SD's Tim Johnson (D) is going to get some of the FEMA Mobile Homes released to Indian Reservations!

[KoKo]

Just now on CNN. Report of the Mobile Homes sitting in Arkasas that can't be used for Katrina Survivors
in New Orleans (because of red tape and regulations) will be sent to Indian Reservations in South Dakota because they've been "reclassified" as "Surplus." There are 11,000 of these homes sitting there in AK!

My question is...why couldn't Katrina Survivors get these Mobile Homes classified as "Surplus" by their Congressperson? :shrug:

Any NO's Du'ers know more about this? Why those Mobile homes are still sitting in a field in Arkansas and not parked in the yard of devastaed NO's families?

Just reported on CNN...no link yet...just have to take my word for what I heard. But here's snip from Anderson Cooper report on this:


----------------
Monday, February 13, 2006
Katrina mobile homes immobile in Arkansas

Anderson Cooper Reports:

I've lived in New Orleans 13 years now, a Yankee who got sucked in by the smell of gardenias in February and couldn't pull away.

My house is in the part of New Orleans we've started to call the "sliver by the river," the narrow strip along the Mississippi that didn't flood. So I'm typing this from the study of my 100-year-old home, with its hardwood floors and high ceilings, feeling lucky and guilty and numb.

The failure of the levees wiped-out 217,000 homes in New Orleans. Tens of thousands of people are desperate for any kind of temporary housing that will allow them to stay here while they rip the moldy sheetrock out of their homes and try to start over. But there's little housing available.

Apartment rents have doubled, FEMA-paid hotel rooms are being phased-out, and FEMA trailers are in short supply. Then this past week, I saw -- like an oasis in the desert -- 11,000 FEMA mobile homes, real homes, 3-bedroom, 2-bath beauties (comparatively speaking) -- sitting in an Arkansas cow pasture.

FEMA says these mobile homes aren't allowed in a flood plain, which pretty much rules out most of southeast Louisiana. Why did FEMA order them in the first place if they can't be used in areas where people need them? That's what I asked, but nobody seems to know. So the mobile homes sit there, immobile, 450 miles away from the Gulf Coast.

[karlrschneider]

1. I just saw that too. It's nothing short of criminal to let them sit unused.

GRR

[Donnachaidh]

2. uhh == stupid question?

Are these mobile homes able to take the full brunt of winter in South Dakota? They should be used somewhere -- but I wonder if they are equipped to get people through a HEAVY, snowy winter.

And they should have gone to the NOLA folks who needed them.

[uppityperson]

4. If the choice is a uninsulated cabin with no plumbing and holes in siding, yes.

I agree, they should go to Katrina survivors.

Sometimes people live in cabins on the ground (no floor) with holes in siding, no insulation, no plumbing. These mansions would be an improvement in that case.

[madfloridian]

3. I saw that .....was it recent with Tim Johnson? He looks great if so.

I was amazed. Or was it from before? He is supposed to be back in congress in September.

[trashcanistanista]

5. I remember Dorgan trying to

get this to happen about a year ago. I think it's because they are sitting unused and the govt. is paying something like $300,000 a month for the rental storage space so he wanted them taken to the Indian reservations and distribute them to the needy. Why not to NO you ask? They are not floodworthy. They don"t meet govt. standards for floodworthy. Apparently that quetion wasn't asked by FEMA when they were purchased in the first place, so they are useless to NO. They will probably withstand a winter with a woodstove inside. And snow swept off of the roof. I believe Dorgan was turned down by the Senate because they are for emergency and have to be stored for the next national emergency which if a flood, they can't be used anyway, so it goes on and on. They sit and the storage is paid for.

[madfloridian]

6. I was wondering if this interview with Johnson was recent?

He really looked very good for all he has been through.

[KoKo]

8. Oh...was it recent... CNN played it as if it WAS... It's possible given the Media

inaccuracies that they could have played an "old clip" and it was something he was working on before his problems and so it went through because the Senate wanted to show support.

I didn't look around for "time stamp" of him speaking because I was doing something else. But, you have a good question. Showing Tim Johnson as fit and fine...when it's an "old clip" would be interesting for CNN to do.

