[StBernard] rentals

[Westley Annis]

I am trying to find out, as we have a 2nd home on our property almost ready
to be rented, but we were told when we bought the property we could not;
also, interested reading your views and it sure is the chicken or the egg;
as far as the where money is spent; i.e, towards securing levees versus home
reconstruction, we need both simultaneously and as our !@#$% president
promised "we have enough money to rebuild Iraq and Louisiana"; okay, we're
waiting. In the meantime, all we have left is the right to choose to rebuild
or leave, but it is inexplicable to me why we are put in this position.
Mudpie 



	----- Original Message -----
	
	I'm curious about how - on what grounds - St. Bernard Parish plans
to 
	prohibit individual property owners from renting out homes. I don't 
	understand how any legislation or ordinance could be passed that
would 
	require a property owner to live in a privately owned dwelling
and/or 
	prohibit a property owner from renting a privately owned residence
to 
	whomever he chooses. I certainly am unfamiliar with the applicable
property 
	laws, but it seems that such a plan would seriously infringe on
individual 
	and personal property rights. 
	
	As for what I plan to do with my home - that depends on many things
over 
	which I have little or no control. Will the MRGO be closed? If so,
when? 
	Will proactive measures be taken to restore the 'disappeared' land
mass that 
	offered protection from storm surge prior to 1965? If so, what and
when? 
	Will something more significant be done with the Industrial Canal
levee 
	other than patching the sections that failed? If so, what and when?
What 
	category of hurricane will the levees be built to withstand? 
	
	Although I plan to make repairs, I don't plan to invest any
significant 
	money in my home until I have the answers to those questions. As
long as my 
	property taxes are paid, my grass is cut, and my home is maintained,
I don't 
	understand how - legally - the parish government can 'make' me do
anything. 
	
	Like many residents of St. Bernard Parish, I have very little left
and, 
	frankly, I am reluctant to take any additional financial risks. It
seems 
	that, if St. Bernard Parish still is a part of the United States and
our 
	constitutional rights still apply, property owners cannot be
'forced' to 
	invest money in repairs to a home that likely will be flooded with
the next 
	'near miss' hurricane. 
	
	I know other people may make a different decision. That's one of the
great 
	things about a democracy - freedom of choice. I certainly don't want
to - 
	and have no plans to - hurt the parish or anyone who opts to rebuild

	immediately. St. Bernard Parish was home and probably always will be
the 
	place where my heart is. But that won't pay the bills and it won't
offer 
	any more protection from the next storm than it did for Katrina. 
	
	Instead of parish government - or any government - telling me what I
must do 
	with my privately owned property, I'd like to see that time and
energy 
	invested in getting local, state, and federal politicians to develop
and 
	IMPLEMENT plans/strategies that provide real, meaningful protection
from 
	hurricanes and the associated storm surge. 
	
	We all know that life offers no guarantees, so I'm not asking for
one. But 
	I sure would like odds that give me something less than a 100%
chance of 
	having my house flooded again. 
	
	Pattie Doody