The feds have been in control of the primary decisions concerning the future of New Orleans and the rest of the gulf coast for the past four and a half months because it is the feds who will foot the bill. Homeowners, property owners, business owners, and others are being held in limbo while Bush & company twiddle their thumbs. If they don't want to build Cat 5 levees, just say so & lots of folks will know what to do with their lives. The levee questions primarily drive the future of south Louisiana in general and the New Orleans metro area in particular. Commiting to anything short of Cat 5 protection (now or in near future) is telling those hundreds of thousands of decent, tax-paying American citizens of New Orleans not to rebuild but to live elswhere. Not what they might want to hear, and a terrible shame to this nation if it comes to that, but at least it allows these folks to move on out of the limbo they're in.
Who the local and state politicians are have nothing to do with the ability of the feds and Bush administration ability to make this determination. People are stranded all over the nation wanting to come home. Many of them have homes totally destroyed due to the failure of a levee system under the control of the U.S. Corps of Engineers as well as incompetant Levee boards. These levees were part of this nation's promise of safety to all who lived within them. The time is long overdue to either keep this promise or break it. Asking those who have been devastated by this catastrophe to wait any longer to find out is an act of cruelty.
I'm sorry to hear about all that you're going through.....it bothers me that the Federal Govermnment is not moving faster but part of the problem with speed on their part has to do with unions force a bidding war on everything ...not that that is bad but it ties things up some more.
Alot of us outsiders don't get the on the ground info because.... well.....the media is probably bored with the story. Anyway one of my main points in my last post was to help you understand how frustrated we feel. Yes the federal government is to blame ...so is Landreau, Breaux ( He was in office for years and has had a friendly relationship with both Clinton and Bush administrations)....and Vittner who is in the right party but he's a newcomer so not much clout there. These people have been aware of the dangers for sometime...what did they do to solve it?.....Sure Bush is in office and maybe that is why landreau has not clout but Breaux and landreau where there when Clinton was in office why didn't they do anything?.......
Look I know your hands are being tied, federal bureaucracy is a bitch....and I'm not trying to rub it in your face.....but this is how a lot of us outsiders see the problem in Louisiana, not just in terms of the two hurricanes that smashed up the state but also the incompetence of the federal, state, and local representatives that took their eyes off the balls and then try to point at someone else as the "sole" scapegoat to avoid blame.
I know the Feds are making it harder but before the FED could act Blanco had to invite them in( separation of State and Federal govt. rights) Nagin didn't sound the alarm soon enough and then forgot that he had all those school buses.....then we hear how well Mississippi is doing. What are they doing that Louisiana isn't?....
This is the picutre most of us outsiders have.....I wish I knew more but I don't....this is the working information that most of us are using to determine what we think about the situation......
I hope that clarifies why so many are feeling the way they do about Lousiana and I'm sorry you are so frustrated...it must be hell and I understand your reasoning for your anger....sometimes you just have to reach out and pound something....even if it's only the keys of a computer and a blog-a-sphere.
My advice is don't wait for the calvery....just make a decision and move on. It sounds like you need a little more peace in your life and moving on doesn't equal giving up or running away it just means your making a decision. And Don't let the tail wag the dog......when you make your decision.
Good luck and God bless,
umbob