Is NIMBY (literally "Not In My Back Yard") code for racism, uncharitable behavior or more bureaucratic bungling? I lean toward the latter, but if you have read any of this website you'll certainly know that race paints all decisions in New Orleans. Read on and form your own opinion.

Bureaucrats at FEMA insisted that they contract for and deliver the actual trailers rather than concentrating on qualifying homeowners for a housing benefit then providing a voucher that they could use as they saw fit. The result is 17,777 white trailers sitting in staging areas and on rail cars ready to go but with no where to land. Has FEMA studied the trailer cities the've built in the past? Are they viable, are there any lessons to be learned? Do trailer cities make sense at all or are they diverting resources and effort from permanent reconstruction?

Bureaucrats in New Orleans knew that FEMA was eventually going to deliver thousands of trailers. Did they get ready? Did they identify sites? Did they study alternatives? Did they encourage public debate about few large group sites vs many small group sites? No, they got in a snit over who has the authority to make the decisions. The mayor published lists and the council repudiated them and then he retracted them. The council passed motions, he vetoed them, they overrode his veto. What could be more disconcerting?

The state formed the Lousiana Recovery Authority. Have they included this issue in their planning? Did the ULI study even mention the issue? Is our US Congressional Delegation all over it?

The the media do anything useful? Did they surface the issue? Were they more interested in the acquisition scandals? Are they supposed to show foresight? Did they publicize alternatives? Have the trashed the image of New Orleans around the country again? For what purpose? Finally as the debate has grown heated they've interviewed the manager and police chief at Punta Gorda. This is more like shooting the wounded than being helpful.

And the citizens of New Orleans were caught in the muddle without leadership. What would you do? What if you couldn't find out any details? In an emergency you might accept it and try to make the best of it. Is this an emergency?

New Orleans is a city of neighborhoods. People have chosen to live where they live. If it was clear that trailer cities were necessary and sufficient the decency of citizens would make the best of a bad situation.

Instead it is not clear. It is not clear that these trailer cities are what we should be doing. It is not clear that the best sites have been chosen. It is clear the stakeholders are not being considered and counsulted in these decisions.