HumidCity

Ouroboros, the mythological snake that eternally consumes its own tail. Circularity of this nature is very much on my mind right now. You see I am back in Dobbs Ferry, NY, the village north of the Bronx where my wife and I (and our cats) spent six weeks in exile from New Orleans after Katrina and the leveee failure. Yesterday was my first time not working madly from before 6am till late in the night while on a business trip up to Manhattan. It was only after the workload ended that the bizarreness of being back here at exactly the same time we sought refuge within these walls has begin to hit me.

The picture above is of our last night here, a week before Halloween in 2005, when I cooked up a vat of my jambalaya as a thank you to all of the wonderful people who kept us together and vaugely sane during those times. (Lto R: George Rodgers, Mrs. McQue, Jim McQue, Collen and her husband, my friend Sean Hastings who put us up, Cynthia and Molly Rodriguez, and in the foreground my lovely wife Alexis who was at the time my finacee) Today I have another pot of jambalaya on the stove and am waiting for them to arrive once more.

It is surreal to walk these streets at this time of year again. So much is the same, yet seen through different eyes. I am not nearly insane with depression and fear for the future as I was then. I know where my family and friends are and what the status of my home is. I’m not glued to the internet, radio and telecasts trying to average out a rough idea of what was actually the reality of the situation. I am not out of work with a strained bank account.

No. This time I am visiting Sean and his lovely wife Jo taking a day to say thanks. Three years have gone by and the kindness and help of these people has loomed large in my mind ever since. I do not think I can ever properly express what those weeks meant, or how different so many things would have been had we not ended up here.

As we battle the corruption in our government, protest the Mayor’s self aggrandizing pompousness, and dodge the flying lead of the Crescent City streets I still find that it is the simple kindnesses of people like this that provide me the strength to keep going.

I love these people and I can never thank them enough. The food is a mere token of the feeling that come to the fore as I sit here in Dobbs Ferry.

Here we go, the latest email submission from Mr. Fix The Pumps! Brace yourself because this is really bizarre: good news! Take it away Matt…

Dear New Orleanians,

This morning, FEMA issued its new Disaster Specific Guidance (DSG) for the Relocation Assistance program. This is the program to reimburse folks affected by Katrina and Rita for moving back home or to a new permanent address. The guidance was issued internally to FEMA’s front line customer service folks.

Note that everything below is not official guidance from FEMA. You should call (800) 621-FEMA to get the complete scoop.

Now, on to the good news…

Previously, FEMA had restricted eligibility for the program for those people who moved between February 1, 2006 and February 29, 2008.

Today, that opening date has been changed to August 29, 2005! That means anyone that moved back after the storm (and who meets all the other tests for eligibility) is now eligible. In other words, FEMA is no longer penalizing the pioneers who came back - or those folks who decided to put down roots somewhere else - as soon as possible after the storm. The closing date remains the same - February 29, 2008.

I assume there will be a press release on this in the coming days, but here’s some more details, straight from the actual DSG (note you can’t have already received these benefits from another organization, such as the United Methodist Church, the Red Cross, or any other agency that might have provided the assistance):

- as before, the benefit is a maximum of $4000. That is counted toward the theoretical maximum Individuals & Families Program benefit of $26,200. Thus, if your household has not received more than $22,200, you could receive up to the maximum $4000.

- a new part of the benefit is that FEMA will pay for one night of hotel stay if the move was more than 400 miles. They’ll pay for the room and taxes, but not room service or any other hotel services. If you had more than one room, (due to occupancy restrictions or had more than 4 people in your group during the move), FEMA will pay for another room. For each additional 400 miles over the first 400, FEMA will pay one more night.

- as before, the move must be 50 miles or more

- FEMA will pay for truck rental, moving help, moving supply purchases from the rental company (boxes, tape, etc), car rental, and even gas. Apparently, receipts are only required for the gas purchases, although they also mention you can put in for mileage (assumedly at the standard gov’t reimbursement rate in effect at the time of the move, though I would wait until the official guidance is released to the public for that detail). If you don’t have receipts for anything else, I think you can supply estimates or you can call the moving or rental company to get a duplicate receipt. But receipts are always best.

- FEMA will not pay for gas if you used your private vehicle to move back (they feel you would have been doing so anyway as part of a normal evacuation, and that any extra expenses incurred in such a private-vehicle move were covered by the $2000 Emergency Assistance - I’m not saying I agree… I’m just passing along the reasoning). If you rented a trailer to tow behind, they will pay for that.

- FEMA’s still paying for plane, train, and bus tickets home, as long as you haven’t had them paid for by some other organization.

