Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Faith, in your government, your people who, who are supposed to be there for you, who can, who can you trust . You know . I mean took them forever to get down here to help people. When they did get down here, they had guns in peoples faces. Who does that . It is disgusting. I have no faith in the federal government. People, yes. People have helped us. Churches stepped up. The churches have been wonderful. The churches throughout mississippi, texas, thank you, texas, for opening people in texas were so warming and welcoming. I had people that went to texas. We evacuated to florida. And, because we knew that it wasnt going to be good. And then after we saw how, i was in a restaurant and they had a tv on the screen and they had delary street, the street two years over, you know how high a street sign is, all you could see was the street sign. That is the moment i knew i didnt have a home anymore. And that is when i completely lost it. And i had, i had my daughter there. I just ran out of the restaurant, just screaming. Who did you get mad at . There is nobody to get mad at. You know, cant get mad at god. Everybody happens for a reason. To make people strong help us out you know. Most of the people like in, city of new orleans was hit horrible. A lot of my friend lived in the city. And they still have People Living in their cars. I wonders what happens to the Homeless People out there . I dont know, maybe i have too big of a heart. But i just, i just wonder, you know, we should have been helped sooner. We should have been helped sooner. , only people saving people were st. Bernard police department. Were in st. Bernard parish. You have got to thank them because you know, they were only people taking people off of roofs. 80yearold people stuck on their roofs for six to seven days. And like, when katrina hit, they said we had 18 to 24 feet of water. When i saw rita come, praying it would hit us that nobody would have to go through the experience we went through. Actually when rita came, she gave us another eight feet of water. The water finally went down from katrina. They got eight more feet. They wouldnt let anybody into parish unless you were police, military or somebody important which no comment. Lets go inside. This is our kitchen, but, everything was done in the kitchen. Its pretty much gone now. You can see the water destroyed the attic. The room over here, this is our den. You know, we had dinner table here. Where we ate. Moye dad had shot a Mountain Lion couple years ago. He had a full body Mountain Lion, when he went to pick it up , he was heartbroken because when he went to get it the skin fell off t was quarter of an inch from a state record. House that was behind my house, is in my backyard. That little tree, i planted that when my daughter was born, since magnolias are big down here. Our pool is pretty disgusted. You know, you just, what doesnt kill you makings you stronger i hope. What was it likes when you first came back and saw the house . It was horrible. My heart broke. This is where i lived. This is where i was born and raised. This is where my daughter, you know was raised. To just see all of her stuff, you couldnt walk in my house. The stench, it smelled like dead people, you know . That is a smell you never get out of your head. You know. But it was horrible to see the pictures of my daughter that were hanging on the wall washed klein. And that is something you never get back you know. Never get back. I was fortunate enough to take picture albums with us. So i do have pictures from the hospital and all of that. So i was lucky. That was our living room which you can not go into because they didnt let us in for so long because the floor fill. This is my bedroom, which i wouldnt go in there because the floor started to do fall in there. That was my daughters room. This is my parents room. That was two bathrooms. But, it is just disgusting. So what is life like for you now living in slidell . My dads company, air products, they donate ad travel trailer for me and my daughter to live in behind my mom and dads house. They bought a house that only had four to five feet of water in it. I say only, because this house had 18 to 24 feet of water, you know . But it sucks. You feel like youre in a cell. You know, i mean, youre in a cell. That is exactly what fema life is. It feels like youre in a cell. And, like to just think about, you live in a house that is this biggs. You go to a house smaller than the room we were standing in now, and like every little thing gets on your nerves. You know, its horrible. There is no words to describe it. There is absolutely no words to describe it. At all. It is just disgusting. I need to go outside. Im hot. But, i dont know, maybe they will help us one day. You hope to hope to come back to st. Bernards parish . I dont trust it will be safe. I have no faith. It has been a year. Still waiting for a place to live, you know. I have no faith. I have no faith at all. What is the hardest part now . Being a mommy and having, you know when youre a parent you always fix things when youre kid wants something, you always make sure it happens. This is something that i can not fix, you know. That is the hardest thing. Missing my neighbors. But for my daughter to want to come back home and that is something i cant fix. You know, i miss my boyfriend. He is in atlanta. How am i spoused to get there, you know . And, i just, i think weve been forgotten. And i think, i think, you know, cspan totally for coming down here and doing this because we have been forgotten. This should have been taken care of. We spent so much money on wars in other countries but they need to fix home first. You know, they need to fix home first. It, highly upsets me. Very much so. [background sounds] i dont think the stafford act was ever written to address a disaster of this magnitude. The people would come in and basically would, basically, i guess, it was, well, you know, we feel your pain. Were sorry for you but there is nothing we can do, our hands are tied. What has to happen, i realize im oversimplifying but there has got to be some flexibility, there has got to be some avenues for people on the ground to be able to make decisions. And theres got to be a plan in place when Something Like this happens, you address essential city service, health and education. The government has to come in, with a plan to make those things happen and viable. Then you can take a step back and do the planning in a much better way once those Vital Services are given, you know, given to the people, just to keep, keep life going really. That is all were looking for to keep us viable as a community. So, i think our federal government must have that type of a plan in place to address those major issues initially. Anything else you would like to say . Just dont forget us. I mean, you know, were old news. There are other things happening in the world that have taken obviously the front row in terms of peoples attention but this rebuilding process is going to go on in this community five, 10 years from now. And were looking, and i guess we were approaching it, were asking our federal government and the people to look as this as an investment in our community of the as i said before, we are not an entitlement community. Were not a community that looks for a handout. What were asking for to help us make investment in us now as we get back on our feet, well pay it back 100 fold. Promise my last question, the federal government, where do you see them in your community now . Well, i see a little bit better relationship with us, with fema. Theyre being a little bit more supportive. But at this point, were here almost at oneyear anniversary, theyre beginning to pull out. Project work sheets are written. Were left with the rebuilding process. They will have a longterm Recovery Team in place but most of that support system is being withdrawn. Their Emergency Support system is being withdrawn. And, i see a a longterm presence but a longterm much smaller presence. We continue our look back at Hurricane Katrina on the 10th anniversary of the storm. Up next a new orleans town hall meeting from 2005. As yall coming forward, take your time and line up. Yall know the routine. You dont have to hurt yourself because were going to be here for at least two hours and were going to take all of your information and, like i said, i really appreciate the spunkiness that is coming out of the citizens of new orleans. The real new orleans is starting to come out as we move to repulled. So, lets keep going. Before we start, just reminder that each question, comment or concern is at two minute time limit. I will alert you at your 30, 15 second mark before possibly cutting the mic