Thursday, August 7, 2008
A Crying Shame
From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Doris Grandpre knows exactly who gutted her 7th Ward house last year, then helped her start rebuilding the single shotgun where she lived for three decades before Hurricane Katrina.
"There was David. You got Christopher. Then there was Jason. Oh, and Simon," Grandpre, 76, said this week, recalling the student volunteers who came from Boston and Seattle to tear out her plaster walls and save the few precious items the flood did not destroy.
"I call them my little angels," she said.
It appears, however, that another crew has taken credit for demolition work at Grandpre's house. City records show that Hall & Hall Enterprises, the highest-paid contractor in Mayor Ray Nagin's home remediation program, billed the city $7,830 for gutting and boarding up the house and cutting the grass at the St. Anthony Street property.
The house is one of at least seven addresses that appear on two lists detailing post-storm remediation. One list belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana's Office of Disaster Response, which organized volunteers from across the country to come to New Orleans and provide free home remediation services, such as gutting and boarding up homes, to residents in need of help.
The level of corruption, incompetence, and lack of oversight by the city officials in New Orleans is mind-boggling. Think FEMA on a smaller scale. No wonder folks get Katrina fatigue. The Jericho Road program of the the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana works to provide housing for the people of New Orleans and organize the many volunteers who have given generously of their time and talents, and both groups have done great work, only to have contractors paid for work they did not do.
On Tuesday the Times-Picayune reported:
Stacey Jackson, the embattled former director of a city-financed program [NOAH] aimed at easing blight, bought four blighted properties herself through another city program two years ago but has done little or nothing to get them back into commerce.
Just last month, a company controlled by Jackson and her sister sold one of the four properties, an empty double lot at 1925-31 Sixth St., to a charity group that has been praised by City Hall and others for building new homes for first-time buyers in Central City.
The charity, Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative, paid Jackson's company $20,000 for the land, three times what Jackson paid for it in 2006. As it happens, Jericho Road had been trying to get control of the land back then, but lost out to Jackson.
In fact, Jericho Road thought it had the property in 2006, having been awarded it by City Hall under a program designed to give nonprofit groups land adjudicated to the city because of unpaid taxes. But as the Jericho Road was trying to clear title to the Sixth Street property, the group learned the land was unavailable because Jackson had already staked a claim on it with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, according to Brad Powers, Jericho Road's executive director.
Powers, whose group has built about 17 houses in the neighborhood since Hurricane Katrina, said he is glad Jericho Road finally purchased the double lot, where it will build two houses. But Powers said he regrets that the difference in the 2006 price and the 2008 price will accrue to Jackson, when his group could have spent it instead on building more affordable housing.
"Is it painful to have to spend $20,000" knowing the history? he asked rhetorically. "Yes, it's painful."
I'm sure it's painful, and it's a travesty that this sort of operation was allowed to continue for so long. How about reparation money from Stacey Jackson to the Jericho Road program? I'll wager my blood pressure soared to new heights as I wrote this post.
I hope that this news does not discourage the workers and volunteers in the Jericho Road program. From this one relatively small program, the result is 17 families in homes of their own, with more to come.
Doris Grandpre knows exactly who gutted her 7th Ward house last year, then helped her start rebuilding the single shotgun where she lived for three decades before Hurricane Katrina.
"There was David. You got Christopher. Then there was Jason. Oh, and Simon," Grandpre, 76, said this week, recalling the student volunteers who came from Boston and Seattle to tear out her plaster walls and save the few precious items the flood did not destroy.
"I call them my little angels," she said.
It appears, however, that another crew has taken credit for demolition work at Grandpre's house. City records show that Hall & Hall Enterprises, the highest-paid contractor in Mayor Ray Nagin's home remediation program, billed the city $7,830 for gutting and boarding up the house and cutting the grass at the St. Anthony Street property.
The house is one of at least seven addresses that appear on two lists detailing post-storm remediation. One list belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana's Office of Disaster Response, which organized volunteers from across the country to come to New Orleans and provide free home remediation services, such as gutting and boarding up homes, to residents in need of help.