[KoKo]

7. It was maybe 20 minutes ago...didn't connect Tim Johnson...because

I was so shocked at the report. I think they had a clip of a speech...I forgot that it was THE Tim Johnson. If so he looked great and spoke well. I guess in brain surgery issues one worries about speech being not so great...but the clip they had didn't show anything that would flag a person who had been through what he has. :shrug:

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

11. Here's a recent great opinion column about Johnson

Apparently some right wing "concerned businessman" wants him out.

http://www.yankton.net/stories/062007/ope_178742691.shtml

[jwirr]

9. Most Native Americans already have housing programs that are

supposed to provide for their housing needs but there is still homelessness on the rez. I would like to see this expanded to include more homeless people regardless of race. I would love to have one of those homes. I live in one room.

[CountAllVotes]

10. if this is deemed "surplus Federal Property"

Then the tribes have the right to claim it by law. Ref: The situation where the Indians took over Alcatraz Island some 30+ years ago. Alcatraz had been deemed "surplus Federal Property" at that time thus the tribes tried to claim it unsuccessfully.

The tribes have every right to claim these trailers and yes, there are many forgotten Katrina victims that happen to be Native American, like the Choctaw tribe of Mississippi for example. Many are still homeless and still very devasted on the Choctaw lands as a result of Katrina and have no where to live but you never hear much about his do you?

:thumbsup: for the Indian tribes that are smart enough to claim this unused "surplus Federal Property" and also thank you to Sen. Johnson for not letting them just slip away to nowhere and remain used, esp. when needed so very badly by those with a voice that is rarely heard.

:dem: :kick:

[KoKo]

12. I don't have problems with Tribes or Native Americans using the Mobile Homes

I'm so glad to see them USED BY ANYONE! But, I wonder about the money we taxpayers paid for this boondoggle for Southern Mobile Home Manufacturers to RAKE IN THE BIG BUCK for 11,000 Mobile Homes sitting in a field in Arkansas.

We have HOMELESS AMERICANS...NATIVE AND SUFFERING who NEED HELP...while 11,000 Mobile Homes sit in Arkansas? :eyes: Like with all things BUSH...it just get's the OUTRAGE METER off CHART! :-(

[CountAllVotes]

15. the odd thing about this is

there are many Native Americans living in Arkansas. In fact, that is where the Indian side of my family is from. The Cherokee and the Choctaw and several other tribes were "removed" to Arkansas Territory in 1840. Today, many are still there and still living in poverty.

I agree with you, these FEMA trailers should be used by any American that needs one of them. If the tribes can obtain and use them easily enough being "surplus Federal property" status, GOOD FOR THEM I agree! :)

:dem:

[KoKo]

16. I see your point...who makes BUCKS out of shipping them to ND when they

could be used for tribes closer to AK and for Homeless other Americans who are also closer than ND.

It's a question that needs to be asked....

[Frustratedlady]

13. Not only were the homes allowed to depreciate without having been used,

but the "landlord" must have received a goodly sum for the use of his land. I have never heard how much rent they paid for that land, but it had to have been more than any profit from a crop.

Will we ever know the true cost/loss of Katrina?

[KoKo]

14. That's an Excellent Point... a "Depreciation Write Off along with the Write Offs to obtain them....

Crooked Bush/FEMA/CHENEY...PRIVATIZATION!!!!! It's GOOD according to the THINK TANKS that spew out this stuff...in their DC offices getting funding that lasts forever and breaks from our Government that the Rest of US...couldn't even imagine because WE...have a MORAL CODE and respect the Constitution and know that FREE TRADE CAPITALISM...doesn't mean FAIR TRADE....:-(

[shraby]

17. And......who is renting the land to Fema?

Another buddy?

[CountAllVotes]

18. maybe it is tribal land

I wouldn't put anything and I mean anything past these people. Park the things on the Indian land and hope it just rots away there unused and worthless. Then the tribes have to deal with the gov't "junk" which they will soon become if no one bothers to use/inhabit them.

:grr:

:kick:

[karlrschneider]

19. I think there are even MORE of them in Mississippi. A couple months ago I flew some people

to Olive Branch, MS for a funeral and I saw many hundreds parked just east of the airport. I meant to ask someone
at the airport but I forgot about them until I had already taken off to come back.

edit: It just occured to me to look in Google Earth, you can see them just east of the runway. Type in
Olive Branch Airport in G.E. and they're easy to see...