Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Fooled Me Again

Please excuse me today. I am speaking as an angry black New Orleans resident who’s losing faith and feeling kind of silly about asking for patience on this NOAH story. My patience has been rewarded with a headache.

My people sure make it hard sometimes to make a point when they do silly things. I didn't know who Stacey Jackson was until all of this started but appearently she hit the jackpot. She had a non profit flying under the radar. Why wouldn't someone tell Ray Nagin about these things before he stood up there and defended this group? Don't all these people who make good money because of him at least owe him the chance to not look foolish? I still don't think he's a criminal but it does not look good for the city as a whole when the mayor stands up and defends a potential scandal. Who’s going to invest money in that city?

Why would Ms. Jackson or the contractor be bold enough to think it would be ok for anybody associated with agency contracts to live in a house owned by the agency? Why would she give contracts to people connected to her that closely? I work in the non profit world and I know that at the end of the day everything has to be accounted for. Your agency lives or dies on documentation. Why would she buy property from another agency in the city for a cheap price, not refurbish it then sell it for a profit? That's just ridiculous. Shouldn’t there be someone on the mayor’s staff who monitors these kinds of things for potential trouble so he can get rid of those people and avoid this kind of embarrassment for the city? No one benefits from this story getting bigger.

I actually had a broader view of this whole story about wondering who's going to maintain the legitimate properties on the list now that NOAH is out of business but the conflict of interests in this thing are so glaring I can't express it without sounding stupid. The next time a story comes up like this I guess I will have to just be quiet and watch no matter how mad I get from listening to the radio. Thanks NOAH and everyone involved for giving me one less thing to worry about and for further destroying the benefit of the doubt I was so willing to give. I might be late to the party on that mind set. I think most of the people have already given up on leadership. That could explain that 11% voter turnout the last election. Maybe I am just a dreamer and want everyone to have the same vision for the city that I do. It doesn't matter. Let the talk shows and news media do and say what they will while I go sit somewhere and ponder how we managed to abuse the access we fought so hard to get.

A.P. Tureaud must be rolling over in his grave as we speak.

7 comments:

Please Delete said...

On the other hand, if you were to write out your vision for the city in a clear and concise manner, you would have a platform to use in running for office. Hell, if I still lived down there, I would vote for you. I know of no one who loves that city more than you do. Given the statistics you cited, if you could capture the heart of a mere ten percent of registered voters, you would have a strong chance of winning.

Mark Folse said...

Many people don't want to be disappointed in Nagin or this or that politician or official for many reasons: race, church, section, voted for them, etc.

The sad fact is Nagin's administration is as bad as anything we've had in a generation. We're left to choose between he's an idiot or he's corrupt. It's not a happy place to be if you've given him credit (as I did once, but not for a long while now).

I'm still waiting for the ratio of people who won't stand for this crap anymore to outweight the stay away from my guy or you're a bigot, or whatever it is we're supposed to be, so we can storm down there and demand different benavior. (Note, I understand that behavior, but don't condone it. Don't mess with "our" guy is ultimately no different form assuming "their" guys are all bad:two sides of the same coin, and we can't afford that thinking in this city. We've never had more in common that we have since '05).

As for what James said, I'd vote for you just based on the porch posts.

We are the people we've been waiting for....

Clifton said...

James and Mark,
Thanks but I know my limitations and public office is not for me.

To your point Mark about the ration changing; the problem is that for so long every group that has had wanted power used differences to turn everyone against one another. Now we are at a point that when something happens it is hard to judge the true intent of the people involved even if it's for the greater good. That means when a person is not trying to be racist or elitist and truly is looking out for the city as a whole they have a problem communicating it to everyone in a way to get that point across. Shelly Midura is a perfect example of this. If we don't open this discussion honestly by the next mayor's race we will have the same situation again. All it's going to take is an articulate person who can make the majority paranoid enough to think they are trying to be removed. Progression has to be explained with a broad view.

Clifton said...

Please forgive some of my spelling and grammar in that comment. I was typing half asleep.

Anonymous said...

I just wanna sit on my porch sometimes and watch my neighbors come and go.

In this story everybody loses.

Anonymous said...

NOAH--look no further than Mr. Vincent Sylvain. If you really want to expose this mess then Mr Sylvain involvement with NOAH is a smoking gun.

Kirsten Corby said...

Cliff:

I understand your intial desire to reserve judgment, but as it's developed -- it's bad, man, it's read bad. It has me very despondent.

I don't think Nagin personally is corrupt but I do think he has his head way, way up his ass.