Additional Thoughts on Weapons of Mass Destruction

In response to my earlier essay, a friend wrote

Um, has this guy ever read the 5th Amendment of our Constitution?
--EO

I have an alternate theory. I think it is a very clever fundraising strategy. You see, the Bush Administration has spent so much on Iraq and so little in Mississippi that by convincing them that the County is as bad as Iraq, Bush will invade and then Bush will spend lots of money rebuilding. It is not that bad a strategy.

Another note about taking of houses

In normal times, there might be protests about taking houses for a highway, but in the County today, it is not such a bad deal for residents.

The proposed location of the road is the hardest hit area of the county and the houses are trashed. It is the most vulnerable part of the county to future floods. It is several feet below sea level. All this means that the houses are not worth much now. Even if residents wanted to sell, few people are interested in moving to the county right now, particularlly the most dangerous area of the county. Furthermore, no one is offering home owners insurance so it is very difficult to find a buyer.

Many home owners are upside down on their mortgage and don't want to return. We will see how it all plays out. The politician is grand standing, and it will be hard for him to back down. I wonder how the vote will go.

Really, it is only one project out of 40 so if it gets nixed it will not change the final document very much.

Shopping hell

I went grocery shopping today. I usually like grocery shopping but it doesn’t work so well here. Many of the grocery stores are closed so you need to drive great distance to find a store. Then, the stores are packed to the gills and the produce, clearly from before Katrina, may actually be left over from world war two. In any case, today was the worst shopping experience I have ever had.

I went to an upscale, overpriced grocery store in the snooty part of town. The first problem was that there were no shopping carts. I don’t know if the looters walked off with them or if the store is so overcrowded that they are all in use. In any case, I had to find someone unloading their groceries and hang out next to them until they were done. So I did that and got a cart and start shopping. The place was so crowded all the lines for checkout went down the aisles so it was not possible to walk between aisles in the front of the store.

What’s worse, as I walked around the store, I was getting this stream of little pin prick shocks, like static electricity. I tried to ignore it, but it was annoying. I figured out that the theft control device on the shopping cart was malfunctioning, but I figure it was not such a big deal that I need to go try to wrestle a cart away from another person.

Then a big ass shock zaps my thumb. It felt worse than being hit with a ruler, but not as bad as being hit with a hammer. Hours later it still hurt.

Some lady seems me jump and says, “Is your cart shocking you too?” Evidently it is a common problem. Then I was scared to touch the cart, but it was half full of groceries so I could not abandon it. I guided it with my foot (and occasionally a finger) to the checkout and begin the 30 minute wait to pay.

As I pay I explained to the checker about the malfunction and she says, “Ha ha ha, That’s funny.” Funny my ass!! I asked if there was a manager and she pointed to the customer service station, which had its own line stretching ten people deep.

So I left and went home. The tragedy is that I could not even finish shopping and I will have to go to a different store tomorrow to get the necessities I could not get today.

Weapons of Mass Destruction in the County?

Here is another article about our work.
If you don't want to read the whole thing, skip to the last paragraph where a local government official compares the citizen's recovery committee's idea of building a new road to Sadam Hussein invading Kuwait.

Citizens Recovery Committee to Give Recommendations
February 18 , 2006

Citizens Recovery Committee to give recommendations to Council on Monday,
Feb. 20, and Council has set March 21 deadline to send its recovery plan to
Mississippi Recovery Authority


The Jefferson Davis County Citizens Recovery Committee will present its
recommendations for projects to County Council members at noon on Monday,
during a committee meeting in the Council trailer office behind the County
government building.

And the Council has set its March 21 meeting as its deadline for finalizing
its plans for recovery including land use, and forwarding them to the
Mississippi Recovery Authority. The deadline for getting it to the state is
March 31.

Judge David Gorbaty, co-chairman of the citizens committee with lawyer
Walter Leger, said the committee’s report will cover proposed projects in
eight areas: infrastructure, coastal protection, transportation, education,
economic development, housing, public safety and public health.

“I think the proposed projects are ones that are reasonable,’’ said Gorbaty,
whose 36-member group has been meeting since its appointment in November and
has received input from residents in public meetings. Gorbaty said the
recommendations don’t cover land use in this phase.

He also said the committee is working on trying to get funding for some of
its projects and has applied to private foundations for money.

The projects have to be submitted to the Council for review and a vote.
First they will be presented to the Council on Monday during a committee
meeting in the Council trailer office and then also discussed Tuesday at the
Council’s regularly scheduled 11 a.m. meeting in the large tent behind the
government complex.

Council Vice-Chairman Joseph DiFatta Jr., who has worked closely with the
citizens committee, said the committee “has done an excellent job of helping
the Council hear the wishes of the people of Jefferson Davis County.’’

And the Council is prepared to act, DiFatta said. ““We have our act together
and we are ready to give a concise statement (to the state) as to how Jefferson Davis may look in the future.’’ He added, “This is a prime opportunity to
fix issues that have plagued us, such as traffic, drainage and density.’
’
Some parts of the County will look different, he predicted. “There may be
small pockets of areas that could be better utilized for the whole County’s
betterment.’’

Council member Craig Taffaro Jr. said, “I’m hoping to combine what they (the
citizens committee) say and the consensus of the Council. We will go
systematically and come to some consensus.’’ He also said, “We need to give
direction to local residents’’ who are wondering what they can and should do
about re-building.

Whatever the Council recommends is subject to the state’s final say so.
Congress still has to provide money and then it goes to the state level
before going to a County.

But Taffaro said he thinks it important to get out a plan to the state in
advance of the March 31 deadline. “What Washington is looking for is that we
have come together as a state. And it’s important the state sees we’ve come
together as a County.’’

Council member Mark Madary of Arabi said he firmly disagrees with proposals
he has heard, including eliminating the re-building of much of the area he
represents.

“I believe Arabi is the most viable area of Jefferson Davis County,’’ Madary
said. No matter that it suffered great damage north of Judge Perez Drive,
Arbia is still the closest part of Jefferson Davis to the financial and social
centers of Biloxi, he said, and should be re-built and not turned into
green space.

