The long walk to a jail cell is next

The Civil Trial regarding the Crime Cameras concluded with a jury finding for the plaintiffs. Dell Inc, along with former City Technology chief Greg Meffert and firms owned by a city vendor were found guilty of conspiracy against two local firms. The jury awarded Southern Electronics and Active Solutions 16.3 million dollars. The lawyers for the defendants claimed that is was a victory for them due to the fact that the plaintiffs had asked for between 660 million and 2 billion in damages. I guess anything can be spun any way someone likes to spin things, but in my eyes a finding of guilty is a finding of guilty. Not that I expected something different, I pretty much have known for sometime now that Mr. Meffert was a corrupt person and that he was running the City’s Tech Office as his own personal money making machine.

So it comes as absolutely no surprise that U.S. Attorney Jim Letten is going to announce today a over 60 count indictment against Greg Meffert, his wife Linda and former City Tech Chief and business partner for Mr. Meffert, Mark St. Pierre on public corruption charges. This isn’t a shock, but Mr. Meffert’s wife being included is surprising and the amount of counts is a surprise to me as well.

What does this all really mean? We’ll it means either Mr. Meffert, his wife, Mr. St. Pierre or all three will be going to a federal penitentiary at some point in the future. It could also mean that the squeeze is on to bring the Mayor of New Orleans into the fold. At this point that would not be a shock whatsoever. You need to remember that Greg Meffert was the Mayor of New Orleans right hand man. One of his closest confidants and the most powerful person in the Mayor’s administration. You cannot be in charge without knowing that your “guy” is living off city vendors credit cards and getting paid as a consultant that is getting millions and millions of dollars in city contracts, without the Fed spotlight looking at you can you Mr. Mayor? You cannot be riding high in a yacht in Lake Pontchartrain or sitting on a beach sipping Pina Coladas that are being paid for by said contractors and not expect the Feds to question just what the hell is going on at City Hall can you Mr. Mayor?

I find it very very interesting that the Mayor of New Orleans is always willing to give his opinion on things like communism or on “that big hole in the ground” in New York City, but when his chosen Recovery Director (see below) comes out and says New Orleanians are nothing but lazy racists or his hand-picked right hand man is found guilty in a civil trial and is up for indictment on corruption charges, the Mayor of New Orleans is tight-lipped and unavailable for comment. Be ready for that federal knock on your door Mr. Mayor, because it’s a coming your way and nothing can stop that train at this point.

America's most ignorant man

I haven’t been paying attention to the wonderful Mayor of New Orleans lately mainly because he has become irrelevant. No one pays attention to him locally because he is a buffoon. Actually he is the leader of the buffoon’s. Now that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been screwing things up, saying dumb things or attempting to hide his corrupted ways but I just haven’t had the energy to care for the last year.

My ears did perk up last week though when it was announced, 1 hour before he boarded a plane to Cuba, that he was going to Cuba, along with other politicians (all of them of the worthless variety of course) and other in the loop business people, to learn about Hurricane Evacuation techniques from the Communist regime in Cuba. You are reading that right. The Mayor of a major American city flew to Cuba to learn what a police state government does when a Hurricane approaches.

Well it seems that the Mayor of New Orleans learned more than any of us thought was possible. Or maybe he didn’t. In a statement to the Associated Press correspondent in Havana, the Mayor of New Orleans praised Cuban leaders for “knowing their citizens at a very very detailed level,block by block.” Really Mayor of New Orleans? Please tell me why you think that is the case. Is it because that government is so concerned about their safety? Or did you think it’s possible that the Cuban leadership knows so much about it’s citizens on a very detailed level because they keep those citizens on a tight leash and possibly watch every move they make or do not make?

This isn’t the first time that the Mayor of New Orleans has gone to a country with a history of repression. Last year the Mayor of New Orleans traveled to China and stated that he “didn’t see a communist country. There are Chinese people there making serious money.”