The level of corruption, incompetence, and lack of oversight by the city officials in New Orleans is mind-boggling. Think FEMA on a smaller scale. No wonder folks get Katrina fatigue. The Jericho Road program of the the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana works to provide housing for the people of New Orleans and organize the many volunteers who have given generously of their time and talents, and both groups have done great work, only to have contractors paid for work they did not do.
On Tuesday the Times-Picayune reported:
Stacey Jackson, the embattled former director of a city-financed program [NOAH] aimed at easing blight, bought four blighted properties herself through another city program two years ago but has done little or nothing to get them back into commerce.
Just last month, a company controlled by Jackson and her sister sold one of the four properties, an empty double lot at 1925-31 Sixth St., to a charity group that has been praised by City Hall and others for building new homes for first-time buyers in Central City.
The charity, Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative, paid Jackson's company $20,000 for the land, three times what Jackson paid for it in 2006. As it happens, Jericho Road had been trying to get control of the land back then, but lost out to Jackson.
In fact, Jericho Road thought it had the property in 2006, having been awarded it by City Hall under a program designed to give nonprofit groups land adjudicated to the city because of unpaid taxes. But as the Jericho Road was trying to clear title to the Sixth Street property, the group learned the land was unavailable because Jackson had already staked a claim on it with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, according to Brad Powers, Jericho Road's executive director.
Powers, whose group has built about 17 houses in the neighborhood since Hurricane Katrina, said he is glad Jericho Road finally purchased the double lot, where it will build two houses. But Powers said he regrets that the difference in the 2006 price and the 2008 price will accrue to Jackson, when his group could have spent it instead on building more affordable housing.
"Is it painful to have to spend $20,000" knowing the history? he asked rhetorically. "Yes, it's painful."
I'm sure it's painful, and it's a travesty that this sort of operation was allowed to continue for so long. How about reparation money from Stacey Jackson to the Jericho Road program? I'll wager my blood pressure soared to new heights as I wrote this post.
I hope that this news does not discourage the workers and volunteers in the Jericho Road program. From this one relatively small program, the result is 17 families in homes of their own, with more to come.
Comments Disappear
Is anyone else on Blogger having problems with comments disappearing? I know that they come in, because I get an email for each comment, but they don't show up on the blog, or they disappear after posting. I don't want folks to think I'm deleting their comments. My post "Colonialism and Anti-Colonialism" had comments, and now they're gone. Note to all: It's not me. It's Blogger
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Another Anniversary
Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, and we remember with great sadness the bombing of Hiroshima. Today is also the seventh anniversary of the now well-known, but ignored at the time, Presidential Daily Briefing, titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”
Bush was at the ranch in Crawford and remained there throughout August, cutting brush, jogging, celebrating his birthday, and reading books. What's the big deal, right?
Thanks for the memory to Think Progress.
Feast Of The Transfiguration
Transfiguration - Lorenzo Lotto, 1510-12
Luke 9:28-36
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings,* one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen;* listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
From Fr. John Dear's sermon on the vigil of the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 5, 2005.
Tomorrow, we commemorate two events, one a great holy event, the other an evil, demonic event. On the one hand, we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus, when he was revealed as the face of the God of peace, as he exploded with the spiritual power of inner nonviolence and unconditional love into the light of the world, the fullness of love and peace for the whole human race. So beautiful!
On the other hand, we remember that 60 years ago, our country dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and vaporized 140,000 people in a flash and did it again three days later in Nagasaki. Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker, called our bombing of Hiroshima, "the anti-transfiguration," and said in effect that we have rejected Jesus' loving nonviolence, and created our own demonic light, the blast of the bomb, the dark cloud, and instead of bringing light and peace to the human race, we are bringing death and destruction to all.
....
First, we have to recognize and name, that we live in the culture of the anti-transfiguration.
....
And this anti-transfiguration culture is trying to instruct us, the church, on sin and morality, telling us what is right and wrong, distracting us from the criminal, immoral, and sinful murder of 130,000 Iraqis in the last two years or the development of these weapons at Los Alamos. Unfortunately, many people in the church are being misled by the culture of the Bomb. So like Dorothy Day, we have to be clear about our predicament.
Second, I would say, because of this, because of our story, we are called to go forth into this culture to fulfill Jesus' mission of Transfiguration nonviolence.
....
