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New Orleans Boots Residents Out of Last FEMA Trailers

City wants dwellers out by new year

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 31, 2010 7:21 AM CST

(Newser) – In the five years since Hurricane Katrina, FEMA trailers have been a fixture of the New Orleans landscape—but by the start of next year, the city wants the last ones gone. It calls the 221 remaining trailers an eyesore, and says residents will have to pay fines—as much as $500 a day—if they don't move out. But leaving could be tough for those who have come to call the trailers home, the AP reports.

The city says it will take individual cases into account. “There may be some lingering, for that little old lady who has no place and no money,” says an official. Still, she says many remaining trailer residents simply haven't done enough to get out. "People have to assume some responsibility for their decision." One resident found a “notice of violation” letter on his door just before Christmas, calling it “worthy of Ebenezer Scrooge himself.” “I don't know what the big deal about trailers is," he says. "It's not like a hundred trailers is going to make the city look any worse than it is.”

In this photo taken Dec. 28, 2010, Edwin D. Weber Jr. stands inside the FEMA trailer he shares with his brother Richard Weber, right, in New Orleans.
In this photo taken Dec. 28, 2010, Edwin D. Weber Jr. stands inside the FEMA trailer he shares with his brother Richard Weber, right, in New Orleans.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
In this photo taken Dec. 28, 2010, Paul Delatte is seen from the front porch of the home he is nearly finished repairing, as he enters his FEMA trailer in New Orleans.
In this photo taken Dec. 28, 2010, Paul Delatte is seen from the front porch of the home he is nearly finished repairing, as he enters his FEMA trailer in New Orleans.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
In this photo taken Dec. 28, 2010, the FEMA trailer of Paul Delatte is seen in the background as he talks on the front porch of the home he is nearly finished repairing, in New Orleans.
In this photo taken Dec. 28, 2010, the FEMA trailer of Paul Delatte is seen in the background as he talks on the front porch of the home he is nearly finished repairing, in New Orleans.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
In this photo taken Dec. 28, 2010, Edwin D. Weber Jr. stands outside the FEMA trailer he shares with his brother in New Orleans.
In this photo taken Dec. 28, 2010, Edwin D. Weber Jr. stands outside the FEMA trailer he shares with his brother in New Orleans.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 17 comments
coolsmoothla
Dec 31, 2010 8:28 PM CST
It perplexes me (cynical) to see so many comments about people over lodging in government issued trailers in New Orleans than people responding to governmental injustice in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina's devastating aftermath, in which police officers killed innocent men and the municipality covered it up. Police officers killed innocent Americans in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina's aftermath and the government covers it up, no big deal. Over lodging after Hurricane Katrina's destruction and the government's neglect, in New Orleans, at the taxpayer expense, freeloaders be damned! Truly, New Orleans is the city that care forgot. I go to my brother And I say brother, help me please? But he wounds up knocking me back down on my knees There's been times that I thought that I couldn't last for long But now I think I'm able to carry on It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a change gonna come...Sam Cooke_ "A Change Gonna Come"
Count-Spatula
Dec 31, 2010 1:50 PM CST
FIVE YEARS!!! ....in a trailer. Get on with your lives, FEMA trailer-ites.
Chris
Dec 31, 2010 11:55 AM CST
>“I don't know what the big deal about trailers is," he says. "It's not like a hundred trailers is going to make the city look any worse than it is.” The big deal is that you aren't entitled to free housing paid for by the American tax payer just because a storm destroyed your home FIVE YEARS AGO.
 

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