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David Friedman / NBC News
Kathleen Campbell, 85, stays with her daughter's family in Hawthorne, N.Y., while she is displaced from her home in Breezy Point. Campbell's daughter Ann Marie Pawlowicz, and granddaughters Kalina, 16, and Julia, 8, play with the family dog in the background.
Kathleen Campbell has had a bad night. It’s nothing a cup of fresh brewed tea won’t fix, but Campbell, 85, likely faces many more less-than-comfortable nights on her daughter’s living room sofa.
Just three months ago, Campbell was riding her three-wheeled cycle on the smooth and level streets of Breezy Point, a cheerful and close-knit community at the far end of the islands called the Rockaways in Queens. Now she is shuttling among three houses – her daughter Ann Marie Pawlowicz’s 1890s home in Westchester, N.Y., another daughter in New Jersey and her sister’s home near Philadelphia.
Campbell’s lifestyle is one of the many casualties of Superstorm Sandy, which sent floodwaters surging through homes when it hit Oct. 29, damaging more than 2,000 homes and starting a fire that burned more than 100 houses to the ground. The beachfront village, whose population plummeted from 12,000 in the summer to around 4,000 the rest of the year, provided a way of life not often seen in the sprawling suburbs of most cities. Generations of the same family jealously guarded their modest homes, and they took care of their own.
Like so many other elderly residents there, Campbell could “age in place”, living alone after her husband died in 2009, despite a heart condition and the onset of what might be dementia. It’s a concept that many communities have embraced, and that groups like the AARP and the National Council of State Legislatures are encouraging. When people age in place, they stay in their homes, perhaps adapting them for more limited mobility, rather than moving to elder care facilities. And it’s a way of life that seems to have just evolved naturally in Breezy Point.
“It’s not uncommon to have three generations living within blocks of each other. It did offer that kind of stability and smalltown closeness,”says Msgr. Michael Curran of St. Thomas More Catholic Church, the main church on Breezy Point’s main drag and one of the places residents sheltered during the height of the storm.
Campbell’s house on Reid Avenue was completely flooded when Sandy hit. “It was like the ocean meeting the bay in your living room,” says Pawlowicz.
The house, which Campbell's late husband, Charlie, built in 1990, is on the first road to the left as you enter Breezy Point. Shelves at her house, filled with carefully catalogued photo albums, were soaked when the floodwaters filled the home. Campbell lost almost everything but the small suitcase she took with her when she fled to Pawlowicz’s home to wait out the storm.
Courtesy of Ann Marie Pawlowicz
Kathleen Campbell rides her tricycle in Breezy Point, N.Y., on Sept. 27, 2012.
Campbell was once a fixture of the community as she rode up and down the narrow alleys on her tricycle. Now it sits rusting in her empty, mudstained house.
The Westchester hamlet of Hawthorne where Pawlowicz lives doesn’t have many level streets. Its Victorian, Craftsman and Care Cod homes are tiered one above another along streets built into a steep, rocky hillside.
“I miss riding my tricycle,” says Campbell in a soft Irish accent. “I was on it twice a day.”
Although Campbell is clearly enveloped in the loving arms of her family, her independence is gone. “She felt safe,” Pawlowicz says. “Even though she has a touch of memory issues.” She sleeps on the sofa because she is uncomfortable with stairs.
Within walking distance to many Breezy Point homes in the 500-acre cooperative were a bank, auto repair shop, the Blarney Castle pub and Deirdre Maeve's Supermarket and, perhaps most important for Campbell, St. Thomas More Church. Most remain damaged and closed months after the disaster.
Breezy Point had naturally what states like Georgia and New Jersey have been spending money to develop – safe, walkable neighborhoods with homes friendly to arthritic bodies.
A survey AARP did in 2008 of Americans over age 50 showed more than half would like to walk, bike or use public transportation, but nearly 40 percent complained about a lack of sidewalks and safe crossings, bicycle lanes or safe places to catch the bus near their homes.
'A hidden little gem'
At Breezy Point, three of Campbell's cousins and a neighbor used to regularly look in on her, making sure she ate her meals and keeping her company. Now they're all displaced too.
David Friedman / NBC News file
Veets Pawlowicz, second from right, is aided by a gang of family, friends and even volunteering strangers as they clean up his mother-in-law Kathleen Campbell's house on Nov. 2, 2012, in Breezy Point.
