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Surprise! More Problems Revealed!

In an article released today, AP writer JOHN MORENO GONZALES reports that "tens of thousands" of people in New Orleans

"... are still waiting for their government rebuilding checks, and many complain they can't even get their calls returned. But the company that holds the big contract to distribute the aid is doing quite well for itself."

Some of these folks have been living in trailer homes for 2 1/2 years. Simply outrageous.

The company that has been placed in charge of managing the housing operation, ICF International of Fairfax, Va., seemed to be able to talk the great state of Louisiana into giving it a pay raise, despite the poor work record. As the article notes:

"In the waning days of Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration, state officials increased the management contract ceiling from $756 million to $912 million — this, after the Legislature wanted to fire ICF over its handling of the homeowner recovery program, called Road Home."

Not bad. A for-profit company bungles the job ... and gets a $156 million pay raise. (Clearly, I'm in the wrong line of work.)

Soon after Katrina, the Federal Government and Louisiana Government set up this "Road Home" program to help people out. From the AP article:

"Road Home was created in June 2006 as a state-run, federally funded plan to compensate homeowners for the breach of New Orleans' government-run levees. Homeowners can apply for grants to repair their homes, or obtain buyouts if they don't want to fix things up."

Yet, 56,000 applicants — nearly 40 percent of the qualified total — had yet to receive a cent as of last month ...

Good news and bad news here, folks. But I'll get to that in a minute.

As one might guess, ICF began pointing fingers at the state while splitting hairs at the same time. The article goes on,

"ICF spokeswoman Gentry Brann blamed the state's ever-changing rules and political meddling by officials and community groups for many of Road Home's difficulties.

She said that Road Home has come to be regarded as an entitlement program, and said the company must carefully evaluate 157,000 applications to guard against fraud.

"The state essentially redefined the goal of the program from rebuilding to relief in midstream," Brann said.

She said the $912 million that the company could be paid is to cover the costs of the program and was approved by public officials.

"It's very important to note this is not a `pay increase.' It's not actually even `pay' to ICF. Rather it is an increase in the contract ceiling to cover the additional unit price costs incurred by our subcontractors," Brann said."

As a consultant and independent contractor myself, this last paragraph is one of the best examples of hair-splitting that I've seen in a long time. If I usually charge $9,000 for a corporate keynote speech, and then decided that I needed $18,000 per speech, yes, technically, since I don't get "paid" by a company when I give a keynote speech (in the same sense that the company pays an employee), so I can't really say I get a "pay raise." But money does change hands ... and that's the point here.

Now ... the good news and bad news?

The bad news? From the AP article:

"Plagued by cost overruns and delays, Road Home is expected to cost the taxpayers $10 billion in federal money and has become another glaring symbol of frustration and red tape in post-Katrina New Orleans."

$10 billion dollars. That's significantly bad to people like you or I.

The good news? To use a phrase I heard when I was volunteering in Mississip, compared to what the U.S. is spending on the military, "That ain't nothin'."

It's a bit tricky to get a handle on U.S. military spending, since estimates on U.S. military spending range from approximately $500 billion (White House) to $711 billion (Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation).

But even at the most conservative amount ($500 billion from the White House), the U.S. is spending about $1.37 billion PER DAY on military expenditures. So the $10 billion "cost overruns and delays"? It takes about ONE WEEK to spend that much money in the military. (And again, that's using the more conservative figures, so reality is probably far worse.)

As I said in my book HEALING KATRINA, I'm not opposed to the military. I AM opposed to wrong-headed priorities, though. Leaving people to rot in poisonous trailers is the wrong thing to do.

A New Review of "Healing Katrina"

There's a new review of "Healing Katrina" that was posted by Savannah from Florida, who said in part of her review:

"Congratulations, Mr. Warneka, for keeping a journal of your time as a volunteer and sharing it with the world. It shows us the strength, compassion and human kindness of the volunteers."

Read her full review here.

