Katrina homeless in search of trailers

[deadparrot]

CHALMETTE, La. - It has been 11 months since Hurricane Katrina hit and Janice Tambrella still does not have a home. She doesn't even have a trailer of her own.

Tambrella is currently jammed in with 10 other relatives in a single trailer delivered to a luckier relative. Sleeping on the floor, living out of cars surrounded by overgrown grass and storm-felled trees, she sighs, "I need a place to stay."

Nearly 1,200 St. Bernard Parish families are still waiting to get into trailers that sit locked on their home sites but need utilities or other services; another 400 families waiting for trailers have none at all, FEMA said.

St. Bernard Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez is often the one people ask for help. While he doesn't have the authority to get them trailers, they figure it's worth asking him since countless calls to the Federal Emergency Management Agency have failed to help.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060808/ap_on_re_us/katrina_trailer_trouble

[lonestarnot]

1. Unfuckingbelievable!

[ClintonTyree]

2. There's about 100 acres of them in a field in southern Mississippi

just over the border from Louisiana. I've driven by them more than a few times on my way to and from New Orleans. Just sitting there.......collecting dirt.......not being lived in.......while people remain homeless almost a year afterward. Nobody wants them in their backyard. Nobody wants "dangerous" trailer parks in THEIR neighborhood! :eyes: Meanwhile, the churches are full every Sunday morning with all of these same, good christian people. :eyes:
Words cannot express how I feel about this.

[One_Life_To_Give]

14. Trailers they have, Electricity and Sewer are needed also.

From the article it appears the trailers have been delivered. But they can't take occupancy until basic services are connected to it. Which would include Electricity, Water and Sewer, the latter two being far from a trivial task.

[thefuzz811]

3. I'm from Mississippi. I lived 45 miles away from Chalmete.

The area they are talking about is where the low income families live. Who needs to provide living for them, they just suck up wellfare. I've heard people say stuff like that. Well it is a product of your greed, and segregation. Allthough it is subtle, and not overly hostile, it is still there.

[Monkeyman]

4. You bet it is alot are vets

[AngryOldDem]

5. Did anyone post a story about what Nagin wanted to do to remember Katrina?

It was on CNN this morning, and it was a jaw-dropper. He basically wanted a party -- fireworks, a talent contest, and other really inappropriate activities given that the city is not really recovered from the hurricane. Luckily, saner heads prevailed and most of the festivities have been scrapped, due to poor taste.

[pitohui]

9. nagin is orleans, not st. bernard parish

i doubt any fireworks will be going off in chalmette on aug. 29, too many people lost family members and all lost their homes

[adriennui]

6. the fact that they're living in trailers

nearly a year after katrina is even more appalling. i find it hard to believe that the american "can-do" mentality couldn't find a more humane alternative. we certainly have the money (or did before iraq).

[ninkasi]

7. The way the Bush administration

has abandoned the citizens of NOLA shows without a doubt that for Republicans, people, especially poor and black people don't merit even the slightest amount of help. Does anybody believe that this same situation would exist in a city of mostly wealthy, white people? The disregard for Katrina victims shown by Bush and his cronies goes beyond incompetence, and becomes a kind of sadism.

It's as if those who were already poor do not count for anything. They are treated like human garbage, and the ones in power don't care how, or whether, they survive. The wealthy developers will rebuild, but the ones who were driven out by the flooding will not be able to afford to live there. And Bush and gang don't care what happens to them. They are poor, and many are black, so they have no incentive to help them rebuild, because they are not among Bush's base...the haves, and the have mores.

Pouring billions into destroying Iraq, rather than taking care of American citizens, shows that while they claim to be the party of "values", and pro-life, they are anything but. How much more uncaring can a government be?

[pitohui]

10. see my other post, this is not the "poor" and it is not nola

this is st. bernard parish, working class, blue collar and self-employed/small business owners such as plumbers type area

your other points are very well expressed but we need to remember that this tragedy is MUCH bigger than just the "poor" and way bigger than just new orleans

it may sound calculating but many out there in the heartland, who think only the "poor" were harmed, would be stunned if they realized a mostly white, working class parish was destroyed down to the last house without much if any federal concern

my friends in chalmette had to be rescued off the roof of their 2nd story house by canadians because FEMA couldn't be arsed to do anything for st. bernard

everyone needs to be aware that just because you work hard, in a skilled trade, you can be forgotten in a moment by the bush gov't -- this is not just something that affects the poor

[ninkasi]

13. You are right

I'm glad you pointed this out pitohui. I think that after days of watching the horror going on in New Orleans, I was not thinking too much about the other victims. The Bush administration is actually against anybody who is not part of their own group of cronies.

I had not stopped to reflect on what it must be like for ANY victim of Katrina to realize that everything they had was lost. For many, the equity in their homes was probably the bulk of their net worth. I live just north of Houston, so I guess the people from New Orleans have come to me to represent victims of Katrina and government abandonment, because many of them are still living in Houston.

You say "everyone needs to be aware that just because you work hard, in a skilled trade, you can be forgotten in a moment by the bush govt -- this is not just something that affects the poor" You are 100% correct in saying this.

Thank you for pointing out the real concern, that all of us in this country have been told that when disaster strikes, hurricane, tornado, fire, whatever, Bush doesn't want to be pestered with your pleas for help. There are still tax cuts to bestow on the wealthy, and there is still money to shoveled into Halliburton. We do not matter to him.

Anyway, I appreciate the points you made, and thank you!:pals: :pals: :pals:

[undergroundpanther]

15. Remember what Bush said about

FUCKING TRENT LOTTS MANSION.He'd rebuild it! And sit on the porch.. Fucking rich ASSHOLES!

[pitohui]

8. please k & r because the disaster isn't over for st. bernard parish

i have heard different numbers, some say every house in the parish was destroyed, some say 4 houses survived

4 out of 16,000

these are working people who refine the oil at murphy oil and the sugar at domino, these people are not looking for any hand-out, they have given so much to this country, it's really ridiculous they're being treated this way, especially the retired who have given a lifetime of hard work

[Acadia Blue]

11. And the S.O.B. REPIGS call these people losers. How I hate the

cruel compassionless republican ideology of greed.

[IndyOp]

12. Chris Hume of truthout found 425 trailers in New Orleans - Video

Scroll down to the video entitled "425"...

http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm