NOLA - 2 years later

[SWTXBelle]

Full disclosure - My father is a cousin of Huey Long. I've had family in New Orleans and LA forever. My husband's great -grandfather sculpted many of the beautiful monuments you go see in the cities of the dead, and his grandmother sang at the Court of Two Sisters. I love the city.

And I'm tired of everyone assuming that the only people affected by Katrina are the poor and uninsured. Insurance companies have run riot over claims - playing fast and loose with definitions of what constitutes wind damage, and what is water. Many thousands of people from all over the LA and Miss. coast are displaced, and found out that their insurance company was willing to let them hang out to dry. I know of many natives who wish to return, but have been unable because of the lack of basic services and security. These taxpayers are, I think, entitled to running water, electricity, and some measure of safety. But they can't get it. Some of them are still wrestling with their insurance companies, two years later. And until the engineering is taken care of, who wants to put themselves at the mercy of the Army Corps. of Engineers?
I've written everyone I can think of, from Oprah to Ray Nagin, with the idea that many of those who were poor and in government housing and wish to return should be allowed to as part of a works program. Teach them construction skills, and not only do you solve the labour shortage, you give them a means of pulling themselves out of the poverty they were mired in.They can support their families, who will in turn support the businesses that will make the community thrive. And this would work all along the Gulf Coast. It doesn't have to be a government program - private industry could do it. There are many small private programs that are working to bring New Orleans and her sister coastal cities back.
The government housing projects there were a festering sore that the government chose to ignore until they could no longer. Those people in the Superdome were following the instructions given to them by their leaders - many of them could not evacuate, and the city and state failed them by not evacuating them when they could. Anyone else recall the shots of yards of school buses, empty and flooded, which could have been used to evacuate people?
We need New Orleans for many reasons - as a port at the mouth of the Mississippi, as the spiritual and cultural home to so many different groups, and, YES, because of the heritage and history it contains. Do I expect the government to do it all? Hell,no - I just want them to provide the same level of infrastructure every other citizen in the U.S. has a right to expect, and I want them to straighten up the engineering nightmare that THEY put into place. And then I want them to get the hell out of the way, so the citizens of New Orleans can shine again.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

And I'm tired of everyone assuming that the only people affected by Katrina are the poor and uninsured. Insurance companies have run riot over claims - playing fast and loose with definitions of what constitutes wind damage, and what is water. Many thousands of people from all over the LA and Miss. coast are displaced, and found out that their insurance company was willing to let them hang out to dry. I know of many natives who wish to return, but have been unable because of the lack of basic services and security. These taxpayers are, I think, entitled to running water, electricity, and some measure of safety. But they can't get it. Some of them are still wrestling with their insurance companies, two years later. And until the engineering is taken care of, who wants to put themselves at the mercy of the Army Corps. of Engineers?
We need New Orleans for many reasons - as a port at the mouth of the Mississippi, as the spiritual and cultural home to so many different groups, and, YES, because of the heritage and history it contains. Do I expect the government to do it all? Hell,no - I just want them to provide the same level of infrastructure every other citizen in the U.S. has a right to expect, and I want them to straighten up the engineering nightmare that THEY put into place. And then I want them to get the hell out of the way, so the citizens of New Orleans can shine again.

Just wanted it repeated... Well said.

My sentiments exactly...

Everyone makes money off of NOLA from food to music, a cultural stronghold in America, then a Natural Disaster that caused piss poor levee design to have a complete enginneering failure that caused a flood. Then this comcominant disaster annihilated a corrupt local and state government and added an inept Fed government who should have taken over the reigns the minute the determined that crazy thing was headed in that direction...

Watching live on TV, just made me question my birthland and my birth right and I was not involved in anyway...

The several large insurance companies have FAILED their insurers in NOLA. Nationwide was one of them. They had issues that because the hurricane itself did not actually cause the damage, then flood insurance by storm surge would not apply. But if you have lost your entire house are you basically telling these people, "Go F Yourself?"

Then, you get and pay your tax bills from the feds and the state.

That is just a double-whammy and it is not right.

Yes, we should be proud to foot some of this bill because it is about CITIZENRY and being a part of the United States.