Ed Schultz: "They Got'R Done For Football" in New Orleans!

[Leopolds Ghost]

"They got'r done for big business!

And that really says something about our priorities, doesn't it?"

We don't know how much of the city's levelled... People in the 9th Ward don't know if they're gonna get their homes covered... but we sure managed to get a brand spanking... multi-million renovation to the Superdome and it really makes you wonder where our priorities are."

[MadMaddie]

1. Yes it is sad isn't it....?

[Xenotime]

13. Sad indeed...

They still have crime in the streets but THERE'S FOOTBALL!

[DocSavage]

56. There

was crime in the streets before Katrina, and there was football, whats your point?

[Rex]

2. Capitalism rules our country.

Cutthroat, no holds barred, in you face, die on the streets capitalism. Regulations? Controls? Ceilings? Debt? What the hell is debt? We have a new Dome to play in!

GetRdone!!!!

[Leopolds Ghost]

3. MORE after the break -- "60% of Superdome Money from FEMA" Ed Says

"I don't know if Brownie had a hand in that, but...

They did a heck of a job renovating that facility for football, didn't they!"

"But the unwritten story is these people who are struggling to figure out if they can afford fixing up their homes."

Mind you, Ed Schultz is a former pro football player isn't he??

When I heard him interviewing New Orleans' sports director, I thought for sure it was going to be a puff piece on "how important football was to restoring peoples' sense of well being" and how much it would do for tourism... I should not have worried.

[davidwparker]

4. They don't want to get'r done for NOLA's black democratic voters.

They want a new, republicon NOLA, with a republicon senators and governor.

Just watch what they do and that will tell you how they feel. Everything is a political calculation. They really are pigs.

[MrCoffee]

5. Rebuilding the Superdome was ABSOLUTELY the right thing to do.

The money spent to rebuild the Dome will reap dividends for YEARS (tourist revenue, restaurants, hotels, cabbies, taxes, etc). Tonight will erase the images of the Superdome as refugee center and replace them with images of the future of NO. Having the Saints play in NO again will be a huge psychic boost for the city. All of my family members who are still in NO are thrilled about the game tonight, and that the Saints are back (but they haven't traded in their paper bags just yet).

It was ABSOLUTELY the right thing to do.

[Leopolds Ghost]

9. Hey, I'm not saying they shouldn't do it but...

60% money from FEMA while entire neighborhoods rot?

While they tear down public housing (granted, not all of it in good repair) near the Dome like they're doing here in DC for the new Nats stadium which is supposed to open up a whole neighborhood to redevelopment. The Dome isn't gonna catalyze a bunch of tax increment financed US Navy office buildings to go up, perhaps... maybe that's a GOOD thing... but football is only what, 10 home games a year?

I shave to say Ed said what I have been increasingly shy of saying here on DU (and on my local very liberal, but affluent neighborhood e-mail) -- our priorities are crewed up.

The symbolism is important, but what is the symbolism of leaving the black neighborhoods to rot?

[MrCoffee]

19. The Superdome IS going to capitalize a whole lot of things going up

Getting the Dome up and running was a top priority, and it should have been. The money Saints games will bring in will fuel far more economic growth for NO than rebuilding housing would.

Now don't flame me for that sentence. I know that people need places to live. I know that leaving neighborhoods in ruins is bad. There is a finite level of resources for the city to allocate, and rebuilding the Dome was a smart allocation. The Saints, and Mardi Gras, and Jazzfest, these are the economic engines that will drive the reconstruction of NO.

[Leopolds Ghost]

31. Football stadiums are PROVEN money sinks, NO MORESO than the Superdome

A NOTORIOUS money sink. BOOKS have been written on it. Do you advocate tearing down housing for the poor and building housing for the rich in order to "fuel far more economic growth"???

Do you beleive the purpose of RENOVATING people's housing is to "fuel more economic growth" or to house people?

Love yr avatar BTW... you have a great sense of irony.

GHW Bush will be doing the coin toss tonight...

U2 And Green Day will be playing... Rachel Maddow is LOVIN' this!!!