off. Also outside, we do have a copy of the situation report which the mayor just went over, if you would like to take copies as well as we do have contact phones and emails for all of louisiana and house and Senate Representatives and all of your u. S. Congressman, congress for house and senate as well. Those are also on the back table as you to out. You can grab copies of that. With that you can begin your first question. Dont forget to fill out your questionnaires to bring with you, to ask your questions. Let me just, before i do that i see a couple of elected officials here. We have Councilmember Rene gill pratt is here. Councilmember sunday yaw lewis is in the back. We have District Attorney eddie jordan who is here. Test. There we go. Any Representatives Office represented . Sent yaw morale office is being Cynthia Morell office is represented. Lets go. Mayor nagin, moving forward is the hardest direction. If the world would just know what you and rest of us have gone through. It seems like images that im getting from my friends in los angeles are everything is fine now. Were all okay. We need to let them know were not all okay. Number two. That i would like to discuss is, i represent the musicians of new orleans, proudly. Ive got about 800 of them through musicians charity. Com have united. Were communicating for first time in history the musicians of new orleans are communicating. The songs being written now will be sung forever. We need to unite, get behind you. You are our leader right now, our coach. Between now and election, we have got a lot of work to do. We cant just wait for the elections and get behind anybody. We need to get behind, Everybody Needs to get behind you now because these next 12 weeks will be history for music as we know it in america. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] food to hear our good to hear our musicians are organized. Besides all the other things, i worry about our musicians and our senior citizens. So good to hear our musicians coming back. Good afternoon, i want to say to the mayor, talking about bringing back new orleans, you had this committee i saw on tv yesterday. Where are the new orleans on the committee . , making decisions about our property . They didnt consult me. One concern, next one, say you would like for us to flood congress. I think we ought to do oldfashioned thing that Martin Luther king used to do. Lets go on the bus and dont leave until we get an answer. All right. I, i feel like going there and we want an answer about this money. If they can build up, destroy a country, if they can destroy a country and build it up again, why cant they fix this state . Amen. Amen. Just to let you know Commission Members are made up of knew orleanians, we have 7 00 subcommittees for any member of the public to participate in. We can get you information on when they meet, join any committee that you want to participate in the process okay . Thank you, thank you. I will im one of the Small Businesses here in new orleans. I didnt get any water. Unfortunately imlumped in a position to where im unable to operate properly because of a lack of gas. I know that the gas people entity may be doing some work but they are not, in my estimation, as a business person, a retired business teacher. Doing the best that they can do. Im educated so i have done everything i could. I emailed don hutchinson. Ive gone to office. Ive gone to energy. I am one who clearly understands how gas operates. I didnt have water. Im pumping water out. It is okay. It has been eight weeks. I am in the cold. I cant cook. I cant do business. I cant take advantage of all of the Business People that are coming here as a Small Business and im very concerned and i think we need to form a commission, a group or something of people to really let you know what energy is doing. I dont think that theyre properly handling the areas the way that they should. And there are a lot of people who dont understand exactly what to do. I was ready to at six on my side. I was over at six on my side and i saw that was going to happen. I absolutely need your help. I do not think energy is understanding that i didnt have water. So that i really want my gas, so i can take advantage of the people that is in the city. 30 second. And perhaps, you know, survive this traumatic situation. I would like to help anyone else who needs help, jumping over hurdles, a lot of people dont know how to answer or stand up for what they need to have done. So i need gas. Which area of the city . Im at 1834 espinada avenue. Okay. We have mr. Pat ricks here, regions manager for entergy. Maybe he can address some of your concerns. Thank you. Can you hear me okay . Yes, i can. How is that . The area of the city youre talking about, we did have a lot of water in the gas mains. Low pressure gas lines were affected. Although you may have not had water in your house, make not even in your neighborhood or on your block, because of the design of the gas system, its a network system. Basically built like a spider web. I understand that. And water can enter the system from an area, three, four blocks, a mile away. Right. Once it gets into that system it is a process we use, where we have to tap into the main and basically suck the water out like you would suck the water out of a cup with a straw. I understand. In this case, were sucking water out out of a bathtub witha straw. There are house behind me, two houses that have gas, i dont understand. Lady on right of me, doesnt have gas. Im sorry. Good news, if the houses near you are starting to show up with gas service, then youre not far behind because what they do, is, they call it chase water trouble. They follow the water where the water is seeking to the lowest point in the gas main. And apparently the area youre being served by is low point that is preventing the gas to get to your area. What, i dont know exactly, if you would come see me and give me your specific address i will go ahead and get some information for specifically for your area to let you know what the eta is on getting gas. Okay. Come on the side, give me a specific information. Thank you. Were trying to accommodate you. Thank you. Man, you can begin your question. Good afternoon, mayor, im one of your seniors. You say youre worried about them. I have been here once concerning a house leaning on mine. Yes. To have it removed. I talked to my friends away from me. I have no hope unless you do this where i can house is still leaning . Still on my house . Really. All right. Let me get that address again. I will give it over to the loud speaker. Fill out questionnaire and hand it to young lady here. Give me that address before we leave. I want to personally file up upon this is her second time. Third time. Good afternoon, everyone. One of my seating mates asked me who am i . Im a new orleans citizen, okay, who have a vested interest in recovery of new orleans. It is a hard thing to believe that the United States of america is spending nearly one billion, per week, in iraq, and here in new orleans, United States, were being neglected. Now, why do we have to bathe, and please, with our big, with our president , our congressman, our elected leaders to tell them that we need help when it is on the media every day, okay . [applause] this is the United States of america. You young lady mentioned earlier we did rebuild japan after destroying japan. [applause] this is new orleans. A very specific cultural design. I love gumbo. I love new orleans. [applause] secondly, as new orleans citizens and citizens, our first steps we have to show the country that we are rebuilding. When you go over the highrise, when you come down the highrise, there is no signs of rebuilding. We need to clean up them roads. The department of transportation, state not going to do it. 30 second. We need to do. Get some prisoners out there, pick up this trash. We need to show them that we are actively participating in our recovery. [applause] 15 sicks. Talk with kathleen blanco. Person, ward ins for the prisons get out there, pick up this trash and lit ir. Show them were trying to start somewhere. But right as it stands now, new orleans, United States of america, we are citizens so we demand that our president steps up, step up and be there for us. Because we have paid our tax dollars. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, man. Thank you. [applause] yes, maam. Good evening. Good evening. My name is eloise williams, from Lower Community as community activist. Mr. Mayor, i know you dont see me too often but im there to say look at my community. Right now what i see i dont like. We have been, katrina has passed and gone. But we are still living in debris. We say were organized to move all of this out of the way, that work can be done. Still, it is month now. I have been home. I came home on the 5th of november. Till this day im still trying to get part of my utilities back cox cable, i havent been there, but i got a bill. And, yeah, i havent been there but i got a bill. You know what im saying . We need to stop playing games with people and stop playing, thinking everybody naive, dumb, stupid and crazy because i wont be that, either one of them. I wants my rights. I dont want to entergy anything and say im a week later to pay me back because theyre not going to pay me back. Im not looking to pay no, 2, 300 and up front. I was in that party that called yall not to have the money to be accountable for the money. I was not there. I was not responsible for anything thats not my doing. You know what im saying. 30 seconds, please. Mr. Mayor, i want to say to you before i get talking about, i want to say thank you to you for rta. When i got on the bus today, man say, no fare . I say what . I couldnt believe it. I say 15 seconds. Thank you, mr. Mayor for that. But there is a whole lot of things that keeping us from functioning, as properly and proper human beings. Yes. We all, i have a home. My home was not damaged but a little bit. Please bring it to close. Because of the debris and all of this around about me i cant get nothing done. Can you give, you said you live in algiers . Yes. I live in the lower algiers in the cutoff in the cuts. I tell you what, see that lady behind you. Fill out your questionnaire. Give her your address and you know, well get the debris taken care of. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yes, sir . Mr. Mayor, im, and other members of the committee, im reverend howard can you get closer to the mic, that mic up front. Thank you. Now dont cut me off like you did before. Two minutes. [laughter]. Im here, because ive been aggrieved, and im appalled. First of all, at, fema, mr. Mayor, you gave them your plan for trailer parks, ive seen one. That is at bonnie. My question is, what does fema need to have, with the request she made. What is wrong with you . Does it mean that youre that incompetent, to handle that business that business . All of our citizens want to come back home. We cant speak for yourself. I can not, find this place. I even requested that a trailer be placed in my home. I have not heard from them. And then for, entergy, to come up with some foolishness, that you have to put in something for what . To get some power . Why you havent called for help, to put those, put the power back in the lines on the main thorough fares like parish avenue . And st. Charles avenue . What is wrong with you . Our city want to come back. Citizens want to come back . What are you doing . Sitting down on your behind taking money. I am, i have been patient, but im tired. And i have been aggrieved. Im hurt. Im hurt at this representative who submitted legislation to the state that the state take over the School System when our citizens are suffering down here in new orleans. Where, where, where is your common sense there . Where is the sense of urgency . That we are suffering 30 sicks. Dont take that lightly. I want systems that i am supposed to get. I havent gotten it yet. I have to get out of the hotel room bit 3rd. Ive been waiting on trailer since october. It hasnt come yet. The measurements havent even been taken. It is unfair. Mr. Mayor, demand Public Services call for help. Yes, sir. Demand that entergy, but, that when i left to oklahoma, muscogee, oklahoma . The river i met rita and those people in those communities, didnt mind helping one another just like we did here. Right. Entergy called for the help. You need help. Cant do it by yourselves. And youre not ones to be trusted. Well, lets, reverend, if you could, lets get fema to kind of help you with your trailer, man, if you can come on the side. Thank you for your question. Youre a little fired up right now but, he is reverend. Is a reverend. It will be all right. It is going to be all right. He is a rev. Next question, please. Yes, sir . Good evening. My name is get closer to the mikes phone. All the contracts went out to all the politicians friends and cousins and state representatives and city councils. That is a right. [applause] i was at a labor rally in she had a truck that would load from the we are if i had a contract i could blow from the bottom it did not matter. Thats not right you talk about new orleans. They can now that if we live like this thats not right. We will see if we can get you some help. We have been able to help some businesses with this. Good afternoon. Unfortunately i have a home but water is cut off such as india is cut off every afternoon i have lost half of my food. Bring people back to new orleans where are the kids going to go to school and 90 of those in newt normans have kids schools open and in Good Condition they fired 100 teachers at one of the top rated schools in new orleans. Cannot she will stay in Jefferson Parish i was picked up two hours because she was off time driving 2 miles an hour picking up no passengers. Last week the people coming from that in arrears is else plays they need to leave them there. There is trashed this morning i had to step over bags of clothing from canal street to tulane and it is a disgrace. If they dont open it at will be a disaster nobody will get Social Security pay. It is my understanding this School System is starting to open up some schools next month. Five days a week from 10 00 a. M. Through 2 00 p. M. . I was here before at the last meeting. You called me up and i havent heard back from him since. Since i was waiting to get ted job ive put the pick up a trailer on the back of my truck the gentle and explain to me the reason is i pick up the debris. Dishwashers, washing machines and dryers at my house where i live it is my property. Some guy says you are in the wrong district because this is my zone i said this is my house. [laughter] so i want say on the microphone when i said. [laughter] fisa and whenever i want to do with it i will make money off of it not tim so explain my city when i left was a whole but now it is a zone . Mississippi, maryland, washi ngton d. C. Because i am in there so it is federal Government Property . Then call the police that is how i feel. The sold the new orleans into sections . Where did disowns come from . The zones. This one is piled up to the ceilings i have a few little items. I lost everything. Give me a piece of the pie and i cannot pick up the washing machine on the street . Fifth i pick it up by go to this jail . Then call the police. Before i pay 500 to this city to pick it up. Who gave them permission to give new orleans the zones . Who cut up my city like this . They give for the question. Are you ready . I will try to answer. Bid to every pickup is managed through federal contracts that come through the corps of engineers. And what they have done, might understanding dont hold me to these numbers but there were four or five major contracts and as they were left they divided the city into zones i think it is for is homes. Each contract was given the responsibility homes for the pickup of the debris in that particular zone. That is what you are running into but there is no scenario that i can think of that if you were picking up to greet you could violate. I called the police for him. [laughter] let me understand the situation that we are in that the city of new orleans has no revenue stream so we are reduced to begging for loans from the federal government and chase bank. So all the money that is used to clean up the city so all we can do the to the powers that said we had some success but not others that is how the zones came to me. [inaudible] i wish i could pay you to do the work for you are not listening to what i am saying. We have the right to work. They are from mississippi. They make 25 an hour i make half of that. It goes deeper than that. But what can we do to help you . I have a license. Guest to clean up then let us pick it up. In new hope this lady get through the bureaucracy with the debris cleanup . She knows she is talking about. Mr. Mayer i lived in the triangle and thank you for your efforts and i know it seems like a thankless job but these are difficult times and i am very proud of everyone that works for the city. Our neighborhood where i have been living for a number of years, the crime is bad im not getting a lot of help from the police. People moved into dilapidated houses in my neighborhood they are drunk in the morning and strunc at night. In front of my house and i have called the police. With the difference sergeants to call its Different Task force. And i have left my name and number with no response. Last week that guys living half a block of major party with a bonfire on the sidewalk