He said he would never support forced expropriation of residents’ property.
“It’s unfair and grossly Un-American. That’s why we fought the Iraq the
first time because Saddam Hussein was wrongfully trying to take Kuwait.’’ He
said he would only support voluntary selling of land by residents.

My pad

I have not been writing so much lately. I think it is because I am burning out on my job and not feeling particularly prolific.

I wanted to write a quick note on my apartment. I have been having people over fairly regularly because it is Mardi Gras and I am a few blocks away from the main parade route.

All my co-workers live in hotels and they are amazed at how nice my apartmeent is and I agree, it is great on many different levels. Simply having a fridge and stove makes life so much more normal. I can offer people cold water or beer! Also, the apartment has 18 foot ceilings and 7 foot windows, which make it light and airy. It has great exposed brick walls and wood beams. It is in the ultra-hip warehouse district. More importantly, it is real. It is not some insitutional soulless place to sleep, as are most hotels.

The funny thing is, it doesn't feel like me. It is too trendy, too cool. It doesn't bother me at all because it is only a few months, but still, it is weird. If feels more like I am playing a role in a movie or maybe that I am house-sitting for some ultra-hip yuppie.

I am not sure what is next. Perhaps for me to be pimped out in the nicest Zoot Suit around, down to the shiny white shoes. I am sure I would get lots of compliments on that too.

Some answers, more wanted

This is a recent article about our work. The article is a summary of a meeting where we presented a list of project that we identified as part of the recovery plan. (This article was from Mondays meeting. We had another today that attracted another 200 people!)

While I agree with the sentiment of the article that people want to know about the housing piece, what gets lost is that everyone really liked what we presented (In fact, we got a small standing ovation at today's meeting.) Even the disfunctional County Council was positive.

I do sympathesize with the community members that want to know if they should rebuild their houses or not.

Jefferson Davis makes plans for rebuilding, protection
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
By Karen Turni Bazile
For four hours Monday, a committee of volunteers charged with advising the Jefferson Davis County Council on how to rebuild the County laid out a $2 billion plan to repair infrastructure, improve coastal protection and foster economic development.
But in presenting its report to the council, the Citizens Recovery Committee left unanswered the question that lured many among the more than 100 residents in attendance: Which neighborhoods -- if any -- should not be rebuilt in a County where Katrina's surge flooded homes all the way to the gutters?
Committee members said that determination should be made once FEMA releases new flood-elevation maps next month, and some council members said they intend to name areas where homes should not be rebuilt. But the prospect of a longer wait did not please some residents seeking guidance Monday.
"I am in limbo," Meraux resident Sandra Ludwig shouted during the meeting. She is living with her family in a trailer in front of her flooded home on Maureen Lane, and said she is waiting to see whether the government will buy her property or she should rebuild. "A lot of people don't know what to do," she said. "I want to feel safe. We are concerned about our children and our grandchildren."
Others expressed similar frustration as the committee, which has been working since November, gave the council a wish list of projects to reshape the County, from a long-proposed four-lane highway along the 40-Arpent Canal to a senior citizens housing complex near a new hospital and medical office.
The plan will be discussed at three other public meetings this week, including one today, and council members are likely to make changes before approving it and submitting it to the state.
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge David Gorbaty, the committee's co-chairman, said it would not be right for the group to make suggestions about buyouts without the elevation recommendations due in mid-March from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"We can't (recommend)," he said after the meeting. "We have no back-up information."
But Councilman Craig Taffaro said FEMA first said the new flood maps would be delivered four months ago and the documents may still not come next month. Meanwhile, people are waiting for decisions and Taffaro said the council should move forward and make them. Taffaro said those flood elevations would not be binding for 18 months to two years, meaning anyone can rebuild any property in the meantime to current flood elevations.
While the committee didn't make specific recommendations about flood-prone neighborhoods, committee member Cliff Reuther said residents living north of Judge Perez Drive should consider relocating closer to the Mississippi River, where the land is much higher.
The council must approve the projects presented by the committee by March 7, so a final report can be sent to the Mississippi Recovery Authority later in March. Gov. Kathleen Blanco has asked each devastated County to devise its own recovery plan so the state agency can incorporate local wishes into a statewide plan to be used to disburse federal money.
In general, the committee on Monday recommended that the County use its Home Mortgage Authority to receive federal grants to buy out destroyed homes or provide low-interest mortgages for repairs and new house construction.
The committee also suggested the County seek funding to buy out properties and create a nonresidential buffer near the County's two oil refineries, which are now surrounded by residential neighborhoods. More than 1,600 homes in Chalmette were affected by an oil spill from the Murphy Oil refinery after Hurricane Katrina.
Committee member Don Duplantier said the County should also push for a series of barriers to the east of the County to break storm surges and protect homes from catastrophic flooding. Among them, the committee proposed raising the levee at the 40-Arpent Canal to 17 feet, the same height as the levee on the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. It also suggested armoring the channel's levee with concrete, repairing wetlands and building a 20-foot storm surge barrier across Lake Borgne.
"These are not pie-in-the-sky things," Duplantier said. "They can be done" in two to five years.
Gorbaty said the County and metropolitan area must protect itself by creating barriers.
"How Jefferson Davis goes is how Biloxi goes," he said. "This is the best opportunity we have for people to support these projects. They have to understand this is for everybody's protection, not just Jefferson Davis's protection."
Some of the projects in the report include long-proposed ideas suggested for the County's pre-Katrina population of 67,000. But even the most optimistic estimates put the County's population at 50 percent to 75 percent of that number by 2010. Councilman Mark Madary said some ideas, such as the four-lane Florida Avenue roadway, are not needed in a County with a reduced population.
The committee will make an abbreviated presentation today at 11 a.m. during the council meeting at a tent behind the government complex in Chalmette to allow for public comment. Full presentations and public hearings are scheduled for Thursday and Saturday.

Paper cuts and other calamities

Most of my co-workers are great. We just got a new person, Vivian, whose job it is to do outreach, and she is a little high maintenance. I mean, Vivian’s great too, she is a pleasure to work with and amazing at getting through red tape. Anyway, she came to trailer two and asked for the admin assistant (My co-workers and I occupy two trailers in the Walmart parking lot. We call them trailer one and trailer two).