- the program has been opened up to everyone in the Katrina-and-Rita-affected counties and parishes in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Previously, this program was only open to Louisiana storm victims.

There’s a few more details (you can only apply for benefits resulting from one of the storms, not both), but the big news is the date change. This is pretty huge, and will benefit thousands of people.

FEMA has set up a special fax number if you wish to submit your receipts by fax. It is:

(877) 828-9388

If you want to mail in your paperwork, the address is:

FEMA Relocation Assistance

NPSC

P.O. Box 10055

Hyattsville, MD 20782

As always, you should call 1-800-621-FEMA to register for the program and to get all the information. Ask to be transferred to a Relocation Assistance specialist. FEMA has specifically trained personnel to process this paperwork and answer aid recipients’ questions.

Note that FEMA has been holding off processing anyone’s Relocation Assistance claims that have been submitted in the last month (the program was announced August 27, 2007). They knew the program would be getting changed significantly, so they wanted to wait for the revised guidance. That way, everyone is being treated equally. According to the fellow I spoke with, processing of claims should begin today or tomorrow.

When the press release comes out, I’ll point you to it.

Matt McBride

One year ago:

trying desperately to turn my fear, pain, and shaking hands to good cause I continued to attempt to get an audio record of my fellow New Orleanians during this disaster. By this point I was rather wild eyed and crazy, just like most others.

Having just paid for our honeymoon and wedding, as well as having the Storm fall right before payday, L and I had practically no resources. We knew that wee only had a matter of two or three days in the hotel before we would be completely destitute in a foreign state a long way from home.

http://humidcity.com/2005/08/31/112550809130377077/
Michael Guilliot of Kenner speaks

http://humidcity.com/2005/08/31/112551409023146492/
File With FEMA Now (little did I realize at the time that this would be so useless to so many of us. My own adventures with FEMA, distasteful as they are pale in comparison to what others have experienced in the bungling of the last year.)

Like many of us I find myself gearing up for possible evacuation. Alternating between optimism and dread about the season I still try to be ready for the lack of action should anything ugly go down. I tell myself its only logical to be prepared.

With that in mind I thought I might share some of the things I am doing to get ready for another possible Era of Exile. These are mostly things involving using internet technology and services, but since you are reading this I’m willing to bet you can cope.

• We have too many photos to take with us when evacuating. There are album upon album filling the shelves of a small bookcase. In order to make sure that the images themselves survive. I have been madly scanning them and uploading them to my new Flickr account. $20 a year gets you up to 2 Gigs of upload a month along with all the other niceties it offers (sharing, organization, etc). This means I do not even have to worry about grabbing discs when we leave.
• In order to make sure that no matter what I have contact info for everyone I am using a service called Plaxo. It is an address book that automatically updates. One change to my own info (if displaced) is automatically updated in my friend’s and family’s adress books. A really good way of keeping current, especially if we end up scattered again.
• All our CDs are now relocated to easily carried binders (love CaseLogic!)
• If you do not already have one advise setting up a blog or online journal. You do not have to use it, but does give you a single web address to give everyone before leaving. Computer access is common these days so you should be able to update it periodically, even from the road. This is a good way of keeping friends and family updated if you are on the move. Livejournal is especially useful for this as it is very comunity oriented and was a center of networking during Katrina.
• Whereas we only had one cat carrier befoer the storm (only used it for vet trips) we now have a full complement of five. If you hunt around you can find really nice soft sided ones that are collapsible for about $20 each.
• A new and interesting product we discovered on the run last year are disposable cat boxes. They are thin plastic cat boxes with a small amount of litter in them. You peel off the paper seal, let the wee beasties have some privacy, and throw it out when you’re finished. These were a godsend in a number of vehicles, hotels, etc.
• If there are keepsakes or items of sentimental value that you know you will not be able to take when you leave, photgraph them. Throw the photos up on Flickr (see above) and no matter what at least you will have the image.
• A stand alone, web based email account with a service like yahoo, hotmail, or gmail makes sure you can always communicate if you can get online. I personally prefer gmail, but your milage may vary.

If you have useful or creative ideas for prepping for the season please leave them in the comments. In the meantime I’m off to light some candles and hope it is not needed.

We are here, and now that I have had a few moments I am furious with the Federal Government! This semievolved australopithecene that we call a “President,” has dropped the ball in the most criminal way. He is not just responsible for people dying but for the death and destruction of one of the most unique and historic sites in America. He has also through his fumbles sacrificed the entire economy (check those gas prices ladies and gentlemen!)

Here is a quote from an email I got today from someone near and dear to us. Since I do not know if he would wish his name used I will not at this time. I will say the source is from someone who is no stranger to working directly with the government.

