Friday, September 30, 2005
 From the Times-Picayune Sept. 29: [...]
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Treme activist Dyan French Cole and prominent businessmen including John Casbon and Erik Johnsen urged the council to recycle as much of the financial assistance as possible inside the region.
"The world is watching New Orleans," said Jackson, who read from recent newspaper accounts that the federal government had hired a Danish company to prepare food for relief workers and that large American conglomerates were earning significantly higher fees to remove storm debris than small local firms.
"Disaster survivors should have the preference to return here," Jackson said "And they should have the preference on jobs, job training and contracts."
During an emotional, profanity-laced tirade, Cole, a fixture at council meetings for years, berated local law enforcement officials and the military for forcibly removing her from her neighborhood, where she said she oversaw her own private relief effort.
Cole also said she was aghast that workers who she described as "illegal aliens" had been brought in to New Orleans to assist in the hurricane cleanup even as residents were being prevented from returning. "Why aren't able-bodied black men being allowed back in the city to rebuild their homes?" she asked.
Council President Oliver Thomas urged Nagin administration officials to go the extra mile to funnel federal and state dollars to local companies and workers.
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