New Orleans: who decides?

The people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are facing yet another disaster. Instead of rebuilding areas devastated by the hurricane with local companies, local jobs, and with oversight of the people who will live in the rebuilt towns and cities, large corporations and big federal contactors are having their way with the region. And some in Washington are using the catastrophe to waive federal protections of all sorts.

Some of the issues are already clear. Who will get the jobs created by the clean up and rebuilding -- outsiders or local residents? Is there a good reason to pay below prevailing wages as the recent decision to waive the Davis-Bacon Act allows? Why not pay local people well, so they can use their wages to rebuild their own homes and lives, and jump-start a staggering local economy?

What about environmental clean up -- as the toxic stew recedes, how clean will the clean up be?

Who will the city of New Orleans be rebuilt for? Will it be a mecca for tourists who want to enjoy the booze, jazz and exotic night life. Will there be room for the poor people who had once called New Orleans their home (and out of whose neighborhoods came the rich culture that makes the city so famous)? There are already signs of a real estate boom in the region, and we know who gets left out when that happens.

There's also the question of how to rebuild safe and green.

The biggest question that may answer all the others is who decides? While many New Orleanians have been busy putting their families and their lives back together, decisions are being made that will determine the direction of the city for decades to come.

Fortunately, some grassroots groups have organized quickly to begin to make the voices of evacuees and the people of the Gulf Coast heard.

Katrina Information Network is a brand new clearinghouse for action and information on a "real action for real relief, a just recovery, and nothing less." This is a great place to get involved and find out what's going on.

The Community Labor United is convening groups, local and national, to make sure the people in the affected areas have a say about the rebuilding, whether they are temporarily displaced or still in their homes.

The New Orleans Network is helping evacuees get in touch with each others from their neighborhood, and with other evacuees currently living nearby. They are also highlighting questions and discussion about the future of New Orleans.

Kanye West, you may remember, was the hip hop artist who departed from his prepared script on NBC to say what many had been thinking: George Bush doesn't care about black people. Kayne was Right (also called the colorofchange) is asking 250,000 African Americans and their allies to sign a pledge that they will never again allow brothers and sisters to be abandoned.

Other groups working to support evacuees include Food Not Bombs, which is finding ways to get food and supplies into shelters and to evacuees -- despite FEMA.

Moveon has been linking up evacuees looking for housing with people offering housing.

The Tides Foundation has links to a number of social justice groups working to address the immediate needs and the long-term rebuilding in the region.

This could be a long struggle for the future of the region.

Those of us not in the region can support the people and organizations who will have the long, hard work of rebuilding the Gulf Coast, making sure they have justice, a say in what happens, and the resources they need.