I am all for safety. I am all for people evacuating in the face of a hurricane approaching New Orleans. Evacuations in Cuba basically go this way. Get on the bus or you will be shot.  Seeing how this still is America Mr Mayor of New Orleans, I will pass on the “Cuban Evacuation Plan”, thank you very much.

If only the crime cameras had been focused on THIS guy

Jury selection started this past Monday in the civil trial that alleges the City of New Orleans Technology Office basically stole other companies ideas and then tried to sell them to other cities as their own technology. The guy to your left is former technology chief Greg Meffert. During the 2006 mayoral campaign, the radio station met a man named Grant Holcumb. This was maybe 5 months after Hurricane Katrina and the issue of interoperability in communications was a major issue and topic of discussion. Mr. Holcumb had developed a system that basically would have allowed all types of different communication systems to operate openly during times of emergency. I’m not attempting to re-hash old news, just point out that Mr. Holcumb basically accused Greg Meffert of squashing the program because the city had existing deals with Microsoft, which would not have benefited from the open system Mr Holcumb had developed.

Mayor Nagin has touted the current “crime camera” program over and over again as a way to assist the NOPD with not only getting a handle on crime in so-called hot spots throughout the city but also help the police and DA’s office solve crimes. The initial plan was for 1000 cameras throughout the city. Then it became 240 cameras at a proposed cost of 2.6 million. Which wasn’t the case. The IG’s office released a report that stated the city at that point had paid 6.6 million out for far less than 240 cameras. As we have found out recently as well, the cameras that have been installed rarely work because of networking and other issues. It is also my understanding that not one city owned crime camera has lead to a arrest of a suspected criminal of any kind. Privately owned surveillance cameras have given the police more leads than the city owned and installed for 6.6 million dollar cameras have.

The Mayor’s Technology office has been under fire frankly since the interoperability issue came to light. Focus on that office seemed to grow after then local Homeland Security director Col. Terry Ebert stated that he thought the system Mr Holcumb had developed would have worked during Hurricane Katrina and “helped save lives.” The Mayors office didn’t allow any more interviews from Col Ebert after that one. Shocking huh?

The civil suit is just the beginning with the Mayor’s Office of Technology. The Feds are all over that joint like white on rice. Trips paid for by companies receiving city contracts through that office, companies owned by the “Director’s” of the office doing business with basically the office and budgets they controlled. This is the tip of the iceberg with these folks and I would be willing to bet everything I own that some folks who worked or ran that particular city agency will end up in jail for a long time. If only the crime cameras had been working and recording the criminals who were charged with installing the crime camera network.

Who can be this guy in New Orleans?

What is really going on at City Hall in New Orleans? The latest in e-mail-gate is that the City has fired the company it hired to find Mayor Ray Nagin’s missing e-mails. The LTC announced last week that the mayor’s email box had been “intentionally been deleted” by someone with “high-level access”.

Of course the Mayor ‘s office disputes this and instead of handling the situation in a manner that would address citizen’s concerns, in typical Nagin fashion it’s ready, fire, aim. Sadly typical of the way this administration has operated in the last three and a half years.

The administration stated that the LTC breached a confidentially agreement when they announced to the public their findings before the city had the ability to read and address the LTC findings. That may well be the case. The problem comes though from the history of the Mayor himself. About 25% of the city’s population, and frankly that is being generous, believe anything that comes out of Ray Nagin’s mouth. Mayor Nagin dug that hole himself. The mixed messages just on this one issue are enough to make someone’s head spin. The first excuse was that the server crashed, that’s why the e-mails were gone. Then Nagin says all his e-mails are on his desktop from the June 2008 to May 2009. A total of 122 emails I believe was what the Mayor stated. I guess the Mayor wanted people to think that he only received 122 emails in 12 months time. The administration stated yesterday that “there was no server crash”. Huh? Say what? If there was no server crash, then where the hell is the Mayor’s e-mail box?

