Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Repeatedly

[NVMojo]

Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues

August 30, 2005

PHILADELPHIA Even though Hurricane Katrina has moved well north of the city, the waters may still keep rising in New Orleans late on Tuesday. That's because Lake Pontchartrain continues to pour through a two-block-long break in the main levee, near the city's 17th Street Canal. With much of the Crescent City some 10 feet below sea level, the rising tide may not stop until it's level with the massive lake.

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

more...

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313

[Erika]

1. W cut our public safety for his war in Iraq

Not just by $ but also by diverting the NG overseas.

[Kenroy]

2. This is such a difficult question...

clearly, there were budget cuts. The question is, would the levees had been strengthened in the last year or two with increased funding? I honestly don't know.

The funding cuts were so recent that it's hard to attach them to the suffering today. But of course, it was shortsighted and stupid to cut the budget at all - it MIGHT have saved the city a few years from now.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[aquart]

5. They didn't vote Republican.

[bliss_eternal]

17. Some did...

Do the people that DID put their faith in him deserve to be treated this way? Of course, none of the people in this situation DESERVE it. No one deserves to have their community turned into a wilderness in a matter of moments.

He is sending a very loud message to some of the people that did support him, whether he sees it this way or not. Those that voted for him, that manage to survive this tragedy won't soon forget the way THEIR choice behaved when they needed him most.

Completely inexcusable.

[Kenroy]

6. Of course there's a question

your statement is an extreme one.

To accept your argument, we'd have to believe that Bush

a) purposely cut Army Corps funding for Levee repairs KNOWING a hurricane was coming

b) his funding cuts had a practical effect this year - can you show that a cut in 2003 affected the levees TODAY? I honestly don't know - was there yearly upkeep that was cut that is no longer occurring?

c) Bush controls the weather

d) Republican Mississippi and Alabama were sacrificed by Bush to destroy New Orleans.

It's crazy.

Bush has responded VERY poorly to this crisis - but he didn't cause it. He did a few things we can pin him on (and cutting funding is one of them, as well as deployment of guard troops abroad) but it can't be shown that there's a DIRECT connection between his policies and the crisis today.

I wish there was a way to show it - maybe it will come out. But I haven't seen anything yet showing how the levees would be different today without Bush's budget cuts. They might be - but I haven't seen the evidence.

[wli]

8. I'm just calling it like it is.

a) Hurricanes are guaranteed to come.
b) Continual maintenance is needed, and upgrades were known to be needed. The effects were immediate and easily understood.
c) Not necessary for LIHOP.
d) Mississippi and Alabama are actually less likely targets of hurricanes, so it's trivially a miscalculation.

There's nothing crazy. It is in fact the only logical conclusion. Bush and the Republican Party are committing genocide against black people and Democrats with full cognizance of the repercussions of their "budget cuts" to critical disaster preparedness and recovery services.

[Kenroy]

11. I don't think you're crazy...

but can you show that the funding cuts affected New Orleans' levees THIS year?

We agree it was shortsighted to cut the funding. But it's odd to me to claim the funding cuts are responsible for TODAY'S problems - but I could be convinced otherwise.

As to Mississippi and Alabama, the notion that they are less susceptible to hurricanes than Louisiana is laughable.

[wli]

14. they've actually been going on since 2001 or so

It's not just this year. They've been getting slashed the whole time Bush has been in office. The ones for 2006 likely had no effect whatsoever.

[Kenroy]

16. Well

that's pretty indictive for Bush. But what were the cuts? I honestly don't know - and I'm not defending him - I'm just trying to learn.

Were the cuts on support or maintenance of the levees - and if so, would it have changed the outcome?

Bush has absolutely sucked these last few days. I think we should focus on the "absent president". He hasn't seemed to care, and he wasn't involved in any of the pre-planning for this catastrophe.

All I'm asking is proof that the levees would've been stronger today without the budget cuts.