” I do hold the president, the legislature, the departments of defense, and homeland security direcly responsible for the magnitude of this disaster. The lack of preparation for this disaster and the half-hearted, slow responsiveness to save lives and control crime represent a lack of leadership by the president. legislators, and the military. We need to hold them all accountable for not protecting our city and our homes until it was too late. Four years ago, Bush approved the cancellation of the funding that was appropriated for the ongoing project to strengthen and complete the levee system. It is unforgivable.”

That says it far more eloquently than I can at this point. I don’t care who you are around the world, if you are reading this begin shouting! We cannot allow them to fail us on this grand a level and not suffer consequences. Bush should be imnpeached. Look at the press photos of GW. See the Apache helicopters that should be transporting people out rahter than being used for a photo op? See the uniformed military personnell who should be out saving my neighbors who are dying in thousands? See the smirking fiend who should have cut short his vacation BEFORE the storm hit? My taxes pay his salary and he LET MY CITY DIE! And let’s not forget Gulfoport, Mobile and every other city and town along the coast.

We can ship in 14, 000 military police at a time but we cannot get food to the dying in the convention center. We can fly across the country on a passenger flight in 4 hours but its THREE DAYS LATER and we can’t fly more people out. This is worse than any American should ever put up with. I don’t care what side of the poitical question you are on, would you want his monkey to let your entire circle of friends, family, memories, YOUR ENTIRE CITY to go through this while they do nothing?

Now enough time has passed and I am pissed! WE are changing this site into a NOLA networking project. Pass the URL along and we will do our best to continue bringing important info to other refugees. We will also begin working on unifying people to make the current adminstration accountable for the single worst and dealiest case of governmental malfeasance in US history.

Take care of each other.
Be safe.
Be in touch.

Okay everybody, our progressively more and more surreal stay in West Memphis is coming to a close. We have managed to find quite a few people (the post below has a list) who made their way out in various directions, we are also still looking for many (another post right below this one).

Alexis and I have experienced an amazing array of good fortune all of a sudden. I have made contact with my Mother, Father, Sister, and Grandmother and they are all okay. We have also made a very bizarre discovery about the state of the city.

On a lark I tried my landlord’s landline and it worked! He had stayed to ride it out and had no idea that he was in the middle of one of the most massive disaters in American History ™. It seems that the area around St Charles and Napoleon are almost unscathed. He said that the power was out and he was just waiting for the people to return and the powert to come back on. He had no idea of the violent chaos a mere 20 minute walk away at Canal St. He is currently there with about 4 other people. I told him where the food stores, water supplies, booze, and parlor games in my apartment were and told I would get him updates. I then proceeded to explain what the newcasts were saying and caution him about the verious hazards. I’m contacting FEMA and letting them know here he is to try to get him out.

From what can gather it is going to be months before we can return and even then it will be a harsh envirnoment. Current projections say 4 months till people are allowed back in and 6 mos. til the water is pumped out, that is assuming we don’t get another storm our way before the end of Hurricane Season. That would make us dry at just about Carnival time. If the city is open I WILL be there to march with my Krewe Mardi Gras morning and there will be a Rumpus Toast even if I have to make it myself!

As far as returning I do not know how viable that may be. Even with the majority of the physical work done the economic factors as well as the truly assinine level of violence may preclude it. Our current plan is headed for Bloomington, IN to see my fiancee’s family and then off to NYC where some dear friends have set us up with digs and work. If we have to permanently relocate Bloomington is probably going to be it. Time and recon will tell.

This evening was an odd one, we went to a local Baptist Church that was putting on a dinner for the refugees. The Doodler, Lex, Esther, Gina Forsyth and I joined the large and varied crowd of New Orleanians for some really good fried chicken and some classic southern style proselytizing. Fortunately the later was in sparing amounts, and it did me good to see church folk actually living up to the values they espouse. Being from N.O. most of my interactions with the extremely religious have involved microcephalic fire and brimstone at Mardi Gras and Baptist ministers with huge diamonds, huge waistlines, and really expensive cars. This was a very nice change of pace.

Gina Forsyth brought her guitar and fiddle and did a few cajun tunes for those gathered to eat. We had rescued her cats, car and guitar from the city on our way out (incidentally allowing us to get more people out), and she joined us here yesterday direct from touring Denmark. We then made our getaway right before the Bible Study. Many thanks to those good people, but I prefer to skip the God Talk(tm). Debating beliefs is something I will have time for later. Fantastic chicken though!

Now for that request: please survey the lists below and pass the info on. We should let as many people as possible know who we have found and have as many ears to the ground about the missing as possible.

Be safe and take care of each other.