Posted on 01/01/2006 12:59:38 PM PST by Pikamax
'Not in my back yard' cry holding up FEMA trailers Emotional tone of opposition hints at role of stereotypes of race, class Monday, December 26, 2005 By Rob Nelson and James Varney%%par%%Staff writers As officials desperately seek temporary housing locations for New Orleans families whose homes were shattered months ago by Hurricane Katrina, the best site in the minds of many residents is clear: somewhere else.
In one of the post-Katrina era's ironic role reversals, the same local officials and residents who once screamed at FEMA to get trailers to New Orleans quickly are now fending off the 17,777 trailers that FEMA has on hand in Louisiana and says it can deliver immediately.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Well then what did you mean by this post?
One must protect family and property. Considering that my subdivision does not allow outbuildings or a dog kennel, I would not want a trailer on the other side of my property line either.
Only by the grace of God did my house get spared from the wrath of Rita. My neighbors all around me have lost everything and I guarantee you I would never ever complain about them parking and living out of a travel trailer while they wait on their house to be repaired. Most people aren't whining however they need shelter in order to get back on their feet.
Whiney assed "neighbors" more concerned about their property aren't helping the communities and state get back on it's feet. Businesses are failing because they don't have the workers here to do the work. Workers can't return because they don't have anywhere to live. A lot of these people used to live in apartments which have been made uninhabitable for a few more months. Something has to give before long.
CajunConservative,
I was in LC and east Texas from 12/25 until day before yesterday and witnessed the destruction from Rita you have have been posting about. I couldn't believe my eyes. We stayed in Woodville Texas and our relatives lost 13 trees in their yard there, plus their boat house was destroyed. They still had a blue tarp on the lake house.
And this is their weekend lake house. Their fulltime home is in Westlake. Now I have a fuller understanding what you southwest Louisiana folks went through, and are still facing.
I am praying for your continued recovery CC, and am glad I have never had to face that.
Now that is a heart warming story. This country would never have been built without people like you and your neighbors. I can remembert a lot of hard work earlier in my life too. A lot of people think work is difficult, and sometimes it is, but not working is much worse, in every way.
God bless you and good luck. Happy New Year.
It looks good now too ;) What did you think of Harrah's? They took a beating.
I'm looking forward to a fishing report.
All I can add is, not within twenty miles of my backyard.
Besides, wherever those trailers end up, they'll be there FOREVER (or until they decay into corroded scraps of metal).
I gather you haven't seen them up close and personal? They won't last that long. They are very cheaply made.
CC,
They sure did take a beating. Sulphur, Westlake, all of the area did.
My sister-in-law had all the newspaper reports from the American Press and Beaumont Enterprise. She has a scrapbook she's put together.
I was tickled at the LC American Press reports -- they apparently didn't publish a few issues, then printed the special publication and calendar. I meant to pick up a copy of the calendar and special section, but things were so hectic I didn't get it done.
I think I told you I gave the editor of the LCAP (Brett Downer) his first newspaper job, on the Contraband. Also Dennis Spears, a sports editor. I visited with Dennis a few years ago when I was in LC for a conference. I'm sure you remember old Jim Beam (not the whiskey, you'll know what I'm referring to)? I knew him well also.
My sister in law was really fascinated with the canned water from FEMA. She had photos of them in the scrapbook, because most people had never seen such (bottled, yea, but canned).
Then after we left there we read an article about how FEMA destroyed thousands of cans of the water. I assume it's so they can pay some govt. contractor lots of dough to can some more the next big disaster, instead of storing them for future use (DUH). Hope you saved some canned water, it'll be a collector's item someday.
I sure do know about Jim Beam, he still writes an opinion column. I believe that the website has the calendars. I also found this on the web.
http://www.timessw.com/archive/viewarchive.asp?SID=1087
I never got any water from FEMA. I stayed with my sister in Lafayette and I had stocked up. My brother did bring me an MRE since he works in Johnson Bayou at the Dynegy plant and they were given MRE's for their meals. I really was bothered that they just dumped the water. If nothing else they could have donated it to the animal shelters for them to have a stockpile on hand. I'm not surprised though.
I did not state they don't deserve a home.
Go back to DU and quit whining to me about what these people think they deserve. Buy a tent, rent an RV, hell go to Mexico.
Excuse me I believe I've been here a little longer than you.
The point is there are very few places to pitch the damn tents or even park the stupid RV's, whether FEMA or not. Many folks are indeed doing just that. However, there are over 1.5 million people affected in this state alone and the NIMBY's HERE are making matters worse.
Mrs. Shawnlaw,
With all due respect, don't accuse CC of being a DUer. He is anything BUT that.
And, I don't know where you live, or where your head has been since Katrina and Rita hit, but I saw the destruction firsthand. This small state received a double whammy and a lot of destruction and disruption of life in a short time.
