November 1, 2007
By Georgianne Nienaber
They dressed the wounds of my poor people as though they're nothing...saying "peace," but there's no peace. Days without number. Who will dress their wounds?
--Sinead O'Connor (Theology)
Lower Ninth Ward New Orleans Today © G. Nienaber
O’Connor’s prayer of a song is about finding grace on a lonely Christmas Eve, but it provides a template and inspiration for the story of New Orleans two years and counting post Katrina. You have to wonder what is happening when you walk the streets of the still-devastated lower ninth ward and the handful of residents are hopeful that you might be from CNN as you prowl the streets with hand-held equipment and a cheap condenser microphone, tripping over the cable as you go. No sound man, no camera operator.
Actually, that is why you can be here. You are on the cheap. Trying to get these individual stories out, and the people here are putting their faith in you that you might do so. The people are waiting for a story-teller. The people are waiting for grace. They are waiting for Road Home money promised by George Bush as he stood in Jackson Square a few days after Katrina and his slack-jawed fly over in Air Force One.
Days without number.
So, you rely on Cinema Verité —hands shaking, camera bobbling, tripping over your own feet, you try to steady yourself and follow them down the dirty streets and hear the stories of how this was once home, and home was blown and floated away. They quote the bible to you. They are seeds scattered by the wind to Houston, Galveston, and Baton Rouge. They are waiting for the promise of Road Home money that has been held up by an Iraq spending bill. You hear “Road Home” again and again.
Government dressed the wounds of the poor people as if they are nothing. Days without number. Two years and counting.
There is no point in photographing the devastation anymore. Every street looks the same. You go to your rental at night and review the still photos and think you’ve had a brain infarct because the shots of the homes are not level. Then you realize that the houses are not level—tilted at insane, crazy angles by the flood. It was the flood, not the wind that got New Orleans. The underinsured are faced with merciless arguments about whether it was wind or flood that devoured their homes. Some get paid only for damage above the water marks on their homes, which can reach ten feet in some cases. So, they get a check for the roof damage, but nothing for the four walls that sheltered their families for twenty years and more. A retired New Orleans cop gets $40,000 on a $150,000 policy. Then the contractor took her money and left the reconstruction job unfinished.
The insurance companies and contractors dressed the wounds of the poor people as though they’re nothing.
You give up on the still photos and review the video. The truth is that you are a crappy videographer as you see the heads bob in and out of the frame, but there is one good shot as you pan and a woman’s voice talks about how this was once a good, quiet neighborhood, and the video playback shows the demolished community center in good focus, and her voice is strong and clear on the soundtrack. She is walking you to her sister’s FEMA trailer down the block, but you know FEMA is taking their trailers back and the people are still waiting for help to rebuild.
Days without number.
The solid Times-Picayune newspaper reports on October 30 that west of Louis Armstrong International Airport a FEMA trailer enclave faces closure by Jefferson Parish authorities while FEMA maintains that it will not close the site until residents have secured alternative housing. Progress is measured in how many trailers are left. FEMA says there were originally 17,000 trailers in Jefferson Parish. Now there are 4,000 according to published reports, but there are no numbers available as to where the people are. Did they relocate with relatives? Did they get apartment subsidies? Did they scatter with the winds?
FEMA dressed the wounds of the poor people as if they were nothing.
Will Road Home money dress the wounds of the poor people?
The Road Home program was created in 2006 by Governor Kathleen Blanco, the
Louisiana Recovery Authority, and the Office of Community Development. The
program is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Out-going Louisiana Governor Blanco spent several days in mid-October at the white house trying to get the feds to cough up the money promised over a year ago. We will say it again.
George Bush stood in New Orleans’ Jackson Square shortly after Katrina and promised the people of New Orleans and Governor Blanco the money to rebuild. Now, the money is tied to Iraq spending bills. No surprise there.
Bush dressed the wounds of the poor people as if they were nothing.
According information supplied by Governor Blanco’s office, About 70,000 homeowners in Louisiana have received the grants. Checks are supposedly going out at the rate of 10,000 per month. Unbelievably, the program is scheduled to run out of money in December, leaving thousands of Katrina victims holding the bag. The average award is $70,000 per homeowner. IF they qualify.
Marie Centanni, the Louisiana Governor’s press spokeswoman told OPED NEWS that there is a $4.5 billion shortfall to cover all eligible homeowners. Louisiana homeowners are eligible for the grants. But funding for the program was based on a Federal Emergency Management Agency estimate that only about 120,000 homeowners would qualify. Louisiana has contributed $1 billion from its own funds to help cover the shortfall, and Louisiana officials are seeking $3.3 billion in new money from Congress.
Centanni also told OPED NEWS that although 184,000 have applied for Road Home money, it is expected that only about 160,000 will be eligible. The obvious math leaves 70,000 without any potential aid.
Since Congress has approved already $1.2 billion in federal hazard mitigation funds, Louisiana is hoping for some flexibility. The original $1.2 billion is tied up in FEMA red tape. The state is counting on winning approval to spend the money on the Road Home Program. The hitch is that the grant has been earmarked for hazard-mitigation and not home rebuilding--a difference of semantics.
Road Home is money with no strings attached.
Bush may have promised the money, but the Democratic Congress is in the driver’s seat. Throughout their three day trip to Washington, Louisiana officials met with administration officials and key leaders in the House and Senate including: Al Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy, Coordinator of Gulf Coast Recovery Donald Powell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Appropriations Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Caroline Kilpatrick and members of the Black Caucus, and Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel and members of the Democratic Caucus.
Congress dressed the wounds of the poor people as if they were nothing.
Days without number.
The Louisiana Recovery Authority supplied additional information on the devastation and the role of LRA to OPEDNEWS.
Spokesperson Melissa Landry told us that "Congress has committed to help us fund the shortfall in the Road Home program, but it hasn't decided how or when it will do that yet."
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated South Louisiana, claiming 1,464 lives (according to estimates), destroying more than 200,000 homes and 18,000 businesses. LRA is the planning and coordinating body that was created in the aftermath of hurricanes Rita and Karina by Governor Blanco to lead one of the most extensive rebuilding efforts in the world. The LRA is a 33-member body which is coordinating across jurisdictions and supporting community recovery and resurgence.
The LRA is trying to dress the people’s wounds.
Despite a threat to delay an emergency spending bill until 2008, Democratic congressional leaders say there is still a chance this year to fill the gap in Louisiana's Road Home program before money runs out.
According to the Times Picayune, a spokeswoman for Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the Democrats' vote-counter in the House, said there are ways to secure the estimated $3.5 billion for Louisiana's home-rebuilding grant program other than attaching it to a bill financing the war in Iraq, which now seems destined to be delayed until April 2008.
Changing the request to "emergency financing” might get it attached to one of the annual governmental spending bills pending in Congress. It could also be passed as a standalone emergency spending bill.
However, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that until there is a change in the administration's policy in Iraq, the spending bill would not be passed out of his committee.
And even the Democratic Congress failed to dress the wounds of the poor people.
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