So what happened to the hurricane money for Florida?

[gatorboy]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050214/ap_on_re_us/billboard_roofs

Billboards Replace Some Florida Roofs

<snip>
PENSACOLA, Fla. - The black-and-white painted faces of the rock band Kiss peer from the roof of Dana Morris' home in suburban Gulf Breeze. In Pensacola, Allan Weaver's auto repair shop is topped with an ad for a plumbing service. They are among the first victims of Hurricane Ivan to take advantage of an offer from Lamar Advertising Co. to use vinyl billboard ads as roof tarps until owners can get permanent repairs.

Six months after the first of four hurricanes hit Florida last year, roofers are in short supply and many victims are having a hard time obtaining insurance settlements to pay for repairs.

In the meantime, many of the thousands of blue plastic tarps that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (news - web sites) provided immediately after the storm are wearing out and cracking from the sun's rays, wind and rain — and FEMA won't replace them.

The vinyl billboard is the first covering Weaver and his partner Lois Justice have had for the roof of Higgins Automotive.

<snip>

So now these people have to live in advertisments because the money promised never came in?

:shrug:

[Bluebear]

1. Sorry, the campaign's over

Smirk handed out a few bottles of water for the camera and got the hell out.

[merh]

2. Sorry to hear that they have been forgotten!

We did try to warn as many as possible that the handing out of water and ice was just a photo op.

I will again say prayers for these folks.

I hate the sick snots that are ruin my nation!

[evolvenow]

3. IMHO, the same place the stolen gold from 911...pockets of war criminals

steal the steal-ection, wage war and pay their commandos, to rape and pillage oil all over the world.

[woodsprite]

4. In Jeb's 2008 Pres. campaign coffer. nt/

[madfloridian]

5. Read about Punta Gorda 6 months later. Heartbreaking.

They showed pictures on the local news the other night of the FEMA village of trailers. Horrible. Row after row after row. It is like some will just have to leave that area....rebuilding is not taking place fast enough. I tried to find the picture at the news site, but I can't. Low income housing in all areas is slow to be rebuilt, if it is being rebuilt at all.

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_3544342,00.html

SNIP..."Where caved-in shopping centers are demolished, superstores rise. With downtown Punta Gorda's waterfront clear of Holiday Inn's skeleton, locals boast of the prospect of a luxury hotel replacing it. People play golf around bent trees. Bicyclists dodge chest-high piles of debris.

"It's urban renewal by disaster. It's unfortunate but this is the hand we've been dealt," said Wayne Sallade, Charlotte's emergency management director, estimating a decade will pass before the county is fully back.

Battles between insurance companies and consumers persist; the state has mediated 550 cases in Punta Gorda. Waits for contractors and materials endure; it could take up to two years to replace roofs lost..."

Very long, and a long way to go.

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_3544343,00.html

At FEMA village, living is stark and the clock is ticking.
It's just that life is hard in the Federal Emergency Management Agency village, where an estimated 2,500 people are living in 551 government-issued mobile homes. The village opened the first week of November to give people displaced by Hurricane Charley a temporary place to live.

But this is stark living.

"It's like a concentration camp," said Barry Thomas, 38, who has lived there for a month.

There is nothing for the children to do. The sandy streets are barren. There are no trees, no playground equipment, not even any grass...."

[gatorboy]

7. We have a few friends that have seen it.

It's horrible!

[kcass1954]

6. My sister works for the city of New Smyrna Beach...

She said that the city hasn't seen one dime of what was promised, that the city has paid for all the expenses.

Of course, I keep reminding her that it's her pResident in charge.

[rooselveltdem]

8. Stop whining, and help yourselves

The money is all over the state. Do yall think those FEMA "concentration camps" are cheap???? These are people, who even 5 months after the storm have done nothing on their own to better their situation. they are simply living off the Federal Government and money that the President an d Govenor that they so hate have provided for them. FOR NOTHING!! Do they work for housing in these "concentration camps" NO!!! The fraud is rampant, folks. There are people moving out of perfectly good apartments because they can go live in a FEMA trailor for free. And you call that suffering? I call that sponging off the government.

