The Information Super-Frog

Remember those FEMA trailers (sent very belatedly to the Gulf Coast in lieu of more useful help) that turned out to be making people sick?

Despite some dreadful "unofficial" independent test results, FEMA has repeatedly put off or squashed any "official" tests of the trailers. I presume this is some sort of "If we can pretend we don't really know, we can't be held liable, right?"

Well, it turns out FEMA policy doesn't allow FEMA employees to enter closed up trailers, even briefly, due to the health concerns.

CBS news
NPR

Meanwhile, guess what FEMA has in mind to help some folks whose homes burned in the California fires?

Send them FEMA some trailers, of course.

Speaking of our Federal Friends, if anyone missed it, "A federal agency says there is “substantial likelihood” the Army Corps of Engineers acted improperly in handling a politically connected Florida company's $27 million flood-pump contract after Hurricane Katrina.

Dear Santa:

For Christmas, we'd be very happy to get that help we were promised last year.

Thanks!

Love, New Orleans.
( Read more... )

This morning I drove from home near the Riverbend to the station in the lower French Quarter via Claiborne Avenue, and saw no less than three seperate fires sending up large plumes of smoke in the distance to the lake side of Claiborne; it looked to be one around Mid-City, one somewhere around Gentilly, and the third on the upper side of Esplanade Ridge.

Last night had been the coldest night of the winter. With so much wiring that had been under water for weeks, and people trying to keep warm in houses missing chunks of windows, roofs, and walls often without gas heat back, perhaps the number of fires is not surprising. Still, rumors of arsonists have been circulating.

I could see smoke rising over the cityscape through the window while doing my radio show, perhaps from one of the fires I'd seen earlier, perhaps from another; someone else at the station says they heard there was a fire in Treme.

Though some of the old eating places are closed, at least one for good, I found a good lunch in the on Charters upper Quarter. I pondered what a Quarter again oriented at least as much as catering to locals as tourists might be like. After lunch I looked around Canal Street a bit. Groups of New Orleanians were being evicted from hotels, FEMA having cut them off, as their requests for trailers or loans are still lost somewhere in the swamp of bureuacracy. Some had new jobs and kids in the newly reopened schools, and face such choices as relocating to shelters in Houston or Shreveport or staying in town living in their cars or tents.

I took a streetcar named St. Charles (the 900 Pearly Thomas cars apparently no longer have "Canal" as an option of their display) in on Canal and down on the Riverfront line. Still no charge.

I got a strikingly enthusiastic assessment of my radio show from someone who'd been in the business for over half a century.

Around 4pm, at the Lakefront, I saw one of the now almost common fire fighting helicopters over Pontchartrain, though I saw no smoke. The helicopters have large bulbs of water hanging from lines below them; they dip these into the Lake, the River, or a nearby bayou or canal to fill and then fly over the fire and release the water, then fly back for more. I don't recall ever seeing them in the city before the big mess.

As the sun sank low, before heading home I walked across Bayou St. John. No bridge needed; Low tide.

One of my neighbors up the street had much worse roof damage than I, resulting in major damage to much of his home. He has one of the few FEMA trailers in the neighborhood in his yard.

There have been many FEMA trailers stories in the news recently. Hundreds or thousands sitting unused in Arkansas and Florida while people are waiting for them in New Orleans and nearby Saint Bernard (which got a much higher percentage of their homes rendered uninhabitable than did the city). The mayor, City Council, and various neighborhood groups sparing about if neighborhood playgrounds are appropriate places to put trailers. Etc.

My neighbor's trailer experiences give one glimpse at the bureauacracy. The trailer has been sitting in his yard for some 2 weeks now. but it still hasn't been connected to to the electric line. One inspector came by, asked neighbor for the key, but neighbor still hadn't gotten the key, and the inspector didn't have one either. Still waiting for a key to get in it too. A worker did come by, delivering a propane tank. Then another worker came a few days later to hook it up, but saw that it was an all electric trailer. So a third worker came by to take the propane tank back. So it goes.

So, is Michael D. Brown, former FEMA head, the most incompetent Bush appointee ever, or is the whole administration pretty much of this caliber, but extrodinary circumstances just made it clear in Brownie's case?

Katrina resulted in disaster scenarios that should have been in the contingency plans of officials at levels of government from local to Federal. They all seemed to have gambled "but not on my watch". They lost, and so did we.

That aside, what the hell was the Bush Administration doing putting this clueless narcisist, who was clearly in over his head at his previous job as a commissioner of the Arabian horse breeder's association, as head of FEMA? Surely, they knew SOME sort of natural disaster &/or a terrorist attack was likely to occur sooner or later.

