[StBernard] Don't Tread On Me

[Westley Annis]

Craig,
 
Of course this had to be done.  Even if folks are saying "Well I'll come
back next year after this hurricane season is over with", if they have a
house that's not gutted, it's only going to further deteriorate to the point
there will be nothing that can be done with it except demolition.
 
We know everyone has been traumatized by this-that is without question.  A
lot of folks have moved on, starting/restarting their lives elsewhere.  But,
there's this one final thing they need to do to close out one cycle of their
lives to begin cleanly with the new start they are attempting to make.
 
I feel deeply for all of our residents and what they/we have gone through.
However, there must be steps taken to move on with the recovery of the
parish.  I'll use an analogy:  We are still up here in AL because my mom has
had 2 hospitalizations; 1 when she was throwing extra heart beats-PVCs and
one after where the medication they were giving her for the PVCs started
messing with the blood-thinning medication she takes.  The hospital resolved
the issue with the Coumadin, however she was left very weakened.  The
hospital she was at also had a physical rehab unit in it and I got her
evaluated for that.  Lakeshore took her onto their unit.  At first she did
not want to cooperate and I'd have to go talk to her finally telling her:
"Look, I know you want to get back home as badly as I do.  However, you're
too physically weak at this time.  If you don't want to cooperate with these
folks then I have no choice other than to put you in a nursing home up here
so I can go back home to start rebuilding."  Well, she griped, she cussed
and she bitched, but she worked with the therapists.  She'll finish her home
(hotel) physical therapy this week and she's to the point where she can do
stairs now. It was a battle but she has finally acknowledged that it was the
correct thing to do.
 
I do know that from what I've seen on nola.com, the gutting prices have come
down.  We hired the neighbor to do ours because we knew he wouldn't just
throw everything out but would salvage what he thought was still good (not
much from what I understand, but he was able to get my father's burial flag)
and he also did several bleach treatments on the studs and things.
 
Just my thoughts on the subject.  Mine are no better nor any worse than
anyone else's thoughts.
 
JLY
 
 


 

	-----------------------------------------------------
	
	Laurie and all,
	
	The leaders have the task to consider where this community is
heading- to
	not set guidelines to move the recovery forward is negligent. While
there
	are hardships for many- keep in mind that the motivation to respond
is
	relative to the perceived payoff- Think of this- if we were offering
a
	monetary bonus for doing what is each homeowner's responsibility,
there
	would be a different level of compliance. This post will bring fire
from
	some- but I and the other council members have been in this up to
our ears
	and experience many of the same frustrations that every other
resident has.
	Our decisions will in many cases be unpopular and will be criticized
by
	people who will have different opinions and the "right answers".
This will
	not deter the task at hand to push this community forward- truth be
told-
	we have waited too long to push this issue and have allowed too long
of a
	wait and too much of a dependency on programs that will not be the
answer.
	Remember that these guidelines will also apply to the business
	establishments that have done nothing to this point.