“I feel like a lot of the neighbors looked out for each other. It was a very simple life. It was great,” Pawlowicz adds as she sets a cup of tea in front of her mother. “It’s all gone now.”
Pawlowicz, 41 and the mother of two girls aged 8 and 16, finds herself a member of the “sandwich generation” – trying to juggle her job as a nurse with raising children and caring for an elderly parent. On weekends she and her husband, Witold, make the hour-long drive to Breezy Point to try to rip out drywall and salvage what belongings they can in Campbell’s home. It’s not clear what it will take to rebuild.
“We have pumped out the basement like 35 times. Whatever happened with this storm, it shifted everything. Now it’s like it’s on a spring,” Pawlowicz says. Getting insurance sorted out has been a chore for many Breezy Point owners.
“I haven’t been back to see it yet. Please, God, let’s get back there,” Campbell says.
“Not now, Mom,” Pawlowicz answers gently. “It’s a ghost town.”
The seaside neighborhoods in the Rockaways are among the last to recover from Sandy. Breezy Point is nowhere close to being back to normal. Empty foundations yawn open on the blocks that burned. Elsewhere, houses remain shifted off their foundations. There is still no electricity, so almost everyone clears out as the sun sets. Breezy Point is the last New York neighborhood left without clean water.
Like Campbell, many long to go back home. But for seniors, that will be especially hard, even with family support. “It is going to be tough for an elderly person living alone in a badly damaged home to get that home restored,” says New York’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley.
Curran tries to remain in touch with the seniors who are now scattered to new homes. They're resilient, he says, but "late in life it’s a big adjustment that folks are making.”
Just as they found their own solution when the community was whole, the elderly of Breezy Point have found their own solutions to being homeless. “Most people were able to find a family member or a friend they could move in with and have their needs met,” says Curran, who now commutes himself to attend to his duties at St. Thomas More.
Many families don’t want to talk publicly any more about their situations – a man who moved his elderly father to Dallas, a family who brought their aging parents to Long Island. “I was just talking to a couple – they took their parents in, they are safe,” says Curran. “But they are 85-plus and this is the first time they have ever lived in an apartment.”
Campbell misses the beach, but she doesn’t complain. “We’re on top of the hill,” she says, smiling as she gazes around her daughter’s antique-filled home. “It’s beautiful.” But she mentions again that she misses her tricycle.
“I always say everyone should have a touch of dementia during a disaster,” says Pawlowicz. “The best thing about dementia – my mother laughs. We have been able to cry a little bit, but nobody died.”
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This country will be judged on how it treats the poor and the elderly.
Well stated, Jesusiswatching.
After Superstorm Bush, this Senior was forced to start over! But there was no one to help. I lost everything as well, job, home, car but there was no help, none coming.
But Jesus, it's Obama doing the treating?
YOU, of all people, are not supposed to question Obama.
repartee, that happened to other older folks, and whoever at any age was not in line with the fuehrer bush family policies during the reign of whatever bush generation.
From many of the comments I've read, particularly in news articles about taxes, I doubt they care, jesusiswatching.
For those who are able, please donate to a good, reputable charity that is helping these people. Here's a list to get you started - http://www.oprah.com/oprahdotcom/13-Ways-You-Can-Join-the-Superstorm-Sandy-Relief-Effort-Right-now
But there are many more out there.
The Barrack Hussein "war on the elderly" continues.
Of course the media will never cover these disasters with the same hate, anger and rage they did for every tragedy during the Bush Presidency.
But Barrack, along with all his useful idiots, can have the swooning medias photo-ops and apologies accepted. As the unwashed masses struggled our Imposter-in-Chief dresses in his trademark mom-jeans pretended to be concerned and made all the boiler-plate promises.
As hurricane Sandy victims were forced to dumpster dive to survive, Barrack Hussein and Evil Longoria were traipsing with the rich and famous in VIVA LAS VEGAS!
With dozens of communities devastated after the storm, and then a winter storm immediately after, they reached out to each other as FEMA was closed due to the "weather". Our tax dollars at work via our criminal government.
Funny isn't it? Immediately after the storm controversy raged over whether or not to have the "New York Marathon. As Bloomberg typically stumbled and bumbled claiming the race would go on, a private company had a massive tent equipped with generators, food, water, Port-A-Potty’s and even the Starting-Line complete with sponsors, up and ready to go the day after the storm. Today our criminal government driven mess is still disorganized and corrupt.
