Not In My (Flooded) Back Yard

This article on the NIMBY (Not in my Back Yard) syndrome sums up the faults of New Orleans' "leadership" that led to the nightmarish Katrina aftermath in the first place. You'll need to read the whole thing to fully understand, but here are some highlights:

In one of the post-Katrina era's ironic role reversals, the same local officials and residents who once screamed at FEMA to get trailers to New Orleans quickly are now fending off the 17,777 trailers that FEMA has on hand in Louisiana and says it can deliver immediately.

"My concern was strangers coming into my neighborhood that I knew nothing about," said Dianne Galatas, one of several St. Rose residents who fought plans to put a 200-trailer site in her neighborhood for New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board employees. Amid the clamor, the board withdrew the plan last week, citing a lack of local infrastructure.

"It's a nice and quiet and safe neighborhood, and that's how I'd like to keep it," Galatas said. "I don't want my neighborhood ruined because theirs is."

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Mayor Ray Nagin tried to sweep aside such opposition last week when he released his list of trailer sites. The move triggered howls of outrage from City Council members and some residents, and the administration quickly began backing off what seemed a bold proposal, a cause and effect that underscored the power of the "not in my back yard," or NIMBY, camps.

Nagin's hasty backtracking last week seemed at odds with his rhetoric, with which he has repeatedly and forcefully attacked the NIMBY stance. At one of his town hall meetings, he went so far as to label the resistance "not very Christian," and to call the NIMBY mind-set deeply insulting to the far-flung evacuees who want to come home.

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But local officials are anything but united in their views, particularly in New Orleans, the jurisdiction with the greatest need. When the City Council passed an ordinance giving members the final say on trailer placement, Nagin vetoed it, declaring the measure moot because a declared state of emergency gives the executive the exclusive power on temporary housing decisions. Last week the council unanimously overrode that veto. A possible court battle looms.

That combination of unprecedented demand and all-too-familiar political turf battles has slowed the area's overall recovery at a time when housing is desperately in demand, according to FEMA.

"Of course we would like to have put up more trailers and believe we would have put up more trailers if we had not had some of resistance we've had," FEMA's McIntyre said. The number of trailers in Louisiana "could be a lot higher" than the nearly 23,000 that are occupied or awaiting tenants, he said. Another 6,700 units are still being set up.

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That galls Glendalyn Lewis, who lost her eastern New Orleans home and is living in Texas with her husband. She said she is anxious to return to the city and pointed to her long education career and the success of her children as evidence that evacuees shouldn't be branded as riffraff.

"You forgot about those who did hold down their jobs, who reared their kids: just everyday people," she said. "That's what they forgot about. We weren't the enemy, but now it seems that we are. My city appears not to want me. That's the worst part."

Granted, not everyone who is displaced is a good, upstanding citizen like Ms. Lewis. And as a former resident of the area, I certainly understand the fears -- no matter how selfish -- of those who live in New Orleans.

However, this is where real leaders come in. Instead of pandering to fears, real leaders assess what must be done for the good of the whole city. Without the so-called lower classes, hotels, restaurants and public services cannot function in New Orleans. These are the people who sweat and toil in what many of us would call menial jobs. Yet they are the oil to New Orleans' engine.

Mayor Nagin and the worthless New Orleans City Council -- the same ones who decried federal "inaction" in the hours after Katrina -- must find the backbone to allow FEMA to provide affordable and decent housing so that its citizens can return and move the city forward.

Alas, the people across the country who know little about the mechanics of ward politics and Louisiana patronage were quick to blame the federal government for the Katrina disaster. Perhaps now they see what I've pointed out numerous times here at BaT: The problem is in New Orleans City Hall and the Governor's Mansion.

As this mentality will only grow, I fear we will all regret our rush to demand billions of dollars to help a city which will not -- possibly cannot -- help itself. So to the residents and "leaders" who say, "Not in my back yard," I agree. Let's send our money and those trailers to people in Mississippi and Alabama who were also impacted by Katrina.

If New Orleans wants to fend for itself, then let it. We'll see how those property values hold up once the whole place is a swamp again.