In spite of City's Council's previous decision to quash Nagin's plan to purchase the Chevron Building and relocate City Hall....he's doing it anyway.
How? By tapping a 200 million dollar fund called the Revolver Fund.
The Revolver Fund was set up by the state as seed money for insurance financed or FEMA financed repairs. The 200 million dollar fund was directed toward the city with the understanding that at the end of the recovery the money could be added to the $411 million dollar DCDBG funds, bringing it up to a total of 612 million. The money was meant to speed the recovery process and it is essentially a reimbursement process with FEMA. The city must actually execute and pay for repairs, then they are reimbursed by FEMA.
Now, the problem with that equation is that any money spent under the Revolver system must meet FEMA requirements for spending. If you recall in my previous post, the FEMA requirements state the the money can't be used for new development....they can only be used for repairs of exising infrastructure.
Here's the problem....Nagin is trying to pass the purchase of the Chevron building off as a repair project and pay for it with Revolver money. That's bullshit. It's not a repair project, its clearly a new development and once he spends city cash for the building the city will eventually...inevitably....be denied by FEMA in its attempt to tap the Revolver Fund.
Aside from just blatantly defying the decision of City Council, Nagin is putting us on the hook for untold millions. I say untold because he has already claimed that $14 million of the $29 Million Mahalia Jackson Theater repair cost was to be funded under the Revolver...it will most certainly be denied by FEMA. And I suspect he's about to do the same thing for untold millions with the Municipal Auditorium deal.
Folks...this is insanity....Nagin is spending down money we don't have. He's just gone apeshit and he's paying out everyone he can before he leaves office.
Unfortunately, the Chevron purchase won't have to come back before the council for approval because they don't have dominion over the Revolver Fund. However, council can introduce a new ordinance to forbid the purchase. The problem is they will need 5 votes to override Nagin's impending veto.
Now is the time to raise hell. Call your councilperson and demand they pass an ordinance to stop this purchase....and amend the 2009 budget to stop the allocation of monies which Nagin wrongly listed as "encumbered " with the D-CDBG funds.
He is not only pissing on city services, he's about to leave us with a multimillion dollar dump....and when I say multimillion I mean possibly 200 million or more.
The scary thing is that we don't really have a good tally of what's already been designated under the Revolver.
Call your councilperson....call your mominem.....scream bloody murder......sit oustide City Hall and throw rotten eggs at people. This is the last chance we have to stop him from completely devastating this city before he leaves office.
Councilman James Carter 658-1030 jcarter@cityofno.com
Council President Jackie Clarkson 658-1070 jbclarkson@cityofno.com
Councilman Arnie Fielkow 658-1060 afielkow@cityofno.com
Councilwoman Shelley Midura 658-1010 smidura@cityofno.com
Councilwoman Stacy Head 658-1020 shead@cityofno.com
Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell 658-1040 chmorrell@cityofno.com
Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis 658-1050 cwlewis@cityofno.com
ht: Civitch
Update: Check out Eli's post here.
And this amazes me. Channel 6 is conducting a survey on "Should The City of New Orleans Resume Efforts to Purchase The Chevron Building?". That's not the real issue, the issue is we don't have money to purchase it and we're about to misappropriate funds to do it. Nagin is gambling that FEMA is going to accept the expenditure under the "improved project" contingency...no he's actually not gambling because he doesn't care if they accept it or not, he's just going to spend out everything he can before he leaves office and stick the next administration with the bill. Even if we purchase the building, we don't have the money to renovate it.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
The 2009 Sneaky Snake Countdown
Today I got caught up in the year end countdown craze and decided...what the hell, I'm not above this.
So after much thought, I have put together a 2009 countdown of the sneakiest snakes in the New Orleans Metro area....also known as the Lettenman Top 10 Countdown...except there are 13...plus an honorable mention...so you figure it out.
Alright so this thing goes in ascending order from the least sneaky to the most sneaky as ordained by a panel of 1....but that one is a snake god.
Here we go:
Slithering in at number 13 comes former New Orleans School Board Member, Ellenese "Asp" Brooks-Simms.
The asp is most commonly associated with the suicide of Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt. After being told of her lover, Mark Antony's, demise, Cleopatra committed suicide by allowing the asp to bite her breast.
Ellenese became entangled with Mose Jefferson on a kickback scheme in which she endorsed a multi-million dollar software package he was peddling in exchange for cold hard cash, 140k to be exact. Ellenese testified, "I understood I would be rewarded for any influence I had and my vote." .
She later provided critical testimony in the federal trial of Mose resulting in his conviction on two counts of bribery and two counts of obstruction of justice.
In a shocking courtroom twist, Mose claimed the money was not a bribe but a gift he had given to Ellenese, seeing how he was her secret Mark Antony. The jury didn't buy it, and the word is the allegation was nothing more than a last ditch effort to discredit the witness.
Ellenese should have known better than to dance with Mose, hence her self inflicted wound earns her the Asp title and the #13 spot.
The #12 spot goes to the master of camouflage, the rarely photographed, Mark "Asian Coral Snake" St. Pierre.
While the Asian Coral Snake's bite can be potentially deadly, it has a very small mouth and tends to stay well hidden, thereby posing only a small threat to the community.
St. Pierre was indicted on over 63 counts along with former City CTO, Greg Meffert, and his wife, Linda, including conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, false statements, and filing false tax returns to boot.
While Meffert publicly spouted his innocence and even bared his fangs at the Times Picayune, St. Pierre wisely stayed hidden in the background...choosing stealth over bravado.
Well played, sir.
A desert climate serving as his preferred habitat, namely Texas, our # 11 entry goes to former Home Solutions of America, CEO, Frank "Western Diamondback" Fradella.
While Fradella was never actually a public figure, he certainly reaped the rewards of the Katrina recovery efforts, receiving numerous city contracts from Mayor Ray Nagin .
As it turns out, those Katrina contracts from the city may have been the only real contracts HSOA actually had. After stock holders and market analysts became suspicious that HSOA was cooking the books, the SEC launched a formal investigation and agreed with those analysts in the form of an indictment. Fradella was charged with accounting fraud in November.
HSOA has since been dissolved and its good assets and contracts moved into a new disaster capitalist company called Associated Contractors, headed by Aaron Bennett, another businessman favored by the Nagin administration in the post-K environment.
Frank earns the Western Diamondback title for his unique ability to mesmerize his prey by shaking his tail, then coming back to bite them in the ass. Not only was he a textbook example of a Naomi Klein disaster capitalist, he was a pump and dump master.
Edging out Fradella for the #10 spot is former Louisiana State Senator, Derrick "Pit Viper" Shepherd from Marrero.
A night prowler, pit vipers attack viciously if cornered. When Shepherd was queried by federal investigators if he had any knowledge of illicit activity by fellow public servants Ray Nagin, Karen Carter Peterson, and former Congressman Bill Jefferson, Derrick lashed out, "Hell no!"
As luck would have it, Sheperd, himself, was guilty of money laundering and pleaded guilty to the charges back in October of 08 (yeah I know it's not 09 but I didn't do an 08 countdown so deal with it).
At # 9, the strange case of the two headed snake known as the Mefferts.
While only one head of this chimera showed itself in the public spotlight (and man did it love to show itself) it turns out there was more than one brain behind this serpent. Greg and Linda Meffert were indicted along with Mark St. Pierre with over 63 federal counts (refer above).
The graft originated while Greg was serving as the former CTO of the city . His transgressions were well documented on this blog if you care to dig back through the catacombs. I personally don't care to wade back through that morass, but suffice to say it came as a shock to most folks when his wife, Linda, was indicted along with him...a second head...my goodness!
The first and loudest head, Greg, just couldn't seem to keep his tongue retracted and went so far as to put himself on the stand (hence on the record) for over 8 hours in the highly publicized civil suit over the city's crime cameras. He then went on to threaten a libel lawsuit against the Times Picayune for destroying his good name.... a few days later the U.S. Attorney's office grabbed the two headed snake by the tail.
If its possible for Greg to surgically separate himself from Linda, it would be the noble and wise thing to do.
It should be noted that all three conspirators, St. Pierre, Greg and Linda have pleaded innocent of the charges.
Nesting at #8, is the one, the only, Ray "Puff Adder" Nagin.
The puff adder is characterized as a rather sluggish snake, which doesn't move very fast, if at all. If threatened the puff adder will swell up like a balloon and hiss wildly...with no hesitation to strike.
While Ray Nagin has not been indicted on any charges to date, it is worth noting that he is at the center of multiple scandals, including 3 of the other items mentioned in this list. While it may be presumptuous to list Ray Ray in the 09 countdown, I choose to go ahead and do it because....well just because I want to. However I will refrain from speculating as to what tribulations may lie ahead for our mayor. Nuff said.
Proceeding without caution at #7, we recklessly cross the Causeway and come face to face with Eddie "Cottonmouth" Price.