shooting off firecrackers and a bottle rockets. Before the rain and it is released friday said we will let somebody know. There is a ton of trash. This is then the triangle and i have called the police now im not getting any response. How low do you know, theyre selling drugs . When you look at your front door to see somebodys selling crack that is pretty obvious step please give this young lady your address to give that to the police chief to get some action going. Good afternoon. And we have a unique problem because we have said if your home is in the flood zone with 50 more damage you have to raise that but most of those homes are on slabs of the 30,000 that fema allows is not enough is a drop in the bucket. Her only hope seems to be damage estimated at below 50 percent that is a logistical nightmare. I have been to the office for times of everything they have asked me with pictures pictures, estimates, and at one time because most on average are between 51 and 55 estimated damage. That means we have to elevate the structure but if we dont then recant get insurance i have not found any loss on the books the only thing that i found says if you have four or more claims that 65,000 only then can it be denied insurance coverage. If we could get some clarity a lot of that is petty. We have dealt with the people elderly people and that is not an option. [applause] your question deals with the process to appeal the 51 percent damage. And where we can find the law that states if we havent had those situations that we will be denied coverage . Every house was built in the early 1900s. I will let him answer that. Those are good questions that lot is not a city or state ordinance but the federal Flood Insurance act of 1975 anything billed after 75 to give Flood Insurance the feds mandated but all cities had to say they had to build at that level so the law is the 1975 Flood Insurance federal act that mandates that part. And if you are over 50 percent which means you have to revisit to match that with 30,000 to raise that zero or 28 or 32. The problem with that that is just a drop in the bucket i have a slab house i would spend more than my house is worth to reset and isnt feasible. Most people are working class. So maybe we need to work look at other standards or perhaps the structure is down or foundation or the roof is solid they have to get their house is not those of voluntarily want to remodel. Maybe we should look at it from another angle so he did with the raising people have 10 or 11 feet of water that would not help them anyway. Were not arbitrarily deciding to come down to the foundation but if you are in that zone right there, if the city can support it does this then we will. Writes on the cusp. If there is a mistake then we will allow you to send a the feedback page headed is the reality and it is in the arbitrary decision. We have a lot of elderly people that are not well versed to use the internet to. They cannot get this information stick you can call us back. The lot of people dont have phone service is there something you can point out that they can go up to read . Something very practical. I getting it. We will work on that we have tried to put the information at city hall but we will come on to the community to get it to maurer peoples we can accommodate the request. You are doing a good job and with the word on the street stay with us when you didnt have to. And to give the word nation a new meaning. What you doing with our tax money . You need a spanking. Come on. My question i lost two brothers a year ago another brother ruth carries my grandfathers name. I am trying to do get my family together. I cannot get him up because the for a little bit of money but to help me out that only with my brother and his family and he laid his grounds and in a couple years ago. I am looking for my brother for some work. And don is helping us. Mayor nagin i have met you before i am a local attorney and a young businessman here. I appreciate you going to different cities to make the country aware of our situation and we need to do that all the time because the country needs to know our situation. [applause] how long can we stay here . No people though business . We have mortgages that are coming up and we need some help how do we bring people back . We need trailers and electricity to tell the people from out of state you can come back. Do we have to wait for fema to bring trailers . No. Key and the state provide money then have fema reimburse the state . We cannot wait. As far as energy and no you declared a grossi but we need power. No good our trailers about power. If energy cant than others need to come down to get the job done. [applause] if we can arrange to have mardi gras so quickly with eight days of revenue to bring tourists from the people of new orleans cannot come back right now and stuck in houston and new york city and dallas howd we have mardi gras with the people can even come home . Eight days of tourism. That when they come back day bring in revenue for the rest of their life for cry of mardi gras i have seen year and we will get to those times again but not right now. [applause] thank you for your comments. We will see if the state can help with trailer placement. Mardi gras is a whole other discussion. So the house is totally gone but to call my has been back to work as a Deputy Sheriff to tell him he would have housing but they had nowhere for his wife for his mother to live he found a hotel so we had to call fema asking for more money initially they give you 2,200 i did that i did when i was supposed to do. I thought it was a blessing i got the sba loan. To say that a Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst things but i think it is hurricane it fema. When i called kfema. [laughter] i cataloger get assistance from them because i applied for rb sba loan. So now that i have the of sba loan fema will no longer assist me with anything. So now they want their money so my question to you is that is like if you are in more debt than already. That is the firstever i have heard that one. So you got that sba loan and that triggered a. I told them my Flood Insurance was supposed to pay 70,000 then that reduce the loan at 28,000 so the more money i get the less alone is and that does not benefit me but the sba is supposed to be to rebuild so what do i survive on . We will see if we can get an answer from fema. Yes we will have candy talk to you one on one but there must be a misunderstanding because just because your loan was approved doesnt mean that fema automatically cuts you off from automatic temporary housing. Me and my husband both called they told us the same thing. We will look into your particular case per car want to make this statement we realize that yes you have been approved you have to do the work to repair the house and geneva place tuesday. And we will clear that up but as long as to have taken that to use that to rent a place where youre getting those repairs made it so yes you can receive Housing Assistance from fema until you get that in your hands to make the repairs. Data was one of the unfortunate people i need some help. Please. My name is dana during a time retest read it and i met two ladies. They praised you and i did not and i do not want to play new i dont thank you were totally at fault for katrina the you are responsible for us. And we dont have nowhere to live here. I had a place i was at the Council Meeting and i have been formally effected. I paid octobers rand. Rent was refused for november from the price gouging. I am relying on new. At the state level and federal level i voted for you to represent me on the local level. I never know where else to go. I dont know what else to do. 24 hours after today my family will be in a hotel to be displaced have views that i am holding your responsible to come back. I want to know that my question is to you. Everything has a process. But my problem is that whole catastrophe because it was not a flood due to water from nature or a hazard with their breach of the levees. Go ahead to reclassify. Something was probably in place but you need a crew. I just say. Comments are closed. And i know the you put the is in place for the landlords for those who are not year but for those are your that have pricecutting they have to give them a certain amount of time. I dont know what to do and i am on the street in 24 hours. But they were trying to find ways i dont care how much proved that you want. Let me see if i can and try to answer for go as far as rent gouging were starting to get more and more complaints of that. But the powers of the mayor to enforce the current laws better on the books so you are trying to use everything in our power of the lead to see what we can and cannot do but there may