FEMA closing office in New Orleans

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May 2, 2006, 5:27PM

FEMA closing office in New Orleans

 

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI

Associated Press

 

NEW ORLEANS — 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. "

 

Of the 35 employees who initially worked in the long-term recovery

office, only five remained today, and they were waiting to be

reassigned. Those five may continue to work on long-term recovery in a

different office, Walker said.

 

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. One major

hold-up was the late release of FEMA's flood elevation advisories,

which offer guidelines on how high homeowners should raise their homes

to qualify for flood insurance. Many residents also have faced delays

settling claims with insurance companies, and city and state officials

say they've received only a fraction of the public assistance needed

to overhaul the blighted city.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/katrina/3835761.html