Why Cottonmouth? Because that's what you wake up with after a night of hard drinking...and I'm guessing Eddie knows the feeling well. In fact, the former Mandeville mayor was ordered by a judge to "stay away from the bottle" as a condition of his bail after being indicted and pleading guilty to multiple charges including taking trips from contractors, illegal use of campaign funds to pay gambling debts, and I think perjury (not sure).
Eddie earns the number 7 spot because the truth is...there's no telling what all he was up to.
Even more outrageous than Price's litany of public office abuses, was the reaction of the citizens of St. Tammany when the allegations first began to surface. There was a swell of support for Price which continued in spite of the mounting transgressions...I think there is probably still a strong residue of loyalty even now that he pleaded guilty.
The scandal provided an interesting snapshot into the psyche of the Tamminites who have always been quick to throw stones across the pond and yell at those of us who live in this "cesspool of corruption" called New Orleans.
In light of the Price debacle, I would suggest the North Shore peeps take a look at their own reflection in the surface of Pontchartrain before they stand on the shore and piss on Orleanians.
At #6, with arms extended....enter Bill "Sidewinder" Hubbard.
The sidewinder moves in an outstretched manner. While its movement seems cumbersome, it's actually a very fast snake. So was Bill Hubbard.
Even though St. John the Baptist parish isn't the exact economic center of Southeast Louisiana, Hubbard played fast and hard in his domain and with his cohorts in other parishes. While Bill pleaded guilty to bribery charges in September, the rumor is he may have lots to talk about in the current investigation taking place in Jefferson Parish.
The squeeze begins at #5 with Tim "Python" Whitmer.
The python, being a constrictor, is known for squeezing its prey before spreading its mouth to extraordinary proportions and digesting as much as it possibly can. In fact, sometimes the python swallows so much it can rip itself apart...seems to be the case with former Jefferson Parish CAO, Tim Whitmer.
After it was recently discovered that his private insurance agency, Lagniappe Industries (nice), received a very lucrative contract with the West Jefferson Medical Center, the fed actually got off the stump with Jeff Parish and started investigating.
It was soon discovered that not only was Whitmer making a killing off the West Jeff MC deal, Lagniappe also handles the voluntary disability insurance plans for Kenner employees....and...and....his CAO position provides him with a 190k a year salary....and wait for it.....after he retires he gets a 171k annual pension for life! Jesus...this guy is making Goldman Sachs execs. look good.
How much can one snake digest?
The word is, this investigation is going to get much larger and perhaps lead directly to.....our next slithering constrictor.....
#4....dare I say it....Jefferson Parish President, Aaron "Anaconda" Broussard.
Ok, so just like Nagin, Broussard hasn't been charged with anything or, as yet, mentioned as a target of a federal investigation. So I will tread lightly here.
But just the other day we found out that the Anaconda squeezed thousands of dollars in Xmas gifts out of his underling elves. One of those elves sent an interseting email to Broussard's assistant which stated, "I apologize today at lunch by trying to speak to you about Aaron's Christmas Gift. For some reasons I did not get an e-mail or letter...I will be on the East Bank tomorrow morning and will drop off my donation to you at the Yenni Building."
Donation? Did he say donation? hmmmmm...in 2010, I think Broussard may just take the top spot in this countdown.
Surfacing at #3, comes former Sewerage & Water Board member, Benjamin "Sea Snake" Edwards.
Spending almost all of its time submerged, the sea snake is uniquely adapted for survival. While it boasts the most lethal venom of any snake on the planet, it has a docile temperament and tends to keep to itself...thereby ensuring a very long life.
Ben Edwards held his seat on the S & WB for over two decades and was the prolific comesee for anyone wanting to grab a contract with the entity. Way back in 2001, the Gambit sounded the warning bell that Edwards was bad news...he just slithered away and survived for another 8 years carrying on business as usual.
But even spending $270,000 dollars on Ray Nagin's 2006 mayoral bid couldn't keep him from eventually getting nailed. Edwards was indicted this month on 33 counts including wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and extortion.
This snake had legs, but the Rev. eventually came face to face with his demons.
At #2 comes a serpent with an even longer reach than Ben E....none other than Bill "Mamba" Jefferson.
The mamba is one of the deadliest snakes in the world and stylish to boot. It can raise itself up to enormous heights, mesmerize it's prey, then strike before you know what hit you.
Former Congressman Bill Jefferson was one of the greatest success stories of the state of Louisiana. He pulled himself up from a life of poverty and oppression to serve as the U.S. Representative in the second district of the Gret Stet for 19 years. Of course there's no telling how much cash Dollar Bill skimmed along the way, but he was finally convicted this year of bribery charges and sentenced to 13 years in the pokie.
No need for me to do a character profile of Bill, but Clancy has a pretty good requiem here. As prolific and tragic a character as Bill is, I don't think he compares to the number one spot in the 09 Sneaky Snake Countdown....his brother...
#1....Mose "King Cobra" Jefferson.
Why Mose, you ask? Because for every scam Bill had running, Mose had two. Mose practically wrote the book on non-profit scams and his trial and conviction didn't even touch the surface of his rackets through the years.
I think the Jefferson brother's story is the next great American novel....a new "All the Kings' Men" if you will. I don't know who's gonna write it, but I would suggest they resist the temptation to focus on Bill and instead focus on Mose.
There you go, the top 13 Sneaky Snakes of 2009.
Oh wait....I have one honorable mention.
The Ourobus award for 2009 goes to former New Orleans City Councilperson, Renee Gill-Pratt, who was indicted this year under Rico.
Renee gets the Ourobus award because she really didn't know when to shut up. Hence the snake eating it's own tail.
When Gordon Russell asked her about how she obtained a Dodge Durango which was a Post-K donation to the city by DiamlerChrysler, she replied, "But sometimes God puts things in places for you. It just happened. It wasn't something that was planned intentionally."
The truth was, as a city councilperson, she gave two of the vehicles to a non-profit she and Mose were running called Care Unlimited. The non-profit then gave it back to her. Nice.
Apparently she thought she was God...or maybe she thought Mose was God.
All right. That's it. I'm done....really...I'm done.
So after much thought, I have put together a 2009 countdown of the sneakiest snakes in the New Orleans Metro area....also known as the Lettenman Top 10 Countdown...except there are 13...plus an honorable mention...so you figure it out.
Alright so this thing goes in ascending order from the least sneaky to the most sneaky as ordained by a panel of 1....but that one is a snake god.
Here we go:
Slithering in at number 13 comes former New Orleans School Board Member, Ellenese "Asp" Brooks-Simms.
The asp is most commonly associated with the suicide of Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt. After being told of her lover, Mark Antony's, demise, Cleopatra committed suicide by allowing the asp to bite her breast.
Ellenese became entangled with Mose Jefferson on a kickback scheme in which she endorsed a multi-million dollar software package he was peddling in exchange for cold hard cash, 140k to be exact. Ellenese testified, "I understood I would be rewarded for any influence I had and my vote." .
She later provided critical testimony in the federal trial of Mose resulting in his conviction on two counts of bribery and two counts of obstruction of justice.
In a shocking courtroom twist, Mose claimed the money was not a bribe but a gift he had given to Ellenese, seeing how he was her secret Mark Antony. The jury didn't buy it, and the word is the allegation was nothing more than a last ditch effort to discredit the witness.
Ellenese should have known better than to dance with Mose, hence her self inflicted wound earns her the Asp title and the #13 spot.
The #12 spot goes to the master of camouflage, the rarely photographed, Mark "Asian Coral Snake" St. Pierre.
While the Asian Coral Snake's bite can be potentially deadly, it has a very small mouth and tends to stay well hidden, thereby posing only a small threat to the community.
St. Pierre was indicted on over 63 counts along with former City CTO, Greg Meffert, and his wife, Linda, including conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, false statements, and filing false tax returns to boot.
While Meffert publicly spouted his innocence and even bared his fangs at the Times Picayune, St. Pierre wisely stayed hidden in the background...choosing stealth over bravado.
Well played, sir.
A desert climate serving as his preferred habitat, namely Texas, our # 11 entry goes to former Home Solutions of America, CEO, Frank "Western Diamondback" Fradella.
While Fradella was never actually a public figure, he certainly reaped the rewards of the Katrina recovery efforts, receiving numerous city contracts from Mayor Ray Nagin .
As it turns out, those Katrina contracts from the city may have been the only real contracts HSOA actually had. After stock holders and market analysts became suspicious that HSOA was cooking the books, the SEC launched a formal investigation and agreed with those analysts in the form of an indictment. Fradella was charged with accounting fraud in November.
HSOA has since been dissolved and its good assets and contracts moved into a new disaster capitalist company called Associated Contractors, headed by Aaron Bennett, another businessman favored by the Nagin administration in the post-K environment.
Frank earns the Western Diamondback title for his unique ability to mesmerize his prey by shaking his tail, then coming back to bite them in the ass. Not only was he a textbook example of a Naomi Klein disaster capitalist, he was a pump and dump master.
