Part 2 of a 3-Part Series:
Politics and houses need cleanup
on the Gulf coast

Last week I invited you to come with me for an "inside" look at the total devastation in St. Bernard Parish, the county hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. This week I invite you to take another look, with me, through journaling, web postings, some haunting dreams -- and get involved. I now see the hard clean-up work happening on three major fronts. This week we focus on cleaning up housing mess and other political SNAFUs. Next week, we consider the workforce and volunteer labor issues, as well as spiritual issues.

As noted last week, 100% of 26,900 homes in St. Bernard Parish were rendered uninhabitable -- by flood waters, wind, fire or oil spill, but especially mold. By January, 99% still had no electricity. Toilets now flush, but water and sewer systems are still compromised. Only 200 of these 26,900 residences are sufficiently cleaned up to be reoccupied, which makes tents one option. But trailers are the home of choice, at least for a privileged few -- mostly government workers and contractors. Trailer residents can then gut and remodel their homes on weekends, while building the city's infrastructure during the week.

But the trailer issue stinks and is stirring up fury. About 8000 private families have applied for trailers in the St. Bernard Parish, yet 1000s of trailers lie idle in town, while only 20%, or 1600 units, were delivered by mid-February. Joey DiFatta -- the St. Bernard Council Chairman, whose mother's house we gutted out two weeks ago, and who himself now lives in a trailer -- is furious with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "Everyday we wait, another family leaves our community. We know that we can put up 150 to 200 trailers a day in St. Bernard using our people," says DiFatta.

Unfortunately, no one has paid for the idle trailers, worth an estimated $4 million. But no one can wait any longer, either. So parish officials are towing trailers off the lot and taking them to people's homes, while hoping that FEMA will eventually pick up the hefty tab.

As for the tab, the price tag of $39,000 each is what the government is allegedly being charged, but the private market charges just $13,000 each, plus $3,000 for delivery/installation. Seems obvious that someone is price gouging FEMA, and that means taxpayers -- you and me -- are being gouged.

Price gouging is also evident with the blue roof program, or "blue birds," as they're called. In every neighborhood, roofs were damaged by wind, fallen trees, flying debris, or even by hatchets from the inside. Blue tarps covering the hole cost just so much a square foot. Yet roofing contractors get paid by the Army Corps of Engineers not by the size of the size of the hole, but by the size of the tarp, so roofs tend to be all covered over. A review of their documents shows that a company required to compete for its contract did the work for half of what others charged. Again, more government waste.

A Congressional audit, dated February 13, reported huge fraud in FEMA aid. As much as 40% of the 1000s of applicants for federal emergency relief money after Katrina hit, used duplicate or invalid Social Security numbers or bogus addresses, suggesting that the $2.3 billion program fell victim to extensive fraud.

We saw hundreds of homes in Meraux and Chalmette, Louisiana, hit with a double whammy from Hurricane Katrina: floodwaters and an oil refinery spill. The area has since dried out, leaving oil-tainted residue on 1000s of homes, lawns and other property. While a Murphy Oil rep recently said, "Eighty-five percent of the oil spill has been either removed or evaporated," extensive oil residue was quite visible to this drive-by reporter.

Murphy Oil has settled with many homeowners, but some fear it's still unsafe to rebuild. But once residents do settle -- and only 1 of 6 had any flood insurance, so the pressure is on -- they cannot participate in the larger $1 billion class-action lawsuit still pending, with potential awards 20 times larger.

The waiting game seems to pay off, as back on September 27, Murphy Oil in Meraux pledged $2 million for the relief and rebuilding of the parish, as if that were a generous offer. But that figure has since grown to $50 million. Yet even $50 million amounts to only $6,000 to $12,000 apiece for individual homeowners. Guess who is liable for any future damages that come home to roost? You got it, the innocent, unsuspecting homeowner. Yikes!

Scattered among these houses, some off their foundations, is another jaw-dropping site: big shrimping boats. (See for yourself at www.highpointchurch.org/home.php?min=7, the church's "Community Outreach Ministry" page.) Saving these landlocked boats is very expensive. Reversing their original pledge to salvage all 2300 commercial vessels grounded or sunk by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita, Coast Guard officials now say that all remaining landlocked commercial fishing craft (up to 800 boats in St. Bernard Parish alone) are "not our problem."

Their about-face is another infuriating communication SNAFU and one more example of how the feds are scaling back their recovery role as costs mount into tens of billions of dollars. One out-of-house-and-out-of-work fisherman was quoted as saying, "Not picking up the boats, that's just like cutting our throat after our homes were destroyed and our boats were damaged." Ouch!

I'm told it's all "business as usual," or "Situation Normal All Fouled Up." Such political SNAFUs need as much cleaning up as the flooded houses themselves.

Makes you wonder what 138,000 troops could do if they were assigned to the Gulf States instead of Iraq.

That won't happen anytime soon; meanwhile YOU can join the army of volunteers in the Gulf, leaving Madison March 3 and 24, or 31, and staying a week. If interested, contact me at dgruen@chorus.net.

© 2005 Middleton Outreach Ministry

Site design and maintenance donated by Liberty Professional Services, LLC
Hosting donated by TDS Metrocom