In New Orleans, the Road Home Adds a New Bump

When people outside New Orleans ask, "what happened to all the federal money?", the question is echoed by those in the city. One answer: the Road Home program, designed by the State to insure that Louisiana, in this case, would be less corrupt than Chicago, Boston, or Washington, D.C., has instituted a Kafkaesque array of hoops for applicants for the money, designed to compensate homeowners for the damage caused by the federal flood, to jump through.

Now the Times-Picayune reports there's a new twist to the process that adds another layer of frustration to the process, a twist that would stun even Kafka. To avoid the possibility of paying homeowners compensation for damage they've already (improbably) received an insurance settlement for, the Road Home is now stalling insurance payments until they can review any imaginable paperwork. So now homeowners can wait an unconscionably long time for both their own insurance settlement and the federal compensation.

What's not to like?

Comments

[antispin]

The road home goes through the Hamlet of 911, a financial coup d'etat. Where did that 3 trillion in mission Pentagon contractor money disappear? Don't worry, it's on the road home (to 911 nowhere.) Should the paperwork become to cumbersome, they'll just drive another plane into it. Hey, baby, that's cuttin' some raw red tape! They are some can-do problem solvers at the Pentagon - you should get them on your case!

[azureblue]

If Bush can send Billions in cash to Iraq, to be given to any one who walks in the door, then why not send mere Millions to New Orleans? If it is OK to hand it out willy nilly to foreign strangers, then why is it wrong to hand it out in the same manner to US citizens in dire need?