The Big Easy's mayor Ray Nagin would have none of CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Byron Pitts' condescending carp. As he took Pitts on a tour of the Ninth Ward, he remarked with pride that the city had removed most of the detritus on public property. Pitts pointed out a house that had been moved off of its foundation and was protruding into the street and cars on the thoroughfare that had also been damaged by the flooding aftermath of Katrina: the city chief was not overly amused. Nagin retorted, "That's alright: you guys in New York can't get a hole in the ground fixed, and it's five years later." He added, "So let's be fair." Of course, Nagin's knock of the Big Apple is reverberating through that urbane, sophisticated city's media: Louisiana has that joie de vivre that doesn't cotton to Yankee patronizing.
Cf. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/24/60minutes/main1933092.shtml
3 comments:
In a way, the words he used were a bit disrespectful to those who lost their lives, but I don't think he meant it that way. The way he meant it, I believe, was to say it's been five years and you guys cannot even make your minds up about what to do at the WTC site, so don't come criticizing my city's cleanup one year after Katrina. It's a fair point though daftly phrased.
I tend to think that Nagin's riposte was rather deft.
Ah, the appropriateness of his remarks turns on one letter... how Shakespearian!
Post a Comment