It's time to get rid of the government directed disaster relief agencies. Every time we have a major disaster these agencies rape the system with waste, fraud, abuse and corruption. What should take months, takes years. Costs always spiral out of control as cronyism becomes rampant.
More than half of the $60.1 billion dedicated to the victims will be stolen via our government driven corruption. You'd think after the dozens of hurricanes, floods, tornados and other natural disasters the government would be an efficient and cost effective helper of the people. Instead, we repeatedly see the failure due to the rampant corruption of our government.
The most disturbing part is that so many still believe that government is somehow the solution to our problems.
The indoctrination and delusion of the weak-minded continues.
Somewhere in the world, a village is missing its idiot!
One of the government's responsibilities is educating its citizens and I see with your disagreement with the government you didn't partake in that benefit.
Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm ......... More & More Americans feeling Deceived by our Government?
Wanta trust them with a few more Tax dollars so they can blow them away and need another "fix"in couple of years?
Our Government is worse than a drug addict ... unless you cut off their funds .. they will just keep demanding more ... they need to go "Cold Turkey" ... BUT we then bear the pain .....
What A hell of a mess our politicians have gotten us into! ....
That village is in Kenya and the idiot is obama.
Hey Dick, your name couldn't fit you any better. Where in the constitution does it say it's the governments responsibility to educate anyone? The Nazis educated thier people...how did that work out genius?
It's God's fault... D*ck
Dick-2100935
Hey, Dick, how are you?
I assume you approve of our "government's responsibilities is educating" function.
Our exemplary government run education system that graduates illiterates from our schools.
Our exemplary government run education system that spends more than any other nation, other than Switzerland.
Our exemplary government run education system that graduates high school seniors that rank in the bottom 1/3 in math, science and reading among OECD nations.
Our exemplary government run education system that graduates high school seniors that can't use--there, their or they're--correctly in a sentence.
Our exemplary government run education system that graduates high school seniors that can't calculate 40% of 350 in their head if their life depended on it.
Our exemplary government run education system that recently went on strike in Chicago demanding more money, less work and less teacher evaluations so that Chicagos11th Graders Meeting College Readiness Benchmarks are: 21% in Reading, 19% in Math, 11% in Science, 38% in English.
Our exemplary government run education system ranks right up there with all the other failures it attempts. The “wars” on drugs, crime and poverty are abject failures just like the war on illiteracy. Tens of trillions of dollars have been spent on these coveted social “wars” you Libbies admire so much and the problems just get worse instead of better. Our education system is corrupted by the
uniongoonion thugocracy that could give a damn about our children as long as they get their union dues.No I didn’t. My parents sent us to private school, and I sent my children there also. You, on the other hand, have obviously been indoctrinated with the Liberal/Progressive Kool-Aid and believe more government will fix everything. Good luck with that wet dream. You may feel our government is a success, I see it as an embarrassment.
Doesn’t it bother you that we have a POTUS who supports the best that you and all Americans can become is middle-class? We real Americans find it despicable that Barrack Hussein hates America so much he won’t even promote our exceptionalism.
Proves you're never too old to be a loon.
The govt doesn't owe you a car, job, or home.
Can I get a phone?
No, but when Hillary runs, Bill is promising free BJ's for everyone!!!
Ahhhh, who's givin' the BJs?....Bill?
His trailer trash friends...
No thanks. I wouldn't put my winky anywhere near michelle obamas choppers!
I keep reading about getting the insurance claims figured out; if you had flood insurance, it is administered by private insurance company's, but is federally funded; then something is very wrong, these homes and contents were totally destroyed; so what seems to be the problem with the Insurance commission of New York, either pay the claims are jump with both feet on the Insurance company's delaying payment.
All you Repubs/Baggers...your hate WILL come back to haunt you. It always does. Good luck, you Are going to Need it.
Sad & Sick minds.
No hate here, just a complete acceptance of reallity. Something dumbocrats know nothing about. Oh and it must take alot of love to refer to republicans as tea-baggers...hypocrit.
All you lib's big talk no payee... Alway's someone else's fault and responsibility. Feel free to donate as much as you want so people can rebuild on the shore to only have their houses washed away again...
Bloomberg gave 1 billion dollars to his college,and said he was going to give all his money away before he dies. This seems to be a agood place for his money to go.
