Scene from WGNO TV's promotion video
The Historic Plaque was our gift to the residents of the Lakeview neighborhood, and we wanted the true facts at Ground Zero to be there for all to see.
So we were quite pleased to learn that the beautiful Historic Plaque is featured in WGNO TV’s high quality promotional video.
Thank you WGNO!
Click here to see the video.
1,566 petition signatures to the New York Times being printed.
We sprang to action because this defense, while superficially correct, is fundamentally misleading. It dismisses what really happened on August 29, 2005 when a major American city went underwater and over 1,600 people died.
First we wrote personally to the senior editor, Don Hecker, offering him an opportunity to ameliorate the situation quietly. He did not respond. So, we launched a petition urging the Times to be more specific in passages that reference the horrific flooding during Katrina 5 years ago.
Over 1,566 citizens, all over the country, during the holiday, signed Levees.org’s petition.
Today, by sundown, Elite Couriers will hand deliver the signatures, the accompanying comments, our cover letter, and a cover letter from our lawyer at Adams and Reese to Mr. Hecker at the New York Times.
Our cover letter, politely states why we feel it’s important for the New York Times to be accurate when making statements about the New Orleans flooding. It also kindly requests a response to the 1,566 petition signers and for our nearly 25,000 supporters nationwide.
Click here for NYTimes article which started the petition campaign.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/science/earth/15delta.html?_r=2
Click here for Mr. Hecker’s letter to the flood victim.
https://levees.org010/12/21/sign-petition-to-new-york-times/
Click here for our personal letter to Mr. Hecker before petition launch.
https://levees.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/SeniorEditor.pdf
Slab in Lower Ninth Ward in what was once a dense thriving neighborhood. Photo/Francis James, April 2008
This response, both huge and immediate, during the holidays, ought to demonstrate to the Times that informed people think it’s inaccurate to attribute the metro New Orleans flood to “Katrina.”
Last week, a senior editor for the New York Times, told a flood victim – who had lost everything – that he thinks the Times is correct to say “Katrina” devastated New Orleans.
“No hurricane….no damage,” he said.
He wrote directly to her in response to her letter expressing surprise that the Times (in a recent article) attributed the flooding on August 29, 2005 all to a storm.
Here’s what Hecker said exactly (typos included):
I am sympathetic to your view that many bad decisions led to the damage after Hurricane Katrina. As I hope you are aware, The Times published many article on the subject after the storm and has continued to report from the city. But had there been no Hurricane Katrina, engineerrng and other decisions would not have caused the damage. So I think we are correct in attributing the cause to Katrina.
Don Hecker, Senior Editor, New York Times
While superficially correct, this defense is fundamentally misleading. It dismisses what really happened on August 29, 2005 when a major American city went underwater and over 1,600 people died.
Please sign our petition urging the NYT to be more specific about the cause of the metro New Orleans flood in its stories.
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1625/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2959
