I wonder when the last yearly random visit was made to other agencies such as NO/AIDS.

Sure do wish they could be as prompt at releasing the federal funds as they are at yearly random visits.

the cover story this week made me sick to my stomach. the line about how difficult it is to find readers for, “say, 67 proposals that are 250-300 pages in length” struck me as particularly bizarre. most Requests for Proposals have very specific guidelines for grant applications, including a strict page limit. generally speaking, a long grant application would be 80 pages, including attachments. i’d be very interested to hear from an Office representative what the actual number of applicants and the actual RFP-mandated page limit were. blaming the Office’s issues with funding distribution on the (apparently unreasonable?) expectation of transparency and a hyperbolic reading load is absurd.

Fran Lawless looks to have been on that South African “mission”:

http://www.cityofno.com/pg-1-66-press-releases.aspx?pressid=4876

It is a challenge to get funds out, but it is a challenge that can be met… people from around the country are concerned about what is happening in places like Puerto Rico and in New Orleans where good work is ending because shoe-string organizations can no longer float mounting debts. We hope that hardworking HIV/AIDS service providers can be seen as part of the solution and will be encouraged to speak out freely to help find answers

Since shortly after the HIV epidemic was acknowledged by politicians, they have managed to convert a medical condition to a political one. The political environment in New Orleans has a less than acceptable reputation for its competency and expediency. What a shame that Fran Lawless is perpetuating that condition, especially at the expense of people infected with a life-altering and life-threatening disease!

How can anyone doubt that the monitoring visit is “payback”? The timing of it makes that exquisitely clear. What the city has done by holding up the Ryan White funding is nothing short of criminal. The current administration in New Orleans is shameful. They can’t seem to get anything right. And the poor and sick must suffer for their incompetence. I’m disgusted.

Nagin’s negative work ethic stricks again. If you can’t do the right thing first then try to correct it with yet another slap in the face of those people really suffering from his neglect. He will answer some day for his uncaring and arrogant attitude, and hopefully it will be soon.

The city’s ineptitude in dispersing funds which serve those citizens who are in greatest need of help is disgusting. To retaliate against an agency which makes this incompetence public…is outrageous. Instead of hastening to fix the problem, the city causes more grief. I think this whole matter should be put before Robert Cerasoli, the inspector general. By now, it would seem that there is deliberate malfeasance on the part of the city administration.

How appalling, the comments of Ms. Lawless in the article. To state that a non-profit agency have a one year operating budget in reserve is ludicrous. I believe the federal guideline mandates a three-month operating budget in reserve. The take-it-or-leave-attitude exuded by Ms. Lawless is less than admirable. MOHP should definitely look at creating a process within the city-system to stream this process. And yes it can be done; it has been done before. If it takes three months for contracts to be routed through the system; than adjust internal timelines. The clients being served by these agencies should not be placed in this detriment situation because of incompetent administrators. It is time for HRSA to reconsider the continuation of the City of New Orleans as the grantee for this program.

“I can’t tell an agency how to handle their finances,” Lawless says. “But we have 12 other agencies that are in operation and if [Hickerson] can’t sustain the needs of his clients, they can go elsewhere.”

Let pick this statement apart here for a moment.

Is is not the directors job to tell agencies how to do their jobs? Maybe not on a poiny by point basis, but the over all direction is set up by the mayors Office of Health Policy and its director.
How are the other agencies doing? Do all the agencies have it set up so that the CEO of a particular agency might have, let’s see, 11 or 13 corporations to work under? Maybe have things set up so title I and other go vernment funds for HIV AIDS purposes, pays itself rent because that agencies CEO might own the building it uses for a branch of service for clients, get rent paid to it’s company, and get money again for the service it provides?
Maybe these small agencies need to take the finance courses from one of it’s counterparts.
Are ALL the agencies under such financial distress? I would venture that ALL of them are not. Is one in particular doing better than ALL the rest of the provider agencies? I think it is.
Perhaps the OHP is more closely aligned with one agency more so than all the rest. Why it might be so is a very interesting question if it in fact the case.
Hint! Hint! Maybe some greater aligned agency in favor gets funds faster?
Maybe time will tell if other agencies, ALL, in order to get to a very specific agency, if tis is true and if we can see the reports of the audits. I think we are entitled under the law to see these audit reports. Now and previous ones.
I know Ms. Blutcher had tried to open service in the Slidell area of St. Tammany. This was shot down from OHP.
I hope this agency and ITT get through this ordeal and can get funding on time to help the very people these funds were meant to help.

I really think it’s so sad what still going on in New Orleans. The Mayor need to get this issue resolved.

[...] investigators” inside Zeitgeist, a la busting the bar for underagers just like he sent his health department to inspect one of the clinics AFTER they went public on all those blatantly absent Ryan White HIV/AIDS funds. Thank gawd Loki [...]

We have had the same problems in NC. We had to stop providing HIV case management. It is very sad for the clients. Who is making money off of the interest?

I find it ironic that while the city implores its citizens to put aside their fears and speak out against crime in their neighborhoods, they are clearly guilty of using retalitory tactics just like the street gangs in this city have to keep people’s mouths shut. Next thing you know we’ll be see Ray-Ray shooting a gang sign…