FEMA Will Not Pay For BNOB
Planners
Yunji de Nies,
March 9, 2006, 5:16 PM CST
NEW ORLEANS — Walking through his
Lakeview home, Glenn Stoudt sees progress.
"Looking good, looking like it's possible," Stoudt said,
standing inside of his gutted home on Canal Blvd.
Stoudt also sees strong possibilities for his neighborhood.
His group, the Lakeview Civic Improvement Association,
is following the bring new orleans back commission's plan --
meeting regularly to map out lakeview's future.
"There's no playbook, we're attempting the earlier and
easier things as we go along," Stoudt said.
But they need help on the harder things like deciding which
blocks should be commericial versus green space. They have
asked for help from BNOB urban planners but have not gotten
any.
"We've had only pleasant apologies," Stoudt said.
When the Bring New Orleans Back commission presented their
plan to the city on January 11, they promised to provide
neighborhood groups with urban planners. FEMA was supposed
to cover the $5 million cost of those professionals, but so
far the agency has not come up with the money.
"The citizens of this community should be furious at the
fact that this is not moving forward in a smooth and
organized way," said Ray Manning, an architect working with
the BNOB commission.
Manning is in charge of coordinating the city's 13
neighborhood planning groups. He says FEMA representatives
agreed to pay for the planners but those representatives
have been replaced, and the new group wants to save money.
"What we're alarmed about now is the fact that there doesn't
seem to be level of commitment that is constantly being
proported on the part of the federal government to help the
city get back on its feet," Manning
Manning says by not giving citizens the promised
professional help, FEMA is undermining the most important
aspect of the city's rebuilding effort.
In Lakeview Glenn Stoudt says, his group will keep working,
but he worries that without the planners, other
neighborhoods may give up.
"We're all one team. We can't rebuild this city in parts, we
need to rebuild this city as a whole," Stoudt said.
Manning says neighborhood groups should keep working to meet
the BNOB's May 20th deadline. He says rather than wait for
the appeals process through FEMA, he is trying to raise the
money for the urban planners privately.
A FEMA spokesperson says they discussed the funding, but
never formally agreed to pay for the program, and have no
plans to. FEMA plans to pull out all but three long term
recovery planning teams across the state after March 20th.
Two of the three remaining offices will be in Orleans
Parish, the other will be in Cameron Parish.
Copyright © 2006, WGNO
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FEMA Will Not Pay For BNOB Planners
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