And I agree that the budget cuts were wrong - I'm just a stickler for precise arguments.

[wli]

19. across the board

Army Corps of Engineers, regional FEMA, flood control, and so on were all affected every year. The URL's are going around.

[Igel]

31. Think critically.

It's hard, esp. when we're all wanting to believe.

The URLs echo the same claims, over, and over, and over, with increasing absoluteness. Notice that over years, they spent $430 million. $250 million left ... to be spent over years.

Budget cuts occurred & there were other budget cuts were proposed (were they enacted? Doesn't matter ...).
Three levees failed.
Therefore it was those specific levees that would have been reinforced.

Catch the certainty of the logic there? I missed it entirely.

One could easily put it differently, but make no more sense:

$430 million was spent on shoring up the levees under Clinton and the first couple years of *.
The levees failed under a category 4 storm.
Obviously they didn't shore up anything ... so Who stole the money?

But, since people will skip over where I said that this makes no sense, I'll say it again: such logic makes no sense.

[wli]

32. non sequitur n/t

[Igel]

36. What non sequitur?

The allegations made in the URLs?

Then I agree with you whole-heartedly.

There are rather large gaps in the chain of reasoning from the sources cited to the claims made in them. It's good that you realize it.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

41. According to Times-Picayune $70 Million this year alone, IIRC

Check out some of the other threads - I don't have the links handy, but the budget for maintaining the system of levies has been steadily cut under B/C and apparently there has been little or no work on them since June.

I'll look and see if I can find a link to add on edit.

[PaulaFarrell]

9. I don't think it's difficult

Ongoing work was cut from early last year. 18 months of repairs and strengthening were cut by 5/6. How much less damage would have occurred is impossible to say. But it's clear that Bush didn't give a shit about the people living there.

[Kenroy]

13. I don't know the answer...

because I don't know when the budget cuts actually affected the actual work.

But if the 2003 budget was cut, does that mean the budget FOR 2003, or the budget that was passed in 2003 for 2004? And what does that mean for the actual work on the levees?

Believe me, I think there's an argument to be made that Bush has failed horribly on supporting New Orleans. I just don't know if his SPECIFIC cuts have SPECIFICALLY contributed to today's problems.

I'm not denying it - I'm saying I'm not sure there's a connection.

[PaulaFarrell]

23. the article cited gives quite a few examples

of projects that were put off or abandoned over the last 2 years. I'm not sure why you're trying to avoid connecting the dots.

[truth2power]

30. The larger issue is that

Bush considers his insane, psychotic war based on lies to be more important than improving the infrastructure in our own country.

[Justice]

38. Not difficult at all

Money flowed to a trickle in 2003. That is two years of work that could have been down to further strengthen the levys. Perhaps that money would have been used to replace/strengthen the two levys that were breeched.

It is clear as day - Bush made decisions - he decided to go to war in Iraq rather than spend money here at home. We are paying the price.

If Bush were the CEO of a company, the shareholders would have ousted him already.

[BrendaStarr]

42. How long does it take to dump some concrete on a levee?

The levees were sinking during the Bush administration.

There should have been action during the Bush administration.

[newswolf56]

4. Bottom line: every victim of the post-hurricane flooding...

in New Orleans is in fact a victim of George Bush's policies.

[Carolab]

7. Unbelievable.

Local officials are now saying, the article reported, that had Washington heeded their warnings about the dire need for hurricane protection, including building up levees and repairing barrier islands, "the damage might not have been nearly as bad as it turned out to be."

And, after cutting the budget to 1/6 of what was needed, * plans to GO there on Friday?

[newswolf56]

12. No doubt a gag order is already in effect:

The New Orleans mayor, the governor of Louisiana (and anyone else who might speak up) have almost certainly all been warned that any criticism of Bush and his policies will result in (additional) retaliation in the form of (additional) withholding of disaster relief. In fact, given this administration's record of methodical vindictiveness -- probably without precedent in American political history -- I would expect nothing less: the disaster-scene application of the Rove/Norquist/Goebbels choreographed-audience policy that turns any Bush public appearance into a mini-replay of a Nuremberg rally.

