levee overhaul, then many more amendments will surface before the end of the legislative session, Lapeyre predicted.


Concern about delays

Blanco spokesman Roderick Hawkins said the administration is "concerned" about the amendments' proposed delays for when Boasso's bill would take effect on the West Bank, but viewed changes in the West Bank authority's board composition differently.

"We're more concerned about a delay in the reform than we are in a minor change in the makeup of the board," Hawkins said. "We will take a look at these as they go through the process."

When Boasso's bill was debated in February, Blanco supported proposals in the House and Senate to change the West Bank's board composition the way Alario wanted. Boasso and other supporters of the bill resisted the change and floor votes defeated the amendments.

Alario said Tuesday that Blanco supported four Jefferson representatives on the West Bank board in February, but had told him she would not offer the same support for delaying implementation of the Boasso plan.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Congress near storm spending bill accord

Housing and levee upgrades included

Wednesday, June 07, 2006
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau - Times Picayune:

WASHINGTON -- After weeks of stalled negotiations, House-Senate negotiators are nearing agreement on a $94.5 billion supplemental spending bill that would provide much of what Louisiana officials are counting on for levee upgrades and housing assistance.

The giant spending bill covers emergency needs related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, recovery costs related to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as financing for the federal response to a possible flu epidemic. Passage by the House and Senate is expected by the end of this week.

The bill, which was still being tweaked Tuesday night by the House-Senate Conference Committee, includes $5.2 billion in housing money under the community development block grant program. The Bush administration and members of the Louisiana delegation are pushing for Louisiana to get $4.2 billion of that amount. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said he expected the allocation to remain intact.

But the distribution between the states wasn't specified in the preliminary language written into the bill, and by one interpretation Louisiana could fall $200 million short of the $4.2 billion request.


Full amount for levees

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., a member of the committee, was trying to enact amendments to ensure that Louisiana gets it full housing request and restore cuts in financing for higher education and historic preservation.

The final housing appropriation for Louisiana will be in addition to $6.2 billion previously approved by Congress and would go toward implementation of a state plan that includes grants of up to $150,000 per homeowner for uninsured damage, based on the pre-storm value of the home. It's unclear what the impact would be if financing drops by $200 million.

The bill includes $3.7 billion for levees, which is the full amount proposed by the Bush administration. Left out of the bill is an extra $200 million that was added by the Senate.

Other Katrina assistance items took a big hit from the numbers approved by the Senate under the negotiated bill. Negotiators were under threat of a presidential veto unless $14 billion was cut from the $109 billion Senate package.

For agriculture assistance, the negotiators reached a tentative agreement on a $409 million package, down from the $4.12 billion in the Senate bill. Vitter said the good news is that, unlike the initial Senate package, all of the spending is earmarked for farms affected by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

A fisheries recovery program, which was financed at $1.135 billion under the Senate bill, would get $118 million in the negotiated package.

An $845 million package in the Senate bill to help colleges recover from Hurricane Katrina was removed from the negotiated package and in its place is a program that would make 50 grants available. The total for the program was expected to end up at about $30 million.


Cottages for trailers

The negotiated bill includes $400 million for a pilot program for Katrina cottages to replace the FEMA trailers being used as temporary housing for storm victims. The Senate had included $1.2 billion for the program.

The levee funds are expected to be allocated under this formula requested by the Bush administration:

-- $1.6 billion would go to replace I-walls with stronger T-walls for Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity, and West Bank and vicinity levee projects.

-- $495 million would be used to raise and enhance levees for the Lake Pontchartrain area and the West Bank, to protect against a so-called 100-year flood.

-- $155 million to incorporate the nonfederal levee on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish into the federal levee system.

The committee rejected a proposal to pay for hurricane-related repairs at Gulf Coast shipyards, including Northrop Grumman's Avondale Shipyards. The White House strongly opposed the provision, inserted by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., arguing that it would force taxpayers to pay costs that should be paid by insurance companies and private funds.

The insistence by President Bush and House Republicans to trim the Senate bill generated some bickering, particularly from Democrats. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said that the bill doesn't provide enough for hurricane relief and eliminates financing for port security upgrades that anyone paying attention to the continuing threat of terrorism realizes must be a priority.

But Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the conference committee, said that members worked hard to keep the package to the levels proposed by the president both in order to get the legislation signed in a timely manner and also because Americans are asking Congress to show fiscal restraint.