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

[Audrey2Katrina]

'Deadbeats' or tough luck?

For evacuees, job hunt continues

7/7/2006, 12:21 p.m. CT
By PAUL J. WEBER
The Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — In the middle of a Tuesday afternoon, Katrina evacuee Samuel Smith sits on a donated futon and watches a borrowed television in a subsidized apartment the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided for six months. The unemployed truck driver just started looking for work.

That would infuriate U.S. Rep. John Culberson, a Houston Republican who wants what he calls "deadbeat" evacuees from New Orleans out of his city.

"Time has long since passed for the able-bodied people from Louisiana to either find a job, return to somewhere in Louisiana or become Houstonians," said Culberson, whose district neighbors the city's southwest pocket where many of 150,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees settled in Houston.

"You have to make an effort not to have a job in Houston," he said.

Labor analysts tend to agree.

But jobless evacuees, keenly aware that Houston is feeling far less compassionate than it was 10 months ago, insist that finding work in the nation's fourth-largest city isn't as simple as Houston's 5 percent unemployment rate might suggest.

Neither the city nor FEMA track unemployed evacuees, but a Zogby poll commissioned by the city in March found that 85 percent of the 606 refugees surveyed were out of work. Sixty percent said they were looking for jobs.

The spotlight on unemployed evacuees intensified in May. Houston Mayor Bill White, standing beside newly re-elected New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, said evacuees could answer Nagin's plea to return home, or they were welcome to stay in Houston — if they got jobs.

White said he wanted refugees "looking for work wherever they can find work," which city officials say shouldn't be a problem given a healthy local economy and about 64,000 new jobs added in the past year.

Job counselor Ayodele Ogunye of WorkSource, the city's employment assistance program, said jobless evacuees complain about the overwhelming bus and rail systems that make navigation difficult, or the bureaucratic holdups like professional licenses that are invalid in Texas.

But some of it, Ogunye said, is in their heads.

The fear of a new hurricane season worried one of her clients so much that "it was like it set her back 10 months." Others don't know how to market themselves or lack confidence, which Ogunye thinks is traced to feelings of isolation in the "evacuee" corner of their apartment complexes, where no one socializes like their lifelong neighbors in New Orleans.

"I cannot help to wonder if (the unemployment) has anything to do with the uniqueness of the community," Ogunye said. "It seems like some have never had to make choices or decide for themselves."

There also might be some validity to evacuees' suspicions of employers passing on them for a fear they'll turn around and go home to Louisiana. At Career and Recovery Resources, which has tried finding work for 1,600 evacuees, manager Yvonne Chapman said she's had employers tell her they're "afraid they might go back home in six months."

Low-skill blue collar workers are the bulk of WorkSource's remaining clients from New Orleans.

But some white collar evacuees are struggling, too: Unic Little, 50, has a master's degree but says she hasn't gotten one response from more than 50 Internet job postings ranging from human resources positions to administrative work.

But truck driver Smith and his wife, Marion, hadn't looked for work because they don't know yet where they'll end up and the nearest bus stop is about a half-mile away.

Nearby, Lynette Scott uses the bus but complains it takes two hours to get to interviews. Her strong resume that includes running a New Orleans janitorial company hasn't helped in the dozen postings she's answered, so she started a T-shirt company out of her FEMA apartment.

"If I can't find work from other sources, I'll make my own work," said Scott, who designs children's shirts printed with their parent's contact information in case they get separated, an idea inspired by Katrina. "I'm not looking for a handout."

Disaster unemployment assistance expired on June 4 for about 83,000 Katrina evacuees. Among them were Granderson Johnson, 46, a former Wal-Mart photo technician who moved back to Louisiana a few days after he stopped getting his assistance check for $108 a week. Applications he dropped off at a handful of photo labs near his apartment never panned out, he said.

"It got to a point where things just weren't happening," Johnson said.

The WorkSource building — like the attitude of Houstonians — is much different than in the weeks after busloads of Louisiana residents were brought to the city. Gone is a table near the front door where evacuees could collect information on assistance programs, and the office no longer has a backlog of sympathetic employers eager to hire refugees.

"The attitude has shifted," said Rod Snyder, manager of WorkSource's southwest office.

WorkSource reports the agency has placed about half of the 24,000 refugees who sought work through their programs and training. Most of the other half abandoned the training or lost touch. Asked if there was any reason why a person who wanted a job in Houston couldn't find one, Ron Rodriguez, director of operations for WorkSource, said, "No."

That sentiment is shared at WorkSource's southwest office, where about seven of every 10 clients Ogunye meets is a Katrina refugee. The WorkSource building conspicuously stands out on a street of fast-food restaurants and strip malls — some with "Help Wanted" on the marquees.

Ogunye said "one does begin to wonder" why so many are still jobless after 10 months. Fellow counselor Melodie Lee was more blunt: "(Katrina) was awful, but let's move on. It is time you had a Plan B."

[Audrey2Katrina]

Gaming Commission approves development in D'Iberville

7/7/2006, 2:27 p.m. CT
By SHELIA BYRD
The Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Las Vegas casino executive Peter Simon predicts there will be substantial growth in the gaming industry along the Mississippi Gulf Coast as the region rebounds from the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina.

Simon, through a company called West D'Iberville Development LLC, received approval Friday from the Mississippi Gaming Commission for a proposed development site in D'Iberville.

The site is north of Biloxi Bay and west of Interstate 110. Plans call for a 52,500-square-foot casino with 1,500 slot machines and 50 table games.

Simon wouldn't put a price tag on the project, saying it would be hard to figure because of the fluctuating costs for materials and labor.

"It will be substantial," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Larry Gregory, executive director of the gaming commission, said the project would create between 1,500 to 1,800 jobs at the casino alone, not counting construction.

"There's not a lot of employment in that area. It represents a little bit of hope for the people down in D'Iberville," Gregory said.

Twelve dockside casinos on the Mississippi coast were damaged or destroyed after Katrina roared ashore on Aug. 29.

Lawmakers last year voted to allow coast casinos to develop 800 feet on land as long as they still have part of the development touching the water.

Simon said land-based gaming will change the perception gamblers have of casinos being boats on water.

"Now that we're able to come onshore and make people aware that we're on land, it will result in increased markets for the Gulf Coast," he said.

Billions of investment dollars have been dedicated to rebuilding the region. Five casinos have reopened. Another five are scheduled to reopen by mid-October.

Simon brings industry expertise to the project. He has been in the casino business since 1971 when at the age of 20 he opened Pop's Oasis 30 miles outside Las Vegas. He eventually became senior vice president of development for Mandalay Resort Group before it was bought out by MGM Mirage.

Simon said D'Iberville has been supportive of the project, especially since the city has been seeking a casino for at least 10 years. In 2004, Colorado-based Jacobs Entertainment Inc. dropped plans to develop a casino resort in the city as local leaders considered whether to offer the company millions of dollars in tax incentives.

Simon said his resort will open by Dec. 31, 2008 to take advantage of tax incentives Congress approved to expedite the coast's recovery.

As for the labor shortage on the coast, Simon said he's not too worried.

"We have great confidence that the high quality of the individuals that used to live here are returning as quickly as possible," Simon said. "If they're not skilled, we'll be able to train them."

Simon said Mississippi is one of the few areas of the country where the climate is conducive to a thriving industry.

"All of us in the industry are very thankful that Gov. Haley Barbour, the Legislature and the Gaming Commission have kept Mississippi that way," he said. "It allows for us to make truly significant economic developments in an environment in which we can have a great deal of confidence."