[kenny blankenship]

15. Bush plans to go _where_? To talk to _whom_? Not to New Orleans surely...

Because the city of New Orleans is destroyed. It's sinking beneath the waves tonight. Everyone OUT that wants to keep living, and let the dead bury the dead. The engineers have failed, our ingenuity has failed and our imaginations and resolve as a people to value our own civilization failed. There wasn't enough of anything today, but the first thing we lacked was intelligent caring leadership. That was the one failure that spawned all the rest.

We are abandoning ship.

When or if the Titanic is ever raised again from depths, what will be left?

[tedoll78]

10. And so the mainstream media scrutiny begins.

I'm impressed. There are still people in their attics, and the inquiries have already begun.

[calimary]

34. God, I hope so. But we have to keep pushing these questions.

The media, or at least those small segments of the media that seek out answers about this, may become discouraged in their pursuit because they'll invariably be stonewalled or provided excuses, or perhaps given threats or insinuations of threats "if they continue to make trouble" and there's the risk that they'll eventually give up. Besides, they're already on overwhelm trying to cover the immediate issues of this catastrophe. And they're invariably understaffed and overworked AS IS, so the reporters are probably exhausted and their resources and capabilities stretched beyond their limits.

That's why WE HAVE TO KEEP AT IT. WE'VE GOT TO!!!!!!!!! There will be a lot pushing against us. That's why we've GOT to be there, pushing back.

Keep making a stink about this. Even if you think it does no good. How do you know but that yours might be THE email, or phone call, or snailmail, that finally is the straw that breaks the camel's back, that hits critical mass, that reaches the tipping point, that makes the difference, that finally convinces somebody to turn from a lap dog to an attack dog? You NEVER know. It might be YOUR appeal that finally turns the tide.

JUST DO IT.

DO IT ANYWAY.

[paineinthearse]

18. Related - this "find" from 2004 has been sitting in ARTICLES all day

with no replies.

Check it out - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=151655&mesg_id=151655

[NYC]

21. That probably got no replies

because the same information has appeared in so many other threads over the last 24 hours.

Not that it isn't valuable and interesting.

[ngGale]

20. The funding cuts have been on the net ....

the MSM won't touch it, as usual. This fact alone with a real media would finish off his polls.:grr:

[Sooner75]

22. Like Pompeii under Mt. Vesuvius...this was waiting to happen.

Seems to me that New Orleans needs the help of the Dutch. They've successfully protected huge areas below sea level. It's either that or move the city to higher ground.

[ibegurpard]

33. I don't think you can compare the Netherlands

They aren't threatened by hurricanes like the Gulf South. However, there's no question that more could have and should have been done to better shore up the city and other threatened areas. This has been predicted for years.

[calimary]

40. Face it: sometimes, those proverbial "accidents waiting to happen"

actually DO.

[Eloriel]

24. Aaargh, as I was reading this part

Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Mary Landrieu's face flashed in front of my eyes. She's a Senator, so represents (and was voted for in) the entire state, but in her really tight race last time, a run-off, wasn't it Southeast Louisiana which put her over the top? In fact, does anyone know where she is from and lives?

Edited to add: Make no mistake about it -- Bush esp. but the other Repugs as well are well-known for their punitive acts against those who dare buck them.

[flpoljunkie]

25. Got to pay for them "tax cuts for fat cats" and the Occupation of Iraq!

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: “It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.”

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_di...

[calimary]

35. Dang! Link doesn't work...

Good to see it's in Editor & Publisher,though. That DOES get read by some of the pro's.

GOD! WE NEED TO PUSH THIS!!! WITH ALL OUR MIGHT!!!!!!!!!

