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General discussion

FEMA: Penny wise, pound foolish, idiotic red tape

by Dave Konkel [Moderator] Nov 23, 2005 5:47AM PST

FEMA's decision comes at a price.
(Boston Globe login semods4@yahoo.com; pw= speakeasy. I'm in Boston til Friday...)

>> This no-frills port [Beaumont] was paying more than $12 per cubic yard for the removal of the debris left by Hurricane Rita, until the Federal Emergency Management Agency slashed its reimbursement rate and prompted the city to turn over the cleanup to the Army Corps of Engineers. Now the federal government is paying 76 percent more for what local officials say is the same work. <<

Hey, but it's no coming from FEMA's budget, right?!

Hurricane evacuees now fear evictions.

>> Only $114 a month stands between Shawn Williams, a Hurricane Katrina evacuee, and eviction from her temporary apartment in suburban Houston. Williams can afford to pay out of her own pocket and is willing to do so to make up the difference between the $633 voucher she gets in federal housing aid and the apartment's $747 rent. But a bureaucratic snag prevents her from closing the gap on her own.

Now, after paying the entire rent herself for months because the landlord will not accept the voucher, Williams says she is running out of money and fears losing the two-bedroom apartment where she has lived with her disabled husband and teenage son since fleeing New Orleans more than two months ago.

The government's disaster relief agency says help is on the way for Williams and other evacuees caught in the frustrating tangle that prevents landlords from accepting more rent money than what Washington is willing to cover. <<

They've been saying "change is coming" for at least a month -- but who promulgated such an iditiotic regulation in the first place?

-- Happy Thanksgiving!
Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

Discussion is locked

2 Posts

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Regulation writing is a career field for..........

by Mac McMullen Nov 23, 2005 6:01AM PST

.......bureaucrats in Wash DC. They write them unreasonable, and it's job security for the re-writing required. Hardship upon businesses or people is not a consideration.

And it's probably a set of regulations off another shelf that "prescribes" the method of transferring responsibility from one branch/agency of government to another, and from another shelf that addresses "cost containment". All are probably written so that it would take a group of attorneys and accountants weeks to decipher. In the meantime, the bureaucrats running the show methodically follow their printed check lists. And garner their 'outstanding' performance reviews for attention to the job.

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YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWN

by duckman Nov 23, 2005 6:17AM PST

And if they spent too much, would you still be whining

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