The admin was busy so I asked if I could help her. Well, Vivian explained, late last week she got a paper cut and was worried because it still hurt a little bit. She wanted the admin to make some calls so she would not have to wait in line at the clinic. The paper cut looked like any old cut to me. It was closed and not swollen. It was a tiny bit off-color, as small cuts are libel to get as the skin heals. She did not wince as I touched it.

I talked her out of going to the doctor. I convinced her to give it a few more days. It’s a f***ing disaster zone and she wanted to jump the line at the only medical clinic in town so the doctors could look at her paper cut!!

Finally, a co-worker that is worth blogging about.

SBA saga

This is an incident that sapped my energy, but it turned out ok. You can see my frustration pretty clearly in the emails.
P.D.

A number of people have been given bad information by the SBA recently. Here is the scenario.

Their house is damaged. When the insurance settlement comes in, the bank takes the check and uses the money to pay down the mortgage. Now, the home owner has no money to do rehab. They go to the Small Business Administration (SBA), who has a program to help home-owners rehab their houses after a disaster (don’t ask me why it is the SBA, I don’t know). The SBA has not been giving them loans (or giving them very small loans) because the home owner received an insurance settlement. The catch is that the home owner can not use the insurance money because the bank used it to pay down the mortgage. The official SBA policy is that this money should not count against the potential loan. The people at SBA keep telling home owners that they need “a demand letter” from the bank to prove that they can not use the money. A demand letter is the wrong thing to ask for. Really, the SBA policy says they need proof that the bank used the money to pay down the mortgage. It does not specify what type of proof. Here’s where the story gets interesting.

So we had a public meeting and this came up. The public explained the problem and the SBA boss explained the correct policy. I grabbed the SBA section boss after the meeting and asked if I could send him an email saying, “Here is what I heard at the meeting. Is this the correct policy,” and he could respond. Then, we or the County could hand out the email so people will have proof of the real SBA policy. Here is the series of emails about this. I changed names, that is it. The emails get more interesting as they go down.

From me to the SBA section chief…
Joe,
Thanks for coming to the meeting today. I wanted to confirm that SBA loan officers have some flexibility when it comes to the documentation required to prove that banks demanded that insurance payments be used for paying down the principal. Demand letters are not necessarily required. A letter explaining the policy of the bank or even the phone number of a bank officer who can explain the policy can suffice.
Please let me know if my understanding is correct.
Thank you


From the section chief to the local head…
Tom,
Can you deal with this.
Joe

From the local head to me…
Your question concerns the SBA disaster loan program and should have been directed to my staff rather than to Joe, the SBA District Director for Mississippi. SBA's disaster program is delivered by a separate organization from our District Offices, which handle the regular small business programs.
As I indicated in the meeting in Jefferson Davis County, if a mortgage holder has required a policy holder to use an insurance settlement to pay off or to pay down the balance of an outstanding mortgage, SBA must have evidence of that mandatory use of the insurance proceeds. That evidence may be in the form of a letter or other written documentation, or it may be in the form of a telephone conversation between the mortgage holder and SBA (which we will document in our file). This is necessary so that SBA can treat the insurance recovery as unavailable for making repairs. Otherwise we must, by law, deduct the insurance recovery from the amount of the loss to arrive at the amount eligible for an SBA disaster loan.
Please note that a demand letter is usually a different matter, and should not be confused with documentation that a mortgage holder exercised their right to require that insurance proceeds must be applied to the mortgage balance.
General policy statements from mortgage holders are generally not sufficient, because they don't say what requirement was applied in each specific case. Instead, we need documentation of what was done in each case rather than a statement about a lender's general approach. That's because lender's often treat individual cases differently, based on the facts and circumstances involved.
Having clarified that, I need to ask that neither you nor any other third party attempt to address this matter. Only trained SBA staff should be communicating about technical aspects of our program. Discussions on this subject can quickly become complex, and in many cases there are other factors that enter into the picture.

From me to the local head…
Thanks
Are you ok with me handing out a copy of the email if people have questions? I will be happy not to interpret beyond what you wrote.

From the local head to the me…
Why are people addressing this question to you instead of to the SBA staff in the DRCs (Disaster Recovery Center)?
I'd prefer that if they ask SBA questions, on this or any other matter, that you simply refer them to the SBA staff in all of the DRCs.

From me to the local head…
Ug!
People ask everyone everything. We usually try to have information on hand to give out. I DON'T answer questions about the SBA, besides to point them to the DRC or hand out your flyer.
My plan with your email was to give it to the County Development Office because they said they were having problems with people getting bad information. I thought this would help set everyone straight. If someone walks in and says, "The SBA guy said we need a demand letter..." they could hand out this and say, "Go back to your SBA guy and tell them you don't need a demand letter."
Is this OK?


From the local head to me…
Communicating with other organizations, such as the County Development Office, is the job of our public information officers. They will take care of this need.


From me to the local head (with the chief copied on the email)
Tom,
After the meeting last week, I told Joe that I thought it would be helpful to have an email so the County could hand out that stated the policy. I thought this would be helpful because people had been told bad information by their SBA contact. (No offense intended. I am sure most SBA officers do an excellent job, but it was clear after the meeting that many people were being told the wrong information.) I proposed to Joe that I would write an email saying, "Here is what I heard at the meeting, is that correct?" And if it was, he could respond affirmatively and then the County would have something to help people that were given bad information by SBA officials. That is where this whole thing came from.
I am not sure why you are acting so hostile towards me when I was just trying to help! I saw a spot where County residents were in a bind, and saw what I thought was a solution.
At this point I am sorry I got involved. As a foot note, I hope your correspondence with the public is more polite than your correspondence with other federal employees.


From the local head to me…
I am certainly not seeking to be hostile. I'm just asking that non-SBA disaster employees not get into these technical issues. From long experience, we have learned that well meaning people can create a lot of confusion when trying to help. You indicated a need to follow up with the County Development Office, and that suggestion is helpful. Our staff is in the process of doing just that.
I strongly disagree with your conclusion that SBA staff have given out bad information. I can find no evidence of that, and I have looked into the matter extensively. One person at the meeting was going to get me the names of specific individuals who thought they had a problem on this matter, and I gave him my e-mail address for that purpose. I have received no such information. I suspect that some people didn't understand what they were told, and further that some lenders have misstated what SBA is looking for. We have taken steps to ask our staff to take extra steps to be clear on this matter, as it is apparent that there was a lot of unfortunate confusion.
I appreciate that you are seeking to be helpful. Bringing a matter of confusion to our attention is helpful. Suggesting who needs clarification is helpful. But seeking to act on our behalf is counterproductive. Only trained SBA disaster staff should address the sometimes technical and complex aspects of our program.