Edging out Fradella for the #10 spot is former Louisiana State Senator, Derrick "Pit Viper" Shepherd from Marrero.
A night prowler, pit vipers attack viciously if cornered. When Shepherd was queried by federal investigators if he had any knowledge of illicit activity by fellow public servants Ray Nagin, Karen Carter Peterson, and former Congressman Bill Jefferson, Derrick lashed out, "Hell no!"
As luck would have it, Sheperd, himself, was guilty of money laundering and pleaded guilty to the charges back in October of 08 (yeah I know it's not 09 but I didn't do an 08 countdown so deal with it).
At # 9, the strange case of the two headed snake known as the Mefferts.
While only one head of this chimera showed itself in the public spotlight (and man did it love to show itself) it turns out there was more than one brain behind this serpent. Greg and Linda Meffert were indicted along with Mark St. Pierre with over 63 federal counts (refer above).
The graft originated while Greg was serving as the former CTO of the city . His transgressions were well documented on this blog if you care to dig back through the catacombs. I personally don't care to wade back through that morass, but suffice to say it came as a shock to most folks when his wife, Linda, was indicted along with him...a second head...my goodness!
The first and loudest head, Greg, just couldn't seem to keep his tongue retracted and went so far as to put himself on the stand (hence on the record) for over 8 hours in the highly publicized civil suit over the city's crime cameras. He then went on to threaten a libel lawsuit against the Times Picayune for destroying his good name.... a few days later the U.S. Attorney's office grabbed the two headed snake by the tail.
If its possible for Greg to surgically separate himself from Linda, it would be the noble and wise thing to do.
It should be noted that all three conspirators, St. Pierre, Greg and Linda have pleaded innocent of the charges.
Nesting at #8, is the one, the only, Ray "Puff Adder" Nagin.
The puff adder is characterized as a rather sluggish snake, which doesn't move very fast, if at all. If threatened the puff adder will swell up like a balloon and hiss wildly...with no hesitation to strike.
While Ray Nagin has not been indicted on any charges to date, it is worth noting that he is at the center of multiple scandals, including 3 of the other items mentioned in this list. While it may be presumptuous to list Ray Ray in the 09 countdown, I choose to go ahead and do it because....well just because I want to. However I will refrain from speculating as to what tribulations may lie ahead for our mayor. Nuff said.
Proceeding without caution at #7, we recklessly cross the Causeway and come face to face with Eddie "Cottonmouth" Price.
Why Cottonmouth? Because that's what you wake up with after a night of hard drinking...and I'm guessing Eddie knows the feeling well. In fact, the former Mandeville mayor was ordered by a judge to "stay away from the bottle" as a condition of his bail after being indicted and pleading guilty to multiple charges including taking trips from contractors, illegal use of campaign funds to pay gambling debts, and I think perjury (not sure).
Eddie earns the number 7 spot because the truth is...there's no telling what all he was up to.
Even more outrageous than Price's litany of public office abuses, was the reaction of the citizens of St. Tammany when the allegations first began to surface. There was a swell of support for Price which continued in spite of the mounting transgressions...I think there is probably still a strong residue of loyalty even now that he pleaded guilty.
The scandal provided an interesting snapshot into the psyche of the Tamminites who have always been quick to throw stones across the pond and yell at those of us who live in this "cesspool of corruption" called New Orleans.
In light of the Price debacle, I would suggest the North Shore peeps take a look at their own reflection in the surface of Pontchartrain before they stand on the shore and piss on Orleanians.
At #6, with arms extended....enter Bill "Sidewinder" Hubbard.
The sidewinder moves in an outstretched manner. While its movement seems cumbersome, it's actually a very fast snake. So was Bill Hubbard.
Even though St. John the Baptist parish isn't the exact economic center of Southeast Louisiana, Hubbard played fast and hard in his domain and with his cohorts in other parishes. While Bill pleaded guilty to bribery charges in September, the rumor is he may have lots to talk about in the current investigation taking place in Jefferson Parish.
The squeeze begins at #5 with Tim "Python" Whitmer.
The python, being a constrictor, is known for squeezing its prey before spreading its mouth to extraordinary proportions and digesting as much as it possibly can. In fact, sometimes the python swallows so much it can rip itself apart...seems to be the case with former Jefferson Parish CAO, Tim Whitmer.
After it was recently discovered that his private insurance agency, Lagniappe Industries (nice), received a very lucrative contract with the West Jefferson Medical Center, the fed actually got off the stump with Jeff Parish and started investigating.
It was soon discovered that not only was Whitmer making a killing off the West Jeff MC deal, Lagniappe also handles the voluntary disability insurance plans for Kenner employees....and...and....his CAO position provides him with a 190k a year salary....and wait for it.....after he retires he gets a 171k annual pension for life! Jesus...this guy is making Goldman Sachs execs. look good.
How much can one snake digest?
The word is, this investigation is going to get much larger and perhaps lead directly to.....our next slithering constrictor.....
#4....dare I say it....Jefferson Parish President, Aaron "Anaconda" Broussard.
Ok, so just like Nagin, Broussard hasn't been charged with anything or, as yet, mentioned as a target of a federal investigation. So I will tread lightly here.
But just the other day we found out that the Anaconda squeezed thousands of dollars in Xmas gifts out of his underling elves. One of those elves sent an interseting email to Broussard's assistant which stated, "I apologize today at lunch by trying to speak to you about Aaron's Christmas Gift. For some reasons I did not get an e-mail or letter...I will be on the East Bank tomorrow morning and will drop off my donation to you at the Yenni Building."
Donation? Did he say donation? hmmmmm...in 2010, I think Broussard may just take the top spot in this countdown.
Surfacing at #3, comes former Sewerage & Water Board member, Benjamin "Sea Snake" Edwards.
Spending almost all of its time submerged, the sea snake is uniquely adapted for survival. While it boasts the most lethal venom of any snake on the planet, it has a docile temperament and tends to keep to itself...thereby ensuring a very long life.
Ben Edwards held his seat on the S & WB for over two decades and was the prolific comesee for anyone wanting to grab a contract with the entity. Way back in 2001, the Gambit sounded the warning bell that Edwards was bad news...he just slithered away and survived for another 8 years carrying on business as usual.
But even spending $270,000 dollars on Ray Nagin's 2006 mayoral bid couldn't keep him from eventually getting nailed. Edwards was indicted this month on 33 counts including wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and extortion.
This snake had legs, but the Rev. eventually came face to face with his demons.
At #2 comes a serpent with an even longer reach than Ben E....none other than Bill "Mamba" Jefferson.
The mamba is one of the deadliest snakes in the world and stylish to boot. It can raise itself up to enormous heights, mesmerize it's prey, then strike before you know what hit you.
Former Congressman Bill Jefferson was one of the greatest success stories of the state of Louisiana. He pulled himself up from a life of poverty and oppression to serve as the U.S. Representative in the second district of the Gret Stet for 19 years. Of course there's no telling how much cash Dollar Bill skimmed along the way, but he was finally convicted this year of bribery charges and sentenced to 13 years in the pokie.
No need for me to do a character profile of Bill, but Clancy has a pretty good requiem here. As prolific and tragic a character as Bill is, I don't think he compares to the number one spot in the 09 Sneaky Snake Countdown....his brother...
#1....Mose "King Cobra" Jefferson.
Why Mose, you ask? Because for every scam Bill had running, Mose had two. Mose practically wrote the book on non-profit scams and his trial and conviction didn't even touch the surface of his rackets through the years.
I think the Jefferson brother's story is the next great American novel....a new "All the Kings' Men" if you will. I don't know who's gonna write it, but I would suggest they resist the temptation to focus on Bill and instead focus on Mose.
There you go, the top 13 Sneaky Snakes of 2009.
Oh wait....I have one honorable mention.
The Ourobus award for 2009 goes to former New Orleans City Councilperson, Renee Gill-Pratt, who was indicted this year under Rico.
Renee gets the Ourobus award because she really didn't know when to shut up. Hence the snake eating it's own tail.
When Gordon Russell asked her about how she obtained a Dodge Durango which was a Post-K donation to the city by DiamlerChrysler, she replied, "But sometimes God puts things in places for you. It just happened. It wasn't something that was planned intentionally."
The truth was, as a city councilperson, she gave two of the vehicles to a non-profit she and Mose were running called Care Unlimited. The non-profit then gave it back to her. Nice.
Apparently she thought she was God...or maybe she thought Mose was God.
All right. That's it. I'm done....really...I'm done.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Dr. Triplet responds
In a previous post, I questioned the claim a WWL reporter made that Dr. Vera Triplet agrees with Ray Nagin's sentiments about our upcoming elections:
"I just think having...the number of candidates in the race...is gonna split the vote...whether you're talking white, black, hispanic, whatever....and we as a community need to consolidate around one candidate."
