OCEAN SPRINGS - RECOVERY IN ST. ANDREWS: SLIM TO NONE

WLOX story - RECOVERY IN ST. ANDREWS

When I read this story, I remembered yet again how I felt after the landfall of Katrina.

I remember immediately after Katrina hit the Mississippi Coast that I was focusing on Ocean Springs as that was the place I'd fallen in love with in Nov. 2004. In trying to get any and all information on damages that I could, I remember that St. Andrews was very badly hit. I would see it mentioned numerous times in posts to message boards. Those days were horrible when communications were down and extremely limited. Save for two people in particular in Ocean Springs, I wouldn't have found out quite so much about my dream place. They even drove around and gave me reports of damage! And me, a stranger. Friends indeed.

With dreams of moving to the beloved "OS" in 2007, Katrina wiped that dream-slate clean! Housing issues: the ensuing rising costs of rents, home prices, and insurance was just not what I had "dreamed of." Of course, I know that is true even more so for those who lived there to begin with and who have been so diligently trying to rebuild their lives. My dream is of little importance compared to their needs.

St. Andrews is just one of many areas that still needs rebuilding and re-populated. In a few months, it will be 4 years since the infamous destruction of so much of our beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast and areas inland as well. The snail's pace just seems to keep on creeping along though, and hopefully, one day recovery will be a reality.

Those "two people" I mentioned:
Ocean Springs/Katrina - Lonny D. Root
Hurricane Watchdog - Lisa Wesson
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Ocean Springs

Downtown OS- Washington Ave.

The Ruskin Live Oak

Night Time at Inner Harbor - Egrets Roosting

BAY ST. LOUIS- NEEDS GROCERY STORE

WLOX story - BAY ST. LOUIS LEADERS OK FUNDING FOR GROCERY STORE STUDY

On my trips to Bay St. Louis and Waveland, I found that the only place to buy grocery items was at Wal-Mart in Waveland. It's not that long of a drive, if you're already close in to town, but it's quite a hassle with all of the traffic.

If you think about it, it seems quite pathetic if your very own city doesn't have its own grocery store. For one thing, I'd assume that it would mean loss of taxes to the city itself. Certainly puts a strain on time management issues for the Bay folks when they need groceries. Perhaps this new "study" will confirm the need.

POPP'S FERRY BRIDGE - UPDATE

Barges drifted to left of the draw section, According to city engineers two 90-foot sections and eight pilings were destroyed in the accident. The Popp's Ferry is 3,983.5 feet or three-quarters of a mile long. (photo from Coast Guard)

MAYOR WANTS "STATE OF EMERGENCY"

On Monday, March 22, Biloxi Mayor A. J. Holloway will ask the City Council to declare a state of emergency due to the barge collision that closed the bridge early Friday morning. Such a declaration will make clear that this bridge is of utmost importance to the city and that repairs need to get underway as soon as possible.

In the Biloxi Newsletter that I subscribe to, Bmail, the mayor stated, “I want to count the repair time in days, not weeks or months, and I'd like to get that bridge back up and running in 60 days or less.” He said that the "city plans to follow the same repair plan that saw the storm-ravaged Popp's Ferry bridge repaired less than four months after Katrina."

Holloway continued by saying, “This bridge is critical to our day-to-day travels, and we're not too far away from the June 1 opening of hurricane season so I want a state of emergency declaration to let our state and federal partners know the enormity of this situation.”

LAST KATRINA VICTIM IDENTIFIED

GULFPORT, MS - CORONER HARGROVE ID'S LAST VICTIM

Frank Jones was 20 years old when Katrina took his life and it's taken this long to identify his body. Hopefully the family can find some peace now.

Hurricane Katrina was responsible for the deaths of 167 people in the three coastal counties of Mississippi, with a total of 238 state wide. Harrison County still has 9 residents on a missing persons list.

Hurricane Katrina on wikipedia

POPP'S FERRY BRIDGE HIT BY BARGE

BILOXI'S POPP'S FERRY BRIDGE WILL BE CLOSED FOR MONTHS –

South end of bridge was hit by a barge this morning at 7:30. The draw section was up for the 8 connected barges to pass through the bridge. A live report from WLOX said the tug was veering to the south of the bridge when it should've been going through the middle.

Thankfully the only car that went in the water was the brige tender's car. Marge Johnson, the bridgetender, was the only person on the bridge at the time and she was rescued. Traffic was lined up on the south end waiting for the barges to pass. Some of that traffic included school buses.

According to WLOX news in Biloxi, one barge is under water and another is taking on water. On the south end, 150' section of the bridge is missing. The bridge broke away and fell into the water just feet from the bridgetender's house.

This is a huge traffic issue, once again, for getting in and out of Biloxi. Those who used the bridge as a regular route will now have to detour to Cowan-Lorraine, Pass Road, and I-110. In addition barge traffic, especially coal barges for the MS Power Plant, will be hindered by this massive destruction of a major bridge.

