Louisiana In Limbo

New York Times ^ | January 30, 2006 | Editorial

[UpTurn]

New Orleans waits. While some heroic efforts at rebuilding are taking place, hundreds of thousands of residents have put their lives on hold until they know what the government's next steps will be, leaving the shells of their houses as placeholders. But the Bush administration has now rejected the most broadly supported plan for rebuilding communities while offering nothing to take its place.

It has been five months since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and for many the norm is still the claustrophobic new reality of tiny trailers and multiple families crammed into single apartments. Louisiana is trying. You can hear jackhammers pounding and buzz saws whirring on Canal Street in New Orleans. Dedicated workers endure a grinding daily commute from points north, like Baton Rouge, as they try to make the city and the region whole again. But the mission is far from complete and the challenge is beyond the scope of a broken city and a poor state.

New Orleans's crisis has little relation to anything the nation has faced in modern memory, and traditional solutions will simply not help. Homeowners — many very poor people whose houses had been in their families for generations — had varying degrees of insurance before the disaster. When entire neighborhoods are devastated, their mildewed furniture and drywall piled on the roadsides, it's impossible to tell the people who are well insured to rebuild and hope that the houses all around them will somehow be reclaimed somewhere down the line.

[trebb]

I have no doubt that you good folks in LA are also rebuilding a lot and hoping for some way to pay for it. Your politicians and the many missteps and ridiculous demands by Blanco and Naggin have hurt your image unfairly.<p.God Bless

[CajunConservative]

Well, what did these people do 160 years ago for their flood insurance and planning on living below sea level?

Back then you could build your home for next to nothing and there were no mortgages to deal with for 40 years. Times HAVE changed.

We, our Family, do not expect the Nanny State to pay for poor decision-making and lack of planning as to where we live.

Oh the nanny state is involved in where you live even if you don't think so and it's called zoning. Build something that is not within the codes and see how fast you have to stop, and either tear down or follow the codes in order to proceed.

[CajunConservative]

I have no doubt that you good folks in LA are also rebuilding a lot and hoping for some way to pay for it. Your politicians and the many missteps and ridiculous demands by Blanco and Naggin have hurt your image unfairly.

The difference is that a major city was wiped out and normally storms just devastate less populated areas. What do you think it would be like if Rita had slammed Houston? It was by the grace of God for the whole country that Rita turned because we all would be in a world of hurt if Houston got the direct hit on top of NOLA.

[MonroeDNA]

North Dakota News

This text is from a county emergency manager out in the western part of North Dakota state after the recent snow storm.

WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:

· George Bush did not come....

· FEMA did nothing....

· No one howled for the government...

· No one blamed the government

· No one even uttered an expletive on TV...

· Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit

· Our Mayors did not blame Bush or anyone else

· Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else either

· CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snow storm

· Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.....

· No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House....

· No one looted....

· Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something

· Nobody expected the government to do anything either

· No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera

· No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found

And

· Nope, we just melted the snow for water

· Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars

· The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny

· Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snow bound families

· Families took in the stranded people - total strangers

· We fired up wood stoves

· Broke out coal oil lanterns or coleman lanterns

· We put on an extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die"

· We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.

· Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early...we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of most of the world's social problems evaporate."

[CajunConservative]

There were more people in the convention center and Super Dome than in most of the 10 largest "cities" in North Dakota. The entire state population of ND is half of what the Greater New Orleans metro area is. Nobody lives in ND because of the blizzards and desolateness.

[MonroeDNA]

What's your point?

[MonroeDNA]

So a large poplation is an excuse to not rely on yourself, or help your neighbor, or to not loot?

It's the CULTURE.

I wonder what percentage of NOLA residents were on welfare prior to the hurricane. Compare it to the percentage of residents in ND on welfare.

It explains everything.

Culture of dependancy, and entitlement.

[CajunConservative]

This email keeps getting posted on these threads and my point is that there were simply more people in a very small, poorly ventilated area with very little food, water, and bathroom facilities. You put all of that together and it's not going to be pretty. Think about it, it was 100 degrees, more people in close proximity than most of the largest towns in ND without showers, bathrooms and etc.


http://www.snopes.com/katrina/soapbox/dakota.asp

North Dakota's letter to the POTUS asking for FEMA assistance.

http://www.governor.state.nd.us/media/news-releases/2005/11/docs/051101.pdf

[CajunConservative]

It's not an excuse but just the sheer fact that there are more people usually means that a greater number of people will be getting services, especially in the inner city. We are really discussing the difference between urban and rural. Country/rural folks know that they have to rely on themselves simply because it takes a long time to get help.

You hear nothing negative about the Hurricane Rita people, who are most probably as poor as some of the NOLA folks. However, they are resourceful because they have to be all the time. They live in the swamps and have to fight the elements all the time just to survive. The alligators were really not happy after the hurricane.

[Unicorn]

Is Nagin bringing his family back to chocolate city from TX.?

[MonroeDNA]

"It's not an excuse but just the sheer fact that there are more people usually means that a greater number of people will be getting services, especially in the inner city."

But as a percentage it should be the same. If the cultures are the same. Which they are not.

Who would you want as a neighbor during a disaster? a person from NO, or a person from ND?

I wonder how many folks in NOLA were on welfare pre-hurricane? What percentage? My guess is that the percent of NOLA folks on welfare is around one tenth of those in ND.

That's why ND takes care of their own, while NOLA folks loot.

[MonroeDNA]

Would you rather be too hot, or be frozen?

Not that it matters, ND folks took care of their own.

NOLA folks waited for government rescuers, and still insist on handouts.

Like they have all their lives.

[CajunConservative]

If you would go back and reread the article it is discussing homeowners who are in limbo, not the welfare leeches. They have already moved on and are getting all the benefits and more than they were receiving before. The homeowners are stuck because they have a mortgage, jobs, insurance that is slow to pay and when they do it's usually not enough to cover the repairs. They can't start rebuilding because the new elevation requirements have not been disclosed.

I have had the experience of living in the midwest and the south, NOLA included and hands down to be honest I will take the southerners any day of the week. They do help out their neighbors. Except for the bums you saw on tv the majority of people from the GNO area are the most friendly and helpful you could ask for.

Again the sheer numbers of those who were trapped overwhelmed the available resources. It was not that way in Southwest Louisiana with Hurricane Rita. I know because I live in Lake Charles. I see how our neighbors are helping each other out. It's like that all the time too.