[StBernard] Condemned

[Westley Annis]

	Well said John.
	 
	JY
	 
	-----------------------------------------------------
	
	Mr. Jochum:
	
	I respect your opinion as I would expect you to respect mine. I did
not
	wait for the politicians to tell me what to do. Instead, I endured
the
	frustration of trying to find out what I could do, and believe me,
if it
	were not for this site and the information provided by Westley and
Craig,
	every decision I made would have been based on what little
information I
	could obtain. 
	
	I have spent virtually every free minute of my time working to clean
and
	rebuild my home, while at the same time, attempting to find work.
Believe
	me, it has taken its toll, both mentally and physically. When I look
across
	the street or over the fence and I see homes that are just sitting
there
	because the owners have informed me that they have no interest in
spending
	time or money to clean-up a property that they no longer care about,
I can't
	help but pray for a deadline to enforce a clean-up of their
property. Once
	properties are identified and owners face fines, I fully expect that
these
	individuals will take some form of action, while those without the
means
	(the elderly, the handicapped, single mothers, etc.) should be able
to look
	to the parish government for assistance in cleaning their
properties. 
	
	Unless I missed something along the way, which is quite possible
given that
	I had to commute from Chattanooga every other week for five months,
I never
	once saw where anyone said to "get on the list and everything will
be
	honkey-dorey". If this was, in fact, communicated, then the person
	responsible should be held accountable. 
	
	In any case, there is an element of personal responsibility that we
must all
	accept. I firmly believe that the deadline is more than generous,
but at
	the same time, I also believe that exceptions must be made based
upon
	individual circumstances, in a fair, impartial manner. I don't agree
that we
	should act in the same manner as New Orleans. We have different
situations,
	and tighter controls. There is NO reason that we cannot work with
our
	elected officials to make decisions that work best for the majority
of
	people. 
	
	There is no right or wrong here. We are all simply trying to make
the most
	of a horrendous situation. As a community, we need to work together
to
	rebuild St. Bernard.
	_______________
	John Richardson