Posted on 11/21/2004 7:32:40 AM PST by Luis Gonzalez
Government aid for Hurricane Frances bought Miami-Dade County residents rooms full of furniture, new wardrobes and thousands of appliances, including microwaves, refrigerators and sewing machines, even though the brunt of the storm missed the county.
With damage limited primarily to a few fallen trees and power lines, residents claimed Frances destroyed 5,260 television sets and 1,440 air conditioners, according to records from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Disaster relief paid for lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, space heaters and cars.
FEMA paid $4,500 for one resident's funeral, even though the county medical examiner recorded no storm-related deaths.
In six instances, FEMA blamed damage on "ice/snow."
"Either this is significant negligence on behalf of FEMA or there is fraudulent or possibly criminal activity going on," U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, said Friday. "Either one is very disturbing."
FEMA's director, Michael D. Brown, declined a request for an interview last week through a spokeswoman, who said he was traveling and unavailable. Agency officials did not answer specific questions about the aid distributed in Miami-Dade and instead released a statement heralding their overall hurricane assistance effort providing food, ice, roof tarps and money to thousands of Floridians.
"We were here within 24 hours of the first hurricane striking Florida," FEMA wrote. "We will remain here as long as it takes."
The amount of disaster relief sent to Miami-Dade, which as of Wednesday had reached almost $28 million, prompted a public outcry and calls by members of congress for investigations after it was first reported in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel last month. The Labor Day weekend storm made landfall in Martin County, more than 100 miles north of Miami-Dade.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
The records show applicants in a few predominantly poor, inner-city neighborhoods collected as much as $25,600 each, the maximum allowed. Residents in seven ZIP codes mostly west of Interstate 95 received $12.8 million, more than applicants in 67 other ZIP codes combined.
In Liberty City, where one-third of the residents in ZIP code 33142 live below the poverty level, FEMA awarded $3.1 million. In one household, the government paid for a new washer, dryer, freezer, range, refrigerator, television, radio, phone, computer, clothes, furniture, portable space heater, playpen, crib, stroller and toys. Another applicant collected $12,173, including $4,054 for clothes.
In areas with the highest number of FEMA awards, residents told the Sun-Sentinel their neighbors used buckets and hoses to water down belongings and called it hurricane damage.
FEMA inspectors recorded damages to 1,360 twin beds, 1,311 washers and dryers, and 831 dining sets, records show.
As the cause of damage, inspectors cited "tornado-wind" for 195,909 items, although the National Weather Service recorded no tornados in the county during Frances. The top sustained winds reached 47 mph, less than a tropical storm.
Inspectors blamed "sewer backup" in 14,644 instances. The Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department knew of no problems.
Interestingly, the zip codes where the biggest fraud went down, are the heaviest Democratic areas in the County.
"Nearly one in five Brevard County households has received federal disaster aid in the wake of this summer's hurricanes.
"FEMA has awarded $51.7 million to Brevardians, an average of $1,390 for each of 37,184 households eligible for aid, through the end of October, according to FEMA records.
"Brevard has among the highest percentage of households eligible for aid in the state, with 19 percent of households here receiving aid. Only 11 of the state's 67 counties had a higher percentage.
"But the amount of aid received per household was among the lowest in the state -- 62nd out of the 67 counties -- indicating that while damage here was widespread, the level of damage wasn't as severe as other places."
I think that last sentence should read ...
indicating that while damage here was widespread, the inventiveness of the claimants wasn't as effective as other places.
Interesting that FEMA determines severity of weather damage by claims rather than, oh, say damage reports? I'd like to see FEMA plot their payments geographically and then overlay aerial photographs, similar plots by insurance companies, weather maps, etc.
What happened in Miami-Dade is nothing short of criminal but since protected classes are involved, nothing will come of it. Instead, we'll probably hear complaints from those not "smart" enough to feather their nest. It would be interesting to turn that envy into positive action by letting the neighbors know of the FEMA rewards for documenting fraud. Someone that had a camcorder operating back then can clean up on another pot of FEMA money. And this time we'd applaud it!
I live in Florida and my home was damaged by the hurricanes, but we have insurance and we never and would not ask the Fed Gubmint for one red cent.