That's what quite a few of us were trying to tell the sad and sick minds after Hurricane Katrina...
Shame on all of Washington DC, for putting more presidence on Illegals then taking care of our seniors--our parents and grandparents. More priveleges, more homes and more food to illegals than to our own people---what a pathetic country we have grown into.
This is not about them or us (rep or dems) but abou taking care of our Senior Citizens and how this country as a whole has failed them.
THis should never be happening in the USA---Shame on WASHINGTON DC!
Sorry I don't blame the federal government for this debacle. This looks like more along the lines of Union corruption from here. When we here stories of companies sending help from other states only to have them turned away because of no union affiliation. I really feel sorry for the victims of Sandy. Afterall Is it not about the people, and getting power restored so the rebuilding process can begin?
I saw several companies trucks (Pike Power from the Carolinas is one) heading to WV to help power restoration. Two weeks later I saw them heading East hopefully they were able to help some of those who needed it.
Then Other stories of how L.I.P.A. dropped the ball in getting people their power restored. From the interviews with residents it sounded almost like extortion.
@ repartee:
And just how was Bush the cause of you losing your job, home and car? Have you taken a look at the unemployment rate since Obumbo has been in office over 4 years now? Give me a break. More people are now unemployed or out of the work force completely than ever during Bush years. And if four plus years later you are still in a bad way, you better take a look in the mirror and at your current Socialist-in-Chief!
By the way if you are a Senior - aren't you now on Social Security and Medicare? That's your government run entitlements - you should be doing great!
wow hopeful,
you are living in a fox dream world !!!!!!
Simple Theory
I never said they did. My point which you missed due to your Republican insensitivity, is that there are many storms in persons life they can't get over when they are a Senior. If he and the Republican policies of GREED for Wall Street had not cost me my job I would not have had the problem I did at 60 trying to restart my career after working in one Industry for 40.
Incredible. Despite all of of his loud bulls**t promises the week before the election, Obama has done no more for the Sandy victims than Bush did for the Katrina victims. Yet, the Obama lemmings totally ignore that little FACT and continue to savage Bush.
By the way, I'm a senior and in the event of a natural disaster, I have everything insured....no goverment assistance needed...just the way I want things!
repartee
Hmmmm, so lemme get this straight.
You work for 40 years, in the same industry, some mean insensitive Republicans came along and "greedily" cost you your job in cahoots with Wall Street, and now you have to cope with starting over at 60?
First of all, who are these Bogeymen Republicans that came along and caused your career demise?
Secondly and more importantly, what happened to 40 years worth of wages? My parents both worked for 30 years, retired at about 50, house paid off, kids put through college and even took a few nice trips to Europe to visit their families.
It seems to me that rather than blaming some mythical "insensitive" Republican bogeyman, you need to look in the mirror and see what decisions you made over 40 years that didn't allow you to be looking forward to a comfortable retirement.
You're grasping at straw men to cover your own inadequacies. Time to grow up and accept some responsibility for your actions.
There is no doubt that this is a tragic situation. However, people of all ages lose everything and have to start over every day, but we hear nothing about them. It takes months and years to recover from a storm of the magnitude of Sandy. The fact that the media feels the need to complain about the situation in this little section of the world on a daily or weekly basis is not going to get the job done any faster.
How can anyone complain about educating people when the "reporters" writing our news articles aren't educated? If those employed by the media can't read, write or spell, where is the hope for the rest of the country?
Maggie Fox, "Senior Writer, NBC News" - get a clue. It's Cape Cod homes, not "Care Cod homes". The "r" key and "p" key are on opposites sides of the keyboard.
Are you aware of the meanings for "edit" and "proofread", Maggie? Can you spell? Do you know how to use a dictionary? "Any more" is ONE word, not two.
The constitution authorizes taxes, they can be used for education with laws. This is from a recent Supreme Court decision that was related to health care, thanks in part to John Roberts. True the German government educated its people and a good thing. If it weren't for that we may still be trying to figure out how to get to the moon and space. Ever hear of Wernher Von Braun? The Germans lead the world in technology in that era. So to answer your question, you would have to say Great!
Hey Spence, I'm great and you? I too am a product of private education but realize everyone can't be and therefore we need public education. There are many failures and low achievement rates in our educational system but surely, because of that, you don't advocate no education to those that can't afford it.
Meanwhile amidst all of the flame throwing, anyone care to comment on the story - seniors having difficulties as a result of Sandy? Or would all rather continue insulting each other?
