Mayor Nagin’s viewpoint of Ground Zero
WNBC.com reports:
NEW YORK — New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, confronted with accusations he’s taking too long to rebuild his city after Hurricane Katrina, takes a swipe at New York’s redevelopment of the World Trade Center site on a television news show.
Nagin, weaving through the wreckage in the devastated Ninth Ward neighborhood, claimed much of the debris was removed from public property, but when a “60 Minutes” correspondent pointed out flood-damaged cars on the streets, Nagin shot back, “You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed, and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair,” according to CBS.
Okay, let’s be fair. While indeed that is a “hole in the ground,” Ground Zero is also where 2,795 people were murdered and America has twice been attacked. New York’s civilians and private organizations have contributed greatly to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. New York City sent rescue teams, police, and firefighters to assist New Orleans.
During this year’s Mardi Gras parade, Mayor Nagin rode a horse and wore a US military desert camouflage uniform in a disrespectful manner. Mixing in a civilian T-shirt and strings of beads around his neck, he wore general’s stars and military medals he never earned, and his official biographies make no mention of military service.
I was going to include a picture here yet that horse has been humiliated enough. Besides, the pictures show him sitting half a horse too far forward from where Mayor Nagin’s remarks usually originate. You will just have to find the pictures elsewhere and consider the source yourself.
Update:
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, LA. - Gov. Kathleen Blanco on Friday distanced herself from New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s disparaging comment about recovery at New York’s World Trade Center site, publicly thanking New Yorkers for their help after Hurricane Katrina.
Blanco issued a statement noting that New Orleans and New York share a bond in the cities’ recent calamities.
“Just as the people of Louisiana quickly moved to help with recovery from 9/11, the people of New York returned the favor in ways we will remember forever,” she said in the statement.