[Audrey2Katrina]

Wearing their pain: Katrina survivors sport memorial tattoos

7/7/2006, 1:35 p.m. CT
By STACEY PLAISANCE
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Sean Jeffries never thought he'd feel so strongly about something that he'd permanently mark his body with a tattoo. But that was before he and a handful of friends were trapped in a city that spiraled into chaos following Hurricane Katrina.

Two weeks after being rescued by a caravan of buses led by the National Guard, he and two friends got small matching hurricane symbol tattoos in various shades of blue.

"We went through a lot," said Jeffries, a 38-year-old banker whose tattoo is on the upper portion of his right arm. "I'll probably never get another tattoo, but this one means something to me. I got it because it has meaning behind it."

Many survivors whose souls were scarred by Katrina are having images of hurricane swirls, crumbling buildings, names of the dead or broken hearts gushing floodwater indelibly etched into their skin.

"Katrina has moved people to do this more than anything else I've ever seen," said tattoo artist Jay Lyons, manager of Electric Ladyland Tattoos. "We're doing fathers and daughters together, older folks together. It's a lot of people who would have under any other circumstances not come in here."

Tattoo artists citywide say nearly a year after the hurricane that killed more than 1,577 Louisiana residents, as many as half of tattoo customers want storm-related images.

"It's kind of morbid, really, but I guess people are having strong emotions about what happened and they don't know how else to say it," said Annette LaRue, the owner of Electric Ladyland Tattoos.

Jim Hand, a 58-year-old retired postal worker, had much of his lower left leg covered with a large fleur-de-lis. An eery, dark skull protrudes from the stylized lily that is the city's symbol.

The skull represents "something taking it over," he said. "Like pirates."

Lyons' shop has a book of fleur-de-lis images, including one engulfed in flames with banners that read: "Through Hell or High Water" and "NOLA Forever."

"We used to get one, maybe two requests a week, now it's one or two a day," Lyons said of the fleurs-de-lis, which since Katrina are requested by themselves or incorporated in larger storm-themed images.

Travis Diebolt of Crescent City Tattoo Co. said his clients have asked for tattoos of the city skyline, the boot-shaped state of Louisiana and banners listing names of victims.

And at Art Accent French Quarter Tattoo parlor, Ray Nazworth says he's etched cracked and crumbling bricks and snapped tree limbs into clients' skin.

Lyons believes the tattoos are a kind of therapy for Katrina survivors.

"A big part of their lives has been lopped off," he said. "This is a way to reclaim that and say, 'I'm proud of who I am, where I'm from, that I'm here.'"

Andrea Garland and her husband, Jeffrey Holmes, say their matching "RIP Lower 9" tattoos are tributes to the Lower Ninth Ward residents who lost their lives and homes when the city's levee system failed, inundating the neighborhood with floodwater.

"Just because we were lucky doesn't mean it doesn't affect us," said Garland, whose Upper Ninth Ward home got about 3 feet of floodwater compared to several times that much in homes in many parts of the city.

"This is an event that's never going to leave us," she said. "It's something that's dramatically affected and changed our lives forever."

For Jeffries' friend Tim Lawrence, placement of his storm symbol tattoo was just as important as the image itself. The 31-year-old, an assistant manager at a French Quarter hotel, got his on the back of his neck — his way of putting the storm behind him.

"I'll always have a hurricane at my back," he said. "I never want to have one in front of me again."

[Audrey2Katrina]

Survey: Alabama coast homeowners ahead on hurricane preps

7/7/2006, 11:02 a.m. CT
The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Homeowners on the coast of Alabama and some other states battered by Gulf of Mexico hurricanes in recent years are better prepared for a major storm than those along the Atlantic coast, an insurance survey found.

The survey, sponsored by seven major insurance companies and released Thursday in Washington, D.C., sampled 4,200 home-insured residents from Texas through Maine during a two-week period in June.

The survey released by the Insurance Information Institute found that coastal residents overall have taken 48 percent of the steps necessary to prepare their property to recover from a major hurricane.

In the wake of Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, homeowners on the Alabama-Mississippi coast have taken 58 percent of the steps necessary, the survey found, and Louisiana homeowners were 60 percent prepared.

Coastal Georgia homeowners and south Floridians also had 58 percent scores to tie the Alabama-Mississippi homeowners. Other coastal residents from Texas to Maine had lower scores.

The survey looked for preparations that included reviewing home-insurance policies, owning a separate flood insurance policy or developing a family disaster plan.

It also examined whether residents had made repairs or improvements to their homes, or stored important documents such as insurance policy information in a safe place.

Hurricane season lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30.

Although 79 percent of coastal Alabama homeowners surveyed knew that homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods, only 23 percent have gotten separate flood insurance.

"It's not too late to get ready, but it's close," said Jeanne Salvatore, senior vice president at the Insurance Information Institute. "There is a 30-day waiting period for federal flood insurance to take effect, so homeowners need to call their agents now."

Dave Rickey, a spokesman for Montgomery-based Alfa Insurance, which represents 20 percent of the market in Alabama, said the high risk of natural disaster on the coast is problematic when issuing insurance.

"There's a philosophical question that insurance companies face," he said. "Should your customer base bear the increased cost of insurance in coastal areas?"

Alabamians have the option to participate in a "beach" insurance pool — an alternative to insurance policies offered by private companies, said Ragan Ingram, associate commissioner at the Alabama Department of Insurance, a state regulatory agency.

The number of policies in this pool nearly doubled since Hurricane Ivan hit in 2004, Ingram said. That hurricane caused nearly $13 billion in damage and five deaths in Alabama.

There are now 6,000 policies that are part of this pool, and the premium volume has increased from $5 million to $9 million from 2004 to 2006.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Historic Orpheum theater sold; may again house La. Philharmonic

7/7/2006, 10:40 a.m. CT
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Orpheum Theater, one-time vaudeville house, longtime movie palace and recently home of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, has been sold to Dallas businessman Rick Weyand for $675,000.

Located at across from the Fairmont Hotel, a block off Canal Street in the Central Business District, the Orpheum has an ornate Beaux-Arts facade, celebrated for its elegant terra-cotta panels representing drama, music and dance.

Although Weyand declined to discuss any specific plans for the building, he said he hopes to bring back the LPO as a tenant.

"We are planning to restore the theater," he said, "and we are planning to work closely with the LPO, hoping they will use the theater a major portion of its open time."

Weyand said he will reveal his plans in more detail in about a month.

The Orpheum, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and also is designated a New Orleans landmark by the Historic District Landmarks Commission, was badly damaged in the flood following Hurricane Katrina. Water filled the basement, drowning many of the orchestra's instruments and all of its equipment, then coursed through the first floor, covering all the chairs and rising as high as the stage.

Built in 1918 for half a million dollars, the 2,000-seat Orpheum was designed by American theater architect G. Albert Lansburgh in conjunction with local architect Samuel Stone. It opened in 1921 and hosted such vaudeville greats as George Burns and Gracie Allen, Fatty Arbuckle, Houdini, Jack Benny and the Marx Brothers.

In the 1930s, with vaudeville waning, the Orpheum became a movie theater, decorated in the grandiose fashion of the day.

"We would love to see the Orpheum as the home of the LPO again," said Babs Mollere, the orchestra's managing director. "And we would love to work with the new owner to bring the building back into commerce and create something good for us, good for him and good for the city."