The interim city technology director says the e-mails can in fact still be retrieved. My question would be to Mr. Harrison Boyd is if that is the case then why is the city hiring companies to find the box. If you know for a fact that they are “on a physical server or a virtual server” Mr. Boyd, go find them. You are the technology director. Shouldn’t you be the one to know how the city’s system works?

This whole situation stinks. This city has reporters who are bulldogs like Woodward & Bernstein from Watergate fame. Good reporters who can don’t give up in pursuit of a story. What this city really needs right now though is a Deep Throat to really let the citizens what the hell is going on at 1300 Perdido Street.

The Ray Nagin Missing E-mail Caper just continues to get better and better. The City of New Orleans went ahead and hired the LTC (Louisiana Technology Council) , well not really hired since they offered to do the work for free, to “find” Ray Nagin’s missing e-mails. You know the e-mails requested by WWL-TV, in a public records request, that the mayor’s office stated “disappeared”.  Well the LTC did their work, dug through everything they could dig through and came up with their conclusion.

The Mayor’s Email Box Was Deliberately Deleted. That was the conclusion. No other e-mail boxes were missing. There was no “server crash” as City Hall claimed back in December. Someone went into the Technology Office and on purpose, deleted the entire folder of emails that were Mayor Nagin’s.

Richard posted Mayor Nagin’s response below. That in itself is a joke. His response of course is to blame the messenger. That wasn’t their duty, to find out why it was the way it was, we just wanted them to not find the emails and move on. That’s basically what Your Mayor, C Ray Nagin is saying.

I can promise you this. Mayor Ray Nagin is in some deep deep doo doo.  The Feds have basically set up shop in City Hall at this point. The Mayor can spin things anyway he wants to try to spin them. At the end of the day though, the Mayor is responsible for what is going on in this city and for the behind the scene dealings going on on Perdido Street. I never thought Mayor Nagin was a criminal until now. Clearly, someone told someone else to intentionally delete every email sent and received from Mayor Nagin’s city e-mail account. Why would someone do that unless they had something to hide?

Well that phrase is actually stated every minute, every hour and everyday in New Orleans but Tales of the Cocktail is something entirely different. Normally I would be blogging about some perceived slight or some moronic decision made by a so-called New Orleans leader but Tales makes even me stop and enjoy a little down time.

I first met Ann Tunnerman, the creator of Tales of the Cocktail, sometime early in 2006. Those early days after Katrina brought people together that may not have ever gotten together before. The radio station was up and running, Ann was a faithful listener and wanted to create a partnership between the station and Tales. We thought the event had potential so we joined up and became part of the event.

Tales of the Cocktail, started in 2002, has become one of New Orleans must-do events of the summer. Locals know that generally, festivals and such are not real wise in the summertime because of the heat but this one is different. How different? Well first, Ann Tunnerman is a marketing genius. I doubt she reads my blog so it’s not like I am kissing butt or something. She has taken this event from a fun humble small start and turned it into something that people from across the country come to our fair city to attend.

Tales of the Cocktail is scheduled from July 8th thru July 12th. Many hotels, restaurants, bars etc are involved in the event so I don’t want to bore you with all of that. You can click the link above and check out all of the events and places. The Hotel Monteleone is the base headquarters though. Events scheduled for the 5 days including mixologists competitions, seminars about cocktails and the creation of cocktails, spirited dinners (which include some of the best restaurants in New Orleans, which also means some of the best restaurants in the country) which are six course dinners that include specialty crafted cocktails that work in conjunction with the fantastic dinner, and of course many many many “tasting rooms”. I don’t really need to explain that do I?

If your a local or a out-of-towner, think about doing some of the events associated with Tales. It is a special event and since New Orleans created the cocktail, what better city than this one to create and host this kind of event?

