Sign of Katrina fatigue? Storm memorial delayed

WRAL.com ^ | July 12, 2008 | JOHN MORENO GONZALES

[NCDragon]

NEW ORLEANS — Between acres of aboveground tombs that are this marshy city's way to inter the dead, there is a strip of land that is an empty tribute to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Unknown to most in town, including the relatives of those who died in the storm, it is the chosen site for a memorial to an estimated 1,600 fatalities, and will serve as the resting place for 85 bodies that remain unclaimed nearly three years after the disaster. During a second-anniversary ceremony, Mayor Ray Nagin shed a tear, gave $1 million in taxpayer money to the project, and delegated management to a city coroner intent on a monument that would double as a warning to be better prepared for the next hurricane.

"This is an example of the dead helping the living," said New Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard. "The underprivileged African-American community suffered worst in this storm and we have to make sure for the next storm that it doesn't happen again. Hopefully, this memorial will be a reminder of that."

[NCDragon]

Follow the bouncing ball ... "Bush is to blame!"

[originalbuckeye]

At least this article acknowledges that the disaster was the failure of the levees. I have spoken with many of the ‘Bush is to blame’ people and have always pointed out that the Dems have been in control of New Orleans for 50+ years. The levee skimming was surely under the control of the local Dems at that time. They still claim Bush is to blame. Don't know how much more he could have done.

[Corin Stormhands]

While blaming President Bush has certainly been elevated to an art form, I saw no indication of that in the article.

Having been there on a rebuilding project in April, I saw that there remains a lot of despair. But there’s plenty of blame to go around. I thought the article was pretty fair.

[CindyDawg]

I don't mean to be insensitive but as bad as they say they need money..would this not best be spent on the living. They could name a park Katrina in remembrance or something. JAT

[sobieski]

Katrina is a joke. The Ds ‘evacuated’ people below sea level. The Mayor didn’t help. The state stood in the way of a Federal rescue.

[indcons]

The greatest tribute to the devastation will be an attempt to recreate a new New Orleans - free of the corruption, hubris, and filth that pervaded that city.

Unfortunately, these folks are more interested in building a feel-good memorial that’ll serve the sole purpose of reminding them about how GW Bush and FEMA “let them down.”

What a bunch of sorry, self-pitying mor@ns.

[cowdog77]

The greatest tribute to the devastation will be an attempt to recreate a new New Orleans...”
____________________
Actually the common sense answer would be to RE-LOCATE New Orleans........rather than spending good money after bad.

[ViLaLuz]

“Mayor Ray Nagin shed a tear, gave $1 million in taxpayer money to the project, and delegated management to a city coroner “

We’ll never see where that money skims off to.

“The underprivileged African-American community suffered worst in this storm “

B.S.