The yahoo article that started this discussion mentioned a small town called Gulf Breeze,FL. I used to live there to, until Sept. 15 2004, when my house was washed away with the storm surge like everyone elses. I'm not rich. I didn't own the property. i didn't have insurance. I filed with FEMA, and didn't want to get any more, or less aid than I needed. During the days and weeks following the storm, the Red Cross was working overtime. I can't say enough about how wonderful they are. They provided my family with about 1500.00 for food and neccessities. FEMA did the same. We also applied for the SBA loan that's a prerequisite to getting any additional aid from FEMA. During the time while we were waiting for our FEMA apps to be processed, guess what. We bought ourselves a house. That's right. WE BOUGHT IT. Not the government. We were taking steps to help ourselves through this crisis and not relying totally on the state to help us. About a month ago we got a check from FEMA for about 20 grand.Now we are proud homeowners(thanks to noone but ourselves), and have money to furnish our house. It's not waterfront, but I'm not picky. I guess what I'm trying to say is that good things come to those who wait, and don't bitch about the fucking Governor.

[MadHound]

9. Must be nice to be you

Must be nice to have the credit, cash, and resources to go out and simply buy another house. However there are literally millions of people who do not have the resources that you have to do as you have. What about them, the old, the disabled, those living below the poverty line, those living on fixed incomes.

And then there are the stories of those who have been ripped off. They had the resources, just as you did, yet got sucked in by the slick rip-off artists prowling throughout Florida, and now their money is long gone. What are those folks supposed to do?

I'm happy that you have come out alright. Gulf Breeze and Pensacola didn't get hit near as hard as some other areas of Florida, so you were fortunate(my aunt lives in Florida, and I've been kept abreast of matters there). But there are millions of Floridians out there who were hit much harder, and who didn't poccess the rebuilding resources you did. So what are they supposed to do, just shut up and suck it up? Sorry, but that doesn't fly in my book friend.

Another question, you were able to go out and buy a house all on your own afterwards, yet you are still sucking up the 20,000 from FEMA. If you are as proud and independent as you claim you are, why are you still gobbling at the government trough? Apparently you didn't need it, but still thought it was your right to suck up government money at the expense of others. Not very compassionate there friend, not very compassionate at all.

And as far as not criticizing Jebby, well friend, there is this little thing in the Constitution called the First Amendment. If you don't agree with it, why not go find another country where it doesn't apply. This is the United States, and I can damn well criticize any government official I damn well please. Don't like that idea, tough shit!

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MadHound]

11. Apparently light isn't dawning over Rock Mountain is it?

Yes, there are hucksters at the scene of every natural disaster. But by and large, most people pull together, and are kind, honest and helpful. I've witnessed this myself doing volunteer work after disasters hit. Which gets me to the point that by your own admission, you were better off than many many others around you. You complain about people sucking off of FEMA(while doing so yourself), yet fail to consider WHY they have to continue to rely on FEMA. They simply don't have the resources, money, credit rating, etc. etc. all that goes into buying homes. How large a down payment did you put down? There are literaly milions of people who couldn't scrape that kind of cash together! Yet you insist on lumping everyone of these folks into the category of sponges. Generalize much?

Or what about those people who could get a no down-payment house loan, but don't want to? I've looked at those sorts of deals, and quite frankly I wouldn't take it. High variable interest rates, high payments, hell, it is better to wait, save your money, and buy a house the regular way, with a down payment. Ever consider that there are a great many people who are doing that, actually being fiscally smart in a time of disaster?

And I noticed that you didn't even bother to address the issue of people getting ripped off down there, yet you should know as well as I do that such robbery is happening day in, day out in Florida. What do you do about those poor souls? Another thing for you to consider is that it is taking TIME for Florida to rebuild. There aren't enough construction crews in the whole country to rebuild Florida as fast as you seem to wish. So people are stuck waiting. That is what my aunt is doing, waiting for the construction crew to finish with others.

And as far as the damage where you live, well, I'm sorry, but Pensacola/Gulf Breeze were hit head on with only one of the hurricanes. It probably did more damage out on Gulf Breeze, since it sits lower out on that peninsula that shields Pensacola, but still and all, it isn't near the magnitude of those areas that got hit multiple times. My aunt's greenhouse was totaled, and there was some water damage. There are peoples' houses that are gone, completely, down to the last board. Big difference.