The theater, which had been on the market for years, was sold to Weyand by a consortium of local residents with an interest in supporting classical music in New Orleans. The building's historic status guarantees that its facade cannot be altered without approval of the HDLC.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Lafayette, La., councilman ready to un-make his mark

7/7/2006, 9:14 a.m. CT
The Associated Press

LAFAYETTE (AP) — Lafayette City-Parish Councilman Chris Williams made his mark, and now he is ready to remove it.

Williams had scrawled the words "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive!" under his name on the desk in front of his seat in the council chambers. He said he did it because a bumper sticker supporting a new King drive in Lafayette kept disappearing.

But the small graffiti in permanent marker under his name angered some other council members. One, Randy Menard, filed a complaint with police, who visited the chambers Thursday to take pictures.

Investigators also took Menard's statement Thursday and were preparing a report to send to the City Prosecutor's Office, Lafayette Police Cpl. Mark Francis said.

Thursday night, Williams e-mailed a statement saying he has arranged for his markings to be removed and will pay for the cost of refurbishing.

"I want to apologize for my action during the Council meeting," Williams wrote. "Regardless of the personal attacks I will take full responsibility for my action as an elected official and a representative of District 3."

The desk area where Williams sits for each meeting is covered with drawings and doodles, repeated instances of "Northside Lafayette" and even carved with Williams' initials, "CJW."

A March 2005 memo from Menard to Williams asks Williams to "cease and desist" "defacing City owned property."

Williams and Councilman Louis Benjamin, who both are black, have been trying for months, unsuccessfully, to persuade the rest of the council to approve naming a major road in Lafayette after slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Officials differ over current strength of levees

7/6/2006, 7:11 p.m. CT
By BRETT MARTEL
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Government and independent engineers disagreed Thursday when pressed by a U.S. House subcommittee on whether the current state of area levees made it safe for residents to rebuild in parts of the city that flooded worst during Hurricane Katrina.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Richard Wagenaar answered, "Yes," without hesitating, when asked by U.S. Rep. William Jefferson whether he would return if it was his home in question.

"The Colonel is a bit optimistic," said Dr. Gordon Boutwell, with the American Society of Civil Engineers, while responding to the same question.

Boutwell later said he would move back into any part of New Orleans that is above sea level "in a flash," but would wait until the repaired levee system now protecting the area was tested by a future strong storm before rebuilding in lower areas.

The reason, he said, was because levee breaches cause protected areas to fill with water until the levels on both sides of the levee are even. By the time that happens, a storm surge usually has receded to sea-level, meaning anything built above that has a reasonable chance of enduring without significant damage.

LSU professor Ivor van Heerden agreed. While initial flood-protection designs were supposed to protect against once-in-100-year storms, more recent weather patterns have shown that storms strong enough to threaten the system hit or narrowly miss Louisiana once every seven years.

"We need to recognize that we're heading into what experts tell us is another very active (hurricane) season," said van Heerden, who has been studying levee failures with a state-sponsored team of engineers.

Wagenaar responded that he was not a meteorologist and could not predict what kind of storms might strike this year, but stressed that the levees ringing the metro area now are significantly stronger and in some cases higher than what existed before Katrina hit last Aug. 29.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, hosted the House Committee on Science field briefing, aimed at providing Congress an update on the status of flood protection projects across south Louisiana, as well as progress on a Corps report outlining recommendations for future projects that officials believe will be needed to ensure long-term safety from large storms.

Wagenaar said that according to new flood maps provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about 75 percent to 80 percent of levees and flood walls will have to be built higher by several feet. He said all of that work should be completed by 2010.

So far, Congress has authorized the Corps to spend about $5.7 billion to complete that work.

Wagenaar also told the subcommittee engineers estimate that about 20 percent of levees and flood walls will require additional work to ensure that they will be stable enough to hold up under the weight of rising sea levels — or storm surge — caused by hurricanes.

Van Heerden said he believed that the entire levee system also should be armored with a blanket of rock and synthetic material to combat erosion. He added that if a Katrina-size storm struck this season, rebuilt earthen levees would be at risk of washing away in some spots.

Melancon listened as officials from coastal areas lamented that Congress had yet to show backing for billions of dollars of additional money that would be needed to restore eroding coastal wetlands and barrier islands as well as to build new flood gates and backup levee rings that would give residents and private investors confidence to rebuild old communities that have been nearly wiped off the map by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Melancon apologetically echoed their concerns.

"Some members of Congress can't seem to understand that place that people of south Louisiana have lost included all the memories of their families and ancestors and everything they ever possessed," he said.

He said his fellow members of Congress and citizens nationwide should imagine they left their homes for a long weekend, with only a few personal items, and returned to find their houses had burned to the ground. "Now multiply that times 168,000, then you might grasp the magnitude just of Louisiana's problem," Melancon said.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said she would urge Congress to reset priorities and help Louisiana get the money and technical expertise needed to improve its flood defenses.

"We must do it. There is no excuse. We're not living in the 1800s or the 1900s. We're living in the 21st century," she said. "We can protect this community."

Meanwhile, state officials told the committee they were disheartened by a delay in the release of the Corps report outlining recommendations for future storm protection projects.

Sidney Coffee, executive assistant to the governor for coastal activities, said the White House should not have pulled the draft report to edit out certain proposals before its release to Congress expected on Monday.

"We have to give citizens choices based on science and technology, then set policies based on that," Coffee said. "We cannot set policies and then base a technical report on that."

Coffee said she was told by the Bush administration that recommendations removed from consideration included closing the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet — a shipping channel that acted as a funnel for storm surge during Katrina — and the construction of an outer levee east of the city.

Melancon asked the Corps to provide him with a copy of the unedited report and said after the briefing that he was confident he would get one to share with his colleagues.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Gulf Ship LLC buys land in Gulfport for shipyard

7/7/2006, 8:21 a.m. CT
The Associated Press

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — Gulf Ship L-L-C has closed the deal on the remaining six acres it sought for its operations in the Bernard Bayou Industrial District in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Gulf Ship is a subsidiary of Edison Chouest Offshore, a Galliano, Louisiana, company started in 1960. The company announced earlier this year it would build supply-and-support vehicles for offshore-drilling operations on 31-point-two acres at the industrial park.

The company had bought 25-point-two acres earlier this year, and yesterday, the Harrison County Development Commission approved the sale of the remaining six acres the company was seeking.

Gulf Ship will also lease another ten-point-eight acres on the seaway waterfront.

The company is paying 327,000-500-dollars for the final six acres, which lies just to the east of its current site. It will use it as a staging area for supplies as it builds facilities, and eventually intends to expand it.

The company says it will spend 55 million dollars on the project.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Mobile mayor names veteran officer to head police department

7/7/2006, 7:46 a.m. CT
The Associated Press

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A veteran Mobile police officer will be named the city's new police chief today.

According to an article in today's Press-Register newspaper, Mayor Sam Jones has selected Major Phillip Garrett, the commander of the Community Services Division. Garrett, who is 55, is a 33-year veteran of the department.

He was among five candidates for the post that included interim Chief Lester Hargrove. The Mobile City Council must ratify the mayor's choice.

Jones is scheduled to make a formal announcement today.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Overfishing among threats to Gulf of Mexico's coastal ecosystems

7/7/2006, 6:29 a.m. CT
The Associated Press

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — For years, (m) millions of people have traveled to summer retreats along the Gulf of Mexico, with many ultimately putting down roots on the coast.

But a problem of the population boom is overfishing in Gulf waters. That's endangered marine ecosystems and fisheries that are the source of multi (m) million-dollar recreation and fishing industries.