I think that as his followers, our job is to carry on that mission of transfiguration nonviolence, to follow Jesus down the mountain, confront systemic injustice, and go with him to the cross with perfect nonviolent, forgiving, suffering love.
How do we do this? The voice from the cloud says first we have to listen to Jesus which means we have to take time every day...to hear what Jesus is saying to us, and then go and do it.
And when we listen to Jesus, we hear a few simple commandments: Love one another; love your neighbor; forgive one another; be as compassionate as God; seek first God's reign and God's justice; do unto others as you would have them do unto you; put down the sword and Love your enemies." That is the mission for the rest of our lives.
PRAYER
O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.
READINGS
Psalm 99 or 99:5-9;
Exodus 34:29-35
2 Peter 1:13-21
I am not a pacifist. I am not courageous enough to be a true pacifist. I wish I were. Pacifism is not talking about hating war and linking to Fr. John's web site on my blog. Pacifism is active. It's "getting in the way" as the Christian Peacemaker teams do when they put themselves between the warring parties and risk being kidnapped, like the four team members in Iraq, with one of their number, Tom Fox, being killed.
It's Fr. John hammering on an F15 nuclear fighter bomber in an effort to "beat swords in plowshares," according to the biblical vision of the prophet Isaiah, and going to jail for civil disobedience and destroying property.
No, I am not in their company. God bless and keep them and all who strive for peace and justice.
Note: Reposted from the feast day last year.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
From Elizabeth Kaeton At Telling Secrets
Elizabeth Kaeton at her blog, Telling Secrets, has two extraordinary posts here and here. Elizabeth attended Lambeth as President of the Episcopal Women's Caucus.
Both Elizabeth and Susan Russell raised my hopes about the good that will flow from Lambeth 2008. Credit is due to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the structure of the conference around the retreat, the Daily Bible Study, the plenaries, daily Eucharist, and the indaba groups, which included deep listening with the result that the members actually heard what the others in their group were saying. In addition, within the small indaba groups, the members formed close relationships which will not be lost because of distance once they return home.
I won't attempt to choose excerpts from Elizabeth's posts. I urge you to read them in their entirety.
Both Elizabeth and Susan Russell raised my hopes about the good that will flow from Lambeth 2008. Credit is due to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the structure of the conference around the retreat, the Daily Bible Study, the plenaries, daily Eucharist, and the indaba groups, which included deep listening with the result that the members actually heard what the others in their group were saying. In addition, within the small indaba groups, the members formed close relationships which will not be lost because of distance once they return home.
I won't attempt to choose excerpts from Elizabeth's posts. I urge you to read them in their entirety.
Anti-Colonialism Or Colonialism?
From Priyamvada Gopal at the Guardian:
The Bishop of Uganda has taken a tough line on the British empire. Henry Orombi has denounced the Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to invite some pro-gay American clergy to the Lambeth conference as a "remnant of British colonialism". He and his fellow Ugandan bishops have refused to attend the conference as an act of passive resistance to the "clear violation of biblical teaching".
....
This kind of tendentious anti-colonialism, coming from quarters not otherwise known for radicalism, is part of a phenomenon that might be called the "blacking" of homophobia. This dismaying process has made it acceptable for some members of cultural and ethnic minorities not only to articulate intolerant views (which they would not accept if directed against themselves), but to have these prioritised in the name of religious sensitivities and cultural difference.
....
The tragedy for the larger Anglican communion is that the intolerance once spread abroad in the name of Christianity has now returned to haunt and hold back its laudable attempts to move forward. But in undoing this colonial legacy, it should not be deterred by false accusations of colonialism. Hatred is not love and homophobia is not anti-colonialism.
Please read the whole column. It's quite good. It's amazing to me that those who have experienced prejudice, exclusion, and even persecution can sign on so to supporting the very same treatment towards another group. You'd think they'd learn from their own experiences.
The Bishop of Uganda has taken a tough line on the British empire. Henry Orombi has denounced the Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to invite some pro-gay American clergy to the Lambeth conference as a "remnant of British colonialism". He and his fellow Ugandan bishops have refused to attend the conference as an act of passive resistance to the "clear violation of biblical teaching".
....
