Posted on 10/14/2005 5:47:47 PM PDT by Libloather
Fired New Orleans city workers get final paychecks
20 minutes ago
Final paychecks were issued to thousands of New Orleans city workers laid off in the wake of ruinous hurricanes, according to city officials. A message posted on the city website provided further details of the layoffs from Mayor Ray Nagin, seen here 6 October(AFP/Getty Images/File)
NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - Final paychecks were issued to thousands of New Orleans city workers laid off in the wake of ruinous hurricanes, according to city officials.
"In addition, all employees who are part of the layoff are asked to turn in any city property immediately, including cell phones, cars and fuel cards," Mayor Ray Nagin said in a message posted Thursday on the city website.
Aftershocks from hurricanes Katrina and Rita continued to batter New Orleans despite signs the crippled city was limping back to life.
"There is no last minute reprieve," Nagin spokeswoman Tammy Frazier told AFP. "This is the last paycheck they will receive."
While bars, restaurants and other businesses were gradually being reopened in the mostly desolate city, most of the residents were still gone and the once-bustling streets were deserted.
Bar operators in the city's famed French Quarter were threatening on Friday to host a midnight party to protest a 12:01 am to 6:00 am curfew they complained is stifling the traditionally festive neighborhood's revival.
The absence of businesses and residents stripped the city of its tax base, prompting Nagin to lay off some 3,000 "non-essential" city workers, about half of the New Orleans workforce.
Nagin tried in vain to get multi-million dollar loans from banks to keep the city workers on payroll, according to Frazier.
"As we look toward a brighter future for our beloved city, we are faced with difficult decisions," Nagin said in a written release.
"We sought funding from every possible public and private source, but unfortunately, we did not receive enough to meet all our needs."
Police, fire and emergency medical personnel remain on the payrolls, with US federal funds paying the bill for overtime.
Nagin expected the cutbacks will save the city between five million and eight million dollars a month.
The layoffs came as stores, restaurants, cleaning and construction companies throughout the New Orleans area went begging for workers.
Local stores were offering to pay from nine to 12 dollars hourly for the usually minimum-wage jobs such as cashiers and stock clerks. One burger chain reportedly offered "signing bonuses" of 6,000 dollars for counter workers.
Laid off city workers whose homes were ruined have no reason to return to New Orleans, said Jacqueline Edwards, who worked in the New Orleans planning department for 23 years.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has urged President George W. Bush to modify federal rules to allow federal aid to pay the wages of local government employees in communities whose tax bases have been wiped out by the storms.
She has also asked Bush to give Louisiana businesses priority in hiring and contracting for the reconstruction effort.
Bush has responded by saying the burden of rebuilding should fall to the private sector.
At least 1,260 people were killed by Katrina when it ripped through the southern United States on August 29, including 1,025 in Louisiana, the hardest-hit state.
You have said so much better what I have been thinking.
I wonder where the statemtment "I won't pay one cent of my taxes to such and such" came from. Do people not know that we elect people to go to congress to decide how the money we all pay is spent. That one person doesn't get a veto. For good reason.
FR makes me sad lately. Not just now but for the last year or so. It seems to be a different place.
BTW my heart ached for Florida last year, I kept thinking, no more, no more.
No way! Did you actually say those things to people who were guests in your home? You are kidding, right?
Don't you think Bobby Jindal wakes up every morning and thanks his lucky stars that he is not Governor of Louisiana? 'tis an ill wind, indeed, that blows no one some good! LOL
It does seem to be a trend.
And part of the trend is to delegitimize the people,,call them labels and names. As if it couldn't possibly happen to the people who are complaining.
What I think people forget is that folks in NO have lived there for ages and ages with no great flood. Just like in California,,they settled there, families and ties are there. People who are old timers don't move on the threat of a disaster especially if there are long ties to a place.
My family has been here two hundred years, not in NO luckily. But I know people who have had generations of people living in NO, it is home. They don't leave easily. This time I do think alot won't go back home, home won't be the same.
You are assuming the populace of NO voted in lockstep for their political people. Didn't happen. And the people of La almost didn't elect Blanco or Landrieu.
It isn't as black and white as you present it. Just like when Clinton was president. Would you say the entire US, all of us, deserved what we got. I don't think so.
"We have the dims on the run, and hopefully the only place one will be able to see a dim in the future will be in the Jackson Zoo (behind bars)!"
What a wonderfully encouraging and precise summary of progress in Mississippi. We still have too many dims in FloriDUH - can we borrow your Governor anytime soon?
Could you talk your Governor into running for President? ;-)
I don't like the gaming either. I do see why Nagin wants it. The city must be bankrupt by now. They need money fast I guess.
I think Nagin knows if everyone sits back and thinks, many won't want to rebuild. Or will decide it is too expensive.
A personal note: I have read this entire thread, and I must say that you have earned my admiration for standing your ground against virtually everyone else posting on the thread. I do find it distressing when a single FReeper gets "treed" by a bunch of others!
