update: new orleans

[LittleOldLady]

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Is there any indication that the incompetence of the local leadership has eroded their political base? Is there an impeachment process, and has it been threatened? As an outsider I'd assume that the wealthier residents remaining would force the leadership to start pandering to their demands.

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The leadership IS pandering to the demands of the wealthy. What the wealthy want is a richer and especially whiter New Orleans. That's what all this NIMBY-ing about the trailers is all about, preventing the housing project and Lower Ninth Ward people from coming back. The council members representing the Quarter, Algiers, and Lakeview are putting the kibosh on the trailers--which is exactly what their constituents want them to do.

The voters of Louisiana are scattered all over the country, and no one has a clue as to where they are except FEMA which refused to provide the addresses to the state for voting purposes until it was forced to yesterday. There is supposed to be a mayoral election in February, but that is not enough time to figure out the practicalities of how to run a fair and legal election under the circumstances. And then there is the problem of local candidates being forced to run a campaign that is national in scope. Right now the storm and subsequent mass relocation have eroded everyone's political base--whose voters get to come back when is very much part of the political agenda.