State rejects FEMA offer on N.O. hospital

• By ALLEN M. JOHNSON JR.
• Advocate New Orleans bureau
• Published: Dec 18, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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One of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s top priorities for Louisiana’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina — a big federal check for a “cutting edge” hospital — will apparently have to wait for a new year and a new president.

The Jindal administration has rejected the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s offer of $150 million to replace storm-damaged Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Paul Rainwater, executive director for the Louisiana Recovery Authority, told a busy, end-of-year meeting of the LRA on Wednesday.

The state will press its appeal for $492 million in replacement costs for the hospital, after President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration Jan. 20, Rainwater said.

The governor’s recovery director said Jindal’s administration turned down FEMA’s latest offer — which recently increased from $23 million — after meeting Friday with top officials from the Bush administration, including federal Gulf Coast recovery coordinator Gen. Douglas O’Dell.

“We appreciate their effort, but we have made it clear — we believe $492 million is the number,” Rainwater said later, adding that three independent studies support the state’s damage claims.

The higher figure is critical for state construction of a $1.2 billion LSU teaching hospital, adjacent to a planned Veterans Administration hospital in downtown New Orleans. In addition to addressing the area’s critical health-care needs, “this project will stimulate economic opportunities in the creation of well-paying, short- and long term-jobs in construction and health care,” according to “Louisiana’s Unmet Recovery Needs,” an LRA report dated Dec. 8.

Despite the delay, progress on the LSU/VA project continues, he said. Under a $75 million agreement with the state, the city of New Orleans will proceed to acquire land for the 71-acre hospital — including the controversial relocation of some 200 homes in the historic Mid-City neighborhood.

In other action Wednesday, the LRA:

• Angrily resolved to ask Obama to suspend FEMA’s Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps. LRA commissioners say the federal agency is using the allegedly flawed charts — along with “overly strict” interpretations of presidential directives from the 1970s — to refuse funds for the rebuilding of structures in Cameron Parish damaged by Hurricane Ike.

LRA officials also want access to all DFIRM data, amid fears the maps could be used to deny funding for other storm-affected coastal parishes.

• Asked Washington to extend the federal Disaster Housing Assistance Program, which provides housing assistance to more than 31,000 Louisiana residents displaced by storms Katrina and Rita — who did not receive government help before the storms. The funding is scheduled to end Feb. 28 for all but about 12,000 elderly and disabled residents — whose stipends will last only six to eight more months, according to the LRA’s Unmet Needs report.

• Gave final approval to a plan for spending $438 million to 43 parishes affected by hurricanes Gustav and Ike in September. More than 120,000 homes were damaged by the hurricanes and approximately 97,000 businesses reported storm-related interruptions, LRA reports show. The plan now goes to the governor and the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget for approval.

However, LRA spokeswoman Christina Stephens said the funding plan can be later amended to allow for input from Vietnamese and Hispanic residents.

Translations of the proposed plan were not completed and posted on the LRA Web site by the Dec. 10 deadline, ending the 10-day public comment period, she said.

“There’s a delay in translation,” Stephens acknowledged.

Rainwater told the LRA he will meet today with U.S. Rep.-elect Anh “Joseph” Cao of New Orleans — who recently became the nation’s first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress. Cao said his Venetian Isles home was flooded by Gustav.

• Announced plans to restructure its admittedly flawed Small Rental Property program to offer up-front financing for several thousand landlords of up to four-unit properties, beginning in February.

House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, an LRA commissioner, urged the authority’s staff to conduct a study for market demand for rental property first.

“Otherwise you are shooting in the dark,” Tucker said, adding the authority risks creating more problems than it solves without reliable data.

Jessica Venegeas, a spokesperson for Unity for the Homeless in New Orleans, argued there is a “significant need” for affordable rental housing. “There are 32,000 people who are still displaced. Another 8,400 are still using vouchers at hotels. While a market study is important and necessary … we cannot say that there is not a need.”

• Announced sites for next year’s construction of 600 “Katrina Cottages,” including 374 in New Orleans, 42 in Baton Rouge and 82 in Lake Charles.

“We have an aggressive timeline in each area,” Rainwater said.