Dr. Triplet (I'm assuming it is really her) was kind enough to clarify the matter:
"I just think having...the number of candidates in the race...is gonna split the vote...whether you're talking white, black, hispanic, whatever....and we as a community need to consolidate around one candidate."
Dr. Triplet (I'm assuming it is really her) was kind enough to clarify the matter:
-
I am Vera Triplett and I can tell you that the only portion of Ray Nagin's comments I agreed with was that the shear number of candidates require increased engagement by all New Orleanians. I'm sure the entire uncut interview would make clear where I stand.
Happy Holidays!!!!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
So that's why...
...so many hits were coming into the blog for Infinity Surety.
Insurance Department sues Metairie bond firm
Some background:
American Zombie: Infinitely Unsure
American Zombie: Hey, watch me pull a company out of my hat!!!
American Zombie: Would the real airport contractor please stand up?
American Zombie: A Bone to Picke
Insurance Department sues Metairie bond firm
Some background:
American Zombie: Infinitely Unsure
American Zombie: Hey, watch me pull a company out of my hat!!!
American Zombie: Would the real airport contractor please stand up?
American Zombie: A Bone to Picke
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
A Call to Attention
I stated in a previous post that the last few months in an administration’s tenure are usually when the most shenanigans occur.
Here, I offer my thesis.
I’ve done some digging into what may be going on behind the scenes at City Hall and I have some grave concerns I’d like to share with you regarding the remaining LRA funds and how they are being allocated and distributed.
Here is that budget as presented to City Council in November.
This is going to be a long, complicated post, but I ask you to please bear with me as this issue has enormous consequences for our city and the future mayoral administration who will take the reigns from Nagin and crew.
Overview
Let me first start with a diagram on how the LRA funds were originally set up and the flow in which they are distributed down to the city.
(You can click on any of the images in this post to blow them up)
Now from that point, let’s take a look at the diagram of the city of New Orleans hierarchy and how we structured ourselves in order to obtain and utilize those funds.So this flow chart (in terms of money) is still flowing down but you may want to look at the following diagram from the bottom up in respect to how it affects you as a citizen of New Orleans:
To summarize, between 2005-2006, the citizens of New Orleans created various recovery plans, including the Unified New Orleans Plan.
In 2007, the City’s newly created Office of Recovery Management then consolidated these various plans into an official government disaster recovery plan, known as the Citywide Strategic Recovery and Redevelopment Plan (CSSRP), which was approved by City Council in June 2007 (MOTION-07-271). From there, the City submitted the CSSRP to the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) to receive federal recovery funds to implement projects based on CSSRP.
· Recreation Facilities
· Community Facilities
· City Roads and Infrastructure
· Libraries
· Economic Development & Job Programs
· Blight Reduction, Home Ownership Assistance, & Neighborhood Recovery
· Soil Assessment & Remediation and Hazard Reduction
Overall, the City was awarded nearly $411 million in funds from LRA based on presenting the CSRRP in 2007. This funding from LRA is actually federal “community development block grant” money from HUD that was given to LRA to distribute. The City refers to this funding as “disaster – community development block grant” money or (D-CDBG).
The $411 million in D-CDBG that was awarded to the City was not transferred to the City as one lump sum. The LRA set up a process requiring the City to submit applications to the LRA for specific projects that would use a portion of the D-CDBG that is reserved for the City. Each project application must show how the proposed project relates to one or more of the priority categories in the CSRRP and those projects must satisfy the HUD rules that apply to using the D-CDBG.
What that diagram doesn’t explain very well is the check and balance system, or lack thereof, which was set up between the Executive Branch and City Council. City Council actually has little oversight on the actual items proposed by ORDA/Nagin.
So, why does all of this matter ?
What needs to happen is that Council brings this back to a public forum and make Nagin show how this money is actually encumbered.
NAGINS CONTRACT SELECTION PROCESS MAY VIOLATE HUD RULES
When the Nagin Admin uses D-CDBG they have to follow HUD rules that apply to how contractors are selected to run programs or build projects that use that money.
In this case, it seems that the decision that Nagin made, by Executive Order earlier this year, that he, alone, would select professional service contracts just doesn't gel with HUD's rules for how local governments need to select bids for contracts in the acquistion of HUD money.
Once again refer to the HUD regulations
To recall, when Council wanted to make all contract selections subject to a new public meeting rule, the Mayor said, under the Charter, he alone has authority to select contracts and public meetings were neither desired or required.
Well, while that may be the case under the Charter, if the Mayor intends to use HUD funds to pay for the contracts, he needs an ego check. He needs to understand the he has to comply with HUD standards.
Back in May, the Nagin Administration reversed direction and announced in the Mayor’s State of the City Address that $20 million in D-CDBG that was intended to go to FANO would instead be used to run a city administered home rehabilitation grant program.
According to Faciane, that program was supposed to be running by October.
Here we are in December and the program is MIA. It wasn’t even a budget item for 2010.
Now I am not suggesting that New Orleans East and the surrounding areas don't need a hospital. It absolutely does...but this is 10% of the entire LRA budget and the money is just going for the land purchase.
The current understanding is that the Orleans Parish Hospital Service District will use the $40 million from the City to purchase the land from the current owners of Methodist Hospital.
First, there is no gaurantee that those owners will sell to the City as evident from the week's article in the TP.
Second, even after the Hospital Service District were to buy the land, it must still convince a developer to build a hospital.
While this is an imporant goal, the City Council should be doing its part to make sure that if for whatever reason the Hospital Service District does not purchase the land, then the $40 million in D-CDBG returns to the City so it can be used towards other important projects. (I'll touch on this later)
Council should demand that these items listed as encumbered be re-presented and explained.
Well, while that may be the case under the Charter, if the Mayor intends to use HUD funds to pay for the contracts, he must meet the standards required by HUD.
The result?
Had Nagin adopted Arnie Fielkow’s attempt to create a transparent contracting process last February, we would be meeting those requirements, but he didn’t want any part of that. As of now, there is no “scorecard” to determine how the contracts for the LRA money is being let, and that is just not going to fly with HUD or LRA. However, once the money is encumbered and receives City Hall approval….it’s taken out of play….watch out!
We have 411 million to help rebuild our city and after it is let by LRA its over….we’re on our own. If there was ever a time to ring the church bell....raise the red flag...call the ball, Mav….it’s now.
Here, I offer my thesis.
I’ve done some digging into what may be going on behind the scenes at City Hall and I have some grave concerns I’d like to share with you regarding the remaining LRA funds and how they are being allocated and distributed.
Here is that budget as presented to City Council in November.
This is going to be a long, complicated post, but I ask you to please bear with me as this issue has enormous consequences for our city and the future mayoral administration who will take the reigns from Nagin and crew.
Overview
Let me first start with a diagram on how the LRA funds were originally set up and the flow in which they are distributed down to the city.
(You can click on any of the images in this post to blow them up)
Now from that point, let’s take a look at the diagram of the city of New Orleans hierarchy and how we structured ourselves in order to obtain and utilize those funds.So this flow chart (in terms of money) is still flowing down but you may want to look at the following diagram from the bottom up in respect to how it affects you as a citizen of New Orleans:
To summarize, between 2005-2006, the citizens of New Orleans created various recovery plans, including the Unified New Orleans Plan.In 2007, the City’s newly created Office of Recovery Management then consolidated these various plans into an official government disaster recovery plan, known as the Citywide Strategic Recovery and Redevelopment Plan (CSSRP), which was approved by City Council in June 2007 (MOTION-07-271). From there, the City submitted the CSSRP to the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) to receive federal recovery funds to implement projects based on CSSRP.
Neither the City nor LRA required that any funding received from LRA could only be used towards specific projects referenced from citizen plans in CSRRP. However, any funds received from LRA based on the CSRRP had to be used towards one or more of the following priority categories:
· Recreation Facilities
· Community Facilities
· City Roads and Infrastructure
· Libraries
· Economic Development & Job Programs
· Blight Reduction, Home Ownership Assistance, & Neighborhood Recovery
· Soil Assessment & Remediation and Hazard Reduction
Overall, the City was awarded nearly $411 million in funds from LRA based on presenting the CSRRP in 2007. This funding from LRA is actually federal “community development block grant” money from HUD that was given to LRA to distribute. The City refers to this funding as “disaster – community development block grant” money or (D-CDBG).
The $411 million in D-CDBG that was awarded to the City was not transferred to the City as one lump sum. The LRA set up a process requiring the City to submit applications to the LRA for specific projects that would use a portion of the D-CDBG that is reserved for the City. Each project application must show how the proposed project relates to one or more of the priority categories in the CSRRP and those projects must satisfy the HUD rules that apply to using the D-CDBG.
What that diagram doesn’t explain very well is the check and balance system, or lack thereof, which was set up between the Executive Branch and City Council. City Council actually has little oversight on the actual items proposed by ORDA/Nagin.
