Last month, I watched as Veronica White announced on Geektv that the City of New Orleans would conduct a survey on recycling needs for a month but through various communications today we noticed that the information is just reaching the ground this week. I emailed Veronica White about this and asked her to consider extending the survey if her data confirmed the need. She reponded immediately and said her department will accept responses for another month. The news is circulating via the Times Picayune and announcements on WWNO. Editor B.  put the link on his site on the 14th so really, it’s just getting around now after a few weeks of her announcing it.  I was excited when I saw it on Geektv but I thought everyone watched Geektv and I thought it wasn’t even newsworthy because I try not to be too repetitive here. I was wrong.  The news of the survey is just now gaining momentum.   So pass it on!

There are four ways you can put in your two-cents on the need/desire to have city-wide recycling in New Orleans;

1) Call the 311 number to do the survey over the phone. Fast.
2) Send it in via snail mail from the T-P.
3) Print it from this Recycling Survey and mail it in via snail mail.  I had hoped you could fill it in electronically, but, I guess not.  Maybe they feel that would skew the stats.   
4)  A survey will appear in your S&WB bill this month too.

So there you go, “‘Tell me what you want, what’cha really, really want!” ala Veronica White!

This is a bit of a rant about my attempts to become a business owner in New Orleans. Please excuse the grammer and such it is a bit of a run on. I am placing it under the cut to keep down on the clutter.
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A friend forwarded me an email of the first Quarterly Report from Court Watch (full email after the jump since it doesn’t appear to be on their website yet). This is the most promising thing I’ve heard in a while. Seems they are training citizen volunteers to sit in on court proceedings and follow them end to end. They’ve just gotten started (June 2007) so they’re a little green but the idea is genius. This is exactly what needed to be done and I’m a little ashamed I wasn’t smart enough to think of it. This is going to tell a story that I’m not sure anyone really sees. I hope they can maintain their objectivity and continue to put out good information as this will allow people to decide for themselves what in the system is broken and fix it with their vote where possible.

A big thank you to the organization and its volunteers. If anyone out there has time to give, this would be, if nothing else, a very interesting project to be involved with.
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Yes, we watched it. And, frankly, I thought it was pretty good. But keep in mind I don’t usually watch prime-time TV. I also have to remember that what passes for reality here in New Orleans would be considered usually far too bizarre for acceptance by a larger TV audience. What we accept daily would be erased, fixed, rejected or otherwise considered out of bounds nearly anywhere else by mainstream society in the US. It’s one of the main reasons we live here.

My 21-year-old son has come up with a drinking game to go along with the show. Basically, the viewer has to take a drihk when:

1) Someone utters a New Orleans idiom (” Where y’at?” “Yeah, you right,” etc) — one drink tonight for using “neutral ground.”

2) When a car chase goes impossibly from one area to another much faster than really possible (such as tonight’s chase from the FQ to Algiers in like 40 seconds).

3) Whenever Katrina or “the storm” is mentioned.

4) Whenever devastated neighborhoods are shown

5) Whenever gunfire erupts (multiple shots from the same gun don’t count).

6) Whenever Louisiana food is presented or mentioned.
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The Fox Network’s national debut of the “gritty cop drama” K-Ville will occur September 17th. The locals have gotten a chance to check out the premiere early, thanks to NOLA.com and the Fox Network.

Normally, I have better things to do than to watch a TV show on the internet. But seeing how life is a puzzle right now for the majority of us, meaning we are still trying to put the pieces back together, I thought I’d watch to see how the show will come across to the rest of the nation.

First, I don’t expect this program to depict life as it is for the majority of us in the city. No one wants to watch that frankly. I watched it as a casual observer really, not trying to focus too much on either how good or how bad the producers/writers portrayed New Orleans.

I was really more interested in how Louis in Topeka or Mary in Idaho would view the show. If we, meaning locals, get too bogged down with the “that’s not how we do it” or “I’ve never seen a criminal that looks like THAT” then we’re not getting what the show could mean to the city/recovery. A cop show in general is that, a cop show. Good guys, bad guys, good cops and maybe a bad cop or two. The basics are in there. Just like Ragu spaghetti sauce, It’s in there!

