Let me ask you this--are you surprised?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is closing its long-term recovery office in New Orleans, claiming local officials failed to meet their planning obligations after Hurricane Katrina.
The office is responsible for helping the city devise a blueprint to rebuild destroyed houses, schools and neighborhoods.
"FEMA cannot drive the planning -- our mission is to support it. We can only do so much and then we look to the city to embrace and begin planning and managing," said FEMA's national spokesman Aaron Walker. "Once they begin planning, we can re-engage with them."
And the most obvious:
City officials were angered by the move, saying New Orleans is again being abandoned by the federal government. Deputy Mayor Greg Meffert said the FEMA office and the city worked in tandem initially, but had a falling out over funding earlier this spring.
"We have a city that has an enormous planning need and you need planners. To date, we haven't gotten any monetary support to bring in planners," Meffert said.
Several employees of the disbanded office agreed with Meffert, saying that at the beginning the office worked closely with city officials, helping implement their plans. The relationship soured after the mayor's rebuilding commission, a group of businessmen and community leaders asked to create plans for redevelopment, requested FEMA money this spring to help fund their planning effort.
Brad Gair, then-director of FEMA's long-term recovery office, made a verbal promise to city officials to fund the effort, Meffert said. Gair has since left the New Orleans office.
"It appears the mayor's office misunderstood the commitment made: While FEMA is committed to the long-term recovery of the Gulf Coast region, providing funding for planning does not fall under the federal guidelines of public assistance," Walker said.
Eight months after Katrina, rebuilding has barely begun.
Welcome to the United States of Incompetence, folks. Enjoy your stay.
Tags: [FEMA], [New Orleans], [Hurricane Katrina], [Katrina disaster], [the Katrina disaster continues in New Orleans], [New Orleans is so screwed], [FEMA closes its New Orleans office], [United States of Incompetence]
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