Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Mayor of Red Stick gets the Red Ass

The Baton Rouge Advocate finally took on their own flavor of the crime camera scam.  Greg Meffert and Mark St. Pierre managed to finagle Mayor Kip Holden into contracting Netmethods for crime camera services back in 2007, just as we were beginning to realize how screwed up our system was.  The word is there were plenty of back room deals with the B.R. contract, much like the N.O. contract.  A couple of years later, the city is freaking out over the high cost of maintaining the cameras and questioning their effectiveness...sound familiar?

Believe it or not, a Louisiana news entity outside of New Orleans actually put on their investigative hat and decided to look into the matter:

Surveillance camera system far from picture perfect

Their journalistic efforts were promptly rewarded by Mayor Kip Holden:

 Mayor evicts The Advocate from press room
 
I guess the Red Stick folks aren't very accustomed to an effective 4th estate.  Maybe it's time to start turning our attention north of I-10.


I'd start with a single question...why are the Governor's records sealed?  Why aren't they public record under the Sunshine law like every other public official in the state?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

All of Mitch's friends seem to be on the take...

Jason Brad Berry said...

yeah...i have some friends who shoot smack.

I also have a lot of gay friends.

I have a lot of friends with vaginas.

I have a lot of christian friends.

I have a lot of friends who don't play golf.

Anonymous said...

Why is Sen Mary Landrieu personally giving the City of Baton Rouge an appropriation of over $500,000.00 in federal funds for more NetMethods (aka MMR Group) crime cameras?????

And now it gets better the MMR Group bought NetMethods in 2009 with the same principals in charge and same employees who were involved in the corruption with Meffert & Orleans Parish.

Anonymous said...

MMR bought netmethods? as is, owns it? as it, st pierre does not?

Jason Brad Berry said...

Yes MMR bought Netmethods. I'm not sure what St. Pierre's role is but I heard that Netmethods is still obligated to pay Meffert 30k a month....good news for Randy Smith.

Anonymous said...

just funny that you are so willing to forgive Mitch's friends and not the previous mayor's....seems like a double standard

Anonymous said...

With the mayor and the DA endorsing Richmond, I'll be looking for hope and change next election. Until the politicians "get" it: THEIR jobs depend on the PEOPLE.

Drake Toulouse said...

Just a side note, but when out in San Francisco, they tried these cameras too and the expense of maintenance was ridiculous, then the Chronicle does an investigation and get this, finds that not only are the cameras not being monitored, half of them aren't even turned on.

VinceMacPaul said...

Thanks Dambala for the continued research. We've all got our opinions and they all stink unless you can back them up with facts. Shit, or get off the pot. AZ has presented facts. Argue with the facts, not AZ. N.O. is in the crapper folks based on years of political abuse and corruption, so does our Country. Keep pounding AZ. What can we do to help?

Jason Brad Berry said...

say it all...just say it all. somebody has to or this democracy thing doesn't work.

Anonymous said...

crime cameras are (today) largely a farce -- the network tech just aint there, and they cost way, way more than just hiring more feet on the ground. its an IT monorail, and some salesmen are able to capitalize on this (meffert, st. pierre).

but dont take my world for it. a collection of facts:

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

Anonymous said...

At the beginning of "A Brief History of Time", Stephen Hawking writes of a time when he gave a speech about the Big Bang only to be interupted by a woman in the crowd.

She told him he was full of shit, because "everyone knows the Earth is carried on the back of a giant turtle."

"Oh Yeah? So what, then, is carrying the turtle, Madam?"

"You can't fool me! It's turtles all the way down!"

Political corruption in New Orleans (and in the rest of Lousisiana) is "turtles all the way down", isn't it?

There is always another fucking turtle under there, doing some dirty deal.

Jason Brad Berry said...

I read that too but I thought Roger Penrose was the dude giving the speech.

I love that story.