N.O. Mayor Degrading WTC?

[mark440]

Has anyone heard the comment Mayor Ray Negin (sp) made to the 60 Minutes reporter about how come it's taking him so long to rebuild N.O.?
Something to the effect that NYC can't fix a hole in the ground and it's been 5 years.


Thoughts?


*Mark

[nmfire]

Would you expect anything less from Willy Wanka and his chocolate factory?

[Tillerman17]

I haven't heard that comment yet but it wouldn't surprise me if he said it. This guy has been putting his foot in his mouth on a regular basis. What about the comment he made about New Orleans being an all chocolate city. He's just a media nightmare.

[DaSharkie]

The man is a moron. He is a politician. (Realizing that the two are not mutually exclusive.)

The people of New Orleans deserve exactly what they get when they elect a maroon like this twit.

I will not indulge in his "Chocolate City." Ever. Never had a desire to visit New Orleans, and he sure doesn't make me want to ever go there.

[VinnieB]

From New Orleans Newspaper Times-Picaynne
www.nola.com


Nagin takes swipe at NYC in defending local recovery efforts

From staff and wire reports

Apparently annoyed with insinuations that New Orleans’ recovery is lagging, Mayor Ray Nagin takes a swipe at the pace of New York’s redevelopment of the World Trade Center site on a TV news show that will air Sunday.

On a tour of wreckage in the devastated Lower 9th Ward, Nagin said much of the debris has been removed from public property. When a “60 Minutes” correspondent pointed out flood-damaged cars on the streets, Nagin shot back, “You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed, and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair,” according to CBS.

The program is scheduled to air Sunday night. Text and a video clip from the Nagin piece were posted on CBS’ Web site Thursday.

Nagin’s comment apparently rankled some New Yorkers.

The chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency created to oversee the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site and downtown Manhattan, pointed out that New York sent firefighters, police officers and engineers to New Orleans to help in the days after the hurricane.

“We understand how difficult rebuilding a city after such destruction can be,” Chairman Kevin Rampe said.

Rampe said “tremendous progress” has been made in lower Manhattan, with the Freedom Tower, a transportation hub and a memorial to the nearly 3,000 attack victims now under construction.

The agency is set to go out of business this fall after the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack because it has completed its mission, Rampe said.

A spokesman for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said lower Manhattan is thriving.

“Record numbers of people live downtown, and new cultural attractions are making the area a vibrant, 24-hour-a-day community,” Stu Loeser said. “We wish the same bright future for New Orleans and continue to stand ready to provide any help we can, just as we did in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.”

Nagin did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment. His spokeswoman, Ceeon Quiett, offered a more nuanced version of what the mayor intended with his remarks.

“In this time of recovery and rebuilding, perspective is needed to help increase understanding about the journey — not sprint — involved in rebuilding this city,” she wrote. “New York City and New Orleans have experienced tragic devastation and loss of life in historic proportions and rebuilding and recovering will take time. At this sensitive time in our city, it is critical that we maintain our perspective and focus.”

About 22 million tons of construction and demolition debris were created by Katrina. In comparison, Louisiana’s largest landfill handled only 1 million tons of debris in an average year. About 400 other facilities statewide were opened to handle the enormous amount of debris created by the storm and floodwaters.

(Staff writer Gordon Russell contributed to this story. He can be reached at [email protected] or (504) 826-3300.)

[nmfire]

Ya know. I almost hope it the city gets flooded again and the same thing happens again. Just provide busses for all the people who didn't vote for that moron and the rest can stay and rot.

[pvfire424]

If I cared any about what that guy says, said or might say.

I might metion something about the fact that nobody in New York had any warning whatsoever about what happened that particular day. And I might also compare that to the fact that there was at the VERY least 2 days( some say up to four) warning that NO's attacker was coming.


But Since I pay no attention to that guy's ramblings, I wont mention it.


Have a good day.

[KnightnPBIArmor]

If I had any say in the matter you would see Beezlebub tooling around Hades on a Zamboni before another FDNY firefighter set foot on NO soil next hurricane they get....some gratitude...

[LuckyThirteen]

Nagin is an ignorant jack*** anyway you slice it. How he could even dare to try and make a correlation between the two is beyond me. The WTC was caused by vicious outside forces. The catasrophy in N.O. could have been avoided if the governor (yes she's to blame as well) and the mayor forced an evacuation when told to they should at least 2 days in advance.

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

Not helping out

Dont BLAME or PUNISH your fellow Brother and Sister Firefighters because their mayor is an idiot.

[cozmosis]

If I had any say in the matter you would see Beezlebub tooling around Hades on a Zamboni before another FDNY firefighter set foot on NO soil next hurricane they get....some gratitude...

Why is a guy in Georgia worried about what the FDNY does? There were other departments that responded to New Orleans -- a lot of other departments.

Besides, if it only took on ungrateful person to keep firefighters from doing their job -- imagine how many times most cities would have burned by now.

[JenniferCleary]

My thing is, you don't see Mississippi and the other southern states, that took the BRUNT of the storm complaining about it. They stood up on their own two feet and with the help of their neighbors and some good samitarans built their cities back up. They weren't worried about what they were going to wear (Blanco) and worried that their "choclate" citizens were provided school buses instead of Greyhounds to evacuate in style. I was born in Louisiana, and recently visited, it is a disgrace. There are literally FEMA trailers in every front yard, they should be grateful those were even provided, FEMA should put a time limit on how long they can live in them and maybe that will lite a fire under their ***. In the few blocks that I went through, only one house was doing repairs, the others were content, it seemed, living in their FEMA trailer.

I have to agree with NMFire, I would like to see another hurricane hit N.O. and see who's fault it is this time. I'm not saying that I would like to see as many causulties, but come on who are you kidding. You know that your city is below sea level, you know the hurricane is coming, get the Hell out.

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

I know a girl who is a single parent in Lafayettte Louisiana. She is not a wealthy person. After September 11th 2001 she gave twenty bucks towards the purchase of the "Spirit of Louisiana" which was the Ferrara engine that was donated. Dosent sound like much money, but believe me it was a pretty penny to her. We live in a country that has good-hearted, giving people. Lets not let some politicians divide us on things we all should agree on.

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

My thing is, you don't see Mississippi and the other southern states, that took the BRUNT of the storm complaining about it. They stood up on their own two feet and with the help of their neighbors and some good samitarans built their cities back up. They weren't worried about what they were going to wear (Blanco) and worried that their "choclate" citizens were provided school buses instead of Greyhounds to evacuate in style. I was born in Louisiana, and recently visited, it is a disgrace. There are literally FEMA trailers in every front yard, they should be grateful those were even provided, FEMA should put a time limit on how long they can live in them and maybe that will lite a fire under their ***. In the few blocks that I went through, only one house was doing repairs, the others were content, it seemed, living in their FEMA trailer.

I have to agree with NMFire, I would like to see another hurricane hit N.O. and see who's fault it is this time. I'm not saying that I would like to see as many causulties, but come on who are you kidding. You know that your city is below sea level, you know the hurricane is coming, get the Hell out.

Well you and NM are both cruel and stupid.

[scfire86]

I think we are safe in knowing we will never be booking any trips to Sweden to watch Mayor Nagin pick up any prizes.