Gentilly Girl- a part of the 99%

February 7, 2007

Road Home “Bill of Rights”

Filed under: New Orleans,Think New Orleans — Tags: , — Morwen Madrigal @ 2:05 pm

Thank the Goddess for the good folks of CHAT (Citizens Road Home Action Team). They have been working hard to clear up the murky soup that is the Road Home Program.

From the T-P:

A newly formed group advocating for Road Home grant applicants has released “Bill of Rights,” which it calls “minimal guarantees that we believe grant applicants deserve.”
The document comes from the Citizens Road Home Action Team, or CHAT, and seeks to prod more efficient delivery of federal grants from the $7.5 billion hurricane aid program to owners of flooded homes and rental properties. In the short time since the group formed, it has succeeded in getting several policies it believes will smooth the application process.
CHAT’s bill of rights:
I. The right to the complete rules of the program.
II. The right to timely processing of your application.
III. The right to a fair and swift resolution of errors, disputes, and appeals.
IV. The right to a fair and accurate calculation of your benefits and tender of your award (acceptance of grant money without losing the right to dispute resolution and appeal).
V. The right to simple, fair, and easily understood closing papers.
VI. The right to simple and fair rules for lenders to administer grant funds (disbursement accounts) that make it easier to rebuild, not more difficult.
VII. The right to accurate information about the status of your application by informed and trained personnel within 24 hours of your request.
VIII. The right to reasonable residency requirements for grants and loans and fair rules for grant benefit assignment or compensation if you must sell your home.
IX. The right to receive sufficient affordable or forgivable loans to enable you to rebuild or repair if you have a low pre-storm appraised value.
X. The right to have the disposition of LRA-acquired RHP properties benefit grantees and the neighborhoods in which such properties are located, with neighborhood input in the process.

August 11, 2006

Rising Tide Convention!

Filed under: Civic Blogging,Event,New Orleans,Think New Orleans — Tags: , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 7:47 pm

Rising Tide’s Convention schedule is now available. Please plan to attend, or else.

August 4, 2006

UNOP is Insane

Oh my yes! The so very “democratic” UNOP Plan… freakin’ B/S!!! I can fuck their voting system 10,000 ways from Sunday.

This is another facet of the screw-job that the people of New Orleans are getting from the State and our local morons in our city guv’mit. These monies were given to the people as part of the Reparations due to the failure of the Feds’ botched levee job, and they are skewing the system for those whom Congress DID NOT INTEND THESE FUNDS FOR.

Alan at Think New Orleans has the story straight on the latest round in the battle:

Outsourcing Democracy

Summary

The citizens of New Orleans have been asked to choose the planners that will guide them through the process of developing a city wide plan for rebuilding. The method to record the response of the neighborhoods is an online poll. The online poll is open to fraud.

  • Suffrage is determined by the possession of an email address.
    • For many residents an email address is very difficult to obtain.
    • For anyone with knowledge of email, infinite unique addresses can be generated instantly.
  • An email address does not define a resident of New Orleans.
    • Anyone can vote without any indication of residency in New Orleans, let alone a specific neighborhood or planning district within New Orleans.
    • Anyone on the Internet can vote, even people living in other countries.

It is a childish implementation of a poll, easily gamed, impossible to verify.

This voting is being conducted under the contract of an architectural firm, Concordia, LLC. It presents and obvious conflict of interest.

Any neighborhood, dissatisfied with the results of a process that hinges upon this poll, can reasonably insist that the results of this poll be discarded.

Link

June 22, 2006

Festival of Neighborhoods- June 24th

Filed under: Community Planning,Gentilly,New Orleans,Think New Orleans — Tags: , — Morwen Madrigal @ 3:04 pm

Be there, or be square.

Festival of Neighborhoods

June 16, 2006

I Fuckin’ Stand… A Rant

Filed under: Civic Blogging,New Orleans,Progressive News,Think New Orleans — Tags: , — Morwen Madrigal @ 5:19 am

Today i posted a piece from “People Get Ready” about a Planning thing that’s going to screw us. Talked with the Prez of the GCIA, and none of us knew about this shit. I’m now in a very evil mood, and I’m gonna spill my vitrol.
I helped found the GCIA, all out of care for my neighbors. I sat in SoCal going crazy out of worry for N.O. for months. Now I see the freakin’ carpetbaggers slimeing their way to Bethlehem at our expense. This cannot stand.

This is Bushite crap…. fucking money. The death of a country I have always treasured, that I fought for. What about the folks that used to live here? Betty and I have options, what about the rest? Where is the Social Contract? Where is the agreement that we all supported as Americans?

I have no hatred towards people in other parts of the country, even if they want to write us off. That’s their choice, and I’ll return the favor when they get screwed. Fair is fair, right?

My fight is with the freakin’ gov’ment, on all damn levels. I’m sick of Halliburton, Dollar Bill, the Shrub, and all this crap from Washington. We have a Govenor that will screw all of us to the wall for political gains, Congress people we can’t trust, and corperations willing to steal our lives and homes to benefit their non-working shareholders.

I have been working since I was 13. Gave 9 years to the Navy and my beloved America. Suffered the indignity of the Eisenhower Culture that “built” me when I was a baby so I’d be “normal”. Spent decades fighting for “just folks”. Now we are facing this Battle for New Orleans and our souls. When can we have some peace?

Our city is destroyed. People wander with a thousand mile stare. Suicides abound. The money vampires hover over our shattered culture. We are all lost in so many ways. We don’t deserve this.
Do you want this for your home? How about your parents? Your children? Your friends and lovers?

I know I keep mentioning the Social Contract. This is what allows us to have a Culture, to take care of each other. To have our lives and dreams. To realize our potentials. To feel safe within our lives.

Where is the Social Contract now?

I know that I’m pissing many folks off, but I’m not going to quit. I will be what should be your conscience. You can hate my guts, but I’m going to be the good Jeffersonian, a Patriot, and it’s going to be in everyone’s faces. We need a fuckin’ Revolution in this country. The status quo must go… we need a new mindset. We need to become a humane culture again. We need change.
This is where I stand.

June 14, 2006

Geek Dinner

Filed under: New Orleans,Think New Orleans — Tags: — Morwen Madrigal @ 6:10 pm

Okay, I’m in contact with Stormhoek winery, and it’s time to have a Geek Dinner. Where would you folks like to meet up?

I’m thinking possibly EAT NOLA at Dumaine and Dauphine (used to hold Socials there.). Maybe Chartre’s Cafe next to One-Eyed Jacks. Angeli’s could work too. (I don’t get out much. LOL)
How many are there of us?  Email me at Dark_Maiden@bellsouth.net and let’s put this baby together.

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