Idiots

The whole concept behind the UMC in the first place was finding a gimmick by which Tulane could force its way into the conversation.

The UMC Corp. was constituted last year, after a long tussle between LSU and Tulane, as a state-affiliated entity whose governing board includes four appointees from Jindal, four from LSU, one from Tulane and two from other schools. The board has management oversight of the hospital -- including determining the size, scope and design of the complex -- with the state responsible for construction.

Vitter characterized Jindal's letter to the board as a victory, though Jindal and Landrieu both said a three-campus model is inherently inefficient. Jindal said his administration's previous, informal conversations about Tulane becoming a more integrated UMC partner would involve closing its downtown hospital and moving its "intellectual capital, its physicians and its patient base" to the new complex. As it stands now, Tulane's primary interest in UMC is placing many of its residency slots there.

Details aside, the senator and the governor agreed on the broader purpose: confirming the UMC board as an independent entity.

"It's the governor making clear that (the board's) mandate isn't to be put into any box by LSU or anyone else," Vitter said.

Jindal added: "There has been a sense that LSU has been aggressively pushing its vision. ... The board shouldn't be limited by anything LSU has done. Their job is not just to kick the tires, but to be an independent body."

Way back at the beginning of this fiasco, we tried to tell the "preservationists" who were holding up the hospital project that all they were doing was Tulane's dirty work. Now, thanks to David Vitter and the NOLA "preservation" movement, they're getting what they want. Tulane gets a huge share of a pile of federal money they were in no way entitled to before this bullshit began and, of course, a larger share of a smaller hospital.

And that's the story of elite New Orleans in a nutshell. Big fish rule the small pond. Meanwhile the city's economy goes stagnant and the neighborhood remains flattened anyway as collateral damage. Maybe some of these big fish will be happy to buy up the cheap land too.