RFI - Road Home Program

Michael Homan (better known as Kalypso's dad) has recently posted some information about his Road Home Grant. The numbers doesn't seem to add up, based on my understanding of the Road Home Program. I posted my initial comments on his blog.

I've been looking for a source of the actual grant calculations.

Did they explain the calculation?

I was looking at your numbers and no combination I can see gives the result you reported.

I understand (but am not certain) that the grant is based on the lesser of the damage or the decrease in value, minus insurance and FEMA grants.

If you use their pre-K value ($146,154.00) and deduct the insurance they list ($77,036.67) you get $69,117,33.

That means they have valued your home at $5,000.33.

Got any ideas how the did their math?

For a while I have been looking for information on the Road Home Program but little detailed information seems to be available.

I'd like to ask bloggers or anyone else out there to post of email me any information you may have, especially actual examples. I know there have been relatively few, so I don't expect much, at least no right away.

As information becomes available I'll post information, conclusions and speculation about how it works.

Comment Policy

I have recently been taken to task by one of my fellow bloggers over a perceived capricious rejection of comments here.

That comment was mistaken. I invite and relish respectful discourse on the topics I post on. I welcome dissent. I welcome principled debate.

Some have suggested that blogs are an open forum. I disagree with that, blogs are the province of their creator, for better of ill. The creator is responsible for the blog in total including the tone and policies. The policies should however be made clear the readers and especially the commenters.

My rejection of comments here is not capricious, I read and consider all comments before allowing them. I have only rejected a few comments. Fortunately that is easy because not many people leave comments because not that many people visit my site.

Of the few comments I have rejected, one I considered spam and the rest were obviously duplicates. In at least one case I went to considerable effort to recover a comment I had erroneously deleted.

I do demand decorum and respectful language. Ad hominem attacks will be deleted. Some may disagree with my position and limits. That is their right and I respect that, but elsewhere.

I will endeavor to inform individuals of the reasons for deletions, if their comments allow me to email them. If anyone posts anonymously and their comment does not show up in a couple of days, I invite them to email me, my email is in my profile.

I also comment on an number of blogs. Mostly those listed in the New Orleans Blog Roll. In a number of recent cases I have left an on topic comment which have not shown up on the blog. I wonder why. It may well be technical difficulties of the kind I experienced that caused someone to question my posting policy.

I invite anyone who has a problem with any of my posts to contact me and explain why they have a problem. My email address is posted in my profile. I will endeavor to reciprocate.

I also invite anyone who reads this to comment on the comment policy either here or elsewhere.

They Say It's Your Birthday

Notable birthdays today

October 16, 1958 Tim Robbins

October 16, 1947 Bob Weir

October 16, 1946 Suzanne Somers

October 16, 1925 Angela Lansbury

October 16, 1898 William O Douglas

October 16, 1854 Oscar Wilde

It's My Birthday Too,
Yeah

Head'em up, Move'em out

I've written before that my neighbor has been trying to get rid of his unused FEMA trailer for months. It's gone. It disappeared over the weekend. I hope FEMA came and got it and it wasn't stolen.

The odd thing is I didn't notice it was gone immediately. I noticed on the way out Sunday but I didn't notice it on the way in or out Saturday, any of several times. It couldn't have disappeared while we slept. You'd think I would have noticed something that big missing.

This is doubly odd because on the way home Saturday afternoon I saw a crew moving a trailer out down the street.

That's at least two less trailers in the neighborhood.

Oompah - Oktoberfest

Last Friday She and I went to Oktoberfest at Deutsches Haus on Galvez. We went early. We wanted to be home early, so we went directly from the office in the CBD. We got there about 5:30, just as people were beginning to arrive.

It was a beautiful evening with just a hint of Oktober in the air. We have a friend who is very active in Deutsches Haus, exactly what she does I don't know except that she dressed like the fabled farmers daughter and poured beer. She told us they had tried to have 40 different German Beers this year but unfortunately some had not yet arrived. They also have a nice selection of German wines.

I was amazed at how much the members accomplished getting the Haus back in order for Oktoberfest. They still have a lot of work to do but that is mostly up stairs. In years past we have stopped off several evenings if only to have dinner. This year we will probably only be able to go once.

The food starts at 6:00 and this year they were serving diner plates consisting of a main course, (pork loin or cabbage roll) a sausage (bratwurst or knackwurst) and the choice of 2 vegetables (sauerkraut, red cabbage, potato salad or mashed potatoes with gravy). $10.00 per plate. For $20 you can have one of each, which is what we did. In addition to the main serving lines inside there was the pretzel stand outside with was serving fresh pretzels and sausage. I think knackwurst and weisswurst on buns but probably some other things. We had some of that too.

As usual one of the fun parts of Oktoberfest is sitting a a long table with lots of interesting people. This year was no exception. We met some new people and their families, unfortunately we'll probably not see them again until next year.

The usual German band music played all evening. Finally we decided we had had enough about 8:00 and started out. By then the place was packed. People were jammed in. It was far more crowded than I remembered in past years, although part of the beer hall hasn't opened yet. That may have had something to do with it.

They seem to have cut back the chicken dancing. The first one started as we were leaving, which I thought was a shame. I always like to watch the little kids chicken dance and it was getting a little late and a little crowded for them by then.

Oktoberfest continues for the next three weekends. Friday and Saturday until October 28.