Contrary to Republican spin, MS is NOT recovering (Katrina Photo Essay)

[intheflow]

Opening casinos is not the measure of a successful recovery effort. Simply removing debris is not a measure of a successful recovery. Getting people back into their homes would be a step in the right direction. So far no money has rolled down from the Feds to the people, and Haley Barbour and his cronies seem to be the hold-up point. Not one new construction has started for the poor and under-insured because folks eligible for funding have not received any yet. Most of the houses that could be saved have been gutted by armies of unskilled volunteers. And unskilled volunteers could drywall and paint--except that there are no armies of skilled volunteers who can do electrical or plumbing which need to be completed before drywall can go up. Even when skilled volunteers do show up on the coast, they often get bogged down in licensing and permit hassles with the local town governance.

Well people are sick of it! We're sick of George Bush blowing into town and telling everybody that Mississippi is a model of recovery! We're sick of Trent Lott and Haley Barbour talking about how casinos will revitalize the coast, about how a reliance on gambling and greed takes precedence over people's lives, over people's health. What about affordable housing for workers? What about letting people rebuild where their homes used to be? Here's the plan for Biloxi's Point Cadet put forth by the Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal:



See all those casinos, condos and high-rise buildings on the left? Those were single family and duplexes before the storm. Do you really think everyone displaced on the Point will be able to afford those new apartments and condos? That's 22 casinos that are being proposed. Not everyone in East Biloxi wants to work in the casino industry, but that's Barbour's plan.

But did I mention that the people are sick of it? Today many of us gathered and marched, to raise awareness to the housing issues on the Coast.

We all met at the Main St. Missionary Baptist Church, and started the march at 9:30. Our goal? March to the grand opening of the Beau Rivage Casino.



As we marched we sang songs from the Southern Freedom Movement: "Ain't gonna let Haley Barbour turn us around, oh no! Turn us around, oh no! Turn us around! Ain't gonna let Haley Barbour turn us around! Gonna keep on walkin'. Keep on talkin'. Marching on to Freedomland!"





Biloxi has a large Vietnamese population, poor and middle class fishing families, mostly, and they live mostly on Point Cadet. I was told this translates roughly as "Many people with the same ideals."





If I was able to carry both a sign and my camera, this is the sign I would have carried.



We marched about two miles down to the Beau, and were told by the all white police officers sent to herd us that we had to keep moving on the sidewalk, so we single filed in the hot, hot, burning sun for about 20 minutes before they finally let us stand in a cramped parking lot (once a gas station, I guess) for a bit of shade and a rally. Here we are dwarfed by greed:



What do we want?
Justice!
When do we want it?
NOW!

[TayTay]

1. I saw that report on ABCNews tonight

I figured it was bs.

Thanks for posting this and those incredible pictures.

[intheflow]

9. I can't believe CM was all over the Kyra Phillips' potty mic, but

no one reported on this exchange. Oh, wait a minute. I guess I can believe it, afterall. x(

[aikoaiko]

20. Countdown played with subtitles....it was funny.

Ineed to track down a transcript of what she said.

[Cosmocat]

12. You saw it from ...

moment one ... Haley Barbour was trumpeting the republican mantra from moment one of Katrina ... This man is earning BIG stripes for carrying the flag for these pukes ...

[JeffR]

2. K & R!

Great work, intheflow!

[bvar22]

3. K&R

More DUers need to witness.
Great Pics, Good job reporting.
Thanks!

[aaronbees]

4. "A right to rebuild is a human right"

That's the truth. I met a woman from Plaquemines Parish who pretty much echoed these same thoughts about the need for affordable housing in Mississippi when we were discussing FEMA mobile homes and how nearly 10,000 are sitting in Hope, Ark., unused.

Thank you for the great post and spreading the truth.

[intheflow]

5. There are towns south and west of Plaquemines Parish

where FEMA trailers sit in parks, but there's still no potable water or sewage systems. In NOLA, apartments that went for $600/mo. before Katrina are now offered at $900-1200; same in Mississippi. Housing is so hard to come by, but you'd think after having survived Katrina and the levee breaks, landlords would have some damn compassion and not be inflating rents. :(

[Swamp Rat]

6. k&r

[RevCheesehead]

7. Great work.

Thanks. K & R. :thumbsup:

[intheflow]

10. Marching made me feel like I was a part of history.

It's been 41 years since the March to Selma, and yet, here are the same folks (or their decendents) still demanding to be seen and respected. It's really unbelieveable.

[unhappycamper]

8. Excellent post.

k&r

[merh]

11. Dang it

You are supposed to let me know when these things are planned.