Yes, they have a lot of human leeches there, especially in New Orleans. But you'll never meet a kinder, better, more hardworking and honest bunch of people than those good folks in Louisiana.
Many of those good people lost everything they own, and then had to suffer at the hands of inept and corrupt politicians. They didn't elect them, but were overruled by the bad elements there, the same kind every state and region in the country has.
You won't hear any whining from those people, or CajunConservative. Slow down, read a little more on FR, and think before you post something like that again, for your own good.
Why is it that the people who are most "tired" of the people affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita seem to be the ones who have done the least to help?
From Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
PORTIA: The quality of mercy is not strain'd,It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much To mitigate the justice of thy plea; Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
Where have you been for the past four months while many things have been discussed on the Katrina threads? For you just to pop up now, with your uncharitable comments, serves no purpose but to make you look like a fool.
Many people abhor the results of a failed welfare system. It has bred generations of ne'er do wells. To paint all the folks of New Orleans with that broad brush ... or even to say that everyone worthwhile already has a place to live ... just betrays your ignorance.
All of the rules have changed. All of the green spaces [parks] in New Orleans are being ripped up and utilities laid for trailer parks. No one, no one, ever thought to see this sort of thing occur. Is progress slow? Certainly it is; however, more and more people are going back to New Orleans ... to live in a few rooms of their damaged homes, to try to recover as quickly as possible. For others, there is no housing. They cannot return to jobs [if they exist] without a place to live. It is a vicious cycle ... no housing ... no job ... no housing ... no job ... New Orleans; South Louisiana; East Texas; and the Gulf Coasts of Mississippi and Alabama ... are a world forever altered by the catastrophic events of 2005. I have not seen it first hand but know many people who have.
I can tell you all, first hand, of the emotional turmoil and shattered lives I witnessed in dear friends who lost everything on the Gulf Coast and stayed with us for a while so that they could catch their breaths, regroup, and lay plans of action for starting over.
The magnitude of the destruction is unprecedented in our life time.
It is Christlike to extend mercy to the undeserving, if we are in the position of foregoing judgment-- and, God has not providentially limited us to the execution of judgment. "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment" (James 2:13).
Thanks for the support and sharing what you saw first hand. The truth is the majority of people are doing a monumental task and doing it well. They just don't get much coverage in the media because that shows people in a positive light.
The good people of Cameron Parish are being hurt by the constant negative publicity of the few bad apples from New Orleans. People are saying no you can't take shelter here because you "might" increase the crime or their property values will fall. Hello, their property values just took a beating, helping their neighbors out in this time of need would definitely build up the community values.
We have competent leaders here who keep a tight reign on things. God knows the zoning commission would not let the areas go to pot. They are kind of like nazis when it comes to rules and regulations.
I'm one of the rare people of Louisiana, I have always been a Republican and have not voted for a democrat, except for a couple of local elections when there wasn't a republican running. Those are actually few and far between now.
Oh by the way I'm a girl ;)
IMO, I think everyone worthwhile can manage on their own, as so many on this thread have done, without months and months of government handouts.
... but, you want to believe it ... and never stopped to consider that this could be just a pathetic way of seeking attention.
My Louisiana relatives -- good, hardworking people -- lived through this. My sis in law was working her butt off providing food, shelter, and clothes for others from NO who lost everything, when she had to evacuate LC.
Then, they went to their lake house in east Texas, and had to evacuate from there. Tornados, spurred by the hurricane which moved inland through the Sabine Pass, moved through east Texas.
They didn't have electrical power in east Texas, but after hearing firsthand reports of the aftermath hitting the place they fled to, wanted to go home to see if their home was still standing (they had to flee once again).
The authorities had Calcasieu Parish blocked, wouldn't let anybody come in, including the desperate homeowners who just wanted to go home and face their life's work and toil and sweat blown away by the forces of nature.
I didn't make it down to Cameron Parish, but saw the pictures. Nobody with half a heart could condemn the whole state for a few bad apples that get the press.
teeny, there is no greater proponent, on FRee Republic or off, of self-reliance and self-determination than I.
Regrettably, nearly half a century of a failed welfare state has failed to eliminate poverty but has given us a huge, surplus, dependent segment of our population ... some families that have not been self-sufficient now for several generations.
It is fine for you to sit comfortably wherever you are and make these God-like judgments about who is worthwhile and who is not ... however, unless you propose some sort of wholesale extermination, those people are here to stay. And, they MUST be dealt with.
There has always been an extremely high concentration of unemployable folks, dependent on welfare, in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina did not eliminate them. The only thing that has changed is that they are not spread out where people like you perceive them as a threat.
Some of them are, in fact, dangerous criminals. Others are not. Many are just undereducated and unmotivated because the presence of welfare has made a subsistence level of living possible without any effort on their parts.
What do you propose to do about these people ... other than kicking them out of the hotels they are living in?
Please give us some concrete ideas instead of just complaining.
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