President Obama dispatches two key aides to New Orleans

While President Obama’s two Cabinet Secretaries were in the Gulf region on a fact finding mission March 5-6, I had the opportunity to speak to them.

This happened at the request of Senator Mary Landrieu D-LA. It was both an honor and a testament to the strength of the force and influence of Levees.org. And it’s due to the loyal support of Levees.org members.

Research director HJ Bosworth Jr, legislative liaison Vince Pasquantonio and I were all given ample time to have meaningful dialogs with Secretary Shaun Donovan (Housing and Urban Development) and Secretary Janet Napolitano (Homeland Security).  

The meeting took place before the press conference in the Upper Ninth Ward in New Orleans.

Since the Cabinet Secretaries were in the region to examine which policies should be adopted to help us, we used the venue to explain how important it is that federal dollars improving our flood protection be spent wisely.

So we reiterated the need for a truly independent bipartisan analysis of the flood protection failures in August of 2005. For a cost of 5 million dollars – a tenth of a percent of the money being spent in the GNO region – we can make sure the nation doesn’t see ANOTHER disaster like we saw during Katrina.

Thank you,
Sandy Rosenthal
Founder, Levees.org

Click here to urge your Members of Congress to support an independent bipartisan analysis of the flood protection failures in August 2005.

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New FEMA leader orders Katrina recovery review

In her second week on the job, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered a comprehensive review of the Hurricane Katrina recovery progress.

New Orleans and Louisiana are thrilled because of delays in money flow due to slowness with damage assessments and mitigation efforts.

This sort of federal review is especially appropriate since the region was destroyed mostly due to – not 100% – but mostly due to design and construction mistakes by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency charged by Congress to protect the region.

Sandy Rosenthal
www.levees.org

Click here for the whole story.

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Levees.org battles falsehoods emanating from a New Orleans university

Updated June 29, 2014.

A professor of engineering at the University of New Orleans wrote a Christmas Day letter to the New Orleans Times Picayune that was a laundry list of the exact sort of disinformation disseminated by the Army Corps of Engineers and its consultancy communities.

Dr. Michael D. Folse seems to have joined the Corps apologists who shift blame for the flooding away from the Corps and the civil engineering profession and onto New Orleans victims by presenting outright falsehoods as facts.

Levees.org responded, and for twelve hours, Nola.com featured the story front and center on its homepage. Quite a rollicking discussion ensued. Join the discussion!

Click here for levees.org response to Dr. Folse.

http://blog.nola.com/levees/2008/12/photo_by_sandy_rosenthalthis_i.html

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