Posted on 03/28/2006 7:31:36 PM PST by Pikamax
Starved for cash, the New Orleans school district is taking a long shot and hoping to sell its flooded, unsalvageable school buses on eBay.
Some submerged to their roofs in the black flood waters, the yellow school buses were widely photographed in the days after Hurricane Katrina and have become an icon of the city's devastated school system.
School officials acknowledge the sale of the buses on the Internet auction site may puzzle some people used to more traditional school fundraisers like bake sales.
"There's no shame in it. Not one bit," said school board president Phyllis Landrieu. "This is a new mechanism for selling things. I think it's very upbeat what we're doing."
Only 23 of 117 Orleans Parish public schools have reopened. They face a $111 million shortfall - about a quarter of the district's $430 million annual operating budget. The district also has $264 million in outstanding debt, carried over from before Hurricane Katrina.
A total of 85 schools flooded, and wind damaged many more. It took three months for the first public school to reopen. Now, the schools that are holding classes have around 9,500 students, about 15 percent of the 60,000 enrolled before the storm.
The school district plans to put one bus up for sale on eBay this week. If it succeeds, more of the 259 ruined buses will be offered.
"It's an example of how bad the situation is that we would have to come up with this idea," said Richard White, schools spokesman.
The district plans to contract out its student transportation.
Does each bus come with a chocolate bar?
We should buy the first one, re-name the Ray Nagin evacuation bus and get a lot of press out of it.
Well, how are they going to market them....as Nagin's "unused" buses.
Nagin ought to be horsewhipped.
ping to self
Thus, the problem. And is Phyllis any relation to the gov?
Landrieu? I'm sure she's not related to the rest of the Landrieu family.
I'm sure I could sell them to some boss hogg types who need some extra chicken coops and make a tidy profit.
Oh, wait. I'm not connected to the corrupt system down there.
Sorry, maybe next time.
I remember the good old days when Louisiana had politicians who were just colorful and/or corrupt...
If I could get down there with my tools, I'd personally contribute the labor to repair it for free.
Out of work and broke ain't no way to be, son. Hey wait, I've got time to 'protest' all day. No wait, got to eat.... Just Damn!
Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.
How is Phyllis related to Mary and the other Landrieu clan trying to lock up LA politics?
"The district plans to contract out its student transportation"
Here's an idea. Contract out services to the whole damn city. It's a disaster.
I'm going to a wedding in the Chocolate City a week from this Saturday. I can't wait to see with my own eyes what kind of shape its in.
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. . . school board president Phyllis Landrieu . . .
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HEY ZEUS CHRISTO! Is Landrieu a Louisiana translation of Gotti?!?
Aw jeez, they should just name the state...Landreiusiana...and get it over with.
That just seems disrespectful
Aw jeez, they should just name the state...Landreiusiana...and get it over with.
Landrieu? I'm sure she's not related to the rest of the Landrieu family.
Pikamax, no. The gov is Kathleen Babineaux Blanko. I think you must mean the Lt.Gov. Mitch Landrieu.nunya bidness, Phyllis is related [aunt] by marriage to "the rest of the Landrieu family". Specifically, she is the wife of Joseph Landrieu [and the mother of ten Joseph/Phyllis Landrieu children].
Joseph's brother Moon and his wife Verna are the parents of Sen. Mary Landrieu and Lt.Gov. Mitch Landrieu [and the other seven Moon/Verna Landrieu children].
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