[StBernard] how about another list

[Westley Annis]

Gaby,

Although Jer tends to use "high falutin" words, I have to agree with him.

Money is tight for a lot of people, as well as time.  Although I am 90
minutes away, I still have obligations to my family.

It's not just a simple matter of making a living five days a week and then
working on a house that is not going to be used for the other two.  Besides
needing to take care of everyday matters, down time and family time are
still needed on those two last days of the week.

I realize you don't want to live next to homes that are still full of gunk,
but have you talked to your neighbors in the last nine months?  How close
are they to St. Bernard that they could find a day here or there to work on
it?

Everyone has their own schedule and resources and it doesn't always match up
with someone else's.

Using my case as an example. No, my house is not gutted and I've only just
now signed up for the free gutting.  The neighbor to the left of me and
across the street from them are gone for good, not coming back. I have seen
no indication from the neighbor of the right side of me that they are coming
back.  I haven't seen one trailer on my block.

Why did I wait to sign up for the gutting?  So that I would be as close to
the end of the list as possible.  I did not want my house to be gutted
before someone who was a little more deserving had theirs done.

I've also got the battle with the mortgage company.  As others have stated,
I am not going to sink any money into a house that may end up belonging to
the mortgage company before the one year anniversary of Katrina comes
around.

My house in Chalmette used to be my home, but Katrina took that "home" away
from me, so now it is just a house.  I do have a new house that I am now
making into a home for my family and that will simply take precedence over
the house in Chalmette.

Don't get me wrong, I miss my Chalmette house and it will take me quite some
time to get this new house to equal it, but in the grand scheme of things it
is simply a house, just like everything that was inside was simply
possessions.

Shortly after the storm someone asked me what I thought of losing
everything.  I said I was disappointed but it was not going to stop me from
living.  I had to buy all of those things, so now it meant I simply had to
buy them again.

I'm rambling now, so I'll just stop here.

Westley
 

-----Original Message-----

	Second, if my area is not going to be redeveloped under the
	Duany plan, cleaning up is not helping my neighbors as they won't be
able to
	come back to that neighborhood in the end anyway.>>

 

Point well taken about no neighbors being able to come back. 
Yet there are folks who know for a long time that their area is being
repopulated and still, they leave their property abandoned, with weeds now
higher than me, even higher than the gutter. 

I am tempted by mean thoughts of buying property adjacent to all those
people's new nice homes, putting a stinking rotten fridge there and let the
grass grow high, claiming I don't want to throw money away on the property
because someone will buy it from me within a year. 
Again, once I own property I am responsible for it until it is sold, no
matter if a person or the government buys it. It is still the owners
responsibility. 
I hope there is a middle ground that is workable for both sides. Just dont
abandon it like that. It is still yours, buy out or no buy out. Today it is
yours and you are responsible. How much you should spent? well, that is
another question. The minimum possible to make it acceptable. 
Just my two cents worth.

 
Gaby