From the Section Chief to the local boss…
I'm not sure I understand this. We are being told daily that the 1-800 number is telling homeowners that they MUST have written statement from their banks when the banks is keeping their insurance fund and paying off the loans. I don't think it is necessary to give names. Clearly not all disaster staff is on up on technical knowledge and appear to be the source of this confusion.

[Note: I assume the boss was referring to the people that he met at the meeting that I referred to earlier, i am not sure. P.D]

Progress
A few days later we received a letter explaining the policy, which I delivered to the County!

From the County to me
Hi xxx,

Thanks so much this has been a real problem. I have already made a significant distribution of the information and will continue to do so. Again much thanks from all of us.


Dave
Jefferson Davis County

Visiting

I should mention that as long as I am still here (currently March 20th), everyone is welcome to visit. I live a few blocks from the French Quarter and have a loft for guests.

Scale

To put this disaster in perspective, to do all the work that is covered by insurance, a far cry from everything that must be done, it would take 170,000 full time workers 10 years!

No good deed goes unpunished

The latest scandal that has shaken our little trailer is the Jefferson Davis County Recovery Times. It is a little newsletter, four pages, that the citizens wanted our help in sending out. The first edition is written, paid for, and at the printer. It covers happenings in the county, deadlines, vital information, etc. For the longest time, the hold up was getting addresses for the displaced residents.

FEMA is extremely controlling about the addresses. They guard them under lock and key. They threaten to sue anyone that gets the names.

The outreach staff has spent over 100 hours trying to sort out the mess. They tried getting the addresses from FEMA, but it was a wash. They could not get through the first line of defense, some stupid bureaucrat. He said he did not think it was a good idea, but would take it to the lawyers. Of course, with him as our advocate, the lawyers said no, it would violate privacy rules. We also suggested that FEMA take the newsletters and addresses and do the mailing themselves, and our donor would pay for it. No go.

The next angle was the county. The county said they had the addresses, but what they meant was they were planning on getting the addresses. When they got them there was a thick stack of legal forms. They were allowed to use them for county purposes only. They freaked out and refused to release the names.

The printer wanted to get paid. The donor wanted his money back.

I offered to help. I started working on FEMA again, this time through a friend. My friend found an advocate to push the lawyers.

The outreach staff began working on the county again and arranged appointments with the lawyers. The county lawyers decided they could help us. The newsletter had enough county business in it that it passed muster.

I told my friend to withdraw the request from FEMA. I also told her to keep it on the down low. We did not want to attract any attention to the County giving us the addresses.

So, many confidentiality forms later and after much post office paperwork, the printer was ready to go. Then, everyone freaked out.

The county decided they wanted to re-evaluate, but could not find the forms they signed that governed the use of the addresses. They asked an outreach person to go the printer’s office and watch the printer delete the files.

Today, the latest, FEMA’s general council has heard something. We do not know what. He is coming to pay us a visit.

All my co-workers are freaking out.

No initiative goes unpunished.

Morale

Morale remains low. Many of us wonder if we are doing any good. We are looking for ways to ensure the county benefits if we are all sent home.

We have been so focused on writing a plan for the state that we have not spent enough time thinking about the county. I suggested that we take the plan we are writing and repackage it so the County can shop it around to foundations in case we get sent home. Hopefully that will happen.

More stupidness - Hotel

Hotels

Most people know that FEMA is about to kick a bunch of evacuees out of hotel rooms. What most people don’t know is that FEMA is paying for a bunch of empty hotel rooms! Right after the storm, FEMA booked tons of hotel rooms, which is logical because they could get a better deal by booking a big block of rooms for a long time. What is stupid is many of those rooms are empty. Contractors and employees who were using those rooms left and FEMA has not forced people to move over to the empty rooms. So, today FEMA is paying for many of my co-workers to spend $200 a night at the Embassy Suites and rooms at the Sheraton are empty!!!!

Perhaps if the beast wants to save money it could start by making people move to the empty rooms!

More details

I have a few more details.
The conference call went out on Thursday around 5 pm that Long Term Community Recovery was being axed. David Jamison, the local head honcho who ordered the hit promptly left for a fishing trip in Costa Rica. Some local Jeff Davis County folks heard the word and called friends they have on the Mississippi Recovery Authority Board. The MRA board members were shocked. They called the Governor. He called the acting head of FEMA. The acting head of FEMA spent several hours tracking down David in Costa Rica and the decision was reversed.

Other news:
The fired our bosses boss, the head of Mississippi Long Term Community Recovery. It is a shame because he was great. A take charge, get things done guy. For example, the local county folks had some problems (they needed a contract signed) and he personally pushed it through. He is gone. Back to New York, where he was working before. No one knows why. Probably David Jamison’s revenge for not killing off the whole division.

My bosses new boss, Cliff, is a career bureaucrat. In fact, the highest level of bureaucracy in FEMA is ESF 15. No one knows what that means, but everyone acts shocked, impressed and concerned if an ESF 15er comes in the room. No one knows what happens to someone once they graduate beyond ESF 15. The most popular theory is that after ESF-15, you turn into mushrooms, where you can do nothing but vegetate.

So Cliff is starting, and the expectation is that he was sent here with a mission. You see, the Beast wanted something when it tried to send us all packing, and the beast got its hand slapped. No one knows what the beast wanted, food, drink, candy, but it wanted something and did not get it. And, it is not the nature of the Beast to think philosophically, “In retrospect, perhaps I did not really want what I thought I wanted.” Oh no, the beast thinks, “I really need that and if I got my hand slapped it means it must be really good. I will find another way to get it!

The theory is that Cliff was sent here to slash the budget. Rumors say up to 50 percent. We will have to wait and see.

