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SPIN CITY VERSION 2.1
I have a rather vile cold today so I'm going to skim the surface of C Ray's 103 Day "plan" press opportunity. Skimming the surface is what the buffed-n-bald one does, after all. One thing C Ray is good at is hijacking other people's work and taking credit for it: he must have learned that in the corporate world. Yesterday, he claimed that C Ray's Wrecking Service was responsible for towing away abandoned and/or flooded cars. The state, however, took the lead on that front after the Naginites repeatedly dropped the ball and/or shot themselves in the foot. You pick the image: they do a lot of both.
I was also amused by the notion that the planning process has been a continuum rather than a messy series of false starts, backtracking and backsliding. The Mayor's chart makes it look as if the BNOB was never intended to formulate a plan and was merely a prelude to the Binglerized (my new favorite word) so-called Unified New Orleans Planning process. As my main man, Bayou St. John David said earlier, that's bullshit. But the entire Nagin enterprise is built on BS and wishful thinking. I guess that's the why the streets smell so funky and I do NOT mean that in the Art Neville or James Brown sense of the word funk...
Speaking of stinky streets and trash, born again Naginite, Rob Couhig claims that trash collection has "returned to something like normal." Oh yeah? Maybe on Planet Nagin but those of us who live on Planet Debrisville have gone from twice weekly trash pickup and weekly recycling collection to one weekly garbage pickup and NO recycling. And we're still paying for the pre-K level of service.
I'm also struck by how thin the Naginite bench is: he has 3, count 'em 3, former opponents advising him and Virginia (Big Box) Boulet and Rev. Tom the Rebuker are as hapless as Couhig. Every time, Virginia Boulet talks about bringing big box stores to Debrisville a voice in my head asks: Where? Big Box Boulet keeps her own counsel, which means that such businesses will never come to Orleans Parish or, more likely, they'll try and stick them in historic and unflooded neighborhoods Uptown or in the Marigny.
Also, C Ray is finally considering appointing a recovery co-ordinator, which is something that should have been done last winter. Being a Republican at heart, C Ray plans to hire consultants to run a search process, which will delay things further. It fits his philosophy which is to kick the can down the road and hope that the FEMA fairy sprinkles money dust on Debrisville.
Here's C Ray's message in a nutshell: I'm responsible for all the good stuff and someone else is to blame for the bad stuff.
For other views on C Ray's recent activities check out David at Moldy City; G Bitch and a surprisingly negative editorial in the Picayune. I guess publisher Ashton Phelps has been hobnobbing with non-NOLA nobs lately or somthing...
UPDATE: Maitri had an encounter with the Bald One at One Shell Square.
UPDATE TOO: That sly dog, Markus, is channeling Shakepeare's Henry V in explaining how and why Nagin fails to inspire us. And Schroeder batters, deep fries and serves up C Ray on a platter.
I was especially annoyed by Nagin's claiming credit for work done entirely
by other agencies, and pleased with the Picayune for calling him on it.
From yesterday's paper: "As examples of progress, the officials said jail
and court renovations are expected to be completed next month..."
G-dammit, man, I was going to use that Virginia "Big Box" Boulet moniker!
It freaking resonates!
You get your garbage picked up once a week?
Mominen: In theory we do and most weeks it happens.
Dear Adrasto, et al,
Has anybody questioned that budget down to 25% of its pre-Katrina level
figure? It's an obvious example of citing high sales tax collection to
show accomplishment, low budget to make excuses, but the two aren't
necessarily incompatible. It sounds like something deliberately
misleading, but probably technically correct to me. I don't know what,
maybe ignoring expenses that the federal government picks up, long
term/short term accounting differences or something.
So, here in the tony Lower Garden District we get our garbage picked up,
theoretically, on Tuesday mornings. This past Tuesday morning I walked out
of my palatial manse at just about 7:30 to see the garbage truck making
it's way down the street. There happens to be a HUGE pile of neatly bagged
and stacked garbage two doors down from me where the Mexican guys are
staying in a house their boss owns. They are GREAT about picking up,
cleaning up, etc. around the hood and their big pile of garbage was well
organized and easy to pick up. Next door, there were three or four cans of
garbage and then, next to that, I had a couple, as well. The Garbage Guys
come down the street, see the big pile (it was about 20 bags-I now know
why) and totally ignore it, get the 4 cans next to it, and keep going,
ignorning my little offering to the Garbage Gods. I gain the attention of
one of the guys on the back of the truck by yelling out a "hey, Bruh!" and
one of them looks up (none too brotherly of a look, I might add) and I axe
him just what the deal is-why isn't he picking up all of that garbage and
why did they ignore my little cans? He tells me (honesty, in this case, is
the most aggravating policy) that the big pile is too much to deal with and
those "Mexican dudes" (they were on their porch waiting on their ride to
work) need to get some cans and then they might get their garbage picked up
(they have cans-but this is the third week that they have been passed) and
that the problem with mine is that it is "behind a car" and they don't walk
around cars to load their truck.
This much-heralded 100 day plan turned out to be a ho-hum affair. Nothing
new, no surprises, no grand plan. The Mayor took credit for things he did
not do, ignored things he should have done, and strived mightily to put a
good spin on a bad job. Despite promises, this will probably be the last
time the Mayor either sets accomplishment deadlines on himself or promises
something within a fixed time frame. He has learned his lesson. He set the
bar low, and failed to reach it. Now, he will throw the bar on the nearest
trash pile.
For more Nagin activity see here: http://vatul.net/blog/index.php/1015/