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The Times Picayune reported today that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt purchased a beautiful New Orleans French Quarter home and enrolled their oldest child in school here. Click HERE for the story. Welcome to New Orleans, y’all.

Irvin Mayfield and Kermit Ruffins taped a segment for the New Orleans Saints vs. Philadelphia Eagles NFL playoff pregame show on Fox network this Saturday night, January 13th. We believe the telecast begins at 6:30pm CT. We predict Saints 71 – Eagles 9. Don’t miss it!

Here is the link to a clip of it on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsWvV5fE4Fw&mode=related&search=

Sept 21: 2 hour meeting with Road Home program advisor.
October 9th: Inspection at my home.
Jan 3rd: finally received grant award letter (I expected $115,000-$150,000 but letter says my grant award will be $43,000.)
Jan 4th: after 30 minutes on hold got cut off when as they transferred me to an advisor to discuss my concerns (as the grant letter suggested). Called back and left a message on an answering machine that said my call would be returned within 2 days.
Jan 5th: called and left message on an answering machine
Jan 8th: called and left message on an answering machine (after first getting cut off)
Jan 9th: called and left message on an answering machine
Jan 10th: called and left message on an answering machine (after first getting cut off)
Jan 11th: called and left message on an answering machine (after first getting cut off)
Jan 12th: Ditto
Jan 15th: Ditto
Jan 16th: Ditto
Jan 17th: Ditto, but I also sent them a letter.
Jan 18th: called and left message on an answering machine
Jan 18th: called and left message on an answering machine
Jan 22nd: Ditto
Jan 22nd: Ditto
Jan 23rd: Ditto
Jan 24th: Called and spoke to Monica, yea! She told me that they received my letter and that I should expect a revised grant award letter. However, the revised numbers only addressed one of my concerns and I asked her to review the calculations again. As we were wrapping things up, my connection (perhaps my cell phone) ended. I called right back and got through again! I was not allowed to speak to Monica again, but I spoke to Ewell, who was able to confirm that Monica had input the information that I should expect a new calculation, and that another inspector would call me to come out to the house. He was not able to tell me when that might happen.

Congratulations Governor Blanco…I am home (in the upstairs of my house and have caught two rats so far in the gutted downstairs), but if my appeal doesn’t result in a lot more grant money, I am about to decide to leave again. I WILL GIVE GOVERNOR BLANCO ALL OF THE ADDITIONAL MONEY I AM ABLE TO RECEIVE IF SHE WILL RESIGN BY THE END OF THIS MONTH!!!

UPDATE 6/22/07: While standing on the White House lawn on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 while waiting for Kermit Ruffins and his band to come back from their photo opportunity with President Bush, I received a phone call from the Road Home program reviewing the numbers with me, asking which option I was taking, and letting me know that I should receive a phone call within 3 weeks to schedule a closing. I actually received the call to schedule the closing on Thursday, June 21st, and my closing is scheduled for next week. I was told by the woman who scheduled my closing that I should have the money within 2 weeks after the closing. It has been a long, long, wait and there are still tens of thousands of more people waiting, but it will sure be a big relief when the money comes.

I wrote some time ago about the Road to Frustration Program that our Governor Blanco is responsible for and that is in the hands of ICF to administer. My frustration with it continues.

The Road Home Program is designed to put over $8 Billion dollars into the hands of over 100,000 households to help them rebuild their flood and hurricane (Katrina and Rita) damaged homes. So far only 100 families have received money.

When I first filled out an online registration back in February, I was expecting money by August. When I filled out the online “application” several months later I adjusted my expectations and expected the money by November or this month.

I had a 2 hour meeting on September 21st for this program with an advisor. I then had a home inspection on October 9th. It is now December 14th and I have not received ANY additional correspondence from the program and have 4 calls unanswered.

The company administering the program (ICF) is being paid nearly $800 million dollars. It sure would be nice if they would do their job.

UPDATE 6/22/07: While standing on the White House lawn on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007, while waiting for Kermit Ruffins and his band to come back from their photo opportunity with President Bush, I received a phone call from the Road Home program reviewing the numbers with me, asking which option I was taking, and letting me know that I should receive a phone call within 3 weeks to schedule a closing. I actually received the call to schedule the closing on Thursday, June 21st, and my closing is scheduled for next week. I was told by the woman who scheduled my closing that I should have the money within 2 weeks after the closing. It has been a long, long, wait and there are still tens of thousands of more people waiting, but it will sure be a big relief when the money comes.

You may have seen headlines that William Jefferson was reelected to the House of Representatives even though he is under a federal investigation and was found with $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer and videotaped taking those same bills from an FBI undercover agent.

What you may not know is that the Sherriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish (no, the parish was not named after William Jefferson) did not endorse Jefferson but told the voters to stay home if they were going to vote for Karen Carter. He was upset with her for her comments in Spike Lee’s HBO documentary where she pointed out that New Orleanians were stopped at gunpoint by Jefferson Parish deputies from crossing the bridge during the hurricane to escape from the flooding. The congressman can also thank Ray Nagin and Derrick Sheppard for supporting him. Derrick Sheppard came in 3rd in the primary behind Jefferson and Carter and is counting on Jefferson’s indictment to lead to a new election where he will have a better chance of winning.

We really are working for reform, improvement, and a decrease in corruption in our city and state. I hope that Congressman Jefferson spends whatever time in Washington that he has left continuing to work hard on the rebuilding of our great city.

It is important to vote. It is important for the nation to see that New Orleans is a place that is changing for the better. How can we think about sending a man (William Jefferson) back to Washington who has not explained the presence of $90,000 in FBI marked cash in his freezer? Karen Carter (Jefferson’s opponent) works hard in the Louisiana legislature and helped the music industry pass some excellent tax incentives to encourage recording in Louisiana similar to the film credits.