be some new laws. Exactly. In california they have day and an Association Vice suggested that the last Council Meeting please respond to somebody to put protection on us so we can come home. We have nowhere to go that does not make sense to be homeless. We do not want you to be homeless. But i am. 24 hours. To my child has a learning disability once again. She has been failing since katrina. So this city can have revenue is low strength i dont want to spend my wheels no more. If you are really on the streets tomorrow lets have fema have a comparable place to live. Lets see what we can work out. We will see what we can do to help out. Good morning. I am day homeowner and my concern that they have forgotten about us and that is my biggest concern that we will go ahead to be strong. The yes side to work two jobs. The only name it on there is mine. I just paid five notes on my house because of everything going on. It is sent you know, vended visage your faults but what will happen to west . December the first we fully opened the ninth ward to full access. That area is probably going to be on a much faster track than any other area because the water got out of their the quickest you should be able to give Utilities Services to start that process faster than anyone. With that mandatory stay over with whole ordeal that is fine and dandy but asking them to leave but not only that i have been back every chance i get and i have talked to my neighbors to find of who is rebuilding in a block of three areas really have for rental properties and four of them are mine and they are all returning. People are willing to return to do what we have to do. I was trying to figure that out. That was one of my main concerns. Please dont forget about us. Good evening. My name is barbara and i am here to represent my 87 yearold motherinlaw who was a resident of the lower ninth ward located on the of floridas sidekicks on the street called dollar every we had someone going to look at her property we used to hire of a house that was across the street there is no plan did into her car and car port by representing here because she has been displaced to alexandria. I heard in your opening remarks to make a statement we should make intelligent decisions. I have coasted with birdies three months we are about to say by me how to or demolish that. We went through the process and the procedures. Were at that pliant and i heard you make the statement if there is 50 or more damage according to the damage she has 86. 63 percent damage it is gone. So will the corps of engineers make contact with the residents were sure the residents make contact with them . And if so, with whom . One number . What is the process . The procedure and the timeframe . They can contact to the core and it depends upon your decision. If your decision is to rebuild. We will not. Then you want your home demolished . Or you want to be paid for the buyout . Said demolishing part we can help you we will put in a request with the engineers to demolish and the last time i talk to them that they would do that at no charge for the citizen but wait. If you are making the request i would like my home demolished then we will take it from there. Go on the web site if you have access then we will give it to the corps of engineers. As relates to a fair market value for your home, that is a different issue. There is the bill that congressman baker almost at the point of passing in congress to allow for that particular process. Pay attention to that bill and as soon as it is passed that will be the authority to come by your home that the assessed values. Can you tell me when . Is coming through congress they should be back in session within the next week or two. Should we just keep tabs on your web site . Keep tabs. I am certain she read like to have money. I think a lot of people will take that option. We will see if we can put up a link to keep you uptodate. Thank you the Louisiana Redevelopment Authority act i think that is called. My name is the last i was raised in the seventh. Take your time. My mother is almost 89. We have been waiting for a trailer in front of her home i have gotten calls from trailer people i never went up to st. Charles avenue we need fema in our area of town people to deal with directly provide had three firemen, to the house looking for my mother we hear you are getting a trim every have a generator and a power source. We still have notre there by the grace of god we are staying there but we are for homeless. But we have no electricity of above to move back home. Which area . Off of regency. The best way i speak is through my poetry. When i was an Oakland California the be easy is always sleazy and forever wounded. Politicians booming for self being. Who remains so unprotected and always neglected a different place and send me to alaska a city damage and divided. The core and forgotten. Now a nation and wobbling and it is hit so hard with denials to be where the outside storms of little city that they forgot. [applause] thank you. Thank you. I am a homeowner. I have 4 feet of water and it has been rough but i have a lot of questions. Number one what is the plan for that scaledown . If possible could extend the curfew passed 2 00 p. M. . 2 00 a. M. I do believe they still collect sales tax also what is the election schedule . And no previous to katrina there were plans with election sometime in february is that still the plan or will that be changed . Mayor nagin i met you as the bright side 19 drove the aflcio labor meeting river is the Service Employees union . I read today the dnc will have their reading but but they had to make some concessions because shearson is the only hotel in the city but they are not union and talk about jobs paying 15 and over while we are still trying to rebuild we need to make sure the French Quarter and the Service Industry that they get the pay they deserve even with the minimum wage city will not work any more for us around here. [applause] also reading about the investigations have there is close to be a 17foot pilings and only 10foot pilings we need to make them down here to make sure dont have heat or hot water in a two pairs of close but if two years down the road if i could go to the prison to see their responsible for this levee breach failure. [applause] that is all the questions i have. Thank you for doing this bill mccue asked five questions in your two minutes. I will go down the list. The first dealing with the National Guard and how long will they be here . We have supplemented 1500 or 2500 National Guard members. Primarily they are patrolling in the areas that have the least amount of population they are committed to staying for the duration and tell we can get this city repopulate so we can downsize as destabilize the police department. The 2 00 a. M. Curfew is in effect right now and it has been for the past month we started with 8 00 then midnight to then 2 00 p. M. 2 00 a. M. But it is still in effect there is still way too many areas that are dark at night and dont have a light. Second, i am not totally convinced our Police Forces at the level of stabilization to handle 24hour seven parties and as soon as they are stabilized as to where they will live with their cruise ship pass then we will move into the normal mode of operations maybe we will relax that over certain holidays. With satisfaction in cycle your guess is as good as mine i think this secretary of state will make an announcement this friday if he and the governor are in sync they could delay or reported for word. The tour dates i have heard that they are considering to delay to sometime in april or as late as september to coincide with the congressional elections. That is what i know on the election cycle as ours unions, a day are around them will get with the council hopefully we will sit down to call for a meeting of all the Union Leaders to get a sense from where they are that when all the jobs are created that the rates are sustainable that are associated with those union jobs and a star as levees are concerned there at the top of every bettys mind going for were the fbi is looking at that the District Attorney has written a letter to request a formal investigation on the levees and what has happened. Hopefully they will come up with a better system to build the levees and that is something the state has taken. As far as the unions the state does not have good laws for workers or of the city can also have to take the lead go to which. Looked at chicago if you want to get construction guys down the road theyre all union serving tables are Union Backing trees there used to be the Railroad Line and one day they decided there were not needed anymore now you see the fema contractors the sheraton running the Dnc Convention and