$3.9B in Hurricane Katrina Aid Is Still Unspent
By Susie Madrak Monday Feb 09, 2009 7:00pmI'm just flabbergasted. Knowing the extent of the damage down there, why on earth would we not be pushing to get it done? Unless, of course, this is yet another example of Disaster Capitalism and we're trying to get what's left of the inhabitants to leave and sell the land to rich people:
WASHINGTON — A massive effort to fix public works destroyed more than three years ago by the Gulf Coast hurricanes remains largely stalled, leaving more than $3.9 billion in federal aid unspent and key repairs far from complete.
The scale of that job is enormous. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has promised $5.8 billion to repair everything from flooded libraries and schools to sewer systems and roads that were ruined when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita obliterated huge sections of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005.
Nearly 3½ years after those storms hit, new FEMA accounting reports show two-thirds of the money to pay for permanent rebuilding work still has not been spent, the latest bottleneck in a recovery long beset by criticism that it has been too slow and inefficient. And despite a handful of high-profile successes, officials who had vowed to speed up the pace of repairs concede it is still going far more slowly than it should.
"I think it can go better. That's almost obvious," says James Stark, who runs FEMA's recovery effort in the region. "Public safety, health and education are critical. That's not proceeding as quickly as I think many people in southeast Louisiana would want." Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered the agency to take a "fresh look" at those roadblocks. Its first report is due Tuesday.
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I can tell you - New Orleans is a depressing place.
There are so many things that were shocking about Katrina (a very short list):
1. The first time in 37 years of work on the levee system stopped was in 2003 when the funding was yanked to fund the war
2. In the horrific aftermath a delegation of European Engineers came over (Dutch and Swede) and were turned away.
3. Not 4 blocks from the French Quarter you will find houses with the FEMA X and the body count spray painted on the side... still to this very day.
4. New Orleans East looks more like downtown Beirut than Urban America.
The people here are very bitter - and the angriest are the middle class who are still taking a beating financially. My neighbours are all transplants from the "other side of the lake" - all of them have lost their homes, all of them call it "the storm"
We've seen a lot of hope in the last 3 weeks - the US sent a delegation to Europe this week.... Holland.
I still plan to scoop up the kids and pets and bolt at the first glimmer of a hurricane.
older inhabitants, poorer inhabitants to die.
Or, maybe the money to repair New Orleans is gone.
but if you go to foxnews.com - the BIG story? about steroids. yea, Picture and all.. wow....
return fema to a cabinet level position
in this way the new head of fema will not be a hack
then, FIRE EVERY MOTHERFUCKER WORKING UNDER THE OLD ADMINISTRATION
also, all rebuilding efforts must go to residents of louisina...and if a contractor is found to have hired an illegal...no gov contracts for the next 10 years and the owner goes straight to fucking jail
ITS GOOD TO BE THE KING
Well, now that the Democrats are in charge of the money, I hope they can at least find somebody that can build a levee with something other than paper mache .
When I was near Tampa, FL on a contract, I met a man from New Orleans who stated exactly as written above, that there is a scam to fleece people out of their 'parish' land and assets. I did not disagree, nor did I give it much thought at the time, now, here it is on C & L! The official journalistic news source of America!
I just had an epiphany, not so much any more, but people used to say to me; 'Oh, you are just a Koo Koo Nut Case Conspiracy Theorist!'
No, I am sane, complete with rational thought, this article combined with my New Orleans resident conversion is a good indication.
Maybe 'they' put some subliminal signal in the TV broadcast that disconnects brain neurons that is capable of making dirt poor people in Central Florida vote for McCain/Palin! LOL (Just a thought)
People are pouring millions of federal dollars and insurance dollars to rebuild behind levees that will be no better than they were the day Katrina hit.
So what is the rhyme or reason behind giving residents this false sense of security? I don't know but it is pretty dumb if you ask me.
Oh and Sanctimonious Joe Lieberman is still the Chairman of the Committee that would invesigate the levee failures on 8/29/2005 if there were to ever be an investigation, which there has not been, yet.
So far our buddy Joe Lieberman has blocked any such investigation.
unless i missed in history class where nola was under water anytime in her past
built correctly and with a pumping system that works, nola can and should be rebuilt
by the former residents
and when it is rebuilt....bush should be dragged handcuffed and chained and his nose should be shoved in the mississippi mud
$3.9B Hey, that's a couple JOBs or four. Then again, with the economy as good as it is, it would be hard to find anybody to do the work.
LIEberman?
fuck the DLC
fuck the DSCC
fuck the DCCC
Seriously, wake up and smell the Community Coffee. I live on the Gulfcoast, a few miles away from the hardest hit areas. Our coastline is a ghost town. New Orleans did flood, but Mississippi was destroyed. You can drive for 45 minutes along the coast and only see a few homes closer than a quarter mile from the beach.
Over three years later, the main highway 90 is nearly complete. Other than that, a few large condos stand half empty and freshly built. One building tried to sell condos at absolute auction but had to pull it because of lack of buyers. We did get a new 'Hooters' and plenty of Waffle Houses. The casino's were rebuilt quick. Alot of work has been done... government work that is.
Oh yea.. to all the government lovers... Its our local government that is the problem compounded by the Feds regulations. It seems the more power any level of government gets, the more it hurts the people. Nobody can rebuild, businesses cant open.. all because of 'regulation' or 'zoning'. Laws that werent on the books before, were a breeze to slide through once people were displaced. The Gulfport Mayor and his wife were finally indicted on charges of taking government handouts they shouldnt have.
All the lib's in the world with every government program can blame Repub's and those crazy free market folks all you want... The fact of the matter is GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM.
Einstien said that the definition of insanity was repeating the same mistake over and over and expecting a different outcome. We have seen government programs fail this country over and over, yet expect to hire an 'expert' to solve problems with a department that cannot be solved. Lets hire a better guy to run FEMA, SEC, Dept Of Ed, FDA... Ive got all the faith in the world that it can be done.
Once the deflation from China hits, the hyper inflation of the Fed and the TRILLION dollar spending of the current crop of retards... you better start clinging to each other, your higher power and your guns. Dont forget, you do not have rights.
Government is NOT the problem, INEPT government is the problem.
Hopefully with the new administration, the ineptitude will be brought to a minimal level...
You sound like battered woman syndrome 'He will change!'. Wake up!!! GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN INEPT FOREVER.
This will be the story of the Stimulus Bill.
WATCH.
Dang-near the entire country of Holland is below sea level.
They've managed to not drown.
Maybe we need to get a team of those little dutch boys to loiter about during the storm surge and just poke their fingers in the trouble spots.
Well well well.
The Stimulus Bill will dole out money in much the same manner that the Katrina Recovery money was doled out.
Think the "Recovery" Bill will be an different? Money will wash into certain coffers and then sit in most of them or be grafted out to cronies, just like with Katrina Recovery.
Hey, it works like that in Iraq too!
Isn't this Stimulus Bill just awesome?
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