I’m not a TV critic, (Boy that must a tough gig). But I rather enjoyed the show. Is it perfect? No, not at all. But I did vibe with some of the post katrina takes and think that, as much as can be expected, the people involved are trying to do the right thing. Will it work? Not sure on that one. We all know the Katrina Fatigue excuse that we’ve heard the rest of the country suffers from, so some folks will be turned off right away. But it’s not just about Katrina. It kept me interested enough to want to see what’s next in K-Ville.

Take an hour and watch. See if you think that it’s close to realistic or that it’s just nutty. These aren’t sweet and cuddly cops like all the REAL NOPD officers are. Can a TV show help an area recover? Or will it just shed more bad publicity on our 2-sided sword city?

I watched the YouTube Democratic Debate on CNN the other night. I also have seen bits and pieces on replays on the network since it aired live. I thought the format and idea were actually solid. I liked the questions coming from Joe’s and Jane’s just like you and me. Even though the politicians did not answer every question directly, I thought overall it was informative and different.

One thing stood out to me though and it was disappointing from my view. All of the Democrat candidates generally have “sound bites” about how important New Orleans is and how important the rebuilding of New Orleans will be to them if they are elected to the White House.

If New Orleans is so important to the Democrats then, how come in a two-hour debate, we get ONE question about New Orleans? From someone based in Atlanta? WTF? A generic, what to do about New Orleans question is all we get? Is that where this area will stand in the Democratic pecking order? John Edwards rolling through the 9th ward every time a TV camera turns on and we get one question? From someone living in Atlanta? She may have been relocated there after K but she didn’t make that point. I think if she was from here, she would have said so.

Look I know Iraq is a disaster that we must figure out how to correct. Terrorism, Immigration, Social Security, Race Relations, Health Care etc are all extremely important to this country and how we tackle these issues is a huge question for our future. I don’t expect a two-hour debate that is all about New Orleans. We have to fix things locally before we expect anyone to assist in the future frankly. But I do not expect more questions about what Hillary is wearing or why John Edwards is considered a pretty boy than I do about what this country is doing to rebuild New Orleans.
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Is Paris Hilton out of jail yet? I’ve been a little overwhelmed lately, backed up on the “News” of this country sometimes.

I read in an article about recovery at an Essence Festival forum that OUR MAYOR, C. Ray Nagin stated that he was “getting worn out ” dealing with the recovery. Hmmm, we’ve got 3 more years of this kat and he’s worn out. That’s just too fucking rich. Like a dark chocolate Hershey bar.

Essence weekend was a blast. I sat at the third floor window and just watched the mass of people streaming through the French Market. Thank goodness for a crowd in New Orleans summertime. Too bad the towing trucks were out in full force. Interesting how vehicles with Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas license plates were towed before ANY local one was. Especially considering that 95% of the cars were parked LEGALLY. Maybe that’s wearing C. Ray out, taking tourist cash in what basically amounts to a towing scam.

Senator David Vitter. Man you were supposed to be one of the good guys. Even though your “family values” stance made and continues to make me puke. It is nice though that the Madam of the Canal Street Brothel says Mr. Vitter was a very nice John. Isn’t that special. Good to know he could treat his whores right.