While I question (on both technical and economic grounds) the re-creation of NO just as it was, I can certainly see the need for strengthening the best parts, and converting some of the most stressed and damage-prone areas into something like parklands. Or, for instance, deep-channeling the lowest parts (to create permanent waterways) and using the spoil dirt to raise areas to be re-developed. I wouldn't even object to a project like that done in Galveston: dredge Lake P. and other waterways, and pump the sand into areas that need to be raised.
What is needed is a serious urban re-design plan -- focused on saving the best and sacrificing that which can never truly be protected adequately. Just saying "We wanna build the levees higher" and rebuilding in the sinking areas is beyond foolhardy, IMO...
Again, hang in there -- and thank you for retaining your civility when others lost theirs!
Thanks, but I have some friends here!!
I see your plan, and that is what I want to talk about. Just to start rebuilding seems crazy to me. I think if they do put alot of money into it, it ought to be a different kind of place.
My son in law thinks it ought to be done like Venice,,with canals and all. I keep telling him they would be covered with green scum and flies and mosquitoes. This is really a jungle down here.
We need urban planners, engineers, etc to have some kind of vision of what is to be done. That could take years to agree upon and meanwhile, no tax money is coming in.
BTW, my daughter lived in Metairie until a year ago. She had to pump sand under the foundation of her house every year or so because of the subsidence. That amazed me,,imagine, having your house built on subsiding ground.
"As if it couldn't possibly happen to the people who are complaining."
Actually, in my case, I have experienced it first hand. Hurricane Andrew trashed my place when the eye went by a few miles away. I am still fighting with FloriDUH bureaucrats who still don't want to issue permits to rebuild.
Government gone wrong is the core problem in FloriDUH and NOLA. While all of the citizens didn't vote for the corruption, enough did to allow it to occur.
Believe me, simply wasting other people's money with Federal funds when the government is corrupt is a wasteful approach. I've been through it. And it seems that you will soon see there what happened here. Probably worse because the rot is far deeper there.
I wish I had better news, but I honestly don't.
Well, I'd hope there would be plenty of planning and estimating considering the magnitude of it all. There are lots of things to be considered. For example, how many people will want to come back and if they don't return will there be newcomers willing to risk the chance of going through the same thing someday? How much money should be spent to try to help protect a city when the majority of it is built below sea level?
I'd like to point out something that you might not have thought about. Just as you're dealing with all of this from where you are, the rest of us are dealing with it from where we are. I personally have many concerns about the impact of Katrina and Rita. On an emotional level, I'm concerned for people whose lives have been ripped apart. My heart aches for them. How do you decide if the place you've always called "home" should continue to be your home? How do you deal with the fact that your worldly possessions are gone or ruined? Do you try to start over in a new place, knowing that eventually you'll have to decide whether or not to pull up the new roots you've just grown? I also have economic conerns. Hotel rooms are costing $11 million a day just for Katrina evacuees..they're estimating almost half a billion total by the time they have found temporary housing for them. And that's just one financial aspect of this very complicated thing. It's a diaster the likes of which none of us have ever dealt with before.
So, and I am speaking only for myself here, if I seem to be a little hesitant at the idea of the country spending a couple hundred billion dollars to help rebuild NO, bear in mind that it's certainly nothing personal. I have kids and not a day goes by that I don't wonder what the future of this country holds for them. Between fuel prices, immigration, and all that other stuff what if there's another big natural disaster or terrorist attack? That could bring economic changes that none of us want to see. Toss in some bird flu and well, there ya go.
Although you're much closer to the New Orleans thing that the rest of us, we still feel it, in one way or another, whether we admit it or not. And I can honestly say that I wish the city of New Orleans much success in rebuilding and that I hope it's done in a smart, sensible way. Because in the end, it's really an investment we'll all be making.
I know the corruption here as well as anyone.
I hope all those inspectors and auditors the feds promise will be on the job.
I am more interested in what kind of plans are being made, if any.
Our thoughts are very close. I am seeing many if not most people deciding not to return. These are people who work, have family etc. And if they can relocate they are doing it. I don't think the welfare poor will return. The working poor I don't know about.
But the big thing is what is the plan, how much is the tab, do we dare do it. I used to think the US could do anything but lately I don't think so. Something optimistic is gone. And I don't really think that city can be recreated, you just can't do that. I think people are having a hard time realizing that.
No! First, Haley needs to run for the Senate seat of Trent Lott, who said he will probably not run for re-election.
People need to be told about the good work of Haley Barbour. And, the First Lady of Mississippi, Marsha Barbour, was a First Responder in the aftermath of the Hurricane. Mississippi really did get two for the price of one. Mrs. Barbour rendered assistance where possible and was a second set of eyes and ears on the ground for her Governor/Husband.
Louisiana should be ashamed of its public officials in comparison to those in Mississippi.
No, sorry...Federal money is not going to pay city workers to sit around the ghost town.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.