@ KarlRover:
No, just living in the real world that nobody owes you anything in life. Unlike the mentality of those of you on the left that seems to feel others owe you something. I think it is very greedy of those of you on the left that think you can take what isn't yours.
@ Bruce:
You're right. Living on a coastal island prone to storms and hurricanes, hopefully they did the right thing and had insurance. For them, the insurance will work that out in time. If they did not have insurance on their homes, I suppose their lives are going to change dramatically. In the meantime, local charities, families and friends are stepping in.
Wow, I can't believe how an article about the difficulties seniors face after Hurricane Sandy has turned into a bash the politicians and woe is me conversation. Kudos to the family members and friends who have given shelter to those most in need. Wouldn't it be nice if all our seniors had a community where they could live in comfort and safety until the end time arrives?
I fully understand why Hurricane Sandy is referred to as a "Super Storm". However, as a hurricane, it was a relatively minor storm. We've has considerably worse here in the Gulf Coast recently. So, the only reason why Sandy is being called a Super Storm is that it effected a large densely populated area that is not used to being hit by hurricanes. That is all! It also happened to coincide with a front that came in from the west. OK, but, all that put together does not make a Super Storm! And, finally, to use it as a crutch for Climate Change (which I consider to be totally acceptable) is totally wrong, just as it was wrong to use Katrina as an example! Please, get real, and don't make up things that cannor be justified by reality!
"What A hell of a mess our politicians have gotten us into! ...."
No, people like you is what got us into this. If you voted for any incumbent who has been in office more than 10 years you are part of the problem.
as for Jim who bragged that his parents retired at age 50. Were they cops or teachers or big time lawyers or Wal St types who simply moved money from one column to another? . We normal, middle class folks don;t get to retire at 50
Saxon, although I don't know this for certain, it's my theory that many who are still homeless from Sandy/Katrina are so because once they finished paying off their mortgages, they cancelled the flood insurance the mortgage would have required.
Regular insurance won't cover a flood.
I know what its like to lose all your personal belongings. Its not something you get over. Especially family stuff like pictures, and what not. That often cant be replaced. Your family history gets wiped out. But besides the irreplaceable items, losing your clothes and all your stuff, is earth shattering. Losing your home, and having to move to a Motel or someone's couch, is a nightmare.
Being made homeless is a horrible experience, that you cant understand unless you have been through it. Not having a place to go home. Think about that. And there are lots of people who end up in that situation, through no fault of their own.
The birds of the air have a nest, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
Who will be the first to step out of the boat?
And Jeebus, what does that have to do with anything?
It is so sad that anyone has to suffer under these conditions...have seen this happen time after time on the Gulf Coast.
Maybe time to consider an alternative living space?
I could have sworn I saw Gov. Crisco and Obama say everything was going to be ok?
But the election is over now, no time for Sandy victims.....time to disarm the public and prepare for total takeover. Things are going to get ugly folks, and all you morons that say "it can't happen here"...you'll be the first ones in the death camps.
We disarm the anti-government, anti-president lunatics because they are mentally off the beam. Allow these anarchists to be armed and see how they'll swagger like a Texas cowboy...the one who left the country in the toilet and rode off to the Crawford Sunset never to be heard from again ...even by his own party. Shame shame shame....on right wingers with their brains in their anuses.
ewnt its better he rode off to Texas than to have rode in from Kenya.
Am I the only one who finds the idea of making one's mother sleep on the couch abhorrent? I'd sleep in the garage before I'd have my mother sleep on the couch. Nope, my mom would get MY bed.
I thought the exact same thing until I read further and noted the article stated mom wasn't comfortable negotiating the stairs. Hopefully it's a comfortable couch.
Cathy ... read the article again. She isn't being FORCED to sleep on the couch, it is her choice.
I still think that if I could afford to do so, I would buy a daybed or a comfortable futon that would be suitable for use downstairs for my mother. Of course, that may not be an option or even what this dear woman would want given the circumstances. Ideally she should have her independence as she did before and for as long as possible. Thank God for family and friends during times like these.
This is happening all across the US, families losing their jobs, and then home. Shelters are filling up with single and families. So, the issue of housing is not only effecting seniors of Breezy Point.
My son, the christian, would tell me to sleep in the car. I'd rather not hang around with christians anyway. They tend to be as bad an influence as any other type of thug.