Thanks for the kind words, Savannah! :-)

FEMA, FORMALDEHYDE, FOUL-UPS

An article from the NEW YORK TIMES describes FEMA's continuing incompetence around Katrina recovery and rebuilding.

The article states:

"At a news conference Thursday, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced that tests of 519 trailers and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi revealed unacceptably high levels of formaldehyde, a suspected carcinogen that can cause serious breathing problems even in people who do not ordinarily have respiratory problems."


The problem?

"Red flags went up about formaldehyde nearly two years ago. In June 2006, a man who had complained of formaldehyde fumes was found dead in his trailer. FEMA received many warnings, not only from the families who occupied the claustrophobic trailers but from the Environmental Protection Agency and, more recently, the House Committee on Science and Technology. Yet FEMA waited until the disease control centers had done the survey before seriously swinging into action."

The trailers, which I wrote about in my book HEALING KATRINA: VOLUNTEERING IN POST-HURRICANE MISSISSIPPI, were used to house thousands of people in the afermath of Hurricane Katrina. Many of the people were part of the marginalized populations in our country. The New York Times:

"The saddest part of this is that the people who are most at risk are, for reasons of age, illness or poverty, the least able to defend themselves. Just about everyone who could move out of the trailers has moved. Of the original 140,00 trailers, only about 35,000 are still occupied, and many of these are on private property, usually the occupants’ driveways. The truly vulnerable trailer population consists of former renters who are still living in FEMA parks — playgrounds, churchyards and the like — because they have no place to go."

One of the hallmarks of a civilized country is how it treats poor, sick, young and old. By that standard, America is failing miserably.

Federal Law Ties Judge's Hands

In this AP wire story, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled this week that the Army Corps of Engineers cannot be held liable due to the flooding of New Orleans after Katrina.

The article notes that the judge was quite critical of the Corps,

"The judge issued a stinging condemnation of the Corps, saying the agency "cast a blind eye" in protecting New Orleans and "squandered millions of dollars in building a levee system ... which was known to be inadequate by the Corps' own calculations."

... and this from the plaintiffs' lawyer:

"I knew we had an uphill battle, but we had to do it," plaintiffs lawyer Joseph Bruno said. "It's an outrage. Read the opinion: The judge reads through all the negligence by the Corps, but says he had to rule the way he had to."

In another outrage, people are still living in the trailers, some of which I visited during my volunteer time in Mississippi:

"This cost people's lives and property," said Gwen Bierria, 66, who is still living in a government-issued trailer and is among the tens of thousands of people who have filed claims against the federal government for damage from the levee breaches."

Very frustrating to read ....

Post-Katrina Polling

It's been awhile since I've posted on this blog, but the residents of the Southern states are never far from my mind.

Here's an interesting poll that's being conducted by the University of New Orleans.

Basically, the poll reports:

"A new poll suggests mixed feelings among Americans for providing more federal aid to help New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina, though more than half of respondents believe too little aid has been provided so far.

The University of New Orleans poll being released Monday showed 35.2 percent of respondents "somewhat willing" to support more federal spending for recovery, mindful that involves "expenditure of tax dollars," while 22.3 percent were "neither willing nor unwilling." Another 20.3 percent were "extremely willing;" 22.2 percent were somewhat or extremely unwilling.

Yet, 51.7 percent believed the federal government has provided too little aid. About a third believed the amount has been "just about right."

PTSD and Katrina

This article from Associated Press has experts calling for more research into Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

While the article specifically addresses veterans returning from Iraq, it also states:

"While PTSD was first recognized in Vietnam veterans, war is far from its only trigger. Crime, accidents and other trauma can cause it in civilians, too. Sufferers experience nightmares, flashbacks and physical symptoms that make them feel as if they are reliving the trauma, even many years later."

As I discussed in my book HEALING KATRINA, it is important to remember that victims from Hurricane Katrina (as well as disaster response workers) still suffer from PTSD.