"This is a momentous day for anyone who cares about New Orleans"

"How big a deal is the Superdome for New Orleans?"

She asks some tourism obsessed white f*ck.... reporter for Picayune...

"Superdome is the symbol of downtown"

"Superdome is sold out, whole season is sold out, even though city is depopulated... started at $14 a game and went way up... businesses bought a lot of tickets..."

Rachel Maddow talking about how important football is to the Culture of New Orleans...

Hey I don't deny it means a lot to the city but football is not a money-maker.

[KharmaTrain]

57. The Mess In the 9th Ward Goes Beyond The Debris

I have several contacts in NOLA who suffered losses due to the flooding and are miles from getting a final settlement. They're not cursing FEMA, it's the insurance companies...that other 40% of the money that went into rebuilding the Superdome and are sitting on thousands of claims to rebuild and clean-up many parts of the city.

The major cause is the football blame game that has been going on as to if the damage was caused by the winds...which the insurance company would then have to brunt the full liability as opposed to the flooding where the liabilities aren't so clear...and the insurance companies are making sure they get murkier and murkier.

I'm with the other poster that I think rebuilding the Superdome is a good thing. Just for the jobs it created and the business it can bring to generate local revenue/taxes that will help future rebuilding. However, I hope this little event isn't viewed as the end of the rebuilding, but just the beginning.

[Rex]

11. I agree, it was making a statement and the right thing to do.

But it looks bad to ignore one part of the city and help the Corporations get back on their feet. Yet, I can see this being a good thing.

Maybe it is a southern thing? We alway get that way about rebuilding stuff as a pride thingy. I know if something happen in San Antonio, the whole city would rally around fixing the Alamodome or what have you.

I still say it was a bad move to do this YET not fix the places that really need it.

Anyone know at what percentage NOLA is in rebuilding their infrastructure?

[calimary]

46. Well, they DO indeed need that second-stage capital.

If you rehab the football stadium, then you have reason to hire/pay the parking lot people, the souvenir concessionaires, the snack stand people, the ticket-takers and purse inspectors and security guards, custodians, and whatever other small businesses that might be built up around the Superdome. It might have a beneficial ripple effect. It'll mean more jobs for the locals, more investment (including the psychological investment) to keep within the city. I can't think of any American city that needs it more. I'm not a football fan. But what the hell? If they are, then cool! They deserve this. And I'm sure it'll be a morale booster. Plus, it will indeed help to rehabilitate the Superdome from the horrible image stench that remains for the locals. I'm sure it'll be a LONG time before they forget what happened there and how horrible it was.

[Ksec]

6. That place has really bad karma

I wouldnt want to play there.

[Drewskie]

7. FEMA dollars went towards a portion of the renovation

which is maybe the biggest joke. And mr coffee... you sort of need a population with jobs, housing, and a certain level of comfort to properly support a pro franchise. My guess is the saints are heavily subsidised to be able to stay there.

[MrCoffee]

12. They are, and you are right, but how do you get a population

to come back without a reason to? Like it or not, a professional sports franchise IS a big economic draw to a region. It brings jobs. The Saints have been good for NO, and they will continue to be good for NO. You can bet they'll get a Super Bowl soon, and that will be even better.

Take a look at local media. Read some of the fans' sentiments regarding the Saints. Then tell me you think it's a bad thing that they're coming home.

http://www.nola.com/ The NO Times-Picayune
http://www.wwltv.com/
http://www.wdsu.com/index.html

[Drewskie]

16. so everyone going to come home because the saints are back

and they can all work at the superdome... that makes sense. "Prosperous" areas of the country have had problems keeping their franchises... just look at Cleveland.

[MrCoffee]

22. What's prosperous about Cleveland?

And no, they're not going to work at the Superdome. But it's a huge draw that the city can point to when it tries to draw business (which DO employ people) back to the city.

[ljm2002]

18. Re: needing a population with jobs, housing, etc...

...to support a pro franchise: generally that's true. However, I read an article this morning stating that the game is sold out. And the funny thing is, it's not just this game: in fact, the stadium has sold out all of its seats *with season tickets*.