Here is an email we recieved:
At the FCO and Deputy Director direction, Brad Gair announced this afternoon that there will be a work stoppage on the LTCR project in Louisiana. Hopefully this stoppage will be temporary. It starts as of this Monday, with Tuesday as a travel day.
I will work with Lorine, the TAC coordinators and the Program Directors to make this happen.
I am happy to take calls or participate in a group conference call if necessary. I will await Lorine's direction on this.
I would like to point out that our team members have done a great job.
This is being driven by a desire to achieve greater State-Federal coordination and participation.

To be clear

Thursday 6 pm - Our boss was told the program was canceled
Friday 8am - We were told be on a plane on Tuesday.
Friday 9-4 - We tell the Parish we are leaving
Friday 5 pm - We are told we are staying.

Katrina stories

A local website, NOLA.com, lets people publish their stories about Katrina.
This one was memorable. It is about a family that tried to walk away from New Orleans, but were turned back by the Gretna police. Gretna is a white suburb and the actions of their police department were some of the most reprehsible behavior I have ever heard of. I also want to point out that even during the worst of the flooding, you could walk or drive on the dry elevated highway straight to the superdome. But you will see that below.
Follow the link if you want to read the full text.
http://www.nola.com/weblogs/bourbon/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_bstdiaries/archives/2006_02_07.html



Friday- Escape from Mordor

We set out at dawn- tired and scared. No one could eat before the journey. Funny how that works. You can eat your little heart out when there is no life or death emergency and you don't need all the calories but when you really need them, they would come right back up. I guess we're not all that evolved after all.

So long and thanks for all the fish..............................

We went through the back yard accross the downed back fence. We didn't want to go through the front or the crack heads would see us leaving and know John was there alone. John came with us to carry the water bucket and blow up bed to bring back to the house. We put the bed in the water on Esplanade. I could hear my dog howling at the back door. It was breaking my already sore heart. Giant crocodile tears began to well up in my eyes. Kevin looked at me and told me to put those emotions in a drawer and save them for later. We could not appear weak. He was right. I didn't look back at the house and I blocked my ears. Ms. Bernadette was on her front porch waving at us looking very sad. She was worried about us and for her own safety when we left. John would help her all he could.

We put the blow up bed in the water and put the red wagon and fresh water bucket on top and set off into the unknown. Esplanade looked like a giant swamp. The water burned my legs. It was thigh deep and little things were nipping at my legs. I kept thinking an arm would reach through the water and try to pull me down into it. I cursed myself for watching all those Friday the 13th movies. We made it to Claiborne and took a left to get up on the Esplanade exit off of I-10. There was a tiny kitten underneath the overpass. He was meowing for us to help him. It was so sad. I wanted to take him with us but we had to save ourselves.

We made it to the ramp and once we got out of the water, we stripped off all our clothes with the nasty sewer water and showered ourselves with the fresh water from the bucket. A guy was on his balcony watching me. He got quite an eyeful. My big stripper debut and it was the end of the world- go figure. We then put our only other clothes in the world on and hugged John goodbye. We were all trying not to cry.

Kevin and I set off pulling our litle red wagon by ropes- we each had one. We had our Jazz Fest [bog floppy straw - PD] hats on. I thought if someone saw our hats, they would pick us up. Everyone is nice at Jazz Fest, right?When we got to the top of the interstate I looked at Kevin and told him we were like Sam and Frodo leaving Mordor. He laughed with me and it felt good. We had a lot of hope. And hope is a powerful thing.

The interstate was more like the end of the world than anything I had ever seen. You could see the giant smoke plumes from the fires everywhere. There was trash along the road as far as the eye could see. We walked by a blind man sitting on the ground and he said "Good morning". I guess we weren't as quiet as we thought. We got to Tulane Avenue and looked at Charity Hospital. The water must have been 10 feet high at that point. Thank God we were on the interstate looking down at it instead of sloshing around in it.

There was human feces everywhere. It was sickening. We saw people that had gone to the bathroom on themselves. We saw them sprawled out on the ground. I would like to think they were sleeping and not dead but when I think back- it could have been either. There were many, many people just sitting around. Old, young, weak and strong. They seemed to be waiting for something that was not ever going to come. Many were in a daze and just wondering around. It reminded me of the movie 28 Days Later where the zombies roamed around and there was nothing else that resembled any form of sanity. They looked at us like we were there to help them. I wish I could have but we needed to get ourselves out first.

A lady in her early forties came up to us and said she had been there since Tuesday- just wandering the interstate. Why were these people just sitting there? THERE IS NO HELP! I wanted to scream at them to get themselves out but I kept my eyes straight ahead and concentrated on task of pulling our little red wagon to the Greater New Orleans Bridge. They said on the radio that this was the only way out.

We got to where the Superdome was next to the interstate and we looked down at the chaos. Thousands of people were moving around. We could see busses under water nearby but none close to pick anyone up. The Superdome was never an option for us. We considered it for one short second and then realized it was a worse place than where we were. We saw where the roof to the Dome was ripped apart. Good thing we didn't get season tickets to Saints games this year.

While we were passing where everyone was waiting to go down the ramp to the Dome, an elderly Vietnamese lady grabbed my arm. She asked where we were going. I told her we were walking out. Her eyes pleaded with me to help her. Her husband had a cane and could barely walk. We couldn't help them. I felt so sad for them. They didn't belong there. Honestly nobody belonged up there but some more than others. I smiled at her and said someone would come to take them to the buses. I hoped that wasn't a lie.

We kept going and got to the top of the turn towards the bridge and stopped. We looked at the city. It was a mess. We wondered what would become of New Orleans. Would there be another Mardi Gras? Jazz Fest? So many fires and so much water. How could anyone begin to fathom what it would take to fix this mess? We shared a bottled water and kept moving. We had places to go (not sure where yet) and people to see.

Along the walk we saw a couple of abandoned police cars, army tanks, and prison busses. All were empty and looted. Where were all these people?? What the hell was going on?

One way or another...I'm gonna find ya.......

