Bill wrote:
You are right, Mary. I am from St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana and every house and business was wiped out from Katrina. It has been almost two years and I am still fighting the system to just get an SBA loan to rebuild.
I have not received any help other than FEMA which has been paying my rent till we get our new house built. We have been fighting the Road Home program because they come in and low ball the value of your house. You have SBA saying we cannot give you enough money to rebuild because you would have been made whole. And what I do not understand about SBA is it is a loan it’s not something they just give you.
You have to pay them back but you still get hassled. I do not understand our government how they can help every other country but cannot help the Gulf Coast. I even wrote a letter to Mr. Bush about why I could not get enough money to rebuild another house in a much safer place in Louisiana. Did not receive much of an answer other than SBA could only loan us so much and we would have to secure other funding and I said, what other funding. I am 53 years old and now am going to have a 30 year loan to pay back. My house was paid for and was looking forward to retirement but I guess now I might not see even this house paid for. But you are right if I could ask another country for some kind of help, I sure would. Thanks for listening. BILL of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana
Christa wrote:
Thank you Mary for your article on June 18th about the Big Easy. I understand how everyone is getting tired of hearing about New Orleans. I am getting tired of being let down by the government I pay taxes to. Living here in New Orleans is anything but “Easy”. When they refused Castro and Chavez’s help for us, I was mortified; thousands of my neighbors were suffering. We needed all the help we could get. Our city has been let down. It is a common joke now that we are a living in a Third World City down here. C’est la vie. As they say we are the City that Care Forgot. Maybe they will figure it all out after they get control of all the oil on this planet. Thank you again Mary for still caring.
EJG wrote:
I have to give a high five on your article. It's almost two years since Katrina flooded my home with eleven feet of water due just to our Government levee failure. I'm still working on restoring my home with my own savings and still waiting for the Louisiana Long Road Home money, while my oldest son (Marine) serves his time in Iraq. What a hell hole I'm in!!! Thanks Mary for your good intentions.
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