Also, there are very specific requirements as to how this money can be distributed which came down from the initial federal entity, HUD. The money, from the top down, must be allocated to meet one of three initiatives:
- Eliminating or alleviating Poverty
- Eliminate Slum and Blight
- There is a pressing or “Urgent Need” for the funds. (This one is very ambiguous but also from what I understand it is incredibly difficult to pass the smell test. I say this because, surprisingly, this qualifier is not so important in our current discussion.)
So on top of these very general requirements, once the “projects” are designated, we must still meet very strict procurement requirements mandated by HUD per federal guidelines. For those requirements, I offer you this PowerPoint provided by HUD to explain their benchmarks for procurement:
So, why does all of this matter ?
Here’s the important thing about this $411 million in D-CDBG that was awarded to City – it’s the only funding that the City has directly received to implement citizen recovery plans.
FEMA funds can only be used to fix things owned by the City that were damaged by the Hurricanes. General revenue funds…well, there doesn’t seem to be enough of that to do basic governmental services, let alone recovery.
The D-CDBG is the only disaster-recovery related money that the City can create new things in our neighborhoods that did not exist before Katrina. And it’s the only disaster-recovery money that the City can in turn make available to homeowners and businesses to assist them in their recovery.
Since 2007, the City’s Office of Recovery and Development Administration ( ORDA, which is now known as the Office of Community Development, OCD) has been developing projects and programs to use the City’s $411 million in D-CDBG.
During the recent 2010 City Budget presentation, the City’s Office of Community Development listed 100 specific projects, programs, or planning studies that have been or are intended to be funded by D-CDBG. Aside from those, D-CDBG is also being used to fund certain staff and some remains in general categories, which I suppose is to be used for more specific projects at some point.
So, those 100 or so items are the “gist” of our recovery; at least what the City is attempting to do based on our citizen recovery plans.
Sure, there are hundreds or repair/replacement projects of streets and city buildings that are being done (or should be being done) using FEMA funds; but, remember, the D-CDBG is supposed to be money that creates the ideas of OUR (THE PEOPLE OF THIS CITY) plans and funding assistance. At least in part, this money should be available for property owners and businesses to receive.
The question I pose...or rather...I offer you the thesis of this post: “In the final stretch of Nagin’s tenure, is this administration spending OUR money in the way WE demanded that it be spent?”
D-CDBG FUNDS: CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT AND THOSE “PESKY” HUD REGULATIONS
Anytime the Mayor wants to use state or federal grant funds that are awarded to the City, the money must be presented and approved for use by the City Council. Once that’s done, the funding is officially part of the City budget, and the Administration can use it to implement its projects and programs.
Once Council has approved the use of D-CDBG in the City Budget, it's up to the LRA for final approval of any particular project or program. However, remember, there are several HUD regulations that have to be followed in the use of this money (more on that later).
When budgeting the $411 million in D-CDBG, the Nagin Administration must present the funds under one of two categories, “Operating” funds for the City’s Recovery Office or as “Capital” funds if the D-CDBG was being directed to a specific street or public building construction or planning project.
The difference between these two categories is a big deal. If presented as “Capital,” the Council can scrutinize each specific project and determine whether its worthy of D-CDBG or if the amount requested makes sense.
If the D-CDBG funds are presented as “Operating,” the Council can only approve the funding for general budget under categories that may consist of dozens of proposed projects or programs that...wait for it...do not have to be listed on the City Budget.
For example in the 2010 Budget, the Office of Community Development only used the following nine categories to propose to Council the use of over $331 million in D-CDBG:
Administrative - $5,099,714
Program Delivery - $17,088,090
Public Infrastructure Planning - $12,758,800
Housing Construction Financing - $37,500,000
Blight Reduction - $15,265,000
Healthy Communities - $12,000,000
Economic Development - $199,003,400
Business/Youth Technical Assistance - $1,000,000
Land Acquisition - $31,675,000
There are 41 projects and programs, along with funding for dozens of city employees under those categories.
Here's the thing, if the Council doesn’t ask what the funding under each category is for......the public might never know what the categories are and whether or not the project makes sense.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened when this latest budget was presented to the Council.
Before we look at these questionable items, I want to point out that the City is using the C-CDBG for some projects that are based on citizen recovery plans that seem valid and productive.
For example:
· Over $30 million to the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority to redevelop commercial blight in the City;
· $75 million to buy land for the new VA Hospital;
· $34 million to build the “Reinventing the Crescent” riverfront park;
· Over $80 million in funding for street repairs and rebuilding libraries, community centers, and parks
· Over $7 million to construct the “Lafitte Greenway” – a seven mile long bike/predestrian recreational area from City Park to the French Quarter.
However, aside from these projects that seem to be moving along, there are some items of concern that total nearly $200 million of our D-CDBG funding.
Between the first presentation of the 2010 City Budget in October and a follow-up presentation in November, the Nagin Administration removed over $40M from the Operating Budget for Office of Community Development (OCD) (former Recovery Office) saying those funds were already "encumbered."
That means, Council could not review the use of those funds or approve their use.
The problem is that the funds that Nagin claims are encumbered are attached to projects that LRA hasn't approved. How could he list them as encumbered if he doesn’t actually have that money?
On the list of D-CDBG projects presented by OCD in November, any allocation that was approved by LRA has an "ILTR" number next to it.
Well, the following unapproved allocations were removed from Council review despite not having final LRA approval:
What needs to happen is that Council brings this back to a public forum and make Nagin show how this money is actually encumbered.
NAGINS CONTRACT SELECTION PROCESS MAY VIOLATE HUD RULES
When the Nagin Admin uses D-CDBG they have to follow HUD rules that apply to how contractors are selected to run programs or build projects that use that money.
In this case, it seems that the decision that Nagin made, by Executive Order earlier this year, that he, alone, would select professional service contracts just doesn't gel with HUD's rules for how local governments need to select bids for contracts in the acquistion of HUD money.
Once again refer to the HUD regulations
To recall, when Council wanted to make all contract selections subject to a new public meeting rule, the Mayor said, under the Charter, he alone has authority to select contracts and public meetings were neither desired or required.
Well, while that may be the case under the Charter, if the Mayor intends to use HUD funds to pay for the contracts, he needs an ego check. He needs to understand the he has to comply with HUD standards.
That's kind of like telling your dad, "Screw your chores....I want my allowance."
The result? At least three projects and programs, totaling $39 million in D-CDBG, for which the Mayor selected contractors for, have been flagged by HUD and every indication is that they cannot move forward unless the Mayor re-bids the contracts and uses a competitive, transparent selection process.
Those projects include:
Fresh Food Retail Initiative ($7M)
Neighborhood Commercial Investment Program ($25M)
Lafitte Greenway Trail Design & Construction ($7M)
D-CDBG FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS BEING WASTED
The City is proposing $37.5 million in D-CDBG to be spent on "housing construction financing." Sounds like a good idea but how the City is actually using the money is another matter.
According to OCD, the City intends to spend D-CDBG on the following housing related items:
The $10 million for B.W. Cooper is one of the most recent projects that the City added to its D-CDBG funded list. It was not on the City’s list of D-CDBG funded recovery projects in August.
While redeveloping B.W. Cooper is the right move, how this project suddenly came to appear as a City “recovery” project is another story.
Apparently, the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) was supposed to be responsible for securing funding from HUD directly towards this project. However, HANO mishandled the application to receive these funds so badly that the City and LRA had to "plug" the funds for them to the tune of about $30 million.
So, the City’s sudden allocation of $10 million towards B.W. Cooper was done to help make up for another HANO blunder. Unfortunately this seems to be par for the course, as just last week an audit of HANO determined that the Agency is grossly mishandling federal Stimulus funding that was trusted to it.
While it is bad enough that the City has to shell out $10 million so HANO can save face; another issue is why didn’t the City just use a portion of the tens of millions in non-disaster HUD funds its receives directly from HUD each year rather than its one-time disaster recovery money. Curiously, they tapped the recovery money to cover that blunder.
Turns out that at first the City thought it had enough of its annual HUD funds to at least cover half of the $10 million it agreed to pay for B.W. Cooper but when OCD took a closer look at its books it realized that it had already obligated more of its annual HUD funds than it had available.
This apparent snafu lies with the department in OCD that is helmed by Anthony Faciane. Faciane directs the city department that is responsible for allocating the City’s annual allocation, which this year is nearly $70 million in HUD dollars.
This would not be the first time that the management of these funds under Faciane’s watch has been called into question. In the past three years alone, Faciane’s department has been linked with:
- The alleged misuse and ongoing federal investigation involving over $3 million in federal funds by the nonprofit New Orleans Affordable Homeownership Corporation
· The threatened withdrawal of $34 million in federal housing funds for lack of timely use.
The second intended use of D-CDBG for housing related activity is a “Loan Loss Reserve Fund.” According to the City, the intent is to use D-CDBG “to provide either direct construction financing and/or to mitigate risks in the form of loan loss reserves or
Finally, there seems to be a $17 million slush fund in D-CDBG disguised as housing construction financing.