Beware those who want to legislate the way YOU choose to live YOUR life. On either side of the political spectrum. Let me live my life the way I want politicians. Keep your runny ass noses out of my biz, spend my tax money decently and we’ll get along fine. Tell me who I should sleep with and I’m gonna slap that Giddeons bible right outta your hand.
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So Karen and I got the invitation to the Mayor’s State of the City address and the accompanying bus tour of Ed Blakely’s target sites. This was our reaction:

Karen: Did you just get that State of the City e mail?
me: yeah
Karen: wtf
me: junkmail
me: they called me the day I left
or the day after for my address
so some kind of crap is in my mailbox too
Karen: it is crap
just wondering if I am going to go
me: we could
just to give it a chance
I have to go to B.’s for dinner after that
Karen: Good times

So we went. It was pretty much crap. The best part was zooming around the city in the motorcade. We left the DDay Museum and drove in a couple circles in the CBD and then to the Carrollton Sphincter around Gert Town/I-10 and Karen got a call en route that the underpass on Carrollton was flooded and shut. Of course, the motorcade was then stuck and we stopped traffic in the area while we made a couple more circles and sat on a side street while the bus drivers figured out what to do next and Blakely sold the Sphincter to the bus full of low level developers ahead of us.

Then we headed across town to Gentilly where Broad meets the Paris Ave. jog, and stopped at the ‘target area’ shopping center there where it seems the cops stopped at Radio Shack to chat with employees there. Then we went on toTreme to the Circle Market on St. Bernard Ave. It was a long drawn out tour with poor narration. Karen and I could have done a much better job. But Blakely’s poor blokes tried their best to look organized but they told us they were pretty much winging it.

I thought about staying for the speech but I had a better invitation. Dinner at Editor B.’s house, where we watched the speech on tv and decided it was more about Nagin’s running for Governor than about the State of New Orleans.

Xy suggested we start doing shots everytime he said referred to the ‘patient’ metaphor. . . The highlight of the speech for Karen and I was that he used the word pajamas. That might best sum up the the state of the city - Pajama Town.

La, la, la…. I love riding my bike through the Marigny on days like this…. La, la, la…. Hey, Mrs. Leblanc…. Yes, bitch, I’m waving at you–even though you cussed me out last week at Big Daddy’s in front of half a dozen drag queens because you said I was ruining your video poker mojo…. La, la, la…. Yes, gutterpunks, I’m smiling at you–even though you ruined Flora’s years ago. Seriously, people: bathing is not a crime, but I’m moving patchouli to the Controlled Substance list…. La, la, la…. Aw, lookit that poor stray dog–is he wearing a collar? Maybe I should call the SPCA–but not the one in Jefferson Parish…. Hey, wait a minute! What the #$%@? What’s that thing up there, mounted on the telephone pole? Kit, enable macrozoom…. Now, go in closer…closer…. Well, I’ll be damned.

A surveillance camera. In my neighborhood. I’m not quite sure how to feel about that.

Frightened? Not exactly. As a predominantly residential neighborhood on the edge of a commercial district, the Marigny has always been a little dicey. I got used to that decades ago.

Violated? If it were mounted outside my bedroom window, and if New Orleans had the police force to monitor it, maybe. As it is, not so much.

Safer? As if. Having a camera in the neighborhood and having a working camera in the neighborhood are two completely different things.

I was headed out to photograph the latest buildings on the docket for the Historic Conservation District Review Committee and ran into this fire. I was up early and heard the sirens. Apparently, there was a police chase and this Hummer ended up in this building which, subesquently, caught fire. I met the owners on the scene along with their relatives, the building was under repair, they were staying in Carrollton. Reverend Irvin Morgan and his wife Ethel stood by with tears in their eyes watching the tailor’s shop, which they operated out of this corner store property for years, burn to the ground.

Update:Karen and I went back this afternoon to try to photograph a property on our list and there was a police raid going on in an adjacent block. We proceeded around that to talk to the Firemen lingering at the scene. When I was there this morning, firefighters had done a cursory check of the scene and found no human remains. How the driver escaped was a mystery. This afternoon, no one on the scene had any more specific information regarding the situation. They only said, “It’s like Baghdad.” Upon listening to the local news, we have learned that this fire may have been the result of an improvised explose device (IED). As we saw first hand, the investigation into the incident continues. I felt uncomfortable taking photos of the police raid we watched unfold before us today on N. Miro St. out of respect for the NOPD and other agencies at work. We did not want to get caught up in an incident in which our safety, or theirs, was compromised. The Hummer itself had been removed.

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