What do folks think was going on here?

Were the Bushies setting themselves up for failure? If so, why? (To teach people not to rely on the government or something? To create a situation where more federal government funding/power will be demanded?) Or did they know that so much was underfunded and disorganized that they knew that Federal responce to whatever disaster came along was bound to be a compounding disaster, and they set Brownie up as a convenient patsy to take the fall for it? Or were they really so delusional as to think that Brownie and FEMA were up for whatever came along?

The BushCo (Cheney, Rove & Rumsfeld, CEOs) administration: Evil conspiracy and astounding incompetence are BOTH in their m.o. and are perfectly plausible explanations for their actions. Sometimes I can't tell which it is in a particular case.

After spending the night before last at Ms Hollie's on the Westbank, I went back to my place yesterday intending on doccumenting things with my camera and clearing the branches, broken glass, etc etc from my front steps and the off street parking for my car. While I was there, power came back on in the neighborhood! In another pleasant advance, later in the day the water was declared fit. I still have no land line phone nor internet connection. Other than that even my rotary dial phone doesn't work, civilization is back to the level of the 1960s, with two television stations (Channels 4 and 8)comming in over the rabbit-ears (from the number of stations I would have said early 1950s, except that they are in glorious living COLOR).

These developments were just what a bar just up the street had been waiting for, so Bruno's became the first business on Maple Street to reopen. Many other buisness still have pre-Katrina signs on their doors or in their windows-- the Mexican Restaurant has a faded board announcing the nightly special was hurricanes (a fruity rum drink) in honor of the aproaching storm, and PJ's Coffee and Fresco's Restaurant have similarly worded signs saying "Closed Sunday and Monday due to storm; reopen Tuesday". While the intended Tuesday was the last one in August, we hope that Tuesday will come soon.

Ah yes, many of us have wall calendars that went right from August to October with no September in betwen.

I made a preliminary clearing not only of the areas I intended, but also a path along the side of the house to the back door. A crew with a little shovel truck and a dumpster offered to dispose of such debris as I could get to the curb, so I didn't want to miss taking up such a fine opportunity-- debris removal is a rare luxury here.

My back yard is still a major debris field, but I'll be chipping away at it bit by bit.

A few curiosities from the storm-- while many of my gutters, downspouts, and roof shingles are lying around near my home, I've seen no sign of the rotating hot air exaust that used to be atop my roof. On my porch a 2 inch shard of glass is embedded into the wood like a nail-- it must have been flying pretty fast.

A musician friend got back in town earlier in the day. We tried contacting a third to form a trio that night without luck. She has no running water at her place (busted pipes), so she came over to use mine, chat, and have dinner. I cooked the first dinner back home (pasta and pesto sauce from a mix-- no, don't try opening the duct-taped shut refrigerator to try to get the powdered cheese).

Last night I had the luxury of sleeping in my own bed for the first time since Pre-Katrina. It was a very pleasant night, with the windows open.

Ventelation is nice from windows, but I don't like it through my roof. Lots of sunlight is visible through my roof. I tried applying for the Blue Tarp Club at the Fire Station near Ms. Hollie's that was listed as one of the sites, but they said they aren't doing Orleans there. Okay, then, where should I go? They just said since the Mayor has given FEMA workers blanket permission to tarp roofs that need it, there's no application to fill out. Okay, so what do I do to let people know I need tarping? Oh, call the FEMA 888 number-- which just gives a pre-recorded message telling me what I already knew. And so around in circles we go.

I'm back here at Hollie's using internet connection, having just packed up most of my stuff that was over here. Thanks, Hollie!

Workers are tarping up Ms. Hollie's place. I asked about where I apply for tarping for my place-- all they could give me is the $%@^! FEMA phone number again.

"WASHINGTON (AP): The government's disaster chief waited until hours after Hurricane Katrina had already struck the Gulf Coast before asking his boss to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security employees to the region – and gave them two days to arrive, according to internal documents.

"Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims."

(AP story via WWL)

Note that in '69, President Nixon mobilized the National Guard BEFORE Hurricane Camile actually hit.
And the country had the Vietnam War going on at the same time.

Also, a UPI story of Nagin's latest evacuation order entitles it "Roust begins of New Orleans squatters"

How does one become deemed a "squatter" in one's own home?

I HOPE the order is designed to give law officers the power to force evacuation of criminals and it will be very selectively used, rather than to force people from their homes who are actually set with enough supplies as emergency planners long told them to be.