they are not union. That is more appropriate at the state level this is the right to work state you have to attack that the state level. The District Attorneys Office Actually is conducting its own investigation to determine whether a grand jury is in order based upon the examination of the initial reports by various engineers. We are determining whether a grand jury investigation is in an order or if state law was violated independent of anything done by the u. S. Attorneys office. I am from new orleans. Fourth generation my grandfather started year 1927 and my father 1954 purchase of a few weeks to for the storm we took steps to become state licensed contractors every step has cost money and time and read up to bat and rich back and receive felt the paper work we have no employees and we are small but they will not give us a license without workmans comp as the owner you cannot be covered with your own workmans comp but to the labor board we are not required according to the state board of contractors there will not license without it. Mississippi is not required to cover miscalled insurance so people are working in my city from mississippi from arkansas and texas that are required to follow the same guidelines that we are. The stateowned Insurance Company who before the storm one to 2,000 and would take it in payments after katrina they wanted thousand dollars up front. No payments and a financing to even talk to us about workmens comp and it doesnt cover anybody. At the state level . I will tell you i am not sure how we can help you but pulled him aside to talk about this because if you are experiencing this hampshire others are going through this. I am not sure why the state is doing this but if we can find out. Good evening. Im a resident of the rollover ninth ward. The lower ninth ward. We ran outside living all that time in ap and. In a van. Where would rigo . No housing anywhere. We come here there is a door in our face they dont want you there delayed taking because they get fema money. My husband has been employed with the city six years and made the fiveyear anniversary you would assume that he would be paid paperwork was not good enough. Imagine somebody doing how far down the you want us to go . My husband wants to give up and go to work. I had a city worker tell me at city hall i pay for my apartment deny cash my check. What does that make us feel like . To say you take one kid i will take the other we will sneak them onto the boat you pay for the supervisors for the time off. I am very ashamed. [applause] at least allow us the opportunity to make the situation better. If you could come to this side and let us talk to you for our vendors to do are frustrated and have been to hell and back but give us the opportunity to make a better. Just a second. They can take your information she has a place for you to stay. Before you move on some of us are sitting appear who supported andron record and are of the record to increase the minimum wage. Some of us had a vote to support and i am on record also a father who retired whose mothers insurance who has to take care of them i will say this this is in politics it is life because all my family has was in though over ninth ward. But this is as real as everybody else. I like to be put up in a house satellite to not see my brother and sisters and family members i tried to put on a happy face at thanksgiving it was not good for me. I a understand but i never going to back off what i stand for if you aint watching or listening but dont put me in with everybody else. [applause] dont vote for me if you dont like me. Turn the other microphone down. Good afternoon. I am a new orleans resident might Damage Assessment says 54. 64 damaged also the area was wood frame my house is now would it is break all the way round i have a 500 sq. Ft. Per raj sitting in front of my house and my son was 13 years old not appease was missing my ruth is not damaged at all. How do i come about 55 percent Damage Assessment . It was one of the houses built like the rest of them in 1962 Still Standing never flooded. Everybody in my neighborhood has been living there since hurricane betsy nobody has gotten flooded. Energy is for the birds in 1965 when that came through here the People Living now 40 or 50 years sarah out of power seven days now we still dont have lights. I know because i went down there saturday in the dark with my two children. Linda you going to put lights back there . Wiedmaier half to lift my house off the ground with those have six and 7 feet of water . Broke the sliding glass door and poured off the hinge in the land. My property is a powerhouse. Do you understand what im saying . I have been back here since october. Do you know how much i paid for a house . 875 a month rent. My house isnt that much money. [applause] thank you. Next up man. I am here to ask a question because i had a business that was drawn and very good revenues and working for the city. I had clients that were on the island and i have people all over the city of new orleans and when katrina moved everybody out that was my business gone. So i consulted with the person outofstate, not another business going and its all in the process of rebuilding new orleans because im very concerned citizen here. But i would like to know what are the opportunities for the entrepreneurs that are here because i filled the business up and now i have first of all the sba turned me down for the loan that i wanted for it. We are not seeing many outside loans now. I want to be a thorn in mr. Hutchinsons side because i have been trying to get in touch with him. Only for maybe about two months now. I was one of the people that didnt want to leave and i stayed and can there from the very beginning when they first started letting people back in here and im not going anywhere, but i do want to know what kind of opportunities we have. I have a Business Plan in my plan includes training people number one and employing people to work for the company and in the rebuilding process of new orleans but i need to get someone who can really direct me to whats going on. I cant get a foothold on who to talk to about rebuilding, and i have my plans and i have everything, i have all of my equipment in place. I have some contract or soda ready to go and when i went through the ecc they refer to referred me to mr. Hutchinson. I cant get him. Well you have him today so come on inside and we will hook the two of you together and we will see if we can get worked out to get. Thank you for your question. Thank you. Yes sir come on that. Mr. Nagin i have talked you to you a couple of times before. I come before you today not as mike krause the latter man for the construction worker or exconstruction worker. Sunday night i was out talking to my neighbors. The same inspectors at my place was not livable. I got half of that 2300dollar relocation fee. I am out there talking to a camper down there, an electrician and his wife down below me and they said Somebody Just ran in your apartment. I turned around and i saw this guide so into my apartment. I live at 335 dolphin street. I ran up the steps and they yelled up at me and he ran down the hallway. Iran down the hall blake yelling, who is in my apartment . That was a nice way to put it. Now the landlord calls me and now im getting evicted has im the only way the only tenant that was there before the storm. He has got all new tenants there and he wants to jack the rent up. I know thats the reason. I have got until sunday to get out and now what do i do . What do i do . I am one of the best street entertainers youve got out here. On the latter man and some of you have seen me. Ive been homeless in the city before and it aint fun and that was when the Brantley Center was open. I dont have to thousand dollars to go around another apartment down there. What do i do . A couple of people have brought up this whole issue of the rents going up and you know the only thing i can tell you is that we are trying to afford the current laws that are on the books and we need scranton laws so we can have more teeth and more Enforcement Powers to help this type of situation. We dont have them today. We dont have them today. The only thing i can tell you to do is to try to make sure that when you are going through the eviction process that they are following all the rules and theres a certain procedure they need to go through. They need to go through to make sure, if they miss anything then you will have the right to stay in that property. If not, we can get her information we can try and talk to the state or see if theres anything we can do to help you but right now the current laws allow the landlords pretty much do what they are doing. Its not right but its the current law. I appealed my fema