Jesus was with you when you were sleeping in the car.
Bumming a ride again, was he? He probably was. I doubt that he ever got a drivers license.
Starting to understand why your son, the christian, would tell you to sleep in the car.
used up.yeah,in today's Liberal environment they give drivers licenses to illegal aliens but not Jesus.Thank Obama for the sorry state the country is in,his voters put us here.
Your son would make you sleep in a car? That doesn't say much about your son, regardless of his religion..or what he thinks of you.
Actually,....SINCE .............February 2013, the creation of the UN, the WTO, the WHO,IMF and NAFTA,..... all citizens have had to start over.
avitw
more “entitlement thinking”! hurricanes; tornadoes; earthquakes; volcanoes; fires and floods: we are but temporary custodians of the land, not the owners or masters of the universe. those who build upon the sand (and, sometimes, those who don’t) can expect nothing less than the destruction of their lives. it’s true that the elderly have fewer abilities (strength and energy) to adjust to change, but, they, like people of all ages must live with reality.
perhaps it is natural to want stability, but, stability is unnatural. the world is constantly changing and all change does not necessarily equate with progress. those who are helping need your cooperation and appreciation, not an “attitude” of “poor me”, as if they are responsible for your plight and “owe you” the life you once had.
be thankful you are alive and have the opportunity “to adapt” to change. the alternative pales in comparison
enjoy, t.o.m.
localnotions.blogspot.com
I'm happy to see family taking care of family...not the gov...God bless Campbells.
That's the way it is supposed to be.
repartee, #1.2- EXCELLENT!!!!!
AARP needs to get out of THE BUSINESS of categorizing and capturing Seniors at the age of 50!!!!!! (to the NEGLECT OF TRUE SENOIRS!) Is this why raising the Social Security age is looked upon as a solution, because LOWERING THE SENIOR AGE FOR AARP WORKED SO WELL? It's no coincidence that at the time that the Boomers are at peak, recognition and concentration of services for them have been shifted AWAY FROM THEM. AARP is just one example.
The Insurance Companies need to compensate whomever has taken in one of these Seniors or displaced Homeowners for "LOST OCCUPANCY", just like an Insurance Company would compensate a Landlord for "Lost Rental Income" until the unit/s or whole building were repaired or replaced. And they should also compensate the Family for the work that they have performed at the rate it would have cost them to pay to have it done (but couldn't).
Careful of Sharks in those waters at this Community, keeping the "DISPLACED" Residents from being able to rebuild and repair until they become so desperate that they have to sell their properties and Family Heritages off when the City comes in and condemns places or tries to force them to rebuild or replace to today's code! Pretty PRIME Real Estate, there. Is there any Grandfathering there?
It would be great if there could be a follow-up story specifically listing how Sandy Relief money is purported to be slated to "effectively" relieve this area. (AND THIS WOMAN AND HER FAMILY)
That long article and this one sentence is all that is said about insurance: "Getting insurance sorted out has been a chore for many Breezy Point owners."
People pay all their adult lives for the protection that insurance is supposed to provide when something like this storm hits. Insurance companies should be falling all over themselves to make sure all the provisions of people's polices are being fulfilled. If they are not - I think it is incumbent on the authors of these articles to name the companies that are causing these people grief and money. I certainly don't want to be dealing with an insurance company that is not there when disaster hits.
These people should not have to be going through all the grief that they are. Name the names of the companies that have let them down!
That is easy, all of them. No one who went thru Irene or Sandy have had a good experience with the insurance companies. They have jerked everyone around. You meet with an adjustor, then receive a quote, then you have to fight a couple of rounds with them. What you think is covered in your policy is totally different than how they see it.
Mystery, the question is, and it's not answered in the article, DID she have insurance to start with?
My guess is NOT.
Best to be a good scout, and be prepared. Take the bruises and move on, there are no choices. Sorry.
A good scout or a gay scout?
Another example of the government taking care of you just like the Post Office, school systems, job creation, HUD, social security, medicare, medicaid and soon to come your health care. There is nothing that they can't destroy and it is not by accident. Some people will never learn. Just another Obamanation.
Could the daughter fit in a twin bed amongst her "antiques" to accomin
Could the daughter tuck in a twin bed amongst her "antiques" to accommodate her aging mother? Years and years ago, there was a bed in every room, just for the purpose of allowing friends and families a place to lay their heads.
date
I don't know how many years ago that would have been. My grandmother was born in 1899 and she would have been horrified by the idea of a "bed in every room."