Now granted ticket prices are not the only way they get $$, however, it's primary. So it looks good for the Saints.

Apart from that -- agreed it is somewhat ironic to say the least that FEMA spent anything at all on the renovation. But, I will watch tonight and am thrilled for the folks of New Orleans: as many of them point out, it is one way to have, for just a few hours, an escape and a semblance of "normalcy".

[Drewskie]

21. I'd be surprised if they get a full house for every game this season

shocked in fact.

[MrCoffee]

23. Prepare to be shocked...EVERY GAME IS SOLD OUT

And they're all season tickets. There is not a single regular ticket to be had. I guarantee you that there won't be an empty seat all season. Even when the Saints remember that they're not a winning team.

[Leopolds Ghost]

38. Prepare to be shocked, THAT IS HOW YOU SELL OUT A STADIUM

By offering no affordable regular, game day tickets. Only as many tickets available for the entire year, as there are seats in the house. It's how the Redskins function. Sold out for the past 20 years. Guess how often the Big Jack is half empty??

And there is NO correlation between stadium sell-out and job base -- that is an American superstition you would think lefties would have disproved to their own satisfaction, because non-leftie economists and municipal planning experts sure as hell have.

[MrCoffee]

25. And the escape is the biggest reason...

It's a sense of what Saints fans did for years pre-hurricane. It's a chance for them to not think about it for 3 lousy hours. That's a huge victory.

[Leopolds Ghost]

44. Hey, I AGREE. But don't think it has anything to do w/ rebuilding

The issue Ed brought up is the SCHEDULING of all this.

When did lefty New Orleanians grow to accept that an economic "justification" is needed to rebuild the homes of people who are poorer than THEY are,

but no such justification is needed for the Superdome, which has been proven to generate largely intangible benefits for the city?

[KyndCulture]

8. I hope the places is haunted.

It should have been leveled and never used again.

SICK

[rockymountaindem]

10. So they should have built a brand-new stadium from scratch?

That doesn't make any sense.

[Leopolds Ghost]

20. Your statement doesn't make much sense

They are talking about tearing down all public housing in New Orleans (and DC, BTW) and closing / privatizing the vast majority of the schools.

If the Superdome was uninhabitable, and habitable public housing is
sitting there boarded up for no reason, WHAT IS YOUR FIRST PRIORITY?

My mother used to live in Baton Rouge in the 1970s, says she supported shutting down the schools because "they were awful". A lot of liberals seem to agree because they're closing one out of seven schools here in DC because they are "too expensive to renovate." Guess what happens to them?

If you said "torn down", WRONG! They get SOLD to friends and relatives of yuppie city councilmen who sit on the board of local redevelopment corporations, and renovated as PRIVATE facilities -- including a private gym.

Are people really still so blinded to the reality that sports and parking are ALWAYS considered our essential first investment, regardless of the state of the public realm?

I agree with Ed Schultz on this one.

[MrCoffee]

14. Oh please...that's just ridiculous.

[dogday]

15. I know I will never look at it

the same way again.... All those people begging and crying for help.. Dead people parked in chairs and laying out on the sidewalk... It is hard to get those images out of my mind....

[spoony]

27. Me neither

I don't know about ghosts, but the place is haunted no doubt. The suffering that happened there will always be a part of the place. I don't think I can even bear to watch the game.

[Keseys Ghost]

33. Sure. Screw us, right? We don't deserve a break....

You advocate taking everything away from us.

Perhaps you think we should blow up any homes which survived the storm?

My, my....

[Leopolds Ghost]

35. You've taken away your OWN schools & public housing. City decision

Just like my neighbors here in DC. Only more total aand sweeping in effect.

[Keseys Ghost]

37. Pretty self-righteous of you, don't you think?

We haven't been through enough. You want to trash us a little more.

Well, fortunately, you don't count.

Go Saints!

[Leopolds Ghost]

41. No, I'm on my way down there. My family is FROM Louisiana.

They went to LSU!

