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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (136730)	9/2/2005 8:15:47 PM
From: Bill Ulrich	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793917

Wouldn't have needed to be a "convoy", per se. Many of the people claimed they didn't have/couldn't find transportation, so they stayed home. Surely, the Mayor realizes you have shut-ins if he's in touch with his populace at all (or any kind of city dynamics, for that matter). Mayor saw fit to call for mandatory evac, but didn't figure there would be constituents without transportation? Called for evac without making transportation opps... Whilst making the call on Sunday, get some warm bodies behind drivers seats of those school buses that are now underwater [ news.yahoo.com ] and get on the news: "If you don't have transportation but would prefer to go somewhere else, we're making the SDome and other spaces available. Bus pickup is 'here' in Parish "x" location within 'this' timeframe.'" "It would have taken too much to time to organize a convoy of buses. And, believe me, in NO, it would have been pure chaos to organize one."

To: carranza2 who wrote (136730)	9/2/2005 10:31:32 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793917

Here is a real headache for New Orleans and law firms there. Storm ruins legal documents By Greg Thomas Times-Picayune Real Estate writer Thousands of lawyers in the metropolitan area have lost their files, their clients and their offices, but one of the biggest legal ramifications of Hurricane Katrina’s flooding waters is the probable loss of real estate records dating back to the early 1800s. The records, which include titles, mortgages, conveyances and liens, were stored in the now-flooded basement of City Hall on Poydras Street. In 2002, employees of Register of Conveyances Gasper Schiro began the tedious process of hand entering the records into computers, a $700,000 process that could have been contracted out and accomplished quickly but was instead done slowly by his staff to save money. It’s unclear how much of the information has been digitized and or if the computerized information is stored safely. If either the original records or the digitalization process is lost, it will be a major mess, said Southern University Law Center Professor Winston Riddick, who teaches real estate law. While it will be a tedious process to fix, and it can be fixed, it will be a major headache that could potentially take years. The records involved date back to 1827, with the earliest recorded by hand in Spanish and French. According to the American Center of Real Estate Lawyers, or ACREL, the potential loss of the records could be devastating to the local real estate industry. The process of restoring the information could be incredibly tedious and create havoc for homeowners who will be filing insurance claims, said Professor Riddick. While he expects insurance companies to honor claims by owners who have copies of their insurance policies, the potential for delays and other hassles is very real. New Orleans local real estate attorney Marx Sterbcow of Marx Sterbcow Law Group said Friday the loss of the records, stored in the musty, moldy basement of City Hall, may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to storm-related problems for Louisiana attorneys, citing a memo e-mailed to Louisiana lawyers by Southern University Law Professor Michelle Ghetti. “Many ACREL members have been in touch with us to express concerns for colleagues in the region. Members have been generous with offers of office space housing and other support,” Ghetti said. Real estate records aren’t the only ones affected. Ghetti estimates that as many as 6,000, or two-thirds of the state’s attorneys, have lost offices, files and other documents critical to civil and criminal legal cases. Several court buildings were flooded by Hurricane Katrina, including the basement in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Louisiana Supreme Court building. For City Hall records, Sterbcow said “it’s the mortgages that’s going to be ugly. To put it mildly, how are you going to be able to prove if you own a piece of property if your records are gone? How are you going to be able to prove you have a mortgage, or one is paid off?” Records for the 24th Judicial District in Jefferson Parish are probably in much better shape than the records in Orleans Parish, Sterbcow said. “Jefferson Parish sounds like they’re going to be ok for mortgages and conveyances,’’ he said. nola.com