Do we know how big the daughter's family is? How large is the house? No, we don't. There many home where the living room is the primary space for everyone, including the children, and there just isn't room for a bed.
Wow, maybe I buy nice beds, but I think that a decent mattress is rather expensive as well as the fact that a "bed in every room" just takes up a lot of space! It would cost a bunch to have a surplus of beds available as well as the linens necessary to "dress" them. One spare bed is plausible, but multiple could be problematic for many families.
My grandmother had her house like that. Bed in every room and she had one room with canned food. That she would take the oldest out to cook every day. She would tell me to make sure I got the stuff that would go out of date first. I guess it was because she lived thought the depression.
There is definitely a role for government to play in all of this - Its so mind-boggling that there was political resistance & debate when the issue of funding these victims landed on the floor of Congress - What in the world were these elected representatives thinking about!!
The social conscience of the American public when disasters strike, rises high above politics! There is no doubt in my mind that, too many wrong-thinking, narrow-minded individuals from both parties are being sent to Washington - The time is nigh for some real alternative political parties that truly represent, "We the People!"
Feel free to send them money. How many times do we need to rebuild oceanfront homes when they wash away?
Actually, the opposition arose over the number of amendments procuring money for non-Sandy agendas. This type of practice should be ended. We'd be better off.
She's 85, is in reasonably good health, lives with her daughter, can no longer live two feet from the ocean... What's the problem???
It took 2 days for FIMA to get on the ground after Katrina and Bush got lambasted. It's been 3 months and there is still no power on Staten Island. The aid package that passed the Republican House is still unpassed in the Democrat controled Senate.
shhhhhhhhhhh...it's still Bush's fault. If Obama hadn't inherited the possibilities of hurricanes this never would have happened.
I should also point out that the Senate was the first to pass an aid package, but it was the House that didn't even take a vote on the measure, allowing it to expire with the end of the Congress.
Too much pork. A bill should not have millions and millions of other dollars for "crap" tacked onto the back of a bill. What part of broke do these jokers not understand?????
I was under the impression that one should purchase national flood insurance if one wants to have government rebuild the house. Have we decided that now no insurance is needed and rebuilding will be put on the backs of the tax payer?
Some areas are prone to tropical cyclone strikes folks. Beach front property is one of them. You could always move to the great lakes area and avoid tropical cyclones. And still have the beach... We have tornado's and that is covered in home owners insurance.
On a factual note Sandy was a tropical Cyclone when it made land fall
Katrina was a catagory 3 hurricane.
A bit of a difference.
The questions that need to be asked is why arre Obama's folks still housed in tents?
The answer is Democratic Trial Lawyers sue Mother Nature for the repair costs.Tha'll show her who's BOSS.
After Katrina FIMA sent trailors and the press screamed when some people were still living in the a year later. After Sandy the people are still living with relatives or in houses with no power since late October....it's February. Trailors with heat would look good about now.
FEMA should never be closed due to the weather these are the people WE are paying to be there when the weather is bad
Smart and goodlookin'....thats a rare combination.
Good loockin if that's actually a picture of the writer... The smart part... Not so much...
After the tornado in Joplin,Missouri,FEMA quit sending money and said they were broke while Obama printed new money to give to failing Green Companies.
It is CONGRESS that determines where money is spent. If FEMA ran out of money, then only Congress can authorize more.
Most of the building on the coast, destroying fragile coast line would never have happened if the idiot government didn't offer federal coastal flood insurance that no regular insurance company in it's right mind would ever offer.
That's where a good proportion of the bailout funds are going, since they undercharged for flood insurance...
As always the elderly are always forgotten, the young are clueless,the voluteers are awesome, our government could care less. If you look around you can see what is important, Alantic City, Upper Manhatten(Christmas, Shopping,Tourism) Then there is the Superball, Mardi gra etc. So you tell me who really cares.
Obama cares
The only thing obama cares about is the total destruction of the American way of life. There has been way to much success in this country and he is going to do something about it.
I was being facetious....
What's your point? Atlantic City is in NJ, Mardi Gras is in New Orleans. I don't know what Superball is. None of that has anything to do with a neighborhood in NYC. As for Christmas and tourism ... was that supposed to be banned or something because of the storm?