Speaking of the rebuilding of New Orleans, here's one of its long-time residents:
The new city must be something very different, Mr. Reiss says, with better services and fewer poor people. "Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way: demographically, geographically and politically," he says. "I'm not just speaking for myself here. The way we've been living is not going to happen again, or we're out."
Let's see. How badly has Mr. Reiss been living? Well,
He fled Hurricane Katrina just before the storm and returned soon afterward by private helicopter. Mr. Reiss became wealthy as a supplier of electronic systems to shipbuilders, and he serves in Mayor Nagin's administration as chairman of the city's Regional Transit Authority. When New Orleans descended into a spiral of looting and anarchy, Reiss helicoptered in an Israeli security company to guard his Audubon Place house and those of his neighbors.
Hmm. Doesn't seem like too tough a life to me. Do you suppose the people in the 9th Ward might have liked to have private helicopters?
If I embodied one of the "demographics" this guy doesn't like, I might be a little ticked off by his remarks. I might even consider finding a tumbril or two.
Via Making Light.
Posted by Linkmeister at September 9, 2005 01:56 PM | TrackBackLink:
UGH! Have they no moral decency, this government of ours.
Peace!
Posted by: Night Bird at September 10, 2005 03:28 AMWhy, surely that must mean he's going to pay his housekeeping staff at home and the maintenance staff at his business at least twice minimum wage. Good for him! :\
Posted by: Kate at September 10, 2005 09:30 PMOn further review, maybe he didn't mean it the way the WSJ said it. Note that the "fewer poor people" is not a direct quote.
I say that because Jonathan Alter writes in his column in the current Newsweek as follows:
I have heard it already from Jimmy Reiss, the chairman of the New Orleans regional transportation authority and the head of the city's Business Council. Reiss, whose family came to New Orleans 150 years ago, has been brainstorming with a handful of business leaders to "use this catastrophe as a once-in-an-eon opportunity to change the dynamic" that has crippled New Orleans. "We have the opportunity to build communities from scratch that don't just warehouse people."
So maybe I've misread what he said earlier, or maybe he cleaned it up when talking to a mass-market publication like Newsweek, while letting his hair down for the WSJ. Or maybe the "communities" he has in mind don't have any poor people. Hard to tell.
Posted by: Linkmeister at September 10, 2005 10:31 PMWell, it will be interesting to see the developing dynamic between the 'carpetbaggers' who are envisioning big fat contracts with grand plans for changing the political environment and those who have lived there all their lives. The city's service industry is not going to disappear once the city gets back on its feet. It'll be needed as much as ever and, as far as I could ever determine when I was there, the service industry was mostly comprised of the black community. I hope things are changed for the better without destroying the unique character of the city. Living wages and health care benefits for the service industry workers would be a good place to start.
Posted by: Kate at September 11, 2005 05:24 AM