Posted on 02/03/2006 6:33:01 AM PST by Ellesu
Meanwhile, Fred Raiford, spokesman for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, was telling me FEMA has refused to provide his office with a list of park residents, citing privacy issues. Raiford said from his perspective, getting the list is a public safety issue. Between Oct. 1. (the day the park opened) and Dec. 15, the Sheriff's Office answered 80 calls for assistance at the trailer park and made 25 arrests.
There's a cafeteria, several laundry rooms, a recreation area, a free eye clinic, even a satellite television vendor.
Meanwhile in Houston, we are dealing with free-range evacuees and it's not pretty.
Cliche alert! Why are all secrets "dirty" and "little"?
Some of those people getting freebe's would bitch about being hung with an old rope.
FEMA has no business in the hoteling/trailer park industry. Sometimes people are just out of luck, this nation should not be in the business of paying for acts of God. If insurance companies don't, government certainly shouldn't be either.
Another path to socialism - end it!
Not a surprising development. The government created a slum and then filled it up.
Okay, so there is nothing different from this 'hood than any other 'hood except for the Gov't security oversight? Is that the story? Seems that no matter what folks do for the "dependant class" that class will always find a way to put themselves back into the cesspool.
I'm sure the Baker residents are thrilled to hear this news....
FEMA soon to weed out ineligible
Trailer, check recipients must prove need
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
By James Varney Staff writer Times-Picayune
Five months after Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans and launched thousands of residents on a furious, ongoing scramble for temporary housing, the fortunate people who landed FEMA trailers or rental assistance checks soon will have to prove they still need the help.
Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are, as required every 90 days, launching a recertification program of those aid programs. No one knows how many people will lose their trailers or their cash -- FEMA says the figure is small -- but the move is necessary as the agency goes from emergency to more traditional, longer-term programs. That process requires FEMA to weed out some noneligible beneficiaries, such as foreign citizens in the United States illegally or people who were homeless when the storm hit.
At the same time, officials stressed that no one eligible for help would be denied. FEMA will provide a trailer or a mobile home for 18 months. That clock started ticking last August when, with Katrina's storm swirls filling the Gulf of Mexico and landfall imminent, President Bush declared southeastern Louisiana a disaster area. To keep the trailer, however, "(the) occupant must make an ongoing effort to obtain permanent housing at the earliest possible date and accept adequate alternate housing when it becomes available," the agency said.
Several FEMA officials declined to discuss the recertification program on the record, and there appeared to be some disagreement about whether this week's announcement marked a shifting of gears within the agency. Nevertheless, the tone of the agency's comments about the recertification was unusually forceful, and appeared to reflect a belief that aid recipients need to move forward.
"The units FEMA brought in to ease Louisiana's housing shortage after the hurricanes provide renters and homeowners with a safe, sanitary and functional place to live while repairs are made on their permanent homes," said Scott Wells, the agency's federal coordinating officer. "It is now time to begin getting people back to more permanent arrangements."
Wells' comment may carry an odd ring for some of the more than 10,000 people in Louisiana still occupying a FEMA-paid hotel room as of Jan. 29, or for those -- roughly 16,000 in New Orleans alone -- still on a waiting list for a travel trailer. Similarly puzzled might be the thousands of homeowners waiting on direction from the city or state before plunging ahead with expensive repairs.
I
ndeed, prior to Wells' announcement, FEMA's slow pace in getting temporary housing options in place had been a source of confusion and dismay for the public and elected officials in Louisiana.
Some FEMA officials tried to soften Wells' words, saying they were intended more as a harbinger of the agency's focus than a threat to those receiving assistance. What's more, officials insist situations will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and even at the end of the 18-month period FEMA thinks extensions will be routinely granted. At the same time, however, officials said the agency intends to more forcefully police its programs.
"As Wells likes to say, it's time to own your own recovery," said Rachel Rodi, an agency spokeswoman in Baton Rouge. "We need to review where everyone is and start working on what we can do from there. There has been so much confusion it is time to get the clear message out that nothing has changed in terms of deadlines."
Inspections starting
Consequently, FEMA inspection teams are beginning to fan out to check on those living in a government mobile home or trailer, and on those receiving rental assistance or living in a hotel. For example, FEMA estimates that more than 80 percent of those living in Louisiana hotel rooms also have received rental assistance. FEMA officials stressed that cash should have been spent on addressing recipients' housing needs.
FEMA required all 10,417 hotel rooms in Louisiana to apply for a code card if occupants wanted to extend their stay up to the Feb. 13 deadline. All told, 73 percent applied for the card and all were approved, FEMA said. The agency has closed files on the remaining 27 percent.
There remains a shortage of trailers in New Orleans, and many residents leaving hotels will be faced with stark choices. As FEMA combs through its case files, officials said they will move aggressively to put people receiving assistance in whatever "permanent" housing can be found. The beneficiary's desire to stay close to home will not be a factor, officials said, with one noting privately that the new digs "could be in Shreveport or Kentucky."
"It's a tough decision for families, there's no doubt about it," Rodi said. "But remember the family will have to make that decision, not FEMA."
Rodi said no one seeking a trailer will be erased from the waiting list, even if some other living arrangement is set up. On the other hand, FEMA will only provide one form of housing or assistance, she said, meaning that those who enter into a lease elsewhere will either have to wiggle out of it or pay the rent if they choose to return to New Orleans.
. . . . . . .
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-12/113877794675690.xml
And millions more taxpayers dollars go to enrich society's enemies.
My mother lives in Baker, just a few miles from this park. I wish the government gave her neighborhood the security that they provide this trailer park. I don't see the feds paying for a security guard for Mom's neighborhood.
I know someone I work with who lives about a mile from the park. She is selling her house. Apparently the residents of the park patrol the neighborhood all day, looking for an opportunity. She hasn't felt safe in her house since it opened. Like the ghetto moved next door and brought their criminals with them.
What I don't get is why is fema protecting the drug dealers. For crying out loud.
Gail Tate ... Tail Gate ... makes one wonder if this is an alias ... LOL ... maybe I just got caught up in the spirit of the story, though.
I'm sitting now...trying to look back at all the hurricanes over the past 25 years. And I can't find an example of FEMA ever setting up security at trailer parks. There weren't any. I can't find any examples in South Carolina, Florida, or Alabama. So now....I'm awondering...who the heck ordered this and who is paying for this "protection" out of whose pocket? And if the answer is FEMA...then its the wrong answer. I realize that FEMA is renting the property, the trailers, and set conditions for anyone to move into the whole mess...but this all smells bad. Makes me wonder just how long this would be allowed to continue? Will this park exist in five years still? Will the security guy still be walking the gate in 2015?
I can already see a movie out of this job....Bob the Security Dude (Katrina's Guardian).
Not yet, but she is looking to move.
The real dirty little secret is the fact that local authorities and the Advocate continue to hide stories about crime going up in and around Baton Rouge.
I don't understand why they won't say anything. People need to be on guard to this new threat.
Too funny. Sorry, it's just too painfully funny.
Everybody was happy to look the other way when these birds lived like this in the NO housing projects.
Now the chickens have come home to roost in Baker, in good old East Baton Rouge Parish. And the government of East Baton Rouge Parish, the state capitol, is shocked, shocked at the way these people live.
Well, given that the rest of the country doesn't want to rebuild New Orleans, enjoy your new citizens.
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