The Super Bowl Saints, Katrina and Corruption
Feel-Good Stories Won’t Rebuild A City
BY CHRIS FREIND
“FREINDLY FIRE”
Off the bat, let’s get a few things straight:
1) New Orleans is a one-of -a-kind city. It should be on everyone’s list to visit at least once.
2) Despite the fact that the Colts will always be Baltimore to me, I am rooting for Indianapolis in the Super Bowl. And not because I am a Manning fan, but due to the nauseating media coverage that if the Saints win the Big Game, that will somehow heal all wounds from Hurricane Katrina.
Gimme a break.
When will people stop living in a fantasy land and speak the truth about what really happened before, during and after Katrina hit? The reality is that, regardless of whether the Saints win, New Orleans is still at risk and will continue to be until the people wake up, and no victorious football team or the infinite number of feel-good puff pieces about NFL players will change that.
People are entitled to their own opinion, but they aren’t entitled to their own set of facts. And here are the facts:
Louisiana in general, and New Orleans in particular, are among the most corrupt places in the country. This is nothing new, and residents have known this for generations. It has become such an ingrained part of the landscape that people have accepted it as a part of life. That’s their choice, but they shouldn’t turn around and expect the rest of the American taxpayers to foot the bill because their corrupt way of life finally caught up with them.
Everyone knows that New Orleans sits in a floodplain, with most of the city below sea level. So in order to protect the Crescent City, a series of levees were constructed. Rather than do the right thing, however, which would have been to follow recommendations designed to protect the city from Category Four or Five hurricanes, many state and city officials thought that diverting levee money to other projects would be a wiser course.
And since much of that funding came from taxpayers in the other 49 states, why not? It’s always a lot more fun to spend OPM— “other people’s money.”
You know kind of worthwhile projects I’m referring to — important ones that put the security of people and property ahead of all else.
Like millions for a Mardi Gras fountain. Fountains have water, and levees are related to water, so who could argue?
Or riverboat gambling schemes. Boats float, so they could just rise right along with hurricane storm surges while people continue to gamble.
Or a host of other projects, like green space, commercial buildings, and….the list goes on. And on, and on.
Because for decades New Orleans dodged the direct-hit hurricane bullet time and again, with storms diverting at the last minute and the city being spared, proper preparations still weren’t made. Many felt they didn’t need them because “God loves New Orleans.” Obvious lessons that should have been learned were simply ignored. Corruption trumped security.
In the aftermath of Katrina, attention shifted from why this wholly avoidable tragedy happened to the horrific response of leaders such as President Bush and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
Coverage of both men’s bumbling was merited, to be sure. But both also had an excuse.
They were incompetent.
Here’s the bottom line. Taxpayers are sick and tired of paying for other people’s mistakes, be they bank bailouts, auto company failures, or cultures of corruption that pad the pockets of the powerful while forsaking everyone else.
And in the larger picture, why should the federal government, which is funded by we the people, have any obligation to rebuild a city constructed in a known flood plain that is regularly visited by hurricanes?
If you want to live there, great. Flood insurance should be mandated. And if it isn’t offered, maybe that’s a clue that the risk outweighs the reward. If that risk is acceptable, fine. But the rest of us shouldn’t have to shoulder the responsibility to be the risk-free safety net for people who choose to live in high-probability disaster areas.
But the icing on the cake is listening to self-serving Louisiana political hacks who get outraged that Washington doesn’t pick up the ENTIRE cost of rebuilding and maintaining New Orleans. To them, I offer Dean Wormer’s legendary advice from “Animal House”— “fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.”
So if the Saints win the Super Bowl, become “America’s” team in the process, and make everybody feel good, it will only exacerbate the overarching problem that is endemic in this nation: looking the other way and pretending all is well.
Sticking your head in the sand doesn’t change that fact that we will be called upon — again— to pay the bill— again— should New Orleans get slammed by another Katrina.
But given that we’re approaching insolvency as a nation, the safety net of taxpayer dollars may not be there next time.
It’s time the people of New Orleans stop pretending that a Super Bowl solves anything. Fix the problem now, or face the risk of going it alone.
If their city gets leveled— a very real possibility— they will have no one to blame but themselves.
Chris Freind is an independent columnist and investigative reporter whose news site, The Artorius News Bureau, is slated to launch in mid-February. Readers of “Freindly Fire” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. Freind also serves as a weekly guest commentator on a Philadelphia-area talk radio show, WCHE, and makes numerous other television and radio appearances. He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com
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