duh..its about time...Donald Powell admits fed responsibility

[bywterbro]

May 25, 2007


Breaking News:


Yesterday Donald Powell, recovery czar for the Gulf Coast publicly made this statement regarding the survivors of the federal levee breaches. He said, "...the federal government is responsible for this hurricane damage because of the failure of the levee system...."

[AtPontchartrain]

Unfortunately, this is in the context of the feds still showing reluctance to fund full recovery. The Louisiana Road Home program, funded by HUD, has been slowly and rather ineptly making its awards to homeowners. So far, somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 awards have been made. In the calculations, Louisiana has included both flood damage to houses and wind damage to houses, to come up with the total. Yesterday the feds said they didn't want the program to cover wind damage ... although they have approved the Road Home program from the very beginning under HUD requirements, and sent out all these press releases proud of the awards paid so far. And, from the beginning, Andy Kopplin of La. Road Home said the state intended to cover wind and flood. So now, a year after the program was funded with the state relying on the HUD money, Powell and crew say, we're just paying the flood damage, not the wind damage. As if there's some magic way of always telling the difference!!

The floodwall construction caused the flooding. The coastal erosion added to, if not caused, the wind damage. Corps of Engineers floodwalls built wrong, and Corps of Engineers river levees that prevented silt from flowing to the coast rebuilding the coastline. 2 corp programs at fault, and the feds waffling on responsibility.

[bywterbro]

this is true AP, but it might set up legal ground for all the lawsuits filed
against the fed govt recently in louisiana......the feds having been playing
with La. since the beginning....they first agreed that road home could
pay installments...then after the process is underway, they say stop...
oh no....payments now have to be lump sum....
and they still wont waive the 10% repayment of fed money...altho its been done so many times in past disasters...fuk them..dont get me started...nawlins
is better without fed intervention...or most govt. intervention for that matter...
the city makes Angelis on Decatur stop having live music...that place supported
live music 6 nites a week for so long....so many musicians made a living there
right after the levees broke......and Vaughans was up to live music 4-5 nites
a week till the city stepped in....leave these small business owners alone...

[Frosty]

Most people think Katrina only hit New Orleans
Most people think Katrina only affected black people
Most people think it was the levees that broke
Most people think it was pretty much all welfare recipients who were hit
Most people think it was all Bush's fault and a better reponse would have solved everything

Basically, most people think Katrina was about a city full of a bunch of black welfare dependent looters who all got stuck at the Super Dome and that if Bush would have gotten them help sooner, it would have all been fixed.

That pretty much covers the liberal and conservative views. Anything else is news to the people you talk to. And depending on their leanings, they still come back to one or the other of the themes mentioned above.

[Zydekitten]

So, Frosty - what are you saying it is?? :confused:

[Frosty]

So, Frosty - what are you saying it is?? :confused:

The largest natural disaster in our nation's history. One that affected millions of people across state, social, economic, and racial lines.

[Lostcajun]

The gov is responsible for the infrastructure. But no matter what any politician or government promises it's the people that must turn their lives around. The government always comes up short. They should keep their promises, but WHEN has that ever happened. And as I've said be for the worst governmental offenders were the local ones. They've been screwing their own people since the swamps were born.