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin received a ton of heat for his administration’s failure to produce public records request pertaining to his own e-mail and his daily schedule. My personal opinion is that he destroyed the majority of the information requested so something smelly would not come out. But I have no proof so it is what it is. The mayor, I am sure, has learned to not e-mail information that he does not want public and that is his right. I have no problem with that decision. But I do have a problem when the Governor of the great state of Louisiana directs his staff to oppose legislative bills designed to open up the governor’s office to more public access.

I think most level-headed, non corrupt folks/citizen’s understand that not everything in a e-mail should be shown in a public record request. Most people understand that private business information and the like are not necessary for all to read. But by not only limiting the publics’ access to the correspondence of the governors office and attempting to restrict even the limited access now available, Governor Jindal is basically saying that the rules are different for him and his office.

Well you know what Governor Jindal, you are no more important than any other public servant. By you and your office attempting to control what the public knows, it comes across as either you have something to hide or you were a total liar when you ran for this position and asked the people of Louisiana to join you in a crusade to change the way Louisiana does business. Neither stance is a real positive for Bobby Jindal. So why is he choosing to control public access to his office?

I am a observer. I generally sit, listen, watch, wait and soak in everything around me. I found it very interesting that the flight(s) into Texas were very very packed. I also was a little discouraged that the flight coming back to NOLA was half empty. This after the airline had cancelled two other flights into NOLA that were scheduled for later. These were really business flights so what most of us already knew is true, there are no business peeps coming here.

I was at a local restaurant that I have some business dealings with for lunch. About 1:45 a young lady walked in to the establishment to apply for a job. Obviously lots of this going on around the country, nothing realy different except this being New Orleans, the young lady of course did things a little different. Like I said earlier, I observe. I saw her come in, ask the hostess for a application and she made her way to the bar area to fill out her application. This is a high end steak house deep in the heart of the French Quarter. She rolled in with flip flops, capri pants (I had to as a female friend lol) and a wife beater t-shirt. Doubtful she would have gotten a job anyway dressed like that, but the topper was what she brought with her. A big ole bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and a Mountain Dew. She proceeded to snack on the Doritos, taking big guplps of the Dew along the way. When the manager came out to look over her application and to actually interview her, she continued to munch away on the Doritos and swig that Mountain Dew like someone was gonna take it away from her. I wanted to walk over and help myself to a chip, but watching her tear through that bag, I was afraid I would come away with nothing left after the wrist. She didn’t get the job.

Mr. Thomas was convicted of malfeasance in office for accepting a bribe dealing with ciy parking contracts. The total sum was said to be $15,000. In Mayor Nagin’s letter, he states that was a relatively small amount of money. Hmmmm I think many people would consider that more than a small amount.

Of course, Mayor Nagin can ask former President Bush for anything. Pardon’s or whatever. But it becomes a problem when the Mayor of a city with as many issues and problems as this city has, is asking for relief for a guy who stole money. While he was a elected official in the same city you are supposedly rebuilding. It would seem to be just a little crass to try and get a guy out of jail who accepts bribes and kickbacks when the city you were elected to run is receiving millions upon millions of dollars from the federal government. But that’s just me and I like to think I have some moral compass that tells me what is right and what is wrong. Maybe Mayor Nagin’s compass is stuck on S as in stupid.

C’mon down to the Quarter this weekend for the Louisiana Roadfood Festival. Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 7pm on Royal Street, tons will be going on including the World’s Longest Oyster Po’Boy. Music of course will be on hand both days, up and down Royal Street, including Loose Marbles, Lee Floyd Trio and the Doreen Letchens Jazz Band.No charge for the event, but bring some cash cause you will want to taste some of these offerings:

Meat Pies, Crawfish Pies, Fried Catfish, White Beans, Creole Hot Sausage Po’Boys, Jambalaya, Shrimp Remolaude Po’Boys, Gumbo, Smoked Turkey Legs, Cochon de Lait Po’Boy, Red Beans, Alligator Ettoufee, plus tons of sweets, think pralines, snowballs etc…

Proceeds from the food go to the participating restaurants, including Cafe Reconcile

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