[StBernard] Discouraged

[Westley Annis]

AND THEY WONDER WHY WE ARE NOT RETURNING.....GJS



>

>I have only posted an email to this group once in the past, but after 

>visiting my home in Lexington this afternoon I felt compelled to 

>express my opinion on the "blighted housing" issue.  My house is 

>gutted, by the grace of the wonderful volunteers.  However, it still 

>sits with debris from the surrounding houses as well as some of my own.  

>I am a single mother, who spent a great deal of time, with only my mother

helping me, digging and

>gutting my house before any volunteers ever arrived.   The inside of my

>house was basically empty except for the mud and sheetrock.  The task 

>of removing the rest of the debris from my yard, shed & garage is 

>extremely overwhelming to me.  However, what disturbs me more is the 

>vandalism that I discovered today.  After being gutted and cleaned up, 

>my house was left with only one broken window in the front of my house, 

>and it was a window broken by me during my attempt to clean out my 

>house.  Today I discovered many glass beer bottles scattered in front 

>of my house.  Those beer bottles were used to beat out the remaining 

>windows in the front of my home.  I spoke to my neighbor who is living 

>in a fema trailer across the street.  He told me that he just recently 

>had paint balls shot at the front of his house and eggs thrown all over 

>his van......and he is living there.  Now I have to spend money to 

>replace windows broken by vandals.....money that I don't have......and 

>for what?????  Who will guarantee that they will not be broken again?  

>The parish wants all the homes to be brought into "compliance" by 

>August 29th with windows fixed and doors replaced, but can anybody 

>insure that it will not be done in vain????  My plan was to gut and 

>clean out my property, bring it into compliance and maintain it until I 

>could afford to rebuild it.....but, I cannot afford to keep replacing 

>windows, etc. after vandals destroy it.  So, what should I do now????

>

>Lisa LaHoste

>