I hate to detract from the typically downtrodden mood of this blog, but there is actually some great news to report. Liuzza’s Restaurant has finally re-opened their kitchen. Their bar has been open odd hours for a few months now, but now they are finally doing what they do best– making food. This makes them the first of the Mid-City Creole-Italian holy trinity to open their doors. Mandina’s and Venezia, the other corners of the trinity, do plan to re-open. Rumor has it that Venezia will be open early fall, and down the block, Angelo Brocato’s may open next month.

As is the norm these days, Liuzza’s has a limited menu but all the standards are there; the frenchuletta, some po-boys, their excellent fried pickles, some italian dishes, some New Orleans standards. I am particularly looking forward to trying a new dish on their menu; the Crawfish Telemachus. Liuzza’s is located at 3636 Bienville St, corner of N. Telemachus.

I moved.

For the past 6 months or so I have been commuting to Hammond, LA to go to school at SLU. At first the commute was not that bad because I was able to schedule all of my classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. The hour long drive twice a week was not all that bad. I was driving in a direction and time of the day when traffic was not that bad.

Then I started going to class 5 days a week and I started watching the price of gasoline approach $3. The entire game of commuting was starting to wear me down. Isn’t the reason most people are sticking around New Orleans because they work in the city? Well, not the only reason, but who would want to stick around the craziness of the city just to commute away from it everyday. Well, I thought I was crazy enough to keep doing it.

Then a couple of weeks ago an offer was made to me for a place I could rent for less then what it was costing me to drive everyday. I hesitated for a moment, but it was an offer that I couldn’t refuse. Two weeks ago when I moved up here and spent my first night, I think I actually shed a tear. I was doing the unimaginable. I was leaving New Orleans. I haven’t gone far, and I have been back in the city every weekend since I moved, but the fact is I am not there anymore.

At first I thought that I would have to stop writing for New Orleans Metblog since I am no longer technically living in the city, but after talking it over with Jack – The Big Guy In Charge, it looks like I will continue writing, giving everybody the perspective from up here.

Oh, and on another note, I apologize for the lack of writing lately. The move came suddenly and I have been dealing with all of what moving entails for the past few weeks. I promise I will do better now that I am settled in and my future here at New Orleans MetBlog is settled.

**posting from Hammond**

Many people don’t realize it, but you only have a limited amount of time to file a civil suit for damages in Louisiana. It’s like the Statute of Limitations, but in Louisiana it’s called the Prescriptive Period. Well, you can file a lawsuit any time you want, but the judge will have to dismiss your case if you miss the filing deadline. Most hurricane-related suits for damages will not be viable if they are filed over a year from whenever the date of your injury occurred. It’s getting to be a year since the flood. That means if you have been screwed over by an insurance company, you need to get your lawsuit going or your claim will be prescribed. If you are not sure, you can always voluntarily dismiss your suit, or a particular defendant, later when the facts become clear.

Loyola Law School’s invaluable Law Clinic is holding free seminars on this subject:

Event: Loyola Law Clinic Seminars on upcoming deadlines to file suit on Katrina-related insurance claims
Dates: July 15 from 10 a.m. to noon at St. Jude Shrine at 411 South Rampart Street
July 22 from 10 a.m. to noon at Loyola Law School Room 308
The events are free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Loyola Law Clinic at (504) 861-5590.

Becky Zaheri of Katrina Krewe has sent out some more information that you can use:

Graffiti Removal: In their efforts to clean up the city, Katrina Krewe is partnering with Desire NOLA to fund the services of Operation Clean Sweep, an anti-graffiti task force run by Fred Radtke. Fred is also working in conjunction with the FBI and the NOPD with regards to graffiti. Volunteers please utilize his Graffiti Hotline 914-406-0077 to report graffiti so that, together, we can better address this issue. It is also posted on the Katrina Krewe website, CleanNO.org.

Sign Purchase: Katrina Krewe has purchased 200 official “No Dumping/Littering” aluminum city signs to be installed by the City’s Sanitation Department in targeted areas around town. A recent ordinance was passed raising the fine to $1000 for offenders.

Friday Clean-up: Friday, July 14 – Clean up between 9a-5p at City Park Pelican Greenhouse. See We Kare Wetlands & Fisheries Recovery.

