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SHORING UP***image1***
Having returned to New Orleans three times since the storm, the Reporter's Katrina anniversary stories [Cover story, Aug. 23:
] caught my eye. Things there are never quite as they seem anyway, so some of the present misperceptions or exaggerations are understandable. It is less a place of contrast than it is one of incongruities.
The Lower Ninth Ward makes spectacular media footage and feeds Yankee preconceptions, but it's not typical of the city. Much more so are the racially mixed Broadmoor and Mid City neighborhoods or middle-class black Gentilly. Beyond the unflooded and rebounding "sliver by the river," in those places you will see mile upon mile of handsome, sound-looking homes-an eerily normal scene, except for the fact that only a house or two in each block is occupied. This is the situation in the 80 percent of the city that took on floodwaters. These homes do not need to be torn down, but nearly all require new wiring, interior drywall and roof work in order to be lived in again by their long-suffering owners and residents. A disengaged (distracted?) federal government and stingy insurance industry have made their return home painfully difficult.
Rather than elaborate urban planning schemes, the diaspora of New Orleans would be better off with two very straightforward initiatives:
1) Federal investment in the restoration of coastal wetlands and amply funded levee and lock construction. (The Bush administration and Republican Congresses repeatedly slashed Army Corps of Engineers budget requests. A very popular T-shirt in New Orleans declares, "Make Levees, Not War.")
2) A grant program of $25,000 to each homeowner in the flooded area to pay for most of the essential drywall, roofing and electrical repairs.
Heaven knows, jobs are plentiful in the Crescent City. "Now Hiring" signs are everywhere. Even Burger King is offering $9 an hour and hefty signing bonuses. And who is presently rebuilding New Orleans? It's largely Hispanics (legal and otherwise) from Central America and Mexico.
From the house where I stay in the Irish Channel neighborhood (old, near the river, traditionally working class, 60 percent black), I've watched crews of Mexicans and Hondurans working industriously on roofs, while local young black youths casually shoot hoops in the park across the street. Now and then, drug dealers in new SUVs with dark windows and booming rap sounds stop at the corner to ply their trade with the homeboys. Incongruous, indeed.
Incidentally, Hanna Porter's response [SFR Talk, Aug. 30:
] to your question about the "racial divide" in New Orleans seemed far too simplistic to me. Again, things aren't quite what they seem. In the past 20 years our "liberal" Santa Fe has become far more economically and ethnically segregated than New Orleans is or was.
Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco have taken too much flak. Both have been doing their best throughout an absolutely unprecedented catastrophe. But leadership on the federal level has been another matter. An adequate president might have rallied the will and the resources of our nation to help rebuild this treasure of a city. However, that will and those resources are being squandered in a misbegotten military adventure far from our shores.
Richard Polese
Santa Fe
LOCAL AID
The AID and Comfort Gala, Saturday, Nov. 25, has for years been held to be "Santa Fe's greatest party!" It is important to note that the "party" is a primary resource for that "adequate funding and consistent funding" mentioned in your feature article [Cover story, Sept. 6:
] since it provides social and financial support for the many hundreds of New Mexicans who daily deal with AIDS or HIV-and who face staggering medical expenses, all the time, lifelong.
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As the interview states, it's unfortunate that "when you talk about HIV or AIDS, it sounds like something for those people far away," but for many living here, today, it is a continual, sobering reality.
The 18th annual AID and Comfort Gala is an event that is critical, one could say mortally critical, for the survival of many men and women living in our midst.
I hope this year's event will reap much-needed financial assistance for those many people who are not at all "far away."
God willing, the community will again respond with massive ticket sales and truly magnanimous donations of artworks, goods and services for that evening's stellar auction.
JE Adlmann
Santa Fe
HERE AND THERE
I am writing in response to the Aug. 30 Letter to the Editor entitled
I agree that the current suffering of the Lebanese people is a devastating, horrifying example of the latest global atrocity. Personally, though, I don't believe in the establishment hierarchy that people are more important than animals. How about people and animals both getting help as animals are (even more) innocent victims of war? But we could probably argue about that until the cows come home, if they ever do.
However, what I am not going to let slide is the statement about "few, yes very few 'good' Iranians." Some of the people I know to be doing some of the most effective, forward-thinking, compassionate work for global justice are Iranian. To imply that almost all Iranians support Hezbollah is ridiculous and hateful. In my opinion, it is such misinformation that contributes to the barriers we see around the globe today, bolstering racism and racial profiling in this country. It's right up there with naming whole countries "the Axis of Evil," which certainly doesn't do a lot for helping us be "liked over there."
If your letter was supposed to be some sarcastic metaphor and I've misread it, please be more careful with throwing around such loaded statements.
Kathy Ni Keefe
Santa Fe
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