registration yesterday like i was instructed to do. Do you have a fema man here i can speak to . He has on the side and you can talk to fame and maybe fema can help you with some temporary housing. Other than that theres not a lot we can do with the landlord. The gentleman in the blue alongside the wall. Can a fema person raise your hand . Thank you mr. Mayor. Next up. You can put the mic down. Thank you. Good afternoon mayor. Closer to the mic please. My name is Verna Williams joseph. Before Hurricane Katrina both of us were Business Owners and we still do subcontract work now. We have been having a hard time now out here. My uncle went to the dump this morning and i told him he couldnt. He could dump but he wont get paid for it because the contractor he is subbing under had left and there was no longer that person. Myself i invested in two 18wheelers. I still cant go out because when they give me a son, this owners dont have trash and when i get on the zone they have these big tall guys coming over and telling me to get off. I dont leave. I say im staying right here. We will have to work a son together. What can you do to help those . We have the trailers loaded up but we cant dump it. So you have r. D. Been assigned a son . Yes but my uncle, he is and im picking up trash. The zone that they gave me for the trash, the debris is nothing really and buy trailer is 78 yards. When we get out there we can even make the load but if we go into another zone they kick me out. I came to my ankle to find out what we could do. Why do we have to be three people under when we are here from the ninth ward. Instead of being fair why do we have to go to the other people to make the money from out of town and then they leave. Therefore we are making anything at all either. So your question is . We asked the city folks are certified and all the equipment is certified. So you are looking to move to a different song . Workcell, whatever they call the zones because we are not doing anything. Im just trying to make sure i understand what your challenge is. You have been authorized to do work in a certain zone and that song does not have enough work, enough loads for you to go to get paid properly . Right. So you are looking to change that. Yes. And we are looking to get paid for the goods that are ardent loaded onto trucks. Because once you go to the dump site they are saying you are not authorized to pick up the goods and that song . Good evening mr. Mayor. Ive been back in the city now since october the 24th and i have been living in the ninth ward for over 40 years. I had been with this for 21 years. I came back and i invested in a truck and i have been getting the run around ever since. I only worked a week out of this whole month. The first time they told me my trailer didnt fit the qualifications and the next time they told me that i needed to have an asked is 250 truck or at 350. I finally got certified and then my truck got certified by ecc so i started working and i worked for about four days and then you know it went into a meeting, ecc and somehow they got separated. Someone broke the contract but i was also a subcontractor with them. Now the refrigerator is the thing that i started from. I started in the ninth ward ottaway back from the river. I went from franklin to claiborne and that evening they told me you dont come back because they were having some kind of discussion between them. I had a load that the guy had written me up for for that thursday but i went back to work and i went there today to get it off the truck, off my trailer and they told me that you can get it off, you see but what you have to do is you have to take it back and you will have to take it off yourself and then you have to take your trailer back over to ecc to get certified again. I said why is this . He said this is why you were going to be on a different contract now. So you have to be recertified again, so my trailer is sitting on earnhardt street loaded with refrigerators that mean my son picked up by the French Quarter because they claim the equipment that they had was too big to go to the French Quarter to operate. So i went and there and i didnt do any damage or anything. Now my trailer sitting there and they say its got to be certified. I didnt mind them telling me it needed to be certified but they wouldnt get my truck certified by people who are decertified it c a lot of runaround that local companies have been giving, we are going to pull you guys to the side to see we can get you but the more i hear of these complaints the more its starting to become clear to me that we are going to have to start to create some files and start to document the types of problems we are having so we can start to take this to the next level so that we can push this. We will have dogged take your information we will try to see if we can push this forward. We will have to start documenting this and come in with some evidence so that we can push this a little harder. One other thing and i actually saw the debris. It was all packed up, piled up and picked up and just sitting there on the trailer ready to be dumped so he did what he was supposed to do and he was penalized for doing a good job. One of the things that maybe we could do is what some of the other communities have done this, they have professionals or engineers that monitored the contracts where the contractors have to submit reports to them to submit to the parish governments and thats what they are doing in st. Bernard and other areas so that local community have someone assigned to the contractor that this government person can go to. Maybe thats an opportunity that you would have somebody at, i do like to use the word overseer, as a monitor, some monitor because it seems like the more we are pushing for local participation of more local people are starting to be pushed. Good evening mr. Mayor and everyone. My name is Gloria Sanchez and i am protimes village. I had 9 feet of water and im trying to find out if my house, its a brick home and im trying to find out high will go how i will go about it. Should it be leveled or what is the process of keeping it . I have already started gutting out the property but everything is still soaking wet. The floors are still soaking wet my son wants to know. You need to try to find out where you are as it relates to the 100 year flood plain . Yes. Have you gone over to city hall yet . No, i just got back from the street court. My son is in the netherlands. He is in the air force. He can be anywhere in the world and access it. He can go on our web site the city of new orleans web site and punch in your address. You will see it come it has instructions and it will tell you exactly where you are in the flood plane and exact weight whether you are above or below and you can take it from there. Thank you. If you would like to visit the city hall you can get the information. Thank you so much. Next up. Good evening. My name is joe and and i have a problem coming back to the city, not because i dont want to come but it has every time you get ready to come down here theres a problem with finding a place to stay. My husband is here working and he was fortunate to be provided a trailer but every time we need to do something you have to cry and scream and do Everything Else even get a hotel room. If you manage to get one they are talking 179, 200. So i come down here every weekend from mississippi in order to try to get Business Done to get my house up and running. I dont have any help from fema. They gave me the first 2000 they told me i had a concern which makes you feel like you are an underdog because you do have insurance and you cant get nothing else from them. Whatever they feel like calling me at the time, he cannot get anything done at this time. Its impossible. I have the red cards and whatever else and like i say we are fortunate that i was calling every hotel in the city and the family got a room on canal street. Every time you look around its unique to renew. Ive only been there for two weeks so every other day or so youve got to renew this or youve got to do this or you have got to do that. I want to come home. I really want to come home. My job is here. I have no place to stay. I cant find a house and if you find one its outrageous. I was living in it an apartment, fiber dollars was the red and all of a sudden its 700 something and they didnt offer to fix a thing. Everything is still in the house thats wrong. Thats just wrong. I dont know what else to say. Then theres a problem with the electrician. You go to city hall and they give you two words in there will never be enough information to figure out what you need to do. You need a licensed electrician. Does it have to be from new orleans . What difference does it make where he