Housing shortage hinders rebound

NOLA.com / Times-Picayune ^ | October 16, 2005 | Martha Carr

[buickmackane]

Textron Industries and Land Systems was a company on the ball.

Days after Katrina devastated its eastern New Orleans assembly center, executives were tracking down the company's 1,200 employees, rebuilding the plant, and searching for housing to bring highly skilled craftsmen back to work.

But seven weeks and tons of bureaucratic red tape later, the company -- a defense contractor with strong government connections -- is still awaiting delivery of the 200 Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers it needs to house key workers temporarily.

(...long article, had to be excerpted, but please click on the link...)

[buickmackane]

It's a long article, but what struck me was this guy Bollinger's quote:

"It's nice to be watching TV all day long, sitting by the swimming pool and getting three squares a day. When is the government going to realize they have to force them back?"

Huh????

[Woodworker]

" 'Metro New Orleans is going to die if we don't get people back in here to work,' Moise said..."

How did cities rebuild after disasters prior to FEMA?

[DumpsterDiver]

"It's nice to be watching TV all day long, sitting by the swimming pool and getting three squares a day. When is the government going to realize they have to force them back?"
Huh????

That didn't make much sense, did it? The sentence that preceeded the one you quoted was, "At some point we have to incentivize our citizens to come back,"

Housing would be one good incentive. Where does he expect workers to live? To me, the article read like one giant, government-created cluster____. Good luck to New Orleans.

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

"It's nice to be watching TV all day long, sitting by the swimming pool and getting three squares a day. When is the government going to realize they have to force them back?" Huh????

I saw this week that it was costing $11 milliom a day to put evacuees up in hotels (Hampton Inn and Staybridge Suites were two of the hotels shown) in 10 states. That figure is likely to climb because FEMA has to empty the shelters by a certain deadline (maybe, Oct. 16). I have compassion for the people who have been displaced and are living in hotels. But many of them have never had that opportunity and they probably love it. In many cases the hotel is much nicer than the shotgun house they lived in in the 9th ward. Bollinger simply has the guts to state the obvious. Where is the incentive to go back and live in squalor that is now "Post-Katrina squalor"?

[stopem]

That was my thought. Our people can go into areas like the tsunami hit area and help rebuild so what's the problem?

I can understand tho that long term people need a place to live in order to work and I also think that housing should be given first to those who would work instead of to:

"According to its policies, only individuals, families and those receiving public housing could qualify for trailers. "

So people on welfare get housing before the WORKERS who are there to rebuild do? That doesn't make sense does it?

[KarlInOhio]

Then there is the sentiment held by businessman and Republican Party activist Donald "Boysie" Bollinger, who owns Bollinger Shipyards and is struggling to fill 600 jobs that pay between $16 to $18 an hour.

A Republican said that?

I hope that he means "Being housed and fed for free is over. They'll have to find jobs where they are or get a job in New Orleans" and not "I need FEMA to form a press gang so I can have some employees. Knock them out and when they wake up they're inside my shipyard and can't escape the dogs and razor wire fence."

[HighlyOpinionated]

"Metro New Orleans is going to die if we don't get people back in here to work," Moise said.

And this is a bad thing????

The only 'bad' part of the equation is that the N. O. criminal element has run to other cities and, as in Atlanta, are trying to take over from the local drug-selling gangs. The N.O. gangs are extremely angry and violent.

.

"It boils down to this: If you work in an operating room, you are required to make an immediate decision. If you are a National Guardsman in Iraq, you have to make immediate decisions," said Don Pierson, assistant secretary for the state Economic Development Department. "But in a governmental situation, people have a tendency to seek approval from authority and notify their supervisors. Agencies like FEMA need to come on the ground with people who can make decisions, as opposed to being worried about whether they are violating Rule 6b(c)."

WAIT A SEC. In Alabama, the Governor contacted FEMA when he knew there was going to be damage from Katrina. HE took the initiative. Governor Blanco COULD have done the same, but no, she cried on television, wrung her hands and begged for the Federal Government to bail her out. THEN she refused to follow protocol so that the Federal Government COULD bail her out.