As we approached the hill up to the bridge, we saw a lot of people coming back down. I started to get scared.Why were they coming back? THAT'S WAY OUT!! A group yelled at us that they would not let you through without a Jefferson Parish ID. We had a business in Jefferson Parish- surely they would let us through. As we approached the top, we saw a group of people sitting by the side with their hands up. I thought it was very sweet they were praying. I told Kevin this and he said they looked more like they were under arrest. They had kids with them- how could they be under arrest? We saw police cars at the top of the entrance to the bridge. We saw guys in camoflauge holding shotguns. OH MY GOD- PROTECTION!!! I was smiling- we would get help up there.

A young guy in camo pants and light colored shirt pointed his gun at us and yelled for us to get off the bridge. It was then that I realized these guys may be worse than the looters. Kevin yelled at him that the bridge is the only way out of the city that wasn't underwater. He chambered a round and fired over our heads. I felt like the world would never be the same for me. It all came crashing down right then. Kevin started yelling at the guy, "You should be ashamed of yourself!!"

Then the guy started chasing at us with the rifle pointed our way. We started running. I was sobbing with my whole weary body as I ran pulling the wagon. How could this be happening? How could our government let us down like this? We were being attacked by the very people who swore to protect and serve us. I HATE GRETNA POLICE. I am going to have T-shirts made. " I survived Hurricane Katrina and all I got was shot at by the crummy Gretna police". We had our Jazz Fest hats on. How do you fire a gun at someone in a straw hat? Now what? I was not going back towards the Superdome. It was surely the best way to die fast.

Quote of the day

From a Jeff Davis County resident and active participant in planning activities,

"I am glad I was not there (at the officve) yesterday. I was at a funeral, and I am glad I was not there yesterday."

Talking points

We were told to tell everyone these things. The first stetches the definition of truth.



The Louisiana Recovery Authority and FEMA have agreed to place long-term recovery planning operations temporarily on hold in an effort to explore way to maximize local and state ownership in the recovery planning process and its products

The considerable amount of recovery planning completed has established a strong framework for local, regional and statewide coordination

email from the boss

At the FCO and Deputy Director direction, Brad Gair announced this afternoon that there will be a work stoppage on the LTCR project in Louisiana. Hopefully this stoppage will be temporary. It starts as of this Monday, with Tuesday as a travel day.
I will work with Lorine, the TAC coordinators and the Program Directors to make this happen.
I am happy to take calls or participate in a group conference call if necessary. I will await Lorine's direction on this.
I would like to point out that our team members have done a great job.
This is being driven by a desire to achieve greater State-Federal coordination and participation.


Jonathan

Pause, on pause

FEMA tries to pause La. role
Agency says state not engaged enough in long-term planning
By MIKE DUNNE
Advocate staff writer
Published: Feb 11, 2006
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has told Gov. Kathleen Blanco that state and local officials need to take on more leadership in planning Louisiana’s long-term recovery.

This week, FEMA put out a notice to workers that it would put on “pause” the long-term recovery planning process known as ESF-14. It is designed to spur not only recovery but to build in elements that would avert or mitigate damages from future disasters.

FEMA told workers the pause was for at least two weeks. However, officials at the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the advisory partner in the process, were stumped when they started getting calls about the “pause.”

Late Friday, LRA spokeswoman Pam Laborde said the “pause is on pause.” Apparently, when word reached Blanco on Friday, she called Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison to find out what was happening.

James McIntyre, a spokesman for the FEMA Baton Rouge recovery field office, said Blanco and Paulison “came to an agreement” to continue the process but “with state and local governments taking more ownership of the process and the federal government taking more of a support role than a lead role.”

Earlier in the day, FEMA spokeswoman Nicol Andrews in Washington, D.C., said the long-term recovery planning process was “paused” because of a lack of “engagement” in the state.

The process has worked well in Florida and elsewhere after disasters and is working in Mississippi, but is not working in Louisiana, Andrews said.

Later in the day, McIntyre said FEMA and state officials will meet next week to work out how the state will take more ownership. He was unsure when that might happen.

Meanwhile, Blanco and the Legislature are meeting in another special session on hurricane recovery related issues.

Laborde said the LRA has “been an active partner” with FEMA, working in 26 parishes and using 50 state employees on the effort. The LRA Foundation generated extra private funds to hire a “dream team” of planners to advise the process. Planning meetings have been going on this week in Lake Charles and are planned for next week in Abbeville.

Local plans are due to the state by the end of March and will be put into a state plan that will address housing and community development, environmental and coastal issues, human services, transportation and infrastructure and economic development.

An environmental activist who has been following the process, Darryl Malek-Wiley of the Sierra Club, said midday Friday that, “I am very disappointed this process has been put on hold.”

The state helped host a series of meetings in four states on Jan. 21 to get public input on what the recovery priorities should be. Levee protection, affordable housing, jobs and better schools surfaced as the main topics.

Malek-Wiley attended one of those meetings in San Antonio where people “were very engaged. I did hear that no public attended a meeting in Shreveport.”

He questioned whether sufficient effort has been put into the process to reach out and engage residents.

The people attending in San Antonio, many of them evacuees bused to the meeting from shelters, “were pleased with the discussion” and the ability to take part in the process, he said.

The ESF-14 process is important because “any future federal dollars can be directed by this plan,” Malek-Wiley said.

“At one session, a FEMA representative talked about building a new 20,000-unit housing development at Lapalco Boulevard and U.S. Highway 90 (on the west bank of Jefferson Parish) and we were able to point out that area is very low,” Malek-Wiley said.

De - and re-commissioned

Here is what I know:
On Thursday around 5 pm, our boss was told that all the Long Term Community Recovery Staff were being decommissioned. Monday would be our last day. This message was passed to us on Friday (today).

The given reason by FEMA is that a "pause" was being taken because the Mississippi Recovery Authority (MRA) and the counties wanted to figure out how to develop more local leadership. In a few weeks the office would be re-started.

This is a lie. The MRA was not consulted in advance. So either FEMA is a mind reader, or they doing things they want and saying the MRA wants it.

There was a powerful conference call where my team lead demanded an explanation of what happened. He owed it to the Parish. He was told, “We are sending down talking points (in other words stick to the party line).” He responded, “I don’t want talking points, I want the truth!”

We told our contacts at the Parish and they were shocked and upset. It felt like a funeral.

