Tag: Hazard Mitigation

Post holiday news miscellany

I guess it is time to crank things back up after Thanksgiving. I had the dessert cart this year and kept things kid friendly making Lemon squares, Blonde brownies along with the traditional pumpkin pie.  Since Pizza buns were a hit with the kid set last year we tried Stuffed pizza this year and it is a keeper.  While everyone works off all the good eats here are several links of interest:

Wanna work people up and get them good and mad?  Kill and mutilate a few dolphins as the Sun Herald editorial board explains.  The panel of marine experts in the Slabbed nation seem to think a local shrimper has gone postal.

Next up is another editorial from the Sun Herald that is extraordinary in respects on the taxpayer funded land graft at the DMR where they joined Slabbed in calling for a federal investigation.  Judging from the murmurs coming from the peanut gallery we’re both a bit late to that party and that is not a bad thing per se.  The DMR withholding public documents from reporter Karen Nelson is beyond disgraceful but about par for the course. That said where there is a will there is a way as the information is out there.

Next up we go way back to early November for the fake cover of Paula Broadwell’s book on former CIA director Petraeus as reported by ABC affiliate in Denver.  The Youtube embed below is thus worth the watch.

Next up is Hurricane Sandy as people are still yammering about it in the news and social media.  Slabbed is feeling the love too as google is leading people who are now being shafted by their insurance companies to our exhaustive Katrina wind water legal dispute archives. That topic after all, is where the Slabbed’s moniker originates so the extra traffic fits. But alas these days hazard mitigation is on my mind and the post Sandy media landscape is having that discussion as well so along those lines I chuckled when a reader emailed this New York Times story on Sandy featuring Dauphin Island Alabama, the undisputed repetitive loss champion of the US.  The piece featured all the usual suspects and special interests that Slabbed has skewered from time to time along with former skeweree turned friend to the Slabbed Nation Western Carolina U professor Rob Young.  This snippet from the story sums things up on the topic: Continue reading “Post holiday news miscellany”

Ship for Brains Part Trois: Mayberry on 14th Street???

To Hazard Mitigate or not? This is today’s question.

Port’s executive director resigns

I personally took this as a bad sign because I think Allee “got it” after Katrina. And what did he get? Mainly that monster Hurricanes hit the northern Gulf Coast, specifically the Mississippi Gulf Coast on roughly 40 year cycles or just long enough for what I’ll term institutional memory of the previous monster storm to fade. Anita Lee over at the Sun Herald covered this part of the Hazard Mitigation equation way back in July, 2009. A quick quote from that old story before we get to more current links on the mismanagement over at the State Port at Gulfport (website badly out of date):

As a result, Katrina hurtled containers, trailers and paper rolls into the neighborhoods of West Gulfport and East Long Beach. They heightened the terror of residents who remained in their homes, equally unprepared for the storm’s savagery. Essentially, containers that weigh 3 1/2 tons empty to more than 26 tons loaded, along with 5,400-pound paper rolls, pounded like battering rams against structures already compromised by wind and water. Continue reading “Ship for Brains Part Trois: Mayberry on 14th Street???”

Orleans Shoring’s questionable sales practices scrutinized by Hammerman. A former State Senator Julie Quinn double dealing update.

In this morning’s T-P we learn a few things from Hammerman’s analysis of the YouTube vids posted by the New Orleans Observer including the Observer’s likely identity as someone affiliated with the Cumberland Investment Group, an Orleans Shoring competitor. Because of the money involved the market competition has devolved into the business world’s version of a street fight as the public learns the extent of Julie Quinn’s financial involvement with Orleans Shoring while proclaiming to be some sort of consumer advocate, a routine she has used to double deal as a State Senator dating back to the Chinese Drywall scourge that afflicted this area after Hurricane Katrina.

Hammerman notes Quinn is the COO of Orleans Shoring and discloses the worst of the abuses Orleans documented in its own undercover sting are not present in the NOLA Observer’s video.  That said Hammerman also brings up two things that are disturbing in the use of $100 Walmart gift cards to score appointments, a practice Orleans was made to discontinue and the disturbing implications of an Orleans Shoring direct mail solicitation and for that we visit with Slabbed commenter Fedupwithitall:

The salesman from Orleans Shoring arrived at this homeowners home with paperwork all filled out including square footage, entrances, name and even Road home number. Is this guy psychic? How can this be? This salesman mentions looking on a list that was not supposed to be used but was magically now able to be used. Lo and behold this homeowner is approved! This Orleans Shoring salesman then tries to scare the homeowner by describing that the homeowner may lose their chance to get their home elevated if they don’t choose Orleans Shoring since Elevation Shoring went out of business 6 months ago per the Orleans Shoring salesman. (Elevation Shoring is still in business). The Orleans Shoring salesman then politely informs the homeowner that they have a NEW Mitigation Analyst named Hank. What a well-informed, nice guy.