You can do it yourself, as a citizen watchdog, to help enlighten and inform your fellow citizens. You can do it

1) in EVERY grocery checkout line.
2) at EVERY visit to the dry cleaners.
3) at ANY office watercooler in existence.
4) ANY time you're pumping INCREASINGLY EXPENSIVE GASOLINE at the self-serve. You can BET the guy at the next pump will have noticed, and will have become pissed-off about, the increasingly high prices, and will be open to this. Take that one to the bank.
5) at ANY neighborhood gathering, or across any backyard fence.
6) on ANY line for movie tickets, or admission.
7) on ANY line inside the movie theater - at the snack bar.
8) on ANY drop-off/pick-up line at school, PTA meeting, Mothers' Club, Fathers' Club, committee meeting, or even a parent-teacher conference.
9) at ANY retail counter where you have the chance to interact briefly with a) other customers or b) the salesperson or checkout counter person.
10) at any burger joint, restaurant, drive-through, fast-food place.
11) in the waiting room of ANY doctor's or dentist's office, emergency room, OR health clinic. GUARANTEED there'll be a captive audience there, and they may have a TV monitor on - about which you can make openly-voiced "casual comments."
12) in line waiting for your turn with the bank teller (many banks have TV monitors on, all day, too. Heck, even my dog's vet does), or if you're waiting with a couple of other people for your turn at the ATM.

Frankly, ANY situation in which you're IN LINE, WAITING TO BE SERVED for WHATEVER reason. ESPECIALLY if there's a kill-the-boredom TV on to keep everyone company. You'll be with a captive audience. We all wind up eavesdropping on other people's conversations in these situations anyway! It's just human nature. Spread your disgruntlement. Foment discord. Aggravate the other guy's discontent with our so-called "leaders" and the shit-ass job they're doing. Indeed, if ANYONE within earshot of you performed this poorly on THEIR jobs, would they even still be employed? AND - in this day and age, when everyone is more stressed-out than ever, and probably at least a little pissed-off at how shitty things have become in this country, and besides, everybody hates having to wait, anyway, DON'T LOSE THIS SOLID-GOLD OPPORTUNITY!!! SEIZE IT AND PUT IT TO WORK FOR YOU, AND FOR ALL OF US AMERICAN HOSTAGES (because - take THIS to the bank, too, that's EXACTLY what we are)!!!!!!

If we DON'T exploit this and other opportunities to take this regime down (especially when the numbers are tilting more and more decisively in OUR favor), we're fools, and we deserve what we get from Hurricane george and his greedy, mercenary, selfish, short-sighted, incompetent pals.

The bushies play hardball. It's time we did, too.

[katinmn]

26. Check out the NO City Business article & editorials on Gov Blaco's website

Bush's RECORD funding cuts to the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20050606/ai_n14657367

Bush out of touch with us
http://www.gov.state.la.us/New_Stories_detail.asp?id=54

Coastal advocates dismayed by Bush's opposition
http://www.gov.state.la.us/New_Stories_detail.asp?id=52

[ChiciB1]

27. I Heard This AM That Funds Have Been Cut....

and it's has been ignored for some time now! Hey, guess who was in office???

[Vinca]

28. Let's see the White House put a positive spin on this information.

I've never read anything so upsetting. The Bush war/greed machine is the direct cause of both death and destruction ON OUR OWN SHORES! If this doesn't sink the guy (poor choice of words), I don't know what will.

[Gold Metal Flake]

29. LIHOP

[calimary]

37. Kick!

Keep this up top!

[calimary]

39. Clearly bush is "running" the country the way he ran his oil companies.

STRAIGHT INTO THE GROUND!

Hell, it's straight UNDER the ground by now!

And NOBODY noticed this (well, except folks like us here on DU)? NOBODY cared about his track record as a manager/executive? That "career history" didn't mean anything, or say anything, to anybody?

JEEZ!!!!!!!!

Oh, but he's keeping us safe!

[shance]

43. MIHOP or LIHOP?

good question.