None of 115 Critical Rebuilding Projects of New Orleans Public Buildings Have Been Completed

Bush: "Nooyorleans's comin' back!" (Statement spelled like the president pronounced it.)

Fictional Mainstream Journalist: Oh really, Mr. Bush?   Then how many critical public buildings, would you say have been rebuilt, Sir?

Bush:  Um what?

FMJ Well, you act like you know about the rebuilding, so I wondered how many of New Orleans critical public buildings have been rebuilt.  In fact, Sir, the number is zero.  Not one has been completed after two years.   Where is the money for New Orleans? 

Bush:  Duh...! 

Unfortunately the FMJ quoted above doesn't exist so the conversation didn't happen.

And look at this tripe -- Excerpt USA Today report "2 years after Katrina, pace of rebuilding depends on who pays ":

Emergency federal funding is governed by the Stafford Act, whose rules require cities and states to match a certain percentage of federal disaster funds. The U.S. government quickly waived the match requirement after previous disasters, such as Hurricane Andrew in South Florida in 1992 and the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

But the match requirement — 10% in the case of the 2005 storms — wasn't waived for post-Katrina recovery and rebuilding until May, when Congress passed a bill abolishing it, delaying many projects.

How long has the Bush administration said that all New Orleans' problems are its own doing or maybe the state of Louisiana's at the most?  Wel, this proves that there was discrimination.

One example of those unfinished public projects:

The firefighters of Engine 18 wish government relief came a little faster in New Orleans. Since the floods battered their 2,200-square-foot firehouse, three firefighters have lived in a two-room trailer behind the station. One naps on a cot in the kitchen while two others share a front dorm room.

The close quarters is adding to stress caused by a lack of manpower, says Capt. Paul Hellmers, the firehouse chief.

The city estimates it'll take $609,000 to repair Engine 18's firehouse. Last fall, FEMA assessed the damage at $118,000, District Chief Tim McConnell says, adding that FEMA and the city still haven't agreed on the rebuilding cost.

Meanwhile, a local neighborhood group is helping firefighters raise money, and unions have donated services such as roofing and plumbing to help rebuild the firehouse, McConnell says. "For whatever reasons, the (government) money's not flowing."

And an affluent neighborhood which had the means to pull themselves up by the bootstraps:

The slow pace of government relief pushed those in New Orleans' Gentilly neighborhood into action.

When the city didn't seem to be coming up with a plan to bring back their neighborhood, they raised money and paid architects at the University of New Orleans to draw up plans. When no city or federal official could answer questions about federal aid, they studied the rules and held workshops.

"If you ask the city, it's the state. If you ask the state, it's the feds. If you ask the feds, it's the city and the state," says Angele Givens, president of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association.

Givens emptied her 401(k) savings to pay for rent as weeks bled into months before she saw any federal aid, she says. She eventually received $168,000 in national flood insurance money and another $40,000 in federal assistance to rebuild her home. But the slow progress was exasperating, she says.

Today, construction crews are busy rehabbing homes in her neighborhood, and some residents are building bigger, nicer homes.

Still missing are schools, libraries and police stations...

tags: new orleans  katrina  bush  rebuilding  

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