(To explain: The chairman of the economic development committee, Gary, is normally this boisterous man. Our econ devel task force meetings are Wednesday and he gets there first and when each person enters the room he calls out their names in a booming voice, “Mr. Nelson is in the house!” “Ms. Jones is in the house!” Today he slumped in late, deflated. He said, “Is it true?” and I said, “I’m sorry.”

They asked us what would happen to the long term recovery effort. What would happen to the half written plans about how to rebuild? Who will make sense of the scribbles on maps about which areas of the county will be off limits to development. Who will ensure the treasures of the county are not lost? All these plans will be half finished and useless to anyone else. Two months, two precious were wasted. Every day that goes by people are more likely to make a new life somewhere else. Two months is a life time to waste. All we could do was give them our personal phone numbers and told them to call us any time.

People spent the day moping around the office. Some people booked airfare home. Many of us do not have work waiting for us back home. No one knew what to do. If we had a week or two we could have made a graceful transition. We could have passed along enough knowledge to the county to let them take the ball and run. But being told on Friday that we needed to go home on Monday. It is ridiculous.

We planned a crawfish boil for the next day, our last supper.

It is hard to explain how low everyone was feeling. It was like we were told that we are shit, nothing, didn’t matter. Reminded that we can be sent home at any time for any reason. Told that our work was meaningless. Could be erased at no notice. Everyone down here believes in the work we are doing. We are working 70 hours a week, in shitty conditions, trying our best to make a difference. After months of work we have finally gained the trust of the residents. Bam! It’s all gone. It’s all for nothing.

Then around 5 pm today, there was another conference call. FEMA had changed its mind. The Governor had talked to the head of FEMA. We were going to stay on.

Everyone on the team is burned out. No one that I have talked to believes in the mission any more. I think many people will leave. If not Monday, then in the coming weeks. I can’t imagine getting our spirit back.

I don't know the metaphor. Maybe it is a marriage that you work on for a long time and then you find out your partner cheated. The trust is gone. The trust between us and the community, us and FEMA, everything, you can't get it back. Then the court says, you two have to get back together, you have to try again. You're like, Fuck it, it's over, but Monday comes and you wake up and you don't ship out and you have to make the best of it.

It is a low day in Mississippi.

Sent Home for Good Behavior

There are few things that occupy a lower rung on the public disdain ladder in Jefferson Davis County than FEMA employees. There are cockroaches and looters, but not much else. And with good reason.

Everyone knows about the trailers. Now, almost six months after the storm, FEMA has only managed to deliver a few thousand mobile homes. FEMA blames the local government, but it is a lie. FEMA is responsible.

Take garbage removal. The county had the option of signing their own contract or going with the Corp of Engineers. They went with their own. The contractor has picked up tens of thousands of tons of garbage, running up a $20 million dollar tab. They want to be paid. FEMA has been looking at the contact for two months and has not paid a dime. The contractor is about to stop doing debris removal.

Take the hospital. The old company that ran the hospital jetted after the hurricane and the county was in a lurch. Doctors worked countless hours and finally found a nonprofit to come in and take over if FEMA paid the first six months of the expenses. That way, the nonprofit would not lose too much money while the parish population was still small. Well, FEMA agreed to pay and then de-obligated the funding. Now the county is scrambling to find a way to get their hospital open.

We are told not to wear our FEMA gear outside of work, lest we get beaten up. The county head, Boss Hogg, routinely spits profanity when discussing FEMA.

The only exception to this is us, the long term community recovery planners. We have developed a great relationship both with the county and the citizens recovery committee. Every public meeting the Judge or someone else will get up and give a speech. “We know you hate FEMA. We hate FEMA too. And yes technically these guys are FEMA, they are a different type of FEMA. We all know how long FEMA people last, a week or two before they are transferred out. Well, these guys have been with us since the beginning….” The county council just passed a resolution making a planner that went home an honorary citizen. They love us!

Well, the long term community recovery planners are being sent home. The entire division, called ESF 14, is being decommissioned. Ostensibly, it is because the state is concerned that there is not enough local control. But this is bullshit. There is another reason, I suspect FEMA does not want to pay the bills, but I don’t know. In any case, today is Thursday and we were told today at 6 pm that we are being sent home on Tuesday. No other explanation than that.

The shame is that the county has come to depend on us. Take the doctors. We have helped set up discussions with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and others to help them try to find money. There is no way to make a graceful transition in four days. It will be an in-elegant ending with many people hurt and angry.
We will see what happens tomorrow. Things can always change, but as it stands now, I am out of here on Tuesday.

FEMA caught lying!

Every time someone blasts FEMA for not having enough trailers, FEMA responds that it is the local government’s fault for not identifying spots or providing utilities. Same here in Jefferson Davis County. You never know who is telling the truth.

Well, the truth came out and FEMA was full of shit. Here is the story.

The county negotiated a contract to buy thousands of trailers with the hope that the Feds would pay them back. The trailers were delivered with the understanding that they would be returned if the county could not get FEMA to pick up the bill. (The county trailers were cheaper than the FEMA trailers, but that is not the point.) The trailers have sat locked and unused for months now, waiting to see if FEMA would pay.

FEMA and Boss Hogg, the county head (who I promise to write about soon) had a little tit on CNN. Boss Hogg blasted FEMA for not paying for the trailers, so they could be installed. FEMA responded that the problem was that the county “still (has) to identify places to put them,” and that FEMA was ready to deliver 125,000 trailers to the region as soon as counties tell them where to put them.

Well, a few days ago, FEMA and the county settled their fight and FEMA agreed to pay for the trailers. The next day, there were bulldozers laying the pipes for the trailers in a 300 acre empty lot.

The conclusion I draw is that the lack of trailers was holding up the process, which means FEMA was lying. Clearly, the county had already signed a lease (or option) on the property. Otherwise, they could not have moved so quickly. The problem was the lack of trailers (and not lack of space). As soon as the 2000 trailers that were already in the county were available, work began on installing them.

County one, FEMA zero.

Stupidness

This is the stupid stuff that causes people to hate their job. I am so glad I did not work on this project.

The Citizens Recovery Committee got this idea to produce a newsletter that would go out to all the displaced residents of Jefferson Davis County. It would talk about what is happening in the county, upcoming deadlines, etc. It would connect displaced residents to their homes.