What I learned from this check is that 1) the "rich" ease their guilt because the gov't is taking care of the misfortunates. 2) there is 10 times more money spent on the bureaucracy than the money going to help people. 3) Govt aide keeps people poor. It is not enough money to really help.
Like I said, we needed the money and were thankful for it.
So you feel that all the money you've paid to the Federal Government in taxes over the years is being used wisely and applied efficiently to those areas that need attention through cash disbursements?
I can appreciate your sentiment but the fact of the matter is that it's not the Fed Gubmint's money. It is your money and mine. If you have the need and they are willing to rebate it, I say take the check. Besides, having your insurance company pick up the tab can only have a negative effect on your premiums...and everyone elses...in the long run.
Oh boy, this does not surprise us here on FR, right?
The dems...always on the take. That's why they think they can "feel" so much for others because they are already riding the gravy train themselves.
I am generalizing, of course. :)
I hope Wexler and others don't start accusing FEMA of being deliberately lax in order to help GWB in the election. You know, by keeping all of Florida content...
The dems will do anything to switch the focus of any situation that bodes negative for them. Instead of individual fraud in dem areas, they will turn the story into attempts to buy success for GWB at the poll. They will do this by screaming louder and the media will gladly cooperate...
The dems and the media are absolutely shameless.
Deliberate fraud by FEMA to take care of FL? No, no, no. No dem has raised this issue and they best not.
Four storms within a few weeks is bound to bring errors and some laxity especially in an election years when the pressure is on high. FEMA will learn from this and make improvements.
The original article that uncovered this mess was published some time ago, people actually discussed openly that if you got "the right inspector he would take care of you".
I want to know who that inspector is.
I live about 100 miles north of Miami. I have gone to many third world countries that look good compared to many of the neighborhoods there.
Bannana republic would be too nice a thing to say about it and many of the residents.
It's an ill wind that doesn't blow a Democrat someone else's money. I'll bet a goodly percentage of these thieves are illegal Haitians and Mexicans who have no business being in FLA in the first place. Does FEMA check for proof of citizenship, or do they just hand out checks willy-nilly?
Amazing.
Blame everything on illegals, well, you;re wrong.
We don't have a whole lot of illegal Mexicans down here, and Haitians are some of the most honest, hard working people I've ever run across.
Your crooks are natural-born, both the inspectors and the recipients of the money.
I know those zip codes very well.
As a matter of fact, the thievery dies down to nearly nothing when you get to the zip codes where the vast majority of Hispanic immigrants live.
Unfair comparison.
I've been to many Third World countries myself, and I dare you to name one where their poor neighborhoods are better than our poor neighborhoods in Miami-Dade. Then, I dare you to show me which ones have as many ultra-rich areas of multi-million dollar homes such a Star Island, Coral Gables, South Beach, as Miami-Dade County.
According to the 2000 Census, people in Miami living at what was nationally defined as poverty level, owned cellular phones, DVD players, and cars.
You may not like big cities, but wherever you live isn't one one-hundredth as wealthy as Miami-Dade County.
".....FEMA will learn from this and make improvements"
Can you name one government agency that has ever:
* Fired someone for wasting taxpayers money?
* Learned anything from a financial mistake
* Ever solved a financial problem at less cost than the cost of the problem itself?
This is a serious question.
It behooves Mike Brown to get to the bottom of this, wouldn't you say? To shut the dems up?
And yeah, I do know of cases of *some* government agencies -- especially at the local municipal level -- where corruption was addressed. In some case it was merely repeated... in other cases perhaps we do not know what else has been occurring since... in other cases it dampened corruption down for some time to come.
Humans will always have to deal with corrupt humans. But in this case with FEMA it impacts GWB and we do not want that.
And as far as this question of yours about government agencies:
* Ever solved a financial problem at less cost than the cost of the problem itself?
The answer is of course not! IMPOSSIBLE! When hell freezes over!
I want to know who that inspector is also, Luis. And are there more such inspectors in the areas you cited. And does he/she or they vote dem?!
Yep..
...'Your crooks are natural-born, both the inspectors and the recipients of the money.'
Hi Luis! Remember Andrew? I believe that the more money an adjuster gave out meant more money in his pocket, which is why there were so many people with new homes.
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