[StBernard] debris

[Westley Annis]

I haven't had a URG debris truck or Murphy debris truck on my street in 3
weeks. Although we still have some homes, not many, that haven't gutted,
majority have done the initial gutting. So now it's light fixtures, plumbing
fixtures, fences that blew down, yard stuff and as each house is sold to a
new family, the mounds grow. This is a good sign of recovery, but it adds
debris.  This of course is in addtion to the white goods put out in 2004
which haven't been picked up since November when they were no longer picked
up in the Murphy spill area.
 
With the remodeling work there are now new wood scrap piles, sheetrock,
boxes, etc. A few months ago I asked if we needed to budget for a private
dumpster to haul away new construction debris and Craig said that FEMA said
it was part of the recovery and that the FEMA paid contractors would take
it. Now, I hear rumors that URG has been told not to pickup debris from new
construction.  FEMA definitely told St. Tammany and Jefferson last week in
the T-P that they would not pick up new construction debris so these
parishes had to advise homeowners to revert back to private disposal.
 
So with debris pickup being about once a month, my question is, if URG is
also doing 10 house demos a day (goal is 100), did they add more crews or
not? Just don't see how URG can keep up if they are torn between three major
tasks-pre Katrina debris, post-Katrina debris, and house demolitions.
 
Now add a lot a people who are starting to clean up their lawns and pull the
four foot tall weeds/trees on their yards and get debris off their roofs and
put that out on the curb. That could be thousands of homes trying to be
responsible property owners before August 29. Again, will URG add more crews
for this task? 
 
If URG can't provide enough crews, can the Parish either get more direct
contractors for additional contracts or use the FEMA/Corps provided
contractor?  We've got to get debris out and while I see lots of full trucks
heading to the dump, I see tons more waiting for pickup.
 
Craig, I'd appreciate whatever insight you can provide. How's the public
dumpster idea coming? I'd hire someone to cart my debris from my house if
they had a local place to bring it  so that the cost was reasonable. That's
what many in Jeff Parish did.
 
ddk