In the OCD Operating budget, the City has allocated $27 million towards “Soft Second Mortgage Loans,” an amount which was approved by LRA and given the ILTR classification.
Back in May, the Nagin Administration reversed direction and announced in the Mayor’s State of the City Address that $20 million in D-CDBG that was intended to go to FANO would instead be used to run a city administered home rehabilitation grant program.
According to Faciane, that program was supposed to be running by October.
Here we are in December and the program is MIA. It wasn’t even a budget item for 2010.
So it begs the very serious question about what the Nagin administration intends to do with the $17 million in D-CDBG that is still characterized as going towards soft-second mortgages but is floating around somewhere in the Nagin aether.
The mishandling of annual and recovery funds that are intended for affordable housing is one of the great travesties of the Nagin Administration. The fact that we have $17 million hiding in plain sight without using it as promised is the stuff of legend.
He needs to be put in front of a tribunal for this, and at the very least he needs to explain it to City Council.
Now I am not suggesting that New Orleans East and the surrounding areas don't need a hospital. It absolutely does...but this is 10% of the entire LRA budget and the money is just going for the land purchase.
The current understanding is that the Orleans Parish Hospital Service District will use the $40 million from the City to purchase the land from the current owners of Methodist Hospital.
First, there is no gaurantee that those owners will sell to the City as evident from the week's article in the TP.
Second, even after the Hospital Service District were to buy the land, it must still convince a developer to build a hospital.
While this is an imporant goal, the City Council should be doing its part to make sure that if for whatever reason the Hospital Service District does not purchase the land, then the $40 million in D-CDBG returns to the City so it can be used towards other important projects. (I'll touch on this later)
Semantics
When looking at this budget you see that there is a total amount for each line item, then further down you will see an “Encumbered” category and under the status column you will also see the current status the project is in.
Under the first category, “Administrative”, you will see that $5,099,714 is budgeted for admin. costs, while only $775,000 is encumbered with the vendor (Hagerty) having already received $3,484,104 (I use this as an example of the graph).
When money is listed as “encumbered” that should mean it has not only been budgeted, but has received approval by the state…that means it’s locked up….a done deal. That approval is listed as the (ILTR - #####) code next to the project under the category section.
Now, in order for any of the projects to actually be approved by the state, and hence encumbered, we (the city) must meet the procurement standards set forth by the LRA per HUD. Have we actually met the standards on all of these line items to actually classify the line item funds as “encumbered”? After picking through the line items, I have some serious concerns about that..
Council should demand that these items listed as encumbered be re-presented and explained.
Are We Even Meeting the Standards?
When the Nagin Admin uses D-CDBG it has to follow HUD rules that apply to how contractors are selected to run programs or build projects that use that money.
In this case, it seems that the decision Nagin made by Executive Order earlier this year that "he alone would select professional service contracts" put him at odds with HUD rules.
A Summary of General Concerns
Concern #1: Are we using LRA funds to plug gaps in the City’s general budget?
Aside from the using the LRA funds to plug the Cooper and St. Thomas blunder detailed above, let’s also take a look at this line item under Blight Reduction:
Interim Nuisance Abatement is basically the City’s responsibility to clean up vacant lots and blighted property that has been abandoned. This is not a recovery effort, this is an annual city service that must be budgeted and paid for with city funds in the city’s general operating budget. That amount you see for $3 million dollars reportedly constitutes 90% of the entire INA budget.
We are plugging 90% of this city service with federal LRA funds....funds that don't exist next year.
I would also like to know where the money for this service in our annual operating budget is going or being redirected, or are we even correctly budgeting for this service at all?
This has to be addressed immediately by the next mayoral administration because once these LRA funds are let, we can’t rely on them to plug gaps anymore.
Concern #2 – Once the budget is approved by City Council, how do we know it won’t be shifted into other projects?
In regards to the mysterious 17 million dollars in the Soft Second program and the 3.5 million unaccounted for the Loan Loss Reserve Program…where is that money? Where is that money going to resurface?
Essentially, it seems City Council really doesn’t have that much authority over which projects are being chosen and now that they’ve approved the LRA budget based on general line items, the city has no way of preventing the Executive branch of shifting money into projects of their choice or even creating entirely new projects.
Concern #3 – Are the projects we’re spending the money on legitimate projects?
The Methodist Hospital Acquisition constitutes 10% of the overall budget. The land is in the East and once again, I’m not arguing that the East doesn’t need a hospital. The problem is that this 40 million dollars is simply for the land purchase…not for the development of a hospital.
As of right now, we don’t have a developer ready to pony up the extra 130 million to build the hospital even if we do purchase the land for 40 million…it’s a field of dreams and it constitutes 10% of the entire LRA budget.
This hospital is a hot button issue in the political arena and if you’ve seen John Georges recent TV ad, he avers that he will get both Charity and the Methodist Hospital opened. Well, that’s all well and good if he is going to be the one stepping up to the plate and putting up the extra 130 million dollars to develop the hospital after the land purchase, because right now they’re saying “it will have to come from somewhere.”
Everybody check under their sofa cushions.
Concern #4 – Are these funds listed in the budget really “encumbered”?
By listing these line items as encumbered, Nagin’s administration does not have to seek City Council approval for obtaining or spending the money.
So the administration has submitted this budget claiming all of these line items are encumbered but he has not received LRA approval for all of the items he’s listed as encumbered. Essentially he has taken this money out of play, and out of the realm of oversight by City Council.
Can he legally say all of these line items are encumbered if he doesn’t have LRA approval?
Having gone through the budget as it was presented to Council, there may be as much as 83 million dollars of the 411 million in questionably “encumbered” items. There is another 13 million in questionable allocations for projects which aren’t even being executed at the present such as the 4.5 million dollar Children’s Museum in City Park which has no real scope.
Even though City Council has already rubber stamped this budget, I am asking if they were misled by the Nagin administration when they were told all these projects are “encumbered”. Has the Nagin administration actually met the standards set forth by federal guidelines via HUD and enforced by the LRA?
Which brings me to my fifth concern….
Concern # 5 – Does Nagin’s procurement process meet the Federal Guidelines to release the funds?
The answer is no....yeah I'm actually making a statement not asking the question.
Well, while that may be the case under the Charter, if the Mayor intends to use HUD funds to pay for the contracts, he must meet the standards required by HUD.
The result?
At least three project and programs, totaling $39 million in D-CDBG, for which the Mayor selected contractors for, have been flagged by HUD and every indication is that they cannot move forward unless the Mayor re-bids the contracts and uses a competitive, transparent selection process.
Those projects include:
Fresh Food Retail Initiative ($7M)
Neighborhood Commercial Investment Program ($25M)
Lafitte Greenway Trail Design & Construction ($7M)
I know the FFRI contractors were just informed last week that the contract was bad and they have to go back to the bidding process. Not only am I worried about what that’s doing to the communities who need these programs and are now going to have to wait that much longer to get food outlets into their neighborhoods, I’m worried that money could be shifted into the Nagin aether.
Had Nagin adopted Arnie Fielkow’s attempt to create a transparent contracting process last February, we would be meeting those requirements, but he didn’t want any part of that. As of now, there is no “scorecard” to determine how the contracts for the LRA money is being let, and that is just not going to fly with HUD or LRA. However, once the money is encumbered and receives City Hall approval….it’s taken out of play….watch out!
We have 411 million to help rebuild our city and after it is let by LRA its over….we’re on our own. If there was ever a time to ring the church bell....raise the red flag...call the ball, Mav….it’s now.
City Council can pull this back into play in a special session and bring all these items back into question.
As it stands right now, Nagin may be setting up an 83 million dollar black hole with little to no oversight. There’s very little to stop him from…oohhh….let’s say….sliding the Municipal Auditorium plan into Economic Development category for the LRA operating budget.
This is up to us, the citizens, to stop this boondoggle before it happens and leaves the next administration in a lurch. If you’re as concerned about this as I am, please contact your city councilperson and demand that they bring the LRA budget back to the table for further scrutiny.
And if you made it through this entire post....God bless you....whoever your God is. Ashe.
(I apologize for the mixed font and bad formatting....I fought with blogger for 12 hours trying to get this into a quasi-digestable format. I made the mistake of writing this in Word before I tried to bring it over to blogger...bad mistake.)
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Intriguing
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Has he gotten to the bottom of it yet?":
This is a red-herring story. Who cares to be hoenst with you.
If you really want the scoop on Georges then keep an eye on the story that has legs in Jefferson Parish. Robert Guidry, Tim Wilkenson, Chris Coulon, Tim Coulon, Tim Whitmer, Fred Heebee, Jennifer Snell, Marcello, etc. This is a much bigger story that has some serious legs.
This is a red-herring story. Who cares to be hoenst with you.