The best I could do was flip off the prezidential helicopter - hell, I didn't even have an anti-war sign handy to hold when he passed by my corner. x(

Kicked & recommended and you are so appeciated, sugah :hug:

[intheflow]

14. Probably good you didn't have an anti-war sign to flash.

They might have pulled a Amadou Diallo and shot you. I mean, if they can claim a wallet looks like a gun, then certainly a sign on a stick would even more threatening. :eyes:

[merh]

15. Actually, it might have

screwed up my grant/loan/assistance efforts. :(

[uppityperson]

17. hi merh

f* em if they can't take a joke. Any progress or still in hurry up and wait pattern?

Edited to add, found your other post in other thread on progess. Off to read it. Hang in there. :hug:

[merh]

21. Hello uppity

:hi:

I'm doing my best to hang, the support that you and intheflow and usedtobe give me help me keep tight the grip. :hug:

[usedtobesick]

13. Great job once again telling the rest of the story...

you should have mentioned the 800 of us building a playground in the middle of the still destroyed and mostly empty neighborhood instead of say, maybe building a house or three or framing 4 new ones? All of our time spent laying dead sod on packed dirt spending the 50K cause it had to be used instead of using it where it was most needed. I guess someone felt great about the chance to get something done but... seems like we could have spent the time and money doing something East Biloxi really needed.

[intheflow]

24. I heard today it cost $50,000 to build that playground.

I think that would easily have built one house or framed two of three.

[uppityperson]

16. k&r

please continue to post pictures, thank you for all you do.

[SammyWinstonJack]

18. K&R

[Blue_In_AK]

19. You're a hero, InTheFlow...

Thanks for helping to get the truth out. :hug:

[alstephenson]

22. Thanks so much for this! "MS Recovery" my ass....

My gut feeling was that the building of the casinos was NOT the whole story! More GOP spin while people suffer.

[pitohui]

28. i thought beau rivage was tacky beyond belief

i don't think the anniversary of the hurricane is the day to schedule your grand re-opening, i mean, come on, that is just low class

they could have waited a day or two on either side if you ask me

i was just floored when i received my invitation, needless to say, i did NOT attend

let's remember katrina by going out gambling? crap, people!

[intheflow]

23. NPR's Marketplace actually reported on this protest!

:wow:



Listen to this story
<http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player/marketplace/2006/08/29_mpp?start=00:00:11:41.0&end=00:00:16:29.0>

[Eurobabe]

25. Well this blows a hole in the GOP PR spin

Great job!

US needs to have more affordable housing, and protect the people from bilking insurance companies.

[MountainLaurel]

26. Thank you for this.

I was on the Gulf Coast near Pascagoula in June visiting my husband's family and was stunned: the neighborhoods that were leveled, the schools that are closed, the bridges that can't be used. Even my family members, who were comparatively lucky, had just finished clearing debris from their property, about 4 tons worth.

[pitohui]

27. what happened to point cadet is just beyond belief

it's like all those houses were just swept into the sea, there's nothing, it's just beyond comprehending, it's easy to get lost because you can't remember where you are, everything is just...gone

these were not big rich south jersey seaside million dollar "cottages" ya'll, these were small modest wood frame homes probably worth $50 or $75,000 -- not that you can rebuild a small home for that now, with the cost of supplies through the roof

i hope something can be done, it's just unbelievable how long it is taking to get money in people's hands

[butterfly77]

29. I haven't been there but I knew it was bushit...

when I saw Haley big ass I knew it was photo ops and lies just like in the eighties when I first became familiar with his evil ass. I am glad that you posted this I had been looking and waitin to hear from mississipians. Do you have any pictures of the devastated areas or areas where the poor were living.

[Leopolds Ghost]

30. Intheflow -- I am heading that way. You need electrical??

I am a skilled volunteer. I can't do plumbing for the most part, but
I've done electrical, gutting and framing construction with wood and
steel. What do you guys need?

Regarding permits: Obviously a master electrician is needed to
supervise and tie a important connections together properly. They do not do scut-work, though, unless you pay them a lot of money to hire their own apprentices. Who's pulling permits for the (grassroots) rebuilding effort, such as it is?

Is their problem stem from being out of town electricians, or is there an electrician's UNION hall willing to participate in the grass-roots effort?

Or are the master electricians a bunch of redneck assholes?
(Not true where I'm from, but it is true of certain other trades, whose practitioners hire only immigrants for peanuts, refuse to hire black people and refuse to live within city limits...)

I am not a master electrician but I'm intimately familiar with permitting hell, having helped gut and refurbish a community center with an all-volunteer workforce over the course of a couple years.

All the construction work where I'm from is fixing up condos or mcmansions in the suburbs... and I was planning on doing construction as part of an architecture degree I'm working on... I was planning on going down New Orleans way to try and make a difference.

Let me know if you guys need a hand.

Or PM me if you like... I am planning to head down that way anyway.

I would have done right after Katrina, as several of my friends did, but I was still tied up with aforementioned construction project.