It's not entirely FEMA's fault; it's not entirely BUSH's fault, but IT IS ENTIRELY GOVERNOR BLANCO's FAULT. And toss Mayor Nagin into that mix as well. Neither he nor Ms Blanco exhibited the qualities we in the USofA have come to expect of our leaders.

Memo to Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin: If, in an emergency situation, you can't lead, then move out of the way and let someone who can lead take over.

[HighlyOpinionated]

"Metro New Orleans is going to die if we don't get people back in here to work," Moise said.

And this is a bad thing????

The only 'bad' part of the equation is that the N. O. criminal element has run to other cities and, as in Atlanta, are trying to take over from the local drug-selling gangs. The N.O. gangs are extremely angry and violent.

.

"It boils down to this: If you work in an operating room, you are required to make an immediate decision. If you are a National Guardsman in Iraq, you have to make immediate decisions," said Don Pierson, assistant secretary for the state Economic Development Department. "But in a governmental situation, people have a tendency to seek approval from authority and notify their supervisors. Agencies like FEMA need to come on the ground with people who can make decisions, as opposed to being worried about whether they are violating Rule 6b(c)."

WAIT A SEC. In Alabama, the Governor contacted FEMA when he knew there was going to be damage from Katrina. HE took the initiative. Governor Blanco COULD have done the same, but no, she cried on television, wrung her hands and begged for the Federal Government to bail her out. THEN she refused to follow protocol so that the Federal Government COULD bail her out.

It's not entirely FEMA's fault; it's not entirely BUSH's fault, but IT IS ENTIRELY GOVERNOR BLANCO's FAULT. And toss Mayor Nagin into that mix as well. Neither he nor Ms Blanco exhibited the qualities we in the USofA have come to expect of our leaders.

Memo to Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin: If, in an emergency situation, you can't lead, then move out of the way and let someone who can lead take over.

[CajunConservative]

Can we say bureaucratic red tape. Since the flood waters weren't toxic like they proclaimed and the city dried out much sooner than predicted why can't people be allowed to park the FEMA trailers on their own property? I mean that way people can have a place to live while they are rebuilding the city. OH wait that would make sense and lord knows that we can't have that./roll eyes

Also in regards to the businesses in the article, haven't you heard of man camps? If it is imperative that you get back to business ASAP then get creative in providing housing for your workers in order to get things running again.

I live in SWLA where Rita whacked us good and have heard that it will be 2 years before they will allow people to rebuild in Holly Beach because of the toxicity? It's sandy and not very big what's the deal there? It was just camps, a bunch of hole in the wall bars and a couple of stores. Everything is gone. People want to rebuild and get their lives back to normal but the PTB are hindering the process.

[HighlyOpinionated]

WEIRD, sorry for the double post. My screen said "temporarily unavailable" so I hit the back button and post a second time. Someone hand me a screwdriver so I can fix this. NO, not THAT screwdriver , THIS screwdriver .

[ohhhh]

[...is still awaiting delivery of the 200 Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers it needs to house key workers temporarily.]


Do people really expect money and help from the government? Especially after going through Louisiana democrat hands? The U.S. politicians are about on the same level as the bureaucrats of despotic nations who routinely steal money from taxpayers and give to themselves and their cronies.
We have become a socialist nation and the only cure is the coming King Jesus Christ.

[ohhhh]

[...is still awaiting delivery of the 200 Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers it needs to house key workers temporarily.]


Do people really expect money and help from the government? Especially after going through Louisiana democrat hands? The U.S. politicians are about on the same level as the bureaucrats of despotic nations who routinely steal money from taxpayers and give to themselves and their cronies.
We have become a socialist nation and the only cure is the coming King Jesus Christ.

[Mike Darancette]

When is the government going to realize they have to force them back?"

Why? So they can sit around all day in their newly renovated, gubment built and subsidized housing in NOLA? The ones that want to work in NOLA will come back (to be at least day care workers for the Hispanic moms) the others will move on, Gubment funds for DPs will run out.

[buickmackane]

Bollinger Shipyards is one of the employers recruiting at a Baton Rouge job fair scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9:00 am -- see this link:

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_10_17.html#087879