comes from as long as hes licensed . If hes a journeyman he can go anywhere so whats the problem with that . Im not understanding and then they want to charge you out your eyeballs to give you an inspection at your home. Whats wrong here . Something is wrong. Let me see if i can answer a couple of your questions. You talked about a lot of different things. I known i could talk about 50 more and i would still be at the end of the list. We talked about the pricegouging and a potential pricegouging with rent. As far as new orleans electricians the reason they ask that is because i think there is a lot of books that pretty much requires new orleans electricians to do the work which we are running into a problem with that because there are not enough electricians to do all the work they are. We may need an exemption of that particular law which we are going to work on. What was your last point . To have a place to stay. I have the property to put it on. I dont have an electrician so my question was can we use a generator . Okay thats fine. Where is the trailer . I called back and they called me back. Somebody will contact you. They have never contacted me to get measurements or whatever else they need to do. I want to come home. I want to go back to work and i cant. We will let you talk to fema gentleman to see if we can get an assessment of where you are on the list. Yes sir. Mr. Mayor one of the things we hear over and over again is people talk about the extended stay on hotels and we have a couple of people here now. More and more they come to the meetings and they are at a hotel where fema is being reversed but they are being told that they have to leave. As. Stand at the time their reimbursement and if they have why are people being put out the . We have a family here today thats being put out at the time is extended, then what time do they have and what rights does a person have two think they are set up for temporary extended stay and they are being asked to leave . The fema representative will respond. I can answer the president s question about the time extensions. Fema has granted a time extension on december 15, where fema will continue to pay for the hotel bills. After that time, fema is not affecting anyone. You can continue to stay in the hotel. He the disney to pay the bill yourself. And thats how it works. What im hearing people saying is that the folks that are in hotels right now, with if the hotel accepted the family tuesday was for a limited period of time it sounds like they have other folks coming in with reservations or other families coming in. Thats if challenge for all of us. If the hotel that to them for seven nights and you need to check out because someone else has a reservation, that is a situation between the family of the individual at the hotel. Im sure the hotel would love to be able to keep them and longer but if they have other folks coming and what can you do . Good evening mr. Mayor. Are you ready to go . Yes sir. Im in new orleans and here in most new orleans are coming back. I want to say mr. Mayor i want to compliment you on the job you are doing. You didnt know during your watcher would have the hurricanes i want to compliment you there. A lot of folks dont think you are doing a good job but i think you are sir. One of the things you mentioned postkatrina was 10,000 deaths and i think when the numbers add up we will lose a lot of the newer lenny and. Also i would like to continue to to we need free for you to sign a letter. You signed a letter for the rest to come on in the berry sums in the city. But i got a trailer and theres a step going to through the process with the trailer. Someone drops out that trailer and someone else does the trailer and someone comes and digs the hole to drop it in the hole. Someone else after this is done then we have no one to do the safety equipment. In the uptown area we have a trailer thats been sitting there for a month. People are tired of running back and forth. Everybody wants to come back on. We need you to sign a letter to say they like persian who is connecting the electorate, let these electrician inspectors counsel had a meeting going on where they talk and they said we dont need it. Anna g. Is in the trailer so what is the holdup getting our people back home . We sent to you and need you to sign the letter. Sign a letter that we can get the department to do this. That should be done we will follow to make sure that took place. Where to put in the process in the cao put out a policy statement that essentially said once you have her electrician to sign off on your trailer going in its over. So maybe we need to what electricity are you talking about . Are you talking about the one that fema came up with for the trailer . It dont matter. As long as its a licensed electrician we dont care where they come from. They send in the report and its done. My trailer has been sitting up there for one solid month. Go ahead councilwoman. The problem as one second please. The problem is the electricians know that. The contractors who are bringing out the trailers, apparently they dont know it exists they tell the citizens that you have to still go through safety permit so they can come out and inspect so the process is longer and longer. They also have contracted to tell persons you have to get your own electrician. That is not true either. The contractor who was installing the trailer is supposed to from a through z take care of the entire process. The citizens are not supposed to do anything nor pay 1 penny but thats not happening because the contractors are telling them something different. So we need to send something out so that everybody thats why we need the oversight of all of these contracts so whoever is doing it, everybody is following the same procedure and they are not following the same procedure. Then i think you councilwoman. In the closing i know you are doing a Regional Cooperation and i know thats going to take place but all these trailers particularly, lets put that in place so these people can move into the trailers. They have been sitting there for one solid month they there sir and the young man who brought my trailer said the hangup is in new orleans. Why are they putting us through so many changes . We have been through enough changes. Thank you. [applause] yes maam. The representative wants to make a comment. Thank you. Wasnt too long ago that the city waive the requirement to have the electrical inspection done after the trailer was connected. We will make sure that each and every one of the contractors employees know that. Sounds like it may be some cases where that word has not gotten out yet so we will make sure thats not going to be an obstacle and if i could take the mayors indulgence and go back to the case before that, to add something. When i said that after decembers team, the hotel bill wont be paid directly by fema and the family pays for it, i need to add that if that family is eligible for the rental assistance we have given them, the first 2003 and a 58 that so they can use to pay for the hotel bill. And continue after that. Recognizing that paying for a hotel room is a more expensive option but if they are eligible for the Housing Assistance they can use that money. All right, yes maam. Hi there. Im going to try to talk really fast because my two are so meters over and im hoping im not going to have a ticket when i walk out there. Im a clinical social worker and i live in new orleans. My practice is in new orleans. Our building is back up and working at the end of canal street and i grew up and chose new orleans is my home. Even though i have a strong determination to stay in the city and support the city and help all of us heal from all the trauma and grief that we are going through and have been through i think i just wanted to say there are so many obstacles and im sure you know it. Im sure you hear it. I appreciate you having these meetings for us to tell you things but i was sitting here making a list of all of the things that ive gone through trying to address, how to rebuild the city and bring my life back to the city bad credit that information from payment that i wasnt going to be eligible for Housing Assistance because i had Flood Insurance and somebody else said thats not accurate. I have gotten misinformation all of the place. Today i spoke to South Central bell about transferring my business phones because i want to move to a different floor in my building. They said we can hook up your phone service. It will be april. Im planning on moving my office is saturday upstairs where there is a bomb but its going to take until april for them to do that. I have tried to get information and im on the waiting list apparently for a trailer. I applied in early october and i got a