FEMA Shuts Down Louisiana Trailer Park

wral.com ^ | 03/04/07 | AP

[Ellesu]

FEMA abruptly closed down a site housing Hurricane Katrina victims Sunday because of health and safety concerns, and its weary residents said they were being left in the lurch once again since losing everything in the storm. A 48-hour deadline to leave fell on Sunday night, and FEMA scrambled to find new places for the 58 households. Although many residents said they would have been happy to keep on living there, the Federal Emergency Management Agency determined it was too risky because of ongoing problems with raw sewage and periodic power outages. "They know how to put me out, but they don't know how to help me out. That's how I look at it," Allsee Tobias said about FEMA. He lost his home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to post-Katrina flooding. "Pack and pray. That's what they told us." About 20 of his family members, including 10 children, lived in four trailers, and they were anxious about FEMA splitting them up.

[Slump Tester]

How long has it been since Katrina?

Who's gonna feed them next year, and the year after that?

[AnAmericanMother]

I'm sorry folks, but at SOME point you have to exercise a little initiative and get yourself back on your feet. If you had found jobs and saved all that rent money you were getting for free, you could have started your own business by now.

[EndWelfareToday]

Who's gonna feed them next year, and the year after that?

I can't believe you're even asking this question. Are you just funnin us?

[Shimmer128]

It's obvious that he's being facetious.

It's been almost 18 months!

[WorkingClassFilth]

[M]any residents said they would have been happy to keep on living there..."They know how to put me out, but they don't know how to help me out. That's how I look at it," Allsee Tobias said.

These wretched people. Enough is enough.

[CheyennePress]

Living in a trailer park provided by the government with 10 kids, no doubt all being fed by same government. Complaining that he's not being helped.

There is the very definition of a useless citizen.

[Reagan is King]

"They know how to put me out, but they don't know how to help me out. That's how I look at it," Allsee Tobias said about FEMA.

Some of them think they've become wards of the state for life. I thought they were screaming for people to work down in New Orleans to rebuild? How about some of your 20 family members going back and getting a *gasp* job?

I've had the displeasure of seeing how some of these fine citizens treat the taxpayer purchased mobile homes they're housed in. I've seen them reduce a $28,000 trailer to a $5,000 piece of junk in less than a year. It really makes me look forward to paying my taxes on April 15th.

[macmedic892]

From the Louisiana Road Home website:

This mark surpasses a milestone that was set for the program. Projections called for a cumulative goal of 2,690 closings by the end of February, which included 300 closings held in January and 2,300 in February. Actual closings totaled 450 by the end of January and 2,268 in February.

That's right, sports fans, it's been 18 months since Katrina and 17 months since Rita, and the state recovery program has cut less than 3,000 checks. At the time of the one-year anniversaries, not a single check had been issued.

This falls squarely on the shoulders of Gov. Blank-Stare. I am sure that there are many folks who want to get out of the trailers, but have no means to do so, thanks to Gov. Blank-Stare. The Legislature passed a unanimous resolution practially begging her to ditch the contractor running this program, and like an abused wife she repeatedly gave them "one more chance" to change their ways.

DESPICABLE!

[Lancey Howard]

LOL, ticks can be stubborn to pull off of your skin.

[tcrlaf]

Dean demanded that Katrina be politicised immediately after it started, because he wanted the same kind of traction that Dems got for Andrew...

End Result:
We will be supporting these Democrat Voters for a lifetime, OR MORE...

[macmedic892]

A few things to keep in mind:

The kind of devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has never been seen before:

780,000 of us temporarily displaced from our homes
123,000 homes suffered major or severe damage
82,000 rental units suffered major or severe damage
More than 18,000 businesses destroyed
About $25 billion in insured losses
In just six months since the storms, workers removed 25 times more debris from Louisiana than was removed from the World Trade Center site.

[Shimmer128]

Something else to keep in mind: Millions and millions and millions of assistance has been poured into these people and it's never enough.

[Freee-dame]

In just six months since the storms, workers removed 25 times more debris from Louisiana than was removed from the World Trade Center site.

This is a visual that will have impact. I have read that the effect was 300 times that of any previous hurricane. If that is anywhere near accurate, it is even more disgusting that the MSM keeps beating the ...whoever (usually GWB) didn't do anything...line. The need has just been so great.

[macmedic892]

The millions and millions of FEDERAL assistance has been tied up in the STATE bureaucracy. Over 110,600 applications have been submitted to the state Road Home program (www.road2LA.org), but less than 3,000 checks have been cut. Barely 3% of the total, and the vast majority of those checks--all but about 100--were distributed in February.

[WoofDog123]

the impact of katrina on the MS gulf coast in particular as well as New Orleans can only be compared in the western world to a 'localized' version of wartime destruction, a la world war II.

70 miles of developed coastline in MS was SCOURED, almost always several blocks in and sometimes much more. Debris in the surge essentially served as a battering ram and demolished pretty much any home it touched.

I have no idea what the deal with these fema trailers are and cannot comment on the specifics there.

[kaboom]

Sometimes it's time to move on. It's questionable if certain parts of NO should be rebuilt & habituated, and it's unreasonable to pay for people to sit around and wait to see if they can move back in. Perhaps more should be done to help people relocate elsewhere, but It's looking more and more like quite a few people are waiting to be delivered back to their original dwellings so that they can resume life as usual and pick of gov't checks until they expire.

I might be wrong about it all, but that's my perception based on all the news coming from the region. I'm sure that there are quite a few self starters who have just hit upon hard luck, but I am just as sure that there are scores of leeches looking to tap all they can from this disaster, and they start at the Gov and Mayor, then work their way down.

[PAR35]

A few things to keep in mind:

Tens of thousands of folks in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Western Louisiana have gotten their acts together and rebuilt or moved on. Thousands of people in south Louisiana are still living on the dole.

[PAR35]

70 miles of developed coastline in MS was SCOURED

Yet the whining is always from the New Orleans area folks, not the Mississippians.

[Obie Wan]

For some reason FEMA and the Federal Government in general have been the fall guy since Katrina hit almost 2 yrs ago. Whether it's levy's that everyone knew were obsolete or people living dangerously close to the ocean in what amounts to a tidal plain not many people then or now see anybody at the local or state government level as having any responsibility for the situation since Katrina hit. Just a suggestion,maybe Mr. Tobias aught to take a little break from making kids and look for some work to help him and his family get out of the trailer park !!!