But I know how it's like. Just look at the attitudes I described. "The school system WAS terrible, I have no problem if they shut it down completely"

People are always wrapped up in trying to get their lives together when something like this happens, that it's difficult to look beyond the symbolism, of this or hell, rebuilding a crappy "Freedom Tower" in place of the World Trade Center, a far more symbolic entity. But we need to look at the big picture... I see it happening in numerous cities, not just New Orleans. As Greg Palast has documented (and people I know are down there working right now) the hurricane was used as a catalyst for long-planned disinvestment because they knew they could use it as a justification and as long as the Saints stayed in town, people won't care.

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. Beats blowing a billion a week in Iraq

at least the Superdome creates jobs and brings business to the local economy.

Not to mention, the morale boast for the people who live there. Everyone I know from NO is very excited about tonights game.

[Leopolds Ghost]

24. How many survivors who CAN'T LEGALLY RETURN are excited? n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

30. They will never be able to return

unless the local economy comes back.

[Leopolds Ghost]

36. How dare you, that is not your decision to make

And FOOTBALL has nothing to do with it, as numerous studies have proved -- highlighting the Superdome as an example pre-2005 mind you -- unless you support a downsized, Cancun-like economy.

LEGAL and UTILITY prohibitions -- REDLINING reconstruction -- has EVERYTHING to do with it.

[Keseys Ghost]

26. Memo from New Orleans

We are thrilled.

We are dancing in the streets.

We are here and we've been rebuilding for a year. Tonight, we celebrate without guilt. Unless you've lived it with us, you can have no idea how important this night is to us. Rebirth. Normalacy.

Everyone in the area is either at the Dome, in a sports bar, or on the way to friends' homes to share the celebration.

We've got a dozen friends coming over this evening. Many of them have never been football fans, but they are tonight. It's a BIG DEAL.

Judge us harshly if you must, but tonight is ours.

In the morning, we go back to rebuilding. But, tonight is ours.

[MrCoffee]

28. PARTY ON, N.O.!!!! The Big Easy deserves it!

[Leopolds Ghost]

34. Why rally around THIS? Does the city have no soul outside televised sport?

MrCoffee, is your avatar ironic or do you consider Ed Schultz to be well to your right, like so many DUers?

Because I agree with Schultz.

How many people here on DU who are IN NEW ORLEANS, REBUILDING EVER SINCE LAST YEAR, understand their position of PRIVELIGE to be ALLOWED BACK IN??

To be ACCEPTED into society, with (presumably private) schools to put your kids in, if you're "unfortunate enough" (by the standards of municipal tax planning) to bring kids with you?

How many people realized how huge an event it is when ANY FREAKING ARENA gets rebuilt/reopened?? The MCI center in DC? How often it is said that it will save the city from the problems of poverty -- presumably by tearing down whole neighborhoods, which is the only form of revitalization most Americans have ever known?? There will always be a huge number of Americans who turn to sports & partying to forget their troubles... no more so than in NOLA... as countless New Orleanians have said, "The city that Care Forgot means DON'T EXPECT US TO CARE"...

[Keseys Ghost]

39. Why do you hate New Orleans?

Did you do jail time here or something?

Or is it some deep personal issue?

Go Saints!

[Leopolds Ghost]

45. I rest my case. You should ask "why does Ed Schultz hate New Orleans"?

I'm listening to CNN radio interviewing drunken white people about how "This means New Orleans has finally reopened"

The attitude is very similar to the affluent, party-hardy "liberals" who populate the high ground here in DC.

[sandnsea]

32. Think of Big Ed's audience

I think it's a good reminder to his centrist leaning folks of how much more could have been accomplished in NOLA if the money spigot had been turned on. It's no amount of money is too great for the Superdome - but a bag of ice is a moral outrage if somebody sticks a beer in it. I think it's something worth reminding folks of, while also celebrating this giant step forward.

[sandnsea]

29. It shows what we can do with leadership and will

Yes the Superdome is done and that's awesome. But if we can get that done, we surely can get houses and apartments and hospitals done too. They aren't done because that same big business is hoping certain folks won't come back so that public service work won't have to be done.