Officials say efforts to rebuild the populations are under way, but many environmentalists accuse the government of lax enforcement of regulations meant to protect against overfishing.

Chris Dorsett of Austin, Texas, is director of Gulf of Mexico Fish Conservation for The Ocean Conservancy. He says fishery managers in the Gulf and elsewhere have ignored the law and allowed unsustainable fishing for many important fish.

Four Gulf species are still described as being overfished -- greater amberjack, red grouper, red snapper and vermilion snapper. The goal is to end overfishing for red grouper this year, red snapper by 2009 or 2010 and vermilion snapper by 2007.

[beachbum_al]

How prepared are local families and homes for a hurricane?
Last Update: 7/7/2006 9:58:11 PM

(CODEN, Ala.) Jul. 7 - What steps have you taken to get ready for a possible hurricane?

Not many? You're not alone.

A new study finds homeowners on the Alabama-Mississippi coast have taken only 58 percent of the steps necessary to prepare for a major hurricane. Among them: reviewing insurance policies and developing a family disaster plan.

Your state lawmakers, however, are taking steps to improve your safety. But will their efforts make a difference during this hurricane season?

As re-building from the rubble of last year's brutal hurricane season continues, could a single set of building codes applied all across Alabama help prevent these losses in years to come?

A new commission appointed by Alabama's legislature is working to create a uniform statewide code that would apply to construction projects anywhere in the state., in some areas upgrading standards in order to potentially bring down the level of future storm damage.

Cities and counties throughout Alabama could adopt even stricter codes than the state's, if they chose, but not accept weaker standards. Mobile and Baldwin counties, for example, have already adopted stricter standards for its new construction since Hurricane Katrina last year.

When the state's new Code Commission meets later this month in Montgomery, it plans to look at how other states are creating, and enforcing, their building codes.

But the 12-member committee has many other issues to tackle, such as who would inspect all new construction projects state-wide, and how enforcing a state-wide building code would be funded.

These are questions that in all likelihood will not be answered until well after the end of this this current hurricane season, and the completion of current construction project. The Code Commission's report to the legislature is not due until February of next year.

The Baldwin County Commission has already approved new codes that require buildings to withstand different wind gusts. If you live on Ono Island or near Fort Morgan: your home or business must be able to take 140-mile per hour winds. In the area of Baldwin County south of Interstate 10, it's 130 miles per hour. If you live between I-10 and I-65, your structure must withstand 120-mile per hour winds. And anywhere north of I-65, it drops to 110-miles per hour.

Here is the link
http://www.wpmi.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=1D93DE55-639B-4C6E-97E6-9022B9F08CBB

[Audrey2Katrina]

Corps misses second deadline

17th Street drainage plan being revised

Saturday, July 08, 2006 TP/NOLA.com
By Sheila Grissett
East Jefferson bureau

The new floodgates and pumps in the 17th Street Canal won't be functional by Sunday as the Army Corps of Engineers had predicted, and the corps says it can't set a new target date until key players in the project weigh in next week on the agency's latest plan to increase drainage capacity at the site.

The delay means the corps has missed its second target -- the first was June 1 -- for one of the most important public works projects it has undertaken since Hurricane Katrina toppled floodwalls in the 17th Street Canal and other inland waterways, leading to catastrophic flooding in the New Orleans area.

"The July 9 date was an optimistic estimate based on the best information we had at the time," Jim St. Germain, a corps specialist helping design and oversee pumping projects in the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue and London Avenue canals, said Friday. "Now we have current information . . . and an updated plan to increase capacity. But we won't have the new schedule until our contractor and pump supplier tells us how long it will take them to do what we're asking them to do."

The corps has come under intense criticism for failing to meet its initial goal of having functional floodgates and minimal pumping capacity available at the London Avenue and 17th Street canals by the start of the 2006 hurricane season. In early June, it reset its first target to July 9, and now it will move the goal again. St. Germain wouldn't venture a guess as to what the new date will be.

The updated schedule will be based on the corps' latest plan to add more pumps in the 17th Street Canal, which holds stormwater from a 10,000-acre basin that will be at higher risk for rainfall flooding when floodgates are closed against tropical storm surge.


Modify existing deal

The plan calls for installing two more pumps at ground level on the east side of the canal and 23 portable pumps on the raised deck of the massive floodgate structure, St. Germain said.

The process being used to add the new pumps involves modifying the existing contract that Boh Brothers construction holds to build the entire floodgate structure and install its pumping system. The modifications will let Boh acquire pumps directly from suppliers instead of going through the corps' advertising and bid process, St. Germain said.

"It will be a realistic date, but it will still be everyone's best estimate," he said. "This is a project being designed -- and redesigned -- as we go along, and the contractor is doing a fabulous job. I know the public gets frustrated, but this is something that has never been built before, and nothing about it is easy."

Congress funded construction of the multimillion-dollar floodgates in late December to keep storm surges out of the canals and reduce pressure on their suspect floodwalls. As it stands now, the corps won't allow more than 5 feet of surge into the 17th Street Canal. If a tropical system threatens before the floodgates and the corps' pumps are operable, sheetpile will be used to block surge at the Old Hammond Highway bridge.

The London and Orleans canals are in better shape. There, St. Germain said, the gates already can be closed and the temporary pumps operated if tropical weather threatens.


Pump up the volume

At the Orleans Canal, which carries substantially less water than the London and 17th canals, the corps already can match the pumping capacity normally provided by the Orleans Sewerage & Water Board: 2,200 cubic feet per second of water moving out of the canal around the closed gates and into Lake Pontchartrain.

At London Avenue, however, the temporary pumping capacity is only 2,800 cfs, a significant decline from the 8,000 cfs that S&WB pumps can provide when all are operational. Corps officials have said they will try to supplement that figure with portable pumps.,

An even greater loss of capacity is occurring at 17th Street, where the S&WB's Pump Station No. 6, located along Orpheum Avenue, can move water at the rate of 10,000 cfs when all of its giant pumps are operating. That won't happen when the floodgates are closed because city pumps will only be allowed to move the volume of water that the smaller corps pumps downstream can handle. To do otherwise risks further damaging the floodwalls or even the pumps.

The corps had previously estimated that its gates would be functional by Sunday and that there would be pumps in operation to provide 1,400 cfs of capacity, but that isn't happening. Instead, residents in the drainage basin must continue for the immediate future to rely on portable pumps to provide about 1,000 cfs of capacity if the canal must be closed against a storm surge.

The pumps currently are stationed along the north side of the Old Hammond Highway bridge, where heavy-duty sheetpiling is in place to close off the canal if necessary until the gate and their first pumps are available.


Adding more capacity

Once the gates are ready for business, corps officials have said, six new pumps now being installed on the west side of the canal will be able to provide 1,400 cfs of capacity during closings.

Another six pumps on the east side will provide another 1,400 cfs at some point, but those aren't yet installed.

The corps new plan, the one now being examined by Boh Brothers and the pump supply company, calls for adding another two pumps on the east side for another 450 cfs, and 23 portable pumps on the floodgate deck capable of adding another 1,000 cfs.

Previously, the corps had planned to station a gargantuan crane on the floodgate deck to lower the gates against a surge this season, a temporary measure that will be discarded once hydraulically powered winches are added before the start of next storm season.

The deck will instead be used to house portable pumps that can't be placed on the ground because the site is too constricted. Instead, one or two cranes will be stationed on the ground alongside the canal. Part of the contract modification includes building braces along the top of the deck to hold the 23 diesel engines required to power the pumps.

