Frying and Flaying FEMA and Rebuilding Efforts

The Atlanta Mayor, Shirley Franklin, slams FEMA for not providing aid in resettling hurricane victims. She wants about $11,000 per family (for a six-month period) that has been resettled and claims that 42,000 families were resettled in Atlanta. That amounts to: $462 million.

Anyone see any problems with that? I'd like to see the billing on this before someone starts winging and flinging numbers around. Sure, Congress provided a pot of $62 billion for hurricane relief and only a portion has been disbursed, but that doesn't mean that every community that takes in hurricane refugees can simply ask and receive an amount. Prove that you've actually expended the money before you can claim.

You know, to prevent fraud and waste. If you're really spending that kind of money for relief efforts, you should get reimbursed but you better be prepared to prove that is what you're spending and not padding the numbers to use the money elsewhere.

Just because you demand money doesn't mean you're actually owed that money.

Folks aren't happy with some of the reconstruction efforts in Mississippi. Gov. Haley Barbour has called for rebuilding the CSX rail lines on the northern side of I-10. That's meeting resistance from the locals. NIMBY strikes again.

In Bay St. Louis, residents want areas rebuilt as modern but neighborly. Here here! Debris removal schedules have been posted for Biloxi. Over in Gulfport, contracts have been let for cleaning up the local beaches.

Elsewhere, Slidell is going to face a budget crunch. This is a problem that will repeat itself up and down the Gulf Coast as the tax base was significantly disrupted.

Back in New Orleans, French Quarter bars are upset over a midnight curfew. I'd be upset too. Considering that those bars pretty much represent all the business ongoing in New Orleans at the moment, forcing them to close at midnight is sapping the city's revenues. I can completely understand the need to maintain order in New Orleans, but the city would be better off putting their own Department under lock and key than the folks on Bourbon Street.

The neighborhood was largely spared by Hurricane Katrina, and many out-of-town disaster-relief crews — along with law officers, soldiers, reporters and even tourists — have been crowding French Quarter bars and restaurants, despite a midnight curfew decreed by the mayor.

The curfew was largely ignored and infrequently enforced until this week. Many bar owners attribute the sudden enforcement to the furor that followed the videotaped beating of a 64-year-old man by police officers last Saturday night.

Defillo denied any connection. He said the curfew was imposed because police and other departments are not yet ready to resume full, round-the-clock operations.

Bar owners argued that the French Quarter is one section of the city where the curfew could be waived or at least pushed back, noting that the neighborhood in an important part of the city’s tourist-dependent economy.

“I feel like what’s happening is we’re talking out of both sides of the mouth,” Monaghan said. “They want us to rebuild the city but do it their way.”

Mayor Nagin wants the city repopulated quickly, but now says that the businesses least affected (French Quarter bars) can't reopen to their prior hours because services (law enforcement?!) are still limited? Where's the logic in all this. I've been arguing that the only way the city can be reopened properly is if the services are there to support businesses.

He's trying to stuff 20 pounds of crap in a 10 pound bag.

Some of you might argue that this is a chicken or egg thing, but I disagree. The city has to provide law enforcement, fire coverage, and sanitation in addition to water, sewage, and public hospitals as a bare minimum. At the moment, it's unable to do proper law enforcement and sanitation. And the blame for this failure isn't on anyone other than Mayor Nagin, the NOLA City Council, and the Louisiana state government. They know this is a manpower issue - both in quality and quantity, and yet they're not doing anything to improve matters. Residency requirements are still unbelievably restrictive and the pay grade is awful.

Those are things that are within those officials' control. Yet, they're sitting on their hands or complaining instead of getting things done. Curious. Will Louisiana voters notice?

UPDATE:
Paul at Wizbang! notes that the NOLA City Council wants to change the laws of physics. Actually, they want to extend Daylight Savings Time for NOLA indefinitely instead of changing with the rest of the country on October 30.

The council Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution, introduced by Councilman Jay Batt, asking Gov. Kathleen Blanco to issue an executive order extending daylight-saving time in Orleans Parish "until further notice."

I've heard of thinking outside the box to fix problems, but this one should have been left in the package. Return to sender. Here's an easier solution that wont cost a damn thing - wake up an hour earlier to take advantage of daylight.

Technorati: flood aid; hurricane katrina; katrina aid; hurricane rita; slidell; biloxi; gulfport; pascagoula; nagin; blanco; barbour.