[Leopolds Ghost]

47. And NOLA is actively trying to keep Mercy closed, Public Housing closed

I'll let New Orleaneans clarify that big business, not THEIR city leaders, are doing such things, because such a distinction can only be drawn and enforced by the voters. I will say that MY city and its citizens are doing very similar things. Disaster is just an opportunity to the municipal planners.

[LittleClarkie]

40. I thought it was something of a morale booster

As the Superdome was such a symbol of what was going on during Katrina. It would be part of the city's healing to see it rebuilt.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

42. Hey! I Still think it' s great.

Yes, big business will profit...

But you probably don't know Football fans in the South. The opening between the Falcons and THe Saints is like another Mardi Gras for a lot of people. It's part of Civic Pride as much as Mardi Gras is.

Lighten up. Getting the Dome ready this quickly was a pretty great accomplishment and wil help bring people back in. There's lots of jobs associated with pro ball and a center like the dome. (IMHO)

:toast:

[Leopolds Ghost]

49. I think it's great. But even if it had been St. Louis Cathedral,

I would have said the same thing -- the timing and order of things
shows our priorities.

(random New Testament reference snipped here)

So I agree with Ed Schultz.

[Yavin4]

43. What If The Saints Didn't Return?

Would that make the people better off? I think not. Sure, the money should be put to better use, but at least the city will get national exposure tonight and maybe that will spur more investment and hope into the city.

If the Saints had relocated to L.A., then most of the nation would completely ignore the city and give up on it entirely.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

48. Well I Guess Schultz Is A Moron Then. The Thread Below Is Far Better:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2214156&mesg_id=2214156

Maybe people who don't have a clue about what the people in New Orleans are really feeling should just STFU and instead yield to those who are personally going through it and do have a clue.

[Leopolds Ghost]

50. Schultz is a Moron because he's to the left of you on this issue?

Because he cares more about social justice than, and I know this for a fact, a shit load of New Orleanians, much less those privileged enough to return?? Much less people in other cities such as my own, who are just as ignorant about the economics of football and their own prejudices and preconceptins about what to spend public money on??

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

51. Speaking Out Of Ignorance To The Real Feelings Doesn't Make Him More Left.

It just makes him someone shouting stuff he thinks will make him sound morally correct while not having a clue as to how much this actually means to the people in New Orleans.

I've never listened to him, so I don't really care much, it's just that I'd much rather see the positives and joy in the reaction of the thread I referenced as opposed to negativity from someone who hasn't even experienced life there. He's in a bubble. The poster in the thread I referenced is actually dealing with it everyday and is overjoyed at its reopening. Given a choice of sentiment between the former and the latter, I'd much rather side with the latter: The positive view from the person that actually LIVES there.

[Leopolds Ghost]

52. People always want someone/something to look up to

To take their minds off reality for awhile.

In the past, it was the fairy-tale mansions of the rich, in nations stifled by economic disparity and political oppression.

Today, as in Rome, it is stadiums that have become the last thread of common humanity, of bringing people together, to look up to and admire those who can afford season tickets, who are legally allowed to return.

Somebody has to speak up for the people who have been excluded from this outpouring of community spirit. Americans have always been prone to teary-eyed attachment to the home team, even when it screws over their city, or when their city screwed over them and a Saints fandom is the only thing they still have tying them to the area.

All too many people in my town have moved here and said that there is nothing left for them, even though their homes are intact. Football doesn't change that because they still love the home team. Just like guys in New Jersey who root for the Dodgers out of some sense of yearning for their dads' world, even though they would never set foot in Brooklyn.

Many folks would root for the Saints and seek redemption in their progress, even if they (the Saints) had moved to another city. Because the folks who have been legally prohibited from returning sure have. That is America for you.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

53. Again,

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2214156

[Leopolds Ghost]

54. Do New Orleanians have right to celebrate the Saints? Hell Yeah!

Would they understand if their return to New Orleans had been put off long wnough to pay for the rebuilding and reopening of the city's schools, shelters, public housing, clinics, churches? I sure hope so!

Would you put off such things to pay for rebuilding the Cathedral if it were damaged?

[Bill McBlueState]

55. Go Saints!

until November 12, anyway. The Steelers are probably gonna need that win.