Cranes will remain on the ground to raise and lower the gates

In addition, St. Germain said, engineers are designing for four more temporary pumps on the canal's west side to add another 900 cfs to the mix, but that will come in a later contract modification when the plan is complete.

In all, the corps has plans for pumps that total 5,150 cfs for this storm season, which ends Nov. 30. But just how much of capacity will be provided at any one time -- and whether it will be online during the height of the season from mid-August until late September -- remains a mystery for now.

[Audrey2Katrina]

After Katrina, Gulf Coast building codes getting stricter

7/8/2006, 2:07 p.m. CT
By GARRY MITCHELL
The Associated Press

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Scenes of buildings crumbled by Hurricane Katrina's fierce winds and surging waves have been spotlighted as examples of poor construction and lax building codes on the Gulf Coast.

The push for stricter codes actually started in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew but accelerated last year from many directions, including the insurance industry, mortgage bankers, government agencies and some builders.

An Alabama commission created by the Legislature has begun work on a statewide building code aimed at reducing future storm damage. Louisiana and Mississippi have also made some code upgrades.

State Fire Marshal Ed Paulk, chairman of the Alabama Building Code Study Commission, said the state already has some statewide codes, but they are administered by different agencies, including the state Health Department, the Alabama Building Commission or the Fire Marshal's Office.

Paulk said the 12-member commission's goal is to have one set of codes used by everybody.

Cities and counties could have stricter codes, but not weaker than the statewide code, he said. Coastal counties, for example, could require construction able to withstand higher winds than required by Montgomery or Birmingham.

Issues of enforcing a statewide code and paying for it remain unsettled. Another question: Are there enough engineers to work with thousands of homebuilders on any mandatory residential changes?

Large cities have building departments with staffers who go out and inspect construction projects, Paulk said, but rural areas may not have those inspectors or lack codes at all.

Federal officials have urged states and local agencies to adopt and enforce building standards and model codes for hurricanes — and to make changes in building practices.

A report last month by the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) pointed to roof failures, damages from wind-blown gravel, failures of electrical equipment and masonry walls during Katrina.

"It is very important to have building departments both at the state and local level adequately qualified and staffed to adopt and enforce the building codes," Dr. Shyam Sunder, acting director of NIST's Building and Fire Research Laboratory in Gaithersburg, Md., said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Sunder said after Andrew hit south Florida there was a "significant step up" in building codes "and also research that feeds into those requirements in terms of building codes."

Now the insurance and mortgage banking industries have joined others in pressing for stricter building codes because of Katrina's destruction mainly in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Louisiana has adopted a statewide code since Katrina struck Aug. 29. It goes into effect next year. Mississippi required stricter codes for five of its coastal counties and any municipalities in those counties — Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone counties — making the changes optional for the rest of the state.

Mississippi's new 26-member Building Codes Council holds its first meeting Monday.

The Alabama commission is looking at the International Building Code and NFPA Life Safety Code to determine what is appropriate for the state.

"We're for a statewide building code under the right circumstance," said Russell Davis, vice president of the Home Builders Association of Alabama, which has 11,000 members and has a representative on the Code Study Commission. "What we're not for is one driven by manufacturers for their own industry-specific purpose."

Home builders are concerned that manufacturers could attempt to inject requirements for certain products in a statewide code.

But Davis said builders are aware there's a momentum for a statewide code after Katrina. On the coast, Mobile and Baldwin counties imposed stricter building codes after the hurricane.

The Baldwin County Commission approved new codes that require buildings to withstand different wind gusts: 140 mph at Ono Island and Fort Morgan on the gulf coast; 130 mph from Interstate 10 south; 120 mph from I-10 to I-65 and 110 mph north of I-65.

For its report due in February, the state's Code Commission, which meets July 25 in Montgomery, will survey other states to determine the types of statewide building codes and enforcement systems that work.

It also will survey laws of other states and jurisdictions, including professional standards of care for architects, engineers, fabricators, contractors, and builders, regarding minimal construction standards.

In its post-Katrina inspections in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, NIST found many roofing failures resulted from an inadequate number of fasteners being used in installation or fasteners being incorrectly located.

NIST, which does not issue codes, recommended that state and local governments consider licensing of roofing contractors, educating them and conducting field inspections of roofs under construction.

Some masonry walls failed because walls were improperly anchored and reinforced, NIST says.

The report also covered the performance of bridges, parking garages, moored casino barges, portable classrooms and mobile homes.

On the Net:

The NIST report, Performance of Physical Structures in Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita: A Reconnaissance Report is available at http://www.bfrl.nist.gov

[Audrey2Katrina]

Donated vehicles returned amid outcry

But key questions remain answered

Saturday, July 08, 2006 TP/NOLA.com
By Gordon Russell
Staff writer

Facing a public outcry, former New Orleans City Councilwoman Renee Gill Pratt issued a statement Friday saying she has given back four new trucks and sport utility vehicles that had been donated to the city after the storm and that she, in turn, steered to two nonprofit groups to which she has close ties -- one of which now employs her.

That group, Care Unlimited, had granted Gill Pratt use of one of the two cars, a 2006 Dodge Durango that she had been using as a member of the council since September, when the cars were donated to the city by DaimlerChrysler AG as part of a Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

In her statement, which came a day after the head of the FBI's local office announced an investigation into the matter, Gill Pratt said she was returning the cars not because she did anything wrong but because she hoped to quell the furor over her use of them.

"I decided to return the four vehicles even though I broke no laws or violated any ethical considerations," her statement read in part. "The vehicles seem to have become the center of a controversy. The best way to resolve that controversy was to return all four vehicles to the city. I hope my actions today bring this matter to a close."

Speaking on background, a federal law enforcement source said the return of the cars would not have any effect on the outcome of a criminal probe announced Thursday by Jim Bernazzani, special agent in charge of the FBI's New Orleans field office.

Gill Pratt's statement also pointed out that the vehicles were transferred only after City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields drew up cooperative endeavor agreements between the city and the nonprofits, which Mayor Ray Nagin signed. Gill Pratt merely "recommended" the charities, the statement said.

Former City Councilman Eddie Sapir, who led the majority faction on the council that included Gill Pratt and often tangled with the mayor during the past four years, made a similar point in an "open letter" sent Friday to Nagin and City Council President Oliver Thomas. Sapir's letter said that council members lack the authority to donate vehicles, and that Nagin was actually responsible for the donations.

"The only way this could be done is through a cooperative endeavor agreement prepared by the city attorney and signed by the mayor," Sapir said in an interview. "I'm sure the mayor was briefed by his people about these nonprofits," adding that each agreement contained several paragraphs describing the good works of each nonprofit.

Sapir was the only council member other than Gill Pratt to have gotten the mayor to sign a cooperative endeavor agreement with a charity he selected. One of the two cars in Sapir's control was to have gone to Friends of NORD, whose executive director, Nancy Broadhurst, is married to lawyer and Sapir confidant Bill Broadhurst.

"He signed something saying why he, as chief executive officer, thought these nonprofits were worthy," Sapir said of Nagin. "Signatures are more than mere ornaments. I wouldn't expect him to sign anything unless he thought it was good."


Charitable works

The return of the cars by Gill Pratt came a day after the City Council passed a resolution directing Moses-Fields, whose office prepared the cooperative endeavor agreements, to investigate the donations and prepare a report for the council.

