Brad Pitt & Nancy Pelosi Make It Right

What a man :). And he is looking sooo very fine today!! Gorgeous hunk!

guli -

check the link again. doesnt seem to play.

My thoughts on the Make it Right project :–
There is good that come out of these. 1st — People who were displaced will have a home. 2nd — there will be jobs created during construction.

Finally, once this neighborhood is put back together, this can be a POTENTIAL tourist stop for tourists, visiting the area planned with the world’s renowned architects. We all know tourists like to visit UNESCO world heritage sites. The same reasoning can apply here. Travel company can set up WALKING tours. Where can you find a place with all those houses, planned by world renowned architectects ALL IN ONE LOCATION ? And to see how eco-green features are applied, to learn about the history of pre and post Katrina. It could be very educational too.

With tourist bus bringing people to the neighborhood, there will be shops springing up to cater to the tourist, gift shops, restaurants, ice cream store, coffee shop, hotels, etc. Gift shops can sell post Katrina postcards, different houses blueprints, tote bags, MIR T shirts. Heck, they can even bottle those dirt or muds from the site and sell them. It’s all good for the local ECONOMY.

Tourism is big business !!!

Brad’s ideas are BRILLIANT !!! This is the man who has the foresights, the connection, the drive , and the heart. He has all my respect.

We should be greatful that Brad is shepherding this project with his precious TIME.

Thanks for the great pictures. BP is an Activists and Humanitarian doing some good in the world. His dedication in rebuilding the Lower 9th Ward is appreciated and I wish him continue success with the MIR project. He is also looking mighty fine. Thanks to BP and AJ for all their humanitarian endeavors.

bdj @ 01/31/2009 at 9:44 pm

http://www.pr-inside.com/connick-jr-s-new-orleans-bond-with-r1031317.htm

CONNICK JR’S NEW ORLEANS BOND WITH PITT
Jazz singer HARRY CONNICK JR is anxious to meet up with BRAD PITT again, so he can personally thank the movie star for the help he’s giving the residents of New Orleans
, Louisiana.
The pair was among the first celebrities who stepped up to offer aid and support in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the city in 2005.
And Connick Jr., who was born and raised in New Orleans, has praised Pitt for organising his Make It Right campaign, which has continued to build homes for the displaced and devastated families in the area.
He tells OK! magazine, “I met him years ago, very briefly. I actually wrote him a letter to thank him for what he’s doing.
“I don’t know if he even got it. But if I ever see him again, I’ll thank him again, because the benefit to the city is unimaginable.”

he just couldn’t get any yummier…thank God he found the woman who would let him unlock all his potential to make a difference in this world.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/03/pelosi_brad_pitt_pitching_low.html

WASHINGTON–Photo Ops with celebs help draw attention to worthy topics otherwise not getting attention. On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi co-starred with Brad Pitt to promote ‘”Make it Right,” a project launched in 2007 to construct affordable and environmentally-sustainable housing for low-income residents of the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans who lost their homes as a result of Hurricane Katrina.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5247HJ20090305

Obama officials vow to cut red tape after Katrina
Thu Mar 5, 2009 4:21pm EST

By Kathy Finn

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - High-level Obama administration officials visited New Orleans for the first time on Thursday and pledged to cut bureaucratic red tape that has hindered efforts to rebuild after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.

“There are still areas where progress has stalled, bureaucracy has set in, and people continue to struggle,” said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, speaking at a press conference at Abundance Square, a residential development in the Upper Ninth Ward where the demolished public housing project known as Desire once stood.

U.S. President Barack Obama on February 20 vowed to prevent a repeat of the “failures” of the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina and promised a stepped-up commitment to Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts.

Former President George W. Bush was widely seen as out of touch with the situation when Katrina struck, flooding 80 percent of the city, killing 1,500 people and causing more than $80 billion in damage.

Bush’s oft-ridiculed remark to then-disaster chief Michael Brown, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job,” came to symbolize his administration’s botched response. Brown was later relieved of his job.

There are signs that the city is recovering. The metal exterior of the Superdome — the covered sports arena where desperate residents sought shelter during Katrina — is being replaced and the Mahalia Jackson Theater reopened in January.

Pop singer Britney Spears, kicked off her first tour in five years at the New Orleans Arena on Tuesday.

But state officials say billions of dollars in recovery funds promised by the federal government after Katrina have yet to arrive, and local FEMA officials are accused of corruption.

Doug Whitmer, chief of staff of FEMA’s Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office, has been reassigned and FEMA has sent a team to investigate claims of racial discrimination, sexual harassment, nepotism and cronyism. Napolitano said Washington will “make whatever changes are necessary” to “speed up the work and get the money out.”

Napolitano took a bus tour of New Orleans, along with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and other state and local officials.

Craig Fugate, Obama’s nominee to head FEMA, appeared at the press conference but did not speak.

***On the bus, Obama officials drove past a sign in the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward that reads “Please help our community.” New, energy-efficient homes built by actor Brad Pitt’s “Make It Right” project stood in stark contrast to many gutted houses and empty lots.****

Donovan unveiled a new five-year, $50 million program to offer permanent supportive housing to about 1,000 homeless individuals and families living with disabilities, and $23 million in rental assistance vouchers for storm victims.

About $3 billion in previously allocated Katrina recovery funds have yet to be handed out, said Republican U.S. Representative Joseph Cao.

FEMA spent $15 billion to buy thousands of portable trailers to house Katrina victims and still doesn’t have a housing plan “that has a decent chance of actually working,” Senator Mary Landrieu, Louisiana Democrat, told Reuters in an interview last week.

fake fake fake fake fake…

he’s no clooney.

He is definitely not down to earth,he couldn’t do it without screaming to world “hey look at me” posing for photops plz…

Tks JJ. JP wonderful couple…helping a lot of people.

Pelosi?? Approval rating now at 35 percent. She will take everyone down that Liberal path of distruction, look for Americans to throw them ALL out in 4 years, and that is something and te ONLY thing u can take to the bank. She’s a phony, super Liberal. Brad, is doing wonderful things with his money, but this is nothing but a PHOTO OP like “Photo op” all the JP crowd screams everytime Katie, Jen, Tom, and who ever else not under the JP umbrella goes out the door, with a kid, or without. Hypocrits!