Times Picayune: "FEMA scrambles to house first responders"

[KeepItReal]

"As many as 147 New Orleans police officers might find themselves homeless in 10 days when they and hundreds of other emergency response workers are evicted from a pair of cruise ships that have served as their homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Sunday.

...

With many officers working longer hours in the next week because of Carnival celebrations, concern is mounting that some will fail to make new housing plans and will be left out in the cold, literally, when the cruise ships sail away.

Even some officers who have had FEMA trailers placed next to their damaged homes still cannot move in because the trailers lack one or more basic services, such as electricity. "

(link may require demogragic info)
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_02_19.html#114276

[Ecumenist]

1. That's least they can do, for crying out loud...

:wtf:

[Eugene]

2. AP: FEMA to house New Orleans police

Sunday, February 19, 2006 · Last updated 8:18 p.m. PT

FEMA to house New Orleans police

By MARY FOSTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

NEW ORLEANS -- The city's police officers and other first-responders will continue to have federally
sponsored housing after they vacate the cruise ships they've called home since Hurricane Katrina,
the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.

About 1,500 families have been living and eating for free on two ships FEMA rented after the storm
devastated the city Aug. 29. It's time for the ships to return to private service and the residents
must leave by March 1 - the same cutoff for civilian evacuees still living in FEMA-sponsored hotels.

FEMA said it would provide trailers, either at the person's house or in a group site, or pay for them
to stay at 117-unit apartment complex in the eastern part of the city for up to 18 months.

Tracie Washington, an attorney who has been working with evacuees being evicted from hotels, said the
agency should do the same for all storm victims, many who have been left to live in shelters or even
in their automobiles.

<snip>

Full article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Katrina_Police_Housing.html

[EFerrari]

3. After all the NOPD has been through, this is just unfricking

believable.

:kick:

[Solly Mack]

4. from benign negligence to deliberate and malicious negligence

America has certainly come a long way...