How was this information obtained? Orleans Shoring all of the sudden has a list? Oh my! Is this a new list or and older one purchased from Kurt Wiltshire of New Path Recovery? (Kurt Wiltshire of New Path Recovery worked for Christian right after he quit working for OCD_HMGP)

Fedup is referencing the ongoing criminal saga involving the selling of the homeowner lists as well as earlier Hammerman reporting I added in hyperlink to his comment above.  The targeted mailing indicates there were other possible leaks involving the program and since a picture is worth a thousand words the mailing is below: Continue reading “Orleans Shoring’s questionable sales practices scrutinized by Hammerman. A former State Senator Julie Quinn double dealing update.”

Folks we’ve occasionally covered the ongoing boondoggle involving the FEMA funded Louisiana Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the money involved has caused people to do some batshit crazy stuff to satisfy their greed.  The program itself is fatally flawed in its design but I’ll save that part for another post. In this post we’ll feature a saleman from Orleans Shoring doing some very sleazing things and it is only right it sees the light of day as Orleans used an undercover employee to document many of the same abuses last fall and it created enough of a stir to merit federal grand jury attention.  It is my hope that despite the fact former State Senator/rumored judicial candidate Julie Quinn is heavily involved with Orleans Shoring as a paid shill all the abuses, including those involving Orleans Shoring, are fully vetted by the same investigative bodies and any criminal wrongdoing identified be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The Orleans video itself is in 3 parts embedded below the fold: Continue reading “”

Lets change the rules again for these home elevation contractors

Yep they changed the bonding requirements again.  I’d like to add at this point that residential construction and homebuilders rarely, if ever, are required to post performance bonds which is why imposing a performance bond requirement on home elevation contractors effectively shuts so many out of the market.  You see sureties require things to make their credit underwriting decisions such as CPA audits or reviews that can’t be done overnight.  This limits competition.   Now if performance bonding requirements had been put in up front you’d have none of these problems now.

Particularly disturbing is the rumors I’m hearing of inexperienced contractors being exempted from the contractor’s license testing requirements if they paid consulting fees to the right people.

The state Office of Community Development’s handling of this whole deal has been a disaster. Dysfunctional corrupt government, brought to you by Bobby Jindal.

sop

Quick get Julie Quinn into her stripper costume, the effects of the micro mini are wearing off!!!

Folks we have some new developments in the home elevation boondoggle program as Orleans Shoring is now in some trouble due to the fact its owner, Christian Cancienne, is alleged to be a lying sack of shit like his political lapdog Quinn.  You see folks, Cancienne’s prior criminal history was left off his application for Contactor’s license with the contractors licensing board.  At this point I’ll note that Cancienne’s prior criminal record was the topic for discussion in comments on this NOLA story we highlighted in this post but predictably the folks at NOLA deleted the comments thus leaving Slabbed as the best online source for Cancienne’s prior life dealing drugs.

So yesterday there was a public hearing on the after the fact rule changes spearheaded by Quinn, Cancienne and Orleans to eliminate smaller competitors from the market place.  The legislators evidently did not buy into Quinn or Orleans becoming novice private investigators in the public’s interest either.  The Hammerman filed a report on the meeting but folks his story left off a very important detail: Orleans Shoring has now been suspended from the elevation program! Luckily for us Channel 9 out of Baton Rouge covered that aspect of yesterday’s developments.

Now something tells me that December 16th meeting at the contractor’s licensing board will be very well attended by Cancienne’s competitors, especially the ones he tried to hose with his PI sting but given they already trotted out Julie Quinn out in a micro mini skirt may I be so bold to suggest they get her into her stripper outfit for her next lobbying visit to Governor Jindal’s office. I mean it can’t hurt and with each skimpy costume change we get a better idea what Quinn really does for a living because she isn’t much of a lawyer judging from the remarks made at yesterday’s hearing about the Orleans sting operation.

As always there will be more to come folks but I’d like to add we are quickly becoming fans of state senator Ed Murray. You go Ed.

sop

How strange that a blog named Slabbed has not yet commented on the number of Slabs created by tornadoes this year

I’ll be honest folks and simply say it is Angela’s fault (not our good friend Angela Russell at the State Farm Sucks Network but the other one). You see, there is one thing post Katrina that rubs me wrong to this day: Deluded morons that think they live in a place called “risk free” that also have the gall to tell others where they should live in the aftermath of the latest natural disaster du jour.  I could be wrong but I do believe the death toll from the 2011 tornadoes season now exceeds the number of souls that died on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005.

But these are negative feelings and despite my desire to again excoriate Angela from Kansas City I’m heeding the better angels of my nature. There will be a post but it won’t excoriate less than sentient beings that had fooled themselves into thinking natural disasters only impact the other fella (that should not be living ________________ (fill in the blank) to begin with).

I’m glad I got that off my chest. Stay tuned.

sop