Monday, May 24, 2010

The Wheels of Justice Grind Slowly

But praise Buddha it looks like they're moving.

Unbeknownst to Zombie, the gret stet has conducted a legislative audit on the city's sketchy-ass contract history with this blog's nemesis, Ciber....and boy it will get yo' panties in a wad.  I haven't had time to go through it all but I offer it here for your reading pleasure:

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If you've read this blog from the beginning, you know in the history of my reporting on the IT department, I've continually stated that all roads lead to Ciber. Let's just hope Mr. Letten and crew take this report as a road map to Colorado and pull these bastards back into a Louisiana court.

WWL is ahead of the curve on this story so tune in tonight to get the story from Lucy Bustamante.

16 comments:

vern51 said...

I only read page one and I am saying "WOW!!!". Major theft occurred. I kept saying look in the finance dept. There is gold in those records (even if the gold is missing and the leprecahn (sp?) is hiding it.

GENTILLY YARD ART said...

the only thing more awesome than this news is that adrastos is going to have to watch lucy b.


i love you cuzin.


stay dead and get your daily recomended dose of brains.

Anonymous said...

Reading this report it becomes clear that not only are Dambala's reports validated by an official state body there is something more:

validation that governmental misfeasance and incompetence feeds and is at the root of corruption.

Following that, Mitch Landrieu needs to FIRE people at City Hall. Anyone responsible with the roadblocks put up in the obtaining of information by the Auditor NEEDS TO GO.

This report is a handbook on how corruption is perpetrated.

If Mitch Landrieu does not do anything about the procurement system in this City on a permanent basis then nothing has changed except the willingness of any given mayor to take advantage of it.

Anonymous said...

does anyone have a ballpark total amount that ciber recieved from the city?

Jason Brad Berry said...

The official amount is 47 million but I think it may be more.

Frolic said...

Leaving aside whether we got what we paid for, how do New Orleans technology expenditures over the last 8 years compare to other cities?

Seems like we spent a huge amount of money, but is this level of expenditure in line with what other cities spend? If not, how out of line are we?

Anonymous said...

a large portion of that money is crime-camera related -- in their in their ill-conceived creation & implementation, or in their pricey support. i dont remember know but i think each one amounts to $30k/year.

they are a joke. theyve been used to convict only ONE DUDE, of selling ecstasy pills:

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/10/crime_camera_finally_earns_its.html

...then they either dont work, or they give us crummy footage like so:

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/05/police_seek_publics_help_ident.html

...(which in another story nola.com cites as coming from a crime camera).

real impressive, huh? how many millions upon millions has nagin, meffert, riley, jones, and boyd spent on that ecstasy conviction? how much good bad has gone after bad? how many COPS AND GOOD EMPLOYEES could have been hired with all that money?

they dont work. but dont take my word for it:

http://www.notbored.org/cameras-not-effective.html

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=crime+cameras+don%27t+work&btnG=Search

...even in the UK, where theyve invested so much that they have one for every 14 people, they dont work:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-circuit_television#Crime_prevention_and_prevalence_in_the_UK

Jason Brad Berry said...

Frolic, I'm going to write a redux piece on Ciber and the tech dept. over Nagin's tenure. I just have to carve out about 12 hours to do it.

I think we will definitely be over the average for other cities but the more important issue is the amount of money we spent with very little to show for it, from the crime cameras to 311.

Incidentally, they ran a story last night about the failure of the crime cameras, and I have to say I think it would be a mistake to just shitcan them at the juncture. We need to look at the system and see if we can implement a functional strategy to get them back online...if the cost is too great, then just leave them in place and we may be able to find another solution down the road. I would just hate to get absolutely nothing out of them after all the money we spent.

311...that's a whole other ball of wax.

Jason Brad Berry said...

-
they are a joke. theyve been used to convict only ONE DUDE, of selling ecstasy pills

that sucks. of all the drugs, X can be incredibly therapeutic. Smack, Meth or Heroin would have been a justifiable catch.

Anonymous said...

FIRING people at City Hall would be a good idea.

Think: if they stay on staff, the people responsible for this will collect pensions from taxpayers, too.

Anonymous said...

You cannot fire Civil servants inspite of their incompetence, ability to do the job, or even having the skill set for what they have been assigned - Dalta Watts an HR person is a manager of technology! WTH??

Mitch will only be able to do so much, then hit the Civil Service wall,

Anonymous said...

>You cannot fire Civil servants inspite of their incompetence, ability to do the job, or even having the skill set for what they have been assigned - Dalta Watts an HR person is a manager of technology! WTH??

Mitch will only be able to do so much, then hit the Civil Service wall[.]<

Well anon, why stop at Watts they also have the preacher in there running things. Has Landrieu changed ANY OF THIS?

Violation of public records laws of the order mentioned there in the posted Leg Aud. report (i.e., hiding, destroying, refusing to produce, not keeping in the first place, etc.) IS grounds for dismissal because it is against the law.

Anonymous said...

I cite ecstasy because it IS better than heroine or meth and is more akin to pot. Have you met any ecstasy junkies lately? I haven't. In fact the dozens of people I know who've used x for recreation are productive knowledge workers.

Trying to salvage the cameras is pure folly, make no mistake. Read the links -- they don't deter crime, even in good ole big brother central, Britain. And they have invested FAR more than we.

I don't get it - why do people feel you can automate-away crime? Poverty and culture create crime. Tech won't make it go away.

Invest in humans - cops, teachers, etc.

Anonymous said...

i just finished reading and skimming the entire doc. it's interesting.

i can confirm a couple of Ciber's points: first, that they have gone year without payment from the city. this was SOP for the city, to just not pay it's vendors because it doesn't feel like it. why anyone tolerates this i'm unsure. second, that the overlap with VistionIT was minimal. Vision did software, Ciber did infrastructure.

but the rest of the mess seems to come from shitty records keeping, by the city and Ciber. without names attached to billable-hours invoices, i am forced to assume there are a lot of bogus hours being billed.

Anonymous said...

>Dalta Watts an HR person is a manager of technology! WTH??<

more, please?

also, who is "the preacher" and what is he running?

Anonymous said...

Last anon, this guy:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2VBei_4eHLI/ScCSjdkdP5I/AAAAAAAAAiw/h3-iXxm6wkE/s1600-h/revIT.jpg

That's from this awesome site of course but pulled from the City of new Orleans former tech home page and org chart.

The Rev. Shelton Myers, he's the head of Technical Services for the City of New Orleans.

Has Mitch fired him and turned over the tech department yet?

Doubt it but hey we know the authority is on this..... hey Dambala, has Mitch changed anything in ITS yet? Any chages at all?