Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

[Nikkibar AT aol.com]

For the last few weeks I have not been following the list traffic, having my hands full with Katrina problems. I dunno who Mr. Pauley and Mr. Mitchell are, but their mean spirited criticisms of the New Orleans City administration should not go uncontradicted. The present city administration is not by any means omnipotent or omniscient, but they are neither corrupt nor incompetent.

 

For years we ( and by we I mean me personally, the Louisiana Government Administrations since 1927 and innumerable New Orleans City Administrations) have been trying to get the Federal Government and the Corps of Engineers to upgrade the levee and flood-wall protection system and for years they have been pooh poohing the pleas and saying that we were simply trying to porkbarrel our way to undeserved wealth. This comment is not by way of blame shifting of the kind that is presently going on over the acute emergency issues where the feds are blaming Blanco and Ngin and Blanco and Nagin are blaming the Feds. No, here I am discussing the CHRONIC problem that is at the root of the destruction of the city in the flood protection area -- and that is what is started all the other woes downhill with the gangs and all the other acute woes. The fact is that the Feds (by whom I include Congress and the Executive branch) and the Corps have sole and exclusive control over these functions and they guard their prerogatives very jealously.

 

As a matter of fact the City administration did rather a superb job of managing the evacuation, and would have come up aces had not that flood wall failed. So please be a bit more circumspect before attributing incompetence and corruption to folks you know nothing about.

 

Nikki Barranger