The same day, the three members of the council who were re-elected in May and thus had had use of the donated vehicles after the storm -- Thomas, Cynthia Hedge-Morrell and Cynthia Willard-Lewis -- announced they had dropped off their vehicles at the city's equipment yard in eastern New Orleans. Gill Pratt said she brought her cars to the same location Friday.

Gill Pratt's statement danced around a key question in the controversy: why council members were under the mistaken impression that they should give the cars to charities of their choosing.

A spokesman for DaimlerChrysler this week said the company was unequivocal in its instructions that the vehicles were for the use of public agencies such as police and fire departments to replace cars lost to Katrina. Those directions, the spokesman said, were given verbally and in writing to Gill Pratt, who signed for the cars on behalf of the city.

But council members somehow wound up believing that the carmaker wanted the vehicles to go to charity. As Gill Pratt put it in her statement Friday: "Council members understood that the vehicles were to be used by community nonprofits who were engaged in cleanup and recovery efforts."


Mysterious memo

Interviews with current and former council members shed little light on how council members came to that understanding.

Former Councilman Jay Batt said he was told that the cars "were to be used for hurricane relief." He doesn't recall who told him that. He said he sought to give his two cars to "quasi-public" nonprofits, the Audubon Nature Institute and the Lakeview Crime Prevention District, because "it was the right thing to do" and because it made the donation process simpler.

Hedge-Morrell said there was a "memo" explaining that the cars would eventually go to charities designated by council members, but she couldn't recall who drew it up. She said the word also went out verbally around the time the cars came in.

"But I honestly don't remember who told me," she said.

Sapir said word that the cars should go to nonprofits came from aides to Gill Pratt and former Councilwoman Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson. Clarkson, he said, had gotten that word from aides to Reps. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, and Bobby Jindal, R-Kenner.

Clarkson seconded Sapir's account, saying that she contacted both congressional offices to find out what to do with the cars.

But Trey Williams, a Jindal spokesman, said Jindal's office wouldn't have said that.

"She didn't hear that from us," he said. "Our understanding was that the vehicles would be put in the fleets (of affected cities and parishes) to replace vehicles that had been lost in the storm."

While Williams' account is impossible to prove, it appears that the 35 vehicles that were doled out to cities and parishes by Jindal's office all remain in public hands, as per the carmaker's request.

None of the cars Jindal's office handled came to New Orleans. The 16 cars that wound up in the hands of the City Council were allotted by Jefferson, Gill Pratt's political mentor and former boss. Four others that Jefferson handled were sent to municipalities in Jefferson Parish.


Longtime patron

Jefferson designated Gill Pratt the point person to sign for the vehicles on the city's behalf. She was given four of the cars, while each of the other council members were assigned two.

Gill Pratt was the only council member to successfully transfer any vehicles to a private nonprofit, though several council members designated charities to receive their cars.

A Jefferson spokeswoman said the congressman played no role in determining that the cars should go to nonprofits, though the charities that Gill Pratt selected have close ties to the Jefferson family.

Two of the four vehicles in her control went to Care Unlimited, which wound up hiring her. The organization was founded by Bennie Jefferson, a brother of the congressman. Jefferson's sister, Brenda Foster, is also a member, according to state records.

The other two trucks went to Orleans Metropolitan Housing, a nonprofit whose president is Mose Jefferson, a close friend of Gill Pratt's and a brother of William Jefferson. Mose Jefferson was allowed use of one of the donated trucks.

Well before the transfers, Gill Pratt had very close relationships with both groups, steering millions of dollars of taxpayer money to each during her dozen years in the Legislature.

The vehicles were transferred to the two groups April 19, days before a primary election in which Gill Pratt faced stiff opposition. A month later, Gill Pratt lost her re-election bid and was hired by Care Unlimited.

Tire tracks

It was unclear Friday how many of the 16 vehicles originally allotted to council members were back in the city's possession.

Late Friday, Nagin spokesman Terry Davis released a written statement that shed little new light on the matter.

"The following information related to the donation of motor vehicles has been established," the statement said. "Six vehicles had been returned and are currently housed at the City of New Orleans Equipment Maintenance Division. Four vehicles had been transferred to other municipalities (in Jefferson Parish) in accordance with the policies and procedures of the city of New Orleans."

Davis would not answer questions about which specific cars had been returned. As a result, it was impossible to determine which of the 10 vehicles that Gill Pratt, Hedge-Morrell, Willard-Lewis and Thomas once controlled, and claimed to have given back, were still at large, or whether the disparity owed to confusion in the Nagin administration.

Thomas and Willard-Lewis could not be reached for comment.

Hedge-Morrell said Friday that the two cars allotted to her office had been parked at City Hall in recent months but were dropped off at the city's equipment maintenance division Thursday. They were used occasionally by members of her staff when running errands in the districts, she said, but much of the time, they went unused.

"We were really wanting to pass them along to some organization that really needed them, like the Council on Aging or the Pontchartrain Park Senior Center," she said. "But we were waiting for the city attorney to tell us how to do it.

"The only bad thing about all this is that it was a really generous offer from the Chrysler people at a time of need," she said. "It's a shame that that's overshadowed now by other concerns. I can tell you these cars were sorely needed."

[Audrey2Katrina]

EDITORIAL: Put it in park

Saturday, July 08, 2006 Times Picayune Editorial/NOLA.com

Maybe Renee Gill Pratt does have a sense of shame. The former New Orleans City Council member turned in the keys Friday to a Dodge Durango that was donated post-Katrina for use by police, fire or other public agencies but instead made its way to her driveway.

Ms. Gill Pratt, who was defeated by voters this spring, says that she hopes the return of the Durango and three other donated vehicles under her control will be the end of this controversy.

She shouldn't count on that.

The FBI is looking into how Ms. Gill Pratt handled four of the 20 cars DaimlerChrysler donated to the city after Hurricane Katrina. FBI special agent Jim Bernazzani said that his office is gathering facts and that the public should not read too much into that. "Being incredibly selfish is not a criminal act unto itself," he said.

Ms. Gill Pratt certainly is guilty of selfishness. With police, fire and other city agencies struggling to replace ruined vehicles post-Katrina, she made the red Durango her own during her last months in office. Then just before the primary election in April, she donated the cars to two nonprofits with ties to herself and to the family of U.S. Rep. Bill Jefferson, her political mentor. By some amazing coincidence, one of the nonprofits hired her after she left office -- and handed the Durango back to her. Mose Jefferson, the congressman's brother and a close friend of Ms. Gill Pratt, ended up with one of the other cars.

The cozy arrangement came to public attention Sunday in a Times-Picayune story, and the public was not amused. As so many other elected officials have since Katrina, Ms. Gill Pratt failed to understand that residents are fed up with the shenanigans of greedy political insiders.

She owes the people of New Orleans an apology, and she owes the city some sort of compensation for the miles she put on the Durango.

Ms. Gill Pratt is not the only City Council member who has some explaining to do. Every council member who had possession of DaimlerChrysler cars should account for how they were used -- and do so in detail. Some of the other 16 cars also went to nonprofits, despite DaimlerChrysler's express wishes for that not to happen. Other vehicles seem to have been at the disposal of council members or their staff for the past eight months, although it is unclear to what extent they were used.

City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields is supposed to look into the transfers and report her findings to the council, but her office handled them to begin with. That hardly seems like the best way to unravel this mess.