Popp's Ferry was heavily damaged by Katrina but was repaired and re-opened in January 2006.

WLOX Live Video/Reports
Popps Ferry Bridge
Katrina's Destruction

$2.8 BILLION FOR RECOVERY - UNSPENT

SOUTH MS REBUILDING PROJECTS – SNAIL'S PACE RECOVERY

$1.2 billion in FEMA public assistance funds
$218 million for CDBG community revitalization
$590 million for CDBG regional water/wastewater infrastructure
$570 million for CDBG Port of Gulfport
$200 million for CDBG Hancock County long-term recovery
(Stats from Governor Barbour's office)

Barbour says the money is there, it just needs to be used and if it's not used by Sept. 1, it may get taken away by the state. For example, only $16.7 million of the community revitalization money has been spent. Also, construction has begun on only 23 of the 86 projects that are supposedly in the pipeline to the Gulf Coast's dream of recovery.

As for Barbour's attempts to solve this beleaguering matter, he was supposed to meet with the director of Homeland Security on March 6th. He wants all issues between local governments (councils in general have been a huge sticky-wicket to work with) and FEMA settled by June 30.

I think that is a huge request at this late date. Why hasn't he taken a steps to solve this situation long before now? What has he been doing all these months? Where has the money been "sitting"? Has it collected interest??

This is truly ridiculous!

BAY ST. LOUIS- COTTAGES CAN STAY

FINALLY! COMING TO THEIR SENSES –

After many, many months of back-and-forth messing around, the Bay St. Louis City Council passed an ordinance allowing residents of the MEMA cottages to keep their homes. They must meet the requirements to buy their homes from the state but they can now keep them in residential areas. Initially, the council was only going to allow them if they were moved to a "trailer park" which was totally asinine and counter productive to recovery.

Councilmen still wanted to have their way with some of the items on the planning & zoning commissioner's list of recommendations, but they did ease up on some things. People in the cottages now have more time and less limitations on when and how they obtain the various required permits. Time has always been of essence to matters concerning recovery on the coast. It has especially been so with lower income, elerly, disabled, or single-parent families.

Originally, there were so many stipulations being applied to the cottages as permanent housing that it seemed people were being blatantly discriminated against. Recovery was being denied! Now though, the deadline for people to comply with the new "rules" is Aug. 31, 2009. . . FOUR YEARS AFTER KATRINA! About time, Council people!

WHY I CHANGED TO NATURAL CAT LITTER

Jackson 1997-2008


CLAY-BASED LITTER IS BAD FOR YOU AND YOUR CATS -

I just recently figured out why it is that I had developed a chronic wheezing in my chest & why I've been having episodes of very short-windedness for the past year and a half. I now have asthmatic bronchitis which is aggravated by being in a small apartment with the scoopable cat litter, Scoop Away.

After having to scoop the litter twice yesterday morning (my hubby ususally does it), I had an episode of wheezing within minutes and had to use my inhaler. Within a few minutes more, my wheezing was gone.

One important matter was that the scent left by Scoop Away had become an issue in the past few months. The scent was within my nose and could be smelled when I wasn't even close to the litter box. Just out of the blue, I could smell the strong "perfume" inside of my nose. I began to think that was very weird. I mentioned it to my daughter and she had experienced the same thing. With some investigation on her part, 2 & 2 came together and equalled a bad scenario.

In my apartment, the litter box was under my (art) work table in the living room. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that when I picked up some paint tubes from a shelf by the table, they smelled like litter. Lastnight I picked up a catalog to order some digital paper and it was so strong, I had to wipe the catalog off with soap and wash my hands! Then I realized everything around there had taken on the "perfumy" scent of the litter.

My daughter came over today and we dawned masks and hot soapy water and began a clean-up of the area. It was particularly hard to wash the scent off of plastics... my storage baskets, for example, and the paint tubes themselves. We had to wash notebooks, a table I had under the big table, supply catalogs, everything! I had canvases stored in a cardboard box and that box had to be thrown away!

Now I am wondering if this is why my Jackson died suddenly last June. Because she was indoors nearly all of her 11 years and we used that litter the whole time, I have to wonder what the chemicals in it did!

As far as the strong scent, we never had problems with it until a few months ago, but it took time to dawn on us that there could be a problem for our health and the health of our cats.

Two weeks ago my daughter switched to a natural product called Swheat Scoop. Today I switched. You should too. . . for your cat's sake and yours.


Frances - The cat who has adopted a lot of Jackson's ways.



Why is Cancer Killing Our Pets?

LIMBAUGHISTS & REPUBS - TRAITORS

Truth-Slam Against the Republican Party from a former Republican, Frank Schaeffer, author of "Crazy for God."

