[StBernard] Irate St. Bernard officials want state to start writing Road Home checks

[Westley Annis]

Noting that not a single St. Bernard Parish resident has received a Road
Home check, the parish council on Tuesday demanded that the state government
declare every house in the parish 100 percent damaged and start writing
checks to compensate residents. 

All but 5 houses flooded in St. Bernard, most to the rootops. 

At Tuesday's council meeting, rage poured out of local officials over the
continuing delays of the Road Home program, which at last count had paid
fewer then 100 Louisiana homeowners out of the 87,000 who had applied for
federal rebuilding or buyout grants. 

"We are demanding an immediate response to St. Bernard's need," said Council
Craig Taffaro. "We've had no area that was unaffected by the storm." 

The council called for the Gov. Kathleen Blanco to issue an executive order
declaring every house in St. Bernard Parish to be a total loss, and valued
at $120 a square foot, which local officials estimate as the average cost of
rebuilding a house in the devastated parish. 
The passage of the resolution came after comments from Road Home
administator Michael Byrne, who came in an attempt to soothe the nerves of
politicians and resident over the sluggish pace of rebuilding grants. 

"We're going to ask you for what will immediately fix the problems," Taffaro
told Byrne. "We think it's simple and straightforward and provides an
immediate mechanism for relief." 

Bryne sidestepped the issue, and attempted to soothe the council's nerves
with a host of statistics, which he claimed showed a picture of an impending
flood of money headed toward the parish. 

"It's not all bad news," Byrne said. "There has been a lot of work done.
We're at the final, critical juncture." 

Bryne promised to relay the sentiments of the irrated council to the
governor, but made no promises and offered no firm timelines for payment to
residents. 

"We're not resting until this is done," Byrne said. 

He also noted that certain requirements by the Department of Housing and
Urban Development that may dictate how the determine the pre-Katrina value
of houses. 

Currently, Road Home will accept an owner's pre-Katrina appraisal, but will
not accept an appraisal done after the storm. Meanwhile, the adminstrators
are using computer models based on average selling prices in the
neighborhood before the storm, a model that Road Home officials acknowledged
were flawed in a recent Louisiana Recovery Authority meeting. 

After one council asked why not a single St. Bernard resident had received a
check, given that parish resident have received more than 2,000 "award
letters," Byrne frankly admitted he didn't know. 

"I don't have a good reason for you," he said. "I will find a reason for
you." 

For St. Bernard Parish Councilwoman Judy Hoffmeister, who was uninsured and
depends on a substantial Road Home settlement to rebuild, Bryne's answer
fell flat. 

"This is like a wake. For 16 months, every day we go to our wake, but we
never bury the dead," she said. "I am the only council member whose house is
now a slab. I, like many others, was heavily underinsured. My mental health
is not that good. I figured my grant alread, on the formula, so if I get a
letter that is not what I think it will be ... I am depending on the LRA. I
cannot move on." 

Karen Turni can be reached at kturni at timespicayune.com or at (504) 826-3321.