RIGHT-WING IDEOLOGY STALLS
KATRINA RECONSTRUCTION

Right-wing ideology which doesn’t work and government inaction at all levels have stalled reconstruction of New Orleans and much of the rest of the Gulf Coast two years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed them, say a progressive think-tank and two influential lawmakers

In a report and a telephone press conference, the Center for America’s Future, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-S.C.) laid much of the blame on the GOP Bush regime.

That’s because, they said, Bush imposes Right Wing ideas on the Crescent City. They include virtual destruction of the city’s public schools, privatization of public services, using the “market” to determine construction of new housing and eliminating basic services such as hospitals and buses.

But the services haven’t been established, the houses haven’t been built, most of schools are still wrecked and closed and at least one-third of New Orleans’ population--virtually all African-American in what was a 62% African-American city--is still in exile.

AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney was slightly less caustic. “Today, on the 2-year anniversary of Katrina, we are reminded of all that has been lost in America,” he said on August 29. “We are reminded of unprecedented indifference shown to working families by the current occupant of the White House.”

Clyburn, Waters and think-tank Director Robert Borosage noted that Bush named his political czar, Karl Rove, to oversee reconstruction, while other Republicans openly wanted a smaller, whiter city. “I think it would be interesting to see if Rove consciously decided to take 200,000 black voters out,” Borosage said.

Key to that change is not building new houses, especially for the poorer residents whom Katrina hit hardest, said Waters, who chairs a House Housing subcommittee. She has literally had to have her staffers camp in the offices of Bush’s Housing and Urban Development Department to try to get the agency to move to return New Orleans residents to rebuilt public housing. A recent court suit may also get HUD to move.

“This administration’s unwillingness to rehabilitate housing units is holding up everything,” Waters said by speakerphone from New Orleans, where she was on yet another information tour. Among projects delayed: The AFL-CIO’s $750 million plan to construct affordable manufactured housing for displaced residents--and training them.

“The administration just didn’t even want to listen to them,” Waters noted.

“And New Orleans infrastructure needs more help from the federal government,” she added. That would begin with a guarantee the new levees to be built will actually protect the city from the highest-force Category 5 hurricane that could hit it. Katrina was Category 5 but weakened to a Category 3 storm by the time it hit New Orleans. But its storm surge smashed holes in the poorly built levees, flooding much of the city.

“And New Orleans infrastructure needs more help from the federal government,” she added. That would begin with a guarantee the new levees to be built will actually protect the city from the highest-force Category 5 hurricane that could hit it. Katrina was Category 5 but weakened to a Category 3 storm by the time it hit New Orleans. But its storm surge smashed holes in the poorly built levees, flooding much of the city.

Those reconstruction projects are delayed, she said, by the Bush regime’s insistence on privatization of public services, cuts in the unionized bus system, and use of private and/or charter schools rather than public schools.

Deconstruction of the New Orleans Public School system--it was replaced by a state-run authority--also led to the firing of hundreds of unionized teachers and school workers, members of the Teachers local there. Sweeney said that despite the firings, the local, formerly headed by present AFT Vice President Nat LaCour, is reorganizing.

“The private conservative movement has moved in and there’s a lot of privatization of education,” Waters warned.

Clyburn cited another ideological roadblock to the reconstruction. Unlike other cities hit by huge disasters, the feds require New Orleans to put up 10% “matching funds” for reconstruction projects. But with fewer people, deserted land and ruins everywhere in what was a poor city to begin with, it can’t, he said. It’s broke.

“The administration depends on a tax break philosophy” to help businesses revive in New Orleans, Borosage added. “But a modern urban society depends on modern public infrastructure. There’s a cynical political calculation” by Rove “not to bring people back” by not rebuilding the facilities they need. Businesses don’t return.

Clyburn claimed New Orleans residents’ attitudes towards the federal response are changing, due to oversight hearings and pressure from the new Democratic-run 110th Congress. It has held 30 hearings so far on what went wrong. Before that, a year ago, area residents “were angry and lashed out,” he said.

But even with the pressure, there are still problems. Waters pointed out the HOPE program, which is supposed to get people back into their homes by establishing the value of what was wrecked and paying them at least part, to rebuild, has handed out few grants. And HUD promised to rehab 3,000 public housing units, but reneged.