Distribution: Katrina Krewe volunteers are currently presenting local businesses with a “Keep it Klean” spiel, calendar, and a check-off list to be utilized in area maintenance. They could use some helping hands to distribute them, please contact Becky@CleanNO.org if you are willing to help.

Drain Clearing Awareness: Residents, please go out on your curbsides and clear trash away from the drains to allow rain water to flow properly! A clogged-up drain on your street can cause your house to flood. New Orleans Brain Trust Group.

We in New Orleans are faced with numerous frustrating problems. It seems like our government is full of criminals and it’s hurricane season, just for a couple of examples. It is a terrible feeling to see so many bad things happening and to feel powerless and unable to do anything. However, the trash all over this town is something that we can do something about. If you see illegal signs on the neutral ground, you can remove them and dispose of them. If you see some idiot throwing trash out the window of their car, get the license number and report them. If a trash pile sits stinking on your block for a week, call the mayor and the city council and raise hell. If you see a political sign that is still bolted to a wall somewhere, call the candidate and demand that they remove it. We are in the season where it is likely that we may have street-flooding. If there are still piles of trash on the curb, the trash will float down to the drain and plug it up. It’s not just a matter of trash during this time of the year, it’s a matter of public safety.

“I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody.”
– Lily Tomlin

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s Wednesday, and the second issue of the “Friday” Funhouse is late. I’ve come prepared with not one, but two, great excuses. A little late, here it is again, the mixed bag of articles related to New Orleans, Louisiana and general geekitude, with a healthy dose of snark from yours truly.

1. Physicists Find Internet Users Uninterested After 36 Hours

Statistical physicists working in the US and Hungary have found that the number of people reading a particular news story on the web decreases with time by a power law rather than exponentially as was previously thought.

It just means that readership for any given news story goes down like a lead balloon after 36 hours, instead of gently sailing into the horizon. Implication: Keep blogging about New Orleans under the We Are Not Ok tag until your fingers are bloogy stumps. Once you’re done, disinfect, rinse, repeat after 24 hours (for good measure).

2. UNESCO’s Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System Up and Running As Scheduled An American city’s levees and pumping stations, however, are not. Shame, shame, SHAME!

Twenty-six out of a possible 28 national tsunami information centers, capable of receiving and distributing tsunami advisories around the clock have been set up in Indian Ocean countries. The seismographic network has been improved, with 25 new stations being deployed and linked in real-time to analysis centers. There are also three Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) sensors. The Commission for the Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is also contributing data from seismographic stations.

3. ‘Crime Emergency’ Declared In Washington D.C. Following Surge in Crime Hey! Crime Capital is the only thing at which we’re #1. Don’t take that away from us, too, you greedy scum! Speaking seriously, notice that our killings are contained within gangland – we haven’t reached tourists and other visitors with our 38-pills yet.

Fourteen people have been killed since July 1 in the District, in all quadrants of the city, and police are being pressured to take action by residents at community meetings and vigils to honor the dead … The victims included a popular store owner slain at closing time, a community activist killed in a park and a British citizen whose throat was slit in Georgetown.

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Another episode of the Funhouse pour vous, just under the wire. More on Friday – I promise – to make up for your frustration, tears and gnashing of teeth from this past weekend.

Ladies and gentlemen, you may never see such words again in print:

Acting on the advice of her appointed state poet laureate, Gov. Kathleen Blanco announced Tuesday she has rejected a Prairieville poet’s literary offering as the state’s official poem….

more at NOLA.com

So, not only has a work of literature been quite literally vetoed, but an elected official has actually conversed with a poet laureate. Those of you in hell might wanna grab a sweater and some snow boots.

In case you missed it, here’s the poem in question, which was approved by this slim volume of legislation put forward by Republican Mert Smiley of St. Amant:

I love my Louisiana
She’s so colorful in her history
so majestic in her pride
with beauty unsurpassed
like any other of its kind.
She seems to be like a soulful mate
that stands here by my side.
This brings me special confidence
to know that she is mine.
I love my Louisiana
with all her charms and queenly ways,
yet she blushes when in bloom.
God’s sunshine surely kissed her
for He blessed her cup so full.
You can even feel her radiance
on her rainy gloomy days
for you know that on the morrow
the sun will clear the haze.
I love my Louisiana.
I propose this toast toward her
with my meager pen in hand.
I somehow feel so primitive
to her majesty so grand.

–James Ellis Richardson