Comments for Levees.Org

Comment on The Urban Legends of Katrina by Linda

Linda — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:17:14 +0000

Thank you, Sandy.

Comment on Levees.org launches petition to President Obama by Bob Molina

Bob Molina — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:00:11 +0000

Finally, some clarity.

Although I’m skeptical that Congress will do the right thing in its current toxic atmosphere, at least you’ve finally explained the logic behind this petition. Here. But perhaps you should do a better job of explaining why the petition itself is necessary where it counts: right in the beginning of this web page, where you ask people to sign.

I’m sure there are others like me who read the current plea for people to sign and had no idea what you’re really pushing for. But once more people understand, they may do the same.

I suggest you rewrite the page to make it much clearer what the White House’s seemingly innocuous choice of words actually represents. A more compelling argument will undoubtedly sway a lot more people to sign.

I just did.

Comment on It’s Official: Whitehouse.gov is Tedious but Worth the Effort by Fred Butler

Fred Butler — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:11:06 +0000

I am an avid supporter of Levees.org but this time I must take issue with this request. The President can only do what Congress and the Senate allows him to do. This petition should be aimed at our Conservative and Tea Party Congressmen who could care less about our levees or anything but their own agendas. Heck, they don’t even want to fund FEMA. Sure, FEMA’s not perfect but it’s all we have for now. That is where all these petitions should be going.

Comment on Sandy Rosenthal featured in The Atlantic by S. Rosenthal

S. Rosenthal — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:47:56 +0000

Thank you very much! Now comes the real challenge. Getting 4,447 more signatures by October 23rd.

Comment on Sandy Rosenthal featured in The Atlantic by BILLY D MARSHALL

BILLY D MARSHALL — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:46:38 +0000

IVE ALREADY SIGNED PETETION #86. GOOD LUCK!

Comment on Ten states have two or more cities with populations > 300K living counties protected by levees by S. Rosenthal

S. Rosenthal — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:58:21 +0000

We are currently interviewing a potential chapter director for Arizona which has three cities with population greater than 300,000. Mesa, Phoenix and Tucson.

Comment on Ten states have two or more cities with populations > 300K living counties protected by levees by Editilla~New Orleans Ladderb

Editilla~New Orleans Ladderb — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:51:02 +0000

You know this information makes the case for more chapters of Levees.org in more states.

As Ezra and I work to develop the interactive features, hopefully these other chapters will be able to input their own local levee data and information onto the Levees Interactive Map.
In line with your own focus, per the Atlantic interview, we hope to make this Map: Open Access, though it will be more tightly administrated (by me) than Wikimedia or Wikipedia. (for example: Editilla eats Corps Astroturfers for breakfast so don’t even try it
I hung it on the masthead of my blog http://noladder.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for making this Map possible in the 1st place, Sandy, and I hope others take Ezra and my example to BUMP IT UP A NOTCH, or jump in however, like start their own levees.org in their own state to hang with us.
To mangle Ben Franklin: “We either hang together or we will surely all drown separately!”

The Levees Interactive Map will help us chart our way together to all the places we are winning.

Comment on Levees.org launches petition to President Obama by S. Rosenthal

S. Rosenthal — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:23:00 +0000

Here is an example of how our leaders forgot the engineering failures. After the levees broke, Congress wrote true reform legislation. But four revisions later and less than half the length of the original, the final bill passed in WRDA 2007 had no Research Program or Safety Training Program. But most importantly, it had no independent Review Board at all, only a Levee Safety Committee, accountable to the Corps of Engineers.

In the end, Congress handed more responsibility and power – with no independent oversight over our nations’ levees – to the Army Corps of Engineers, the entity primarily responsible for the drowning of New Orleans.

Comment on Levees.org launches petition to President Obama by S. Rosenthal

S. Rosenthal — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:51:47 +0000

So long as many Americans believe a hurricane flooded New Orleans, their leaders will not take the steps to prevent a reoccurrence. Yes, evacuation plans were improved. Yes, disaster response plans are improved. But how do those prevent a reoccurrence of the levee failures in New Orleans or elsewhere? The only way leaders will take the steps to make certain levees and floodwalls are safe is to recognize that it was a civil engineering failure, not a natural disaster, that caused 800,000-plus citizens forced to live outside of their homes – the greatest diaspora since the Dust Bowl of the 30′s.

Comment on Levees.org launches petition to President Obama by Bob Molina

Bob Molina — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:37:48 +0000

S, I’m well aware of the “event” of August 2005. I was part of a group that came down to work with Habitat for Humanity post-Katrina; I’ve seen first-hand the horrific toll as well as the amazing resilience and spirit of the good people of New Orleans and beyond.

But my point remains: I still don’t understand why all this energy and effort into the semantics used to describe what happened. I’d much rather see us focus on addressing the engineering issues themselves and, equally important, of ensuring that neither FEMA nor any other agency “forget” the countless people whose lives were upended, many of whom are still struggling.