A local bank jumped at the chance to sponsor the first edition, agreeing to foot the $7000 bill to mail the newsletter to 20,000 families. The county said they had the mailing addresses and agreed to provide them to the printer. Volunteers and staff wrote the articles, the printer did the layout and all was ready to go. Everyone was so excited. They made public announcements and thanked everyone and celebrated.

Then, the county admitted they did not really have the addresses yet, but would get them soon. A week passed. They got the letters, but under very limited terms. They could not share them. The outreach person, who was coordinating the effort, called the branch of FEMA that keeps the address. The guy on the phone was surly. He said everyone wants the addresses, and FEMA does not give them out so easily. Confidentiality. A newsletter, he snorted, was not a likely to be approved.

He promised to talk to the people who decide. Another week passed. Of course, he did not care about the project and was clearly was not going to sell it to the necessary people. Not surprisingly he reported back that under no circumstances could we have the addresses. Nor could we give them the newsletters and have them mail them.

So, now the bank wants its money back. We have already spent a couple of hundred dollars on layout and design. There is no newsletter. All the hours spent writing it are wasted.

There is no moral to this story.

Not So Great

Every time I tell people that I am in Gulfport for the winter, they say I am so lucky. But really, Gulfport, like everywhere, has its problems. Take today for instance. I am having some people over for the superbowl. I wanted to have a barbeque, but, was it going to rain? Would it be warm? I didn’t know. I could not do my shopping until today, when I knew for sure that it would be in the 70s and sunny.

Beyond the uncertainty, there are other problems. Again take today. Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, the sun was pouring in my seven foot high windows and it was getting too warm. I had to open the windows, to let in a great refreshing breeze. If I were home in Hayseed (in the Midwest) I would not have had to worry about opening the windows. The heater just kicks on when my house gets cold. I don’t need to go around opening things and closing things, and all that bother.

You see, it is not so great here.

Jefferson Davis Planner #2

FEMA employees in disasters circle in and out constantly. They stay weeks or months and then go home. It is extremely disorienting for the community. They will be working on something, say a work order to repair a flooded school, and they will call their contact at FEMA only to find the number is disconnected. No warning, no goodbye, just a disconnected number. Once they track down the replacement, all the paperwork is lost in some pile somewhere.

I have experienced it myself several times. Last week I was expecting a map, which was several days overdue. I called the computer mapping contact and the phone rang and rang. I tried back for the next couple of days before giving up. I visited his office and it was empty. I asked around and was told there was a new contact in a new location. I went upstairs to the new office and told the guy about my overdue map. Of course, it was not there. The new guy knew nothing about it. He had overlapped with the old guy for only a few hours. He did not know where the old guy saved anything. He was buried in paper and electronic files, trying to find his way out. Could I resubmit the map request?

Well, my colleague suggested that we don’t use our names, we just call each other by our title. I would be planner or maybe Jefferson Davis Planner #2. So when I meet people I just say, “Hi my name is Jefferson Davis Planner #2.” Then when I go, I just pass on my phone to the guy they send to replace me. He assumes the identity Jefferson Davis Planner #2 and there is a seamless transition. He would answer the phone, “Hi this is Jefferson Davis Planner #2,” and no one would suffer any undo aggravation.

Recent activities

For those curious about what it is we are doing down here:
Recently we have been working on two projects.
Background Conditions Report
The first was background data about our County. How the hurricanes affected the county, what has happened in the way of public particition, what plans or studies exist about the county, things like that.
Projects
The second task that has been taking up our time has been helping the county identify projects. We had a preliminary list that we have been fine tuning. Last week we filled in descriptions, cost estimates, justification statements, etc. We are not taking this list to the Citizens Recovery Commission for a vote.

P.D.

Mr. Nemus approves

It is amazing how many people that I don't know tell me what a great job I am doing and how much they appreciate my work. This evening was typical. I was told by my Human Relations contact that I had to go to a meeting today at 6pm.

There were four speakers. The first one (good manager) spent her entire time complimenting us. What great work we are doing, how much we are appreciated and how many great things they have heard about us. Now, mind you I have never met any of the 50 people that were in the room before. And everyone in the room had dramatically different jobs, from building inspector to engineer to planner. None the less she had heard great things about us. Our only connection was that we were all hired under the same contract, the National Infrastructure Assistance Contract. It is possible that the word on the street is that those National Infrastructure Assistance Contract people are the bomb, but I kind of doubt it. So, good manager finishes and up comes bad manager.

She affirmed that we are all doing a great job, but says there have been problems. She says people have been doing "things they are not supposed to do" and consequently were sent home. "I mean really inappropriate stuff. Bad stuff. Stuff you would not believe." And when people do this "bad stuff" it makes all of us National Infrastrucure Assistance Contract (NIAC) workers look bad. So don't do "bad" stuff she reiterated. Furthermore, she said, people were saying things they should not say. For instance, a NIAC person was working with an official from the local government to put in a funding request to FEMA, and FEMA denied the request. The NIAC person disagreed and wrote an email saying they disagreed and also said, "some others things they should not have said." Well, the person was sent home and it is going to take months to undo the damage. So, don't say things that you are not supposed to say, we were urged. I almost laughed because it was all so nonspecific, but I am sure laughing would have gotten me yelled at, and then all the future groups would have been cautioned not to make auditory commotions at inappropriate times.

Then a third manager came on and again complimented us for doing such great work. He then spent 45 minutes urging the PAs to fill out their PWs and get them in to Nemus ASAP. This seemed to be the main point of the meeting. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I am not a PA. While his initial speech had a ratio of two words to one acronym, it quickly deteriorated. Evidently Nemus would not accept the PWs until QC or at least QA signed off on them. This caused a minor breakdown which resulted in three people pulling out their Blackberries and reading various emails instructing them on how to get their PWs into Nemus. It was at this point that I realized Nemus was not a person, but a computer system. The confusion eventually subsided, the Blackberries were sheathed and the meeting continued. Clarity would come in the form of an email, we were promised.

Finally the fourth manager got up, thanked us for our hard work and told us he would stick around in case we had NIAC problems we needed help with. Evidently, everyone else lives in a different world where they have many burning National Infrastructure Assistance Contract questions and had a good chuckle about where the line to talk with him would start. I however, headed for the door.