If you really want the scoop on Georges then keep an eye on the story that has legs in Jefferson Parish. Robert Guidry, Tim Wilkenson, Chris Coulon, Tim Coulon, Tim Whitmer, Fred Heebee, Jennifer Snell, Marcello, etc. This is a much bigger story that has some serious legs.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Has he gotten to the bottom of it yet?
John Georges' response to Mitchthemayor.com
So Georges says he was not responsible for the Mitchthemayor.com site or video spoof, but he's going to get to the bottom of it. It's been nearly 24 hours, still waiting, John.
So Georges says he was not responsible for the Mitchthemayor.com site or video spoof, but he's going to get to the bottom of it. It's been nearly 24 hours, still waiting, John.
Muppet pulls a Haydel
Greg Meffert wants taxpayers to pay civil judgment, legal fees
Yeah...and people in Hell want ice water. (My mom used to tell me that all the time when I was a kid.)
The big loser here is poor Randy Smith....he's just trying to get paid, and probably won't when all is said and done. My bet.... Muppet pleas. I can't see Smith getting all charitable to try a lengthy federal criminal case. Maybe Meffert can qualify for an indigent defender.
Don't worry too much about this, I seriously doubt any judge in their right mind is going to rule the city has to pay his legal fees or the civil judgement.
Plus remember, we have round two in the civil arena unfolding with Camsoft.
Yeah...and people in Hell want ice water. (My mom used to tell me that all the time when I was a kid.)
The big loser here is poor Randy Smith....he's just trying to get paid, and probably won't when all is said and done. My bet.... Muppet pleas. I can't see Smith getting all charitable to try a lengthy federal criminal case. Maybe Meffert can qualify for an indigent defender.
Don't worry too much about this, I seriously doubt any judge in their right mind is going to rule the city has to pay his legal fees or the civil judgement.
Plus remember, we have round two in the civil arena unfolding with Camsoft.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Pissing Continues
Nagin to go to 4-day work week at City Hall, slash other city services
Mayor Ray Nagin said Thursday that most city buildings will be closed on Fridays starting in January and the 311 information and service hotline will be eliminated.
Ok great. So that means we're terminating the contract with Telecommunications Development Corp. right? Because 311 was the service they were supposed to perform right? Good job Ray, you just saved us millions of dollars, I'll guess we'll see that contract termination Monday when you get back to work. And where does that leave MSF?
Mayor Ray Nagin said Thursday that most city buildings will be closed on Fridays starting in January and the 311 information and service hotline will be eliminated.
Ok great. So that means we're terminating the contract with Telecommunications Development Corp. right? Because 311 was the service they were supposed to perform right? Good job Ray, you just saved us millions of dollars, I'll guess we'll see that contract termination Monday when you get back to work. And where does that leave MSF?
Upon Anon's suggestion...booyaa!
Thanks for your definition of carpetblogger!
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carpetblogger
A blogger who writes about a geographic region or subject matter he/she is not familiar with in order to gain notoriety, financial gain, or increased internet traffic.
"This New York carpetblogger was bragging about how he and his peeps are going to come down to New Orleans and tell the true story of Katrina, what a douche."
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Urban Dictionary
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carpetblogger
A blogger who writes about a geographic region or subject matter he/she is not familiar with in order to gain notoriety, financial gain, or increased internet traffic.
"This New York carpetblogger was bragging about how he and his peeps are going to come down to New Orleans and tell the true story of Katrina, what a douche."
Georges the Snake...busted
Not sure if you caught the flash in the pan spoof of Mitch Landrieu today.
Humid City was on top of this the moment it came up, and as Loki reports, the website and video popped up, then mysteriously disappeared. The whole thing was orchestrated to make it appear that either Troy Henry or James Perry's campaign was responsible for the parody. They even went so far as to register PerryforChange.com (not used by Perry) for the contact information to the fake site. Perry's campaign immediately issued a press release stating they were not responsible for it.
Loki then published the registrar information and the company who registered the site turns out to be ComputerCC.
There is no registered agent listed in the Secretary of State's website for that name (must be a DBA), but....turns out the address for ComputerCC is the exact same address as none other than Iokon.
Who is Iokon? Well, look at their home page and it becomes obvious.....Georges' internet campaign company.
Doing spoofs is one thing....but doing spoofs and trying to blame it on other candidates by creating subterfuges is another. That's pretty pathetic and dishonest. Now we know what John the Caterer is capable of....same old bullshit....is that the kind of guy you want in the mayor's office? Haven't we had enough of that?
Then he didn't even have the balls to leave it up after he went through all that trouble to produce it?
Must be nice to have that kind of cash to just piss away trying to make other people look dishonest. How pathetic.
SOS man...same old shit.
UPDATE: Loki is way ahead...Full Story here.
Humid City was on top of this the moment it came up, and as Loki reports, the website and video popped up, then mysteriously disappeared. The whole thing was orchestrated to make it appear that either Troy Henry or James Perry's campaign was responsible for the parody. They even went so far as to register PerryforChange.com (not used by Perry) for the contact information to the fake site. Perry's campaign immediately issued a press release stating they were not responsible for it.
Loki then published the registrar information and the company who registered the site turns out to be ComputerCC.
There is no registered agent listed in the Secretary of State's website for that name (must be a DBA), but....turns out the address for ComputerCC is the exact same address as none other than Iokon.
Who is Iokon? Well, look at their home page and it becomes obvious.....Georges' internet campaign company.
Doing spoofs is one thing....but doing spoofs and trying to blame it on other candidates by creating subterfuges is another. That's pretty pathetic and dishonest. Now we know what John the Caterer is capable of....same old bullshit....is that the kind of guy you want in the mayor's office? Haven't we had enough of that?
Then he didn't even have the balls to leave it up after he went through all that trouble to produce it?
Must be nice to have that kind of cash to just piss away trying to make other people look dishonest. How pathetic.
SOS man...same old shit.
UPDATE: Loki is way ahead...Full Story here.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
While we're on the subject of etymology
Even though I'll never get credit for it, I invented Carpetblogger. It all started right after the storm when that prick from New York said he and his peeps were going to "come down here and tell the true story of Katrina!" I forgot on what blog the conversation ensued, but I remember I threw the term out first, dammit.
I'm still in admiration of Edtilla's Syllodomy.
Another one I just came up with tonight: Crucifiction - to castigate someone with false allegations.
The one word which I've always jonesed to create but struggled to find the right combination of latin roots, is to describe, "a predisposition which leads one to believe the moment they occupy in time is superior to moments past or future.", and/or, "to judge moments in the past or future by the standards of the present." So the closest I could get is: Chronocentrism. I thought about Temporalcentrism as well, but neither does the trick for me...it should be something like Chrono-ego-centrism. The search for this word has driven me crazy for decades.
I'll give you an example, I watched Jeff Crouere on Ringside Politics, way back around 2003, try and make the argument that "Darwinism" (which doesn't exist) is irrelevant because Darwin was a racist. Well, by today's standards, almost everyone was a racist in the 1800s, including Abraham Lincoln. (but not Linkerham Brinkington...he was perfect.) He was judging people who lived in a different era by today's standards.
So with that word we would need to find the opposite, "the belief that a moment in the past or future was superior to the present." Nostalgia may fit the bill for the past, but not sure there is one for the future.
Got words?
I promise my next post will be substantive...no more tangentiblogging.
I'm still in admiration of Edtilla's Syllodomy.
Another one I just came up with tonight: Crucifiction - to castigate someone with false allegations.
The one word which I've always jonesed to create but struggled to find the right combination of latin roots, is to describe, "a predisposition which leads one to believe the moment they occupy in time is superior to moments past or future.", and/or, "to judge moments in the past or future by the standards of the present." So the closest I could get is: Chronocentrism. I thought about Temporalcentrism as well, but neither does the trick for me...it should be something like Chrono-ego-centrism. The search for this word has driven me crazy for decades.
I'll give you an example, I watched Jeff Crouere on Ringside Politics, way back around 2003, try and make the argument that "Darwinism" (which doesn't exist) is irrelevant because Darwin was a racist. Well, by today's standards, almost everyone was a racist in the 1800s, including Abraham Lincoln. (but not Linkerham Brinkington...he was perfect.) He was judging people who lived in a different era by today's standards.
So with that word we would need to find the opposite, "the belief that a moment in the past or future was superior to the present." Nostalgia may fit the bill for the past, but not sure there is one for the future.
Got words?
I promise my next post will be substantive...no more tangentiblogging.
I need a word for this
Is there a word for getting enjoyment out of exposing yourself to stupidity? I know the Germans pegged schadenfreude, but I think Oyster may have to peg this semantic nugget if he keeps linking to this ass clown.
Admittedly, I too, was amused ( in a pitiful way) at this guy's attempt to berate Oyster by referring to him with every seafood moniker he could muster, other than an oyster, i.e., reveling that he made "clam chowder" out of him.
Let me help you out with some analogies, brah:
Did you put him on a cracker and slurp him down? Did you irradiate him and make him taste bad? Could you not even swallow that oyster if it was on a saltine with Tobasco? Did you expose him for the bottom feeder he really is? Did you shuck him with one hand? Did you expose that oyster as having no pearl?