This kind of tendentious anti-colonialism, coming from quarters not otherwise known for radicalism, is part of a phenomenon that might be called the "blacking" of homophobia. This dismaying process has made it acceptable for some members of cultural and ethnic minorities not only to articulate intolerant views (which they would not accept if directed against themselves), but to have these prioritised in the name of religious sensitivities and cultural difference.
....
The tragedy for the larger Anglican communion is that the intolerance once spread abroad in the name of Christianity has now returned to haunt and hold back its laudable attempts to move forward. But in undoing this colonial legacy, it should not be deterred by false accusations of colonialism. Hatred is not love and homophobia is not anti-colonialism.
Please read the whole column. It's quite good. It's amazing to me that those who have experienced prejudice, exclusion, and even persecution can sign on so to supporting the very same treatment towards another group. You'd think they'd learn from their own experiences.
Reflections From Susan Russell
From Susan's blog, An Inch At A Time. Susan Russell is President Of Integrity USA.
There were many good things that happened in Canterbury between July 16 and August 3:
Despite the dire predictions of a coup d’état, instead of an outbreak of schism there was an outbreak of civility. The interactions between the bishops over their two-week conference were marked by generosity and by a holy curiosity and genuine interest in learning from each other about mission and ministry in the various parts of the global communion. Building on those relationships – one-on-one, diocese by diocese, year by year – will continue to build up the bonds of affection that make up the fabric of this global communion of which is our Anglican family of faith.
....
I also want to note those bishops who do not agree with the inclusive perspective we understand to be God’s will for this church and yet stood in solidarity with us against those who would divide us from each other and from our Anglican brothers and sisters. +Duncan Gray (Mississippi) and +Charles Jenkins (Louisiana) are but two who spoke publicly and eloquently in that regard … and I know there were others.
Thanks be to God for the words of Bishop Gray and Bishop Jenkins (my bishop).
And yet, at the 11th hour -- in his final Presidential Address and at the Press Conference following -- +Rowan Williams managed to snatch the defeat of a guarantee that issues of human sexuality will stay on the front burner of communion discourse for the foreseeable future out of the jaws of the victory of a conference what was on the verge of finding a new way forward in faith for those committed to walk together in spite of their differences.
By pushing his preference that the American and Canadian churches abide by the moratoria on blessings of same sex unions and the consecration of any more openly gay bishops, he undid in a two-hour span a good percentage of the good work that had been accomplished over the two- week conference.
My thoughts exactly on the final Presidential Address. I'll very likely do a post with further thoughts on the Archbishop of Canterbury's address, but I choose first to give you Susan's early reflection on Lambeth, because it is is excellent. Please don't stop here. Read all of Susan's post.
There were many good things that happened in Canterbury between July 16 and August 3:
Despite the dire predictions of a coup d’état, instead of an outbreak of schism there was an outbreak of civility. The interactions between the bishops over their two-week conference were marked by generosity and by a holy curiosity and genuine interest in learning from each other about mission and ministry in the various parts of the global communion. Building on those relationships – one-on-one, diocese by diocese, year by year – will continue to build up the bonds of affection that make up the fabric of this global communion of which is our Anglican family of faith.
....
I also want to note those bishops who do not agree with the inclusive perspective we understand to be God’s will for this church and yet stood in solidarity with us against those who would divide us from each other and from our Anglican brothers and sisters. +Duncan Gray (Mississippi) and +Charles Jenkins (Louisiana) are but two who spoke publicly and eloquently in that regard … and I know there were others.
Thanks be to God for the words of Bishop Gray and Bishop Jenkins (my bishop).
And yet, at the 11th hour -- in his final Presidential Address and at the Press Conference following -- +Rowan Williams managed to snatch the defeat of a guarantee that issues of human sexuality will stay on the front burner of communion discourse for the foreseeable future out of the jaws of the victory of a conference what was on the verge of finding a new way forward in faith for those committed to walk together in spite of their differences.
By pushing his preference that the American and Canadian churches abide by the moratoria on blessings of same sex unions and the consecration of any more openly gay bishops, he undid in a two-hour span a good percentage of the good work that had been accomplished over the two- week conference.
My thoughts exactly on the final Presidential Address. I'll very likely do a post with further thoughts on the Archbishop of Canterbury's address, but I choose first to give you Susan's early reflection on Lambeth, because it is is excellent. Please don't stop here. Read all of Susan's post.
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