[StBernard] Senator questions rebuilding

[Westley Annis]

Did they feel this was when Florida got hit 4 times ? ! 

Syl
 
-----Original Message-----


>From WWLTV.com

 
Another Senator is questioning the decision to spend billions of dollars to
help especially hard hit areas of southeast Louisiana rebuild - especially
areas that will continue to be vulnerable to another storm. 
 
Utah Republican Senator Bob Bennett made his comments at a hearing of the
Congressional appropriations committee where the head of the Department of
Homeland Security and the director of HUD were asking for an additional $19
billion to continue rebuilding. 
 
"I'm happy to appropriate money to people who are in trouble," said Bennett.
"But, if we are going to appropriate money and rebuild in a place that the
law of physics say doesn't make sense for people to live in, building a city
10 feet below sea level doesn't strike me as inherently a good idea." 
 
HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson echoed Bennett's co ncerns and said that
while the blueprint for rebuilding may lie with the state and some
individual parishes, the plan must be approved by Congress before the money
will be doled out. 
"I've made it very clear to the mayor of New Orleans, it is he and the
governor's decision but we will have input in it, and it doesn't make sense
to build where there's a possibility this might happen again," said Jackson.

 
For areas like the lower Ninth Ward, Lakeview and St. Bernard Parish, there
is no guarantee hurricane Katrina's devastation won't be repeated. Much
depends on the rebuilding of the levees.  
 
Bennett said he has little confidence that can be done sufficiently. 
"The Army Corps of Engineers. if you look back in history, doesn't really
have a good record of making wise decisions on how to handle water," he
said. 
 
Bennett said he understands there are sentimental attachments involved, but
in using billions of tax payer dollars, he said decisions must not be based
on emotions. 
 
"If somebody makes a real stupid decision in the name of nostalgia, that we
want to rebuild this neighborhood just like it was, maybe Katrina said to us
you don't want a neighborhood there." 
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So, I guess don't count on those grants anytime soon...  very sad.
 
Jim