"Dear Republican Leaders: The Republican Party has become the party dedicated to sabotaging the American future. You Republicans are the arsonists who burned down our national home. You combined the failed ideologies of the Religious Right, so-called free market deregulation and the Neoconservative love of war to light a fire that has consumed America. Now you have the nerve to criticize the "architect" America just hired -- President Obama -- to rebuild from the ashes. You do nothing constructive, just try to hinder the one person willing and able to fix the mess you created." - Frank Schaeffer

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I realize this is not DIRECTLY Katrina-related, but I feel it is indirectly related because of the policies of the past 8 years. Who knows where the coast might be if it weren't for people like Barbour (holding billions of $$) and all of the other idiots who've been "running" the govt. for the past 8 freaking years! And yes they were literally RUNNING OUR COUNTRY INTO THE GROUND!

We were under the thumbs of the Bush/Cheney/Rove/etc. regime. They wanted to know what WE were reading, emailing, saying, doing, but they don't care that the country is now, as a result of their stupidity and self-servingness, in the throwes of economic disaster. They DO NOT CARE THAT LIMBAUGH BLATANTLY (along with others) DECLARE THAT THEY WANT PRES. OBAMA TO FAIL! I call that treason and what they are now attempting to do is a form of terrorism! Our country needs to unite. We don't need the Repubs failure routine anymore!

MEMA COTTAGE RALLY - PROTEST IN WAVELAND

The following announcement was initiated by KATRINA RELIEF VOLUNTEERS whose home base is located in Waveland, MS/Hancock Co.





Come help advocate for equal rights in housing options

Housing advocates and activists are coming in from all over the country this weekend - many arriving today (Sunday). These are people who have dedicated their lives to making sure that housing is available to all. People next door and ministers - all with the same heart for the cause.

Where: Bourgeois Park (the ball field at Waveland) - Corner of Waveland Ave. and Central Ave.
When: Monday Jan. 26th. :: Time: 11a.m.

Relief Volunteer blog - continuous updates and lots of photos.
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More Subversive Delay Tactics by Waveland City?

According to the Sun Herald, Waveland Mayor Longo said, "residents who filed the lawsuit made a mistake. The Board of Aldermen had decided to allow cottages to stay when the board meets next." He continued by saying, "The crazy thing is, it was about to happen . . . now nothing can be done until it's heard by a judge."

Longo evidently is in some form of denial when he states that, "It's unbelievable that they would file suit. If you truly needed it, you were probably going to get your cottage." I think the key word here is "probably" as that is "flexible wording" that really doesn't mean anything. He isn't operating on "specifics" that will help those who need help the most. Else, why is it that the first MEMA cottage deadline is prior to the next scheduled meeting of the Aldermen. AND, the residents filing suit against the city were DENIED permission to keep their cottages as permanent housing!

OBAMA ON KATRINA RESPONSE

"UNCONSCIONABLE INEPTITUDE"

Finally someone with enough guts to call it what it is, has been, and continues to be!! Obama vows to mend Bush’s broken Katrina promises.

In addition, the article states that Senator David Vitter re-stated his position on the response to the storm by saying that “On the Friday morning after Katrina, I said publicly that I would grade the initial government response at all levels – local, state, and federal – an F. I stand by that assessment," . . . "I look forward to working with President Obama to continue the reforms I have been working on at the federal level from the reform of FEMA and immediate response protocols to ongoing recovery work, certainly including vital corps projects to provide a much higher level of protection."

The White House website vowed “President Barack Obama will partner with the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild now, stronger than ever.”

I was always taught to say what you mean and mean what you say. We all can only hope this will be true of our new president.

WAVELAND RESIDENTS SUE OVER MEMA COTTAGES

To read the lawsuit in full just click LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CITY OF WAVELAND

Here is part of the lawsuit:

FACTS

14. Plaintiffs are a group of Mississippi residents still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina (the “Storm”). After losing their homes in the Storm, they were forced to seek temporary housing assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) and received temporary “FEMA trailers” in 2005 and 2006. In 2007 and 2008, after living in FEMA trailers for months or years, Plaintiffs each received a temporary modular home, also known as a
“Mississippi Cottage,” from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (“MEMA”).
. . . Because MEMA operates pursuant to a Congressional grant, it must either sell Plaintiffs their homes or begin removing the homes from Plaintiffs’ land as early as February 1, 2009, the day after Plaintiffs’ leases expire.

20. The Cottages were designed by teams of professional architects in traditional Gulf Coast style using modern construction methods and materials. They meet permanent housing standards as set forth in the International Residential Code (“IRC”) of 2003, and they also comply with major domestic and international housing codes. . .

21. When attached to a traditional foundation, Cottages are structurally identical to a site-built home and can withstand 150 mile per hour winds.

22. To satisfy local zoning laws in Waveland, Cottage owners needed to apply for building permits so MEMA could install their homes on permanent foundations.

23. When the Plaintiffs each contacted the City of Waveland Planning & Zoning Department to acquire a building permit, they were given the same response: denied.

A note to my special Katrina friend on Oak Blvd. - "you go girl!"
I'm rooting for you all!