Many of the donated cars may have been used for the good of the community and not the self-interest of a politician. But at this point, it is hard to tell which ones are which.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Sheriff's remarks called 'overtly racist'

Strain says he's just trying to find suspects

Saturday, July 08, 2006 TP/NOLA.com
By Paul Rioux
St. Tammany bureau

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain's statements about the suspects in a recent quadruple murder near Slidell amount to racial profiling that broadly paints Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans as "thugs" and "trash," the American Civil Liberties Union said in an open letter to the sheriff.

Strain countered that the ACLU is distorting his comments, which he said were intended to warn St. Tammany residents about early signs of post-Katrina "spillover crime" from New Orleans.

The dispute centers on a TV interview Strain gave after four people were shot June 27 near Slidell, allegedly in a botched drug deal in which the two suspects were identified as young black men, one with dreadlocks and one with a "chee wee" hairstyle.

In an interview broadcast on WDSU-TV, Strain said, "I don't want to get into calling people names, but if you're going to walk the streets of St. Tammany Parish with dreadlocks and chee wee hairstyles, then you can expect to be getting a visit from a sheriff's deputy."

In a letter dated Wednesday, the Louisiana office of the ACLU called on Strain to retract the statement, saying that targeting people based on hairstyles commonly worn by African-Americans is "overtly racist" and a civil rights violation.

"Sheriff Strain, surely we do not have to tell you that it is lawful to walk the street, and it is further lawful to wear one's hair any way deemed appropriate," ACLU attorney Katie Schwartzmann said in the letter.

The ACLU said it has received complaints from Nazarene Christians, who "wear dreadlocks as a religious requirement" and are afraid to step outside their St. Tammany homes for fear of being arrested.

In a letter sent Thursday to the ACLU and made public by the sheriff Friday, Strain said it's basic police work to stop and question anyone who matches the description of a murder suspect.

"If someone matching that description has committed no wrongdoing, they have nothing to fear," Strain said in the letter. "No one, regardless of their ethnic or religious background, should be afraid to walk the streets of St. Tammany."

Although the ACLU's two-page letter began by admonishing Strain for "statements regarding your intent to arrest persons with dreadlocks and 'chee wee' hairstyles," Schwartzmann acknowledged in an interview Friday that clips of Strain's interview on WDSU's Web site contain no statements about arresting people based on their hairstyles.

"Saying you will get a visit from a sheriff's deputy is somewhat open to interpretation and doesn't necessarily mean the person will be arrested," she said. "But even detaining citizens for questioning is covered by constitutional rights to due process and equal protection."

Strain declined to be interviewed for this story but issued the following written statement: "Through a narrow and distorted interpretation of our efforts, some have chosen to politicize an issue that is, at its very heart, not political. Our obligation to protect the public's safety knows no color, race or creed."

The ACLU's letter accused Strain of engaging in racial profiling of Katrina evacuees from New Orleans.

"Your comments routinely equate 'trash' and 'thugs' with 'evacuees' and 'public housing residents.' It is neither fair nor accurate to intimate that all New Orleans evacuees are thugs and criminals," the letter said.

Schwartzmann said she was referring to a segment of the interview in which Strain talks about the influx of residents from New Orleans public housing complexes that were destroyed by Katrina.

"I don't want to see temporary housing because of Katrina turn into long-term housing for a bunch of thugs and trash that don't need to be in St. Tammany Parish," Strain said in the taped interview.

Strain has previously said his comments were intended as a "wake-up call" to alert St. Tammany residents about possible "spillover crime" from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Capt. George Bonnett said the ACLU's letter ignores the fact that Strain's comments were made in the context of a quadruple murder investigation.

"All of Sheriff Strain's statements about hairstyles concerned trying to catch whoever committed these murders," Bonnett said. "He has never said anything remotely like, 'Everyone from area X is a thug.' That's a generalization someone else is making."

In his letter to the ACLU, Strain said that in his 22-year career as a law enforcement officer, he has never been accused of a civil rights violation, and that in his 10 years as sheriff, the Sheriff's Office has never been found guilty of such a violation.

Schwartzmann said ACLU officials plan to meet with local NAACP leaders to discuss their concerns.

[Audrey2Katrina]

SHINE ON, DOME

'Largest roof job in American history' to leave the Superdome with a new, gleaming white hurricane-proof top by month's end

Saturday, July 08, 2006 TP/NOLA.com
By Jeff Duncan
Staff writer
The New Orleans skyline will start to look more familiar in the next couple of weeks.

For the first time since Hurricane Katrina tore open its roof more than 10 months ago, the Superdome will sport the smooth, white top that locals have grown accustomed to seeing against the downtown skyline.

Workers are expected to begin applying the final coats of urethane sealant this week, said Tom Keller, project manager for Brazos Urethane of College Station, Texas, the company that's replacing the roof.

If all goes well, the stadium's roof will be gleaming white by the end of the month, completing what contractors and Dome officials are calling the largest roof job in American construction history.

Workers will spray the roof with five coats of urethane paint two gray base coats topped by three layers of white. Each coat takes three days to apply, Keller said. When finished, the entire five-coat application will be about as thick as a nickel.

Thanks to an extended drought in May and June, Keller's crews were able to finish the most labor-intensive part of the job on June 30, when they replaced the final piece of metal decking on the 9.7-acre expanse. Before the recent spate of rain, crews missed only six workdays because of inclement weather, Keller said.


Beating target date


In all, 10,463 pieces of galvanized 16-gauge fluted metal decking were mounted on the 270-foot-high roof. Each piece of deck was coated with a 2.5-inch-thick layer of polyurethane foam. Approximately 500,000 gallons of foam was used to cover the entire surface area.

With the bulk of the job complete, Keller has reduced his crew from a high of 125 workers to fewer than 40. Weather permitting, he expects to finish the job by the end of the month, well ahead of the original Sept. 1 target date.

"It's gone about as well as can be expected," Keller said. "The (good) weather has been a big factor. But I don't want to take anything away from my guys, because they have kicked butt."

At one time, officials considered painting the roof an alternative color to symbolize the post-Katrina recovery of the city, but, on the advice of architects, they eventually settled on the traditional white.

Doug Thornton, regional vice president of SMG, the company that manages the Dome, said the white roof was the most aesthetically pleasing contrast to the building's gold aluminum skin. He said there also was concern that a darker color might absorb more heat and create higher utility bills.

Tradition was a factor as well.

"There's just something about that white roof in the New Orleans skyline," he said. "As one contractor said, 'When they renovated the Statue of Liberty they didn't change anything about the color.' "


Hurricane-resistant


Keller said the new roof will be able to withstand the most intense hurricanes Mother Nature has to offer. He said the surface is guaranteed to hold firm against all levels of hurricane-force winds, unlike the previous version, which sustained damage to more than 70 percent of its surface from Katrina.

"Category 3, 4, 5, it doesn't matter to us," he said. "We're extremely confident this roof is going to stay on."

The roof replacement is the most conspicuous of several ongoing construction components of the 18-month, $185.4 million Superdome reconstruction project. Its final price tag of $32 million is thought to be the most expensive for a roof replacement in the country.

"This is Mount Everest," Keller said. "Just like you can't compare any other mountains to Mount Everest, you can't compare any other roofs to the Superdome. As far as we can tell, this is the largest reroofing, redecking job ever. It's unprecedented."

The Superdome is expected to be "football ready" by the New Orleans Saints' first home game Sept. 25, with some interior work to the luxury suites and club room areas scheduled to continue through August 2007.


Workers apply urethane to the Superdome's roof which is expected to be complete by the end of July.