Aside from backpedaling on his previous attempt to suggest Mitch Landrieu is racist by taking a quote Mitch made, in a video, completely out of context....this guy's current thesis seems to be:
Let’s talk about opportunity, which is what Mitch, I’m sure, says he believes in. Then why not give somebody else the opportunity to be mayor?
So Mitch doesn't believe in opportunity because he's running for mayor? Is that the point of this post, titled, "Why Mitch"?
or is it this:
But Mitch, you care so much for New Orleans you’d rather smother those ideas with your tired and tried ideas that has brought New Orleans from the city you once knew to the city it became.
Let me get this right....Mitch Landrieu is responsible for the evolution of the city from some undetermined point residing in his memory until the present? Did he think the city into existence? Exactly what position did Landrieu hold that gave him such omnipotent power over the city of New Orleans? I had no idea the Lt. Governor position or serving in the LA State Legislature ordained one with the powers of Vishnu over New Orleans. If you don't get that reference, Avman, email Bobby J....or ask Maitri.
But wait, I think I get the gist of it in this paragraph:
I find that Louisiana isn’t short on people with ideas, but Louisiana has an abundance of are politicians who run for office, and instead of doing to job they were elected to do, immediately start looking for something else to run for. Some of it, I understand. Take Charlie Melancon, I don’t want Charlie Melancon as my next Senator, but I understand why he’s running, it’s a step up for Representative.
So the real thesis is people shouldn't run for an office if this guy doesn't understand why they are running. Now I get it. That and Mitch is the death knell of opportunity for New Orleans because he is mystically responsible for every bad thing that has happened to it....things which douche fails to describe...probably to avoid exposing the racist implications of his perspective.
The anti-Landrieu arguments get more pathetic with every election. I keep waiting for "Mitch eats his boogers." Or, "Mitch sniffs his own farts." This guy has already tried, "Mitch has a funny head"...and he couldn't even get that adolescent snark right, unless there really is such a thing as morris code.
Somebody give me a word for this...please.
UPDATE: As I was writing this post, Oyster was responding.
UPDATE 2: While this isn't the actual word I was looking for, it should definitely be put into circulation:
Editilla said...
Admittedly, I too, was amused ( in a pitiful way) at this guy's attempt to berate Oyster by referring to him with every seafood moniker he could muster, other than an oyster, i.e., reveling that he made "clam chowder" out of him.
Let me help you out with some analogies, brah:
Did you put him on a cracker and slurp him down? Did you irradiate him and make him taste bad? Could you not even swallow that oyster if it was on a saltine with Tobasco? Did you expose him for the bottom feeder he really is? Did you shuck him with one hand? Did you expose that oyster as having no pearl?
Aside from backpedaling on his previous attempt to suggest Mitch Landrieu is racist by taking a quote Mitch made, in a video, completely out of context....this guy's current thesis seems to be:
Let’s talk about opportunity, which is what Mitch, I’m sure, says he believes in. Then why not give somebody else the opportunity to be mayor?
So Mitch doesn't believe in opportunity because he's running for mayor? Is that the point of this post, titled, "Why Mitch"?
or is it this:
But Mitch, you care so much for New Orleans you’d rather smother those ideas with your tired and tried ideas that has brought New Orleans from the city you once knew to the city it became.
Let me get this right....Mitch Landrieu is responsible for the evolution of the city from some undetermined point residing in his memory until the present? Did he think the city into existence? Exactly what position did Landrieu hold that gave him such omnipotent power over the city of New Orleans? I had no idea the Lt. Governor position or serving in the LA State Legislature ordained one with the powers of Vishnu over New Orleans. If you don't get that reference, Avman, email Bobby J....or ask Maitri.
But wait, I think I get the gist of it in this paragraph:
I find that Louisiana isn’t short on people with ideas, but Louisiana has an abundance of are politicians who run for office, and instead of doing to job they were elected to do, immediately start looking for something else to run for. Some of it, I understand. Take Charlie Melancon, I don’t want Charlie Melancon as my next Senator, but I understand why he’s running, it’s a step up for Representative.
So the real thesis is people shouldn't run for an office if this guy doesn't understand why they are running. Now I get it. That and Mitch is the death knell of opportunity for New Orleans because he is mystically responsible for every bad thing that has happened to it....things which douche fails to describe...probably to avoid exposing the racist implications of his perspective.
The anti-Landrieu arguments get more pathetic with every election. I keep waiting for "Mitch eats his boogers." Or, "Mitch sniffs his own farts." This guy has already tried, "Mitch has a funny head"...and he couldn't even get that adolescent snark right, unless there really is such a thing as morris code.
Somebody give me a word for this...please.
UPDATE: As I was writing this post, Oyster was responding.
UPDATE 2: While this isn't the actual word I was looking for, it should definitely be put into circulation:
Editilla said...
Syllodomy: the absolute pundit ass'fuck of syllogism.
Example: If I say + B = C, then you better believe it.
genius.
Hah!
Indicted Sewerage & Water Board member resigns
Nagin said the allegations concern him, and he will look into the status of companies allegedly involved in the Edwards schemes that still have contracts with the board.
"It concerns me, but I've been an auditor before and the toughest thing to catch is collusion," Nagin said. "I'm also concerned about the companies involved that still do business with the board."
That's so rich. He better hope the toughest thing to catch is collusion...he better pray the toughest thing to catch is collusion.
Aside from the companies still doing business with the board he may want to audit how much money Ben Edwards pumped into his last mayoral campaign and get back to us on that collusion issue.
I wonder if there's an interview of Tiger Woods somewhere with him saying, "The toughest thing to catch in a marriage is infidelity."
Nagin said the allegations concern him, and he will look into the status of companies allegedly involved in the Edwards schemes that still have contracts with the board.
"It concerns me, but I've been an auditor before and the toughest thing to catch is collusion," Nagin said. "I'm also concerned about the companies involved that still do business with the board."
That's so rich. He better hope the toughest thing to catch is collusion...he better pray the toughest thing to catch is collusion.
Aside from the companies still doing business with the board he may want to audit how much money Ben Edwards pumped into his last mayoral campaign and get back to us on that collusion issue.
I wonder if there's an interview of Tiger Woods somewhere with him saying, "The toughest thing to catch in a marriage is infidelity."
oh right on..
Tribe Nunzio was one of my favorite New Orleans bands ever. Although I thought the lead singer's name was Elizabeth, not Holden...but it was so long ago. Gotta try and make this show.
In case you had any doubts
..as to the reality of Corporate, Media and Government collusion:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Monday, December 14, 2009
Bring back Bali Hai
Maybe if Batt brings back a Tiki bar that will parlay in with Georges buying into Galatoire's and they can run on the restaurant ticket....oh wait...I don't think that will work now that Sonnier is in the At Large race.
Once I got the mini-barf back down after forcing myself to watch that video one more time....I was curious about his logic that because he was introduced to alcohol at a very early age, he learned how to temper his drinking habits.
Jeez man...to bad his dad didn't open up a casino at Pontchartrain Park, huh?
Take note
SEC orders Miami to turn over its financial books
Any city dealing with federal funds, especially a city like New Orleans, should take note of this story.
Let's hope we've dealt with Katrina funds properly. More speculation on this matter is forthcoming in a very lengthy post....stay tuned.
In the meantime, check out Brenda Hatfield's response to the OIG report on the inadequacies of the city's budgeting process. Keep this in mind:
Any city dealing with federal funds, especially a city like New Orleans, should take note of this story.
Let's hope we've dealt with Katrina funds properly. More speculation on this matter is forthcoming in a very lengthy post....stay tuned.
In the meantime, check out Brenda Hatfield's response to the OIG report on the inadequacies of the city's budgeting process. Keep this in mind:
The mouths of babes
I just picked my 5 year old daughter up from school and I asked her what she learned today.
Her: "I know who the most famous president of the world is."
Me: "Of the whole world? Wow....who would that be?"
Her: "Linkerham Brinkington!"
Who knew? I guess Linkerham preceded Zaphod Beeblebrox.
Her: "I know who the most famous president of the world is."
Me: "Of the whole world? Wow....who would that be?"
Her: "Linkerham Brinkington!"
Who knew? I guess Linkerham preceded Zaphod Beeblebrox.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
R.I.P. Andy
My cousin passed away last night. He had been battling an inoperable brain tumor for the past couple years and last night his and his family's suffering finally came to an end.
Andy served in the Army during the 1st Gulf War, which was always a hard thing for me to imagine because my thoughts of him always go back to when we were children. He was always smiling, it seemed, and I guess that's how I'll always remember him...that chubby, little kid with a perpetual grin.
He didn't seem to have much tolerance for self pity, and he was incredibly brave in these past few years, as were his wife and two young boys.
It was good to know you, cuz. Shuffle off this mortal coil and trip the light fantastic.
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