And it isn't just my "precious First Amendment", it is yours also. Or are you one of those folks who only believe in the Second Amendment, and think that there needs to be a limit to free speech?

[rooselveltdem]

12. you're not getting it either.

Let me try putting this a different way. We seem to be making some headway here. I'm not criticizing people's use of government programs such as the FEMA trailors and the grants. What I'm criticizing is poeple who are milking it for all they can get, while complaining about the deplorable conditions. It's a FEMA trailor, not the Hyatt, ya know? If they're saving some money to buy a home, that's wonderful That's what I did. You don't think I just pulled the money out of a hat, do you? But I did get a no-down payment loan. I'll refinance in 24 months and get a lower interest rate. And yes,of course people are getting ripped off down here. Luckily, I don't think it's happened here much due to the newsmedia's help getting information out. I'm also criticizing people who want to blame the President and his brother for everything, as if they ordered the hurricanes to hit Florida in the first place as a big election stunt. Many people are whining that Florida doesn't have enough aid, and then whining that we're not sending enough aid to the tsunami victims and I just want to scream.

I"m sorry about your aunts greenhouse and her flood damage. I'm not going to argue anymore about which part of the state got the worst damage--that's beside the point. The point is, we need to get on with our lives by helping ourselves, and then accepting help when it is offered. I beleive Governor Bush has done a wonderful job taking care of the vast amount of castrophes this year and it makes me angry when I see people screaming, "more, more".

[MadHound]

13. Perhaps,

However you're original post did a LOT of generalizing, implying that many, if not the majority of people in the state were fraudulently sucking up FEMA resources. You also seem hypercritical of people who just don't go right out like you did and buy up a house.

Well, having worked with FEMA before in large scale disasters(Flood of '93, too many tornadoes to even count) I know the checks and balances that FEMA, the Red Cross and other relief agencies have in place in order to insure a minimal amount of fraud.

And while you thought it was in your best interest to go for a no down-payment house loan, many people don't and I don't blame them. I've bought two houses in my life, and both times I did some research on those type of house loans, and was apalled. I certainly do hope that you refinance, and soon. Otherwise, you're going to get taken to the cleaners. Don't wait for twenty four months if you don't have to. Do it as soon as you have the refinance fee. Until then if you can afford to, pay an extra ten percent of your payment towards the principle. It will shorten the lifetime of your loan by ten years, will build up equity in your house(a good idea, since you had no downpayment), and will start dropping your payment amount within a year or two.

Anyway, there are some places, up around Orlando, where there literally aren't any houses to buy, they were all trashed. Thus another reason for people to be stalled in FEMA limbo.

And people here are justifably criticizing the Bushes. They staged series of photo ops when it was politically expedient to do so, yet after the election was won, they disappeared. In addition, the federal government apparently enough money to spend hundreds of billions on an illegal, immoral war, yet can't spare a few additional millions to speed the process of rebuilding Florida? If I were the govenor down there, I would be screaming loud and long, yet Jebby just stays mum. What gives?

And I think that it is that hypocrisy that angers people the most around here. Billions upon billions to wage an unjust war, killing thousands upon thousands of innocents, yet for those truly in need, both in Florida and elsewhere, well they come up sucking hind teat. Such amazing hypocrisy on the part of these neo-cons, and sad to say, just one of many many examples.

[madfloridian]

14. I do blame them a lot.

Not for the hurricanes themselves, which would be rather childish. I blame Jeb for what he has done to this state's education system, it's DCF system, and the shocking number of corporate tax cuts he has given.

While giving those huge cuts, he is cutting funds to many who lose their medical care.

I blame George Bush for lying about a war, and for acting like the rich are good and poor are not. He acts as though the rich matter, and as though the poor are bad because they are poor.

Well, I blame him for even more than that. They are bankrupting this country.

Last I heard over 3000 were homeless here in Florida from the storms, with around 100 being added to the homeless list every day because lack of repairs are further damaging the homes. Last I heard low income housing was not being rebuilt in many areas....leaving these homeless in addition. This is because they most likely diverted funds from that area. I saw something on this today.

Oh, hell, yes, I blame them.