NOLA Update
Scout Prime (via Rising Hegemon) on the secret, behind-the-scenes deals that will enrich Bush cronies, impoverish New Orleans residents and whiten NOLA still further:
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A little history first. There were 3 NOLA rebuilding committees formed initially: the Mayor’s, the City Council’s and the Governor’s. But it was the Mayor’s Bring New Orleans Back (BNOB) commission that prevailed when Bush met with and supported them….
Donald T. Bollinger Jr., a commission member and a local shipbuilder, said, “Him (Bush) coming in and having dinner with this group and meeting with our group helped sanction us and differentiates us from other groups.”
That’s not all that differentiated them. Canizaro who has been the leading force in the BNOB commission contributed over 1 million dollars to Republicans since 1997. Bollinger, who owns the 3rd largest shipbuilding company in the country, contributed over $130,000. Canizaro was one of 22 wealthy business leaders whom President Bush invited to lunch in 2001 to discuss his tax cut for the wealthy. Is it all that surprising that Bush”sanctioned” them to be the rebuilders of NOLA?
And there is evidence they are dominating the BNOB commission. The NYT reported in October that there were “sharp divisions”and several areas of “trouble” within the BNOB one of which was some commissioners stating they were the “B team” that was being excluded from meetings. Meetings which Canizaro did attend. Two commissioners stated this at the time…..
“No one goes over with us what they discuss at those lunch meetings,” said Oliver M. Thomas Jr., one of the commission’s 17 members and president of the City Council. “It would be nice if they did.”
Added W. Anthony Patton, a small-business owner on the commission, “Let’s just say I haven’t been invited to any lunches, either.
So just what is being planned by the Bush Boys in these secret meetings? There may be some clues. Powell said that the $6.2 billion in Community Development Block Grant funds will go to help 20,000 homeowners. Yet there are over 200,000 homeowners whose homes have been destroyed. What will happen to the other 185,000? I doubt they will see any CDBG money as “Mr. Powell has all but put state officials on notice that close watch will be kept on the Community Development Block Grant money.” And Mr. Bollinger concurred saying, “I think we have to demonstrate to Congress and the president that we are going to handle our C.D.B.G. grants responsibly.”
Now think about that a minute. In effect they are saying they will do everything possible to make sure only those 20,000 homeowners receive a federal government buyout and none of the other 185,000. So what fate awaits the rest? Without government money it appears they face either……
1) free market forces determining what they will receive or worse
2) Eminent Domain……”commissioners say, not every neighborhood will be sustainable and there will be a need to use eminent domain to seize some property”
So if you severely limit the number of people to receive a buyout you leave a large number of homes (ie Land) available to be bought up cheap or taken. With that much land on the market at once and sellers needing to sell, it most likely will be very cheap.
Just kill the Baker Bill, be so called ‘good stewards’ of CDBG funds and viola.
It’s a Bush Boy’s dream come true………buy the land cheap, develop it and then the Big Payoff.
You know it may be more accurate to say Bush is THEIR Boy after all.
One thing is for sure …….the people of NOLA? They got no Boy at all.”