[Audrey2Katrina]

ST. BERNARD PARISH POLITICS:

2 officials' homes on demolish list

Parish needs updates on progress of repairs

Saturday, July 08, 2006 TP/NOLA.com
By Karen Turni Bazile
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau

When the St. Bernard Parish Council voted Thursday to notify owners of 7,833 homes their property was officially considered blighted and could be considered for demolition, the list included the home of one council member and the council clerk.


Councilman Mark Madary said he personally gutted his house on Perrin Drive in Arabi, has a new roof and is starting electrical work, which should be on file in the parish permit office.

Council Clerk Polly Boudreaux said her family, friends and the Hilltop Baptist group of volunteers gutted her house on Florida Avenue in Meraux. It too has a new roof and has been soda blasted for mold.

Oops.

But Mike Hunnicutt, the director of the Office of Community Development, said although both Madary and Boudreaux are cleaning and rebuilding their houses, the list is not wrong.

"Although we may not have inspected these properties, this list was devised from people who did not contact the parish by the May 31 deadline" to let officials know whether they intended to rebuild or demolish their homes.

People unsure of their long-term plans must clean and secure their properties by a council-imposed deadline of Aug. 29 or face penalties and possible demolition.

Owners of property on the blighted list should visit or call Hunnicutt's office as soon as possible to address the matter.

Many, like Boudreaux and Madary, may have been doing a lot of work themselves and their progress apparently didn't reach the right office in parish government. Hunnicutt said 200 to 250 people called his office Friday -- the day after the list was made public.

"Nobody was removed from the list," Hunnicutt said Friday. "We informed them of what we are doing."

Owners of properties on the list must come to the office, document ownership and work being done on the property to be removed from the list.

The list is supposed to include properties whose owners have not asked the parish to remove debris, gut or demolish their homes, and haven't applied for building permits to start repairs.

Owners of most of the parish's 45,000 commercial and residential structures have already indicated their plans for their properties, officials said.

The list of blighted properties is on http://www.nola.com and also will be posted on the parish Web site at http://www.sbpg.net. The list also is available in Hunnicutt's office, will be published in the parish journal and posted at the courthouse.

For more information, call Hunnicutt's office at (504) 278-4301 or (504) 278-4307.


. . . . . . .


FLOOD INSURANCE UPDATE: A town meeting with representatives from the National Flood Insurance Program will be held July 15 at 10 a.m. in the St. Bernard Parish Council trailer at 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette, Hunnicutt said.

He said a recent meeting about rebuilding issues regarding flood insurance was well attended, but Parish Council members asked Hunnicutt to organize one on the weekend so more residents could attend.

Parish officials and representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency also are expected to attend, Hunnicutt said.


. . . . . . .


RELIEF MEETINGS PLANNED: The St. Bernard Parish Long Term Recovery Committee meets regularly to discuss the recovery needs of parish residents. The group consists of various nonprofit and faith-based groups working within the parish, including the American Red Cross, the United Way, Catholic Charities and Southern Baptists and United Methodist groups.

Its chairwoman, Lisa Smith, said the group is inviting all civic groups in St. Bernard to attend to organize relief efforts.

The committee, overseen by the FEMA, meets on the first and third Thursday of each month from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church Rectory, 2320 Paris Road, Chalmette.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Second lawsuit blasts east N.O. landfill

Nagin abused power, plaintiffs contend

Saturday, July 08, 2006 TP/NOLA.com
By Gordon Russell

A second lawsuit challenging a controversial new landfill in eastern New Orleans was filed in Civil District Court on Friday, this one alleging that Mayor Ray Nagin abused his emergency authority in granting a zoning waiver to the landfill's operators.

The suit asks a judge to yank the landfill's permit and to prevent Nagin from renewing an emergency order temporarily suspending the city's comprehensive zoning ordinance, which expires Aug. 14. That order allowed the landfill to open.

A previous suit against the Chef Menteur landfill, which was unsuccessful, asked a federal judge in late April to reject the Army Corps of Engineers' granting of an emergency federal water permit to the landfill's operators, Waste Management of Louisiana.


Since then, the operation of the landfill has continued mostly uninterrupted, save for a short shutdown requested by Nagin just before the May 20 runoff election. But controversy has continued to swirl around the site, with leaders of the nearby Village de l'Est community and environmentalists saying they fear the landfill will contaminate and stigmatize their neighborhood.

A series of meetings between landfill critics and supporters -- including city officials, state regulators and the operators -- has yielded little fruit. Requests from the opponents that they be allowed to test the material in the landfill have so far been rejected; meanwhile, proponents say recent tests of nearby air and water prove that the landfill is "not toxic."

The new challenge to the Chef Menteur site focuses mainly on the political process rather than science, alleging that the mayor does not have the authority under the city charter to circumvent the City Council's purview over land-use matters, even during an emergency. One of the two lawyers for the plaintiffs is Walter Willard, a brother of City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis, who represents the area and is a vocal opponent of the landfill.

The suit comes less than two weeks after members of the council sent Nagin a letter asking to discuss whether it's time to end the 10-month-old state of emergency that gives Nagin the authority to suspend some normal city laws and regulations.

The plaintiffs in the suit include four residents of eastern New Orleans, among them a nun and former state Rep. Sherman Copelin.

The suit alleges that Nagin's executive order "bypassed the legislative powers of the City Council" in violation of the city charter. It claims Nagin cannot use his emergency authority to suspend the charter, which "requires the council to vote on zoning issues."

Along with those procedural questions, the suit says Nagin failed to back up claims that a new landfill in New Orleans was needed, and it claims that "viable and reasonable alternatives" are available to dispose of debris in the area.

Last week, the Sierra Club announced its intent to sue in federal court to attempt to force the closure of another eastern New Orleans dumping site, the Old Gentilly landfill. As with the Chef Menteur landfill, state regulators fast-tracked a permit for Old Gentilly in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, citing an urgent need for landfill space.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Hundreds of trees to be felled on levee battures

7/8/2006, 4:36 p.m. CT
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hundreds of trees near New Orleans-area levees will be cut down this summer to avoid the chance that a tropical storm might uproot them, tearing up the levees.

The first, including every tree between the lakefront levee and Lake Pontchartrain itself in Jefferson Parish, are in Kenner and Metairie.

Contractors will leave stumps about 4 1/2 feet tall, which will be removed in late fall, after hurricane season.

"A hurricane's power could uproot these trees. The roots would rip away the grass and pull up the soil. This would expose a hole that could be enlarged by the waves," said Col. Richard Wagenaar, commander of the U.S. Army Corps or Engineers' New Orleans district.

More than two thirds of the 360 trees to be cut along the East Jefferson lakefront — a designated bird sanctuary — are hackberries, which are a major source of food and shelter for birds and beneficial insects. But hackberries fall relatively easily in a storm, said corps landscape architect Stephen Finnegan.

Others, including two dozen or so trees along the main levee in New Orleans south of Lakeshore Drive, are live oaks and pines.

But in at least two cases, investigators have suggested that trees uprooted during Katrina contributed to floodwall breaches that triggered catastrophic flooding in the area.

Most of the trees in the first round are on public property near the edge of the lake — part of a long slope designed to slow storm surges and reduce their ability to damage or destroy the earthen levee, corps engineers said.

Another contract will cover about 25 trees along the New Orleans lakefront, where they are growing on both the water and land sides of the levees.

The process will get more complicated when it is time to remove trees growing on private property along the London and Orleans Avenue canals and the east side of the 17th Street Canal in Lakeview.

"There's never anything easy when you deal with an issue such as this one, and the proximity of private property makes it much more difficult," Finnegan said.